Much is happening! The Spirit of the Lord is moving and many lives are being touched and changed by His love. We have been so busy not only with things of the Lord but practical things as well (doing much needed repairs and projects on the house and apartment).
We have been attending revival meetings at Riversong, a Church down the road from us on Limestone street. The Lord is igniting His people. These meetings have been going for 15 weeks and there appears to be no end in sight. We have been meeting 4 nights per week and it is breaking out into the city.
We have opened our home to friday night gatherings. Wow! This is it! The Lord is assembling a core of radical people, on fire and passionate for Jesus. Two of the people, who are both co-laborers and leaders, are Rob and Becca Mcpherson . Rob is a descendant of Aimie Semple Mcpherson and he is packing with the anointing. So is Becca. We simply give our meetings over to the Holy Spirit and everyone jumps in, actively participating as one. I Cor. 14:26 is applied and as a result, people are growing in their gifts and callings. Last friday our God did some unusual things; As Jesse and Micah led in worship, together we flowed in Eph 5: 18-21 and Col. 3:16. Toward the end, in unison we were singing what felt like a bar song, but we weren't getting drunk with wine. While we were praying for one of the young people, the Holy Spirit made it so clear to Maureen and I, and then everyone else, that we were to open our home for her to live with us! We now have a new daughter, Shauna. Just in the last couple of months, the Lord has done a great work in her! Delivered from depression! Filled with the Holy Spirit! Flowing in the prophetic! Empathic intercession! Last week praying in the Spirit for the first time and now with with both barrels blazing. She is an awesome young lady, called and anointed of God. She has a fatherless broken past but now she is a part of our family. And I couldn't be more proud. It's destiny! She fits so well. During this time of change and transition, your prayers for Shauna are so needed.
I sensed from the Holy Spirit, that it would be good for Shauna to share from her heart. So, here's Shauna!
Love D-love Bro Duke
God is so good. 4 months ago the person and the way I was living was completely opposite from the way I'm living now and I've never been happier. I wasn't walking in faith at all; I was filled with anger, hate and believed and had convinced myself that Jesus hated me. I felt that if He loved me I wouldn't be going through the things I was but I had forgot all about the enemy and how he can side track you from the love of the Lord. I had lost a best friend to a sudden death, and had never felt or dealt with that type of pain and for a year I was in a deep dark depression. I found myself lost in so much pain. I also had a lot of family issues I was dealing with and had always been dealing with, so many secrets to keep and hide. I felt it was me and this insane world head to head; I was alone and hated everyone around me because of the pain I was dealing with.
My mother had been attending church and revival meetings. She had been trying countless times to have me attend but I just kept blowing her off. I wasn't too excited about what she was talking about because I was also dealing with forgiveness problems I had with her and some of the choices she had made in the past. Me and my mother are very close and I love her with all my heart but I've learned that the people who you love the most and who are the closest to you can also hurt you the most. It was the end of August and I had been having a hard time with depression because August of last year was when I had lost my friend so it was all coming back to mind. It was around 4 in the evening and I had been crying all day long and had locked myself in my room and laying in the middle of the floor, asking God why He wouldn't take away the pain and I was carrying on blaming Him for all the pain I was feeling. My mom was getting ready for revival and had knocked on the door and asked me if I would like to go with her. I yelled at her "NO" then a couple seconds after I had said no I had changed my mind and began to get ready for my first night of "REVIVAL!" As soon as I walked in the church I felt such a relief and so many weights lifted off my chest before service started. I was sitting alone looking around and out of nowhere this man came up to me and asked "who are you?" and I replied "I don't know" and he told me "YOU'RE A CHILD OF GOD AND MY PAPA LOVES YOU," and that was the day I met Duke and the family.
The first time I talked to Duke I was so open and felt like I knew him all my life and I could tell he had the Holy Spirit all over him and in him. That night at the end of the service Duke and his family asked me if they could pray for me and I said sure not knowing that would be the night my life as I knew it would be changed. As they all laid hands on me and prayed in the Spirit I began to feel funny like I had butterflies, like something I've never felt before. As they continued to pray for me everything they were saying was dead on, as if they knew me for years! That night while praying I had let out a scream and when I had let that scream out everything that I was dealing with had left: all the sadness, all the depression, the anger. Everything that was bringing me down had left my body and the love from the Lord had entered. That same night I felt a love from the Level family, a love I did not understand because I had never met a family like theirs, a family with so much love and understanding, so much talent, so much peace and the Lord's love all over each and every one of them. I had always prayed for a family like them; I just thought it would be too good to be true for a girl like me, a girl from a broken home, a girl with secret , a girl who wasn't walking in faith with the Lord, a girl who thought Jesus didn't love her. I thought that I wasn't good enough to have a family like this; it just wasn't what I was supposed to have but I was wrong, VERY wrong. Jesus doesn't intend for us too go through horrible things; that's not in His plan, and one thing I always tell myself when things get bad is "GOD WILL NEVER GIVE US TOO MUCH TO BARE." I've seen a lot and had to go through a lot but with His love and the grace of God I made it through.
I am so thankful for the Level family , Papa Duke , Mama Level , Leah , Jesse , Micah , Stephen , Chloe , and little Ethan [ I LOOOOOVEEE YOOUUUUUU ALLL ! ] ; thank you so much for bringing me into your home and family and loving me and excepting me for who I am and letting me know Papa loves me. I'm so thankful for you all. And Jesus thank you for being a never ending loving father and forgiving me for all my sins and never leaving my side. Thank you for bringing the people in my life to me and shining your love through them on to me. I LOVE YOU PAPA.
Shauna
Lovely!
ReplyDeleteGod is so good-this we know. And as He continues to prove it, we continue to proclaim it!
Love to you ALL!
Lysa and Family