Uprising is our weekly prayer and worship time on Friday nights. We generally have dinner and then a time of prayer and worship. It looks different every week, depending on how God leads. We’re not a church, so it’s not a “service” per se, but more of a time for the community to come together and worship and pray. Once a month we take this shin-dig over to one of the local projects. Our crowd when we head to the projects is generally of the younger age bracket - mostly just kids.

So this week when the tides where turned and mostly adults showed up, it caught us all a little off guard. Guess you never know what God is going to do. But it was such a blessing to see adults come out and praise the Lord together! I was particularly touched to see our friend “V” (see earlier post) come and give testimony about what God was doing in his life. It was a sweet gathering and a wonderful time with the Lord. Thank you, Jesus for how you are reconciling people to one another - bringing families together and showing me more an more a picture of the beautifully diverse Bride you died for!!

Evidence of Your Uprising!

by Stacy Ciha

God is indeed moving. 

I can easily say that to you, but then you ask, how do you know He is moving Stacy?

I am seeing the evidence before my eyes.

Every Friday we meet at 6:00 to share a meal together and then we have a time of worship and prayer (And no, we’re not a church…we get asked this many times!  We are simply believers who want to unite people in prayer before our King.)  We have done this for most of the time that I have lived in Cairo.  We call it Uprising.  The first year it was basically us.  Then, we had our one faithful community member that joined us (If it wasn’t for him, we may have stopped and that was not what we were supposed to do!)  We asked many times, “Why are we doing this?!”  We went back many times to the vision behind it, to bring people together, a place for people to meet God who may not be going to a church etc.  After probably two years we began to have more of a regular group, with new people each week and children that joined us.  We have slowly seen God grow it into what He wanted it to be.  And we probably still have no clue!

On a recent Friday we were over at the housing projects where we meet one Friday a month and I went to pick up some kids who wanted to come.  As we walked up to the building I heard everyone singing “Trading my Sorrows”.  How amazing it was to hear the sound of worship float in the area of this often dark place!  As we walked up the stairs I expected to see many children as this is who we usually have join us here.  I was surprised to see that this week we actually had more adults!  As I joined in worship I couldn’t help but laugh in joy!  These adults that joined us are ones that have recently gained victory in some way!  One has become sober after years of addiction.  One has just won a many year process of gaining custody of her daughter.  One has just begun to walk the road of healing from addiction and has brought his family with him.

This is all by your hand Father.

You are really doing it!

And this is only the beginning…

I really love hanging out with the kids, they crack me up and I love watching them discover God a little bit more each week.

One of the little tikes in particular is a constant source of glee. He is a VERY bright second grader with matter-of-fact comments, a child like innocence, and dimples to die for. The kid kills me every week with at least one good liner. But this past week was a feast. We walked through the Gospel this week trying to plant some more seeds. Here were the best lines from my favorite little “M”.

After watching a short video on the gospel, I asked the kids what they remembered from the video. There were several verses that had come up on the screen and M replied. “I remember it said that Jesus died to give us INTERNATIONAL life.” I agreed that God may in fact take them around the globe ;o) but I think it said “eternal”. hee hee.

On sin. “Sin is like a little black ball inside of you and the more you sin the bigger it gets until finally it takes over you and sends you to hell.”

On Heaven. “No one knows exactly what it looks like, but if you close your eyes and ask Jesus, He’ll give you a picture.”

On the necessity of Christ’s death. “If Christ didn’t die, we’d still have a sin problem.” little theologian.

Prior to Bible study he shared a story. “Yeah, last week I went outside with my little brother and it was cold, so I took off my coat and put it on him because momma always said to look after the little ones.”

From a few weeks ago…to the question what was Jesus’ body like after he rose from the dead. “It was a real body, and that guy came and touched the screws in his hands, and then Jesus went and ate a tuna fish sandwich.”

Next week, I may let “M” teach, and I’ll just sit and learn from him.

God is sooo good, and so real.

Thank you all for your prayers for my provision to be here in Cairo as a missionary. I know people have been praying for me, and I want to share with you how God answered these prayers!

So, this month was my “transition” month to being a full-time support-raising missionary. I still had a bout a month’s worth of savings to get by on after my last pay check this month, and I was getting down to the nitty gritty here as I was approaching the end of the month. We had set up a system here at Two Rivers as we began support raising that we would use what little grant money we had left to help cover everyone’s monthly bills as needed (unless you could raise your monthly support). So basically, going into next month I didn’t have all of my support raised, so what little support I had was going to go to paying my bills and I would receive $150 to live on for the month. I’d been praying all month for God’s leading. I didn’t feel like He wanted me to send out a million support letters, but just to trust Him to provide, basically without any of my help. I know He’s wanting to teach me about His faithfulness and so often I try and take things into my own hands, so this was a specific lesson for me.

But as the end of the month grew near and I knew things were looking bleak from my end. I didn’t know how God was going to do it, but I was really trusting that He would - that Matthew 6 is a promise, that I didn’t have to worry about what I would eat or wear, that God would provide for His children. If I was where He wanted me to be, than surely He would take care of me.

This week as I was praying, God gave me a picture. He speaks to me in pictures a lot (like a movie inside my head). So in this one, I was a little kid sitting on a cliff, and Jesus comes by in a red hot air balloon, lands and I hop in. We take off and I’m wondering what He’s going to show me. Soon we come to a landscape just covered with rolling hills and ontop of the hills are more cattle than I could ever count. He reminded me of the verse that the Lord owns the cattle on a thousands hills. As we began to float over them, we often got closer and the cattle would begin to run. I saw just rivers of cattle stampedeing the hills, like buffalo. He was showing me His resources. I remembered going to the Tillman’s family farm in Springfield last fall, and they had cattle there that they could call in from the fields with a simple “sou-cow”. Jesus looked at me in my picture and just said, “why don’t you call the cows in?” So I did. I sat in my room, in my chair and I said “soo-eee” outloud. Calling in my cattle.

Then yesterday, I sat in my chair again before I went to bed. I was praying “Okay, Lord. Tomorrow is the last day of the month, I don’t have enough support raised. I believe you are faithful. I believe you are able. I believe Matthew 6 is true. You have 24 hours, Lord.”

Which brings us to today, oh blessed leap year.

Today, our friend Harlen from a Lutheran church up in northern illinois came down to take us all out to lunch and to talk about an upcoming trip we are taking to minister at their church in April. At lunch, Harlen begins to share things God has put on his heart, his desire to give to others and find ways to help those in need. In the midst of sharing some things, he said he had a friend who raised cattle and wondered if we could use some meat if he could get some for us. We all kind of looked at each other, like - um, what? Free meat? Free steak?!! I can’t remember the last time I had steak. mmmm. And before lunch was over, he set it up to get us practically a whole cow’s worth of meat. God had also been moving on his heart to donate a significant amount of money to our ministry.

Unbeknonst to me, Sharon had talked with Harlen this morning about some checks he had sent that had been lost in the mail, and how he wanted to give to support us. Sharon had mentioned my current state of lack of funds and basically invited him to pray about whether he would want this money to go to supporting me. So all this afternoon he’s been praying about this. And after a time of praying over Harlen after lunch he asks if he can make an announcement. Sharon says, “sure”. And he shares how Sharon had been telling him how we are all raising support now and about me and how he wanted to be my sponsor!!! His face lit up as mine lit up and I told Him how this was such an answer to prayer and totally God’s timing!! Always on time, even at the 11th hour!! Harlen jokingly said I must be thankful that February had an extra day this year. I couldn’t agree more. His sponsorship helped me to cover over half a year’s salary. PRAISE THE LORD!!!

To God be all the glory, honor, and praise. Only He could have brought the cows home for me. I’m looking forward to that steak.

Thank you again for your prayers and financial support, this is such a sweet blessing from the Lord and confirmation yet again, that He will be faithful to lead me and provide for me!!!

Part 2:   More Than I Could Hope Or Imagine! 

This week our staff along with some friends in the region are entering into an intense time of prayer for raising up 24/7 prayer in the region as well as preparation for 50 days of 24 hour prayer here in Cairo this summer! We have seen God’s faithfulness so much in this place of prayer and He continues to lead us into new seasons of obedience in this. Please keep us in your prayers this week especially for wisdom and guidance for the Lord in these new endeavors, for opportunities to love on people in this community in Christ, and to hear from the Lord.

Today was quite a day. My supporter from Colfax was back in Cairo today to deliver us a cow :o). See “leap year” entry below. We now have two freezers stuffed with over 650 pounds of beef!! Including steak and prime rib, what?!! Amazing. He even tossed in some pork. What a blessing!! I know we will enjoy feasting on such delicacies, but I’m also so excited to be able to bless others in the community with this precious gift! (Addendum: I think it’s quite funny that in my “vision” from my “leap year” entry when I called the cows, I actually used a pig call, “sou-ee”, and then we ended up getting some pork with our beef ;o) hee hee.)

In addition to bringing us a fresh cow, Harlen also felt led to support me for the entire year!!!! That’s right, folks, I am now FULLY supported for this year of ministry, and on top of that, he gave me a raise ;o), more than I was asking for each month. AND it doesn’t stop there….Harlen also felt led to support some of the other staff here at Two Rivers too. Blessings all around!

Kristy pointed out during our staff meeting today that since the beginning of the year, the Lord has raised over $50,000 for our ministry, if you count support raising and other gifts - all without a grant. This is greatly freeing for any ministry! So, praise the LORD!!!

Thank you all again for your prayers, I can certainly tell that people are praying for me and this ministry. God is faithful to listen to hear our prayers.

If you would like to read more about Sara’s Journey, her personal blog can be found at http://www.gerberdaisy.wordpress.com

I was thinking that the most powerful thing that God ever did was allow His words to become flesh. To allow His truth to be manifest through His Son. This grips me. Jesus said the Kingdom of heaven was near, and I really believe, this is my hunch, that to encounter Jesus is to encounter the reality of heaven. These thoughts prompt me to seek God for wisdom about how to take these words swirling, swirling around and allow them to be manifest in my flesh. How do I begin to speak louder of the kingdom of God through my flesh and not just my mouth? And as I ponder this, I’m thinking that the key to this is love. To truly manifest the kingdom is to truly manifest His love in my life. It is my oil.

Words will fade, prophecies will fade, tongues will fade, but love remains, and it is the greatest gift. Why have I not sought after it? Why have I thought it was a lesser, a background gift? It is a weapon, He was right. Perfect love casts out all fear - not words of wisdom, not gifts of healing, not demon cast-ing-outing…perfect love. That’s so powerful to me. I think I’d rather walk in few words and loud love.

So hard to quantify all that God is teaching me right now. He’s trying to teach me how to recieve from Him, just let Him be God and not always have to strive and muster to please Him or convince myself of who He is or what He’s doing. I’ve spent a lot of my life trying to earn things - reputation, friendships, love. I’m tired of it, I know the Lord is tired of it. If I could just read the Word more…if I could just share my faith more…if I could just fast more…if I could just memorize more scripture…if I could just be less selfish…if I could just give more…if I could just train my dog more…if I could just excercise more…if I could just save more…if I could just finish paying that off…if I could just have more of my life organized…if I could just know how to build a house…if I could just raise this much support…if I could just laugh more…if I could just die to myself more…if I could just feel healthy…if I could just prepare myself should God call me to be a martyr…if I could just be still. If I could…then maybe I would find rest, maybe I would find peace. Strive, strive, strive…where is my responsibility in grace, Lord? Seeking righteousness and purity, but desiring rest too.

but You say…”my soul finds rest in God alone…come to me all who are weary and heaven laden, and I will give you rest…ask for the ancient paths and find rest for your souls.” He has the words of eternal life…where can I go from Him? I can not do anything a part from Him, let alone MORE of all I wish I could do. So I’m breathing out and settling into Jesus for season of just being still. Turn the dial back down again, let’s revisit the basics. Jesus loves me.

This comes at what seems to be such awkward timing…or maybe it’s perfect. We’re gearing up for a solemn assembly here in Cairo, 24/7 prayer, fasting, calling the elders together to repent for the sins of the city, the whole shebang. The warrior resolve in me crys out “yes! yes! press in, press hard, sacrifice all, get er done!” The Spirit in me picks me off of the treadmill and says, “if you do not stop and look at me and remember who I am, none of this will do anything for you or me. I desire mercy not sacrifice.” mercy not sacrifice…one of these days I’m really going to figure out what the heck that means. “Fast your reputation, fast your need to earn something from me. You desire to dance, I desire to lead, but this dance will end quickly if you don’t stop and look Me in the eye, this is where I lead from.”

Here’s to learning how to dance with a King when you have two left feet and the battle is raging around you.