Here we are in June, and all of our natural senses are jumping into new tunes of freshly mown lawns, sweet smells and arrays of colors, dazzling dancing flowers popping and flourishing. Aww – the summer season filled with children’s’ laughter, dogs barking, and that wonderful tune of the ice-cream truck cruising ever so slowly around teams of children. Delicious smells of barbeques floating through the air seemingly arriving right to our backyards giving way to our stomachs that are calling out for grilled hamburgers, fresh squeezed lemonade, and freshly picked strawberries. Summertime – summertime for swimming, fishing, playing until the sun sets later in the day, family outings whether it’s vacationing or taking trips to concerts and fests. So many smiles, hand-wavings, and loud voices of children playing their games with jostling excitement and ever so sweetly songbirds singing, while nightly crickets unendingly chirp away. Aww . . . summertime! As Shakespeare once wrote in Midsummer Night’s Dream: “Summers in a sea of glory.” How apropos and appropriate – summertime truly is a sea of glory, beauty, and wonder.
We are now already six months into the halfway mark of the Year of Our Lord, 2018. As I was praying and preparing for my June support letter to you, I sensed a couple of thoughts from the Father’s heart and He wanted me to remind you as well as myself of our promises for 2018.
Surely, Positively, and Most Definitely Seen In 2018 – “To do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)
“The Lord is great and is clothed with unlimited splendor and boundless majesty. Surely, positively, and most definitely, the Lord wraps Himself in your life as light and love that shines and stretches from His Heavens as a covering of love upon you. Surely, positively, and most definitely – YOU will be seen in 2018. Surely, in 2018, He will be releasing wings of His Spirit to carry and convey His thunderous awakening in and around your life.”
I sense in 2018, the Lord is going to set things in motion that have been on hold, have been stuck, or have been in transition. You will be like an arrow in the hand of the Warrior, Jesus, ready to hit the target. You will be His arrow and will be propelled forth like lightning.
You are God’s divine blessing, and He crowns you with His success, His favor, and His rest in your being blessed. 2018 is the year that due diligence of your calling will be unleashed and unhindered to hit the mark of God’s glory.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, …. Are shot out with great strength; come with much force, and do execution, and do not return in vain; with which men defend themselves, and annoy their enemies; see Jeremiah 50:9.
For the Lord is going to set the record straight once and for all in your life – surely, positively, and most definitely – you will be seen in 2018.
Strength will be your inner and outer garment, beauty and glory will be your crown of royalty, and peace and rest will be your most prized possession—your ammunition of defeat to keep standing in the place of blessed assurance and assertion.
Surely is a word the Lord wants YOU to have branded in your heart for 2018. Surely is something important within your spirit for the Lord is confirming clearly, precisely and confidently that you will be seen in 2018. Whether it is the job promotion, whether it is validation that you have been speaking truth, and confirmation that what you heard from the Lord is yes and amen!
Surely means: definitely, positively, absolutely, certainly, confidently, assuredly, and completely.
In this new season of 2018, God is calling for the Micah’s: “to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)
I pray that this word would encourage you, strengthen you, and give you His blessed assurance that SURELY He will do what He has promised YOU and me so that this summer you will not just find the natural senses springing into life but the spiritual senses being activated greater, deeper, and richer.
This summer you will explore, travel, and visit new places in His Spirit: small winding roads calling you into a meadow of quiet rest feeding your soul and receiving greater revelation and deeper transformation. May you see before you an open road flooding your spiritual eyes with a wider view of heaven’s horizon filled with new and fresh visions from your Lord. May your spiritual appetite become hungrier and hungrier for tasting how good our Lord is by abiding and dwelling in His secret place. Your hearts and spirit will be beckoning you more and more just because you’re curious and wondrous in knowing more of His love. “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God.” – St. Augustine.
Summertime naturally and spiritually speaking is a time to peak our curiosity for open spaces to laugh, dance, and find freedom with hearts of vitality and connectedness—hearing sounds of music, laughter, and thunderous roars of heavens applause for us to contemplate and meditate on God’s goodness and greatness.
The revelation of God is whole and pulls our lives together. The signposts of God are clear and point out the right road. The life-maps of God are right, showing the way to joy. The directions of God are plain and easy on the eyes. God’s reputation is twenty-four-carat gold, with a lifetime guarantee. The decisions of God are accurate down to the nth degree. (Ps 19:7-9 The Message)
We pondered your love-in-action, God, waiting in your temple: Your name, God, evokes a train of Hallelujahs wherever It is spoken, near and far; your arms are heaped with goodness-in-action. (Ps 48:9-10 The Message)
So precious friends, let me challenge you this summertime: “Don’t rush!” for kingdom living is not hurried or harried and give yourself “summertime” naturally and spiritually speaking by leaning into His Sabbath summer being still and knowing He is your God, your salvation, and your hope soaking in the “Son-shine and Son-rays” of His warmth and presence.
Your financial support has certainly warmed my heart and allowed me time to lean into the Lord as I prepare for upcoming events and meet ongoing counseling demands. Two small words called “thank you” never seem adequate, but they loom large in my heart when I think of you and your care for and sacrificial giving to Freedom House Ministry.
Current prayer requests:
- An avalanche of students for 2018/19 Course 201 & 202 Schools – August 28 application deadline
- More clients for our prayer counselors • Increased financial support for summer, when giving tends to go down
- Upcoming events:
- Ruth Fazal August 3 & 4 at Vineyard Church at DuPage, Wheaton
- Joseph & Heather Z Ministries October 4 – 6 at Kingsland Properties, Carol Stream
Finally, a few photos and comments from our May 2018 Schools Graduation!
With My Heart of Love,
Mari Anne
Love Can Win!
Graduation Week:
• 11 individuals met with Mark & Maureen for prayer counseling on May 15-17
• 60 people attended the Graduation Ceremony on May 19
• 5 Course 201 & 9 Course 202 students received EH Certificates
• 6 Course 201 & 11 Course 202 students received FHM Certificates
• Dr. Boaz Johnson, Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at North Park University, Chicago, gave the commencement address totally mesmerizing every attendee with his compassionate heart for those caught in human trafficking from bible days to our day, likening FHM counselors to those who are setting the captives free as an ezer: to rescue, to save, and to be strong. When he finished speaking, the entire audience stood up as one person, giving Dr. Johnson a standing ovation for his address!
• In Hebrew, Dr. Johnson sang the Numbers 6:24-26 priestly blessing over everyone! We were all very deeply touched and blessed.
• Mark & Maureen shared a teaching and prayed blessings over the students, a touching end to the ceremony.
• Celby Hadley, Worship Pastor at Living Hope Church, Elk Grove, provided spirit-led praise and worship.
