You Say You Want a Servolution

Okay, so I said I was going to start blogging more often, and I haven't really done so. I wasn't lying; I meant well, but it didn't happen. Starting a new job and all that entails, and working on the prayer team for Servolution, there just wasn't much of me left. Trust me, I'm not complaining. I'm extremely thankful for both of those activities. Especially after today.

It's 3:30 in the afternoon on a Saturday, my house is a mess, and I haven't lifted a finger to alter that situation. Yet. But I'm so excited about today, I want to write about it while the high is still fresh. Servolution was awesome. I have never experienced prayer like I did today. I'm sure anyone reading this has (I'd say "everyone" but there's a good chance it's "no one," especially given my faithlessness of late, so I chose to say "anyone"), but I hadn't. Experienced prayer like today, I mean, in case you lost track of where that sentence was going. Like I did.

I'd have thought praying with a group of people over the course of four hours might have gotten tedious, but it DIDN'T, at least not for me. I had a sense of knowing beyond any doubt that God was honoring our prayers in specific concrete ways. It was as if the Lord was sitting in the room with us, smiling and nodding at our every request, no matter how haltingly or falteringly or presumptuously it might be made, then sending orders instantly to the troops on the front lines.

When people starting trickling back to the church and we began to hear some of the stories, I heard myself sounding like a broken record, saying "Wow, we prayed for (or about) that exact thing!"

For instance: When one member of our group starting praying for the dogs and cats that might be impacted by our doings, and how that might garner the notice of some humans, I thought "Hm. That's kind of different, but who knows?" Later I heard how one team ended up rescuing a litter of kittens that had been abandoned by the mamma cat, bought formula and kitty baby bottles to feed them (I didn't even know there were such things!), then found a worker at the pet store who was willing to take the babies under her care (when she gets off at 5:00). And those folks saw another one of our "yellow shirt" teams at the pet store doing whatever they were doing, obviously something to do with animals, as well.

I thought how odd it must have sounded when I said, "Oh my, we prayed about that!" Sure... People get together to pray for those going forth to show the love of Jesus and just... pray about dogs and cats! Happens all the time!

There were the folks who went to nursing homes to visit patients, and later told us the patients loved that, but that it was the nurses who seemed the most touched. "That's exactly what we prayed for!" And so on.

And I'm certain that as more of the stories come out, we'll be saying that over and over again. Hopefully I can and will update this blog with additional news from the prayer front as news from all the other fronts comes in.

Almost sounds like a battle, all this talk about fronts and troops. Well that's pretty much how it felt from the situation (prayer) room. But it ALSO felt like our Father's Kingdom made some huge inroads into many hearts and lives, including those of some very small creatures whose eyes aren't even open yet. Because of God's love, they soon will be...one thing, at least, that they will have in common with the tens, the hundreds, maybe (down the road) even hundreds of thousands of their human counterparts. All because of one day called Servolution and one mighty, awesome God who isn't bound by our imagination, even when we're at our most imaginative!

Never underestimate the power of prayer. MORE IMPORTANT, never underestimate the power of LOVE!! Jesus was in the house and He rocks!

Oh, and what about that first song the worship team did this morning??? More on that in the future!

SERVOLUTION PRAYER

"No work for God has ever been know to prosper without prayer to support it." -- John Paterson

TWELVE PRAYERS FOR SERVOLUTION

(1) That God's love would shine through us for all to see... that Servolution would be first a work of God, and not of man.

(2) For each of us to have a servant's heart toward one another and those we serve.

(3) That no one would judge another's work, but "let each do according to what God has put in their heart."

That each project would:
(4) Come together exactly as God would have it--people, timing, resources. 

(5) Would have a supernatural anointing of the Holy Spirit.

(6) Demonstrate a true "doing of the Word."

(7) Demonstrate that God can do BIG THINGS even in LITTLE THINGS.

(8) For God's supernatural protection on teams and project leaders.

(9) That the wiles of the enemy would be turned to even greater opportunities to bring glory to God.

(10) That those who get involved at the "last hour" would have no less impact than anyone else (Matthew 20:16).

(11) That Servolution would produce a plentiful harvest and that those who are helped through it would then "go and do likewise."

(12) That we all would be Reminded to pray, PRAY, PRAY!!

If you would like to learn about additional Servolution prayer opportunities, please contact Michele @209-535-8359

Moving On/Servolution

My thanks to everyone who has prayed for me these recent weeks. It's humbling to feel so loved and cared for!

So I'm trying to get back to normal, including blogging. I realized I was feeling overwhelmed by the fact that I'm so behind on the blogs I like to read, overwhelmed by the idea of reading EVERYTHING I've missed. So I decided to give myself permission to just read everyone's latest entry, or maybe a little more. I really doubt anyone will notice I'm not going back a month and a half. But I've really missed it!

I'm starting a new job on Monday at Memorial Medical Center in Modesto. Thank you, Lord! At least, provided I pass the drug test. I'm fretting that the Sudafed I took last week or the poppy seeds Mike recently put in the beef stroganoff will result in a positive drug screen. Well, those are some of the reasons I've heard claimed for a positive test... 

But more important, I'm now the designated prayer person for Servolution. Arrrggghhh!! What have I done!?!? What have I agreed to? No, seriously, I've received such encouragement and confirmation, for which I'm most grateful. This is God's project, not mine! Also I've been reading "Messy Spirituality" lately, and I'm encouraged. I guess maybe it's just possible that my extremely messy version of Christianity can contribute something. Or rather God's version in me. 

Isn't it awesome how God so uniquely re-creates His Son in each of us?

So I'm moving on, growing up, and generally getting on with the details of life. Balancing my checkbook after two months. Starting a new job. Gearing up for Servolution. 

Nothing stays the same, everything changes... Everything except our Lord, Who is the same yesterday, today and forever. He knew every nanosecond of my life and of your life, and the lives of all who will be touched by Servolution from the foundation of the world. Nothing surprises Him. Nothing comes as a shock. Nothing changes His incredible love for the world. To think He wants to shine forth His love through us on May 10th (and every day)... I can't wait!

God bless!

Bump in the Road

There's something so doable about sameness. I'm so sorry to keep making everything be about me, but I feel I need to explain about not blogging so much lately. And not keeping up on everyone else's blogs like I'd like to.

It's ever since losing my job. I don't feel depressed or worried... just different. Nothing really appears to have changed much in my life, other than the person signing my paychecks. I work the same basic days. I sit at the same workstation (for now, but that's to change). I eat lunch with the same people (except for others who are gone and I miss so much).

But at the same time everything feels eerily different. My life, at least for the short-term, is now more or less defined by what has happened. Almost like how everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing when they heard about 9/11. But it's just my own private 9/11. Every event in recent memory gets automatically (but consciously) put into pre- or post-job loss status, and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about that.

Life just seems to take a lot more energy, and I'm not sure why, exactly. It's such a minor bump in the road compared to what could be. And compared to things I've dealt with in the past. I trust there will come a time when my laundry and housework are again done on a regular basis. When I don't wake up and realize I haven't watered my plants in nearly two weeks. (Some plants will forgive this, some will not.) Or blogged about anything other than myself in who knows how long!

In the meantime, I find myself very thankful for the privilege of being able to keep up a steady dialogue with the Lord through this time. He sustains me and gives me peace. He calms the little storms of frustration at learning new systems, policies and procedures. And reminds me that by no means did my future fall from His hand when my job went bye-bye.

My little bump in the road, while bringing its bit of angst, also feels like I've hit a sacred time in my life. I'm learning big new things, taking a Big Girl Pill now and then, and continuing to grow up. That's in no way a bad thing!

Hi Kids!

Hey, Tess and Aron! I don't really have much to say about leading you on this wild goose chase, except that I love you with all my heart! And that I'm feeling a little free and silly lately. I guess getting canned (I still love saying that!) for the first time in my life just has that effect.

So did you respond to the survey?

By the way, if you could somehow join us for church on Easter, that would be awesome. Also we'll be cooking an incredible meal later on. No strings attached, though. The rosemary leg of lamb, mint sauce, vegan garlic mashed potatoes and gravy, and ambrosia salad will all miss you.

We'll at least save the chocolate bunny heads for you, though. Otherwise, the little varmints are all ours from the neck down!

Love you forever, Ma

It's "Servolution" time!

Did I spell it right? Sure hope so. I have great admiration for those who are able to come up with unique words like that. And I pray (join me now) that "servolution" becomes a concept that gets us (NLCC) SO fired up, it starts a ripple effect that goes on and on, and ON! And that because of it, the word "servolution" will actually be in a semi-normal dictionary no more than 10 years from now.

Hey, God's BIG... It could happen!!!!

Our culture already knows the concept, of course. We hear phrases like "puttin' your money where your mouth is" and "walkin' the talk." Unfortunately, we also hear things like, "Hell no, I'm not going to church! Those church people are all hypocrites! They want ME to obey a bunch of rules that THEY don't even follow!" And how sad that sometimes that assessment is truer than we'd like to admit.

So what I'm saying is, let's take church (God's doings) outside of the church (an inanimate building). Let's change the stereotype some people have of "church." While we're at it, let's change THE WORLD. Jesus did. And we are His agents of change today.

"Change you can believe in"? We already have a Messiah, thanks very much. His name is Jesus. Know Him.

Pray, pray, PRAY! Get ready for SERVOLUTION! Get ready for God's move!

Doing My Work Heartily...

I haven't had anything interesting to say since losing my job... not that I ever did! And I STILL don't! I've worked more and harder since being let go than I have in a long time. I'll explain: For at least the short-term I got picked up by the company that Emanuel is outsourcing to, primarily to work on the Radiology module which isn't "going over" to the new company for reasons I don't know enough "computer geek" to explain or even understand myself. So I'm still at my old workstation doing Radiology, while not having to answer phones or do any of the other troubleshooting I used to help with, since I DON'T REALLY WORK THERE! In the meantime I'm trying to learn their main systems, which so far don't strike me as very user-friendly, but it's probably too soon to tell. Since being "canned" (I love using that word! It sounds so dramatic!) I have worked every single day except last Sunday. And I'll be working today, as well. I think they may have underestimated the volume of work that'd be coming from Emanuel.

This morning I feel like I've been run over by a truck; the fibromyalgia is screaming at me, with my dirty house chiming in. So why would I want to do this to myself, while seemingly helping out an employer who maybe didn't show a lot of loyalty to me (and others)? For the very simple reason that I felt like the Lord asked me to. With several Bible verses to reinforce the idea. Didn't tell me... He asked me, very lovingly and graciously. He's my very life... How could I refuse Him?

No one asked about the dentist, but I'll tell you anyway. I have a big phobia about going to the dentist. I needed two fillings redone on opposite sides of my mouth. In a seemingly nonsensical move I decided to have them both done at the same time just to get the whole thing out of the way. Guess when I got that done? You guessed it... on the very last day of my dental coverage. Go figure... "more than coincidence"!

Still no word on the COBRA insurance, but Elizabeth is finally improving now on steroids.

Thanks for all the prayers, and for all the words of encouragement. The Family of God rocks!!!