Jumpstart your day with this song of praise!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBZYMUP2LDk

 

It's Monday and today we focus on praying for our families. I read Stormie Omartian's books every day and this is my strong prayer: KEEP THEM FROM WASTING TIME ON A PATHWAY THAT YOU WILL NOT BLESS! (Stormie Omartian)

 

I pray that all who are discouraged today will find their peace in the Lord and we ask that a blood covering be over all our loved ones in Jesus name. Cast your cares upon Him, utterly fling them to the One who has the power to help. Prayer is a working tool given to us from the Father, use it, people.
Do you have a fractured family? Is your family tree messed up? You are in good company then and Jesus is our hope. Sometimes it may not seem that way but we have to get our eyes off our circumstances, look up to the Lord, find a Word from Him and claim it. Then pray, pray, pray!

 Prayer is your tool to peace and acceptance. A lot of our turmoil in life is not accepting the things we can't change; We sometimes have to accept that things are the way they are for a reason. I'm sure Joseph, during his days in prison and slavery felt forgotten by God as well as his family but he went ahead being the best he could be in those circumstances. The Lord caused him to rise above them and to rise in favor. Don't look at things the way they are but look at them through eyes of hope.

Jesus is the answer to all our problems and our strong help and that will always be the case. His ear is open to our prayers for help and hope. He is such a creative God that He brings forth beauty and grace and gifts within us that we never thought were there. He can bring the dormant seed to life. We praise His name and ask that He cover our families today. We thank You, Lord Jesus ahead of time for Your great blessing and favor towards our loved ones.

May we be able to say "It is well, through it all, today." Regardless of what our eyes see and our souls feel. We still say "Who is like You Lord in all the earth?" You're my cup that won't run dry even, through tear-filled eyes I seek that last drop in the cup.

Lord rise up please and bring our families full circle to health, healing of emotions and peace we pray.

 

Double-dipping with Stormie Omartian: "Lord, open my adult child's ears to hear Your truth so they will reject all lies."

"Have a sound mind and a right attitude:  Ask God to help your adult children make the right choices about what they allow into their minds so they’ll have nothing less than the sound minds He has given them.  Pray that God will protect them from having evil fill their minds with lies that oppress them mentally and emotionally.  Ask God to dissolve bad attitudes in their minds, such as pride, fear, anger, anxiety, and a broken heart.  Encourage your adult children to develop a habit of praising God regularly, since that practice will heal their minds, emotions, and attitudes.  Pray for Christ’s peace to flood their souls and rule in their hearts every day.

Resist evil influences and destructive behavior:  Ask God to give each of your adult children a humble, repentant, and teachable spirit.  Pray for God to destroy any spirit of rebellion in their lives.  God’s love and grace will always be available to your children, no matter what they’ve done.  Ask God to help them return to Him after they’ve strayed.  Pray that: God will open their eyes to see the truth and not be blinded by evil lies, they can hear God’s voice leading them, their hearts will be filled with wisdom and knowledge, they will turn away from evil when they encounter it, they will understand that they are engaged in a spiritual battle every day, they will respond to trials by turning to God, and they will learn to praise God for the healing and deliverance He has for them." Stormie Omartian

http://www.crosswalk.com/family/parenting/pray-for-your-adult-children-11607227.html

A Water Pourer for the Lord

Ten months ago our world turned upside down once again. Many days just pressing on is very hard, but in the name of Jesus we do. Some days we really wonder are we really going to make it. I survive by the Word of God and the readings of His people, music and hanging on to dreams and long ago prophecies. I believe that truth and love always comes forth at the end and if it hasn't, it hasn't ended yet. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2Qt4WduvqI

Only one thing brought a solution - desperately lunging for Jesus, believing His authority and power were greater than her massive need. (Anon or hand of God)

"With love that knew no fear the Singer caught his torment, wrapped it all in song and gave it back to him as peace." Dr. Calvin Miller, THE SINGER

“I'm well aware of the toil, blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain our family and support and defend my children and grandchildren. Yet through all the gloom I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. (my paraphrase of a letter by John Adams to his wife.)


So today we pray for single parents and their children, may the Lord send mercy and grace. We pray for first responders, the military and all the police and firemen who put their lives on the line for us each day. We pray that we all can put differences aside and find some time to be GRATEFUL.  We pray for PEACE!

May I live to be a "water pourer" before the Lord.

WATER POURERS!!!By Lana Vawser

The Lord began to speak to me about many being in a season of wilderness, and many have felt like they have been in the desert and they have been living upon their "stored up revelation and history" with the Lord. Many feeling like they have almost been in a season of WANDERING and WONDERING what's going on. I felt the Lord wanting to encourage you that He has been building endurance, strength and character in you in the desert, in that wilderness place and you are coming out with a greater CAPACITY to carry greater revelation of Him and His Word, greater mantles that have been birthed in that deep difficult place where you are constantly pushed and pressed and find that deeper place in Him in the midst of pain.

In the desert and wilderness where you have learnt to store and carry what the Lord has given you and press in for MORE amongst adverse conditions, the Lord is bringing you out of the desert and you will be WATER POURERS for others. What you have gleaned and carried in the desert places is about to be ignited and flow out of you. His living water is about to flood out of you. There is a great birthing upon the Church right now. I saw this pure, BIBLICALLY based revelation that has been found in Jesus in the desert flooding out in conversations, in books, in teaching, in songs, in cds, in writings, in sermon series, in prayer gatherings bringing incredible healing, salvation and deliverance. Freedom is about to explode in proportions across the world like we have never seen. Get ready to hear more and more crazy, amazing, wild testimonies of the power, healing and love of Jesus and how He saves, delivers and sets free.

Where the enemy has attempted in many ways to "stop His flow" through you, He is declaring over you that you will be a PURE FLOW AS YOU CONTINUE TO LIVE LOW.

https://www.facebook.com/lana.vawser.1/posts/1820760654803865

I'm praying to get beyond survival mode to really thriving in the Lord. I pray that for you, too.

Adding a happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Oh Lord, make us truly grateful for what we have, forgiving for what we don't have and accepting of where we are in life right now on this Thanksgiving Day. If we have family together, remember and pray for those who don't. If we have something to be grateful for, then we will praise Your name, the giver of all gifts, and never let us forget to count our blessings!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKYh2WRun1U

We put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. We pray for all who have experienced a week of loss and burials of family members. May the Lord's comfort wrap itself around you as only His love can. We will lift you up to His throne and ask for grace for the day, peace that can't be understood and the strength to press on.
This excerpt from Streams in the Desert is beautiful for today:
"All-loving Father, sometimes we have walked under starless skies that dripped darkness like drenching rain. We despaired of starshine or moonlight or sunrise. The sullen blackness gloomed above us as if it would last forever. And out of the dark there spoke no soothing voice to mend our broken hearts. We would gladly have welcomed some wild thunder peal to break the torturing stillness of that over-brooding night.

"But Thy winsome whisper of eternal love spoke more sweetly to our bruised and bleeding souls than any winds that breathe across Aeolian harps. It was Thy 'still small voice' that spoke to us. We were listening and we heard. We looked and saw Thy face radiant with the light of love. And when we heard Thy voice and saw Thy face, new life came back to us as life comes back to withered blooms that drink the summer rain."

Another song  of thanksgiving:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDGE_lRI0E

DNA, Poetry and The Living Prayer of my Life

DNA,

Poetry and

The Living Prayer of my Life

“If what I say resonates with you, it is merely because we are both branches of the same tree."- WB Yeats

I recently shared at a Retreat about my husband, Bill, sending off for a DNA test for me. It ended up very funny when we found out the results. I had no idea because I lost track of my family history after my parents divorced, that I’m very much a mixed breed of sorts.

 I laugh every time I think about it and they also show that my blog name, “A Sister Among You” was well-named. Or I can pretty much sing the song, “I’m Every Woman” and maybe make up some lyrics of my own. I could very well be related to many of you or all of you.  My husband thought it was hilarious when the next time I went to the doctor, I checked off multiple boxes concerning heritage.

Every time I look into a mirror now, I see a Native American woman. Bill said “Well, there are some cute little Indians” but I told him “I see Geronimo!” Maybe I’ve been on the war path too long. Or perhaps I’ve always identified with Native Americans because I’ve felt like I’m walking the Trail of Tears many days. For those who are unfamiliar with the Trail of Tears, it was a series of forced removals of Native American nations from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States to an area west of the Mississippi River that had been designated as Native Territory. I definitely feel Cherokee roots at times, as well as mainly European and even some African. I remember crying through nearly the whole Roots mini-series and now I realize why. I’m every woman, mother and sister.

I think my life and prayers and even the DNA in my body is communal.  I am all that has been poured into me by my mentors, loved ones, family members and friends. My mothers in the Lord, sisters in the Lord, those who have loved me and even those who have not, have helped me become the woman I am now.

I consider all that I’ve read, all preaching, prophetic words and prayers that have been spoken into my life have made me into this mixed bag of genes. Anne Sexton talks about “a communal poem being written by all the poets alive.” It is said that there was communal weaving among the Native Americans. If I’ve known you, then I consider you have influenced me. You have become the poetry of my life, helping me to write my life’s poem.

I’m at the part of my life where I want to be a song and poetry unto the Lord, even better than that, I want to be a living prayer unto Him.

"Father Almighty, we pray, we offer prayers to you for those whose lives are linked to ours," is the beginning of an awesome chapter from Living Prayer by Robert Benson.   He also wrote, "They are our friends and brothers and sisters and daughter and sons and loved ones. They are our enemies sometimes too, those with whom we are in conflict. ‘Pray even for those who curse you,’ the teacher said, and I expect that would apply as well to those who bug the living daylights out of you. But it is hard to truly hate those for whom you truly pray. Those with whom you have a hard time have been given to you just as surely as those with whom you are at peace....” he ended this segment with "We entrust all who are dear to us to Your never-failing love and care, for this life and the life to come, knowing that You will do for them far more than we can desire or pray for."

 “Kyrie, elesion; Christe, eleison. Lord, have mercy; Christ have mercy,” we pray. For we must, we simply must. It is all that we who walk together in the dark can do.” Robert Benson*

Lord, have mercy, Christ have mercy upon my life and bring about Your destiny for me and those who’ve touched my life. Make me Your living prayer and a song so sweet, it will bring joy to your heart. Wrap us in your Father arms, knowing You gave us the perfect DNA for Your purposes. Lord, have mercy, Christ have mercy and come quickly, Lord Jesus we pray.

*Robert Benson from  Living Prayer

 Double dipping;

Journaling about Robert Benson after reading his take on his own journaling in Living Prayer. LOL!

Robert Benson. The name evokes sighs of contentment from this group of senior citizen women, with one much younger blonde in the group. His words! His books! We all sigh again. I included a quote from Living Prayer in a blog to take to Word Weavers Volusia Group critique and my reader unconsciously called his name Robbie every time she read it. Like he is our Robbie.

Last week my friend gave me his newest book and we quickly opened it and just reading all the names of his books made us, two sometimes called introvert women, SMILE. I feel nearly like a fallen women writing this or maybe even unfaithful to Bill, but surely belonging to Robert Benson’s fan club can’t be a sin, can it?

When we heard him speak at the writer’s conference, we agree with many of his thoughts and feelings, and come away with a sense of peace. Oh the peace of seeking tranquility and a respite from the noise of the world. Peace to pray. Peace to perhaps find myself a prayer rug that also serves as a family picnic cloth, or even use it to serve hospitality at our Word Weaver meeting. He makes you want to find a monastery, go on a retreat or just read more books.

Robert Benson. Sigh.

Well it’s time to edit my blog that I brought to Word Weavers and I’m grateful that I will consider Robert Benson a part of the DNA of my life.

Trail of Tears as sung by John Denver:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjZDf0gSTqg

Johnny Cash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW8rIM2lNN8

Ride This Train https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyXWgw1z4zE