Cookout with friends!

We had plenty of food!

Really yummy veggie kabobs!

Good friends!

More precious friends!

Anyone hungry! :-)

I love having friends over for cookouts! A group of precious friends came over in early April, and sadly, the weather didn't permit us to sit outside, but we still had grilled veggies (during the Daniel fast) and enjoyed fellowship! I am loving the friends the Lord is blessing me with here in KC!

House stuff! :-)

Simon, enjoying sunning at the foot of the deck.

Come on over and enjoy my deck with me!

Ah, the garden...so far I've planted tomato, peppers, broccoli, lettuce, spinach, carrots, beans, pumpkins and some unknown seeds! :-)

Trying to keep the rabbits and birds out!

The beautifully stained deck!

Ah, the joys of homeowning! I stained my deck as you can see above! It looks good, except now it is covered in pollen! Praise God He healed me of allergies years ago cuz it is THICK here! I stand on that healing for the glory of Jesus!

Also pictured is my garden. I realize how difficult it is to see how big it is. For Americans, it's 18' x 10'. European friends, you figure that out! :-)

Family

What fun just to be with family...hanging out on a rainy Saturday afternoon, not doing a whole lot, but just being together and talking. LOVE IT!

Friends may come and go, but family is there forever!

Spontaneity is the spice of life!

I pulled it off! Two days ago, I decided, "I'm gonna drive to Colorado to surprise my nephew, Zack, for his 13th birthday!"

So, I did it! 9 plus hours in my car, listening to teachings by Mike Bickle and Derek Loux the entire way, and arriving, greeted by surprised looks on faces upon my arrival....PRICELESS!

Continuing life lessons...

Here are things I'm learning this week:

In this community, lots of people are good at the first commandment; the second commandment? Well, I'm seeing that's a challenge for some people.....

The Lord is perfect in His timing and gives us opportunities to walk out healing through sacrifical love.

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for people." (Colossians 3:23) Even in friendships, are we working at it for the Lord or for that person, or for ourselves?

Faithful friends stick with you no matter what!

An oldie but a goodie: Wounded people wound people.

The Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord!

Staining decks takes a LOT of time.

Starting a vegetable garden is more challenging than it looks.

I love taking friends to the airport because in our busy schedules, it's 45 minutes to get caught up on each others' lives!

Spontaneity is REALLY fun...and I cannot WAIT to see how it all works out!

Reality.....

Trees buffeted by the wind either topple over or sink their roots down more deeply and become stronger. I choose to sink my roots deeply into the love of my Father, even as Psalm 55 unfolds in my life....

Hurricanes

We all have things we struggle with. I'm not talking about addictions or temptations, but rather those things in life which just don't make sense and cause undue hurt. The easy answer is that we live in a sinful world. But, that's a lame excuse for what sometimes happens, or should I say all too often happens even in the Body of Christ. We blame the devil or sin or even use God as a protective cover. It's like taking the reality of what happened with Hurricane Katrina a few years ago and saying "it happened because of this or that." On a certain level, that may be very important, but the reality is, you have to do the clean-up for people's lives to be restored and for them to be able to live properly.

So, I struggle with the hurricanes in life. I've definitely been the cause of some hurricanes, or at least added my wind to the storm. Just as Jesus did with the storm on the sea, you DO something about it. His action brought peace to the storm and peace to the friends' lives involved in the storm and it built them up and strengthened their faith in Him. I believe we are called, in this dance called life, to do just that within our limited human abilities, taking the authority of Christ in us as believers to speak peace and restore people while building them up and pointing them to Jesus.

I've also endured some hurricanes. Some have brought damage and there's been little or no attempt to bring peace, restoration or encouragement. Other hurricanes have blown me away, in a good way as the selflessness of others has ushered in peace and encouragment, just like Jesus did.

One thing I do know from my hurricane experiences is that I grow wiser and stronger.

An atheist professor gave his life to Jesus at Harvard!

Five bus-loads of students from the International House of Prayer University headed east to Boston 40 days ago with the goal of living out the Great Commission in one of the "hardest" places in this nation spiritually. There are a number of "elite" colleges in the Boston area and on one of those campuses, Harvard, a Chinese professor, who was an atheist, gave his heart to Jesus after some of these IHOPU students shared the love of Jesus with him!

If I wrote out all the stories of what the Lord did in Boston, on the campuses, in the subways, on the street-corners, outside of bars, in Harvard square, this would be a VERY long blog entry! If you want to hear some of them, log on to www.ihop.org and listen to Saturday, April 10 message by Allen Hood at the Awakening Service. Incredible!

Physical healings, salvations, beaten-down and discouraged Christian believers encouraged by the passionate worship and prayer demonstrated by 1/2 the group of IHOPU students while the other 1/2 went out to the streets with loving boldness. In the face of severe ridicule, these students shared the love of Jesus, speaking prophetic words which revealed the secrets of people's hearts and brought some to tears and repentance! Nothing is impossible for God! Nothing!

We will receive these students back here in Kansas City in the next couple of days, and I have a feeling things will never be the same! They are so in love with Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit that the flames ignited in them will catch all of us on fire!

A good quote

I got this one off a friend's Facebook status update!

"[The Enemy's] plan from the beginning was to assault the heart... Make them so busy, they ignore the heart. Wound them so deeply, they don't want a heart. Twist their theology, so they despise the heart. Take away their courage. Destroy their creativity. Make intimacy with God impossible for them." J. E.

Happy Easter!

My absolute FAVORITE hymn of all time is the one with these words:

"Jesus Christ is risen today!
Ha-a-a-a-le-lu-u-jah!
Our triumphant holy day!
Hallelujah!"

For me, Easter is ALL about life, triumph, victory hope and the glory of God quite literally manifested in the flesh of the risen Jesus Christ! The empty tomb is a clear picture in the natural of what is possible for every person on the earth: FREEDOM from whatever tomb, whatever abuse, whatever ridicule, whatever family issues, whatever persecution, whatever fear, whatever "death" producing addiction, or whatever bondage that may have had or still has a grip on you or me! My prayer for all of us this Easter is that Jesus's triumphant emergence from the tomb would grip our hearts in a new way as a clear testimony of just how much the Father loves us and wants us to be set FREE in His Son, Jesus Christ!

May the blessings and love of our Daddy in Heaven flow into your hearts today and this coming year!

Thoughts to ponder

The past week has been interesting. You know that old addage that your life can change from one moment to the next? So, true. But that's not what this blog is about...well, it is because the thoughts below have entered in during this week and have caused me to pause.

The measure by which you are able to receive God's mercy is the degree to which you will be able to love!

Whoa!

God's not thinking about the last five years of you messing up; He's dreaming about the next billion years of you being with Him!

Let those sink in...

Busy-ness

It's Friday. The week has flown by. I feel like every minute has been filled; I never realized how busy one could be while on sabbatical!

The latest around my house is that the downstairs bathroom is being gutted, the plumbing redone (which means concrete being cut) in the hopes of solving the toilet overflow and shower leakage problems! Ah, the joys of homeownership! My consolation in all of this is that I am improving the value of my home!

On other home notes, I just received an email today from the folks at the Garden Club saying which seeds it is time to put in the garden! Yep, I'm gonna try a veggie garden this year...but I thought I had another couple of weeks...guess not! Boy, this is really when I need my dad to come visit and help me; he is the garden KING!

So, I'm off to think about gardens and get things in order in my office...oh yea, that is pretty much of a disaster in need of major work! Ha! Sabbatical! ha ha ha!

Increase!

Evenings at the awakening services here in Kansas City, for me, are becoming almost surreal! Friday night a woman got up and testified about how the Lord healed her of 4 large tumors in her brain which had impacted movement and sight! It was incredible as she danced and jumped around on the stage, giving glory to Jesus for her healing!

Last night, an older man, who on Friday had to be brought in in a wheelchair because of a non-functioning knee, got up on the stage and testified how the Lord healed his knee and all the muscles...he was walking perfectly!

A young man with nearly bottle-glass bottom glasses received perfect vision last night! He was sitting right in front of me and my friends and I saw him carrying his glasses out at the end of the evening!

Another young man testified how he got healed from a spirit of rejection...the tears of joy and the laughter, which he'd not experienced in YEARS flowed!

God is setting people free for His glory! Amen and Amen!

1000th post....

I just recognized that the PREVIOUS post was my 1000th post! How fitting to have baby pictures cap off 1000 blog entries; completely unplanned, mind you!

Now to post 1001: it's snowing in Kansas City! We are expecting up to 8-12 inches of snow today...yesterday, I was sitting out on my front porch in shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt taking in some Vitamin D. Now I'm looking out at my back deck at 4 inches of snow on my furniture and more coming down.

Clearly this is a perfect picture of the work the Lord can do in someone's life...radical change can take place quite literally overnight, bringing dramatic change and complete transformation! It's what the Lord did in my life in May, 2005 on a Friday morning in Szeged, Hungary with a group of folks and I worshiping in my flat. Quite literally, from one moment to the next, God the Father sent God the Holy Spirit in a powerful way to fill me and completely transform my entire life! Unexpected? Yes. Welcomed? You bet! I remember saying over and over again that whole year and even since then: I do not want to go back to Egypt!

Oh, life was ok in Egypt...I had food, friends, a place to live, meaningful work, family,and even a relationship with God, etc.; but the reality of Egypt is that I was a slave. Some may ask: a slave to what or whom? Easy answers: myself and my life of religiosity...a slave to the religious spirit, that same spirit which is clearly highlighted in the New Testament; that spirit which put parameters on Jesus and had God defined, theologized, and neatly confined to the intellect with a smattering of seemingly life-like qualities seen in many good works and religious activities.

That precious day in May, a 1000 pound weight lifted off my heart, mind, soul and body and LIFE poured in...it's very challenging to explain. Since then, God continues to humble me, strip off the religiousness, expose those hidden religious spirits still creeping around inside of me, and set me free in Himself to be what He originally designed me to be: His precious daughter!

So, I think I might just go run around in the snow for a while and be lavished in His love for me today and enjoy life in this promised land before His return and life in THE Promised Land! He's soooooooooooooo good!

Walking down memory lane!

Can you guess which one is me? :-)

One of my cousins sent me these old pictures! Wow!

Good truth

Here's something good to let sink into the depths of your very being:

Failure is an event; it is not a person.

Do we realize the power of words and the impact they can have on our very inner beings? I want to be a speaker of LIFE to people, including myself!

"The Banqueting House"

Below is Day Thirty-three in the book The Midnight Bride by Richard Wurmbrand. May it touch your world as it has mine; and for those who are not here in Kansas City, experiencing this awakening of the Holy Spirit, this devotion below captures, as best it can, just a small taste of what God is doing in and through His children:

The bride says, "He brought me to the banqueting house..."(SoS 2:4)

The church is a banqueting house. God brings us into this happy place that we would not otherwise have come. The soul that was satisfied to sit quietly in His shadow is now brought to greater joys. In His banqueting house, we will know what it means to become inebriated with His love. He has prepared for us not merely meals, but banquets with meat, milk and wines available without payment.

The great mystics and saints can be our guides toward this banqueting house. Their examples teach us that when the Holy Spirit enters into a heart igniting the fire of love, that fire gives birth to an insatiable thirst. The believer says, "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God" (Psalm 42:1). As the deer's thirst is even greater when pursuing, so is the believer's thirst for God under temptation. The thirsty deer plunges its whole body into the water and drinks its fill; likewise, we must eat and drink our fill in God's banqueting house. Saint John of the Cross wrote:

May we forget about ourselves. When we are intoxicated by His presence, we will feel that we can do miracles, that we can pass through fire and water, and that we can remain unafraid when thousands of swords are drawn against us. By His grace, we won't fear anymore----neither life nor death, joy nor sorrow. We will be drunk with faith.

This is called "jubilation." Sometimes you smile, sometimes you weep, and sometimes you sing. Rational people who have no idea what the Holy Spirit does with those who belong to Him ask, "How can you be so mad?" our reply is, "God has permitted us to drink in His banqueting house!" But rational people cannot understand such a thing. The soul that has been in God's banqueting house knows unspeakable joy. He rejoices even for the pain he must endure. Whatever is done to him, however well or ill he fares, he is always peaceful and joyous. Rivers of living water flow from his heart. Saint John of the Cross sang:

I drank from my well-beloved

and when I walked out,

I knew nothing more

of this whole field;

and I had lost the flock

which I had followed before.

My soul has put itself,

with all its resources,

into His service.

Now I have no flock anymore;

I have no duties anymore

Because my whole duty consists in loving.

Birthday

Precious friends: Wesley Harman, Whitney Hand, Tom and Donna Cole, Renee Loux, Florence Sasser, Michelle McKirahan, Nyla Isum, Arden, and Paul Czaszewicz.

I was very blessed to be able to celebrate my birthday with a number of different friends here in Kansas City! Thank you to one and all for your friendships and love!

After 8 months...observations about the U.S.

I have now been back in the United States for just over 8 months, after having lived in Hungary and travelled extensively for 9 years (with short visits to the U.S. sprinkled in during those 9 years). It's hard to believe 8 months have passed...while it feels like just yesterday I was standing at the airport in Budapest with tears rolling down my cheeks bidding my dear friends Barb, Klari and Franci goodbye, it also feels like that was a long time ago, largely because so much has happened in my life since that departure day in June, 2009.

Before arriving in the U.S., I decided that I needed to put on my "observation" eyes, and with that, keep my mouth quiet and my heart open to receive, learn, grow, and not judge. You see, one cannot but change living in a foreign country, and truth be told, I have often felt like a foreigner here in the U.S. in the past 8 months. Yes, I was born in the U.S., I am an American citizen (according to my passport and birth certificate), and my native language is U.S. English. However, I adopted many cultural habits and characteristics of my adopted home of Hungary...I pray I hang on to the positive and let any of the negative disappear. Back to observation mode.

I opted to observe: people, things, institutions, some t.v., and I want to share some of the most poignant observations I have made, Lord willing, without sounding judgemental, because that is not my intent at all.

Most of this reflection has to do with what I've observed on T.V. Mind you, I watch VERY little T.V. and do not have cable, but on occasion, I have turned it on and have had my "observation" glasses on. Here are some conclusions I've reached:

---American culture is fast becoming addicted to medications. Nearly every second T.V. commercial is about a prescription medication that will not CURE the said illness or disease it purports to address, but rather help the person who takes it "cope" with that illness or disease. In other words, it appears we've become a culture that is promoting dependency upon medications rather than pursuing a healthy, medication free life-style.

---American culture is fascinated with the paranormal, especially witchcraft (this is what many of those shows are all about, at the heart of them!); yet many churches are devoid of young people and the power of God moving in them.

---American culture seems to love watching conflict: eg. shows like Judge Judy and the other three or four court-room shows on in the afternoons.

Now moving on to observations of institutions and people:

---The American church, myself included, is in dire need of learning what it means to love one another and live out what Jesus said, "They will know you are My disciples by the way you love one another." I long for the day when those who do not have a living relationship with Jesus look at me and my believer friends and say, "Wow, you guys really love each other like nothing I've ever seen before! I want that kind of love! And Who is it that fills you with that love?"

---Some Americans appear to like and be satisfied with what I am calling "text friendships". (for those overseas: sms friendships). Because of the fast-pace of life, the busy-ness of most people, and the convenience of cell phone texting, this method of communication has become a norm for many, and the flesh on flesh, life on life interaction, to me, has become much less common.

For today, this should be enough to chew on. Adjusting to a new culture, even if it is my "mother culture" is challenging as I often feel a bit like a foreigner. I understand the Bible's statement that our citizenship is in heaven more than ever before! I bless the United States in the name of Jesus, I bless you! Amen and amen!

Sabbatical reflections

I took some friends to the airport here in KC a few weeks ago and we had a super talk on the way there about many things. One topic was sabbatical, which I've really "struggled" with in some ways, but am gaining clarity, and which this conversation with these friends helped to put into perspective.

They said it takes about 6 months just to slow down, unwind and get out of "go, go, go ministry-mode"; then you begin to realize, "Hm, how DO I rest?" That process can take some months as well. This is where I am in the process of "doing sabbatical." I'm trying to figure out how to rest. I realize this sounds really funny, but it is challenging for me.

In the last two weeks, I've been SO tired; I've taken many naps (no I am not feeling down or depressed) because of genuine tired-ness. I met a friend on Tuesday and she said, "Arden, you look exhausted." This after 7 months of supposed "sabbatical rest".

For anyone out there who, like me, doesn't understand the need for missionaries on the foreign mission field to take a sabbatical, please take it from me: they NEED it and they NEED your full, committed support in every way possible during that time, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and financially. Encourage them to do things they have ALWAYS wanted to do that are relaxing and completely "other" than what they have been pouring their lives into on the mission field. Encourage them to nap, a lot, and give them lots of grace! Also, remember that the 7th year sabbatical is biblical. :-)

Blessings on all of you who have faithfully stood by me in all the ways listed above during this time! I have 4 more months of sabbatical, and it is going by WAY too fast!