Who ever said...

Who ever said that being a good mom meant being at home all the time, playing on the floor with the baby, doing laundry in a timely fashion, having all the nooks and crannies free of dust balls?

I’ve found myself in a odd place of analyzing my role as mom these days. I have a baby again (my oldest three are 15, 11, and 9), and part of me has begun to compare my self to the kind of mom I was when our first three children were little. My life looks much differently now. The things that occupy my days are very, very different.

I sat in the prayer room the other day wondering, should I just be at home playing with Elia on the living room floor, arranging play dates, and staying on top of the housework? However, as I contemplated these things, I was struck by the reality that though my life looks much differently now, and although Elia’s playroom most morning is the floor of the prayer room, I really do love being a mom here at IHOP. I don't intend to paint a rosey picture becuase it is rarely easy. There are many challenges involved with being a mom here at IHOP, but I'll leave that for another post.

I don't think that I even have a clear understanding of the full impact of what I am doing most days, but I think that perhaps it is something big- something beyond what I can understand right now. I think that perhaps having this tiny girl raised in the house of prayer may be the most important thing that I do in this life. She’s so at home here.

Even as I write, she is sitting on the floor playing with her little Bible activity book and singing her heart out, bouncing up and down to the music as the room is praying for Zimbabwe. Her little voice gets louder with the swell of prayer and worship in the room. She responds to the music with a little bounce and wavy arms.

She has been in this prayer room about 12 hours a week since she was just a few weeks old. She is often carried around by intercessors that I know pray for her and sing over her as they hold her. She is being immersed in the spirit of prayer. This is her NORMAL… she knows nothing else.

I'm watching Psalm 8:2 take place every day of my life, as praise (strength) that was "ordained" to come from Elia's mouth comes forth to silence the enemy.

So if you see Elia in the prayer room, and if you hear her, know that she is impacting the heavenlies with the sound of her voice. I don't take that lightly!

It's Monday and I'm Here!

Conference is over! It was a great weekend! I'm always amazed at the awesome people that come here to Kansas City... It never fails that I meet truly incredible people!

Deep sigh... my breakout session was more fun that I can tell you! I can't believe I get to do this some days! The breakout was entitled "Stewarding the Spirit of Prayer, Power and Prophecy in Children." The focus of my portion of the breakout was on working with 6-8 year olds in developing a life in the Word in order to cultivate a language for Prayer. We went over practicals like teaching children to paraphrase scripture, using synonyms to develop language that they can comprehend, using Bible study tools, and comparing translations. I taught primarily on praying the Apostolic Prayers and touched on using Art as a form of Prayer.

Praying Ephesians 3:16-19 over you all today,
I pray that out of God's great treasure chest, He would make you strong down deep inside. I pray that Jesus would be completely at home in your hearts. I pray that you would be rooted and built up in love so that you would be able to completely understand how big the love of Christ is and that you would know this amazing love that outshines everything else. (paraphrase)

Today the Earth Shook

Did I feel it? No not really, but did I see it? You bet I did!

Today in a little building where the Children's Equipping Center holds its services for the 6-12 year olds, something was born, and I know that it shook th earth.

Today was the first day of the Malachi 4:6 Prayer Meetings. Every Tuesday we will be gathering from 10AM-12PM to interceded for our nation, the schools in our city, orphanages, for signs and wonders to be poured out in our lives, and for our families. Today I wept as I saw moms and dads in able to come into a prayer meeting with little ones of all ages and be able to engage in prayer with their children without the fears of being a disturbance, having to keep children quiet, or babies from chattering. I a mother gather her little ones like a flock around them and gently shepherd them into a spirit of prayer.

Indeed He has "ordained praise" in children and infants to "silence the foe and the avenger". I know with all that I am that the Lord looked down in pleasure today on our rough and tumble little prayer meeting. I'm nearly certain that He threw back His head and laughed with delight. And I know the earth shook as sincere hearts declared the praises of God and offered up prayer before the throne.

My hope is that Malachi 4:6 Prayer Meetings will spring up across the earth, in schools, in churches, and in living rooms, where moms and dads gather their flock, invite other families, and join together in the Spirit of Prayer.

LET YOUR KINGDOM COME TODAY, FATHER!

Li Li on GodTV

Apparently Elia Jane made it on the webcast today! So if you have that handy dandy feature and can watch the 10AM Intercession set, you'll find her sometime between 11:00-12:00. I knew she was on once as I was in the Rapid Fire prayer line with her. But one of the camera guys grabbed me on my way out of the prayer room to tell me that he put a close up of her on the camera "just to show the guys in the back how cute she was," and he said, "they said to keep her there because they wanted to use it."

Disclaimer: That was a horribly formed sentence I know, but I'm too tired to try to rephrase it, so you get what you get!

Here's What's Going On....

We've "sort of" settled into a groove with school starting and adjusting to a new schedule- maybe a little herky-jerky, but it's a groove none the less!

John's semester at Forerunner Music Academy is going well. He's teaching two Foundations classes in Guitar. He's also teaching two classes at the kids school, JR HI and SR Hi Guitar electives. Most of all though I love seeing him in the Prayer Room, knowing I am watching him walk in his calling, and feeling so proud of him.

I'm stepping in to a leadership role in the Children's Equipping Center, and some days feel just stunned at the magnitude of all that God is calling us to here and all that He is doing in the lives of children that come here month after month. He truly is raising up a generation that will shake the earth as they walk in signs and wonders.

We're stepping into our National Children's Equipping Conference this weekend. My first of this particular conference here at IHOP. I'm teaching a breakout session on "Stewarding the Spirit of Prayer and the Prophetic" (geared toward working with 6-8 year olds). Pray for me and for our whole team as we prepare for this conference.

The kiddos are amazing! I'll try to keep pictures coming, but keep praying for that camera to come! :)

You Might Be Moving Too Fast If....

In attempt to be PREPARED you run home to grab a bottle and lunch for one yummy baby, quickly check email and hop in the car to get to the Daniel Academy in time to teach art, you get to the bank to cash a check (HAVE TO GET FINGERPRINTED BY THE WAY!), and head out to school realizing that the yummy baby's lunch in AT HOME....sitting on the counter... the whole reason that you ran from point A to point B in the first place....

But if that doesn't do it, You Might Be Moving Too Fast If.... you clean up your classroom after teaching JR HI ART and SR HI ART, and in an attempt to run home feed the family dinner and make it to the Children's Equipping Center to work the evening conference tracks, YOU SLAM YOUR FINGER IN A WINDOW nearly severing the tip....

I'm just saying I MAYBE just MAYBE WAS MOVING TOO FAST!!!!!! Just a guess.
Needless to say, typing minus on middle finger on the right hand is a challenge, and I am home on my comfy couch and NOT at the conference. I probably could have used stitches, but I was in TOO BIG OF A HURRY to consider that! So I ran into CVS, trying not to pass out in the aisle from pain, and bought a bunch of butterfly bandages, etc... and fixed it up myself, a beautiful bit of self-doctoring if I do say so myself.

Daddy's in the Prayer Room

And Elia was totally engaged watching the 8PM intercession set on the webcast, praying for the peace of Jerusalem! (John is subbing tonight for Steve Offutt on Luke Wood's team.)

Growing in the Prophetic Conference

I taught on Thursday morning on the Gift of Prophecy from I Cor 12 and 13. The focus of the teaching was two fold... first, that the Lord wants us to "eagerly desire the gift of prophecy", and secondly that without LOVE as the motivation for using our gift, it means nothing to God. We had a time of prayer asking God to pour out His gifta on the children, especially the gift of prophecy. At the close, as the kids prayed, they asked the Lord to show a picture of the gift He desired to give to them. This is some of the prophetic artwork that flowed as the children received from the Lord during the conference.

New Stuff We Do: Part 6

I haven't disappeared, I've just been busy.

Yesterday I spent the day with my dear friend Kelsey shopping for art supplies for The Daniel Academy. I will be teaching art 4 hours a week at TDA to grades 1st-8th. I am so excited about this opportunity on a number of different levels.

For one, The Daniel Academy is the place where my children will receive an incredible education this year while being surrounded by marvelous comrades and being encouraged to run hard in the place of prayer and fasting. The Daniel Academy is rich with educators who are gifted in knowledge and are also called to a life of prayer.

In addition, I have the privilege of teaching art to this amazing bunch of children. I left a teaching position that I loved when the Lord spoke clearly to us to move to Kansas City. And with that, I thought perhaps I was laying down the possibilities of ever teaching again in that capacity. It wasn't a hard surrender. And I love that I'm able to teach the Word of God to children here on Sundays and at our various conferences throughout the year, but I am so grateful for this opportunity to teach art again.

I told John and the kids the other day that I was nervous. They just rolled their eyes at me and said, "Mom, you're like the best teacher we know." and stuff like that... you know the stuff your family is supposed to say to you! But the point of my nervousness is this. For the first time, I have the opportunity to teach art beyond the principles of color and design, beyond the history of great artists, and beyond the varieties of media and expressions available. For the first time, I can talk about the beauty of expressing the Creator God through the visual arts, the power of expressing a prophetic utterance with pencil or paint, and the pure act of worship that can take place when an artist puts hand to brush to say "I love you, Lord."

So this is one more thing I do. I teach. I teach art. And I ask for grace from the Lord to embrace this and hear His heartbeat.

Stuff We Do: Part 5

We do conferences!
We're gearing up for the big 2PM start to this upcoming conference. Our schedule for the next few days is non-stop! We're all involved in helping lead the Children's Tracks during conferences. John and I (and the kids) lead worship on Saturday morning , and he plays guitar for Carol Hall as she leads the remainder of the children's worship. John will also be playing in the main session worship with Sada Rogers... so he's juggling back and forth between the Prayer Room, Children's Tracks, and the Conference!

This is an End Times conference, and I'm preparing this morning to teach on Saturday morning for the Children's Track. Though we've sat through much of the End Time teachings, this is a first for me. As I prepare this morning my message "A Good Good God- Trusting in the Leadership of God in Difficult Times," I am realizing that I will be primarily preaching to myself! Isn't that the way it goes though?

Off we Go!

Stuff We Do: Part 4

Elia and I work for the Children's Equipping Center. She works as hard as she can, but I still have to do the bulk of the labor. She does brighten up staff meetings and makes our "office" (most times the couch) awful cute though!

I got involved with CEC shortly this winter mostly because the kids were involved on the Sunday morning worship team, and I wanted to be where they were. So, one thing let to another and now I serve as Director of Communications for CEC, writing newsletter, flyers, handling website edits (a new one for me!), and teaching on the Sunday Morning 6-12 year old team. We also serve at conferences helping the children's tracks.

This summer we will be heavily involved in the Signs and Wonders Camps. We have one here in Kansas City, June 10-14 and will be traveling to do another in Colorado June 18-21. We are really believing the Lord to pour out His spirit on his sons and daughters!

Stuff We Do: Part 3

Isabelle Dances:
Isabelle is part of a dance team that ministers in the House of Prayer twice a week. The team is led by Joy and Lauren, who both have such a heart for training up the young girls to minister to the Lord in dance. I'm so grateful that IHOP makes room for children to operate in their giftings and that women like Joy and Lauren are willing sow into their lives in such a beautiful way!