The prayer-miracle connection!

Well, it went a little something like this..

About a year & a half ago, we submitted a request to an insurance company here, requesting sponsorship for any of our projects..we submitted a profile of our various programs & said something like "Requesting financial assistance towards the running of the programs run by FCEIS in the attached profile"...

Then last year, they expressed an interest & we brought another proposal with some specified dates & figures for the school project, as well as for the upcoming free health care projects in the South..

For what looked like endless months, we never got any reply..

Meanwhile, we'd also been praying for other donations to come through; some specific furniture items for the kids, more petrol contacts to run our vehicles & generator (electricity had been off more than on.), & a couple of other household needs....these too seemed to be taking months to come in..

Then the Lord showed us that we needed to target these items in prayer--specifically, fervently & regularly--so that's exactly what we did. Every day in devotions we claimed these things, then praised for having them already..

Within 2 weeks:

--2 petrol companies agreed to give us 300 litres of petrol a month
--another company gave desks for the kid's school room
--the insurance company that we'd approached & been discussing w/ since 2007, agreed to sponsor 175 of our school kids' fees for 2 terms..so that's for the rest of the year.

We're hooked on this new prayer method. You all should try it too.

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master,
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling

In that case I think I'm finally growing up..Not quite there yet, tho..Life really is tough at times..exhilaratingly wonderful at others..But it's these extremes & learning to deal w/ them that make us who we are...do u all agree?

(P.S. the 2nd frm the last paragraph, seems to be @ the one I've mastered the most..how do you all fare?)

PMA!

It's official..

I started the PMA (Professional Missionary Academy), 2009 semester this week..

I'm doing the Building A Flock course..

This feels really good, actually...I haven't done any intense college courses in at least 8 years..I did a part-time writing course in 2006, which was good fun..

This year's brought a few new things already...

let's see what else is in store..

TYJ!

Double do!

Here's a few pics from my double B'day party, Sunday b4 last..

These were originally posted on my Facebook account..

I hope you enjoy them!

The project at the orphanage went very well & it felt good to be giving on my B'day for once instead of always expecting to get things for myself...the after party was a simpler event (due to just coming back from the orphanage), but I enjoyed it all the same.


most of us (BA staff & Family Care staff w/ some of the orphanage caretakers & the kids)..





with some of the kiddos..

Blowing out the candles..I know the pic below actually goes 1st..


Everybody singing for me..all I could do was clap along & smile..

.The after-party:

random snap of friends..



celebrate--doesn't it feel good to be pushin' 30?? hmmm...


Chloe decorating the 2nd cake of the day...both cakes were courtesy of Mary, as were the mini pizzas & other snacks served..she made the day as far as food went..


W/ 12 FS students, Amechi & Ekwa

Prayer requests for 2moro..

Pls pray that:

--My B'day project will go very well & that we'll be a blessing to the kids at the orphanage...

--That I won't forget anything or leave out any details..(why do I choose to organize my own B'day..sigh..)

--That the after-party will go well & that a lot of ppl will come..

Coolio! Pics soon to follow..

Awesome!

My Mom got this message from Jesus for me for my B'day..:

Happy Birthday My son. Your faithfulness amazes Me. Can something amaze me? Yes, when I see the love and adoration My children have for Me, it amazes Me and makes Me so happy. And you make Me happy, My darling. I’ve seen your battles, I’ve heard your cries and yet you’ve stuck to the job, feeling responsibility to your friends and co-workers, and the young people you have and are working with. Many look at your faithfulness, your sticktoitiveness and your love for Me. You might not think you make that much of a difference, but take it by faith, you do.
And one day in Heaven you’ll get to see the beautiful results of your pouring into others. Of course that’s only one of the wonderful things you’ll find out when you are Here, and it won’t be just dry stats, you’ll be able to see the smiling faces and the results of their lives, partly because of your influence on them. What a wonderful day that’ll be!
And what’s next for you, My darling? A great infusion and surge of My power as you lean on Me. This great anointing will allow you to do great and mighty things. Hold on, son, this will be the ride of your life.
One of your gifts is prayer, esp prayer for healing. Now make it your profession! There truly is power in prayer. Leave the results to Me, Brian. The desired results will come, but in My time. Some prayers will be answered right away, on the spot, in other situations it will take a bit longer.
That too will be awesome when you see the amazing and wonderful results when you are here in My Kingdom. Keep a notebook with prayer requests and the outcomes, as it will build up your faith to pray more and more.
“They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover” Mk 16:17,18 Review this verse often, you’ll need it.

My day!

Literally..except it wasn't today, but yesterday..

I also share it w/ Jan & Janet in S.Africa..(as well as Spring of Godfrey & a couple others too..cool!)..

But it was good & relaxing..spent most of the day resting up from all my travels/partying..as well as recieving B'day calls from my family & friends...e-cards & txts thrown in..

Got about 35 Birthday greets on Facebook as well, so that was an added bonus..

Will celebrate this Sunday, w/ friends & a special project...(due to the fact that I didn't have time to plan/invite friends cuz of traveling)..

Stay tuned...;)

Longest time!

since I'd seen some of my friends..

Haven't had much blogging time recently...hmmm...that's cause I've been PARTYING.../traveling..

My time in S.A. was adventurous, relaxing, sentimental (saw a lotta old friends), invigorating, insightful (lots of meetings, hearing from the Lord in prophecy about our various initiatives for the year), fun-filled, etc.

It had been a really long time since I'd seen some of these people..

Dan & Phoebe

Hadn't seen Phoebe in about 5 yrs & Dan in 6...was amazing to see them now married w/ 2 kids..wow..

Crit Pair & David Barker..

I saw David the year before last at the FDTP, but I hadn't seen Crit since he was about 4 or 5 & I was about 9 or 10...wow, a good 18/20 years ago..wow!


Sonia Turcotte

I hadn't seen Sonia in more than a decade...look how good she turned out..tx 4 the pic, Sonia..

Julia Buckle

Hadn't seen Julia in about 4 or 5 yrs...

A few for fun..soccer w/ Joy & Jed..Nikki (of Liz) & Marie (of Dom) were actually playing w/ us too..or rather I shld say I was playing w/ them, as I was the guest player..during this game Crit Pair broke his toe..heh..

w/ Suzy at Sara's goodbye..guess who we're dressed as?

At the pisces party...Each home came dressed as a different theme...if our pose didn't give our theme away, wld the clothes have?--Probably not!

Highlights last week!

(almost in chronological order)

--Caught up w/ tons of old friends...

--Went personal witnessing w/ All Saints, AJ's & Phoebe's (JTs) homes at the university of Johannesburg & won 6 souls...awesome!

--Met new faces & spent time w/ old ones at Natalie-Ann's goodbye party at Dros...

--Found some killer deals at the Santon & Fourways malls...

--Went ice-skating for the 1st time in 14 years..

--Got to spend the wknd w/ Phoebe who I lived w/ for 3 years but hadn't seen in 5..

--Also happened to be Phoebe's 25th B'day, so got to party w/ her & Dan Saturday night & her & her home Sunday night..

--Had an awesomely rousing/inspiring Sunday fellowship w/ the Centurion Home..

This wk's highlights, as well as last wks pics soon to follow...

Hallelujah!

Alive!

It was a day just like any other day, really..except it was better—to start with anyway.. I was excited to finally be going to the North again as it had been several months..we weren’t late—in fact we were on time, as the next set of girls would graduate from their tailoring course that week. On the one hand I felt on top of my game...On the other hand this was the first project to the North that I would conduct without Richard who just moved on to PH. That left a little apprehension as to how the project would go, but nothing that I felt too nervous about, as we’d prayed discussed & planned (all that good stuff).

Things went as planned at the Zaria center, with a slight adjustment. When we discovered that the 20 sewing machines that we had ordered from Kano for 2 centers (Zaria & Katsina) hadn’t all arrived, we decided to push back the Zaria ceremony that was originally meant to take place that day, till 10 days later, since the rest of the sewing machines were technically on their way to Zaria anyway.. This way, we’d take the 10 that were already there with us to Katsina (far North of Nigeria near the Nigeria/Niger border) as it would be a long time till we went that far North again (that’ll prove true), whereas Zaria is only 3 hours from our house…

After assessing the current needs of the old & new VVF wards in the Zaria hospital, we happily went on our way..

It must been about 11:30 when I awoke (first mistake—shouldn’t have been sleeping) to the sounds of tires screeching & the feeling of swerving…I had no idea what had just happened, but it was clear that something had caused Art to lose control of the truck..

I sat up & gripped the handle bar on my right side…Something was pulling us to the left & off the road..the tires scraping made it evident that the brakes were fully engaged.. One swerve & we were now on the complete right lane of the road…but instead of steadying, we now swerved till the back of the truck was facing where we should have been..we carried on swerving till we tipped off the side of the road--as the lane suddenly ended & there was a crooked, 2-foot drop--then flip, flip, & flip again.

Going through my mind at the time were a million thoughts in those 2 seconds, among which were whether I would come out of this alive, if I did which parts of me would be broken & if I didn’t, how how my family would take it, etc. etc. But out of all those 1 of these thoughts was actually processed & came out as a prayer; I shouted out : "LORD! I CALL ON THE POWER OF THE KEYS." We landed between 8-10 meters from the road & a good 45-50 from where we originally started swerving.. (it was later evidenced that when we hit a certain pothole, the left-front tire went, which is when said driver hit brakes hard & the swerving began...)

We stopped rolling (duh!) & I then realized that I was still sitting there, as was Art..we were alive! Not only that, we were ok! I got out of the car, to assess the damage & it was clear that the car had been pretty much totalled, as the roof had folded & torn, the back of the open cabin was in pieces with lights/fixtures shattered, as well as the actual cabin bent severely & the back door partially off...the actual frame of the car was severely "altered" as well & the two back passenger doors were bent/dented harshly...but funny enough the engine was intact..but it was only after assessing these damages that I stopped, looked down at my hands, then felt the back of my head (for blood), turned my neck side to side..felt my legs, wiggled my toes inside my shoes..I was completely ok! Art too! Not one injury on either of us...only an infinitesimal scratch on my right index finger & the smallest of bruises on my left pinkie..Amazing! I would say phenomenal, except for the fact that I know miracles happen every day.

But now I also know that I am one of them! I'm a walking/talking miracle & unless the above repeats any time soon & I don't survive it, I'll be saying that phrase for a long time...

I know that I'm alive today because of the prayers of my family, friends & loved ones..I owe u all the biggest of thanks! Prayer Power works.

I'll close this post w/ e-mails frm 2 of my sisters who brought key concepts that made me think more than just random thoughts about dieing as I flipped off the road in our ex-Nissan Frontier..

Are you back in Abuja yet? Write me, tell me stories..ILY. And am soooooooooooooooooooooo thankful you're alive..even tho Heaven would have been cool too..Ha. But that just shows you have a marvelous destiny to fulfill..mwahaha...looking forward to hearing the exciting stories of what it is. You can't survive something like that w/o a cool reason. TYJ. Wow. Amazing about dad's dream too, huh? It's weird how families are connected like that, no? What a miracle. Ok, WRITE ME!!!! Bye...wow, thank God I didn't have to say that for real. Ok, I love you. You know that right? But of course you do. I love you some more, brother of mine.--Lisa.

Hi everyone, Most of you may have already heard, but Brian was in a car accident about 2 days ago. The vehicle he (and the driver) were in, hit a pothole and flipped twice! Thankfully Brian and the driver came out without even any scratches! Thank God! that was a real miracle and I know that Brian is very thankful, as we all are!I just wanted to remind everyone to keep Brian in your prayers, and all of us! We need to keep eachother in our thoughts and prayers at all times, because you never know what each of us might be going through or needing at that moment.Brian, we love you and we're so glad you're okay!XXXTake care and be safe, ok. Lot's of love to all of you, Phebe