Tag Archives: understanding

Enthusiastic Encouragement

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Day Nine

There is a lot of work going on at my house in the last couple of weeks.  I have given my friend Nina the job of finishing the work of furnishing the apartment.  She has been out of work for about 6 months, so was thrilled at the opportunity—especially since it means that we see each other every day until the work finishes, and weekly after that.  There are many handyman jobs to be done here as well.  Nina’s brother, Manuel, is a handyman who is also currently without work, due to the seasonal nature of his work (which is usually outdoor handyman work).

It is really nice to be able to bless these 2 friends, and ministry always moves ahead because the apartment is more and more ready to host missionary guests.  Every day the apartment looks better and better.  I can even begin to look forward to the day when I can have a grand opening party.

So, with all this work going on, I have also been emptying those remaining boxes, and finding all sorts of treasure.  Here’s one from a Women of the Harvest retreat that I attended (By the way, Bethany hates the term retreat.  She says that we’re Christians, and we should always be advancing.  We should call them Advances, not Retreats):

15 Ideas to Encourage and Empower Missionary Women

5 Needs of Missionary Women

  1. To be spiritually mentored
  2. Feel connected
  3. To be known, understood, and prayed for
  4. To have a close friend
  5. Time away from ministry/life responsibilities

5 Simple Ways to Meet Their Needs

  1. Take 60 seconds to reply to their newsletter so they know you read it!  Better yet, ask for more information regarding one of their prayer requests.
  2. Take 5-10 minutes to ask an intentional question about their personal/spiritual lives.
  3. Surprise them with a cash gift for a night out (or a weekend away)!
  4. Send cards via postal mail—a rare treasure in the day of electronic communication!
  5. Introduce them to the free resources of Women of the Harvest.

5 Ways to Advocate for Missionary Women

  1. Share with your church and friends what you’ve learned about the needs of missionary women.
  2. Ask your Missions Committee how they keep in touch with your missionaries.  Do they Skype regularly?
  3. Ask if each of your missionary women have a spiritual mentor in their lives.
  4. Encourage your Missions Committee to take the Member Care quiz.
  5. Contact the parents or extended family of you missionaries to understand their needs.

These are all really good suggestions, and I have done most of them in my ministry of encouraging missionaries.  In fact, I would add that for missionaries serving in Europe: educate people that Europe is a mission field.  Whenever I return to the US, I bang that drum long and loud.  I am tired of having my ministry minimized just because I live in Italy.  It happens every time I return to the States.  I hate to think of the missionaries who desperately need support, and their Christian brothers and sisters put their ministry down just because they’ve got indoor plumbing.

(Sorry, can you tell that it gets under my skin?!)

Speaking of encouraging missionaries, this came in my inbox this morning from Guideposts online:  Be Enthusiastic! Be Full of God.  The Greek root of the word enthusiastic means full of God.  The mark of the Gift of Encouragement is enthusiasm.  I can’t help it!  It just comes bubbling up out of me.  And my genuine enthusiasm often helps people see their ministry in a whole new light.  I love having the Gift of Encouragement!

And finally, as most of you know, this is day 9 of my fast for understanding of these times—End Times, to know what’s ahead and how to prepare for it.  So with that in mind, here’s an excerpt from a prophecy newsletter that I received this morning:

Follow Me, and I will lead you to the wells of life.  I will give the living water to you abundantly.  And, I will also feed you with the hidden manna.  Not only will I feed you with that which has not been revealed, for it shall indeed become revelation to you, but I shall also walk with you in fellowship.  You will know Me even more intimately than you know Me today and understand by way of revelation My purposes for this season.  I am about to bring you higher than ever you have been before.  Come to Me, walk with Me, be one with Me, and drink the waters that I give to you and eat the manna that I feed you.  In the days ahead, you will realize what a great treasure is given to you at this time.  Follow Me now.  Come on, let’s go on a journey, you and I together; a journey of joy in which you will experience the power of the kingdom of God; a journey in which your righteousness will be elevated and thus the power of it shall flow out before you; a journey in which you will have victory over all the works of the enemy, says the Lord Almighty.  (Emphasis mine.)

Well, who can help but be enthusiastic with encouragement like that straight from my Father?  God is good!

Dream Big!

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Day Eight

After writing about all my devil dreams, I didn’t want to leave the impression that I only dream about the devil or even mostly dream about the devil—nothing of the sort!  I dream God dreams all the time.  In fact, so many that sometimes I am in danger of forgetting them.

In my book, Laughing in My Dreams © 2012 Alisa K. Brown, www.lulu.com, I told about some of my dream confirmations about getting this apartment, but I had forgotten to write about one dream that was particularly beautiful.

The dream came in 2 parts.  In the first part I was on a bus with Giulietta, the wife of the Music Pastor at my Italian church.  Giulietta is a professional dancer, and dances mostly modern dance and ballet.  So, Giulietta and I were on a bus, going to see my apartment (which I was fasting and praying to get).  The bus was filled with people from church.  Elisa said, “The Lord will give you every place where you put your feet.”

When we got to the door of the apartment I woke up.  I started praying, thanking God for my apartment, and fell asleep again.  The dream continued right from where it had left off.

The bus arrived in front of the apartment—and there is a bus that passes right in front of the apartment, for real, though it stops in the next block.  We went inside and immediately Giulietta started praying in Hebrew.  Her prayer became a song, and although I don’t understand Hebrew, I recognized that it was a song of conquest and victory.  As Elisa sang everybody began to dance, touching all the walls, the windows, the doors, the furniture, etc. (even though it was an unfurnished apartment, it has furniture in my dream).  Then one after another, the people left, and finally Giulietta left, too, and I was alone in my apartment.

This dream came when I needed reassurance that I was on the right track.  Of the people who knew that I was fasting and praying for this particular apartment, only Bethany was truly supportive.  The rest would try gently to persuade me that I should probably look for an apartment in a less expensive part of town.  But not long after this dream, I had a breakthrough.  And now I am in the apartment.

Now, while I am fasting and praying for understand for End Times strategies and preparation, I know that I am on the right track.  Breakthrough is coming.

This morning I got on the bus to go to church, and the bus got about 10 blocks from home, stopped and had everyone get off because the Stramilano marathon was blocking the bus route.  The driver then turned the bus around and went back the way we had come.  I went to the tram stop, but the tram was also blocked.  So I went back to the train station about 5 blocks away.  But by the time I got there I was so exhausted and weak (fasting and physical exertion do not go together!) that I decided just to go home and pray instead.

There is a beautiful golden church at the end of my block, and just as I got to the corner, I stopped.  There was procession of 4 priests and 2 altar boys carrying gold crosses and incense censers, and maybe 4 parishioners with olive branches in their hands.  I watched as they crossed the street toward me.  I had forgotten that it was Palm Sunday today.  (In Italy, they use olive branches instead of palm fronds.)

In my prayer time, I felt such a strong presence of God that I hadn’t felt in a long time.  An hour passed very quickly, then another.  We didn’t spend a lot of time speaking to each other, we just embraced and cuddled.  It was really wonderful.

I’m not advocating skipping church, and I’ll go to an afternoon service in a little while.  But God is willing to meet you whenever and wherever you seek Him.  He might even send a procession to meet you!  God is good!

I’m Not Beating Myself Up

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Oops!  The old me showed up again yesterday.  How annoying!  It had seemed like the perfect plan, but the only flaw was that it was a lie.  Almost as soon as the lie was out of my mouth, my spirit began speaking to me about the need to be sincere, transparent, pure-hearted, honest, and above reproach at all times.

But—it would be so much easier to just keep up the pretense—she’ll never know.

Go tell her the truth.

But—this early in our relationship?  She’ll never trust me.

Confess the lie.

But—how do I tell her I lied?

Just do it!

So at the very first opportunity, I went and confessed the lie.  I asked for forgiveness and promised never to lie to her again.  Instead of suspicion, doubt, and anger—all of which I deserved—I got grace, pardon, and understanding from someone who barely knows me.

I used to be a liar, BC—a big liar.  Lying was such a habit that I would lie even when the truth would have served me better.  And it wasn’t easy to overcome that habit.  It was the toughest test of character I’ve ever gone through.  Here’s what it took to overcome habitual lying:  whenever I heard a lie come out of my mouth, I would stop myself and say, “Wait!  That’s not true.”  And then tell the truth—even when it hurt.  After several months of that, I became the truthful person that I am today.

So how did this happen?  Fear.  And fear is the opposite of faith.  It takes faith and courage to tell the truth in all circumstances.  I’ve been told that I’m a brave person to have moved to Italy by myself.  I used to think that they just don’t know how scared I am sometimes.  But then I realized that courage isn’t the absence of fear.  Courage is not letting fear stop you—even stop you from telling the truth in all circumstances.

Courage is also being brave enough to reveal yourself, flaws and all, to your friends.  Thank you, my friends, for bearing with me and my flaws.  Your encouragement helps me to be my best self.

Mood Vaccination

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Have you ever noticed how some people can affect your whole day, either positively or negatively?  There is so much wrong with this broken-down old world that it is all too easy to get caught-up in somebody else’s bad mood.  But I’ve found the solution:  I vaccinate myself against bad moods by focusing my attention on the things that make me happy.

Here are some things that make me happy:

Dogs—there’s just something irresistible about a wagging tail and a lolling tongue.

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Cats—you’ve got to admire an animal that demands your respect before giving you their friendship.

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Children—for a fresh perspective that will really open your eyes, spend the day with a child.   Their spirituality and understanding are far deeper than most adults realize.

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Friends—both close friends and acquaintances make life so much more bearable.  The latter can evolve into the former with time and care.

Flowers—I was walking by the train tracks, which is usually the ugliest part of town.  In spring there are always poppies by the train tracks, and the scent of magnolias was in the air.

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Writing—my friend, Laurie (one of those close kind mentioned above), suggested that I get back into daily writing.  I’ve taken that to heart, and find that I’m happiest when I’m writing.

Bicycling—I had just gotten my bike out of storage after two years, and I noticed that everybody I rode past gave me a big smile.  Then I passed a window and saw my reflection with a huge, goofy grin.  Everybody had been reflecting that grin back at me.

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My girly toolkit—check it out!  What man would ever walk off with these tools?  All I have to do is pull out my little pink hammer and the next thing I know I’m smiling.

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So, what is it in your life that can vaccinate you against a bad mood?