Mystery

by Misty Edwards


You're a mystery like poetry
like a parable a rhyme or a riddle
You're a mystery
wrapped in clouds shouting so loud
Just waiting to be discovered
You're a mystery so intriguing
You're a mystery so inviting

You saved Yourself for the weak
the humble and the meek
Only the hungry dine
only the thirsty drink deep
You saved Yourself for the needy
You saved Yourself for me

I want to waste my life
to search You out search You out
I want to waste my life
to search You out search You out

That about says everything that is on my heart right now... Misty pretty much summed my heart up for me, oh yet again... I want to waste my life to search Him out.

Visited by Jesus

Last night, one of our oldest boys had an amazing dream of Jesus visiting our compound:

“Hello. I am Malik. I live here at Iris Ministries.

So, it was last night when I had a very good dream that we were visited by Jesus.

Really it was just by the gate, we were sitting with these children here, and Jesus came, and everybody was scared

He told us not to be scared because He is our brother who always stays with us every day here at the compound.

He's just come to visit us.

He is sent by our Heavenly Father to bring for us His greetings.”

(from Jennie Joy's notes! We love you girl!)

Love from our household to yours...

Through the Lens of Love

Here I am with Naonja from Eastern Equatoria and a photo captured during our day long video shoot. How fun it was! We are planning to start a you-tube video diary several times a year as we can send clips back on disk to have them uploaded. They will then be integrated to our websites and blogs.

But today got me to thinking. Video and cameras can paint a picture creating their own reality and often do. That is why we like to go to movies right?

What would the world look like if our only lens was love?

I don't know, but I certain it would be a very different world than we typically see every day. Or perhaps the world would be the same, but it would be us who change in the way we see it. That might ultimately lead to changing the world.

I want eyes that see through His limitless love. No case too impossible, no situation too far gone, no child invisible, no life untouchable. I want my world to be framed by faith and edited by mercy. I want my vision to be filtered through the eyes of eternity and captivated by the heart of the One Who is my life.

Ah musings and movie time in Sudan! Who would have thought the bombed out mortar shocked shell of a building would be the perfect place for a video and photo shoot. It is all in how you look at it. The right perspective makes even the ruins around us become beautiful places of His potential and promise.

More from our world to yours coming soon!

Love and hugs from Sudan-Michele

Wedding Dresses and Rainbow Skies

I woke up this morning with Jesus reminding me of a vision I had in May. You can read the whole story here on Encountering Heaven , my space to write about what I experience on my journey to live inside His heart. Here is a little excerpt from this encounter.

He walked up to me with a big smile carrying robes: gorgeous garments of reds and purples and blues embroidered with gold and silver. Royal robes. Wedding garments. We went walking through the streets here where the drunk, angry ak-47 toting soldiers hang out and into the villages and hospitals and up in the northern camps. We found the worst conditions we could find and began inviting the people there to come home. We went in search of Jesus’ lost Bride—not just here but in also back in the garbage heaps of India and my slums in Calcutta and the warzones of N Africa, and into the Middle East. Refugee camps and squatter settlements; red light districts and places no one else wanted. HOORAY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This time it wasn’t just wedding invitations to come eat—it was garments and "Come BE!" The wedding feast is prepared but the house is not yet full. Come home and be married! We were passing out mantles of royalty to His lost Bride and calling her to come home and be His Bride. I just wept and wept. We put the garments on them and their sores disappeared and their scabies left and their blind and dim eyes became clear and sharp and their insanity and anger and pain melted away in the fire of His love. They dropped their liquor bottles and ak-47s to embrace Jesus. They left their hatred and their witchcraft and their fear-- it was all washed away and covered by His love.

Yesterday, I was talking with one of our lead pastors on the way back from our land. I was sharing this vision and how our church would offer free weddings. Here an average wedding in a church goes for about 5000 USD. No that is not a typo. As ninety percent of folks make less than $1, most cannot afford to even contemplate a church wedding. So I was sharing about how much God's heart it would be to offer a place that anyone who wanted to could be married properly. That it was even prophetic of His heart to marry His Sudanese Bride. How He was adorning and preparing His Bride for the Wedding Day to come.

Then this morning I had a new friend of ours email me out of the blue and ask if she could send some wedding dresses back with me this trip!!!!! Talk about confirmation of God's promises. To carry mantles to His Bride, wedding garments of His goodness. It just made me cry.

Jennie, John, 2 of our kids and I piled up in the car and went bouncing down the road to visit friends who have a bible school 20 miles away. There we were able to purchase an amazing set of resources for discipling our leaders. It was like Christmas to open it and see what was inside.

We got a running commentary on the different strongholds on the way there by John. What stories there were! On the way back we were treated to a beautiful Sudanese stormy late afternoon sky. Complete with a rainbow we drove under. It was indeed a day of God's Promise and Presence. He is so so good. His promises are coming to pass all around us. I can't believe I get to live such an amazing life with Jesus. Yea from Yei- thank you for loving and praying for us!

Field of Promises

I was praying today and God reminded me of a special time I had with Him earlier this year.

As I prayed, I saw myself lying in this field with misty rain mingled with bright sunshine and a harvest of dancing rainbows. An angel picked one up and handed it to me as a living animated streamer and everywhere I danced, earth got colored with heaven.

Could it be that it is all about the romance of the Gospel, the dance of God’s promises in the earth? Then all of the sudden all of these children from many races and tribes and nations were dancing with me in this field each with a flaming rainbow streamer.

The flood gates of His glory love were opened and we all spilled forth like a mighty wave to many nations and places of deepest darkness. As we worshiped twirling with these banners, again heaven colored earth with radiant glory and limitless love.

There is a storehouse in God’s heart of rainbows, promises released into places of storms, and a generation of children and childlike hearts who will carry them into the darkness.

If you like more God-encounter posts like this, check out my new Encountering Heaven Journal for the latest and as well as a history of revelations and encounters with the heart of the One Who is Love.

meeting god

unexpected his presence creeps in around
the edges of my awareness
slowly surrounding me with the
weight of his being

pulsing uncreated love
never defiled by anything less,
never polluted with anything else.

simplicity that defines the profound
mystery that provokes majesty
vision unveiled that
whispers great cries from the
depths of what is eternal

the sight of child,
the trust of innocence restored
capturing wonder in the every day
finding treasures in rubbish heaps
playing with angels
discovering LIFE
unmoved by the seen
compelled by the invisible

dancing in darkness
singing in silence
unconcerned with who hears
careless of their critiques
standing in storms
leaning into the wind that blows
and stirs the embers
of forgotten dreams

daring to see in a sightless world
oblivious to the shouts
demanding normality

choosing rather to live on the edge
between the now and the not yet
and embrace the steps of faith...

in a whisper
in a song
in a breath
in a prayer

yesterday
today
forever

he IS

how do you meet God?

-mp

Walk

Walking... we do it mostly without thinking... Unless we are still learning.

My little guys remind me every day of my own walk. Learning to follow the Lamb where ever He goes.

I don't always understand the terrain around me, but His hand firmly holding mine keeps me upright.

One step at a time I am walking into His dreams. How did I get where I am? I took one step with Him, and then another and yet another.

I let Him lead. He knows where I am going. I am learning the life of a child. And the world's greatest teachers live in my house.

His hand in mine and my heart in His, I am learning what it means to love in the face of fear and hatred, opposition and war; to dance through storms, to stand in the darkness and each day explore more of His Kingdom on earth.

In short, I am learning to walk all over again. Into the realm for which I was created.

This SO encouraged me...

I am completely blessed with our newest team member, Jennie-Joy. I was in Uganda missing home so I decided to do some reading on her blog, which is by the way fabulous reading. I got tears in my eyes when I read this one. Why? Well, these are the lessons I pray those who join us are learning here. Yea God from Yei Sudan.

Learning Kingdom Lessons in Sudan

Jennie-Joy's Lens

Mama Eudita getting ready to hand our new clothes

Dario in his new pink pants... at least Weledina got blue pants this time!

Mike verses the caulking tube... a home repair project somewhat successful. It successfully redirected the roof leak to another spot!

Let the rains come!!!

Dinner time with the girls...

Through Bonnie's Eyes

I was really blessed to read how one of our recent visitors and new friends saw our world. Here is a glimpse through Bonnie's eyes... Nuura Aba (left) is ready to greet and welcome our guests...

I had the privilege of staying at Yei Children's Village for a week. What a great experience!

Michele Perry, a 31 yr-old single, American gal, who was born with one leg and walks with arm braces, founded the Home in 2006, shortly after Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed. She radiates the love and joy of the Lord, which she freely shares with 87 kids, six or eight "mama"s and five or six men (security, maintenance, mechanic, compound manager) who now comprise her staff. All but one person on staff are Sudanese.

Michele insists that the kids are not called orphans, because they do have a Heavenly Father who loves them deeply - and they are now in a large, extended family that will not abandon them. The reasons kids have come to the Home run the gamut - parents have died from sickness, committed suicide, been killed in the war - or the child was left with relatives who could no longer take care of them. Michele endeavors to exhaust every option to keep the child within a natural family setting before accepting them into the Home. For example, if the child is malnourished due to the caregiver's inability to afford adequate food, they are placed on a monitored food stipend and kept in their native environment.

The Home now provides schooling for about 200 1st - 3rd graders, because it has opened its classes to the local community. The goal is to add one grade to the school program each year, up through 7th grade. There is a government school nearby that offers 8th - 12th grades. The ages of the kids in the Home range from six months to 24 yrs (the eldest is a boy who is finishing high school - since most school was halted during the war, some of the older kids are still trying to catch up).

The Home currently sits on roughly half an acre on the outskirts of the town of Yei. At the end of the year, they plan to move to a 40-acre leased property that is currently under development.

It was amazing to observe the harmony there, and the productivity that can take place with so many kids in such a compressed space. Laundry is done by hand (you can imagine the quantity), meals are prepared over an open fire, water is pumped from a well about a block away, dishes are washed in large plastic tubs, clothes are pressed, small kids are bathed - all the while a soccer game is in full swing, a group of kids are sitting around an ancient chalkboard doing homework, behind one of the buildings a handful of young boys are building a dirt fort in the mud, a cluster of techy-types have dissembled a flashlight and used the parts to design a light on a very long stick, and some future engineers have taken discarded tin cans and plastic water bottle lids and created a toy truck complete with moveable wheels.

The Home has fairly reliable electricity until around midnight - (when the power is cut until around 7:30a). However, as soon as the sun goes down (around 8:00p) the kids start to gather in the front courtyard for the evening praise and prayer session. Several of those yellow plastic five-gallon "jerry cans" (containers used to carry water) become rhythm instruments, and the children start singing and dancing in a wide circle around the two drummers. Around 30 minutes later, shortly after the energetic praising turns into slower, contemplative worship, most of the kids squat or kneel on the bare ground and everyone prays simultaneously for a period of time. Several may then lead out in prayer followed by one of the older boys initiating The Lord's Prayer, which signals the close of the session and time for all except the older teens and adults to turn in for the day.

What gripped me most while at the Home were the stories of life as a child during the war. One boy from a northern region told of having to run with other kids and mothers to caves that harbored large venomous snakes in a nearby mountain every time the enemy ambushed their area (which was constantly during the war). Their water sources were poisoned and large areas were gassed (according to these kids). These memories are still very fresh for some, and my just sitting and listening to them seemed to be therapeutic to them.

Well, you can tell that the week at Yei Children's Village really made an impact on me! (There are some great photos on the Home's website - www.iris-sudan.org.)

Framing Our World

Vicki-Joy: Say WHAT Mama?

Lomoro: Coloring his world with the kingdom of heaven...
You're safe now! We are so glad we found you...
Might have been text on a coloring page, but it is the
truth written on our heart as well.

Onzia's first dolly-- sent all the way from Barbados to
find her new mommy's arms.

The keys to the kingdom belong to such as these… Mama Eudita with a neighbor baby

Our friend from 13 miles- Jesus is changing her life from the inside out...

Joy can be as simple as painted nails!

Weledina- our little treasure with mild cp… he is a smart cookie and is catching up with some TLC!

Bye bye for now! We love you!!!!

Journey To Juba

It never ceases to amaze me to see what Jesus will do in one 36 hour period of time. Earlier this week, I and Pastor John (one of our friends and leaders) ventured to Juba for a scouting mission. When Jesus told me it would be a Joshua/Caleb expedition, He was being literal. I have never been in a more religiously bound, corrupt, expensive, messed up place in my life. HOW it needs the transforming love of God! Very big giants, but we have an even bigger Papa!

We met with some who we initially had understood wanted to work with us. But upon discussion, the translation became clear they would like us to be a funding agency and plant churches for them. We are very happy to cheer them on but we have enough of our own churches to plant!

The existing church structure in South Sudan is so damaged, at times it is like a people group who are unreached and in some places hostile bearing the names Christian- yet not knowing Jesus. There are some who literally ostracize anyone coming in not part of the existing denominational structures, who oppose and persecute them because they feared to be divisive to the system. But God is giving us wisdom how to navigate the ball of yarn without becoming entangled in its grip. We choose to come in the opposite spirit and love, yet be very careful what we align and agree with.

I just wept to see the state of so many who believe they are right, but only have a form of religion that denies His power and Presence. There was no life to be found. Even in that we did meet several precious people and know God will make a way forward for His purposes.

Our meetings with government officials were cut short by my stomach acting up, but we will rally forth again when I return from the US- with greater wisdom and understanding what we are stepping into this time!

But the highlight, the joy of the trip came on the way home outside of town. Before you reach Juba on the Yei Road there is a dump that lines the roadside where children and families scavenge. I was a bit sick but when we reached its start, Jesus’ presence came on me and it was like I was driving through my vision. In 2005, Jesus took me to the trash heaps of the world and we danced- where ever we danced His river of life flowed transforming the landscape around us. The Holy Spirit fell on John too and he tapped my shoulder- “mama should we stop and preach?” YES!!!

So we stopped, jumped out of the car into the crowd of about 40 people raiding the latest deliveries. The little white woman with one leg. Some of the folks traveling with us almost wretched at the stench. Honestly I could not even smell it. I was walking into His Promise and all it was all I could do not to weep tears of joy. As I held the children who were eating maggot laden food and told them of my vision and God’s love for them in the swarms of flies- His love washed over us all. Every person prayed to receive Jesus. Not one turned Him down. Not one.

Heaven descended to the dump Wednesday. They asked us to come back. In 2 weeks we will return to look for land near to the dump to start a small center (#3) and church (#?). On our way home, Peter (our driver) looks at me and says- we need to bring them food (and lists the entire plan of what and how much) to show them God’s love and then says- Mama a very big church is going to start on the dump- and it will change Juba. John was elated as well and we cannot wait to return. Our children all want to go with us to help us find more children and pray for the sick. Our family is catching God’s heart for their own nation in increasing measure. How great is our King!

In response to the posturing, power plays and programs, Jesus says go low. Go to the least. If we want to see His Kingdom, go to the dump. As John reminded me in the excited chatter that filled our 6 hr journey home, Jesus was not born in a palace but a dirty place like a dump. So we should look for such places.

Beautiful Jesus showed up because there amidst flies and filth He was welcome and wanted. To me the dump is the most beautiful place I have seen yet, because they want Him there. It is the place of promise and from there rivers of life will flow into this spiritually dry land. After the journey into Juba and seeing the atmosphere there, I was even more awed at what Jesus is doing here in Yei. It was like stepping into an open heaven when I came home. The difference between day and night. He is really moving!

As always thank you for praying for us. I just got word tonight the major publishing company I have been dialogging with is officially drawing up a contract for Love Has A Face (or what ever we wind up discovering for a title), which means I need to get down to writing the last 6 chapters. It is my first book, so I am really excited. What an honor to be able to share the message of His heart with so many.

Tomorrow begins our Journey discipleship weekend 2. And already the communities represented want us to plant churches among them.

So much is happening, the intensity only increases. Every day we choose to stay low and close to His heart. Much love from here! Michele

Eyes to See Again

I have been on this journey.  It is a journey into seeing.  As I was stirring my coffee this week, Jesus whispered into my ear:  I want to open your eyes again.

 

Several years ago I had a well-meaning seminar leader tell me some things that were not entirely true and I bought them.  What happens when we buy a lie?  Our vision fades and grows dim.   Lies blind.  Fear binds.  That simple.   Love sees. Love frees.

 

We live in a spiritual world and I grew up seeing in the spirit- the good, the bad, the ugly.  I met Jesus when He walked into my room when I was seven.  I saw the demonic and the angelic.  But because I saw so much and did not know what to do with it all, I allowed a very well-intentioned lie to shut down a gift God had given because of fear.

 

But I have learned MUCH in the process, as there is more than one way to encounter the supernatural reality around us.  And now Jesus in His tender mercy is restoring what I innocently allowed to be stolen almost 7 years ago.  It wasn’t stolen by a person.  It was not stolen by the enemy even.  Not really.  Nothing can steal that what God gives us without our permission.  It was stolen by lie.

 

I wonder how much gets stolen from the Bride because we allow ourselves to come into agreement with a lie, instead of the Truth of Who Jesus is.  May He search us to see if there is any hurtful way in us and restore truth to our inmost parts.

 

What does it means to have eyes that see?  If we are seated in heavenly places in Jesus- just maybe we are intended to experience them.  Now.  How can we live on earth as it is in heaven, with no experience of heaven?  Just a thought.

 

Col 3:1-2  Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on, aim at and seek the things (treasures) above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds (exercise you mind, affection and cognitive faculties) on things above, not on earthly things.  Let heaven fill your thoughts…

 

OK so there we go.  That is one verse of what could be pages on the subject…  Cognitive faculties and imagination submitted to the Word and the Spirit…  We are created for another realm.  His realm.  I so love His Presence.  I have to drag myself out of the Secret Place most days.  Yesterday I didn’t even bother- Jennie met visitors and I hid in His heart.

 

In church, we talked of young Samuel hearing God and then had a time of listening prayer. One of our mamas heard from the Lord that if we listened to Him like Samuel and asked Him to speak to us that He would open our eyes and show us heaven… just a little confirmation.  Thank you Jesus.

 

Can we be like Samuel who slept near the ark of Your Presence?  Can we live in that holy, holy place with You?  Could we walk like Enoch and see like Elijah and trust like Esther? Would You see us free from the lies that blind and give us eyes that see?

 

One thing I am learning, in order to have eyes that see- I have to trust Him enough to open them and look around.  That might be helpful.

 

So here is to trust and faith, truth and grace that restores all that fear has stolen.  For when we experience Him Who is truth, He does set us free.  From every lie every time if we will only let Him. 

 

When Movements Become Monuments

A friend emailed me a few weeks ago with some thought inspiring questions. The organizationally challenged person that I am, his email just now a month later got found in the recesses of my inbox. His thoughts provoked me to more of my own dialogue with Jesus and well here you have the result. Keep in mind this was typed with a two year old on my lap trying to play discover and land on my keyboard.

I talk a lot about movements. Releasing a movement. Catalyzing a movement. Seeing a movement born. I never realized till the said email appeared in my inbox that the word movement meant anything more than something that moved. Seeing as I have named this little blog- LOVE IS THE MOVEMENT. Maybe it would be nice to clarify what in the bejeebers does this mean. Maybe. Here are some thoughts…

Movement: favorite Michele usages- welcome to my personal lexicon.

1. noun/verb: movements of His heartbeat all over the earth- organic indigenous expressions of His love that sweep through nations and change them from the inside out.
2. noun: the movement of His heartbeat that drawn us into Him and propels us out to the nations
3. noun: the movement of His Spirit
4. noun: the act of moving according to what He is doing in the moment- the act of people following Him together- to follow the Lamb where ever He goes
5. noun/verb: the act and result of living in love and being compelled by His compassion.

If I speak of leading people in a movement, I am talking about leading people into an encounter with the movement of His heartbeat through my actions, my choices, my lifesong that create an opportunity for them to become His encounter of love to world around them. I don’t mean a big organizational something ala campaign or grass roots anything (no slogans and hype-just real)- I don’t even know how to organize my day half the time… my admin team has their hands full keeping track of me. I float… ;-) That too is movement. Maybe we should call it the FLOW of His LOVE. We flow, we float, we fly and no I am not doing the dance from Sound of Music when writing this, though the tune is flitting through my head.

When I think of movements-I think of revivals, awakenings, outpourings some that had men and women that were used as catalysts but all of which that overtook the lives who were used to spark them. It is about the movement of the Spirit not the movement of man. Many movements of have seen beautiful things restored to the Body, but the man centered superstar my-corner-of-the-kingdom stuff has GOT to go!

We have this frightening tendency to take the movement of His Spirit and turn it into a monument of our own efforts, ministry names or organizations. Why? Is it a need to control? Is it because our unhealed places gravitate towards the security of the known and the seen? Only Jesus knows. But when movements become monuments they die. They become immobilized and begin to be spoken about in past tense. When we try to take a piece of a movement and add our monument to it, we present a place for others to stumble and trip. Many speak of movements but the movements are no longer moving- they are static. When we try to take ownership of His movement, even in the name of ministry, it becomes our monument. Many movements have become monuments to the men that were trusted at least in part to steward them or to the revelation they were entrusted to carry.

Does that mean they were failures? I don’t think so. Many saw geuine truths and seasons of freedom restored to parts of the Bride. Many were further glimpses for a time into the heart of our King. Some were neither. But all were an opportunity. How would we respond? All were a litmus test of our own heart motives. Can we carry His glory but not touch it. Were the results the best or what God had originally intentioned? In many cases probably not. But He used them and the broken vessels that they were poured through.

A movement ala monument is not my aim. LOVE is. Love is His meaning. Love is His movement. It is His love that never fails. And His love alone. Bottom line- I want people to meet Jesus and fall in love with the One who is my everything.

It is my deep, deep desire to see GOD release the movement of HIS heart in every tribe and tongue. Not having much exposure to common lingo (after 2 years in the bush I am even mixing my metaphors in atrocious ways and have a Sudanese accent most of the time) I don’t know what others mean but that’s my take on it. I don’t have time for anything else. My only goal is to love- to love people and do what Papa is doing- if He wants me seen, that’s fine- if He wants me hidden, awesome- if he wants me to hide in a mud hut, I would rejoice; to stand on a stage, I’ll celebrate- I just want to be where He is doing what He’s doing fulfilling the dreams of His heart every day going low and staying close.

All I want is the movement of His love flowing through my little life to the people around me. The movement is not a man or a message or a method: the movement is Love, it is a heartbeat, a rhythm. The only thing to be engaged is His heart. He’ll do the rest. Selah.

Michele's Fall Ministry Schedule

Friday, October 10 Atlanta, GA Area Prophetic Meetings

Sunday Oct 12 AM/PM Services at Northgate Church, Atlanta

Tues, Oct 14 PM Citywide Meeting- Church of God, Naples FL

Wednesday, Oct 15- Jacksonville Area Service TBA

Sunday, Oct 19 Good Samaritan, Orange Park-FL AM Services

Tues-Fri Oct 21-24 The Crossing, Annual Conference Mtn of Worship, Columbia SC

Sun, Oct 26-Mosaic Church- Asheville, NC

Mon-Thurs, Oct 27-30 Charlotte Area meetings and tv taping

Fri-Mon Oct 31-Nov 3 Chicago Area meetings-Open Heart Ministries and others

Wed-Fri Nov 5-7 Harrisburg, School of the Supernatural-Randy Clark

Sat-Mon Nov 8-10 West Haven CT, planning meetings/recording

Tues-Tues Nov 11-17 Ohio area meetings/time to write

Wed-Thurs Nov 18-19 LESEA Chicago

Nov 20- Back home

Please email Jennie, part of Michele's admin team for more information jenniejoy@iris-sudan.org

What Does Revival Look Like?

In the swirling aftermath of myriads of responses and reflections hitting my inbox regarding the outpouring at Lakeland, I am again led to revisit the question:

What does revival really look like?

My thoughts here are in no way a commentary on recent events with what became termed as the Lakeland Outpouring. I went and during my time there, I did personally meet with Jesus and was really blessed. I also met many hungry people also seeking His face. I am not entering into the debate. I don't have time to- there are too many people who need to meet the One who has captured my heart and stolen my gaze to entertain that.

But again this season in the spirit does indeed call us to fix our gaze on the One who alone is altogether lovely and the bringer of Revival. His name is Jesus and HE is jealous for a pure spotless Bride from every tribe, tongue and nation. He is jealous for our affection. He is jealous for our attention. He is jealous for our gaze.

Personally, I want no distraction. I want no other but Him whom my heart longs after. I want every supernatural reality He calls me to walk in, but I desire above all else to be found in His heart.

Revival looks like a little child who has clean water to drink... who no longer has to drink from disease ridden stagnant cesspools, but who now has clean flowing waters tapped from the depths of God’s heart to drink that bring life into places of death. Wells of life opened, wells of salvation and healing released. It is the face of love in action bringing change from the inside out. It looks like the King bringing His inside out, upside down Kingdom where we lose to gain and we die to live. (Thank you Misty ;-) )

Maybe revival looks different each time it comes? Did Jesus ever heal the same way twice? The Kingdom is profoundly simple and utterly unpredictable. Sort of like the wind... there was something about that in the Book. Sometimes it is loud. Sometimes it is seen. Often it is quiet. Often it is hidden and only recognized after the fact for what it is. But it is always Love. Love is His meaning. He has no other.

What would a movement of Love look like that was so supernatural that a nation was changed by those who dared to dance in doorways of death and call forth unstoppable life?

My encounters with various movements in the last 15 years, have left me deeply grateful for what God allowed me to encounter of His heart in each, but yet longing for more. It is Him alone that satisfies.

I have struggled to connect at times in meetings everyone was calling mountain top experiences of their corporate encounters. Jesus has told me to go to places to receive from streams that were out of my comfort zone at best. And because I was hungry for Him, I went! Sometimes He met me powerfully, sometimes quietly; but HE always met me. And there have been times, His Presence has been utterly overwhelming in completely unexpected places. I am learning I don't have to wait and look for a place of outpouring to receive from Him, we are called to so pursue His Presence and be so saturated with His Spirit that our very lives become epicenters of His outpouring.

I don't just want to attend a revival or participate in a revival meeting. I want to live in revival and carry His glory into the darkness. Yet my heart is a bit sad at times... in the midst of the unprecedented hunger for the supernatural, power and signs, in many places Love is very hard to find. We can have faith and signs and wonders and all the stuff, but if we don't have Love, we are missing it. We may be in danger of missing Him.

I have been privileged to see the blind see, the deaf hear, paralytics walk- but the greatest miracles of all I have seen come through His Love being poured out on broken hearts and lives. What is the Glory realm if it is not the realm of supernatural love? The weighty heavy Presence of His Glory Love. Miracles happen through power encounters, but I have yet to see a power encounter devoid of a love encounter sustain them.

After lamenting having missed Toronto's heyday ( in 94 I was 16 in FL and knew nothing about it), Jesus reminded me again it was not about a place but an embrace. It is about being placed in His embrace where we become a living breathing encounter of His heart to the world. That is what revival looks like. A people one with the heart of God who live from heaven to earth and see His Kingdom come through their lives laid down in love every day.

That is what I am contending for. To be so one with Jesus, that I am consumed in His love, that I am see-through in His love and when the world looks at me they see the One Who lives in me. That is what I long for. What would a see-through transparent Bride with a fixed gaze on her King mean to the world around her?

That is my goal. Total and utter consumption by His fiery gaze of love until all I am is found in all He is and His love permeates every part of me and changes the atmosphere around me to look like heaven's reality.

I have seen glimpses. My children, once orphaned, now adopted laying hands on the blind and watching their eyes come into focus. Seeing those who have never known love melt in His Presence. Watching sons and daughters discover His dreams and destiny for them.

We see miracles and signs and wonders and are grateful for and amazed by His beauty displayed in every one of them. But the greatest miracle of all, the greatest revival sign of all is a life transformed by His love that will not be confined, contained or controlled.

This Lion of the tribe of Judah Who roars great cries of freedom across the shackles that bind our hearts and Who whispers love songs in the silence of our darkest nights- His Love, Who He is, is in no way tame- but He is in all ways Good.

May the coming revival that shakes the nations from the inside out be known for Love and may it be carried in a company of those not known for their crowns or success, but their King.

Running into His heart-
Michele

Growth in the Journey- Sept 3

Beloved, What week here… Iris Sudan is now no longer confined to Yei. As of one hour ago we now have a growing church based ministry center in Kikilai- a five DAY journey over land to our east along the borders of Uganda and Kenya.

Some of you might remember John Okello, the man who on faith came clear across the country to find a home for five children unrelated to him? He came back- now with all his church leadership to visit. I had sent a letter back with him to encourage them and they ALL made the 5 day trek by faith, partly on foot through the mud, to tell me they desperately want to join with us in Iris. They said they are not interested in money, but they want spiritual oversight and encouragement and relationship. They were going to give up completely. The letter brought them such joy someone was praying for them and they weren’t alone… they actually started to go forward with church planting! To them it was a sign from heaven.

God is so moving- they came five days just to meet us and pray with us. Our new leaders got so excited they showed the letter to the regional government secretary that someone is praying for them. The official in turn wrote an official letter of invitation asking Iris to please come and start planting churches and ministering to their people. Could we help dying children there? There are no other evangelical churches there… period. It is a completely unreached area. They are desperate for the love of God and could someone please come and tell them more about knowing Him. It is so huge I am blown away and about reduced to tears at God’s goodness. I love these guys. They radiate the heart of God and are truly giving all they have. We had a fabulous prayer time and it just undid me. We all cried together for the heart of God to heal Sudan.

As you can see from the map, the movement of love is spreading! Our main base in Yei (which is a city of over 300,000 people), our new center in Kikilai E Equatoria and a church presence either through Iris Harvest Fellowships or our Harvest Revival Alliance in the areas of the lighter purple flags. The vision of fire igniting along the southern border from west to east is happening. I am just undone. All of our other bases and churches are under indigenous leadership. I held my littlest ones tonight and looked at the stars all reminding me of the promises of Jesus and I just cried. Tears of joy. How did I get to be so privileged to live the life I do?!?! What incredible mercy and grace from heaven!

We finished weekend 1 of 5 in our Journey discipleship course with flying colors today- giving everyone their very own study Bible. They are learning so much and are so hungry for more. Most of the class was baptized in water for the first time and baptized by the Holy Spirit too!

We had the Bengali battalion of UN soldiers mystified in Sudan yesterday. What to make of a little one-legged white girl standing in disease ridden, leech infested, garbage laden water in the rain HAPPYILY dunking people who then proceeds to greet them and carry on a partial conversation in their own language? Confusing.

Wait till she has all the very dark kids around her calling her mama… they whipped their cameras out and stood in the rain snapping photos of our events. I am sure it was worthy of an email home. Hey mum, you’ll never guess what happened!

We prayed for the floodgates of heaven to be open but we got a bit of a literal reply! Everyone got baptized in the rain as we celebrated our new family in the Lord. Our one lady in the course, Betty, stole my heart. Her husband’s business burned down in June and he lost his mind she said right after. He hits her sometimes and hides in the bush talking to himself. Then she developed an eye problem where they told she’d be blind by Christmas. We are praying for healing but have plans to send her to Uganda for a simple procedure to fix her eyes if need be. Then she was cooking and her tukal caught fire and burned down and she and her 4 kids have nothing. One pot, one change of clothes and one spoon. When she came, she was wanting to commit suicide and came as a last ditch effort to try and find something worth living for. Her eyes began to respond to God’s healing touch and we loaded her up with clothes and supplies. She left with a song in her heart and a smile on her face looking forward to weekend # 2 in 2 weeks. How good is our Jesus!!!!

So quite the week! Our trip to Juba got postponed due to a family emergency in our lead Revival Alliance pastors family- so we will be going next week instead to meet with key government leaders. I am relieved to have a slower week where I can spend more time with my kiddos and hang out a bit at home. I am amazed at all Jesus is doing. Thank you for your love and prayers! Everyone of you are such a part of all that is happening…

Love and hugs in Jesus- Michele

Introducing Weekly Highlights

Beloved- I want to introduce new type of entry on my weblog of almost weekly updates on the happenings here. So much happens in one day let alone 7! But we want you to join us in the latest adventures into God's goodness as we encounter more and more of His heart everyday.