Christmas in California

As we weren’t able to head home this Christmas we thought we’d take up the kind offer of visiting some friends in Bakersfield for a week. After celebrating a very happy and memorable Christmas Day here in Redding with 10 other good friends, we took off south to Bakersfield via Monterey, Carmel and the Big Sur…

Seal at Monterey

Beautiful Carmel Beach, with Pebble Beach Golf Course in the background (where the pro's play)

The impressive 'Big Sur' (50 odd miles of gorgeous coastline between San Francisco and LA)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LA is only 2 hours from Bakersfield, so we decided to spend New Year’s Eve exploring the city, shopping with the stars in Beverly Hills and catching the sunset on El Matador beach (right next to Malibu). Oh, the sacrifices of coming over here for school.

On Hollywood Boulevard (the Walk of Fame) with the HOLLYWOOD sign behind us (honestly - just look really hard!)

Sunset at El Matador Beach on New Year's Eve

Winter Wonderland

It’s Thanksgiving break, so no school for a week. Tim and I ventured north to Ashland, Oregon for a night and woke up to a winter wonderland.

Lithia Park, Ashland

Living in blessing

God wants us to live in such abundance and blessing that others take note and realise the goodness of God. I’m in!

“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face shine upon us, that Your ways may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.” Psalm 68:1-2

Nebraska

Who remembers the Counting Crows song ‘Omaha, somewhere in middle America’? Well, that’s where we flew into earlier this month and drove a couple of hours west to Grand Island, the halfway point between the West and East coasts of the US. ‘As it goes with the heart, so it goes with the body,’ our friend Joaquin believes, so we were really keen to partner with God in blessing this state bigtime!

30 of us from Bethel flew out to various cities in Nebraska and spent the week ministering in different churches and out on the streets and then we came together for a big conference at the end in Grand Island. Tim and I were in a team of 6 sent to Kearney and it was fantastic. In some church services there was such faith and expectancy that people got healed during worship, without anyone ever praying for them. Other times we would stand at the front and call out sicknesses that we believed God especially wanted to heal and, again, without anyone praying people would be healed simply by being in His healing presence. We also got the members of the church praying for each other’s illnesses and they saw a lot of breakthrough in healings – yey God!

One of the highlights from the trip was a ‘treasure hunt’ that we did on the University campus in Kearney. We had asked God before setting out for some clues about who He particularly wanted to bless and encourage that evening. On the list we had written “Science building, net, trash can, right ankle/foot” among other clues. As we made our way to the Science building, we came across a bell tower right in front of the building and it had a huge net underneath it. Nearby was a trashcan and who should come limping past us but a young man with a right ankle/foot injury! We introduced ourselves, explained that God wanted to heal him and we asked if we could pray. He was a little surprised by such an offer, but agreed and after a few quick prayers all the pain left and he was totally healed!!! He also told us that just the previous night he had been lying on his bed telling God how much he wanted his ankle to be healed! Yes! How GOOD is God!?! Later that evening we had a lot of fun telling the Christian Union what God had been up to on their campus.

Another highlight was metal plates disappearing from a lady’s spine, to the amazement of her doctors! You can watch her testimony on youtube.

We got to do loads of other fun stuff, like prophesying over countless people, sharing numerous testimonies of God’s goodness, preaching, meeting and being hosted by wonderful people and leading children into the prophetic. Between the 30 of us, we saw several hundred people healed and over 60 people saved. What a trip.

WE’RE BACK!!!

Well, after 8 months of silence we have decided to get blogging again. Mozambique was incredible, by the way. We had a great time loving on the kids, healing the sick, encouraging and supporting the missionaries, visiting prisoners, eating beans and rice and rice and beans, and being inspired by the Bakers.

After a few weeks back in Redding (during which time we had a continual stream of very welcome visitors) we flew back to the UK where we spent the summer visiting as many friends and family as possible and earning some more money for 2nd year.

Speaking of which, that’s what we’re doing now. We’ve been here two and a half months now and we’re loving it!

Mozambique… 9 days and counting

Just 9 days to go until we fly out for our missions trip to Mozambique on 22 March (returning on 4 April). There are 17 of us going out to Iris ministries’ base in Pemba, Mozambique and we are all very excited. Final preparations are underway – for example, last night we spent an evening preparing prophetic art to give to the 40 Iris missionaries who are based in Pemba.

We would really value your prayers while we are over in Mozambique. In particular, please pray:

(i) that we powerfully minister God’s love to the orphans who are connected with Iris’ base in Pemba, the Iris missionaries and the local people that we meet;

(ii) that as we step out in the power and authority that God has given us, we heal the sick and bring hope, wholeness and freedom to people’s lives; and

(iii) for safety and good health for the whole team throughout our trip.

On a personal note, please pray that God would reveal to us more deeply His incredible love and compassion so that we could give our lives more fully as ‘laid down lovers’ (Heidi Baker’s favourite phrase to describe the Christian life). Please also pray that we receive a greater revelation of the power and authority that God has given to us to bring heaven to earth.

We don’t expect to have internet access while we are in Mozambique, so we will let you know how we get on when we get back. In the meantime, if you want to find out more about Heidi and Roland Baker and Iris Ministries you might want to read their latest newsletter.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

A big ‘THANK YOU’ to everyone who has contributed towards our missions trip to Mozambique (especially the anonymous giver(s) – you know who you are – whom we have not been able to thank personally).  We really appreciate your generosity, love and support – it has been a real encouragement and blessing.

We leave for Mozambique exactly 1 month today and we are getting very excited. Before we go we will post some more details of what we are likely to get up to, together with some prayer requests as we – and the whole team – would really appreciate your prayer support.

On a completely unrelated note, we thought you might like to see this picture of Tim meeting the Yeti in Weaverville earlier today…

Tim meets the Yeti!!

Fun in the snow!!

This past Saturday we had a great time when we took our friends who are over from the UK, Jon Marshall and Graham Jakeman, to enjoy the snow at the Lassen Volcanic National Park. Lassen is about 8,000ft up and so there was plenty of snow – there was at least 4ft under foot where we were. We visited Manzanita Lake which has frozen over and is itself covered in a thick layer of snow. The snow covered landscape was stunning and we had a lot of fun wading through the snow and playing in it!!

Tim had a very eventful afternoon, falling off a snow covered bridge into a stream and falling waist deep into the snow at one point. Through this experience Tim learnt three essential survival tips if you ever go hiking in a lot of snow:

(i) if you are crossing a snow covered bridge with no side rails don’t take photos while you are on the bridge and be aware that it is likely that the snow will overhang the edge of the bridge;

(ii) the depth to which you sink seems to exponentially increase the heavier you are (we worked out that Tim was about 50% heavier than his three companions but he seemed to sink at least 4 times deeper into the snow);

(iii) only go with trusted companions whose first reaction is not to take photos and laugh in the event of a potentially life threatening emergency.

Tim & Em at a snowy Manzanita Lake

Graham "snow diving"

A frozen Manzanita Lake

Jon overlooking Manzanita Lake

Praying for healing

“Healing is only difficult when you think it’s about you.” (Chris Gore). It’s not about the way that you pray, how long you pray, or how ‘holy’ or experienced you are. It’s about God; who He is and what He has done for every believer. He has made us His sons and daughters, seated in heavenly places with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1&2), and now the kingdom of heaven is within us (Luke 17:21).

If we believe ourselves to be orphans, we will pray from earth to heaven, begging a distant God to come down and heal. But if we believe ourselves to be His royal children, we will pray from heaven and release heaven (where there is no sickness) to earth. After all, were we instructed to pray for the sick or heal the sick? Just a thought…

The place of rest and intimacy

Tim writes: Over the past few months, and particularly during the past few weeks, God has been teaching me about the life that flows from a place of rest and intimacy with Him. Here are some of the things that He has shown me:

Restoration

Encounter

Strength

inTimacy

Restoration

“Rest”oration comes out of rest.

Psalm 23:1-2 “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not be in want, He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores [repairs, renews] my soul.”

Matthew 11:28-29 “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest… you will find rest for your souls.”

John 7:38 “If anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me… streams of living water will flow from within him.”

Encounter

Psalm 46:10 “Cease striving and know that I am God” – the word “know” here is the Hebrew word “yada” which means to know by experience/to be intimately acquainted with.

Psalm 16:11 “You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.”

John 7:38 “whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

John 17:3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

Strength

Isaiah 40:31 “but those who wait [linger] on the Lord will renew their strength.”

Psalm 91:1 “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my strong tower and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust’.”

Intimacy

John 14:23 “If anyone loves me… My Father will love him and we will come to him and make our home in him“.

John 15:4 “Abide in me and I [will abide] in you.”

Romans 18:15-16 “you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry “Abba Father”. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”

David sums it up best: “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere… For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold.” (Psalm 84:10-11). Perhaps this is why Jesus “often withdrew to lonely places” (John 5:16).