International House of Prayer.........

"The IHOP" that serves a great big heaping of healthy food to your soul.
You know I love that place. The one in Kansas City.....The International House of Prayer, and they mean it buddy. They don't play church.

I DO like the other IHOP, the Pancake place as well.....but since going "Gluten Free" in my diet for health reasons..it's not as delightful for me now as it was before. I can't get the cheese blintz's or any kind of bread stuff....blah.
Eggs and grits only for me now thank you.

Okay back to the REAL "IHOP"..... I turned my computer on and believe me I rarely get up this early but I felt a prompting to do so.
I get into "The Prayer Room" at the International House of Prayer for their 6:00am "Live" prayer service.......they do this 24/7 folks and have for like some 8 years now. They do the DEEP THINGS OF GOD at this place. I've been there and I wish I could be in that type of environment all the time.
Or at least near something like this place......sigh. Help me God I'm fainting here in this "wet desert."

I know it's an oxymoron but you know what I saying, if not let me spell it our for you....
"Baton Rouge"....it's a "dry desert spiritually" for many of us. We have to seek our refreshing by "unusual" means during this "season" and we do. Thank GOD for all the resources we have in the year 2007 to help us keep our relationship with the Father fresh when you hungry and thirsty and can't find a local "oasis" to properly water and feed you. The pickings are "rare and slim" right now for some odd reason and I hate this because it's not always been this way here in this city.
Something has changed spiritually over this city and it's very wrong and sad. The "ball" has been dropped somehow.

So anyway.....I'm watching and listening and doing a bit of writing at the same time and praying along with them as the leaders call out things to pray for.....like for President Bush and his leadership and some other general things for our nation....very awesome. Then someone gets up and starts praying for "those caught in Human Trafficking and those caught in the Sex Trade".....huhhhh...."WHAT WAS THAT?????"

I'm totally caught off guard by this prayer....I'm thinking to myself......"WHAT other church in the world prays for 'those who are caught in Human Trafficking and those captured by Sex Trade' at 7:00 in the morning.....MAN I LOVE THESE PEOPLE!!! We need this. Those people who are captured and lost need it. I'm so thankful that GOD sees right where they are, because WE who live in "comfort" forget about them fast I'm afraid. We give up. We stop praying after a few weeks or maybe days even. I'm guilty.


I mean I have never even EVER heard Christians in CHURCH (like during church) ask for prayer for that kind of thing....if I have then forgive me it's been a RARE thing then, so rare I can't remember it and I know I would remember that kind of thing because it's sooooo important.

I do/have prayed for people that are brought to my attention when they go "missing" or as the Brits call them "the disappeared".....it grieved me so much as I know it did many around the world when little "Madeline McCann" from the U.K. went missing from Portugal, where her parents were vacationing. I've prayed and prayed that little girl will turn up and be given back to her parents ALIVE and unharmed.

I can't imagine someone taking her from her parents and using her in the sex trade in Europe like they suspect. It makes me sick and I wonder "what kind of monsters are these people that take children away from their parents or those that take any human soul from their loved ones???" I can't stand it......it's totally demonic.

God have MERCY on those people, and I pray they release Madeline and all others that are missing from loved ones NOW!

IF you are wanting prayer or want to be involved in very passionate, heartfelt, Holy Spirit inspired intercession.......check out "The Prayer Room"http://theprayerroom.tv/.....sorry I SO do not how to interject instant hyperlinks into this blog yet......duh.....I have got to get someone to help me do that....if you can help me.....contact me PLEASE! HA! HA!

Also, you will need passwords to get into "The Prayer Room" to watch it live...... contact me and I will get them to you if you are serious.

It is "Worship and the Word."
Check it out you will not come away hungry.

Experts find Abbey where "Robert The Bruce" was crowned!

For all you history buffs and for all of you that that like myself loved the movie "Braveheart".....
here's some interesting news.
I've been meaning to write something about this whole thought for about a year now but haven't gotten to it......one day when I get a moment I am going to talk to you about the whole "Braveheart" thing which is very dear to my heart and always will be.
I love that kind of "spirit" in people and I think the "church" should be just as passionate as William Wallace was for the good of his people and for Scotland and the principles that were being violated and we aren't and it's SICK. It really ticks me off how complacent we are. I include myself in this so don't think I am judging anyone.

I went to Ireland, about a year after that movie was released and during one of days we had some "free time" we were in upper Ireland and at one point we were on the coast and only about 20 miles from Scotland across the water of course.....we wanted to just at the very LEAST go over and set our "feet upon the ground" in Scotland.....but we weren't able to.

Hopefully....I will get to do that sometime, I'm planning on it in my heart it's all in God's hands right now.
Anyhow.....for now.....here's some cool news from the BBC News/Scotland.

"Lost" coronation abbey unearthed.
Experts have found the abbey where Robert the Bruce was crowned
Archaeologists have unearthed the site where Robert the Bruce was crowned king of Scotland.
The location of the abbey at Moot Hill, the original home of the Stone of Destiny, was forgotten centuries ago.

But it has now been identified by experts from Glasgow University who have been surveying the grounds of Scone Palace for the first time.

They used scanners to detect buried structures and found part of the abbey church and a bell tower.

The coronation of Pictish and Scottish kings took place at Moot Hill for hundreds of years, and a royal abbey was built there by 1120AD.

Tremendous importance

The archaeologists have been examining the site using a sophisticated technique based on geophysical remote sensing.

Project leader Oliver O'Grady said: "We have been really surprised by the high quality of the survey results so far, revealing a very clear outline of the great west end of the abbey church, complete with at least one bell tower.

Some major gaps are being filled in our understanding of Scone's amazing history.

Suzanne Urqhuart, Mansfield Estates

"The tremendous importance of Scone - where kings were made and where Parliaments met - is only matched by how little we know about the reality of the place.

"Now we can locate the essential outline of the church and hints of where the cloister and other buildings stood, and all without putting a spade in the ground."

Suzanne Urquhart from Mansfield Estates, which runs Scone Palace, added: "To see the plan of what was a beautiful Gothic church emerge from the ground after being lost for 400 years is very exciting.

"Some major gaps are being filled in our understanding of Scone's amazing history, and we are now talking to the archaeologists about how the project might develop."

The survey has also uncovered evidence of a massive ditch around Moot Hill as well as information about its construction.

Pain......ouch.

Sorry to have been away so long.......it's hard to be creative and to even want to write when you don't feel good. July has been the "month of pain" for me.......ugh!
Humidity, heat and tons of RAIN do not mix well with my body and the infirmity that plaques me.
This year has been like living in Seattle........but WAY hotter!!! Rain every day or every other day........like today.....we have a "tropical front" hitting us now and it should last for several days....lovely.

I now find myself watching the "weather reports" all the time like a farmer or an old person.....now I understand why they do it.......my family used to do it when I was a child......you always listend to the "noon report" on the radio mainly.....I had both old people and some farmers in my family. Now I totally "get" why they were checking out the weather.......to not only "consider the wind and sky" but to see if their tired old bones were going to "ache."

It's been a drag I can tell you that. I've been locked away in my house mainly.....
I DO go swiming 3 times a week at a private pool with a group of women whom I call......"The Pool Ladies." I will tell you more on them later. No swiming today of course because of the yucky weather.

I DO hurt severely, and I never understood pain and suffering before.......now I do. I'm not proud of that but I must say my "Compassion level" for hurting people or people in pain is way different now. Personal perspective does wonders for us doesn't it?

Some of us learn by the school of "Hard Knocks"...I have always been one of those kinds of people. Could that be because I am from Missouri......you know
"The SHOW ME state?"

I haven't any worries though compared to the several families that my daughter and her friends are now on their way to go see.........it's 10:30am here in Baton Rouge, and Ariel was awoken early by phone calls today stating that 2 friends of her and some of her other best friend's were killed last night in a terrible accident on the Interstate between Baton Rouge, and Hammond. There were several young boys in the vehicle and of course.......a semi truck was involved. There have been SO many accidents on that stretch of Interstate in the past MONTH!

God help these families.......they must be shattered. The young men that lived will have so much to endure in the days ahead physically and mentally.
I will update you more when I find out the information, it's all foggy right now, and hasn't hit any of the newscasts or newpapers even yet.
Pray for these families and that all these kids will be TOUCHED by this accident and will realize how "fleeting" that life is.
It really is just a "vapour."

Hanging in there.......

Right now I've been watching a "web streaming live broadcast" online from the "International House of Prayer" it's a church in Kansas City......it's been phenomenal. It's brought me to tears. I always wonder after visiting the campus there which we have several times, and after watching their services online......

"Why can't I find that type of move here in Baton Rouge where I live?" Haven't quite found the answers for that right now.....but I know we are here in Baton Rouge for a reason, even though these past nearly FIVE years have been such a dry, desert place for us.

Regardless of my hearts cry and mind ponderings, I know God is faithful and has a purpose to all things.

Right now the worship team at the IHOP are singing a song and it's a heart cry of mine so I am going to write you a few of the words.......

"I want to be found FAITHFUL, I want to be found STEADY, I want to be found FAITHFUL until the end. I want to live before your eyes, I want to stay before your gaze, keep me steady.
I want to be found FAITHFUL, I want to be found STEADY, I want to be found FAITHFUL until the end. IF I try to save my life I will loose it, but if I loose my life for your sake I will find it in the end."

Yeah, that is my heart cry today and every day. God fulfil your word in our lives!

Okay......while the music continues to play I have to update you all on a few things....here are some needs and concerns I need you all to be aware of.

Right now our good friend Susan's Mother Delores Munson who has been a brilliant woman of God and friend to our family and many on this earth is passing on to her eternal home. The hospital staff pulled her off of all life support at 9:30am this morning and I have been waiting for "the call" that she has has been found "Faithful until the End!" I rejoice that she will be at the gates today and passing through them........maybe even now as I write this.

My husband Don and I will be traveling to Beaumont this Saturday and be there for the family and Don will be doing the visitation and conducting Delore's funeral on Sunday. So please remember us and the family during these days.

This past Monday my Step Grandmother died in Hannibal Mo......her funeral was this morning I am praying for my Grandfather who is 91 and left weak and frail after loosing his second wife to cancer now. Please pray for his soul. I am very concerned about him.

This morning another might woman of God's memory was recognized in Springfield Mo. Joyce Dement, wife of Spud Dement passed away Monday as well. Spud's parent's used to go to our old church Hosanna where we worked on staff at years ago......Don and Spud did the funeral service for Bro. Dement, Spuds Father when he passed away several years ago. Joyce and Spud were Veteran Missionaries to Europe after he worked for many years in Springfield Mo. in the Missions department. This was a sudden illness that came upon her once returning to the States this spring. Her passing will leave a void I know in her family's hearts and in the work they were doing in this world.

Also, Larry and MaryAnn Gutweiler's Mother died this week and her funeral is today as well. Larry and MaryAnn are some of the kindest people in all of Baton Rouge and Larry has a HUGE "internet" prayer and helps ministry along with heading up the Cooking for Christ ministry at HPC. Thank GOD for those people. I like them. No pretense there with them at all.

Busy week at the gates of heaven wouldn't you say??? We don't even know the half of it.
Two teenage girls from outside of Baton Rouge passed those gates this week too......their funerals were held jointly at their church in Walker. They said that these girls "loved Jesus and couldn't wait to get to heaven and their lives were a total witness of God".......this week they got their wishes to get to heaven and they both went at the same time during a fatal car accident. A third teenage passenger survives but wonders why? It's okay.....her "expiration date" just wasn't up yet. Pray for this little girl. She will be needing it in the days/years ahead.

This morning I talked with Shawn Wilkerson who is in Vancouver at this moment with the Missions team from Healing Place church. They need prayer to finish the tasks they have been working on there this past week. They have been able to do some awesome ministry with inner city kids by doing a "Soccer Clinic" and also have been doing some unexpected work at an inner city food type kitchen place called "The Night Shift"......they have had some real eye opening experiences there and I would have to say this has been one of those "divine appointments" for them. VERY COOL!
Remember to pray for them in the next few days as they begin their trip back home to Baton Rouge. They will arrive back here on Sunday sometime around noon or so.


These are the updates for now.........I'm including two photos at the top of this writing.....one is of the Chaissons.....our very good friends. They are heading to their new Missions "outpost" today....it's a long journey and will take them a few days by plane to their destination of "Nauru"......so pray for them please. These are AWESOME servants of the Lord. None better..... that I promise you. I LOVE MISSIONARIES, they are my "heros" in life. Of course my favorite one is Jesus who was the FIRST EVER Missionary to hit planet earth. Thank GOD He came!

The second photo is of a rich bloom on my hibiscus plant on the patio.....things on earth, some are plants some are peopleh..... burning up right now due to the weather and due to lifestyles and they've come to the end of theirselvs or the end of their lives.

Yet, don't loose sight of the beauty that is still out there. The small things that God has made special for us to view......there is still time to focus on people, and things......even the small things God has created for our good pleasure to just look at.
Hang in there folks.....this is something Delores Munson used to always tell me and write to me in cards.......I will now say it in her memory because it's burned in my heart forever because she always reminded me of this truth.......

"WE WIN!!!"

Wise words on a Sunday

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

Someone sent me an e-mail today at the end of it they had signed it this way.
I thought it was good and would share it with all of you.
I needed to hear this myself today.

GOD bless America!!!

Happy 4th of July!
Don't forget to pray for our troops overseas and here in the States that keep this country FREE!!!

"Concert for Diana".....

This concert event was very surreal for me in many ways. The concert was orchestrated by Prince William and Prince Harry Windsor in honor of the late Princess Diana, whose 46th birthday would have been today.

For a few brief days.....we would have been the same age. I guess that fact alone took me back to the time of her sudden death. It will always be one of those moments for me where when someone mentions an important event and suddenly you remember EXACTLY where you were and what you were doing at the time. I can't really tell you why that happens either......except that this unexpected death was such a sad thing for me and like many of you....I didn't even know the woman.

I think we all felt a "connection" in some way to her. She was a Mother, she was vibrant, she loved people, she was beautiful and then abruptly, without any expectation of it she was gone at age 36. It just was a terrible shock to my system. This was something that I didn't see coming on a Saturday night while ironing clothes, and it was happening to such a seemingly successful and "good" person.

I guess I always felt that she was such a very sad and troubled lady you could see it on her countenance.
She truly was a person very much in the spotlight, not because she wanted to be.....but because of "who" she was connected to.

However, you could not then and still can't today deny that this woman had a big heart and she was genuine and she sure was "seeking" something not knowing what she was looking for. I think she thought it was "love" that she needed, to feel validated. We all knew then things in her life weren't going so grand despite the fact that she was "Her Royal Highness." She became "Royalty made by marriage."
It's the thing fairy tales are made up of, but her life was no fairy tale as we were all learning, we had been witnessing first hand over the past few months and years just what terrible "rejection" the poor woman had gone through.

The night she was killed, I was doing my "Saturday night ritual" of getting my family's clothes ironed and laid out for church. The house was very quiet and for a change....everyone was in bed asleep.

About 10:30pm one of the Board member's wives from the church my husband and I were Pastoring at the time called me and said...."Are you watching the news? Princess Diana has been in a terrible car accident."
I always thought that it was so odd that this particular lady called me that night because she never did like me. Ever. In fact she rarely called me. Though had this lady never of called me, I wouldn't have known the life and death struggle that Diana was going through at that moment. I wouldn't have been a part of seeing and participating in history.

I immediately turned on the TV set and began to watch the news reports on all the channels, switching back and forth looking for new, news and I remember that the incoming reports were scattered. Information was conflicting but it seemed that at the time of these first reports she was alive but in very dire condition. I prayed. I made some phone calls and prayed some more.
I know many people did the same thing this thing at this same time.....this accident didn't didn't happen undercover.

This was Diana's last shinning moment, and many of us, all over the world would unwittingly be a part of her going down in history and into eternity.

Not long after I had turned my TV on began watching the news coverage of terrible accident that she had been in .....the news reporters finally confirmed that Diana had died at a Paris hospital.
I was so GRIEVED. I remember I became totally OBSESSED by the news. I went to my bedroom and lay beside my then sleeping husband, and watched the TV reports and literally wept all night long.

The next day I HAD to go to church. I couldn't just stay home even though I hadn't had any sleep all night long. My heart was so heavy for Diana's sons William and Harry and for the British people because I knew they had suffered a loss and that her children and her people would never be the same again. We had to pray for them. We had to pray they could see God and His loving kindness through this event despite the tragic circumstances that had happened at the end of Diana's life.

During our Sunday morning church service, at prayer time, my husband asked the people to "please pray for the People of Great Britain and the children of Princess Diana".....I could not believe the weeping I was hearing in our church. This of course made me cry even more because I can't stand it when someone is hurting. It hurts me for them too.....even though I myself was hurting terribly on the inside as well.

All of the next few days, me and my family and friends joined all the rest of the world. We watched and mourned with the people of England on the loss of Diana.

Time has now told her story, along with countless book authors, and we all know the good, the bad, and the ugly about her now don't we? Still to me, regardless of how she lived her life, it's all about how she took those last few breaths in her final moments.

You see, she wasn't killed instantly..... she had time. That my friends was the GRACE of God! She was allowed precious time to get it everything "right" in her heart which was at that very moment damaged, and giving up life...yet it was still beating, even after the terrible accident she had just been in.

She had time to make peace with herself and her God and only He knows what happened in the end.

Earlier in this writing I stated:
"This was Diana's final shining moment, and we would all be a part of her going down in history."

In my heart of hearts, I think Diana was a "good person"....still that wouldn't be enough on that fateful, last night of hers in Paris. Not enough to get her into heaven, because being a "good" person or a "charitable" person, or a "loving" person, just wasn't enough for her and it will never be enough for any of us to be guaranteed Heaven.
No matter how many AIDS patients she had encountered and no matter how many Angolan land mine survivors she had held and loved on. It didn't even matter that she met with Mother Theresa, those good things were not going to "add up" for her when it came to eternity.
Diana did alot of "Good deeds" in her lifetime.....probably more than you and I. Yet even though she was a Royal Princess, it couldn't gain her entry into the gates of heaven and it will work the same way for each one of us. We must ask Jesus to come to us, to forgive us and to live in our hearts, even if our heart is like Diana's was...damaged and beating it's final beats.

This final ride of her life lasted only 5 minutes.
Her "life clock" was already ticking once she left the Ritz and sat down in the back seat of the ill fated Mercedes that whisked her and it's three other occupants away. When the Black Mercedes crashed, Diana's "expiration date" was fading fast......the Princess was now slipping into eternity
Yet she still had time.

Time to make the biggest decision of her life. That is why it was so important for those who were praying to have done so during those crucial last few seconds that she had left. Many were interceding on her behalf, praying for her to call out to God with one of her last breaths, to ask Him that she be ushered into heaven and into the presence of "The KING of Kings."

You know what?
I think she got it right and made it right those last few moments of her life.
I really feel that she cried out to God in her pain and despair, passing into eternity and into the arms of the person whom she had been "seeking" for all her life and didn't even know it.
In that Paris hospital, after her heart stopped beating, I think that for the first time ever Diana felt genuine PEACE and love. She then was on her way to her new home one that wasn't built by human hands.