QUESTION MARK

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Okay, as many of you know by now, I am only having 1 baby! OUCH!!! I was totally expecting to see twins at my appointment. BUT all I can say is SHEEEEEEEEEEW… (that is supposed to be a BIG sigh of relief).

It was crazy because everything in my dream happened in the doctor’s office! They did a regular belly ultrasound and only saw 1 heartbeat. Then they also did a 2^nd internal ultrasound which would verify for sure if there were multiples. They stick a long thing up you know where… and when they did in the office, the equipment malfunctioned! They could not get the picture to show on the screen. The malfunction was not in my dream. So the doctor said she only 1 heartbeat with the other ultrasound and she was pretty sure there was only one baby!

So now what? I know I was hearing you clearly God. So I have been searching for the answer. This thing with twins HAS to mean something!!!! So what does it mean? I have been extremely busy so I have not even had time to seek Him for the answer. Jesus always spoke in parables. Why can’t God just speak to us in a clear and precise way? Then I guess it would not require time and effort to seek His voice.

I was hoping to post this blog sooner because now I do know what the TWINS thing is about but I cannot reveal it until about 1 month from now. I got revelation of the whole picture while I was driving back from a church in Virginia Beach on Wednesday night. We have been going there with my brother-in-law to try to get him connected to a church home. It just all came to me at once, this big light bulb went off! All I can say is that a major thing has happened during the 14^th week of my pregnancy (which ended Thursday) and will continue during my 17^th week… I promise to post all the details in about one month.

Does God Speak Through Fortune Cookies?

I posted the picture of the twin fortunes I got along with the receipt showing that it was on Saturday the 26th. The funny think that I did not mention in the last blog is that my fortune stated, "Ideas you may believe as absurd ultimately lead to success!" Okay God! I do think He uses everything to speak to us as long as we pay attention. I stole this title from Shawn, my husband, after he shared with me a fortune cookie incident in which he asked,"Do you think God speaks through fortune cookies?"

I got a call today and my appointment is Tuesday the 13^th @ 10:30AM. I am very anxious about the appointment. I will be 13 weeks and not 14 like in my dream. I was telling God that He better give me my appointment during my 14^th week like in my dream! And He spoke back to me in my spirit, my “inside voice” and said, “It doesn’t matter when I give you your appointment because you know it is true that you are having twins.” Then I remembered the scriptures in John:

10:27 (New International Version):27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

10:3-5 (New International Version) 3The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice."

I keep having these doubts and fears like, “What if I missed it God and just put myself out there?” I have to constantly cast all of that aside and remember that I KNOW how the Lord speaks to me and when those verses are brought to my mind, it calms my fears.

On Thursday I saw my old boss and was prompted by the Holy Spirit to tell her how God has been speaking to me about these twins! She is not a believer that I know of. She just sort of looked at me and said, “We’ll see.” After I ran into her I went to BJ’s and I saw a lady pushing a cart in the parking lot with twin boys in it! That same day a friend had a dream about me with my 2 older boys with two smaller babies!

I was thinking about baby names since I thought they were both boys. I was going over all of my favorite boy names that I used to fight Shawn for when deciding our other 2 boy’s names. One name we have agreed on and with the second name, nothing sounded right at all. It was strange because all of my favorite names were just not appealing. Then I figured one must be a girl! YAH! I want a girl so bad. Maybe I am wishful thinking.

Shawn and I decided on the name last Monday: Alexis Brooke. So then, Thursday at the play ground a lady goes to get her daughter and she says, “Come on Brooke!”. Friday I took David to a doctor's appointment and I signed him in under another signed-in child's name “Alexis”. I only could focus on that name and everything else was blurry. Coincidence? Okay God, one is a girl?!?!I was talking to someone about it and she was thinking that one is a girl too!

Hearing His voice takes a lot of practice and when you know it, you know it. Like when you know your child’s cry or you know your husband's voice as soon as you answer the phone. It is all about spending the time with Him and learning how He speaks. I use the same confirmation technique when doing anything with the Prayer Ministry. I never want to do something that is just my idea before moving forward. I want to make sure it is ordained by God so it will flourish. I want to make sure I get confirmation over and over from Him. So I have to tell my self everyday, I know your voice God, I have no fear and I know I will see 2 little beans on the ultrasound next Tuesday, I know You will show up BIG! I would not even post this twin thing or have told anyone seriously in faith about it if it weren’t for Him, His purpose and His idea!

“God-Incidences”

The last post I talked about my belief…that there are no coincidences, only “God-Incidences”. So I feel the urge to share about the biggest thing God is doing in my life right now and how He is speaking to me. You may not even believe this is true. I would not even post this if I was not standing in complete faith…

I am expecting for the 3^rd time in 3 and ½ years; a few months sooner than my plan. I was asking God to let this be the last pregnancy and make it permanent because with 2 children I am at my threshold and with 3 I am over my limit. So I am waiting for my 1^st appointment and since the health care I use is at the Veterans Administration Medical Center, and many veterans don’t have babies, they outsource prenatal care and delivery to Eastern Virginia Medical School. This takes ages for paperwork to process so I am still waiting for my first appointment and I am almost 3 months along.

2 weeks ago I had back to back prophetic dreams from God. One dream was about a friend and I woke up and I felt the urge to immediately call her and tell her the dream. I waited until afternoon and she said she has been having that same situation go on in her life! This is generally what the 1^st dream was about:

In my dream I was having a dream about my friend. Then I woke up and I saw her. She asked me a question and then I said, “I just had a dream that you said the same thing!”

Hopefully you are following me. I had a dream that I had a dream. Ha!

Then the next night, I had another dream and this is what it was about:

I was at my 1st appointment getting an ultrasound. The lady printed out the picture and handed it to me and said you are 17 weeks pregnant. I looked at the picture and there were 2 baby faces side by side that looked just like David (my 11 month old). I was obviously having twins. I then went into another room and a different nurse gave me another ultrasound and said, “You are 14 weeks pregnant and look they are twins!” I said, “The other lady told me I was 17 weeks.” The nurse said, “Well this says you are 14 weeks.” So I said, “That is strange.”

Then I woke up. I immediately remembered all of the smallest details not mentioned here. Usually when I do, I ask God, “What are you saying, is this prophetic?” I said/asked, “Oh my God, am I having twins?” I told my husband about my dream and I was like, “I am not sure if it was from God, but how funny would that be?” So he said, “Honey, you remembered all of those details, I think it is from God. Just a few days ago I had a thought cross my mind, 'What if it is twins?' But I did not think twice about it. I have never had those thoughts before with our other boys.”

I then talked to a friend who is spiritually discerning and asked her to see if God tells her anything about the truth of my dream. She then called me the next day. She said, “I haven’t really prayed much about it but I think something that I don’t want to say for sure.” So I proceeded to drag it out of her and I promised not to hold her in contempt if she was off. (ha!) So she told me as she was going to pray for the pregnancy she said to herself, “Let me pray for the babies.” Then she told me that she has never thought in plural about my other pregnancy. An since that slipped out of her mouth she then asked to the God, “Is it true, twins?” and then felt in her heart, “Yes.”

So I try to dismiss the whole thing. I think, “Yeah right, twins does not run in our families and I am just focusing on it too much.” I cannot get this out of my mind though.

So this past week, on Monday or Tuesday night, I had another dream:

I was dreaming that I was having my original dream about the twins. I then woke up and called my aunt who is not a believer and I told her about my dream. I told her that I was going to have twins and had not been to the Dr. yet but God spoke to me through my dream.

I woke up and I said, “Am I supposed to tell my aunt, Lord? to testify about You being living and active and speaking to me?” I did not feel an urgency to do so then and I waited and kept asking for confirmation. She has previously rejected any conversation regarding God, church or prayer.

So now Friday, I was on my way to an appointment in VA Beach. I have not told my mom about the dream or “twins” yet. So she calls me and asks how Malachi is doing since he was sick. I say, “He has an ear infection.” She said, “Oh he is just like his aunt Destinee, she has one too, tell him that she is his twin.” I say to myself, “Ok God very funny.” Then on the way home I passed a public bus stop that I usually glance at and there is a lady standing there with 2 strollers with twin girls! I do not want to believe this is true and my husband starts laughing and saying, “God is going to keep confirming this until you believe it!” So I get home and I let my son watch a cartoon called Dilbert, first time seeing this one. In the cartoon, Dilbert and his mom went to pick up his friends, twin boys Jeremy & Jeffrey.

Yesterday, we go out to eat at Peking before church on Saturday and get 5 fortune cookies. We have 4 in our family. I get two of the exact same fortunes! Twin fortunes! Shawn is now laughing again and saying, “Do you believe it now?”

I kept ruminating on the fact that I would not have a prompting from the Lord to tell my aunt unless it was true and going to bring glory to Him, for her to believe. So today after church, I called her and told her as I did in my dream. I had a strong urge to do so and could not stop thinking about calling her so I knew the Holy Spirit was prompting me to call her right now. By the way, I now had that many more “God-Incidences" to share with her.

I will get an ultrasound on my 1st appointment since EVMS has them in all rooms and they usually use it to check heartbeat at all appointments. I will medically confirm the God confirmations then. I will be sure to post the results here. 14 weeks begins May 16th and I expect my appointment to be during that week. Now it’s time to work on my patience…

Coincidences?

Yes, I am far behind with posting regular blogs about my prayer life. I must do something different and I have come up with a plan so things should begin to improve. God has been speaking to me about obedience!! I talked to Carrie Pollock, my partner in crime, and guess what?? Obedience. I told my husband about what I have been hearing and guess what? He has been hearing obedience as well.

How have I “heard” this? I started to read a recommended book by Brad Jersak, called “Can you hear me? Tuning in to the God who speaks”. In it, he talks about obedience. He also talks about disobedience. If prompted to say or do something and we fail to obey exactly as ordered, then we do not see the consequences of how that affects so many others, not just us!! Then, Wednesday morning, I happened to look for the weather on TV and I caught Joyce Meyer. I do not regularly watch her but I “just happened” to stay on her channel. She was talking about obedience! She said, “When God tells us to do something that no one else does, don’t look at them, you just be obedient, don’t complain.” I do not think there are any coincidences. As soon as I stopped assuming so, then everywhere I turned, I saw where God was speaking to me. I am not sure if it was always that way, but I feel that since I now look for it, it happen a lot and I see clearly when God speaks to me through others and things, even on TV! So this morning, I let my son watch some cartoons. On TBN they have Christian cartoons and it was the 1^st time I saw this one. There was a little cherub singing and talking about reading your bible every day and letting it sink into your heart and OBEYING what it said! It seems he is currently speaking obedience to Shawn, Carrie & I. And you? What is He speaking to you about? How is He speaking? Please share!!! prayer@freedomlifechurch.com

And what about coincidences? Think twice the next time you start to say, “What a coincidence”. God speaks to me all the time through those “coincidences”. About a year ago I was on campus at ODU (I am a late bloomer will be done with college in December) I was thinking about John Pollock, (Carrie’s son) who is a traditional student. I had something in particular on my mind about him and so I was praying silently as I was walking to class. Then I ran into him! I said, “Hey! I was just in the middle of praying for you about ____. " He was surprised! I never ran into him before at that time of day. I always walked the same route to class from my car at the same time in the morning. Coincidence?

CELEBRATE OUR RISEN LORD

Sunrise Service
6:30 AM, Sunday, March 23

The Hamptons Golf Course

(320 Butler Farm Road, Hampton, just off of Magruder Blvd. across from Tysinger Motors).

**Breakfast to follow at FLC at 7:30 AM**
Join us until the 9:15-10:30AM service begins!
2nd service 11-12:15PM



24 Hours of Prayer
Will be leading us up to the Sunrise Service Easter morning!
5:30 AM Saturday March 22nd through 5:30AM Sunday March 23rd

Look for the Prayer Wheel at FLC this weekend.
Interface Prayer Ministry will start signing up FLC’ers this weekend for 30 minute slots (that’s 48 people, although we will certainly double-up or triple-up if necessary!!!).
Prayer Focus is relationships, where do you fit in with FLC as we are starting a 3rd service?
Where can you get plugged in when it comes to relationships?
How can we improve our vertical relationship with our God as well as horizontal relationships within FLC?

A time of sharing will take place at the Sunrise service for anyone moved to do so; otherwise just come and worship in the early morning hour as we remember together that Christ rose from the grave and gave us VICTORY!!! That’s reason to be EXCITED!!!

For Questions, please email Tara Fisher or Carrie Pollock at prayer@freedomlifechurch.com

The Word Continued...

Okay, I have to continue this discussion about the power of THE WORD!!! The power of praying scripture. I just found this tremendous scripture today:

Jer 23:29 "Is not My word like a fire?" says the LORD, "And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?"

WOW! Okay God! Yes, Your Word is like a hammer, it is like a fire!!! We must not try so hard in our flesh when we pray. I used to do that. I would pray and it was like I was trying to make something happen while I was praying it, but then I meditated on this powerful verse:

Jer 1:12 (MKJV) And the LORD said to me, You have seen well; for I will watch over My word to perform it.

You LORD perform Your Word! We don't perform it! Our only job is to pray the Word then step out in faith to receive what He has promised us already! We pray it and claim it, then our only job is to believe He is performing it! How do we believe it? Just as Paul said:

Acts 27:25 (RSV) So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told.

BELIEVE GODS WORD AS IT SAYS!!! Don't doubt! Amen!

Okay, I am probably a little too "exclamationy" but I get so fired up for His promises. Once I started taking hold of them in my life and seeing the fruit of studying the Bible and claiming the promises, I just can't help it. :)

So you may see there are several different versions I have used. Wording is different for different versions. You can go to www.biblegateway.com and look at all the different versions side by side for FREE. Another great resource I just learned about for FREE is www.bibleexplorer.com, then go to "library". You can look at the Greek and Hebrew text and learn in what context a word was used in. Also www.blueletterbible.com was recommended by Lisi last night at women's bible study. These are all free and Power Bible is not.

Please go dig...

I can't sign off without giving an example. God is speaking about His Word(s) again here so please read verses 20-24 to get the context... This is copied and pasted from my notes in Power Bible. In the brackets are the Hebrew words from which the verse came. The Greek/Hebrew words are only given when I click on the King James Version on Power Bible:

Proverbs 4:22 For they are life (chay) unto those that find (matsa')them, and health (marpe)to all their flesh. (basar)

Next I clicked on (marpe') and I pasted below the definition from the Strong's Hebrew Dictionary:

marpe', mar-pay':properly, curative, i.e. literally (concretely) a medicine, or (abstractly) a cure; figuratively (concretely) deliverance, or (abstractly) placidity:--((in-))cure(-able), healing(-lth), remedy, sound, wholesome, yielding. )

So now after studying that one scripture today, instead of just praying, "God, your Word is life to me and health to my flesh" I prayed, "Your Word is health to my flesh, it is medicine to my body, it is my cure, it is deliverance, I am whole! I claim it, your Word is like a Hammer! It is like fire!! In Jesus' name!!!"

So can you read the difference? I do not mean to be writing "to you" as I am sure many of you are versed better than I am in all of this. I hope this little step by step example helps. Please email with any questions, suggestions, comments....prayer@freedomlifechurch.com

Why Pray Scripture?

What is the benefit? Why read the Word? I try to study and memorize the Word as much as I can. Only because it directly affects my prayer life! If someone asks me for prayer at church, or on the phone, or I am praying in my private prayer time, scriptures will be brought to my mind that I have stored up in my memory. So then I pray those, as they are brought to my mind, over that person or situation. I also like to have my Bible open and reviewing scriptures before and during my time of prayer. Sometimes I get directed to certain places in the Bible. These places may be of scriptures I have forgotten or new ones. I often end up turning to a verse and then I will get a thought of someone in my head; I have learned that is my way of knowing to pray that scripture over that person or situation. I will not tell someone that I was praying for them unless prompted by the Holy Spirit.

2 years ago, I was awake at a very odd hour, like 4 in am, and I was praying scriptures from a brochure over the missions team. I got stuck on this one verse. I could not take my eyes off of it. I just said it out loud and gave it to God. I kept saying it out loud over and over for a good minute, then I got a picture in my head of someone dear to me. I prayed this scripture over them for about the next 4-5 minutes until I felt that I could move on. I made a mental note of the exact time. Later when I saw them, I got a thought in my head to tell them what scripture it was and what happened. They happened to be going through a physical ailment that scared them. They thought they were all alone and could not make it through at that very moment. They were trying to fight fear in prayer and could not believe what I told them!!! If you get woken in the middle of the night, then it may be God! He is looking for people who want to be used in prayer.

The Bible gives us the following powerful versus concerning the Word of God….

Hebrews 4:12 (NIV) For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Romans 10:17 (NKJV) So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

1 John 5:14-15 (NIV) 14This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

Okay, I’ll stop there. If we meditate on just those 3 scriptures, who wouldn’t want to pray scripture? I would just like to encourage you, don't think the Word is intimidating, just pick a spot and start there. Biblegateway.org also has a search engine that you can search topics and read all the scriptures pertaining to that topic right there online in the same spot. I have a Power Bible CD that a friend, Carol, recommended and I would highly recommend it if you enjoy studying the Greek and Hebrew, since it gives you the ancient words next to the translation with the definitions all with just a point and click of your mouse.

Please let me know how studying the Word helps you! Send me your testimony! I will be posting several topics and what the Word says regarding them throughout the year.