On the Wheel or in the Oven?

Hi friends ~

I wanted to share a video clip with you, it's a few minutes long, but if you have time, listen to the full thing. It spoke volumes to me...Jeremiah 18 speaks of God being the potter, and the nation of Israel like the clay. It's an admonition to follow His commandments and to leave their false gods, who couldn't hear or help them. It's where we get that old song " Create in me a clean heart, oh God...Thou art the potter, I am the clay," etc...

Fast forward then, to 2 Corinthians 4, where we read this :

"Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we're proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. It started when God said, "Light up the darkness!" and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.
"If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at. We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken. "

Does this apply to you? Watch this potter as he speaks about the creations that give expression to the love and life and creativity that are within him. Watch as he is so excited to see how each and every vessel turns out - no two are the same! Watch as he waits in anticipation to see what colors will emerge after the firing of the pot...And know that your Father in Heaven is just as excited about your life, your journey, your process. You are unique and shaped for a specific purpose. No one else is like you. (Click on the link below!)

Friar Anthony's Pottery

~ Anna

God: "Who's Touching My Eye?!!!"

DISCLAIMER: This post is going to be an interactive-proactive-hands-on post! So if you shy away from action...you may want to consider coming back later when you are ready for this one.

OK, Ready?
First of all, I want you to picture your most recent "mountain" - a.k.a. a trial, or problem you cannot seem to get past. Something that's hitting you full force like a stormy wave in your face.

It could be your job, it might be the kids, maybe a glitch in your marriage, or a friend who has done you wrong, and it isn't getting better, or... maybe you are just frustrated? I'll give you a minute to call it to mind...

Ok, got the picture of that stormy wave? With all its ugliness bared and ready to crash on your head at any second? That mountain looming before you?
Awesome, stay there for a minute - I do want you to know how you feel about this thing. Are you scared? Angry? Hurt? Recognize your emotion for what it is...(And by the way, I'm not going to tell you that you shouldn't be having these emotions. No, they are a real and a normal response to an assault on your person.)

OK, now that we have that down, I want you to READ - not just with your eyes, but with your heart attached - to the words I am going to put below.

God says to YOU: (insert your own name in the blanks!)

• " Fear not ( ____)...I have called you by your name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through fire, you will not be burned or scorched..." (read more here )



• " (____) dwells in the secret place of the Most High, and shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand]...
  A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you. Only a spectator shall you be [yourself inaccessible in the secret place of the Most High] as you witness the reward of the wicked...Because (___) has set his/her love upon Me, therefore will I deliver (____); I will set (____) on high, because (____) knows and understands My name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness--trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake you, no, never].
  (____) shall call upon Me, and I will answer; I will be with you in trouble, I will deliver you and honor you. (read more here )
  


• "He who touches you touches the apple or pupil of MY eye" (read more here and also here and here! )

OK, so that should have made you feel a lot more confident about who's watching out for you - but in case you need a bit more reassurance, here it is: God is faithful and strong ; God is already beginning to arise for you; He WILL deliver you to the glory of His name so that even those who do not know Him are impressed! I encourage you to read the whole story of that last one - even if you already know what happens - it is extremely encouraging.

Now the fun part : Look at that mountain, that tidal wave, that thing that brings fear - and laugh at it! Laugh out loud!! Here THIS will help you - How to laugh 101 - ok, got it?? Felt good, didn't it? (watch that video as many times as you need to, it's free...)

And now let that realization sink in of how much bigger than your problem God really is...and that if something is coming at His EYE, He is definitely going to deal with that thing.

Finally, revel in this song - kick your shoes off, do a little dance in your living room, or lay on the floor and laugh some more, sing along, or cry your eyes out if you feel like it! But KNOW, in your deepest being - you will overcome, and He who is in you...is SO GREAT.

We look to You, Papa God. Help us to see with Your eyes. We love You so much... Click on the words to worship just a little more...And have a GREAT day.

~Anna

A few of my pictures lately...enjoy!

^{For the director of music. A psalm of David. A song.
1} Praise awaits you, our God, in Zion;
to you our vows will be fulfilled.

² You who answer prayer,
to you all people will come.
³ When we were overwhelmed by sins,
you forgave our transgressions.

⁴ Blessed are those you choose
and bring near to live in your courts!
We are filled with the good things of your house,
of your holy temple.

⁵ You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds,
God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas,

⁶ who formed the mountains by your power,
having armed yourself with strength,
⁷ who stilled the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
and the turmoil of the nations.

⁸ The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;
where morning dawns, where evening fades,
you call forth songs of joy. Psalm 68:1-8

The Healing Power of Touch

I may be biased in part while writting about the power of TOUCH, being that my number one love language is in fact TOUCH, but please hear me out on this and take a little adventure with me...

Let's begin with this pivitol fact that God created us with 5 senses; to hear, see, smell, taste and TOUCH. Why do we have these 5 senses? They allow us to take in information, share information and communicate. Each of these senses have many different faucets to them which make them very unique and vital to how we navigate through our lives as they unfold. Through these senses whether it be positive or negative, information is communicated to our mind, body and soul which in turn shapes our beliefs, forms our opinions and influences our decisions. Check this out, it seems to me that the very first sense we get to experience is with TOUCH...

Psalm 139:13-16 (NLT) 13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. 15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. 16 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

God, our creator knit, formed and wove us together in our mother's womb, He was first to TOUCH us! Through His creative and gentle TOUCH we were made! How cool is that!So what is it about TOUCH that affects our entire world? It affirms us, it comforts us, and it has the power to heals us. From the very moment that we come into this world the way we recieve TOUCH, give TOUCH and even how seldom or often we receive TOUCH will shape our world. Our mental, emotional and physical health actually depends highly on our experience with TOUCH. It has been proven that children who grow up with a lack of frequent and tender touch will not develop correctly be more insecure and have low self confidence. TOUCH actually releases endorphins in our brain and essentially helps us feel good. Just ask a physcologist, chiropractor or massage thereapist and they will all tell you how essential TOUCH is to our over all well-being. It is proven to reduce a person's heart rate, lower blood pressure, reduce stress, increase whit blood cells, ease pain, generate hope and heal! Jesus must have know this truth all to well or why else would He have said over and over again when referring to healing to lay our hands on the sick, then we will see them recover!

Mark 16:17-18 And these signs will accompany those who believe...they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.

So truth be told I myself am a personal witness to the healing power of TOUCH. About 10 yrs ago God rescued me from a spiralling pit leading to none other then death. At that time in my life I was so closed off to TOUCH to the point where my sister when introducing me to people in church she would say, "this is my sister and she does not shake hands," so that no one would try to TOUCH or even hug me. Ha! how funny, now I am so addicted to hugs! Since that time of rescue numerous times the breakthrough, growth and freedom I so desperately was in search of came through a simple TOUCH or hug. I began to discover that all along my number one love language is TOUCH. Through this healing the passion I have always for massage began to come back to life. While I give massage I love to just allow Holy Spirit, Jesus, and Papa God lead me and allow them to encounter that person! I give Him my hands in an act of worship and service, through this His healing TOUCH is then released through my hands. Massage is something that has always come natural to me and something that sparks a passion in my heart! Those of you that know me well my interest in massage is no surprise to you, and those of you who do not, here is a little insight into my world :-)

Our good good God has opened the doors for me to go to massage school! I am so excited and a bit scared all wrapped into one. I have wanted this for years and years! It is exciting because it is a dream being fulfilled and scary because it still requires me to jump of the cliff in faith that resources, finances and the time that I need to complete this school will be provided and worked out. I attended my first class on Wednesday the 16th and my expected graduation date is October 8th!

Thanks to all of you who say Amen! to this pursuit. Teruah

Texas Toast...

In July, my sister and I had just returned from taking a trip home to West Virginia and Pennsylvania and New York to see our family.
We had driven all over and had a few dollars left after our long trip, and I happened to not be scheduled for work for almost an entire week
due to a mix up in the scheduling world. It was at this time, during a morning service on the Sunday after our return that I really felt a download from God about praying for Texas.

Let me say at this juncture that while we have been blessed greatly as we have been here, and our needs have been amply met, none of us enjoyed being in Texas. Maybe it was the season we were all in, or maybe Texas just isn't "it" for us - I'm not entirely sure.

But whatever the case, I - and I know the other girls too - had a very hard time praying earnestly for this state.I'm not saying it was right or that we were actingaccording to how we should have been (in love at all times...ahem...)but that is the honest truth. Have you ever lived somewhere that just didn't "sit" right with you?

Nonetheless, God doesn't share my emotions and my dislikes and so on, and for that we can all be grateful!I hope I will not offend any reader that may be Texan, but I must speak plainly. One of the hardest things we found to deal with here was the overgrown spirit of PRIDE that sort of parades itself around this state. I love my country and I do believe in supporting your state, by the way.
I almost hesitate to write this, but if I don't you will not get the complete story, and I really want to be honest about how we feel about our experiences.

At any rate, after praying some about how we were to pray - or where, or if we were even supposed to pray - I happened to read an article in the weekly neighborhood magazine that got my attention!

I had come to the conclusion that maybe we weren't supposed to pray in Texas, that God had brought us here for other purpose and was fine with that. But when I read this article, suddenly a fire was lit in my heart and I recognized the Holy Spirit speaking. The article itself was about Washington on the Brazos - a state park about 3-4 hours south of us.

During worship the week before I had asked God to show us the key for Texas, if there was one He wanted to show us...and this is how the article began, "One of the first things you think of when you think of Texas is their pride." I am not kidding! I read on as the article described and boasted of Texas pride and said this what was Texas was known for.
It then stated that for a fun summer side trip, you might consider visiting historic Washington on the Brazos, which was the birthplace of Texas - "where it all began!" There was so much significance to this article I could hardly believe my eyes.

Fast forward to that Sunday in July during worship, where I am feeling so strongly that we MUST go visit this place and pray there. When the pastor gets up to speak his message is,

"We have to be open to the Holy Spirit, because God has places He wants us to visit and prayers for us to pray, divine appointments for us, and we need to be flexible and just go with what he is saying!" Hmmm...

So basically, Teruah and I got home from church, threw some stuff in the car with a tent and our sleeping bags and decided to set out. I am glad the desire to go lasted all that time, because as we were driving to the middle of nowhere and it was getting dark while we tried to find a campsite, I was wondering if I was completely crazy doing this on a whim.
Why were we wandering around out here in the dark again??

We found a tiny Mexican restaurant open after staking out the tent, and split a late dinner that was welcome and DELICIOUS. Then we headed back to our campsite. When we arrived we realized that the night guard had forgotten to tell us that the gate closed at 10pm sharp, and there was no other way in. It looked like we might be hiking back into the campground perhaps a few miles to where we had left our tent. Just then, the man drove up ( he had seen us when he was leaving, and turned around to follow us and let us into the camp. I was so relieved!

After an incredibly humid night in the tent, and trying to sleep on a bumpy piece of ground, we awoke early and set off for the park.

I will not go into minute detail about Washington on the Brazos, but if you wish to read further into our nation's history and how Texas came about, you can visit their site at http://www.birthplaceoftexas.com/ where there is a wealth of information about the formation and development of the state. After going through their museum, I had a new respect for the frontiersmen and women who risked so much to settle the land.
There was also a lot of history regarding our relationship to the Mexicans who owned the land before us. I also learned that Texas, before it was a state, was an independent nation of it's own for a short time and had it's own elected president! It also had it's own declarartion of independence, signed in the small wooden buildng standing on the grounds there.

I came to understand that Texas came about after a series of intense struggles for those who settled here, and perhaps another part of the pride was the fact that they had even survived in the first place.

We had stopped at a small grocery store before we went to the park, and bought a bottle of wine and a bottle of oil and mixed the two in our water bottle so we wouldn't appear too conspicuous.
So after reading a while about the history of the place, we went to the quiet picnic area near the river and sat on a picnic table just waiting to hear from Father God.
We asked Him to forgive us for our bad attitiude in response to the attitude we had seen, and then we prayed wholeheartedly for Texas. we asked God to move in her,to break off the chains of religion and pride that hold her back, and to repair and bring restoration to the broken places and to heal the brokeness caused to the Mexican peoples. We asked that instead of a spirit of lone independence, that a healthy dependence on God would be found.

It was SO interesting as we prayed together quietly, just waiting on Holy Spirit, that I realized that Mexican blood runs through Teruah's veins, while I am a "white girl" from the North eastern states - the states that sent out the pioneers that settled many parts of the US, who consequently, took land from others.

And here we were, best friends, praying together for the healing of this land. We poured the wine and oil out then and asked the Lord to seal our prayers.

God is good. He knows exactly what He is doing! Even when we are just trying to do what we think he is saying, fumbling around in the dark, tripping over tent pegs, waking up scared to death because of raccoons in the trash cans, and wondering if you made it all up in your own head! We are flawed and we have our own predjudices and pride and yet He uses us!

I know God has good things in store for this state. They say everything is BIG in Texas, and so it is - the houses, the stores, the land, and yes, even the attitude! But so is the LOVE and the plans that our amazing Father has for Texas BIG love and BIG plans and purposes...and no one can out-do Him on that! There are amazing men and women of God here who hear His voice and follow after Him with great passion. One such place is Convergence Church in Ft. Worth. We were super blessed to attend services there while living here. The pastors and leadership team there are amazing as well as the congregation.

Another time, Teruah and I met an amazing lady at a Starbucks, a total stranger but a divine connection we ended up talking to for over two hours. She goes wherever the Lord shows her to go that day, and just waits on him, until she finds His appointment for her, whether that is to pray, to speak to someone, etc. She was really amazing. There are many hearts after God in this place.

As a final note, it is interesting to know that the Brazos river is really named Los Brazos de Dios, named so by the Spanish explorers in the 1700's. The name means "The Arms of God" and it is the longest river in Texas, flowing from New Mexico down into the Gulf. It is also the river that has the most output of water in this state. There are many places that God has stamped His name on this state - this is just one of them.

God holds Texas securely in His loving, strong arms.

Still on a Journey...

Ok, so many have asked us over the course of a year if we are still traveling? I will attempt to answer that now...

Q: Are we still traveling?

A: Yes!

I didn't know what to expect when we picked up from Redding, CA and set out. I had no idea what things would look like after our trip through California - if we'd still be traveling together, or where the road would take us. For all I knew we could end up on the other side of the world!

Somewhat to my surprise we landed here in TX. However, neither of us felt that Texas would be "home" and have known pretty much since our arrival that this was to be a "season" in our journey, and not the stopping point.

We began our journey away from Redding to pray over Sacramento, and San Diego and up the coast back to the San Francisco BayArea. God provided amazingly the entire way. We grabbed hold of God's heart for California during that trip, and found out even more so that He has BIG plans for that state!

Our time here in Texas has been no less miraculous than that first trip, although we do not always see it that way, I am sorry to say. God has met us with the same abundant provision and goodness that He has always shown. And though we have been at place of residence rather than living out of a suitcase for a year now, it has still been quite a journey.
On personal levels, we have been through some changes and transitions. Healing is an interesting thing - as is the depth of our hearts. It amazes me that we often do not even know ourselves. But what I have found is that my Father is a master at revealing our hearts. Most of us have passion, and creativity waiting to be unlocked. We all have broken places that need healing. He knows just how to do this. I love this about Him.

There were some things that had really died in my heart due to hurts, or disappointment, or just plain tiredness. When we try to work hard for what is already ours, we tend to burn out! I found that I had been working hard to be useful to God for a while now. And I was coming up short. It was becoming a way for me to gain His acceptance - not merely to serve Him. And acceptance is already mine! One day a few months after our move to Texas, when I was talking to God about some things I heard Him ask me so clearly, "What if I never call you to be in a place of ministry again? Are you ok with that?" I was shocked that He said it to me so plainly - and that I heard Him so clearly. It was a mirror to my own heart and motives. I tried to answer immediately and found that I could not and instead tears came. If I can't be useful, how can I be valuable? The point He was making to me wasn't that He doesn't want me in "ministry" but that if I never stood on any platform to speak, preach, prophesy or lead worship again, or if I never got to feel that affirmed feeling of knowing I helped someone to know God better or to touch Him - that our relationship was what mattered and that it was enough. If I never got to "minister" again - it was enough. As I said, it took me a long while to respond and even then I had to answer "Lord, I want to be ok with that - I want You to be enough." In a moment, He had cut through all of the other distractions and laid my heart before me.

I give you this story as an example of what our time here has meant for us. It has been moments like the one I described above that have made such a difference in our lives since we arrived here. It has been a time of God speaking life into us in many ways. It has been a time apart that was very much needed to clear our hearts and our vision. It has not always been easy or clear what we were here for. It has been lonely at times. But I see that now we are coming out on the other side with renewed dreams and new ideas and a new, fresh courage to go after these things.
So that's a little more about where we have come to, and what God has done...

Next posting - Mine and Teruah's little adventure to the Birthplace of Texas ;-)

Hello world :-) Update on our whereabouts!

Hi all!

Well if you were following mine and Teruah's journey very closely and keeping up with our blog, I must apologize for a year's absence. Neither of us meant to stop writing entirely - but we got rather off track with day to day things. For those of you who are asking, let me catch you up to speed.

In September last year (2009) Teruah and I were offered a great house in Texas to stay in. It would be near a small college and we would have oppurtunity to take classes or pursue whatever course we wished. It was a huge blessing for us at that time, because neither of us had a plan after the Spring/Summer of '09.

Previous to this, we had traveled throughout the Eastern states, visiting friends and mostly my family. In May/June, we returned to California for the summer months. This is where the blog left off - at Teruah's speaking engagement at her parent's church - which I must say was really, really awesome! Good job Teruah and Eva, and thank you Holy Spirit! Many many people were encouraged and God did a lot of very cool stuff in people's hearts that night. It seems crazy that it was a full year ago now!

Anyway, back to where we are: We are in Texas, in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Area. We have been staying in a wonderful place (thanks to a wonderful and generous friend) and Teruah had oppurtunity to take some classes this past Spring. In December, my sister Leah moved in with us after she completed her music ministry school at Christ For the Nations here in Dallas.

Both Teruah and I were offered jobs at Target last November. It was an interesting shift switching from living by faith and God providing every single need to working and getting paychecks. There were good and bad things about it - mostly I felt at first how frustrated I was by not being able to just spend limitless amounts of time soaking in God's presence. But I rather liked getting paid every two weeks, I must say. It wasn't that I have never worked a job before, but rather that I had been in a long season of God providing a certain way, and then we had to shift gears a bit. This keeps things fresh I guess, because I would rather depend on my work to get finances, however in much of my life so far, God has caused me to live in a way where I receive support. This has been a HUGE challenge to me and to my sense of self reliance. Which I am sure is what God is getting at. So we transition. And adjust - and just when we think we have this down, things change!

So now you know where we are, my next update will be more about what we feel is on God's heart for us now, and also what we hope to do in the days ahead...

Love to you each and every one! More to come soon.

Anna