#AriseAndBringTheHeavensDown

I have a feeling those of you who joined us to pray and hope after reading the last post might be curious how my friends' trip turned out. Here's part of the story. God was at work before they even left their house that day. Before you get to the end, I should warn you: I haven't heard the next part of the story. It is possible it may not be told here. But it was such a mischievous ending, I couldn't part with it! 

Part 2: Hope and Healing

Winter glanced around her, over either shoulder; the gate she'd been waiting at was deserted. She was the only one here. Immediately, she stood and found the flight directory. Her gate had been changed. She ran, got in line, and breathlessly gave the stewardess her pass. Most of the plane had boarded already, her number had been called long ago. 

LAX Internation Airport

She took her seat, relieved to have made it in time. "We're running late folks," the pilot's voice crackled over the intercom. "We'll take off as soon as your seated and have you at LAX as close to on schedule as possible." 

That's awesome, Winter thought. Esa's plane was probably already there, he'd be waiting. 

Five minutes later, the pilot's voice projected overhead again. This time, his tone flat and hardly masking frustration. "I apologize for the delay, folks. Looks like we have to de-ice."

The woman next to winter began to rant about being on a tight schedule and needing to be at her destination on time. Winter turned to face her. "Have you ever known you were supposed to be somewhere, known that incalculable good would come of it, and that something was trying to stop you?" 

"Sure, I guess."

"I am on my way to an event that I had a vision of two years ago. Two months ago, I finally got an address. Today I have no money, no phone, no clothes, but I've got this plane ticket there. And I believe that has something to do with why we have to sit here and de-ice in Oakland in April. Are you a woman of faith?"

"No."

"Well, I'm going to this event for a miracle. Will you hope for something with me at 8 p.m. tonight?"

"Like what?"

"Anything you want."

"You want to hope for something?" Suddenly the woman came to life. "Hope for water. I'm from Colorado and we don't have any water. Our farmers can't even water their crops enough to get through this harvest. They have no idea what to do. 

"And while we're at it, North Korea! Someone needs to get that man from North Korea in a room and have a good talk with him." Suddenly the woman's demeanor switched. No longer lively, she became cold. Winter smiled, passed her some peanuts, and they didn't speak again the duration of the flight. 

Participation Part 1 - From busted to better than Ever

I went to Reality, a church place in downtown Olympia, last Sunday. The experience gave me renewed perspective on two stories I'll share, and provided opportunity to co-labor with Papa for healing.

I don't typically go to places that call themselves church. Church is a who, not a what or a where. But this was an exception; an act of obedience to a series of undeniable words from Papa, which I will compile and share in part two.

The sermon, given by Paul Jones, an elder at Reality, was a kickoff to Advent (no surprise there). Titled "King of Faithfulness," the sermon launched from Psalm 98 and Paul discussed the cycle of pain, patience, and promise that humanity has experienced from Genesis on.

Basically, humanity experiences pain, then must patiently endure until God makes a promise and the pain ends (That's a extreme paraphrase, folks. The full sermon is available for a listen, if you need more detail and accuracy). That cycle is illustrated throughout the Old Testament, and we can see it in the world today.

Vocalist and Drummer participating with audience to sing
"The Fly" Dec 1 at Le Voyeur. Photo by Winter Rain X

So what breaks that cycle? According to Paul: participation.

Now we're getting somewhere.

Paul, using Psalm 98 as a reference, explains the cycle is broken because God participates. "He has remembered his love and his faithfulness," says verse three.

"If you're an underliner, take out your pen and underline 'remember.' If you take one thing from tonight, take this: God remembers," said Paul. "Remember" in this case doesn't indicate that God forgot, and has suddenly recalled his love and faithfulness. Rather, it indicates action; to remember is to act upon his promises. In other words, God participates. God is participating in our lives.

A poem about love by my friend Winter

Glowing bladders and fiery words from God

Thursday, some things went down. 
Unplanned. 
Undesired. 
Completely awesome and I can't wait for it to happen again. 

Jeremiah's band, Simon The Leper, had practice Thursday afternoon at The Yellow House. This means that our friends Winter and Esa (STL's bassist) came over. While the band shook the walls of our basement, Winter and I had a chat. 

By "chat" I mean, a thought provoking and heart felt conversation. We spent some time catching up, it's been a good week or so since our last chat. But for the most part we shared struggles we've been facing and spoke truth into those struggles. 

Some issues I noticed we and our male counterparts shared (which I will describe brief and vague because it's not the enemy I care to focus on in this post): unexplained bouts of anger, random spirals into despair, intense moments of self-doubt, and barrages of the poverty spirit. 

"We are a piece God uses in His plan. God is not a
piece we use in our plan." - Winter Rain

Winter has also been dealing with a bladder infection since April. It is now, I'd like to point out, September. She and Esa are battling some demonic strongholds in and around their house, which are leaving physical marks like cuts and bruises. Jeremiah and I have established Gates at our house, with the purpose of allowing the spirits of God and Man to pass, but blocking anything else. Interestingly, Winter had to fight with herself to come over; couldn't convince herself to get out of her car and cross our street until Jeremiah walked up and said hello. 

We talked for probably a long time, but it was one of those God-filled conversation that don't exist in time, so I completely lost track of the clock's existence. By the end of the conversation, Esa had joined and we'd determined the issues at hand were to be conquered. Jesus has conquered them already, that we knew. But it was time we step into our place of victory next to Him and conquer them too. 

We decided to pray. We discussed specific areas we wanted to pray into. Depression was a big one for all of us, so we wanted to be sure and speak Joy. We also wanted to get Winter healed. We've laid hands on her a three or four times, and though we feel pretty good afterward, the infection has persisted. As of the past week, after her third round of antibiotics, it was intensifying drastically. Gates needed established at their house, as well. Why we hadn't done that yet? Frack if we know. 

Jeremiah walked into the living room just as we were about to launch in. Our initial response was to lay out the game plan for him, but I hesitated. "What if we don't tell you and you pray according to how your led?" I asked. My tone was humorous, in the way we try to cover up honesty with joke in an attempt to avoid looking foolish (or is that just me?). "Are you down to pray prophetically?"