What if??

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately. There are so many things that have challenged me since my trip to India!  Like, what is our purpose? What is God calling me to do? What are we doing with what we have? How can we be better stewards of what God has given us?

The interesting thing is that many others are also pondering the same questions.  God is putting exactly the same scripture verses, passages, words, on the hearts of MANY.  My anticipation grows as I see things building and it is exciting to know that great things are coming!  Isn't it interesting that God can set things up ALL by Himself?! :) That he does not require our help to orchestrate His plan?  I love it. 

One thing I remarked on today as we travelled about to various activities was this: We are gifted people!  God has put us here, as Christians, for very specific purposes with very individual callings and gifting.  And those gifts have a 2-fold purpose: To edify the Church, and to expand the Kingdom.  There is no other reason why you exist, in my opinion.  Jesus said we are to Love the Lord, and love our neighbours.  How can we do this?  By using all of who He made us to be!! 

I wonder what this would actually look like.  I wonder how our churches would function if we were all actually walking this out.  Because, sadly, I do not think we are.  What would the church look like if we were truly each stepping into our callings, exercising our gifts to edify and expand??  And these gifts do not all need to be exercised solely in the church building!  The Capital C Church, the Church of North America, the Church of the world, is what I am talking about. 

Jesus told us that we would do greater things than He. (John 14:12).  Do you know why? Because He was one person, walking in the Spirit, doing what He saw His father doing.  And WE are MANY, walking in the Spirit, doing what we see our Father doing!  Our power is exponentially greater because we are MANY, working as the Church, for the Kingdom!

What will that look like?  What will it look like in YOUR area, in your church?  It will not and can not be the same across the board.  We are not carbon-copy people.  But it must look like SOMETHING. 

And SOMETHING may be uncomfortable for others. It may challenge the "way we've always done it".  It might actually start to look like the early church did, where disciples were sent out, empowered by Jesus' teaching and later the Holy Spirit, to edify and expand.

What if people got so busy working for the Kingdom that they could no longer attend church programs? 

Can we only spread the Kingdom within the walls of the church?  Will people be released to GO?

What if people stepping into their purposes would mean others have to share theirs? 

Is there only one person in any congregation capable of leading, encouraging, teaching, helping, serving?

What if by gripping so tightly to your calling you hold others back from stepping into theirs? 

What if we were all able to work together, to encourage each other, to build each other up as fellow disciples of Christ, and to help each other to walk out our purposes?

What would the Kingdom look like then?

to expand the Kingdom, and edify the Church,

One day at a time,

Darcie.

Well Done!!

"The master was full of praise. 'Well done, my good and faithful servant.  You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities.  Let's celebrate together!' "

Matthew 25:21

TO WHOM MUCH IS GIVEN, MUCH IS REQUIRED. (Luke 12:48)

 I have been processing these verses since returning from India. The stark contrast between our countries is not easily ignored!  I see so much great wealth around us, so many fantastic blessings! India, as a nation, has very little in terms of wealth.  They do their best with what they have.  In North America we are overflowing in finance, posessions- we have the ability to create wealth! We are truly blessed beyond measure. I have read these verses many times, and I used to think they related only to finance, that those financially blessed have great responsibility.  This is certainly true!  But I believe it goes beyond finance. 

I look at my surroundings and see a nice house with things that I love, cherish and find comfort in.  I see my family, my four beautiful, healthy children, my handsome husband who works hard to provide for us.  In the driveway are our two vehicles, our lawn tractor is in the shed, the skidoo sits awaiting a good snowfall. The land we live on stretches out behind the house, and we can see the mountains in the distance. We have been given MUCH.  We are indeed blessed, and are thankful for what we have daily. 

1 Peter 4:10 says, "As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."

Gifts are given for a PURPOSE, not merely to create happiness in the recipient.  We are asked to be good stewards of what we have been given and I believe that Jesus wasn't just talking about physical things! 

In 1Cor 12:7-11, Paul lists many spiritual gifts: wisdom, words of knowledge, great faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues, interpretation of tongues. He says, "it is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts." (v.11)  We have been given MUCH!! 

He continues the list in verse 28: some are gifted in hospitality, some are teachers, apostles, prophets, those gifted in helping others, the gift of leadership.  How many of these can you relate to? 

I believe God has given each of us very specific gifts for very specific purposes. Nobody can carry out that purpose with that gift the same way you can!  These gifts are given so we can help each other, to edify the church, and to show the power of Christ to unbelievers.

SO...WHAT ARE WE DOING?

  As the Canadian Church, are we using our gifts as faithful servants?  I assure you, many are!  Many are pushing forward in the things of the Lord, eager to see His Kingdom advance.  This is good news!  Can you imagine the powerful advance that would occur with the sum total of all of our gifts being lived out in our daily lives???  That would be a sight to behold, and certainly a force the enemy could not contend with!  According to a 2001 survey, nearly 75% of Canadians claim to be Christian. I wonder, if this is even close to accurate, why is it not more apparent?

 Further on in the parable in Matthew we see the second part to this responsiblilty: "To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away." (emphasis mine).

What are we doing?  What danger are we facing of losing these great gifts we have been given simply because we chose to do nothing with them? A sobering thought. Shocking to me, actually.

I am speaking to myself here as well.  I am completely challenged in this area, and I write out of my own desire to change.

My challenge to you is this:

1.Identify your gifts! Ask the Lord, ask your friends, seek out the answers. 

2.Begin to ask the Lord what His purposes are for you in your gifts

3.Walk it out!  Let His purposes for you be know by all you come into contact with as you seek to serve Him, using the gifts he has equipped you with to do so!!

May His Kingdom advance as you step into the Lord's purposes for you,

one day at a time,

Darcie.

India- Healing!!

Da da daaa!!! What you have all been waiting for!  :D  There is not much that is more exciting than seeing God heal people and bring them to salvation!! It's like the cherry on the sundae. 
At the beginning of this Journey of Compassion we had 2 days of training, as I have mentioned.  Steve taught a lot on the Kingdom and healing. The message of the Kingdom is of the power of the age to come!  The bible says that there is no sickness in Heaven, and to be healed is to receive a taste of the Kingdom. 
 John 1:5 says, "The light shines in the darkness,
                   and the darkness can not overcome it."
Jesus RAN into the darkness!  Darkness is dark, sin is sin, but Jesus made the exchange.  We need to connect the supply of Heaven to the need in front of us.  Heaven is waiting for the words we speak, then power is released!
    And so, there are a few keys of healing.  The first is Expectation.  We need to move from the "hope so" to the "KNOW so".  The second is participating in Heavenly activity, and then recognizing that we are a part of what God is doing. Matthew 11:12 says that "the Kingdom of Heaven is forcefully advancing"! The last 3 keys are: understanding what the bible says about healing, (we need to study!) knowing the authority we carry to take back what the enemy has stolen, and knowing the delight of God- Jesus loves to heal!!
Now, there is a LOT more to all of this, but I'm sure you don't want my notes copied out on this page.  If you want more information, let me know!

We followed a very simple 5 step prayer model (Jesus doesn't need 5 steps, but it helps us keep things simple and allow Him to do the work!)
1. Ask, "What do you need?"
2. Listen to God
3. Invite God's Love
4. Command the healing (eyes open!)
5. Test it out!

Over 6 days of clinics and evening meetings in the villages we had MANY opportunities to pray for the sick.  In the waiting areas of the clinic, out in the village as we walked around, and in the evening meetings. The meetings would start with music, dancing and skits from the FM team. Then Steve or RK would give a salvation message and pray for those who would accept Christ for the first time. Then they would direct those who needed prayer to come to one of our team.  So many saved, and many healings as over 30 of us prayed for so many! 

One man with a very sore back was able to bend over and touch his toes, and came up smiling!  I remember him because of his smile :)
A woman with very painful, tight shoulders couldn't lift her hands above shoulder height.  After prayer she could raise them all the way straight up without any pain!
One woman had very poor vision due to cataracts.  After prayer her eyes went from cloudy to clear and her vision was fully restored!
There were two women with leg pains healed, and many with headaches and fevers healed as well!
One little boy had one hand that had been curled up for 2 years.  We shook hands while playing during the service.  Afterwards his mother came up to us to show that he could now freely open and close his hand!
One of our translators brought her mother to the open-air concert we took part in.  She couldn't understand why, with all of the healings we had been seeing in the villages, her mom was still almost completely deaf.  So we prayed, and her hearing was fully restored!! 
A young girl, from her apartment could hear the music from the same concert.  She had pills in her hand, ready to take her life.  As she listened to the worship music, she changed her mind!  Praise God for loud music! 
One young girl who had never spoken spoke her first words after prayer in one of the clinics. 
An elderly lady who was deaf and dumb received prayer and was able to speak AND hear again! She and her husband were overwhelmed with joy!
A woman who had been blinded by cataract surgery in one eye and had blurry vision in the other eye had her sight in BOTH eyes restored!
These are just a few, a sampling of what went on all week.  Mostly these are what I witnessed, others are testimonies from our team. 

I went to India hoping I would come home with a better understanding of how healing works, why some people are healed and not others, etc.  And sadly, I am none the wiser.  BUT I did learn that Jesus LOVES to heal, and every single person I prayed for was healed in Jesus name! 

  "And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind

and unplug the ears of the deaf.

 The lame will leap like a deer,

and those who cannot speak will sing for joy! "

Is. 35:5-6a

India- Medical Clinics

We spent 6 days doing medical clinics in 6 different villages.  Each day was run the same way, so here's the rundown!
5:30am wake up.  6am breakfast.  6:45am ready for the bus, load meds, bus pulls out at 7am.  We travelled between 2- 2.5 hours by bus to the village, using the time to listen to worship music (and possibly have a nap!). I thought I would be able to read and journal on the bus, but sadly motion sickness got the best of me if I tried!
In order to get to the villages we had to drive to a junction point where the roads branched out.  It was the only way to access them.  At the junction, we found out, police training was taking place.  This meant that we had to wait sometimes up to 25 min. until we could get onto the road we needed to complete our journey.  Sometimes we would use that time to worship together, some needed emergency bathroom breaks, other times we just waited patiently. 
Upon arrival in the village, this is what greeted us:

Notice the drum, the noise makers? And what you cannot see are the fireworks.  Yes, this group of Vijay's team greeted us and we followed them through the village with noisemakers, fireworks, cherry bombs and all, to where the medical camp tent was set up.  :D  It was so fun, we got better at waving at people as they came out of their homes to see what all the fuss was about, feeling like quiet the celebrities, Indian style! lol.  I did feel a bit sorry for the cows and chickens who had to endure the banging of the fireworks.

We arrived at the clinic, and this is what it would look like:





On the left is the intake waiting area.  3 of our team and 3 interpreters would take down information such as name, age, and what they needed care for.  Next came deworming, then a short wait to see a nurse.  The nurses tables were along the full back part of the tent.  One or two of us would be runners, taking patients to an available nurse, and taking finished patients to the pharmacy waiting area (front right side).  So we had 4 people working in the pharmacy, 6 nurses with interpreters working in the back, and a few of the prayer team praying for people in the waiting areas.  Others on the prayer team would walk around the village asking people if they needed prayer for anything.  Many would just approach us and ask for prayer!  We saw so many healings just on these prayer walks! (more on healings to come in next posting)


Let me back up a bit. Once we had arrived at the clinic, the women then formed a LONG line and followed some kind soul to a bathroom.  We prayed to see something like this:

squatter!! lol

but what we often got was this:

Looks like a cement room, right?  Well, it is. And you can't quite see it in this picture, but in the top left hand corner (which is the floor of the room) there is a small hole for drainage.  And a little bucket of water to wash things clean.  Now, you just TRY and do this without the splatter effect! lol. Enough said.


After the bathroom break we would meet for worship and prayer as a team for a few minutes, then get organized and open the clinic by about 10:30am.  We took a lunch break in shifts around 1pm, then closed intake by 2:30 so we could be done by 3pm.  In that time we saw anywhere from about 280 people to 320!  We worked like a well-oiled machine! :)  Our team and Vijay's guys who were interpreting, setting up and tearing down, worked so hard and everything went so smoothly.  It really was a wonder to see!


Not all of the jobs are medical, as I have mentioned.  Other than the 6 nurses we had 6 on intake, 4 on deworming, 2 runners, 4 in pharmacy, 2 on crowd control, 2 on kids ministry, and the remainder on prayer!  I had the priviledge of doing kids ministry on 3 of the 6 days :)  We colored, painted arms (they didn't want their faces painted- no mirrors!), blew bubbles, played frisbee, relay games, sang songs with actions, and had a ton of fun!

coloring time!

the finished products..notice the black hair in their pictures? :)

bubbles!!

The other three days I worked on intake (which I loved b/c it was a sit-down job!), deworming and as a runner.  It felt so good to be part of this amazing team working so hard to serve the people in the villages!

Our awesome interpreters

more bubble fun!

India- Arrival and Preparation

I am not too sure where to start, so I guess the beginning is as good a place as any! :D

    When I arrived in Vizag, India, I was greeted by Impact Nations founder Christina Stewart and Vijay Chris, leader of Friends Meet ministries, as well as a few members of his team.  They gave me a garland of flowers to welcome me, we loaded into the vehicle and were off to the hotel.  The traffic was the first thing I noticed.  So many vehicles on the road, sometimes 4 across on a 2 lane highway!  It was common to see a bus, a truck, a car and 2 motorbikes spanning the width..everyone seemed to fit and there were no accidents! We also saw multiple people, even whole families on one motorbike, no helmets, babies included!
     We stayed in the Best Western Ramachandra, a 6 week old hotel.  The manager is a friend of Steve and Christina and he insisted our team stay with him.  It was very nice, clean, new, good food, amazing service.  Each one of our team was paired up with a roommate.  I arrived a day early so mine was not there yet.
     The next day everyone else arrived and we met as a full team in the evening.  32 people from 5 nations: Canada, US, Holland, Australia, and UK.  We got really good at tuning our ears to all the different accents!
Our first full day together was on Monday, Jan. 15th.  We met as a team for the entire day for training, teaching, worship and to get to know everyone.  Steve taught on the Kingdom (same as he did in our church for those of you who were there in November).  He taught about healing and authority, discipleship and prayer.  I won't type out my notes here, but if you are interested in more info, let me know!
Tuesday was more teaching from RK Castillo about what causes a Jesus epidemic.  Understanding our purpose and calling, the necessity of signs and wonders.  I was so challenged and encouraged by all of this teaching!
We spent some time on Tuesday sorting meds, toys, coloring books, etc into 6 days worth for the 6 clinics we were doing. 
Tuesday evening Steve and Christina held an impartation service for us, praying for each one as we were preparing to go into the villages the next day for our first medical clinic and healing service.  It was a very special time as we were ministered to and received impartation for healing, words of knowledge and compassion!

Talk to him, tell him about Jesus

" Talk to him.  Tell him about Jesus." 

This is what I was told after handing lunch to a man who lives on the streets in Vizag, India.  We were waiting for a few more meals to be brought over to us, so this was my instruction for while we were waiting. 

My first thought was, " Talk to him about WHAT?!?  Can't you see he is HOMELESS? "  I can't exactly ask him how he is doing or how he's enjoying the weather. I had no words.  So I asked what I should talk to him about.  "Tell him about Jesus" was the reply. 

What was I to say?  "Jesus loves you?" , "He cares for you?", "He died for you?" All I could think was how angry that would make me if I were in his situation.  And so, I am ashamed to say, I looked at the pastor I was with and said, "I don't know what to say." 

Ouch. I am, after all, a Christian, have been so for many years. I KNOW Jesus!  I love Him, and love to tell others about Him.  

  I couldn't see past his situation.  I couldn't see past the hopelessness he was living in in the physical.  But I have learned something.  What was being asked of me was not to speak to his situation, but to speak to his HEART. 

 Jesus didn't come that we may live perfect lives of peaceful harmony.   He didn't come to change our physical situations.  He came to seek and save the lost! (Luke 19:10).  He came to offer us an eternity with Him so that when we are done with this cruel world we have HOPE!!

He came to set the captives free, to renew our minds, to fill us with hope, and to lift our burdens.  He came so that in our times of desperation we have someone to lean on, to find shelter in, and cast our burdens upon.

THAT is what I should have told the man on the street.  To speak to his spirit and give him hope, no matter what situation he may find himself in. To tell him that he has worth, that he has value, in a place where his life screams of worthlessness. Where even other churches in his area cannot understand why we would bother to help him. Many of these people will never even have record of their existence.

 Because the truth is, Jesus DOES love the man on the sidewalk.  He loves him the same as he loves the man in the office, the woman on the bus, the child on the playground. He died for the rich in the mansions, the poor in the shacks, and everyone in between.  He makes no distinction of class or worth- ALL are sinners, ALL have fallen short of the glory of God (Rom.3:23).  

An abundant life doesn't mean one filled with the riches of this world.  In Christ, a man on the street can live in more abundance than the rich without Christ.  

So, what would you say to this man?  What would you tell him about Jesus?  What you believe about the King will determine the way you live your life. It will determine what you say.  Who is your Jesus?  

I believe we need to have an answer. We cannot be caught off guard as I was that day. We need to know the heart of the King we serve so that we can give an accurate picture of who He is to those He died to save. 

May we never be at a loss for words.

Open up, ancient gates!

Open up, ancient doors,

and let the King of glory enter.

 Who is the King of glory?

The LORD, strong and mighty;

the LORD, invincible in battle.

 Open up, ancient gates!

Open up, ancient doors,

and let the King of glory enter.

 Who is the King of glory?

The LORD of Heaven’s Armies—

he is the King of glory.

                  Psalm 24:7-10

Making mistakes and learning,

one day at a time,

Darcie.

It is a weird thing, travelling and switching time zones.  i managed eight lovely hours of sleep last night, until nearly 6 this morning!  felt amazing after so many hours of sleepless travel.
At this point there are 9 of us who arrived a day early. We met for breakfast this morning, then left for church at 7:30
  The traffic makes me laugh here.  Stop signs that are apparently a waste of material, no helmets on motorbikes, lines that are also a waste of paint! People just honk for everything.  To warn they are coming, to get into a spot, to move out of another.  It actually seems like magic, how everyone weaves in and out, pedestrians included, and nobody gets hurt!  Not the family of 4 on a motorbike, not the women sitting sidesaddle on the motorbikes, nor the children and babies between parents on motorbikes.  It is probably the most facinating thing i have ever seen!
Anyway, i digress.  We went to church held on the top floor of a little apartment building, a congregation of about 20.  I was surprised to see electric guitar, drums and mics!  This is a group of people passionate to be Jesus for their city.  They work days and nights, feeding the poor each week, putting on concerts, prayer each morning and all are invited to come and work at the office for any time they can.  All available hands pitching in.  Such an amazing picture of the body working in unity!
The service lasted 3 hours, and we were on our way, first to the pastor's home for a visit, then back to the hotel.  Today another 20 people are arriving for our team, and training starts tonight! The anticipation of what God has in store for this week is growing...it's gonna be great!