July 29, 2009

AP: Recognizing an Ungrateful Heart...ouch

AP Writes:

I just finished moving my entire belongings from my rental house to my new house. It took forever because we had to do little loads in our two cars. Each night I would crash into bed and wonder how many more loads it would take until we were finally done. My arms were sore and I began to wish we didn't have so much stuff. Then it hit me......hard. I realized how ungrateful I had been for all the stuff we have. Most of the stuff we have has been passed down generations.....therefore most of it I see as old and useless. Some of it is good stuff....like some of the furniture. But the rest is, to me, useless.

I began to think about people who don't have any stuff.....or only what they can carry. I was then feeling very guilty about being ungrateful for the stuff I do have. I asked God to help me be grateful for the things he has given me......like a house to live in, plenty of food to eat, more furniture than I can count (even if some of it is wayyyyyy out dated), family that loves me, friends that watch out for me, and a God who wants me to be with him where he is. Sometimes we strive to find something to be appreciative of when we can be thankful for something that it right under our nose. We need to get a greater perspective of how small we are and how little our feelings matter and look at the big picture. You can be thankful for everything......you just have to look through the right lens. :)

ATP

July 27, 2009

KP: Getting Settled

KP Writes:

Wow! We have now been back to Kansas City for almost two weeks. The Prices are doing well. We have moved out of the rental house and now have all of our belongings under one roof for the first time in 10 months. That feels good! We are by no means unpacked, but our beds are up, the kitchen is in working order, the washer and dryer are hooked up, and we have found our towels and shampoo. The basics are covered. (And yes, we miraculously found the hardware to attach the refrigerator door!! Thank you, Lord! Refrigeration is very good!!)

Jeff is getting more familiar with the customer service area and beginning to meet many of the people in the various departments. (I'll let him write more in that regard) He has a totally new prayer room schedule with many more daytime hours. (As a family we have had a mostly 6pm-midnight schedule since Intro.)

Ashton and Mallory are in their second week of ATC (Awakening Teen Camp). It culminates this weekend with the Fascinate '09 conference which is a high school conference after Psalm 119:37. Basically it is a conference with teens from all over the nation in attendance who desire to consecrate their hearts in radial pursuit of Jesus. One of the emphasis of the conference is that 'the time has come for a generation to turn away their eyes from looking at worthless things and look to the beauty of the King'.

I have been treasuring my time in the prayer room to just get still before the Creator of the universe. It was great to be home and visit everyone, but it is wonderful to be back before the Lord in the place He has called me to be, ministering in the way He directs. I have had the awesome privilege of walking along side a precious friend who is struggling. The Lord laid it on my heart that in this season I am to be one of her "stretcher bearers". It is my prayer for each of us that we will not be too busy or consumed with the things of life, good things, to be the stretcher bearers for fellow believers who become tired, weak, sick, downcast, discouraged, unable to to walk the walk and approach the throne on their own. We need each other. The enemy knows it and strategically provides plenty of opportunity to keep us too busy. Too busy to spend time with Jesus. Too busy to be a stretcher bearer.

It is time for some unpacking....

Love you,
Kristian

July 17, 2009

AP: New Blog

Hello Everyone!

Just thought I would let you know that I started my own blog to write down my thoughts and feelings on life. I was inspired by a couple of my mentors and thought it would be cool if I did one of my own as well as wrote some on the family one. The address to my new blog is
http://purplemyrrh.blogspot.com. I am very excited to see what God lays on my heart to share with his children. Tomorrow I start ATC, the summer teen camp at IHOP. I am very excited to see what God reveals these next two weeks. I couldn't help but smile when I got back from RiverStone's sumer camp, Awakening, and read the name of IHOP's camp, AWAKENING Teen Camp! It about made me burst I was so excited. Well, I gotta go unpack some more boxes......ttyl!

Love ya!
Ashton :)

July 9, 2009

AP: Two days....and oh my goodness!!!!

Hello all! Well we have only been back for two days now and it feels like we have done two weeks worth of work! We got back on Monday evening about 9:30pm.......a long 14 & 1/2 hour drive. On Tuesday we went to our new house and unloaded the uhaul of the last of our stuff from Georgia. Then since we had the big 'moving van' we decided to use it to transport as much stuff as possible. So we made two more huge loads that day. On Wednesday we continued to haul more stuff on the uhaul. We almost got the whole garage, which we have been using as a store all, of our rental house emptied out! We also did the yardwork at our new house. I'll tell you one thing for sure......we bought ourselves some grass! Mallory and I mowed the lawn while our parents weedeated, edged, etc. We also cleaned out our fish pond!!! We have 13 fish.......7 orange and 6 white. (As my dad said, 'Jesus and his 12 disciples'. This is funny because the people who owned the house before us last name was Goforth. Funny huh?)

Today the goal is to pick out paint and start painting the inside of our new house. I am so excited!!! Well, I gotta go since my muscles are needed. (My muscles are so tired they might just decided to wither away so they don't have to be used anymore! They have carried a ton of boxes!) Anyway, I hope to write more soon! Have a blessed week!

Love ya!
Ashton :)

KP: We Are Back

KP Writes:

Hello everyone!! We are back from our fantastic trip to GA. We were able to visit with all of our family, see many friends, share what God is doing in our lives and at IHOP-KC with several home groups.

One of our highlights was attending our home church's Summer Youth Camp. (the one I started attending in 1976!) Jeff and I were counselors and the girls went as students. (duh) Let me tell you, God is moving with those teens (and adults). It is so exciting to see how He is raising up a prayer movement all across the earth, and He is not leaving out those in the Cobb, Paulding Co. area! God is raising up radical forerunners and healing revivalists who are passionately in love with Him, who know how to pray to see heaven on earth!! What an incredible time to be alive!! I say come Lord Jesus! (Let the Spirit and the Bride say come!!)

I will try to write in "snippets" as I have so many things screaming to be taken care of now that we are back in MO. Hopefully pictures are in the future. We are now living between two houses so the month of July looks pretty wild.

God is good, all the time! He loves us!!

Love,
Kristian