Word for 2009 - The year of new Faith.
Luke 18:7-8
And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"
Faith is what the Lord looking for when he returns. In this passage we are being warned of how little of it will be there when our Savior returns. It is the one thing that pleases God. (Hebrews 11:6) If faith could commend the ancients before the power of the work of Christ were in effect, then how much more can it do now?
I see that the Lord is doing a new thing in 2009 for Riverside. Just as we are moving into a new location, so are we moving into a new place in our spiritual realm. I see a new anointing being poured out over our community. As others have already said in our community, we know we cannot put new wine in old wineskins. So it must be for us to prepare ourselves in new ways for the new thing that the Lord desires to do in us. We must prepare our hearts, minds, and souls to be fresh and have an eagerness to see things differently. We must desire to see something new or we will not receive it when it happens.
Let us set our minds to be ready and desire for the power of God's Kingdom to break forth. But, we cannot be satisfied with simply stating this need for preparation - We must actually prepare for it! So let us all enter into a mindset and a lifestyle of pursuing the treasure of the Kingdom. We should all enter into prayer and fasting this year. We should all enter Spirit led bible study. We should all set our lives towards not only knowing God's heart, but also living out his heart in our community.
We must chase after what God has to set up for us. It will not come by us being complacent or not reaching out for it through belief and faith. We must actively build up each other's faith so that we can appropriate the fullness of what the Lord is doing this year. Everyone - all the time. This is the year that we as a community are going to really live out God's love and his power to change the world. Let each of us reach deep down into our souls and cast out anything that hinders our complete trust and love of the Lord. We have a great adventure ahead of us! God Bless
Shema
Dear Father God,
We submit ourselves to your Will. We open our hearts to being born from above - to receiving from you the new spirit and new life that you have for us. We agree you and seek earnestly the fresh breath that you are sending to us. We ask that you will open our hearts and our minds to anything in our community, which is not pleasing to you, and we apply the Cross and the Blood of Jesus that we might be reborn in fullness to what you are doing. Your Kingdom right now in our hearts, and may this new thing be born in Riverside. As you have spoken, may it be done in us. In the precious name of our Savior Jesus we pray. Amen
Friday, January 2, 2009
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Word for the community
But he answering said, "It hath been written, Not upon bread alone doth man live, but upon every word coming forth from the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4 (Young's Literal Translation)
I love this verse in its literal translation. Because it so clearly shows that we need the Word of God, not just the scripture, but also the actual Word that IS coming forth right now. Just like the manna, we need the Word of this morning! Jesus further indicates this in the Lord's prayer - "give us this day our daily bread". A community that is not recieving its daily bread will soon starve.
Below is a Word from God that has been given our community from Linda Marceau. I will leave it to the over all community to enter into a communal interpretation. I look forward to hearing your discernments.
God Bless, John
Reach down deep and find your faith - I have placed a good deposit within each of you. Exercise and strengthen your faith as I reveal my will and my purposes. Do not presume to know my will or my way. My ways are different than your ways. I will not share my Glory with another. My Glory is released as you worship and praise me. Live in an attitude of praise and thanksgiving. Be careful not to grumble or complain for these have no part in my Kingdom. Praise and thanksgiving is the pathway to miracles. You are my beloved and in you I am well pleased. It's time to appropriate your faith. Identify your need and find a promise for the provision in scripture. Activate with faith filled prayer and fasting until you see the fruit.
I love this verse in its literal translation. Because it so clearly shows that we need the Word of God, not just the scripture, but also the actual Word that IS coming forth right now. Just like the manna, we need the Word of this morning! Jesus further indicates this in the Lord's prayer - "give us this day our daily bread". A community that is not recieving its daily bread will soon starve.
Below is a Word from God that has been given our community from Linda Marceau. I will leave it to the over all community to enter into a communal interpretation. I look forward to hearing your discernments.
God Bless, John
Reach down deep and find your faith - I have placed a good deposit within each of you. Exercise and strengthen your faith as I reveal my will and my purposes. Do not presume to know my will or my way. My ways are different than your ways. I will not share my Glory with another. My Glory is released as you worship and praise me. Live in an attitude of praise and thanksgiving. Be careful not to grumble or complain for these have no part in my Kingdom. Praise and thanksgiving is the pathway to miracles. You are my beloved and in you I am well pleased. It's time to appropriate your faith. Identify your need and find a promise for the provision in scripture. Activate with faith filled prayer and fasting until you see the fruit.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
How prayer works.
As much as I do admire much of what Soren Kierkegaard has written, I must take issue with his famous quotation, “Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays.” This is not the place to discuss the fullest depth of what Kiekegaard meant when he made this statement. Nor is it the place to debate the scriptural validity (or lack of validity) of this statement.
However, I often hear this quote interpreted as saying that prayer doesn’t change the world. There is little doubt that prayer does change us, but if this is all that prayer did, then there would be little use for prayer other than personal development. In fact, this is all too often how many Christians have come to think about prayer and its usefulness. It is no wonder that in so many places, we are no longer a praying church.
Prayer does change the world. It works by inviting our God into this world, so that his Kingdom and his Will reign on here on earth. This is why Jesus taught us to pray – Your Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. This is not a prayer that simply hopes for future change. The Lord's prayer literally commands that God’s Will (or Word) be exercised here on earth. Not in some distant coming of the millennium, but right now! Over and over again I have seen miracles happen when I or others pray.
Jesus tells us that (Mark 11:24) “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” This is an incredible statement, but through my experience I have come to believe that it is the truth. Over and over again I have seen prayer bring down miracles from heaven. It is for this very reason that I feel so confident when I tell people to pray over issues or problems. I prescribe this with great confidence, because I see it work - all the time! I see God responding to those who humble themselves, repent of their sins, release their unforgiveness, and seek the presence of God in prayer (2 Chronicles 7:14).
But, the best example is always testimony. Below is a testimony to the power of prayer of a good friend of mine, Joe Kucera.
(As a side note, Joe's church has dispensationist leanings, thus, they are a little weak in the prayer department, but we love them anyway and pray always that the Lord will continue to open the eyes of their heart that they may draw closer to the God's truth:)
Joe's Testimony:
"Around March of this year, I was telling John Roper about the high rate of couples in our community of friends that have been unable to conceive a child. He suggested that my wife and I choose one couple and that we pray specifically for them. My wife and I both had the same couple on our hearts, so together we began praying for them to have a baby. This couple has been trying for ~5 years to have a child & have undergone numerous fertility treatments and spent thousands of dollars to no avail... We consistently prayed for them for about 4 weeks, until we learned that she had a cyst growing in her uterus (apparently a side-effect of the fertility treatments). Discouraged once again by the inability to conceive, they decided to stop fertility treatments for awhile until the cyst went away. We, too, were discouraged by this news and eventually stopped praying for them to conceive a child... Last weekend we met them for breakfast & they had something to show us -> a sonogram of their baby (she was 3 months pregnant!!!). The doctors determined that she got pregnant during the period when she was not undergoing fertility treatments (b/c of the presence of the cyst) & classified it as "spontaneous" -> this couple thinks it happened over Easter weekend :)
This week John told me about a family that was being prayed over by the Riverside community. In describing the way that the Lord was ministering to this family, John told me how the husband of this family was being encouraged to take his place of authority as the head of that household & to claim back the ground that the enemy had taken from each member of that household. When John spoke of these words given to this husband, there was a burning conviction in my heart that I needed to do the same thing in my household. In prayer, I called for the Kingdom to come into my family & results were almost instantaneous -> I received a call 30 minutes later from a family member confessing & repenting of a sin. Throughout the day, my heart continued to cry out for eyes to see as Jesus saw. In sharing this heart cry with John, the Lord gave me eyes to see how the pregnancy of our dear friends was His answer to our prayers & also how the enemy was there to snatch this testimony away from our memory!!"
Praise God! Thank you, Jesus! Let us enter into his gates in thanksgiving and praise! This is how our merciful God works. He is faithful. Let us not take council from those who have not experienced his Love and power, but let us always give thanks and praise for the work of his hand.
Dear father please continue to pour out your mercy, grace and power over our community so that by these mighty works our Savior Jesus will be glorified and blessed. As you bless us to bring your Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven.
Amen
God bless
John
However, I often hear this quote interpreted as saying that prayer doesn’t change the world. There is little doubt that prayer does change us, but if this is all that prayer did, then there would be little use for prayer other than personal development. In fact, this is all too often how many Christians have come to think about prayer and its usefulness. It is no wonder that in so many places, we are no longer a praying church.
Prayer does change the world. It works by inviting our God into this world, so that his Kingdom and his Will reign on here on earth. This is why Jesus taught us to pray – Your Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. This is not a prayer that simply hopes for future change. The Lord's prayer literally commands that God’s Will (or Word) be exercised here on earth. Not in some distant coming of the millennium, but right now! Over and over again I have seen miracles happen when I or others pray.
Jesus tells us that (Mark 11:24) “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” This is an incredible statement, but through my experience I have come to believe that it is the truth. Over and over again I have seen prayer bring down miracles from heaven. It is for this very reason that I feel so confident when I tell people to pray over issues or problems. I prescribe this with great confidence, because I see it work - all the time! I see God responding to those who humble themselves, repent of their sins, release their unforgiveness, and seek the presence of God in prayer (2 Chronicles 7:14).
But, the best example is always testimony. Below is a testimony to the power of prayer of a good friend of mine, Joe Kucera.
(As a side note, Joe's church has dispensationist leanings, thus, they are a little weak in the prayer department, but we love them anyway and pray always that the Lord will continue to open the eyes of their heart that they may draw closer to the God's truth:)
Joe's Testimony:
"Around March of this year, I was telling John Roper about the high rate of couples in our community of friends that have been unable to conceive a child. He suggested that my wife and I choose one couple and that we pray specifically for them. My wife and I both had the same couple on our hearts, so together we began praying for them to have a baby. This couple has been trying for ~5 years to have a child & have undergone numerous fertility treatments and spent thousands of dollars to no avail... We consistently prayed for them for about 4 weeks, until we learned that she had a cyst growing in her uterus (apparently a side-effect of the fertility treatments). Discouraged once again by the inability to conceive, they decided to stop fertility treatments for awhile until the cyst went away. We, too, were discouraged by this news and eventually stopped praying for them to conceive a child... Last weekend we met them for breakfast & they had something to show us -> a sonogram of their baby (she was 3 months pregnant!!!). The doctors determined that she got pregnant during the period when she was not undergoing fertility treatments (b/c of the presence of the cyst) & classified it as "spontaneous" -> this couple thinks it happened over Easter weekend :)
This week John told me about a family that was being prayed over by the Riverside community. In describing the way that the Lord was ministering to this family, John told me how the husband of this family was being encouraged to take his place of authority as the head of that household & to claim back the ground that the enemy had taken from each member of that household. When John spoke of these words given to this husband, there was a burning conviction in my heart that I needed to do the same thing in my household. In prayer, I called for the Kingdom to come into my family & results were almost instantaneous -> I received a call 30 minutes later from a family member confessing & repenting of a sin. Throughout the day, my heart continued to cry out for eyes to see as Jesus saw. In sharing this heart cry with John, the Lord gave me eyes to see how the pregnancy of our dear friends was His answer to our prayers & also how the enemy was there to snatch this testimony away from our memory!!"
Praise God! Thank you, Jesus! Let us enter into his gates in thanksgiving and praise! This is how our merciful God works. He is faithful. Let us not take council from those who have not experienced his Love and power, but let us always give thanks and praise for the work of his hand.
Dear father please continue to pour out your mercy, grace and power over our community so that by these mighty works our Savior Jesus will be glorified and blessed. As you bless us to bring your Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven.
Amen
God bless
John
Friday, June 13, 2008
Who is the Bird?
Last Sunday culminated a series of prophetic events that many may not know about. I feel that it is important for the community at large to enter into this discussion with prayer and discernment. Since the message is for the community at large, I believe that the full benefit can only come from the community at large digesting the Word delivered and then bringing forth what the Lord gives us regarding it.
Here is a brief outline of the events.
A member of our community had a vision of Mel Swartz attending the revival in Lakeland, Fla. This member did not know that Mel was going to Florida on business the very next day! Placing a phone call to Mel and telling him about the vision, Mel decided that he would attend the revival. As Mel was being prayed over for his trip, it was prophesied that he would be bringing back a message and an anointing for the Riverside Community from Florida. I believe that William Glass' message Sunday was a part of what God wanted Riverside to receive. If you weren't here on Sunday, then make sure and listen to the recorded message on the website. If you were there on Sunday, then go back and re-listen to it. Pray on it and let me or Scott know your discernment and what God is revealing to you about it.
I believe that the Lord is moving in a powerful way here at Riverside and He wants us to move to new places in the Kingdom. Below I have transcribed a small portion of the sermon that I believe is an important message for us. This was the Word William felt he had for us at the beginning of the sermon. Please let these Words and the rest of the sermon plant into your heart and be sure and tell others what they speak to you about what it means to say, "The Kingdom is among us."
From the sermon on Sunday:
I feel like that the Lord has a word for this church today. I don’t often do stuff like this, so this is just as weird for me as it is for anyone else to watch me stand up here in silence like that, but…
I feel like the Lord wants to show us together… his heart, that we often have had beggar mentalities when coming to him… like Oliver Twist just holding a bowl up and saying, “please sir, may I have some more.” The Lord wants to reveal that his heart is to do the things we ask him to do. So, let us expect that his heart will heal the sick. Let us expect that his heart will heal… the love from his heart is enough to heal the broken hearted people. I had a sense as I was praying, I don’t know if it was a person or a bunch of us together. That you have prayed, prayed, and prayed, that you have waited and waited and you have gotten tired of waiting. And, I don’t understand the sovereign purpose of the Lord, but I feel like what is laid on my heart right really heavy right now is let us never grow weary in waiting, because this may be our day. Let us keep oil in our lamps because this may be the day the bridegroom comes. Let us continue to cultivate our intimacy with God because this may be the day. The tragedy of the church’s history is the times when God has moved and his people have been caught unaware. Let us not be that person. Let us wait with expectancy. He is going to do- He is going to fulfill his promises. So many people in this room sitting on unfulfilled promises. Sitting on hopes and dreams that God has put in their heart, you gotten tired of waiting for those dreams to manifest themselves. Let us continue to cultivate our intimacy with God and be okay to wait in times of hiddeness. For whether he manifest or whether it seems like he is hiding, he is doing it out of love. And there is a mystery to that which no one can unravel for us, but let us not tire.
May the Lord bless our community and give us a Spirit of faith, mercy, hope, and joy. May his Word take deep root in our hearts and may we be transformed into a holy people of God. A people whose hearts, minds, hands, and feet walk in the Kingdom. God stretch out your right arm to work miracles from your love, that Jesus may be glorified in the fullest in this world through our community. Amen
Shema
John
Here is a brief outline of the events.
A member of our community had a vision of Mel Swartz attending the revival in Lakeland, Fla. This member did not know that Mel was going to Florida on business the very next day! Placing a phone call to Mel and telling him about the vision, Mel decided that he would attend the revival. As Mel was being prayed over for his trip, it was prophesied that he would be bringing back a message and an anointing for the Riverside Community from Florida. I believe that William Glass' message Sunday was a part of what God wanted Riverside to receive. If you weren't here on Sunday, then make sure and listen to the recorded message on the website. If you were there on Sunday, then go back and re-listen to it. Pray on it and let me or Scott know your discernment and what God is revealing to you about it.
I believe that the Lord is moving in a powerful way here at Riverside and He wants us to move to new places in the Kingdom. Below I have transcribed a small portion of the sermon that I believe is an important message for us. This was the Word William felt he had for us at the beginning of the sermon. Please let these Words and the rest of the sermon plant into your heart and be sure and tell others what they speak to you about what it means to say, "The Kingdom is among us."
From the sermon on Sunday:
I feel like that the Lord has a word for this church today. I don’t often do stuff like this, so this is just as weird for me as it is for anyone else to watch me stand up here in silence like that, but…
I feel like the Lord wants to show us together… his heart, that we often have had beggar mentalities when coming to him… like Oliver Twist just holding a bowl up and saying, “please sir, may I have some more.” The Lord wants to reveal that his heart is to do the things we ask him to do. So, let us expect that his heart will heal the sick. Let us expect that his heart will heal… the love from his heart is enough to heal the broken hearted people. I had a sense as I was praying, I don’t know if it was a person or a bunch of us together. That you have prayed, prayed, and prayed, that you have waited and waited and you have gotten tired of waiting. And, I don’t understand the sovereign purpose of the Lord, but I feel like what is laid on my heart right really heavy right now is let us never grow weary in waiting, because this may be our day. Let us keep oil in our lamps because this may be the day the bridegroom comes. Let us continue to cultivate our intimacy with God because this may be the day. The tragedy of the church’s history is the times when God has moved and his people have been caught unaware. Let us not be that person. Let us wait with expectancy. He is going to do- He is going to fulfill his promises. So many people in this room sitting on unfulfilled promises. Sitting on hopes and dreams that God has put in their heart, you gotten tired of waiting for those dreams to manifest themselves. Let us continue to cultivate our intimacy with God and be okay to wait in times of hiddeness. For whether he manifest or whether it seems like he is hiding, he is doing it out of love. And there is a mystery to that which no one can unravel for us, but let us not tire.
May the Lord bless our community and give us a Spirit of faith, mercy, hope, and joy. May his Word take deep root in our hearts and may we be transformed into a holy people of God. A people whose hearts, minds, hands, and feet walk in the Kingdom. God stretch out your right arm to work miracles from your love, that Jesus may be glorified in the fullest in this world through our community. Amen
Shema
John
Monday, June 9, 2008
The Kingdom comes in Power
As Scott has told us many times. The Kingdom comes in power! Then we acclaim Him!
The Lord is beginning great works in our land! In two recent cases, dead people were raised from their hospital beds after being confirmed dead! (See the links below)
http://www.wchstv.com/newsroom/eyewitness/0805/080521_41d512f9.shtml
http://wn.wsvn.com/global/video/popup/pop_player.asp?ClipID1=2155734&h1
Wow! Could the Bible be that true? Could the Kingdom really be here?
But, these are not just far off reports from distant places. There have been so many miracles going on at Riverside!
We need to shout them from the roof tops!
We need to become a community of testimony and acclamation!
Too often we are simply satisfied with enjoying our miracles, but not sharing the testimony of the Gospel (Good News) of the Kingdom.
Here is a short list of just a few of the miracles we have seen at Riverside. Healing of: terminal liver & kidney cancer, healing of a hole in the heart, healing of warts, healing of major congestive heart failure, healing of ovarian cysts, healing of breast cancer, healing of uterine bleeding, miraculous healing of mononucelous, casting out of a demon from a teenage boy, healing of shoulder injury, healing of blood clot in leg arising from knee surgery. Prophetic disruption of suicide and healing of lifelong depressions. Healing of addictions and alcoholism.
Many of these have been medically verified and this is not even close to a complete list!
This does not even include visions, dreams, and accurate prophecies which many in our community have given witness of. Nor does this include the inner healing, restored marriages, and comforts provided through prayer.
Is Riverside beginning to sound like the church that is portrayed in Acts 2?
17" 'In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19I will show wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.
I think so. But, as the passage from Revelation below shows us, our testimony is part of our salvation.
Revelation 12:11b
They overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
We are not given our salvation to hide it away as an insurance policy for when we die and we are not given these miracles to hide them under a bush. But, is there a risk that we might lose this blessing? Is this indicated in the passage below?
Mark 4:23-25
23If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."
24"Consider carefully what you hear," he continued. "With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. 25Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."
Is it time for Riverside to shine? This is the conversation that I wish to help us enter into. Let me know what you think. :-)
For now - God Bless,
Shema
John
P.S. (Much is happening here at Riverside and in a later post I will discuss more on that.)
The Lord is beginning great works in our land! In two recent cases, dead people were raised from their hospital beds after being confirmed dead! (See the links below)
http://www.wchstv.com/newsroom/eyewitness/0805/080521_41d512f9.shtml
http://wn.wsvn.com/global/video/popup/pop_player.asp?ClipID1=2155734&h1
Wow! Could the Bible be that true? Could the Kingdom really be here?
But, these are not just far off reports from distant places. There have been so many miracles going on at Riverside!
We need to shout them from the roof tops!
We need to become a community of testimony and acclamation!
Too often we are simply satisfied with enjoying our miracles, but not sharing the testimony of the Gospel (Good News) of the Kingdom.
Here is a short list of just a few of the miracles we have seen at Riverside. Healing of: terminal liver & kidney cancer, healing of a hole in the heart, healing of warts, healing of major congestive heart failure, healing of ovarian cysts, healing of breast cancer, healing of uterine bleeding, miraculous healing of mononucelous, casting out of a demon from a teenage boy, healing of shoulder injury, healing of blood clot in leg arising from knee surgery. Prophetic disruption of suicide and healing of lifelong depressions. Healing of addictions and alcoholism.
Many of these have been medically verified and this is not even close to a complete list!
This does not even include visions, dreams, and accurate prophecies which many in our community have given witness of. Nor does this include the inner healing, restored marriages, and comforts provided through prayer.
Is Riverside beginning to sound like the church that is portrayed in Acts 2?
17" 'In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19I will show wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.
I think so. But, as the passage from Revelation below shows us, our testimony is part of our salvation.
Revelation 12:11b
They overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
We are not given our salvation to hide it away as an insurance policy for when we die and we are not given these miracles to hide them under a bush. But, is there a risk that we might lose this blessing? Is this indicated in the passage below?
Mark 4:23-25
23If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."
24"Consider carefully what you hear," he continued. "With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. 25Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."
Is it time for Riverside to shine? This is the conversation that I wish to help us enter into. Let me know what you think. :-)
For now - God Bless,
Shema
John
P.S. (Much is happening here at Riverside and in a later post I will discuss more on that.)
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Sabbath Rest
Dear Riverside Family,
My recent visit to the hospital has been such a blessing to me, a gift from our Gracious G-d, I am convinced; and I wanted to share a few insights from it with you.
As preface, since last March, I have been working six days a week, eight to nine hours a day. It has become increasingly stressful and more physically demanding, and lately I realized that I was very depleted and exhausted and was not finding Sabboth rest.
With commuting, and trying to be with my father when I could, and trying to take care of a house, and be a part of the community that I love, evenings and my one day off, Sunday, were just as exhausting. I was running on empty, and I so know better. I was reading the Bible morning and night, was keeping up with the parashah with our community, was remembering to pray with those on our prayer list when I could, but I was not finding time just to be with G-d: meditation, contemplation; I could not find time for these. I was snatching time with G-d; thirty minutes, ten minutes, when I could.
The very things that give me life, I was finding less and less time for. I found myself living a life so many of us find ourselves living. Since my divorce in '96, I have tried to live without debt, and had done so until this last year. But now I've taken on a house, two cars, and all that goes with that. And so I wasn't sure how to stop. So, G-d, momentarily, stopped it all for me.
This last week or so , I've been having numbness and pain in my right arm, in the afternoons and evenings. I was so tired, and Friday and Saturday, my chest hurt and I was winded, I thought, too easily. Friday, I called my parents' cardiologist and made an apt. for today, Wednesday. About 4:00 am Sunday, I woke with alot of pain in my chest and back, and going up my neck, and down my shoulder into my arm. My arm was numb from the hand going up and hurting from the shoulder going down. I got out my Bible and read the psalms, and prayed, and tried to calm down. Then tried to rest, but I couldn't. The pain persisted. I hated to wake my daughter, but at 5:00 I did, and told her I needed to go to the hospital. I thought I might be having a heart attack. We arrived at the ER of the Heart Hospital around 6:00 a.m.
I called the Roper's on the way, and John prayed with me over the phone, and Sonia came to the hopital. What an incredible brother and sister in the faith they are. In the ER, the tests came back okay, but the doctors, the ER doctor and the cardiologist, thought I should have a heart catherization. I had that around 3:30 or 4:00 in the afternoon.
And there several of G-d's wonderful miracles occurred. The first was that one of my brothers and his wife, with whom I've had a difficult relationship, for which I've been praying, came to the hospital and stayed through the procedure. Not only that, but my brother and sister in law, held my hands and my brother said a most beautiful prayer for me. My bother, until just the last month or so, has not attended church for years, and has told me that he trusts no one, and I was affraid for him that that included G-d. It was such a precious gift to hear him pray.
Then, much to the amazement of the doctor,nurses and technicians, my heart looked great; the arteries were clear and healthy looking,probably amazingly so for one my age and weight. Thank you, Lord. And thank you prayer warriors.
But two more blessings occrred that day. When the procedure was finished one of the technicians or nurses, I'm not sure which, put pressure for about fifteen minutes on the main artery in my leg which had gained the doctor access to the arteries of my heart. When they took me back to my room and were transfering me from the OR bed to my room bed, I felt a sharp and great pain in my leg and mentioned it, and I've never seen such scurrying. Five of them worked on me. Two ripped off my bandages and started preasure to my artery, spelling one another. Two started putting fluid into me through my IV, I'm assuming saline water, forcing it in as quickly as possible by squeezing the bag as forcefully as they could. One monitored my vitals calling out numbers.
My artery had burst open and I was bleeding into layers of skin of my leg and trunk. They later said I turned very pale and was loosing blood presure rapidly. I just remember in the middle of it, I could feel myself slipping away. I knew I was passing out, so I called out to them ( I thought with great wit) that I was leaving them and would see them later. And no sooner had I said that than one of them yelled at me," No, you're not!" And that yell brought me to myself again.
I remembered a book I've been reading lately. The book is Agnes Sanford's The Healing Light. It's funny, I've had the book for years and never really read it, but it came to my attention lately, and I've felt compelled to read it. What came to my mind is how she says that G-d so wants to give us the life He has for each of us, healing, whole life, but how we have to apporpriate this into our lives. One way we do this, or maybe better, the way we do this is to thank Him for this life - acclaim it and Him. As I was beginnning to loose consciousness, I couldn't think of the exact prayer or prayers she uses in the book, all I could think of , and what I repeated to myself was, " Thank You, G-d,for my life. I choose life!. I choose life! Thank You, Lord!" I just kept repeating this until the nurses started talking to me and things started settling down.
How good G-d is to give us just what we need when we need it. I have found again and again in my life that G-d will draw me in closer to Himself, and put tools in my path, just before a challeging time, as one of the ways He helps me through them. Praise be to You,O Lord. It was a powerful moment for me. I've had so much unwellness the last few years. It was almost as if in my cry to Him, I was entering a covenant with Him. I don't know how else to describe it. It just felt so powerful. On another note, the doctor recommended that I take the entire week off, I think perhaps because of this incident, and that is such a blessing. May I use it well.
One more thing happened that I would like to share. Just as they were bandaging me again, and my Grey's Anatomy moment had passed,I heard my sister in law and my daughter and others talking in the hall. My sister in law came in with a photo of my heart taken during the cath and it was causing quite a stir with the nurses. Two of the main arteries in the heart, my heart, start out straight and fine, but end in squiggles - but not just squiggles, perfectly insinc squiggles. Some of the nurses said they'd never seen anything like it. One felt that it might cause problems in the future, one disagreed. All seemed very curious. Linda Marceau came in about that time and I showed her and told her what I saw was my heart dancing for joy- it was my heart dance for G-d. It seemed a fitting end to all of this. It was so good to share it with Linda. Thank you , Linda for coming to see me and share in all of that and for your prayer.
It also reminded me of the logo for Riverside. These little artery squiggles resemble the lines representing water - the river - of Riverside Community. And that makes sense for me as well, for truly this community is imprinting and getting inside my heart.
Also, it reminded me of paintings I did a few years back, some of which I've put out on Sunday mornings as my depiction of Psalm 50:10, "Create in me a clean heart, O G-d, and put a new spirit within me." It was as though G-d was showing me very physically that He was doing that.
Thank you, again for all your prayers. I can't wait to hug you all on Sunday. Oh, I almost forgot, when I first got to the ER, I opened my Bible and it fell on the page of Psalm 41 which begins, "Blessed is he who considers the poor! The Lord delivers him in the day of trouble; the Lord protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land;thou dost not give him up to the will of his enemies. The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness thou healest all his infirmities." Alleluia!
Shema,
Millie
My recent visit to the hospital has been such a blessing to me, a gift from our Gracious G-d, I am convinced; and I wanted to share a few insights from it with you.
As preface, since last March, I have been working six days a week, eight to nine hours a day. It has become increasingly stressful and more physically demanding, and lately I realized that I was very depleted and exhausted and was not finding Sabboth rest.
With commuting, and trying to be with my father when I could, and trying to take care of a house, and be a part of the community that I love, evenings and my one day off, Sunday, were just as exhausting. I was running on empty, and I so know better. I was reading the Bible morning and night, was keeping up with the parashah with our community, was remembering to pray with those on our prayer list when I could, but I was not finding time just to be with G-d: meditation, contemplation; I could not find time for these. I was snatching time with G-d; thirty minutes, ten minutes, when I could.
The very things that give me life, I was finding less and less time for. I found myself living a life so many of us find ourselves living. Since my divorce in '96, I have tried to live without debt, and had done so until this last year. But now I've taken on a house, two cars, and all that goes with that. And so I wasn't sure how to stop. So, G-d, momentarily, stopped it all for me.
This last week or so , I've been having numbness and pain in my right arm, in the afternoons and evenings. I was so tired, and Friday and Saturday, my chest hurt and I was winded, I thought, too easily. Friday, I called my parents' cardiologist and made an apt. for today, Wednesday. About 4:00 am Sunday, I woke with alot of pain in my chest and back, and going up my neck, and down my shoulder into my arm. My arm was numb from the hand going up and hurting from the shoulder going down. I got out my Bible and read the psalms, and prayed, and tried to calm down. Then tried to rest, but I couldn't. The pain persisted. I hated to wake my daughter, but at 5:00 I did, and told her I needed to go to the hospital. I thought I might be having a heart attack. We arrived at the ER of the Heart Hospital around 6:00 a.m.
I called the Roper's on the way, and John prayed with me over the phone, and Sonia came to the hopital. What an incredible brother and sister in the faith they are. In the ER, the tests came back okay, but the doctors, the ER doctor and the cardiologist, thought I should have a heart catherization. I had that around 3:30 or 4:00 in the afternoon.
And there several of G-d's wonderful miracles occurred. The first was that one of my brothers and his wife, with whom I've had a difficult relationship, for which I've been praying, came to the hospital and stayed through the procedure. Not only that, but my brother and sister in law, held my hands and my brother said a most beautiful prayer for me. My bother, until just the last month or so, has not attended church for years, and has told me that he trusts no one, and I was affraid for him that that included G-d. It was such a precious gift to hear him pray.
Then, much to the amazement of the doctor,nurses and technicians, my heart looked great; the arteries were clear and healthy looking,probably amazingly so for one my age and weight. Thank you, Lord. And thank you prayer warriors.
But two more blessings occrred that day. When the procedure was finished one of the technicians or nurses, I'm not sure which, put pressure for about fifteen minutes on the main artery in my leg which had gained the doctor access to the arteries of my heart. When they took me back to my room and were transfering me from the OR bed to my room bed, I felt a sharp and great pain in my leg and mentioned it, and I've never seen such scurrying. Five of them worked on me. Two ripped off my bandages and started preasure to my artery, spelling one another. Two started putting fluid into me through my IV, I'm assuming saline water, forcing it in as quickly as possible by squeezing the bag as forcefully as they could. One monitored my vitals calling out numbers.
My artery had burst open and I was bleeding into layers of skin of my leg and trunk. They later said I turned very pale and was loosing blood presure rapidly. I just remember in the middle of it, I could feel myself slipping away. I knew I was passing out, so I called out to them ( I thought with great wit) that I was leaving them and would see them later. And no sooner had I said that than one of them yelled at me," No, you're not!" And that yell brought me to myself again.
I remembered a book I've been reading lately. The book is Agnes Sanford's The Healing Light. It's funny, I've had the book for years and never really read it, but it came to my attention lately, and I've felt compelled to read it. What came to my mind is how she says that G-d so wants to give us the life He has for each of us, healing, whole life, but how we have to apporpriate this into our lives. One way we do this, or maybe better, the way we do this is to thank Him for this life - acclaim it and Him. As I was beginnning to loose consciousness, I couldn't think of the exact prayer or prayers she uses in the book, all I could think of , and what I repeated to myself was, " Thank You, G-d,for my life. I choose life!. I choose life! Thank You, Lord!" I just kept repeating this until the nurses started talking to me and things started settling down.
How good G-d is to give us just what we need when we need it. I have found again and again in my life that G-d will draw me in closer to Himself, and put tools in my path, just before a challeging time, as one of the ways He helps me through them. Praise be to You,O Lord. It was a powerful moment for me. I've had so much unwellness the last few years. It was almost as if in my cry to Him, I was entering a covenant with Him. I don't know how else to describe it. It just felt so powerful. On another note, the doctor recommended that I take the entire week off, I think perhaps because of this incident, and that is such a blessing. May I use it well.
One more thing happened that I would like to share. Just as they were bandaging me again, and my Grey's Anatomy moment had passed,I heard my sister in law and my daughter and others talking in the hall. My sister in law came in with a photo of my heart taken during the cath and it was causing quite a stir with the nurses. Two of the main arteries in the heart, my heart, start out straight and fine, but end in squiggles - but not just squiggles, perfectly insinc squiggles. Some of the nurses said they'd never seen anything like it. One felt that it might cause problems in the future, one disagreed. All seemed very curious. Linda Marceau came in about that time and I showed her and told her what I saw was my heart dancing for joy- it was my heart dance for G-d. It seemed a fitting end to all of this. It was so good to share it with Linda. Thank you , Linda for coming to see me and share in all of that and for your prayer.
It also reminded me of the logo for Riverside. These little artery squiggles resemble the lines representing water - the river - of Riverside Community. And that makes sense for me as well, for truly this community is imprinting and getting inside my heart.
Also, it reminded me of paintings I did a few years back, some of which I've put out on Sunday mornings as my depiction of Psalm 50:10, "Create in me a clean heart, O G-d, and put a new spirit within me." It was as though G-d was showing me very physically that He was doing that.
Thank you, again for all your prayers. I can't wait to hug you all on Sunday. Oh, I almost forgot, when I first got to the ER, I opened my Bible and it fell on the page of Psalm 41 which begins, "Blessed is he who considers the poor! The Lord delivers him in the day of trouble; the Lord protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land;thou dost not give him up to the will of his enemies. The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness thou healest all his infirmities." Alleluia!
Shema,
Millie
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Healed From Ovarian Cyst!
Thank you all so much for your sweet prayers and concerns, the Lord has heard! I went to my doctor this morning and he confirmed my suspicion, the mass which I was going to have surgically removed Wednesday is GONE!!!! Praise Jesus! Apparently, these cysts don't just go away, if they rupture on their own it is extremely painful. I experienced no such pain. My doctor did seem somewhat surprised, I explained that many people have been praying for me and that I think the Lord healed me.
" I sought the Lord, and He answered me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces will never be ashamed."
" O, taste and see that the Lord is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!"
Psalm 34:4-5,8
Love and Peace,
Wendy Swartz
" I sought the Lord, and He answered me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces will never be ashamed."
" O, taste and see that the Lord is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!"
Psalm 34:4-5,8
Love and Peace,
Wendy Swartz
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