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

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

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 :)

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

KP: Our New Nephew

KP Writes:

I want to introduce you to our brand new nephew, Archer Wayne Williams. He was born about 48 hours after we arrived in GA!! (and 48 hours before another set of Aunt/Uncle/cousins had to leave GA...great timing)

He is beautiful, healthy and loved by all!

I looked up the meanings of his name:

Archer...Steadfast (bowman) Is 40:31 "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."

Wayne...Industrious (wagonmaker) Phil 2:16 "It is by holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain."

What a great destiny has been spoken over this little one even on the moment of his birth. Thank you Lord!!

Proud Aunt,
Kristian

KP: The Intercessor

KP writes:

I was reading the notes from a sermon Allen Hood recently preached and was struck by them. I hope that they leave you in awe of our sovereign God as they did me.

Kristian

"Between the sovereignty of God and the destiny of man, one finds the intercessor. There in the great chasm between God’s blazing righteousness and man’s fallenness, an intercessor is found waiting. There love waits and wrestles for God to be heard and man to be pitied. The courageous are found there fighting for God to be adored and man to be accepted. In this holy place one enters into the suffering heart of the Mediator, Jesus, who vindicates His Father’s glorious name and atones for the rebellion. This is a holy place, a divine meeting where doors open to deep caverns of divine paradox, where God’s emotions and economy lead to groans and pleas for triumph and redemption. Blessed is the man who waits here.

Blessed is the man who enters secret chambers where justice and mercy give birth to love in action. Blessed is the one who enters into the divine unity of God’s own nature. Justice demands sentence on the trespassers. Blazing righteousness zeroes in on the defiled. Mercy reaches to cover and kindness moves to adorn. In the swirl of God’s own passions the intercessor is beckoned to where God prays to God, where the Son asks His Father to forgive them and the Father agrees, crushing the Son with the burden of the masses. The intercessor meets the crucified Jesus at Golgotha’s triumph and finds fullness there. God’s fullness! And our acceptance into it! "