QUICK VERSION!

This is for those who want to know the bottom line, and especially for sharing in churches or small groups!

PRAISE

• 130 people attended the seminar on Immanuel Prayer for Healing the Heart
• Almost everyone was totally engaged and participated.
• Upper 90’s but it finally broke with thunder showers on Wednesday afternoon to bring some relief even though we were over halfway through.
• God gave me (Diane) strength to teach 18 hours total during the two and a half days. Not even a headache despite the heat!

 

PRAYER

• Pray especially for those who come in contact with or regularly work with soldiers and their families, that they will be able to help them find the peace that only our God who is Peace can bring.

• Pray for us as we recuperate. Thursday evening after it was over I got sick with a virus and was mostly in bed for the next 3 days. Recuperating slowly, but now Abe got sick yesterday, same virus. And so we go!

 

COMMENTARY

Get a cup of coffee! For those who have more time or a deeper interest! 😊

A huge thank you for your prayers for the seminar last week. There were 130 participants. The heat was incredible, in the upper 90’s which is 20 degrees hotter than normal. It was very hard for people to sleep at night because there is no air conditioning in those buildings, and little ventilation. The first day I took six cold showers in between sessions!

Electricity was off for many hours each day but there was a generator which maintained mics and projectors and some air conditioning in the main hall.

We finally began to have thunder showers Wednesday afternoon when we were more than half way through. But it definitely did bring some relief.

The beautiful thing was that most of the people were totally engaged. People looking for healing of their own pain and trauma as well as those involved in reaching out and helping others. All of us are living in a country that is at war. Men are dying. Men are injured. And civilians are dying and injured. Children. Air sirens often sound. Power outages have become the norm, which adds another level of instability to life. Fear, anxiety, uncertainty. Yes, that sums it up for many people.

I was amazed at how willing people were to participate. What I loved most is when people began to make connections themselves to Bible verses and principles that I had not mentioned. And all of this is done within the framework of brain science and how God has created us to function best. Hand in hand.

What we believe about God is extremely important. Ukrainians are overall a very spiritual people. Despite all of the years under atheistic communism and oppression you would be hard put to find people who are atheists (compared to the “free” West!). But for most people God is far away, and He’s always looking at what we’ve done wrong. He is a God of wrath. Say you’re sorry. Light a candle. Get a blessing from the priest. And do it again next week.

Certainly it is true that we have a holy God. But we also have a God who is good and loving and merciful. And a God who wants to be in relationship with us! Who wants to talk to us! Who is with us both in the good and the bad that we face in life. Always present.

I guess one of my challenges is to actually help people act upon what they say they believe. One pastor came for the second time. He told me personally last time that he just couldn’t grasp what I was talking about in perceiving Christ’s presence with us—being aware of it—and then he did! This time he gave a public testimony that in the memory of a very touching moment with his son, he perceived Jesus being there with them. It touched a deep place in his heart as he works through wounds in his past.

One of the main principles, and the basic one, that I try to make sure everyone is convinced of by the time they leave, is that we need to take time to remember positive experiences: find them, savor them again, and give thanks to Jesus for them as the Giver of all good gifts. In Immanuel Prayer for Healing the Heart this is the basis for connecting with people and praying for them, with them, and having them pray to God and experience His presence with them. It is the beginning of healing. And it also keeps you on the right track in your life!

Here is a testimony sent in by one of the participants a couple days after the seminar:

The Lord sent me to a wounded soldier, Ivan, at the hospital. He shouted that we had better not come there, that they were treated unfairly, life is unfair, etc.

I prayed for him. And he ran out of the dining room in a rage. I quietly followed him, stopped, took his hand, with tears in my eyes... We met...

And in thoughts Emmanuel prayer for the healing of hearts.

- Share, - I say, - what is in your heart? He shared his grief for a long time...

His wife cheated on him. She files for divorce.

- And remember, - I say, - about something good that has happened in your life.

My son. He smiled.

He wanted me to pray

He said, "Amen." He hugged me and said that he felt relieved. And I said that it was the Lord.

And so my heart is good!!!

Just one small example as these people move out, connecting with hurting people, listening to them, and bringing Jesus into their lives.

So much to be done. So much pain and trauma.

One young friend sent a memo yesterday that her friend’s fiancée was killed at the front. One of the things we encouraged in the seminar was doing breathing exercises to help calm the body. She said she did them many times yesterday to calm down, and then be available to comfort her friend. When this happens, every woman puts themselves in the place of that friend. “This might happen to my husband!” War is not far away. It is here.

Do continue to pray for Ukraine. The politics of these things totally baffles me, but I know anyway that the Lord is the only one who can bring it to an end, however He chooses to do that.

I did get sick almost immediately after the seminar. A virus that kicked in full strength Thursday evening! Coughing, coughing, sneezing, aching. We had stayed in Kyiv to take a break before returning home. That kind of wasn’t the break I was thinking of!! Monday morning I woke up feeling much better which was important since we had a five-hour trip home by bus. It was in the 80’s temperature wise and I figured that it would be miserable as usually there is minimal ventilation. Surprisingly! This bus had air conditioning! This is a company we travel with all the time! It’s the first time I knew they had any with air conditioning!!

When these things happen I always think of all of the people who are praying. People praying--and my staying healthy and strong during the seminar. People praying--and the participants able to engage even though they were sleeping badly during the night because of the heat. People praying--and our having an easy trip home instead of the miserable heat we were expecting!

Now Abe has gotten sick also!

And so we give our weaknesses, which are many, to the Lord. It isn’t about us, it is about Him.

And how it always heartens us to know that so many people surround us with their prayers on our behalf and on behalf of Ukraine.

 

Published: 23 July 2024

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