To be or not to be …. where you’re meant to be…

The above photo was taken on the 3rd May 2008 in Florida, that was where I was meant to be…

That weekend trip to America to encounter God’s healing and transforming power was the turning point in my life.  Three years ago standing there in that stadium He showed me some of the plans He had for me and what the future could look like if I chose Him.

 As I was reading back through my journal from that trip I can honestly say that everything that was prophesied, imparted and prayed over me has happened, every single detail and MORE.  At that time ALL those promises seemed untouchable, unrealistic and impossible BUT experiencing Him there changed me forever.  He has been SO faithful to His word and it has been a WILD, FUN, ADVENTURE ever since. He’s all I want, He’s all I need, everything…. He alone satisfies, fills the deepest places of your heart.

The journey of how we ended up there was crazy and the fact we flew half way round the world to be there for two days is a book in itself! Every detail He had planned for us…. He healed me there and I love the scar on my arm that reminds me of when, where  and how I was healed. He can turn ashes to beauty, mourning to dancing… He turned my life around and showed me where I needed to be.

I had been ‘doing a Jonah’ and running from Him but that day I ran to Him and have been seeking Him out ever since. He has places for you to go, people for you to meet, adventures to take you on, things to show you, gifts to give you…. but it’s your choice to choose to be with Him.

This weekend I had a choice to make about where I was meant to be.

This time last year I was in Bethel, California at the Leader’s Advance. I knew He wanted me there and had people for me to meet. There I sat beside Maggie who took me with her to Hong Kong where I lived with the most amazing people in St Stephen’s Society  and worked for Jackie Pullinger shortly after that.  Through meeting Jerry at the conference we were able to bring JesusCulture to Belfast.  The Lord knows even the seemingly impossible desires of our hearts too as I He set me up to sit beside an Olympic winning snow boarder at the Advance so I could get her to pray for my boarding skills !

I had the choice to go to the Advance and naturally would have jumped at the chance but I felt Him saying ‘Id rather you didn’t this time but it’s up to you’ …. so I left it to last minute, had the flights on hold and waited for my ‘fleece’ id left out to come back with a big, fat ‘yessss …goooo I was only kidding’ but alas no confirmation arrived. I was a little disappointed as I was excited about seeing my friends there but had to remind myself His timing and plans always outweigh mine.

If I had of took off to America, Im sure I would have had a great time but I would have missed His purposes for me here. I’ll fill you in on some of the stories from yesterday’s MayDay Fun Day.

As I was setting up my Mozambootique stand at the Car Boot Sale behind our church hall I asked the Lord to send people my way who He wanted to talk to. Within minutes a dodgy looking white van hurtled into the spot down from me. The driver bounces out and starts giving the other stall owners hassle.  He looked pretty scary but as he walked up to my stall and started talking I could feel the Lord’s presence even settling his harshness

The Lord started showing me things to ask him.  I asked him about motorbikes and other specifics he showed me about. He told me his best friend was called Jason and when I asked him if this was the case, not only was he a Jason but the son of my old Pastor!

God was setting this guy up! BIG TIME! I asked him what happened to his leg, was it an accident ? By this time he was freaking out…. ‘ how do you know this stuff?’ I told him I was a follower of Jesus and He showed me what He wanted me to say to him because He wanted him to experience His reality.  He pulled up his trouser leg and showed me his calf which had a huge chunk missing out of it, saying it was a shark bite?!  He eventually told me a few years back he had been so drunk that he had walked out into the middle of a busy road and bent down to pick up an english £5 pound note as a car hit him from behind. His surgeons said if he had not bet over because of the way the car struck him he would have been killed outright. ‘Funny that’ he says ‘ Ive kept finding english fivers randomly since that’ ! I told him to check his pocket…he pulled out an English fiver and his face went white! ‘That wasnt there earlier!!!!’

I told him that fivers to me represented ‘change’ its what you get back when you get change of a larger 10 or 20…. but it stood for the CHANGE that the Lord was reminding him that he brought into his life. Picking that fiver up saved his life…. actually it was the Lord that saved his life and the fivers show up to remind him of this.  He asked me my story and I told him about my accident and the change that the Lord had brought to me.

I asked him how come he was at a church car boot sale in Carryduff miles away from his home. He said he stopped to help a guy in a transit who had broken down and he told him that he was on his way to a car boot sale so he decided to come along … but he knew too that the Lord had set him up! As the day went on we chatted more and more about God and I prayed that the Lord would send more people to speak into his life and show him how precious he was to him.  Four men turned up and were able to share their stories with him. I know the Lord had him where he was meant to be and so did he.

If you have read my blog before you will have read my story about my dream list and ‘stroking a monkey under an open heaven’ …well on the way out of the car park, white van man stops his van and rolls down the window and hands me a toy monkey and says thank you … “I think this may mean something to you!” Isnt God hilarious, when you stroke the monkey it laughs?!

I went up to the face painting area as I was on from 1-2pm and while i was watching a little one getting a butterfly painted on her face I noticed a  lady leaning against the wall with a crutch. I went over to her and asked her what was wrong with her knee, she asked ‘how do you know it was my knee?’ I told her ‘Ive seen a lot of knees healed lately, how about getting some prayer for yours?” She said ‘ok. i havent prayed for years mind you, He may not know who I am?!” I said ” dont worry, He definitely does know and loves you’ ….she sat nervously in the healing room but as the folk started praying she relaxed and you could feel the peace of God in the room. The Lord showed me people buying her flowers and how she really loved  her family so generously and selflessly. She started praying and thanked God for us and her healing. I was in bits by this stage …. she said she was able to move her knee in ways she hadnt been able to before.YAY GOD!

We met loads of people but my favourite was a Druid lady who had wandered in as she thought the falconry man might have been at the FunDay.  The Lord showed me her name and her sicknesses and what she was feeling.  She didnt seem phased by these words of knowledge as she was used to the supernatural but she kept asking “why are you being so lovely?! ‘our kind’ are not welcomed in churches.” I told her  ”God loves pagans and witches a lot, it’s just unfortunate sometimes that we don’t ” We talked about the creator and she listened to my stories of encounters with wiccans, at the solstices, new age fairs and on treasure hunts. She was intriqued and I knew she was feeling loved,  half way through our conversation she said she thought she saw the Archangel Michael in a dream so I took her into the church ( so she felt the impact of all the hours of worship and prayer from it) to show her a small statue we had of him. She said he looked exactly like how she had seen him…. ” Maybe he has been sent to fight for you”  I said.  She said the church and all the people were causing her to feel ‘funny but good’ but she needed to go. It was like something was waging war inside her….

I remembered this quote from the film ‘Furious Love’  ” ~ the greatest weapon we have against the devil is love, when God wanted to redeem a world that came into the sin of the devil He sent Jesus and He used, simple pure love, He was love” and that’s what was speaking to this Druid girl more than the words I was saying His love for her was reaching her when no one else could.  I know we will see her, white van man and healed knee lady again…. keep praying for them and be where your meant to be =)

Keep it simple LOVE them and let God change them 
Its not pointing out what they are or not doing
Its loving them and letting HIM pursue them

Nomatter who we are or what weve done
There is a war going on for us
The weapon of our warfare against the darkness is His love
He desperately wants to pursue us and to give us His love

In this war of the invisible, the spiritual war has brought us pain, fear, disappointment , doubt and abuse but there is One who fights for us, who fights against the darkness He is our defender, our pursuer, our God, our Father ….. He fights for you and LOVE ALWAYS WINS