Our Story: Part Three

So, it's 2001 and we've returned to our "hometown" in Pennsylvania after a very rough year. We buy our first house, I start a job working for a dear friend who is a Physical Therapist as her secretary. The kids start school at the Christian school that I had graduated from, where my father is the headmaster and my mom teaches 1st grade. John returns to work in sales at the company where he worked prior to our moving away.

Our first few months back are a bit rocky in many ways. Spiritually and relationally. The enemy hits hard and we are too tired to fight back.

We hear that Bob Sorge is speaking at a local church for the weekend, and we decide to attend. We literally drag ourselves there. We are so battered that we sit in the back row and just soak in the message. I cry. We come back to the next service and the next, and our spirits feel a small measure of hope.

We begin attending this church, and for a season we just sit and receive. Julie Meyer comes to lead a women's conference, my heart is stirred and I begin to surrender some things to the Lord for healing- bit by bit, I'm hearing again that the Father loves me and I really want to believe it. Chris Dupre comes and leads a men's conference- John attends. A few months later Mark Sanford from Elijah House Ministries came in for a conference. We experience a great deal of healing and growth.

(side note: in 2003 I start teaching art again in a public school- where I teach for the next three years)

During this same season, we begin listening again to teachings from IHOP. Derek's brother has started a house of prayer in Indianapolis. We visit there, and get to hear teams from IHOP-KC occasionally. (Steward Greaves came w/ Alisha Powell)

At our home church John and I start leading worship occasionally, and eventually begin leading a Wednesday night service with "soaking" devotional-type worship. We don't know exactly what we're doing, but we sing the word and we pray the word. We have no idea really how the IHOP model works, but we do what the Lord is leading us to do, and we learn a lot. The Wednesday night service then become a time where we do a teaching for a bit before the "Devo" begins. We basically reiterate the teachings that we are studying from IHOP- Intimacy, Sermon on the Mount, End Times, etc. We are growing, learning to minister as a family, and are quite happy!

It's now 2005, and we attend a onething conference in Harrisburg, PA with a group of young adults that go with us from our church. This reaffirms for us the call that the Lord has on our lives and encourages us to continue on! (At this conference we receive ministry and have some awesome prophetic words over our family). And out of the blue someone comes up to us and tells us that they feel like we will be "moving" soon. We walk away, look at each other a bit confused, sort of brush it off and set it aside because there is no reason for us to think about moving anywhere, the idea of moving was just not on our grid at all.)

This however sets a whole series of events in motion. More to come!!!!