Farewells, Roadtrip to TX, & New Faces and Places

Goodbye hang out time with friends from the ICU

Goodbye hang time with Morgan and Taz

Farewells from the Awakening Family

Truth

Farewells at the casa de Tom y Ellyn y Violet

Loving Send off by this Sweet Couple

Two Paler Friends (Jessie and Missy) We Miss So Much!

She was the first to come unglued

Hour 10, headlamp-check, the Word-check

What it is

Hour 11 . . getting creeeepy

Hour 12 . . djembe headlamp craziness

Our new friend from the Berry Family in Brownsboro TX!

Thank you Stacy and Roger for being complete strangers and opening your home up to us! (crazy and cool story I will actually blog about when I have energy and have processed)

We are in TEXAS... on our way to McKinney

Need that Joe - 

This bow (thank you Lisa Thomas) is placed on the dash to remind us of a few things:

1. To pursue his Presence and Presents* (its a pun of course)
2. To practice our spiritual gifts
3. That Tati and I are a gift to each other
4. *To BE PRESENT*

AMAZING AMAZING couple - the Wilsons whose house we are currently at and will be back at in a few days; they have BEYOND blessed us and are such a gift. Most generous people I have yet to meet, maybe in my life!

Tati at Walmart . . she found a raisin

ummm....

Marcel the Shell with Shoes on, says, "No LJ, I can't drink your cough syrup - my eyeball might fall out!"

Mrs. Susan (Shooby) Wilson with her dogs. After Ben thoroughly taught us how to Dougie, Jerk, Shuffle, and ... something else lol

OK! SO! We are in TEXAS! Tati blogged more legit-ly... me, I am sooo pooped, and on an overdose of blessedness that I will have to blog tomorrow, but wanted to put these photos up just.... cuz. I can't wait to share the tremendous things the Lord has already done for us and through us. Today's theme verse was Luke 18.27 and it is proving true.... We have had so much fun today, although tomorrow I will share the reality of where I am at in life and what is actually going on in my heart and what the Lord has been speaking to me about!! Basically James 4, Romans 12, Romans 8 and Romans in general lol, and well I am just so tired I need to stop right now and probably edit this later. Ciao!

Books, Hammocks, Percussion and Bug Spray

*my good friend and little bro Drew training me how to use my new ENO hammock*

(I think the Lord is going to teach me some lessons in this thing)

So I prayed that the Lord would bless me with specific books to bring and read during this trip, and I am ecstatic about the one I have started as well as the few others I will be bringing and meditating on. The book I just started is by John Sandford, and it is called Healing the Nations. John and Paula Sandford received a vision from the Lord for their ministry and life, and were told to write 7 specific books. The first five related to their inner healing prayer ministry "Elijah House," and the other two have to do with bringing healing to a macro level and less introspective. After about two years of learning more and more about EH, and being set free in ways that have changed my life, I am so excited to learn about how to heal a nation, and not just myself! I love what John says in the Introduction:

"Each of the first five books, which have been written and published, concern the maturation and sanctification of individual Christians. The last two books present a departure from individual (perhaps even self-centered) concerns to corporate, altruistic, others-minded service to the Lord, to mankind and to earth. These call for forgetting about one's self and one's own sanctification and laying down one's life for others. The earlier five books direct our gaze inward, then outward. This new book and the next call us to look inward only when we find our flesh interfering, and then merely enough to get the flesh out of the way. Those who come looking for something for themselves had better put this book and its sequel down until they are ready to serve others unmindful of their own needs . . . "

I love that because of how amazing and intense personal inner healing can be, but it is easy to get so into the process of dying to one's self that you look for ways to be sanctified and transformed - it can become distracting and even heavy, but the process is what is important to know, for when it is time to deal with sin that comes up, but I am thrilled to learn more about applying myself to the larger body and standing in the gap for a hurting world.

Anyway, the other books I am bringing are: Humility, The Journey Toward Holiness - by Andrew Murray, and The Inner Voice of Love, by Henri J.M. Nouwen. I'm sure I will also bring my favorite books The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis, and The Alchemist by Paul Coelho, but we will see :) The books I brought came to me in very interesting ways, one through stumbling upon, one through revelation, and one as a gift from a wise world traveler who happened to come through Athens.

As I continue to prepare for this trip here is what I am up to externally:

• I am in the process of purchasing/gathering a Djembe Drum, maracas and a tambourine so we can party all the way down and back (and lead worship of course) - Tati will be on the Gee-tar, while I will be focusing mainly on my voice and obviously the percussion just mentioned
• I have dyed my hair dark brown, in order to remove any target of attention that being blonde may have put on me

• I am learning how to download and operate iMovie, so that I can create HD movies from this trip and put music to them and do the whole splicing editing thing (last resort I email them to my friend Phil and see if he will do/fix them for me) *I can't WAIT to make videos of baptisms and healings and miracles and everything else
• I am in the process of purchasing either an Iphone or an Ipod touch, and being able to skype/face time while I am out of the country - so send me your skype name!
• I need to find the strongest bug spray possible (have you SEEN the bugs in S.America?)

you just go ahead and see for yourself :    

http://www.richard-seaman.com/Arthropods/Belize/Highlights/index.html      aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Preparation H . . . . (holyspirit)

So, our proposed leave date is Jan 18th, a week from tomorrow- and we will be roadtripping to Texas, stopping at Convergence Church in Forth Worth, then meeting our people in Houston to cross Mexico. The Lord of course has provision to a degree beyond what our minds can conceive - He has set it up for us to be able to drive through Mexico with 2-3 spanish speaking men of God, each will be driving a bus to Belize, so we will have walking talkies, and have a bus in front of and behind our car :) Psalm 91 protection baby! Thank you Lord!

My blog will hopefully get cooler and cooler over time once Tati shows me some tricks haha, and I have pictures and videos to actually add from our trip. The title blurb that says: Leaving.Meeting.Seeing.Leading, I thought I would explain. . . Last winter/spring 2011, I was in a place in life where I had been stripped of every idol I had bowed down to in my life; in a place of major breakthrough, of rising from the ashes and learning who the Lord is, who I am in Him, and how to be His beloved. . . anyway, as I was learning about the Lord's voice and His plan for me, and one night I drove home from Elijah House, which is an inner healing prayer ministry that continues to change my world, well anyway - I was on my way home, and I very boldly heard the Lord tell me to put my name into a text message, and read what different words would come up under the T9 application, where I would enter 528736 which were the number combination for l-a-u-r-e-n, and anyway, the words in that order came up: leaving. meeting. seeing. leading.  no kidding! it was crazy. I know it sounds silly, but I know it was from the Lord. Anyway, I feel like the freedom I was living in in that time has now returned, as the Lord has set up a plank for me to walk down blindfolded and dive into the waters beneath. I'm not just leaving the country, I'm not just meeting new people, I'm not just seeing new places, and I'm not just leading my life - it's way more. It's so much more. Leaving the old life, meeting with Jesus, seeing the truth and leading others, through loving others to life and setting others free in Christ!

2012 Slumdog Trillionare!

So, it is Dec 31, 2011, and as we wrap up the end of an eventful and harvest-full year, I can't begin to explain the anticipation and excitement I have for 2012! It is going to be a year of major fruition.
 I really want to share what the Lord has been teaching me in the past few weeks, as well as some of the things Tati and I have been convicted of and instructed by the Lord to do on our trip. . . . 


Last Tuesday for our small group we did our monthly "treasure hunt", where we get together, worship and pray, and everyone writes down anything they "get" during this time, while asking the Lord what He is doing, where He wants us to go, who we are going to encounter, and what is going on with whomever we meet. We then share what we get, split into groups (based on common words, such as multiple people getting certain places or themes, people or objects etc) and then we go out in groups and find our "treasure". . . we always find them! having multiple things on our list (not always all)  - they could be a pregnant hunchback in pigtails and that is who we will run into!


So this past Tuesday, I got the word "Slumdog Millionare" and the Salvation Army Bell and some other things, and Phil got crutches and grocery store among other things, and so we found Virginia, on crutches, with arthritis in both her knees, and she fit the description and list of things we had on our list. We talked with her, prayed for her life and knees, and the Lord used us to majorly blessed her life. I shared with her about how although I know nothing about her life, the Lord told me to share with/prophesy to her that she has identified with the slumdog mentality, feeling stuck and insignificant, never being able to rise above her situation etc etc, and that the Lord wants to bless her life and that He wants to deliver her and just as the boy in the movie gets his lucky break - the Lord wanted her to know that she is not stuck, she is CHOSEN and going to flourish etc etc (and other things that meant something to her unbeknownst to me). . . . so before we met Virginia, we walked in and outside of Publix, and next door is Vision Video; and so I was like, "Well, I have the word Slumdog Millionare, I might as well go to the aisle of the movie and I dunno, just check it out." So I rented the movie and stuck it in my purse. 

Then days later, finding myself in Florida with my family, I felt the Lord pressing me to watch this movie that was overdue and unwatched. And that He wanted to speak to me through the movie. And wow, did He. I put the movie in and pulled out my journal. Here are some things He broke my heart about, showed me how I want and need to live my own life, and some great news to share with others :) I'm going to literally copy my journal entry:

• I'm in Gainesville at my folk's house- Just put on Slumdog Millionare- the movie I had come to my mind last Tuesday at small group- that I rented from Vision Video and shared the word/picture with Virginia. Lord bless and heal Virginia's arthritic knees; show her your will and the way you see her. As I watch this movie- The Lord wants to teach me something from this movie. Lord open my eyes and ears to hear and see what is in front of me. 
• Jamal had only known the life of a street slumdog, and his life journey lead him to the chance of a lifetime on Who Wants To Be A Millionare, and because of his story and even traumatic experiences, he was able to recall and know the information needed for him to be the champion. *The Lord equips us with our path in life, to be on our journey, in the appropriate chapter of our story- to know what we're supposed to know- exactly when and how we're supposed to know it for what is in front of us and up ahead.*

• "Do you want the life of a Slumdog? Or the life of a Man?" - the sly words asked by the man who guised himself as a helper to the street kids, but actually would blind and maim the children to be better beggars and make him money, that Jamal and his brother were able to overtake and flee from before they became like the others. *We have to use the knowledge we have about the enemy against him. We have to be quick - on our feet - professional flee-ers of evil *
• Luke 10:19
  Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. *When we use the authority invested and bestowed up on us through Jesus, Satan's weapon is used to pierce his own heart. Woo hoo! *can't touch this*!

• We have to "rough-it" in order to be AWAKE. ALIVE. . .
• . . . The casual comforts around us are actually unpleasantries to our condition; they, in reality stiffen the flex mind, heart and spirit; they coat the limber and ready muscles in fat and make it little by little harder to move. Slower in running when being chased and pursued by the enemy. Every numbing of the senses, dulling of moral conviction - every puff of smoke that tightens the lungs and every layer of fat and slothfulness increases our distance from full abundant, created, potential and intended life. Physical and Spiritual collide in this principle. 
• EXERCISE YOUR FAITH. EXERCISE YOUR BODY. EXERCISE YOUR GIFTS. we have to; or we are not living full life!!
• From rags to raja - our destiny . . . it is written
• We are all slumdogs. chosen by God. He's offering us our big break - it's like winning a trillion dollars, and the rest of our lives, getting to spend it - getting our big break and spending the rest of our lives serving Him, living in the fullness of life and richness - surpassing all the fake promises and lures of this world and experiencing full abundant life.
• Jamal was a bearer of hope
• Risk it all, KNOWING it is WORTH IT ALL  (that is what this trip to Belize is about to me) *Jamal's last and final question he took a step of faith by guessing at the answer, trusting in his solid fate and destiny.
• His brother's love of money not only killed him, but ruined him. It ruined his relationship with Jamal, and in the end, letting Latika sneak out of his boss's house- though he did it to show love to his brother, he still used betrayal. It was all he knew. He lost himself and his identity to the false gains of this world. 
• At one point, Jamal ran into a blind kid begging. A boy he knew before who was blinded by the man making money off of ruined children - *in our lives, we are many times able to be humbled and sobered in encountering people and seeing where we would be if we had continued to deny and run from the Lord's pursuit of our hearts.

Bottomline, we have to realize that all of life is spiritual, and there is a battle going on of light and darkness. Our unawareness and slumbering spirits are weapons used against us. Why profess to be a believer and not be willing to do ANYTHING, whatever it takes, in order to fulfill our missions/duties/callings on our life? Comfort is a funny word. In the US it is not a word that is much affiliated with contentment and peace. It is a state. A state of being tucked into bed and having your pillow fluffed. Are we going after comfort? Or are we alive and awake enough to recognize our daily states of living half a life. Where we get by through coping. We decompress with retail-therapy, nicotine, alcohol, physical, mental, short-standing, very fleeting feel-goods; but what is the deeper truth? reality? Where are we at? Why throw back Goody Powder to alleviate the never-ending headaches and everyday pain you may have when there is a chronic condition that could be treated permanently? Working in the ICU, this is a great example of my point - we all up here know that Goody Powder can lead to upper GI bleeds, eroding the stomach lining. It is not an uncommon thing. People die from coping. Literally; spiritually. . . . I tell you the truth - To know that one is dreaming is to no longer be perfectly asleep. There is so much more to life. 

⁴ But^[c] God, being rich in mercy,because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— (Ephesians 2) .

                                                   

 . . . To quickly share what Tati texted me today: that our trip is going to be richly purposed toward sharing the gospel to unbelievers, baptize with water, and for us and others to be filled with the holy spirit. yee haw - here we come 2012

New Blog first update

So here we are, it's December and it's warm weather in Athens, GA. Christmas is approaching in DAYS. . . I'm not sure where I'VE BEEN, but I have not been conscious of the flying time. I decided to start a new blog once Tati and I agreed to do our own, and the original faithinbelize.blogspot site was under her email, so this will work out better. Sorry for any confusion, but surely the diehard followers and fans will find this page

As far as preparing for my trip - I am desiring to raise $1,000 more dollars than I now have. That is not a problem at ALL for the Lord - I have no fear that it will come. I have 2 weeks left at my job, and I am just praying that my time here left at the hospital will be spent blessing the people around me, believing that I am a gift to them, and seeing each person as a gift to me. There have been awesome instances of being able to pray for inner and outer healing as well as telling nurses and coworkers about my trip. On the Bordeaux Lane homefront, our roommate situation is transitioning like crazy - with Tati and I leaving, Waverly moving home tomorrow, and FOUR more girls moving in in January. There will be a total of SEVEN girls in our house before we leave for Belize in the beginning of Jan . . . umm PARTY!! . . . . all I know is that I need to clean my bathroom . . . stat. It's nice living with someone like Jessie, who I have been with for 3 years now, share a room and bathroom with, and our messy and clean freak tendencies and cycles are in queue with one another. We are spoiled . . sadly not for much longer. . .

Anyway, today I am just praying that the Lord will continue to stretch me, provide me with clear wisdom in relationships and my position and role in preparing for transitions in my life as a community/house, as well as seeking and asking and knocking and expecting the Lord to reveal His will for my life in certain areas that need spoken on . . regardless - I am going to Belize! My parents are scared to death, I know. This Christmas will be very interesting as they kiss their 2nd-born goodbye and send me off - I guess I just knowKNOW that I am called for this trip, and it is the Lord's will, therefore whatever happens in Belize, was supposed to be part of my tale. The way I see it, if this could be the last time I am seen or ever heard from again, with driving through Mexico and that whole part of the trip - then why not bless me and send me off with everything you've got? :)

By the way - something not in the support letter but an important detail about Mexico is this: we are meeting a missionary named Marconi at the Border, he not only speaks Spanish, knows the (safest) routes due to his traveling back and forth from the U.S. to Belize year round, but he has also worked for Tati for years when she has lead mission trips and driven buses of her peeps that she was leading on trips around Belize. So as of now we are still driving to Belize, yes through Mexico, and the Lord has provided a trusted, Spanish speaking guide/body guard to be an angel of light to help in warding off evil ;)

I am currently reading Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer - and I have a collection of books I will be bringing with me on this trip . . . carefully selected, to intentionally imbibe the wisdom within the pages. Some amazing quotes of Ms. Meyer include:

-"When you are being tempted to give up, your breakthrough is probably just around the corner," ♥

-"Complain and remain. Praise and be raised." ☼

-"We don't want to survive, we want to be healed" ↕

-"Seek His face, not His hand"    (loooooove this!)

-"Jesus will walk us across the finish line of victory in any area if we are willing to go all the way through it with Him"

Love you guys, stay tuned :)