Healthcare & the Hidden Heroes

Yesterday, a small group of people met to share their journey of what they are seeing in the realm of healthcare. It was a wonderfully diverse group of people that shared their areas of expertise regarding the health of our Body, Soul and Spirit. Amongst us were nurses, pastors, administrators, educators, advocates, and missionaries. All have a heart to see God bring an increase of excellence in care to the multitudes that are in need and to share the love of God in practical ways. I felt extremely blessed to be a part of such a beautiful group of people and look forward to what God will do as we simply meet together and seek the heart of God for His direction. They are all hidden heroes within a very fragile and changing system.

I have had the privilege of being in the area of end of life care for the past 6 years and have been deeply humbled as I have been privileged to know so many hidden heroes in the realm of healthcare and caregiving. I have met so many families that are giving of themselves in loving and caring ways, often at the expense of their own health. I have also had the privilege of knowing many healthcare workers who go the “extra mile” and give of themselves to patients and families in need and provide an excellence in care that is way above the ordinary. There are even hidden heroes within our communities who dispense care and kindness to those around them in practical ways. Just today, when I was walking and seeing our Sparklett’s Delivery man in our neighborhood, I was reminded of the delivery man who delivered water to us several years ago. He would take time out of his busy schedule and talk with my dad who lived with us and who was very lonely and loved to share a good story. After my dad had died, this man came to deliver water and, after hearing the news of my father’s passing, had tears in his eyes and recounted the many conversations they had and how he had reminded him of his own father. I was so impacted by his simple way of showing kindness and dignity to my father in his season of need.

Mercy and kindness shine forth in stunning ways. And although they are often hidden to the majority, these acts of kindness are always seen by our God and celebrated in heaven (see Acts 10)

May we be ones who aspire to show forth God’s mercy and kindness to those around us and may we hear the applause from heaven.

He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you. But to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 (NKJV)

Grace, Peace & Joy! -Lynn

Our next step is to Step Out!  We have been blessed so that we can be a blessing!

These words came to us as our next place of direction for us at The Lord’s House at the beginning of this year.  In all the ways that 2011 was more a call to solitude and community, now, the encouragement is to step out into the city and see what God is up to.  I love the principle that Henry Blackaby writes about in his book “Experiencing God” …to discover where God is already working and join Him there!  What a great idea!  We know that God is at work in the city of Riverside and we want to be about our Father’s business in blessing what He is already doing and to connect with those who are doing it!  We are beginning to do informal roundtables to gather leaders together and inquire what they see God doing in their areas of expertise.  We are starting with the area of Healthcare as we sense that this is deeply on God’s heart and is also such a felt need for the residents of any city.  We will keep you posted on what we discover as we connect with others.  May the Lord bless you as you join Him in what He is doing in your city! – Lynn

The_Lords_House_Strategy_Map

Thank you, Bryan Feller, for assisting us in developing this!  (www.bryanfeller.com)

This is the third part of a 3 part series that speaks of how the Lord’s House started and the story of what God did in our first year of 2011 (see parts I & II for the complete story on this blogsite).

Beginning in June of 2011, just when we had begun to enter into God’s rest at The Lord’s House, we sensed the Lord saying to us that it was now time to put out the Welcome Mat and welcome others into His house.   Many of our friends who had been waiting for God’s timing, began to come over and bless the vision of what God was raising up in the city.  Leona joined Terri and myself as part of our core team at the house. God gave many clues to our friends as they would come and join us in this time of new beginnings.  One of the scriptures that came forth was:

… “I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” – Luke 13:35

We began to bless all those that were coming in His Name to us.  We also were praying that God would align us to His people that had similar vision and who had clues for the city so that we could know how to pray more effectively.  We sensed that the Lord was calling us to: 1) Continue with personal prayer and devotional times with Him 2) To pray with various leaders and  3) To begin to walk around the city (particularly downtown) and see what God would highlight to us to pray about and bless.  As we began to do this, we saw how much God had already been doing in the city and also some areas that needed a touch from God.  The Lord was emphasizing the word “Foundations” to us…to bless the godly foundations and to seek the Lord for His wisdom and power to overshadow the ungodly ones. Jeremiah 1 came to mind:

“Today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms.  Some you must uproot and tear down…….Others you must build up and plant.” –Jeremiah 1:10 (NLT)

And the Lord reminded us again of His promise in the power of honoring the forefathers and mothers who had years of faithfulness to the Lord in the city….He showed us that as we honored them, it would go well for us:

“If you honor your father and mother, things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.”– Ephesians 6:2 (NLT)

So we began to simply meet with others, gather clues, pray and do some walkabouts in the city.

In July, as I was reading some information on downtown, I discovered that our little house was located in a section called “Heritage Square”.  We all had a good laugh about this as once again, we realized that God can be very specific when He is trying to emphasize a point to us.  How perfect, that we were located in an area called HERITAGE SQUARE when God was helping us to understand our own heritage as well as the city’s heritage!  The city also has a unique call to try and preserve it’s history, so we have been praying into that and seeking to understand what our part is in this and also asking what is the spiritual history that the Lord desires to preserve.

This led us into October where we hosted a conference called RECONCILIATION IN THE CITY @ RIVERSIDE (www.reconcile.org).  Leaders from within the city and also from surrounding areas came to this gathering that was focused on praying for the city, it’s leaders and spheres of influence as well as repenting and seeking reconciliation (restored peace) for areas that were offensive to God (mainly relating to injustices from the past).  We had some remarkable times of hearing from our Native American friends that were from the region and who could really speak into the history of the land.  New insights were gleaned and new friendships formed as we continued forward in this adventure.  Several books were very helpful for us at the Reconciliation School:

~ Landa Cope’s Book “The Old Testament Template” which talks about God’s creating the spheres of authority for His purposes.

~ Ed Silvoso’s Book “Transformations” which talks about the amazing things  God is doing in the marketplace!

~ John Dawson’s Booklet “What Christians Should Know About Reconciliation” which gives the basic principles of reconciliation.

In November, we sensed that the Lord’s House needed someone to occupy it to help oversee the house more and to be a presence of God’s grace in the neighborhood.  After much prayer, Leona decided to move in and we immediately noticed a difference of peace and stability in the neighborhood.

Towards the last part of the year, we continued meeting with leaders and continued praying in the city. We also began to envision for our year ahead of 2012.  Our friend, Bryan Feller, was wonderfully instrumental in helping us take all of our ideas and vision and form it into a simple one page mission and purpose statement that continues to direct us currently in this new year.

On January 16, 2012, we met at the Lord’s House and celebrated all of God’s faithfulness and goodness to us in the previous year.  It was a tearful time for me as I reflected on a vision that God had given me 12 years earlier and now had finally come forth.  It is my hope that part of this blog becomes a type of “book of remembrance”…a journal of our journey that gives thanksgiving to God for all that He has done.  May we be astonished and amazed as He opens our eyes to see new realities all around us of His goodness and presence!

Thank you for reading our history…may the Lord bring forth new stories of His goodness and glory in this new year of 2012!  Stay tuned

(see previous post of Part I for the beginning part of our story)

We took ownership of the house on January 16, 2011 and simply began to pray. The next day, many of our neighbors came over and introduced themselves and we felt welcomed, by the Lord and by our neighbors, into the neighborhood. Although we eventually furnished the house, the main initial priority that the Lord established for us was a call to Himself and to an extended time of Sabbath Rest. So for 6 months, there was very little outward activity…Terri and I would simply come to the house (together or individually) and sit and pray and listen. When one is used to a lot of activity, simply sitting and listening can be a challenge and it took us awhile to get into a flow of silence. It still is a challenge to quiet the inward noise in order to hear the whispers of God. But the reward of silence and hearing God’s still small voice is invaluable and beautiful. It is where all of the rest of life flows and makes sense.

The Lord talked to us about many things in that season….

First and foremost, the Lord was restoring our weariness with His Presence. Psalm 42:1-2 was a key passage:

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

And every time we felt the need to get busy, the saying “IN DUE TIME” would be spoken and we knew that all things would eventually happen in the time it was supposed to occur, and for the now, we were to remain in that sacred place of solitude and rest and listening.

Also, another area we initially sensed was that God was cleansing this little old house from the negative influences of the past and was now establishing it as a place that would be set apart for us and God’s purposes in the city. A “tent of meeting” or a type of “Bethel”, both Biblical references of places that individuals would meet with God and consequently, be transformed.

We also began to understand God’s love for generations and how He desires us to honor those that have gone on before us. He spoke to us about recovering the “creative virtues”, those gifts that are present in our DNA that sometimes get lost from one generation to another because we think that nothing good has come from our past. He showed us that oftentimes, when we have come from dysfunction in our families, we can sometimes walk away from everything involving our pasts for the sake of freedom and walking in wholeness. But the Lord began to show us that amongst the negative and sometimes awful stuff in our family histories, that there were nuggets of pure gold that were worth recovering. And that this gold was needed to be retrieved so that we could pass it on to our families and future families to come. So we began to ask God what He would have us to recover from our family. And here we were, sitting and praying about this in my very own grandmother’s house. God really knows how to emphasize a point when He wants to! But what beautiful things began to be recovered as we sifted through the muck and retrieved the gold. I would highly encourage all of you reading this to ask God the same question “What do I need to recover from my lineage that God would want me to activate for my life now and for the lives of all those I influence”? For me, seeing the gifts of hospitality and welcome, for caring for the stranger, for compassion, for a love of nature, for a love for family, for the value of work and diligence toward doing a job with excellence….these were some of the areas that I saw that my own family were so gifted in and now that I have seen God’s perspective upon these gifts, I am now blessing this to come forth in a more intentional way. One of the passages that became important to me is found is Leviticus 19:32-34:

‘Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD. When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God”.

 Another area that the Lord led us in was to be in a state of READINESS and of PREPARATION. We felt that even tougher times were ahead of us and that we should be more prepared, not only in a physical way but also in an emotional and spiritual way. No fear but simple trust. God is faithful and able to lead us in times of plenty and in times of lack.

And we also began to pray for the city of Riverside and blessing all that God was doing. And as soon as we really began to get comfortable in resting before the Lord, we felt that our season of extended Sabbath was finished and God was now leading us into some new areas.

To be continued (see Part III)

As visions go, we tend to think that they are going to happen a lot sooner than what actually happens.  Over the past 12 years, I would pray about it but it never seemed to be the right timing.  And then there were times that I just thought I had imagined the whole thing.  But God wouldn’t let me forget it even though I wanted to walk away from it at times.  So I just held the vision very loosely and would  occasionally pray about it.  I knew that only God could bring it about (although I certainly wanted to do whatever God would require of me).

Then several years ago, the Lord began to really stir my heart towards the city of Riverside.  My family is from Riverside (my dad was born in a little house on Jurupa Ave which is still there) and I was born and raised in the city but moved away when I was 20.  I have spent all of my life in the Inland Empire and have been a part of regional and statewide prayer events for the past 20 years, so I was not sure why God seemed to be highlighting just the city of Riverside.  But I prayed and tried to understand the direction that God was trying to lead me in.  In 2009, my cousin Dave, who had invested most of his life serving the city of Riverside, died and I was at his burial and pondering all that he had done for the city.  I found myself making my way over to our family plot at Evergreen and located the graves of my great-grandmother, grandmother and many aunts and uncles.  As I was standing on my grandmother’s grave, I was overcome with gratitude for my 2 grandmothers who loved God and who had prayed for me and encouraged me in areas of faith and love.  And I found myself praying prayers of gratitude along with a simple prayer:  “Lord, thank you for all that they poured into me and my family and into this city.  If there is anything that is unfinished from my family line, Lord I am willing to pick it up and carry it on”.   Little did I know the influence of this simple little prayer as it seemed to start a process rolling that eventually led to the vision coming forth.

In the summer of 2010, still praying and trying to understand why I felt so drawn to Riverside, I found myself saying to my friend Joyce: “Maybe I am suppose to rent my grandmother’s house and use it as a ministry base for the city of Riverside”.  The funny thing about that is that I had never even considered this thought until I heard myself say it!  God is funny about stuff like that!  And as soon as I said it, I began to think that this is exactly what I was suppose to do!  Six months later and after much inquiry, prayer and counsel from friends, my dear friend (Terri Larson) and myself began renting my grandmother’s house in downtown Riverside on January 16, 2011.  Thus the adventure began!

See part II –  for more of the story (to be continued)

Thank you, to all of our friends, who have encouraged us along the way…we all so love and appreciate you.

Living for the smile and glory of God,

Lynn

ps…I/we will be writing more this week on what some of the adventure has looked like so stay tuned!

Lynn