Good day everyone!
Hope everyone has had a lovely weekend. Just wanted to update you all with what's been happening this week......
Not a lot.
Just kidding. Sort of. This past week there's been a conference on at church which means we only had school on Tuesday and half of Wednesday and the rest of the week off. When there's a conference on we quite often get some of the speakers in school to talk to us, which is what happened this week.
On Tuesday we had Bob and Bonnie Jones in school to talk to us briefly which was brilliant. Bob shared some of the insight he has from God and being over 80 years old he had some great stuff that he shared. One thing that stood out was the emphasis he feels God is placing on Networking, which has become especially important to us as we've been out here for 6 months with only 3 months left. It's vitally important the church and it's leaders maintain networks and close relationships because we can help each other out.
Tuesday also saw the last session of the Revival history course with Ray Hughes that I've been a part of. Ray's enthusiasm for history and the many moves of God over the years is so infectious, I've really enjoyed listening to Ray for the last 5 weeks and it's a real shame it's over but it has given me an appetite to further study history and the many men and women used by God over the years. It has also coincided with us reading God's Generals by Roberts Liardon as part of our course, which is awesome. The many people in the book are so inspiring and encouraging.
We had Graham Cooke come into school on Wednesday, again another amazing time. Graham is from England but now lives and works in America, so it was refreshing to hear a British accent. Graham shared some awesome stuff, it was so good I gave up taking notes because I didn't want to miss anything. One awesome thing he said was 'You don't become a new person by changing your behavior, you become a new person by discovering the person you already are in Christ and behave accordingly'. So often we try harder to do things different or change a behaviour that we don't like but really we need to realise who God says we are and who God sees us as and understand that we need more of God's grace. I think this is the biggest thing I've learnt this year; who God says I am and who He sees me as.
We spent Thursday and Friday mainly just relaxing and catching up on homework because the weather hasn't been too great recently. More like England really. We had Bill speak on Sunday morning at church, another awesome message I'd encourage you to get hold of. It's such a privilege to be able to call Bethel Church 'home' for a season.
Thanks for reading this, we're so blessed that people read our blog posts and take an interest in how we're doing. Thanks for stopping by. Feel free to contact us and let us know what's going on.
Blessings and Love
Liam and Izzy
Monday, February 28, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Dear Reader,
Here's a selection of exciting things that have happened in my life in the last 2 weeks.Enjoy,
Sat 5th Feb: Woke up at 7 to get to the healing rooms at Bethel for 8. Got there, signed in, chatted, started walking around praying and getting jacked up on love.
We split up into teams of 4-5 and at 9 the leaders let people in(by then they would have filled in a form asking what was wrong with them and other questions and been in the encounter room worshiping/ praying/ waiting) we prayed for a lady with arthritis,she said her pain level was a 3/10 at that time but it did get really bad, so we prayed for a while and sure enough when we had finished she was dancing around saying she was pain free. So we all danced together. We prayed for a man who came over looking very sullen, we prayed and prophesied over him, he left with tears in his eyes happier than ever having been healed.
there were many more people that we prayed for and all left smiling and praising God our healer.
Left for San Fran in a tiny little plane that seated about 30. Sat next to a man who was a writer and was looking for a house to buy in Redding. We chatted all the way and ended up giving me his card because his wife had written a children's book and was looking for an illustrator! i got to pray for him and his family about some stuff and it was really good.
waited for 4 hours in San Fran airport, met some nice people including a shoe shine Mexican granddad who was lovely.
Sun 6th Feb: Got to England after a Loooooooong flight and was met by my parents. We got back to Cheddar in time for my little sister Corries baptism, which was amazing. She gave her testimony and got dunked, then everyone stood around her and prayer and prophesied over her. Then John Heather did a wonderful preach about our hearts. Was lovely to meet little Chloe, our friends new baby. Shes just gorgeousness!
Mon 7th: Visiting day. catching up with lovely people i hadn't seen for 6 months. Got to pray for Liam's Nan and some others. was soooooo good.
Tues 8th: Headed to Nottingham to help Hannah with wedding prep, saw her new house.
Fri 11th: Had a great family dinner with extended family, including my Uncle who had come back from Kenya for the wedding.
Sat 12th: WEDDING DAY!! Hannah looked stunning, and it was a perfect day. Was lovely to see everyone and have Matt welcomed into our family, and we met Matt's family who were just brilliant and we are looking forward to seeing them again.
Sun 13th: Drove to Heathrow dropped me off, then mum and dad dropped Corrie off at Gatwick for her flight to France.
Tues 15th: went back to school had so many people say they missed me which was AMAZING. Had Kris Vallotton speak, which was great as always.
Wed 16th: Bill Spoke, and we went to a social justice evening at Bethel, they showed a film and had stalls. It was really eye opening about sex trafficking and slave labour. Always ask if your coffees is fair trade wherever you go!!!
Thurs 17th: It SNOWED. That was a surprise i thought id get back to warm summer sun but no.:(
Fri 18th: Joaquin Evans spoke on the Holy Spirit, Then we had revival group where Joaquin's intern Josh Stevens spoke and had words of knowledge(God telling him what he wants to heal in the room) for healing, so some people got healed! :)
Sat 19th: Healing rooms again! What a day.SOOOO good.We prayed for a lady 1st who had a bad back and kidney problems, so my leader, sat her down and checked the length of her legs, one was shorter than the other so my leader sat her down and commanded in Jesus Name for the leg to grow out, then he asked her if she wanted to be taller, she said yes, so he commanded the left leg to grow even more. I literally saw her leg grow an inch longer than the other.I saw it move. then he commanded the other to grow, this happened a few times until she was a bit taller, probably about an inch and a half. Probably the coolest thing i have seen God do with my own eyes. He loves us so much, and He is so fun!
We saw a lady who had a frozen shoulder get unfrozen, she couldn't kneel cos it was too painful, and God healed her and she was kneeling by the end. We saw a lady who had one foot smaller than the other, so we commanded the smaller foot to grow and it did, so she now has the same size feet, God also healed her headaches and trauma pain from a car accident a few years earlier. A lady who had broken her arm the Thursday before was being prayed for in a group next to us, her pain level went from a 10 to a 0, and she could move her fingers, which she hadn't been able to do when she came in.
Someone in another group prayed for a lady with a brain tumour, she said her head was getting lighter and lighter and when she stood up she wasn't dizzy which she had been before cos her equilibrium was messed up.
There are more testimony's but I haven't got time to tell them all. It all happened between 9 and 12pm that morning.
Sun 20th: Church was amazing, Bill Johnson (senior leader) spoke. after i went up the front with a friend to pray for people (people who want prayer for anything can go up, maybe about 200 people go up each week) we prayed for 2 women, it was really amazing to pray, as Joaquin says ' we don't need to know how to do our job, we just need to let God do his.' all we did was invite the Holy Spirit, then command healing, and God shows up.
If you don't know this Jesus I'm talking about, he really is AMAZING TO KNOW. :) Hes our Savior, Healer and Deliverer.SO GOOD.
That evening Bob Jones was in town for the conference that's going on this week. Bob Jones is a famous prophet, he spoke on some interesting things about the future. (if you'd like to know please email me)
Mon 21st: Today i have been with my lovely friend Lynda who is the writer of the book I'm illustrating. We spent half the day together in a book shop discussing the book.Its been a good day so far. And we're about to have cookies so the day's gonna get even better!
We have Graham Cooke and Bob Jones coming in to school to teach us this week, so we will keep you updated.
hope you've enjoyed reading this diary/blog.
You've done well to reach the end, it's so long!
Thank you xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us.
1John 4:16-19
Here's a selection of exciting things that have happened in my life in the last 2 weeks.Enjoy,
Sat 5th Feb: Woke up at 7 to get to the healing rooms at Bethel for 8. Got there, signed in, chatted, started walking around praying and getting jacked up on love.
We split up into teams of 4-5 and at 9 the leaders let people in(by then they would have filled in a form asking what was wrong with them and other questions and been in the encounter room worshiping/ praying/ waiting) we prayed for a lady with arthritis,she said her pain level was a 3/10 at that time but it did get really bad, so we prayed for a while and sure enough when we had finished she was dancing around saying she was pain free. So we all danced together. We prayed for a man who came over looking very sullen, we prayed and prophesied over him, he left with tears in his eyes happier than ever having been healed.
there were many more people that we prayed for and all left smiling and praising God our healer.
Left for San Fran in a tiny little plane that seated about 30. Sat next to a man who was a writer and was looking for a house to buy in Redding. We chatted all the way and ended up giving me his card because his wife had written a children's book and was looking for an illustrator! i got to pray for him and his family about some stuff and it was really good.
waited for 4 hours in San Fran airport, met some nice people including a shoe shine Mexican granddad who was lovely.
Sun 6th Feb: Got to England after a Loooooooong flight and was met by my parents. We got back to Cheddar in time for my little sister Corries baptism, which was amazing. She gave her testimony and got dunked, then everyone stood around her and prayer and prophesied over her. Then John Heather did a wonderful preach about our hearts. Was lovely to meet little Chloe, our friends new baby. Shes just gorgeousness!
Mon 7th: Visiting day. catching up with lovely people i hadn't seen for 6 months. Got to pray for Liam's Nan and some others. was soooooo good.
Tues 8th: Headed to Nottingham to help Hannah with wedding prep, saw her new house.
Fri 11th: Had a great family dinner with extended family, including my Uncle who had come back from Kenya for the wedding.
Sat 12th: WEDDING DAY!! Hannah looked stunning, and it was a perfect day. Was lovely to see everyone and have Matt welcomed into our family, and we met Matt's family who were just brilliant and we are looking forward to seeing them again.
Sun 13th: Drove to Heathrow dropped me off, then mum and dad dropped Corrie off at Gatwick for her flight to France.
Tues 15th: went back to school had so many people say they missed me which was AMAZING. Had Kris Vallotton speak, which was great as always.
Wed 16th: Bill Spoke, and we went to a social justice evening at Bethel, they showed a film and had stalls. It was really eye opening about sex trafficking and slave labour. Always ask if your coffees is fair trade wherever you go!!!
Thurs 17th: It SNOWED. That was a surprise i thought id get back to warm summer sun but no.:(
Fri 18th: Joaquin Evans spoke on the Holy Spirit, Then we had revival group where Joaquin's intern Josh Stevens spoke and had words of knowledge(God telling him what he wants to heal in the room) for healing, so some people got healed! :)
Sat 19th: Healing rooms again! What a day.SOOOO good.We prayed for a lady 1st who had a bad back and kidney problems, so my leader, sat her down and checked the length of her legs, one was shorter than the other so my leader sat her down and commanded in Jesus Name for the leg to grow out, then he asked her if she wanted to be taller, she said yes, so he commanded the left leg to grow even more. I literally saw her leg grow an inch longer than the other.I saw it move. then he commanded the other to grow, this happened a few times until she was a bit taller, probably about an inch and a half. Probably the coolest thing i have seen God do with my own eyes. He loves us so much, and He is so fun!
We saw a lady who had a frozen shoulder get unfrozen, she couldn't kneel cos it was too painful, and God healed her and she was kneeling by the end. We saw a lady who had one foot smaller than the other, so we commanded the smaller foot to grow and it did, so she now has the same size feet, God also healed her headaches and trauma pain from a car accident a few years earlier. A lady who had broken her arm the Thursday before was being prayed for in a group next to us, her pain level went from a 10 to a 0, and she could move her fingers, which she hadn't been able to do when she came in.
Someone in another group prayed for a lady with a brain tumour, she said her head was getting lighter and lighter and when she stood up she wasn't dizzy which she had been before cos her equilibrium was messed up.
There are more testimony's but I haven't got time to tell them all. It all happened between 9 and 12pm that morning.
Sun 20th: Church was amazing, Bill Johnson (senior leader) spoke. after i went up the front with a friend to pray for people (people who want prayer for anything can go up, maybe about 200 people go up each week) we prayed for 2 women, it was really amazing to pray, as Joaquin says ' we don't need to know how to do our job, we just need to let God do his.' all we did was invite the Holy Spirit, then command healing, and God shows up.
If you don't know this Jesus I'm talking about, he really is AMAZING TO KNOW. :) Hes our Savior, Healer and Deliverer.SO GOOD.
That evening Bob Jones was in town for the conference that's going on this week. Bob Jones is a famous prophet, he spoke on some interesting things about the future. (if you'd like to know please email me)
Mon 21st: Today i have been with my lovely friend Lynda who is the writer of the book I'm illustrating. We spent half the day together in a book shop discussing the book.Its been a good day so far. And we're about to have cookies so the day's gonna get even better!
We have Graham Cooke and Bob Jones coming in to school to teach us this week, so we will keep you updated.
hope you've enjoyed reading this diary/blog.
You've done well to reach the end, it's so long!
Thank you xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us.
1John 4:16-19
Monday, February 7, 2011
Hello again!
Sorry again for not blogging for a while. As mentioned before, our latop has been a bit troublesome, but I've managed to prop it up in such a way that it works. For now anyway. So I'll fill you in on what's been going on....
Before I go on and update you all, I'd like to acknowledge the fact that this blog post will be missing something. Or rather someone. Izzy is back at home in the UK for a week for her older sister's, Hannah, wedding. So it's just me for this one, but I'll do my best.
The back end of last week was a very exciting and interesting time at school. We had special guests in the shape of Georgian and Winnie Banov come in and talk and lead worship. What an amazing time! If you're not familiar with the Banov's, well I can only apologise. They're....I'm not really sure what the word is but the fact they're referred to as 'Joy Apostles' sums it up quite rightly. They lead worship in a way that you can't help but be joyful! and they really have an amazing revelation on what Jesus did for us on the cross. If you get chance to listen or see them, do it. It's incredible. A lot of their ministry is to the poorest of the poor around the world, from gypsies in Eastern Europe, to rubbish dumps in Central America. Amazing stuff.
Izzy left for home on Saturday from Redding, with a change at San Francisco. She had been in the Healing Rooms as a prayer servant for the first time on Saturday morning, where she saw amazing breakthroughs in people's physical health including praying for a lady with rheumatoid arthritis who said the pain left and she was now pain-free! Very exciting stuff! As the session was coming to a close,I quickly whisked her off to the airport however to catch her flight. Redding airport was so small, made Bristol airport look like a major hub for air transport. Izzy said the plane was really small too, she had to duck in order to move up and down the plane. But she made it back to Heathrow after about 15 hours or so, just in time to make it back to Cheddar to see her younger sister, Corrie, get baptised! I'm told everyone had a great time, really sad I didn't get to be there but I'm so proud and excited for Corrie. Well done! You're awesome!
Sunday came and it wasn't just Any Given Sunday, it was Superbowl Sunday! First we had church in the morning, where Bill was just amazing. He really hit the nail on the head, with how I've been feeling and thinking for probably the last 2 months or so. It's so easy to get caught in the culture of Bethel while here and not have your own life with God. It's so easy to hear the testimonies and just get caught up in the flow of life without actually having your own history. (I'd like to point you in the direction of our housemates and friends, Josh and Em, who on their last blog entry did a great job of discussing this) And that's going to be the big test for us when we leave, when we'll be away from Bethel and Bill Johnson and all the other awesome ministries here, will we truly have our own well to draw from, as it were. As Bill said, the only way to be a credible witness is to have first hand testimony. Please, I encourage you to listen to the recording if you have chance.
And then came the game. I've watched a few Superbowls back in England so I was really looking forward to this one, especially as it meant I didn't have to stay up til 4 or more in the morning to finish watching it. We had a few people round, mostly non-american's though which was quite funny. We were all fairly new to it all. It was really an international event as the nations of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK and Yorkshire were represented. Although Dayna, from Canada, mistakenly took Tony, from the nation of Yorkshire, for an Irishman, which led to a few laughs. The game itself though was good. The main complaint was that it was so long, unlike football (soccer (hurts to type that word)) or rugby which are both quite freeflowing sports, but the Superbowl commercials were good fun, each company really tries hard every year to put out great adverts. My favourite was a Doritos one.
Anyways, it's now getting late and I need to get some beauty sleep. Please be praying for me as I'm all on my own (well, I do have friends but I miss Izzy) and Izzy and her family as they prepare for Hannah's wedding this coming Saturday.
God bless you all, He is awesome!
Peace & Love
Liam
'For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him'
John 3:17
Sorry again for not blogging for a while. As mentioned before, our latop has been a bit troublesome, but I've managed to prop it up in such a way that it works. For now anyway. So I'll fill you in on what's been going on....
Before I go on and update you all, I'd like to acknowledge the fact that this blog post will be missing something. Or rather someone. Izzy is back at home in the UK for a week for her older sister's, Hannah, wedding. So it's just me for this one, but I'll do my best.
The back end of last week was a very exciting and interesting time at school. We had special guests in the shape of Georgian and Winnie Banov come in and talk and lead worship. What an amazing time! If you're not familiar with the Banov's, well I can only apologise. They're....I'm not really sure what the word is but the fact they're referred to as 'Joy Apostles' sums it up quite rightly. They lead worship in a way that you can't help but be joyful! and they really have an amazing revelation on what Jesus did for us on the cross. If you get chance to listen or see them, do it. It's incredible. A lot of their ministry is to the poorest of the poor around the world, from gypsies in Eastern Europe, to rubbish dumps in Central America. Amazing stuff.
Izzy left for home on Saturday from Redding, with a change at San Francisco. She had been in the Healing Rooms as a prayer servant for the first time on Saturday morning, where she saw amazing breakthroughs in people's physical health including praying for a lady with rheumatoid arthritis who said the pain left and she was now pain-free! Very exciting stuff! As the session was coming to a close,I quickly whisked her off to the airport however to catch her flight. Redding airport was so small, made Bristol airport look like a major hub for air transport. Izzy said the plane was really small too, she had to duck in order to move up and down the plane. But she made it back to Heathrow after about 15 hours or so, just in time to make it back to Cheddar to see her younger sister, Corrie, get baptised! I'm told everyone had a great time, really sad I didn't get to be there but I'm so proud and excited for Corrie. Well done! You're awesome!
Sunday came and it wasn't just Any Given Sunday, it was Superbowl Sunday! First we had church in the morning, where Bill was just amazing. He really hit the nail on the head, with how I've been feeling and thinking for probably the last 2 months or so. It's so easy to get caught in the culture of Bethel while here and not have your own life with God. It's so easy to hear the testimonies and just get caught up in the flow of life without actually having your own history. (I'd like to point you in the direction of our housemates and friends, Josh and Em, who on their last blog entry did a great job of discussing this) And that's going to be the big test for us when we leave, when we'll be away from Bethel and Bill Johnson and all the other awesome ministries here, will we truly have our own well to draw from, as it were. As Bill said, the only way to be a credible witness is to have first hand testimony. Please, I encourage you to listen to the recording if you have chance.
And then came the game. I've watched a few Superbowls back in England so I was really looking forward to this one, especially as it meant I didn't have to stay up til 4 or more in the morning to finish watching it. We had a few people round, mostly non-american's though which was quite funny. We were all fairly new to it all. It was really an international event as the nations of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK and Yorkshire were represented. Although Dayna, from Canada, mistakenly took Tony, from the nation of Yorkshire, for an Irishman, which led to a few laughs. The game itself though was good. The main complaint was that it was so long, unlike football (soccer (hurts to type that word)) or rugby which are both quite freeflowing sports, but the Superbowl commercials were good fun, each company really tries hard every year to put out great adverts. My favourite was a Doritos one.
Anyways, it's now getting late and I need to get some beauty sleep. Please be praying for me as I'm all on my own (well, I do have friends but I miss Izzy) and Izzy and her family as they prepare for Hannah's wedding this coming Saturday.
God bless you all, He is awesome!
Peace & Love
Liam
'For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him'
John 3:17
Friday, January 28, 2011
Hello everyone,
Sorry it's been a little while since our last blog, we've had some trouble with our laptop which has not been ideal. But we press on regardless. Feels weird not being able to use our laptop. What did we do before computers? And after just watching the film Social Network, what did we do before Facebook? Incredible how things have changed so quickly and everyone seems to have Facebook now.
Anyways, wanted to update you all (or y'all for any Americans that might be reading) on what's been going on.
Since starting back at school after the Christmas Break everyone, especially in our house, has realised just how quickly time here is going. That soon it'll be May and school will be over and we'll be back home and will anything have changed. So I think we're trying to be more intentional about implementing what we've learnt and agreed with and getting as much out of our time here as we can. The importance of taking ownership of our walk with God is so key to maintaining our devotion to Him. And by that I don't mean religiously strive to keep the flame burning for God but realise Christ died to restore us to a place of relationship and enable us to live as sons and daughters of God, as He originally intended, and as part of that we have the choice to respond to His call. Because He is love, God doesn't force himself on us or force us to choose Him, it is our choice to make.
And it would be so easy for us to have loved our time here, learnt a lot, been inspired by all that's going on, but to not actually have changed or to have been impacted by the idea of God but not by the person of God. So we're all trying to get as much out of the last few months as we can and really live the life that truly satisfies.
With that in mind, we've had a great week. Bill was in Tuesday after just arriving back from a trip to the middle east. The way Bill conducts himself is a lesson in itself. He has so much integrity and strongly believes in the local church, that's why he really tries to make time for the students.
Wednesday we had Kris Vallotton talk to us. It was his birthday and his wife and some of the staff surprised him on stage by walking up behind him with presents and balloons. Was a very nice touch and everyone gave him a big cheer. Afterwards we had a great time with our revival group. Some of our very good friends were struggling financially and unable to make a couple payments so our revival group decided to bless them with money to show how much they are loved and valued by everyone. Was a really good time, very emotional.
Thursday saw a guest speaker in the form of Ray Hughes. He was great and brought an amazing message about the different Hebrew words in the Old Testament that are translated in English simply as 'praise'. Our, particularly, Western church services, miss so much of what it meant in, for example, the time of King David to worship God. We normally just sing a couple of songs or hymns and it's job done. But what the Scripture really meant was a complete range of things. Ray was really inspiring.
Today (Friday) was another good day. Our main speaker today was Jason Vallotton, who talked to us about a subject very close to him after he had to deal with a divorce. He spoke about working through pain and gave many practical tips on how to do it in healthy way.
Anyway, it's late now and I've gone on for far too long. Really hope everyone is well and has an awesome weekend. Thank you to those who have kindly supported us both in prayer and financially. It's much appreciated.
Until the next time, God bless you all.
Izzy and Liam
Sorry it's been a little while since our last blog, we've had some trouble with our laptop which has not been ideal. But we press on regardless. Feels weird not being able to use our laptop. What did we do before computers? And after just watching the film Social Network, what did we do before Facebook? Incredible how things have changed so quickly and everyone seems to have Facebook now.
Anyways, wanted to update you all (or y'all for any Americans that might be reading) on what's been going on.
Since starting back at school after the Christmas Break everyone, especially in our house, has realised just how quickly time here is going. That soon it'll be May and school will be over and we'll be back home and will anything have changed. So I think we're trying to be more intentional about implementing what we've learnt and agreed with and getting as much out of our time here as we can. The importance of taking ownership of our walk with God is so key to maintaining our devotion to Him. And by that I don't mean religiously strive to keep the flame burning for God but realise Christ died to restore us to a place of relationship and enable us to live as sons and daughters of God, as He originally intended, and as part of that we have the choice to respond to His call. Because He is love, God doesn't force himself on us or force us to choose Him, it is our choice to make.
And it would be so easy for us to have loved our time here, learnt a lot, been inspired by all that's going on, but to not actually have changed or to have been impacted by the idea of God but not by the person of God. So we're all trying to get as much out of the last few months as we can and really live the life that truly satisfies.
With that in mind, we've had a great week. Bill was in Tuesday after just arriving back from a trip to the middle east. The way Bill conducts himself is a lesson in itself. He has so much integrity and strongly believes in the local church, that's why he really tries to make time for the students.
Wednesday we had Kris Vallotton talk to us. It was his birthday and his wife and some of the staff surprised him on stage by walking up behind him with presents and balloons. Was a very nice touch and everyone gave him a big cheer. Afterwards we had a great time with our revival group. Some of our very good friends were struggling financially and unable to make a couple payments so our revival group decided to bless them with money to show how much they are loved and valued by everyone. Was a really good time, very emotional.
Thursday saw a guest speaker in the form of Ray Hughes. He was great and brought an amazing message about the different Hebrew words in the Old Testament that are translated in English simply as 'praise'. Our, particularly, Western church services, miss so much of what it meant in, for example, the time of King David to worship God. We normally just sing a couple of songs or hymns and it's job done. But what the Scripture really meant was a complete range of things. Ray was really inspiring.
Today (Friday) was another good day. Our main speaker today was Jason Vallotton, who talked to us about a subject very close to him after he had to deal with a divorce. He spoke about working through pain and gave many practical tips on how to do it in healthy way.
Anyway, it's late now and I've gone on for far too long. Really hope everyone is well and has an awesome weekend. Thank you to those who have kindly supported us both in prayer and financially. It's much appreciated.
Until the next time, God bless you all.
Izzy and Liam
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
20 degrees in January??
-Russell Evans, and Bill Johnson, doing his usual stance
Hello to everyone who reads this!
Welcome to another blog post from Redding, California!
What a couple of weeks we've had. I know we updated you a little bit about last week at school, but I just wanted to fill in a few details.
Steve Backlund was incredible. We had him speak to us Tuesday and Thursday and he possesses such a contagious joy. He's so funny and warm. His role at the church is mainly linked with Global Legacy, the network the church runs with other churches and church leaders around the globe. His talks were great and really practical, concerning mindsets we form in our brain and act out in our lives and how these mindsets need to be victorious if we are to live effectively for the kingdom of God. He also talked about hope and what that looks like for us as Christians, and how hopelessness can so easily creep in.
Wednesday was another great day as we had Paul Manwaring speak to us. Paul is a fellow Brit, so it was great to hear a somewhat familar accent from the stage for a change!
He spoke a lot on the subject of glory, some really powerful stuff. It was really helpful to see Paul, and we spent an evening at his house last week with some other Brits that are here too, to see how he and his family have adapted to life in the culture here. Paul really is an inspiration, embracing most if not all of life here and how they do things while at the same time remaining, somewhat resolutely, British. He has certainly taught us lots on how we in the UK can take and live many of the principles out that they have built here in Redding.
After Bill Johnson being away for the last week or so we didn't think we would see him in school for a little while so it was a great surprise that he came and spoke to the class on friday. Bill was his normal, peaceful but powerful self, speaking mainly on the topic of the Holy Spirit and how to host Him. Good stuff.
We had a great, restful weekend, punctuated by Sunday's services which, as always, were amazing. Sunday lunch was different, Josh and Em, who we live with, invited their friends Brandon and Caleb round, so Brandon brought some Venison meat with him. So we had a bit of a roast dinner, something we miss from back home. It was the first time we have had venison, which was interesting. It was ok, can't say I'm desperate to have it again. But we had a great time and the weather over the weekend and into this week has been amazing. It's been about 20-21 degrees! In January! It's like a British Summer! It's brilliant! I can't stop using exclamation marks!
Today (Tuesday) we were back at school again. Danny Silk, one of the senior leaders of the church, was in to talk to us. Danny always has media savvy presentations, full of funny videos and clips which is entertaining. We're currently reading one of his books for our homework, called 'Culture of Honour' (or Honor for the Americans, but I can't bring myself to write it without the 'u') It's a brilliant book so far, highly recommend it. Really like his explanation of the five fold government of the church and his outlining of what the New Covenant in Christ means for us, not a new set of laws but of freedom to manage ourselves as sons and daughters of God.
Really hope everyone is doing well, wherever you all are. We're having an incredible time here, God is so good, teaching us so much. We're still needing money for our missions trips to Ecuador, so if you want to give into that then click on the link to the side of this blog. Many thanks to those who have already given to this and to us in general.
Please do get in touch and let us know how you're doing, what you're up to etc. We love to hear from people!
Until next time...God bless you all.
Izzy and Liam x
'Who shall seperate us from the love of Christ? ....I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to seperate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord'
Romans 8:35,38-39 - That's some pretty Good News!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Hello lovely peeps, SOOOOOOOO much to talk about this week and its only wednesday!!!!!!!!!!!!!! like literally loads, I don't even think i can write it all down. Two amazing speakers. We had Steve Backlund, Paul Manwaring. Paul especially was just so good. I wrote so many notes, it was about glory. You should have been there....:) I had a presentation for my kingdom creativity track. I had to present to my leader and her interns. I showed my latest painting that the Lord showed me to paint, and my book illustration, yes i am illustrating a book.:) im partnering with Lynda Chud my wonderful friend who is writing it. So my track leaders love my stuff, it was so good to hear them talk about it, and they really loved my illustrating. They just kept saying 'you have to keep going, do more, its so good', so that was really encouraging. I really felt like i read what i wanted to say confidently, i feel like i am becoming more confident in who i am, and my gifts that God has given me.
This afternoon we had revival group time. Our pastor and interns called out names from a box and we were given a task, like sing a prophetic(God given) song over someone, ask Holy Spirit to give you 10 prophetic words for someone etc. so on my turn i had to ask Holy Spirit for a girl in my groups mums middle name, her dogs name, and an actor she liked. well i heard the name Jean...so i said well i hear Jean its probably not right. Then she says, it IS!! thats her middle name. was so cool, everyone started cheering and clapping. I love it when God just suprises me, and i LOVE hearing from him. Lils task was to say a prophetic poem to someone, he heard some really good words, then even made them rhyme.:) so good. Its really good to be stretched like this, doing things we wouldnt normally do.(esp lil)
We went to my lovely friend heidis house for dinner then had our missions meeting. We praise thank God for everyone who has given, if you havent and would like to bless us you can on the right of this blog. Thankyou.
We are at home now relaxing and doing homework, we got given a new book today. Heavy Rain: how you tranform the world around you by Kris Vallotton. we are looking forward to reading it. We really recommend it!
Here is a link to my DJ friends Kingdom creativity track project, have a listen its really good:
http://soundcloud.com/oopsydaisy/the-ravings-of-an-ecstatic
For a recent personal project I recorded a mix of mine, including a selection of amazing revivalists - Kathryn Kulman, Heidi Baker and Joaquin Evans.
Hope your all having a brilliant week,
lots of love izzy xxx
This afternoon we had revival group time. Our pastor and interns called out names from a box and we were given a task, like sing a prophetic(God given) song over someone, ask Holy Spirit to give you 10 prophetic words for someone etc. so on my turn i had to ask Holy Spirit for a girl in my groups mums middle name, her dogs name, and an actor she liked. well i heard the name Jean...so i said well i hear Jean its probably not right. Then she says, it IS!! thats her middle name. was so cool, everyone started cheering and clapping. I love it when God just suprises me, and i LOVE hearing from him. Lils task was to say a prophetic poem to someone, he heard some really good words, then even made them rhyme.:) so good. Its really good to be stretched like this, doing things we wouldnt normally do.(esp lil)
We went to my lovely friend heidis house for dinner then had our missions meeting. We praise thank God for everyone who has given, if you havent and would like to bless us you can on the right of this blog. Thankyou.
We are at home now relaxing and doing homework, we got given a new book today. Heavy Rain: how you tranform the world around you by Kris Vallotton. we are looking forward to reading it. We really recommend it!
Here is a link to my DJ friends Kingdom creativity track project, have a listen its really good:
http://soundcloud.com/oopsydaisy/the-ravings-of-an-ecstatic
For a recent personal project I recorded a mix of mine, including a selection of amazing revivalists - Kathryn Kulman, Heidi Baker and Joaquin Evans.
Hope your all having a brilliant week,
lots of love izzy xxx
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