WHAT HAPPENS IN HEAVEN WHEN WE PRAY?

Here is a copy of an email I received today. I have no idea who the author is, but it is such a good read! :)


WHAT HAPPENS IN HEAVEN WHEN WE PRAY?

I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels. My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, 'This is the

Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to God said in prayer are received.

I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world.


Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section.


The angel then said to me, "This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them." I noticed again how
busy it was there. There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.


Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. "This is the Acknowledgment Section, my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed.
 "How is it that there is no work going on here? I asked."


 "So sad," the angel sighed. "After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments."


 "How does one acknowledge God's blessings? "I asked.


 "Simple," the angel answered. Just say, "Thank you, Lord."


 "What blessings should they acknowledge?" I asked.


 "If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy, and if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity."


 "If you woke up this morning with more health than illness.. You are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day."


 "If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation... You are ahead of 700 million people in the world."


 "If you can attend a church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world."


 "If your parents are still alive and still married... you are very rare."


 "If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you're unique to all those in doubt and despair......." 


 "Ok," I said. "What now? How can I start?"


 The Angel said, "If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you as very special and you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all."
 Have a good day, count your blessings, and if you care to, pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are..........


 ATTN: Acknowledge Dept.
 "Thank you Lord, for giving me the ability to share this message and for giving me so many wonderful people with whom to share it."


 If you have read this far, and are thankful for all that you have been blessed with, how can you not send it on?
 I thank God for everything, especially all my family and friends.


 Just be yourself.
 Everyone else is taken.

Changes....

I'm having an unexpected stirred up time....like I was a happy frog on my lily pad, then out of the blue, other frogs on different lily pads start to say "Hi" and I see their lily pads are different - but they also resemble things I used to desire...things I strived for but could never reach... even though I was told I would be good on those lily pads, the same people refused to make room for me to join them....

It's not that I want to be on those lily pads....it's more of what I can do that is different to my current lily pad. It took 10 years for me to finally feel settled on a lily pad. I tried a few, but none felt right for more than a season. I always wanted more. Now I'm beginning to wonder what else is in the pond that I am yet to discover!

It's also about people....people you used to be close to.... but you just feel like you matter as much to them as a grain of sand. It's not so bad....in a way it's natural to move on... but it's also not right when you feel excluded to the point you feel the door should close, but it can't close under the current circumstances....I hope that makes sense....if not, at least I know what I mean! haha! There are spiritual undercurrents...

The worst part is I have seen it before with the same people....and I didn't think it was right how they treated another member of the group.... now I find myself in that same position. As I said, it's not so bad. It's just that because I've seen it before, I understand it better.....even if it does suck.

Oh well, in order for one door to fully open, sometimes another door needs to close.
I love my new group of friends. My new church family. It feels like family - when we are apart for too long, I miss them. These people understand me. We relate to each other in ways others don't understand.
One thing we can guarantee in life is CHANGE....

I guess while I'm still alive, there will always be more lily pads to discover and explore....in the right seasons :)

Pay Attention to the Signs

Something I noticed this week that made me laugh and sigh...at the same time...

There are major roadworks in the area I live....they have been ongoing for over a year and will hopefully be finished sometime this year...

On Saturday there was a sign stating "Expect long delays", preceding a "Detour" sign. I couldn't believe how many cars ignored the Detour sign and got stuck in the warned 'long delays'!!! There had also been signs up all week suggesting this.

We took the detour, knowing it would be much quicker, even if it was longer....and halfway through, I could see the cars in the far distance, all banked up with nowhere to go....because they ignored the signs!


Needless to say, we were not at all delayed, and went on our merry way... we've lived here long enough to know better :)

Got me thinking....how many times in life do people ignore the warnings....and get caught up in the mess, because they ignored the warnings and the suggested way out/through/over/under....

How many times in life do we suffer the consequences of our own actions....when we should have known better.... when the way to avoid the mess was clearly in front of us, but we chose to ignore it...

Something to think about today;) 

Intercessors who leave the arena...

My heart is saddened... people who knew the 'fullness of joy' have traded it for a 'worldly life'. People who were fighting hard in the arena of intercession...listening to God's voice... obedient to His will....with such a childlike faith, they believed anything was possible... and suddenly, one person or one circumstance changed everything.

Their world was shaken. They stumbled in the arena, and instead of continuing to fight, they gave up.
....it sounds like such a simple thing to do. To just give up. But it's sooooooo much more than that!!!

Once you have been in the arena, you are changed. Even if you turn your back and walk away, the arena stays in the deep places of your soul...whether or not you choose to remember....it is there.
It will continually call you back....in that still, small voice.... like a long lost friend you never intended to abandon... it will keep calling until you acknowledge it's voice.

The battle continues without you, but it would be so much better if you were back in the arena...
You know who you are... you can't forget what it was like to be in the arena... to be broken and stripped raw....and to feel all the gaps and hurts filled with the tender love of your creator. He brought life into the dark places...

He is calling you....tenderly and gently...he won't force you back, but he will never give up on His princess...
I just want you to know I love you and will not give up on you either! We may not speak much any more....but you will never leave my heart, beautiful girl.  I pray you do not make decisions you will later regret....

Alien

I am sooooo not of this world... but neither are the most important people in my life :)
I love you all - the strangest, funniest, most caring, wisest, chosen people who just can't fit the boxes the world wants us in...and wouldn't want to fit in them anyway! :)

God's heart surgery...

Lately God has been showing me how far I have come from who I became 10 years ago....how I changed because of circumstances....how my heart was broken and I felt God had abandoned me in my biggest time of need...

...but he never left me for one second. No, I wasn't able to feel his presence, and I felt my cries for help were echoing against the wall...but he simply allowed me to experience something he knew I could handle....and he knew I would later see he did not abandon me. He was there all the time...but he allowed me to experience the consequences of an innocently made bad choice... and just when I felt I could take no more, he suddenly showed up and ended it.

It's funny when you remember a time of being on one side of a fence....and you yearn so badly to be on the other side... and then one day you realise you are on the other side! It took a long time to get there, a lot of 'heat surgery' and just crawling into God's lap and letting it go... but it came. It was hard work. It was tough. It took a lot of courage to get through.... but I did it :)

Now, I see a friend going through the same kind of 'heart surgery' I had to go through... different reasons, but the same God who wants to strip away all our hurts and pain....because he knows it will make us stronger, and we will feel so much better for it.

My friend is so beautiful, with so much to offer this world. She is a real treasure, and I really want to see her get to the other side of the fence like I did. It's not a fun time to be in God's presence, having parts of you stripped away, but when you look back, it is one of the most precious memories in your life....a time when you were so close to God... a time when you could let go and be totally raw....and know he would help you get out all the black stuff in your heart...be a child cradled in his arms, protected 'under his wing'...  believe it or not, your journey has been encouraging me by bringing back memories of places I have been, but have now left behind.

So, if you're reading this, beautiful friend - I do know what it's like to be stripped raw... I feel so blessed to be able to pray for you and just be there for you. I know how hard it can be - but you can do it :) You have already come so far :) You are strong! Don't let the enemy tell you you're weak because you are a Child of God! He has already gone before you and knows what is to come - he will not let you walk a path, or go through a door unprepared :)

Be Joyful :)

My last post was a while ago. Much has happened since then; little has happened since then.
We live in an amazing world....and it's sad that so many souls have not yet experienced 'pure joy'. So many souls are yearning for what they do not know... others are yearning for what they have known, but somewhere in their path was lost. There is so much to be joyful about....and so many people who simply don't know how to be joyful.

Some people lost their joy because of something others did to them...
Some grew up afraid to experience joy in case they were punished...
Some people have so little, yet have so much joy.
Some know how to make millions and live a lavish life....but these people also don't know how to be happy...

EVERYBODY has the ability to feel joy. It is we who prevent ourselves from feeling.

I pray every person who reads this blog will experience a real sense of pure joy. A joy you have never known. A knowing that deep down, you have sooooooo much value. You are special. There are things in this life that you are good at - please don't be afraid to do what you enjoy - to open your heart and feel.

Be the person God created you to be!
Don't let past hurts or fears...or anything else steal your joy!
Your life is for living. Live it! Go out and think of all the things you have to be grateful about.....and enjoy this beautiful world God created for us. People are doing a good job at destroying our world and it's people, but that is no reason to not enjoy what He has blessed us with!

If you look for the bad in something, you will find it.
If you look for the good in something, you will find it! 

Thank you Jesus for the wonderful gifts you give us - the simple things we often take for granted.