This morning I received an email from my dear friend Tony Robinson, with a video on the Scripture about Elijah and the abundance of rain, which was so encouraging to me personally. (1 Kings 18: 1-48)

The backdrop of this story is that Ahab and Jezebel are the evil king and queen over Israel, who worship Baal instead of the true God, along with most of Israel.

Elijah had given a prophetic word that God wouldn’t let it rain, and it didn’t rain for over three years. This was significant because Baal was considered to be the god who controlled the rain. The lack of rain by Elijah’s command was a sign of who was the one true God.

So there had been drought for three years. Now Elijah was praying for rain. He saw the rain with eyes of faith even before it was coming down. He sent his servant to go look for rain seven times as he prayed. He also saw the size of the rain – abundance. Not just a little drip, but a downpour!

Finally, the abundance of rain came, because Elijah prayed and believed.

After I watched this video and emailed Tony, saying, “AMEN! I receive this!”, I heard thunder outside! Today it’s been raining. I feel like that is God confirming that man’s word to my heart and spirit.

Maybe you have been through a spiritually dry season in your life, a time of lack, a lot of stress, or a difficult situation. Maybe you feel like just quitting and giving up.

Maybe you feel like nothing is happening and God has just forgotten about you. Maybe you are thinking in disgust, “What’s the use of praying any more? I am prayed out! It’s dry as a desert around here! There’s no rain coming!”

Or maybe you’ve had a little rain, like in the video below, but you need MUCH more because it’s been such a dry season.

Don’t stop praying! Pray once more, twice more – seven more times. PUSH. Pray Until Something Happens. Pray until it rains MORE, until you’re sopping wet! Your prayers have mighty power!

Pray and believe, dear friend! Have faith in the one true God, who does the impossible in and through our lives. There is the sound of an abundance of rain coming your way!

Here is the video I recorded for my Stepping Stones Intensive coaching class today. I share it to encourage you, too.

“So he told Ahab, ‘Get ready. Prepare to celebrate (eat and drink). The drought is over and rain is coming.’ “

Want to learn more about the power of prayer? Click here for my ebook, Walking With God, on sale now just for $5! (usually $14.99).

Image Resource:Image: vorakorn kanokpipat / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Video on rain

Have you ever felt like you’ve been dealt a bad hand of cards by Life? Things didn’t turn out the way you had hoped or expected. You’ve had a lifetime of pain, and you don’t understand why. [Read more...]

If you missed today’s Talkshow show with my special guest Susan Evans, you missed an anointed and fun time, filled with great ideas for a romantic get-away with your husband and marriage tips. You can listen to the replay by clicking here.

Susan shared her powerful testimony of how God restored her honeymoon from the years of what the locusts stole from her after her pre-marital rape, and how God refreshed her husband after his difficult year, enabling them to go on a week-long honeymoon to the Bahamas for their 14th anniversary, when they didn’t even have the money!

Susan had dreamed of going on a honeymoon to the Bahamas since she was a little girl and had even envisioned the dress she wanted to wear on her honeymoon, which God sovereignly provided for her for this trip. Listen in as Susan shares about the effectiveness of your prayers.

One of the most powerful things Susan shared was that even in the midst of your pain and your brokenness (or being broke!), God is present with you and wants to bless you.  He will never leave you or forsake you.

God can turn something ugly into something beautiful and precious for His glory. He can answer your prayers above all you ask or think.

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Want to learn more about answered prayer? Just click here.

This week in my Stepping Stones Intensive Coaching class, we talked about Chapter 6 in Katie Brazleton’s book, Pathway to Purpose for Women: “Repent of All Your Offenses.”

Repentance is remorse or sincere contrition for our sins. It is, Katie writes on page 99, “regret and sorrow that leads to a willingness to change. Did you catch the word change?”

Repentance is not fun or comfortable, but it’s an important stepping stone in this journey of life.

“When we repent and move away from sin, God is pleased. When we repent, we are better able to hear Him and to focus on the purposes for which we were born.” (p. 98)

Sin can hinder or stop us from our life purpose. God wants nothing standing in the way of your intimacy with Him or the great destiny He has planned for you. This can also include condemnation for your past sins.

The visual I shared today in class was when Ray and I took our trip to Israel several years ago. We purchased new luggage for the trip, and packed both of our clothes for the 10-day trip into one giant suitcase.

When we arrived in Israel, we discovered that cars over there are much smaller (to save gas costs) and our tour guide, Yossi, was barely able to fit this enormous piece of luggage into the tiny trunk of his car. Since we traveled all over Israel, staying in different hotels, this large suitcase hindered us everywhere we went. We should have packed much lighter for this trip!

Several years ago, I became a flight attendant in Orlando, Florida, for an airline company whose smaller planes serviced Delta. That job taught me how to pack light for my flights, so I would be able to get places fast. Sometimes I would have four or five flights scheduled in one day, and I couldn’t afford to lug around a giant suitcase through different airports across the U.S.!

When we have sin and/or condemnation  in our lives, it is like us carrying around an enormous suitcase everywhere we go, slowing us down or even stopping us from traveling ~ when a smaller rollerboard would work so much better and free us to get through “the airport of life” much quicker and to our destination of purpose.

What area of your life do you need to repent of and change today so that you can move faster into your great purpose? Or are you under condemnation for past sins? God will forgive you as you come to Him and repent. Ask God to show you.

Image Resource: Image: David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Yesterday our daughter Leah and I were invited to the house of our friends, where they were having a potluck lunch, a small group Bible study on “Abundant Living,” and a Superbowl party. Call me sheltered, but I’ve never been to a Superbowl party before. I was excited about it.

Our hostess, Ruth, was recording the game, and since the men were in another room eating chips and dip, we were able to fast-forward through the game to the commercials and chat.  What fun! We did watch the last exciting 5 minutes of the game, though.

For the potluck, we had taco soup (which had guacamole in it – YUM!), and in our small group Bible study, we discussed the spiritual gifts, as well as personality. Our small group leader, Dave, gave us a personality profile test by Dr. Gary Smalley, using animals to represent the four types of personality: Otter, Lion, Beaver, Golden Retriever (other personality profile tests label these Sanguine, Choleric, Melancholy, and Phlegmatic). Our gifts, our personality, our intelligence, our talents, our skills, our likes and dislikes, all make up part of who we are, the unique person God created us to be for a unique calling and purpose.

While there, I was looking at Dave’s and Ruth’s bookcases, and my heart quickened as I saw a book on one of the shelves: Master Potter by Jill Austin. I’d never read it or even heard of it, but I was so excited because my friend Shelley Valasek and I just had a webinar called The Master’s Hands, on the topic of the Potter and the clay!

Ruth said I could borrow the book, and last night I lay in bed, reading it voraciously. The book is an allegory of God the Potter and us the clay. I was especially struck by what Jill wrote on page 92:

“How will I ever become what I saw in that vision? You’d have to practically start all over and completely remake me.” (Beloved the clay, representing you and me, is speaking to the Potter, who is Christ)

“Master Potter’s eyes look deeply into hers, and large tears well up. Slowly, sadly, He tells her, “You’re right, I do have to start over. To fulfill the marvelous destiny I have for your life, I must crush you into fine dust, but I promise not to lose even one particle of you. Each particle, like the hairs on your head, is numbered by Me. I will take you to My wheel, and from your dust, make you into that lovely pitcher.”

“Please, Lord, No! I don’t want to be crushed! I don’t want to hurt any more.”

“This process is a necessary part of making you into that beautiful vessel, Beloved. But you will have to trust me. The only crushing you’ve ever known has been abusive and painful; it was intended by the enemy to destroy you. My crushing is deeply rooted in My redemptive love to heal you. It will hurt for a moment, but the freedom and joy it brings will last through eternity.”

I must crush you into fine dust.

Have you ever been crushed by God? It’s painful. You just want the hurt to stop. But it’s to heal you, humble you, and set you free.

“Beloved closes her eyes, clenches her fists, inhales deeply and blurts out, “Yes, Lord, I’m willing.” (p. 93)

Are you?

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I am rescheduling my portion of The Master’s Hands webinar soon, as we went into “overtime” during the webinar. If you want to be first to hear about when this webinar will be scheduled and upcoming webinars with  other anointed speakers, be sure to sign up on my mailing list with your name and email address. You’ll also receive my free special report when you sign up.