It’s my first week here in Norway and let me tell you, the King is here! His presence is changing all of us. The town we live in is called Sola (pronounced Soola) and it is so beautiful. I live very close to the beach so I get to not only wake up to the beach, but also watch the sun rise every morning at 8:30 am. God is showing me who He is through nature. I see Him in the fog, I see Him in the snow, I see Him in the sunset, and I see Him in the birds every time I walk from our base to lunch or gym. We have a pretty packed schedule here but I love getting these special moments when it’s just Him and me.
“ And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophecy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions” Joel 2:28
I saw this verse come to life this week. Praise the Lord.
Our first week of teaching was about getting to know God for who He is rather than who we thought He was or who others had told us He was. I prayed for a revelation of His name which I received in full force. The teacher Tove (pronounced Tovah) explained that to know God is to experience God, and that is exactly what we spent this week doing. The first day was focused on Jesus. We made a fresh surrender to Him as we remembered what He did for us on the cross. Then I just spent some time sitting and resting at His feet. I could have stayed there forever. I love resting with Jesus, for me it really is the best place to be. I was born to worship the King of Kings and I’ll spend my life doing just that. The next day we explored God’s heart and learned about hearing His voice. I was refreshed with my true identity as a child of God and learned how to walk in that. This week God has spoken to me in new ways (which is something I had prayed for so thanks God!). The first time was in a dream where He told me a bit about my future. The next was on a prayer walk. We stopped outside of a daycare/school as we all felt like we were supposed to pray over the facility and the children. We all prayed in our own languages, which is so cool and powerful! I actually felt God’s heart for these kids and saw how they make Him smile. It was incredible. During some intercession, God began to give me many pictures and visions for the people I was praying for. He normally speaks to me in word form so this has been fun and exciting!!
On our last day of teaching, Tove spoke to us about the Holy Spirit. This may have been my favorite day because the Kingdom came like I’ve never seen before. We were encouraged to live a life filled with the Spirit, seeking Him in every situation, following where He leads. We practiced prophesying for each other and it was so cool to see every student seeking the Spirit’s will. We had half the day to simply let the Spirit fill us, move us, and speak to us. We did an exercise called a fire train which is where the staff makes two lines and the students walk through them as they pray and prophecy over us. The words the Lord spoke to me have forever changed me and made this entire last week make a lot more sense. He confirmed things people had spoken over me at home and reminded me of callings I had forgotten about. He touched me in such a sweet way so I went outside for a while to process everything and talk to Him about it. Meanwhile other people’s lives were being changed inside. One of my friends had an injury that caused her pain for a very long time and told me that God had healed her and we both hugged as we cried thankfulness to the Lord. Another friend was getting prayer for her scoliosis. I joyfully joined in. After about 30 minutes of seeing God make the curve in her spine smaller and smaller we got to see Him completely restore her spine right in front of our eyes. God is so good. We all got to rejoice together and pray for others seeking healings as well. These are only two of the stories, but King Jesus was present as healings were happening all around the room, not to mention the inner healings and numerous other testimonies of God moving people’s lives. Tove was right when she said the Holy Spirit is like potato chips. He came, was so good, and left us thirsty for more! The rest of the day I spent in our prayer room having some quiet time with God, processing all that had happened this week. God is so good and is bringing His Kingdom here in Sola Norway.
Please let me know if there is any way I can be praying for you! I would love to support you as you all are supporting me even though we are far apart.