Those of you who know me, know that I am passionate about prayer. I am also extremely passionate about unity in the church. As a church community, DCF has combined these two things. Each week we pray for one of the other churches in the larger region around us.
31 May 2010
24 May 2010
As David Did
"14 David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, 15 while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets."
-- 2 Samuel, Chapter 6
-- 2 Samuel, Chapter 6
What joy, what freedom it is to dance in celebration of the presence of God! On Resurrection Sunday, also called Easter Sunday, the church celebrates how because of Christ we can all freely enter God's presence.
We have a family at DCF that is from Hungary. Their home church in Budapest is one of the largest Pentecostal churches in Europe. It wasn't much more than twenty years ago that this community had to operate underground in the thick of the Communist regime. Despite that, their numbers were large and within a year of the fall of communism, they became a nationally recognized denomination by the State. In just two decades, their numbers have increased to 60,000 people even in today's secular Europe. How did this community celebrate Christ's work on Resurrection Sunday this year? They danced. They danced right in the middle of the Heroes Square, a center of political and historical importance, in an act of worship to the One who gives ultimate freedom.
Yesterday was Pentecost Sunday. It was also the Global Day of Prayer. As we pray for the world, and particularly the persecuted church, let us remember this image. Let us pray. Let us stand in faith and hope. Let us remember that God is bigger than any of our obstacles. Let us remember that through Him we DO overcome. Let us celebrate and never take for granted the gift of freedom He has given us through Christ. Let us dance.
10 May 2010
Hit the Ground Running
(figuratively, of course.)
The details of my journey from the States back to Ireland are many and expectedly bizarre. I shall only note the main factors. That Tuesday, I awoke completely unable to walk with intense calf pains and had to be in a wheelchair the whole journey, including through security and on and off the plane itself. I wasn't able to walk again until a day or so after the trip. The wheelchair actually helped get me priority onto the other airline when my flight from Tulsa was delayed, which would have made me miss my overnight to Europe. Good thing as to leave the next day would have put me in the midst of the Icelandic ash cloud, potentially stranding me in either Chicago or London. That being said, I made it into Ireland just a day before they closed the airports. I did have a little pause at the immigration desk at Heathrow again, but only for ten minutes this time. The lady pushing my wheelchair used the time to tell me about the radical transformation Christ did in her life that then led to her whole family's salvation. Good stuff. She prayed for my legs too.
By Friday, I was getting the use of my legs back and the leadership team of DCF was off to Kilkenney where we were hosting an Encounter Weekend. This is the second Encounter we have had, the first being one that we organized and attended. This time we were joining with the team who came last time as their Prayer Team. When we arrived in Kilkenney however, only three people from that team were there. Everyone else was stuck in Holland because of the ash cloud. The three could still do all the teaching but needed help with testimonies and so we sat around discussing who would do what. By the end, we were no longer just praying or sharing, but some of us had also acquired the job of teaching some of the sessions. It was a jump in the deep end for all of us, and while some expressed nervousness, I was excited!
I taught the women's session on The Father Wound. The focus of this session was to talk about how the role of our earthly father, good or bad, can determine how we respond to God as our father. It also addressed our reactions as daughters, our expectations, our perceptions of our own identities, and how this affects our relationships with others. It was definitely a heavy topic, but totally worth it, especially when seeing other women really being able to forgive and break free from lies of the enemy. What a great way to jump back into ministry here in Ireland!
The details of my journey from the States back to Ireland are many and expectedly bizarre. I shall only note the main factors. That Tuesday, I awoke completely unable to walk with intense calf pains and had to be in a wheelchair the whole journey, including through security and on and off the plane itself. I wasn't able to walk again until a day or so after the trip. The wheelchair actually helped get me priority onto the other airline when my flight from Tulsa was delayed, which would have made me miss my overnight to Europe. Good thing as to leave the next day would have put me in the midst of the Icelandic ash cloud, potentially stranding me in either Chicago or London. That being said, I made it into Ireland just a day before they closed the airports. I did have a little pause at the immigration desk at Heathrow again, but only for ten minutes this time. The lady pushing my wheelchair used the time to tell me about the radical transformation Christ did in her life that then led to her whole family's salvation. Good stuff. She prayed for my legs too.
By Friday, I was getting the use of my legs back and the leadership team of DCF was off to Kilkenney where we were hosting an Encounter Weekend. This is the second Encounter we have had, the first being one that we organized and attended. This time we were joining with the team who came last time as their Prayer Team. When we arrived in Kilkenney however, only three people from that team were there. Everyone else was stuck in Holland because of the ash cloud. The three could still do all the teaching but needed help with testimonies and so we sat around discussing who would do what. By the end, we were no longer just praying or sharing, but some of us had also acquired the job of teaching some of the sessions. It was a jump in the deep end for all of us, and while some expressed nervousness, I was excited!
I taught the women's session on The Father Wound. The focus of this session was to talk about how the role of our earthly father, good or bad, can determine how we respond to God as our father. It also addressed our reactions as daughters, our expectations, our perceptions of our own identities, and how this affects our relationships with others. It was definitely a heavy topic, but totally worth it, especially when seeing other women really being able to forgive and break free from lies of the enemy. What a great way to jump back into ministry here in Ireland!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
