Glory Glitter....

On the 2nd or 3rd day at school I remember having a conversation with a couple of girls (who are now good friends) about glitter.  They showed me their hands and there was this incredibly fine glitter on their palms, backs of the hands and some on their arms.  I checked my hands and sure enough I had some too.  At this point I wasn't convinced that it wasn't make-up so I decided to do a little experiment....

Over the next few days I was careful to wear only black mascara, therefore limiting the possibility of glitter from eye shadow or blusher (sorry chaps this is a bit girlie - stick with it) I also made sure that I thoroughly washed my hands before worship, didn't hug or touch anybody that remotely sparkled and check my hands pre and post worship.  I would wave my hands around in the air, swishing them about, trying to sort of collect it I guess- sure enough when I checked them, there it was...glory glitter!  I decided on the name because it isn't Gold Dust I've heard it called Heaven Dust, but Glory Glitter sort of has a ring to it. Sometimes it is really clear and you can easily see it, other times you have to move your hand around to let the light catch it, sometimes there isn't any. It doesn't seem to be measured (unsurprisingly) by how amazing the worship time is or if I've powerfully met with God. The coolest time it happened was when I was sat at home by myself doing my homework reading about the attributes of God and I was suddenly aware that the back of my hands and palms were slightly sparkling.  I'd just had a shower and nothing glittery had come remotely near me.

Why? I have no idea! I don't even want to try and work it out.  For me it is something about me turning my affections to Jesus only to find that His gaze has never left me, its like a visible reminder that He is here, omnipresent, and loving me.

Ask for it, I dare you

My 1st 'Leg growing....'

On Tuesdays I have Advanced Ministry Training, you get to choose 4 different ones throughout the year and my 1st one is Kingdom Healing.  So this week at the beginning of class they gave 3 words of knowledge and prayed for healing, showing us how it was done.  I was right at the front and watched as this ladies leg grew - I'd sort of seen it before but kind of doubted it - but with this there was no space for doubt, her leg was a good half inch shorter, it blew my mind, I knew I was standing there gawping at her foot.

At the end of the class the team said that if you needed healing to hang around and if you wanted to pray for healing to join in, so I joined in.  The leader chap got everyone with bad backs to sit on a chair with their hips and bum pushed right back.  We then held their feet up (with shoes on) and looked to see the difference in length. He helped me the first time and the guys leg slowly grew about a half inch until it was even WOW.  Now it was my solo turn (it gets interesting, as if it wasn't already).  I checked that my 'patient' was sat correctly, held his feet up and there was a centimeter difference.  I said 'I command you, leg grow!' it did - but it was the wrong one!!! the one that was longer grew out another few millimeters - I kid you not!!! I quickly told the leader chap and he said 'Be specific' (why didn't I think of that) so I said ' Right leg grow' and it did leveling up to the left leg. Phew.

Next the leader asked if anybody wanted to be taller (I totally didn't know we could ask for things like that) and 2 of my friends sat down. I prayed for one of them, first of all the legs leveled out (sounds so normal) and then she said she wanted to be about an inch taller, so I commanded her level legs to grow, first her left and then her right (being specific).  It was completely crazy, I was holding her feet tight pushing against her heals and I could feel her legs pushing out towards me, they would sort of shift and wiggle. By the end of our time of gawping, laughing and shouting NO WAY, she went from sitting on a chair with her feet only slightly touching the floor, to sitting on a chair with her feet flush to the floor!!!! AMAZING!!!     I LOVE JESUS

Day trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park

I had the privalege of joining a happy party to Lassen, this weekend.  It truly is a beautiful place, after entering the National Park we drove for a good 30 minutes along a twisting road that journeyed through conifers with quick glimpses of Lassen peak, lakes and massive vistas over looking the surrounding area.  On arriving at Bumpass Pass we walked for about 1.5 miles to the 'rotten egg smelling' fumaroles and boiling mud pots. Well worth a return visit.

Mr Squirrel

As promised I can now bring you an update of my fircone saga. For those of you who have no clue what I'm talking about, check out my post on the 29 September.

Picking up the story where I left off will most definitely drag out the affair.  Needless to say in a fit of compassion I agreed with Grey Squirrel that he could indeed have the fircone, I mean come on, he uses his teeth and entire body weight to pull his dinner into the bushes before he starts gnawring at it - I've never had to work that hard for a meal! And he has given me the perfect conversation starter as I heard my neighbours (who I haven't met yet) commenting on how the fircone was slowly being annihilated

Here is the culprit (partner in neighbourhood evangelism)

Nail Varnish

I heard an amazing testimony the other day -

Joy Barhams housemate prayed for a girls toe nail to grow back and it did...along with the exact same nail varnish to match her other toes!!! COME ON

Kingdom Culture

10th of October already......actually its the 10/10/10...?!

Wow what a month it has been, I am having a blast and am soooo excited there is loads more to come.  I've been trying to get my thoughts together to explain what has impacted me the most and one of the major things is culture. At Bethel you hear loads about impacting people, cities and nations by influencing the culture.  When I think of culture I tend to attach it to a country, for example I'd say that Afternoon Tea is an intrinsic part of the English culture, or that Londonderry was named the City of Culture. But what I've been learning about is Kingdom Culture and what happens when you bring Kingdom Culture into your area of influence.

The best way I've heard it explained is like a Green House. For a seed to grow to reach its pull potential you need to provide it with sustained soil, water, sunlight.  You need to tend to it, protect it and provide it with a 'culture' that will guarantee life - a Green House.  In the same way we can build a 'Green House' of Kingdom Culture, with love as the driving force in our streets, neighbourhoods and cities.

These are some of the Kingdom Cultures that have impacted me:

The Goodness of God - living life with an expectation that good things are going to happen is such a powerful witness, it is so much more the norm' to have an expectation for hardship (Ps 23:6).
 

Generosity - Holding things lightly to live generously - possessions, finance, time.
 

Honour - Respect, more than being considerate its actively showing high regard to each other, to God.
 

Calling out the greatness - Speaking to each other in love, calling out the gold.

This Kingdom Culture has impacted me the most. I am surrounded by people who genuinely love me and talk to me out of a place of knowing that I am made in the image of God, that I am a Saint not a sinner, that I am a Princess.  I rarely hear negativity but instead am constantly told I'm amazing - and do you know what I'm starting to believe them, its not arrogance, its a confidence in who I am in Christ!

So how does this impact a city? a few stories that display the culture of Generosity:

A long time ago a lady from Bethel went into a Spa and when paying for her treatment the sales girl commented on how she really liked her handbag.  The lady asked for a plastic bag, emptied all her belongings into it and handed the sales girl her handbag.

Around the same time the same lady from Bethel was at a checkout and realised she had left her wallet in the car, when she got back; the sales clerk had totalled up the next customers goods, so instead of just paying for herself she paid for the next customers shopping as well, the customer took ages to accept the generous offer and conversation lead to Jesus and an opportunity to pray.

Skip forward to a year ago. At the local drive through Starbucks a Bethel student told the sales clerk that they were going to pay for the customers drinks in the next car, when that car pulled up to the window to pay and were told that their drinks had already been paid for, they decided to do the same.  This pattern of generosity continued unbroken for the next 6 hours, the local newspaper even turned up to see what was going on!!

Skip forward again to a couple of weeks ago when 2 chaps in my year asked the cashier at the local drive threw Taco Bell if it was ok for them to pay for the customer behind.  The cashier said 'sure' lent forward and asked 'so tell me, why does everybody keep doing this?'

I absolutely love these stories of generosity. Redding used to be called Poverty Flats, it was a dead end, a place where the homeless and ex offenders were dumped. Now it is a town where an act of generosity goes unbroken for 6 hours!!! It fills me with such faith for my street, town, city to be transformed by Kingdom Culture.