It seems we had to travel 1000 miles for God to do something spectacular in our own lives; we have truly been blessed beyond words.

The bus ride was a long 20 hours, so we were able to share a lot of good laughs – you know those belly laughs that make you feel so good after they are over. They just seem to happen in the moment, and certainly are enhanced by the fact that you are tired and haven’t had much sleep. I will treasure those times also, for I find myself much too serious most of the time thinking about all the things I need to get done. It was wonderful to be able to let our hair down and just have some fun.

From the time we got off the bus, the people welcomed us warmly and were genuinely glad we had come. As the week wore on, we saw a deep and desperate desire for God to do something in their life. All of them had been touched in some way by the economic woes that have hit the whole State of Michigan. I so admire their tenacity and trust in God to meet their needs. God has given us a miraculous bond with these people in only 5 days.

On the last afternoon, it was really cold and after we had been out walking about 30 minutes it started to rain. We got wet and had to get back on the bus and go back to the church. It was a special time, though, as all the women in our group gathered in a circle around their women and prayed for strength and encouragement for them in the days ahead.

I also want to share about our prayer and Bible study times together each morning. That was such a special time as many of us became transparent and shared things about which God had been dealing with us, or areas in which we needed to get rid of pride. I feel such a bond with the 14 people who went, and we will always be able to share that special time.

The day after we got home, I received an email invitation to join Christine and Amanda, two of the women in the church, on Yahoo Messenger. I accepted, and we have already had some good conversations. In fact, God showed me yet again just how awesome He is.

Christine knew that I had some websites and she asked me their names, so I typed them out for her. She wrote me back and told me that she and her husband had found one of my sites some months ago, had bookmarked it, and now read it regularly. She said she would never have imagined she would meet the author.

God is so awesome. When you really think about it, you can see that God was preparing us all months ago to be a part of His plan for revival in Lake City. We are just humans, though, and will never be able to see the whole picture like God. He really knows how to encourage you in a great way when you need it most. All I did was obey his instructions as to what He wanted me to put on the site, and He took care of the rest.

I can’t close without talking about how beautiful this state is. There are lakes everywhere from the time you cross the state line. There are many farms with beautiful, lush crops waiting to be harvested. We also saw a tremendous amount of Christmas tree farms. The leaves ranged in colors from yellows to fiery oranges and reds. When you live in the South, you don’t get to see beautiful fall foliage like that.

Here are some more pictures. Some of them were taken as we were traveling, so they are a bit blurry.

A soybean field in Indiana - the leaves turn yellow and fall off right before they are harvested

Look at these lush fields in Michigan!

A shot of a typical Michigan farm taken from the road

We saw these all over

There were also lots of Christmas tree farms

I had never seen black squirrels until I saw these

Seagulls were flying all over Lake Cadillac

Check out my other sites:

Handbook for Victorious Christian Living – Practical ways to learn to live a victorious Christian life

Blueprint for Victorious Christian Living

Power of the Living Word

Related posts:

1. Mission Trip Day 4
2. Mission Trip – Days 2 and 3
3. Mission Trip to Lake City, Michigan

We met at 8:30 again this morning and had another awesome prayer meeting. Brother Randy gave us a powerful teaching on James 3: 16-18 – the fruit of righteousness. God really opened my eyes to some things that I needed to change in my life.

The whole team has been praying hard for God to remove everything that is not of Him so that He can use us in a mighty way. The prayer times have been so powerful. We walked a good bit this afternoon delivering flyers and were all tired, but happy. A rain storm caught us and we all got soaked before we got back to the bus. Nobody complained, though. There has been a great spirit among us.

We only rested for a short while before getting dressed for the night service. We were late getting there because of a small problem with the bus, but in the end everything turned out fine. We rolled in right in the nick of time to start the services.

We were determined not to let Satan take away any victory that God had planned for the night. Brother Randy preached with a huge anointing on him. Afterwards we talked to many that said their life had been radically changed by what has happened this week. I am truly thankful I came on this trip.

There has been a few more in the services each night since we have been here. I really believe God is going to bless this small church.

Below are a few more pictures from our fellowship:

The Mission Church

Look at that slam dunk!

Cooking hamburgers

Check out my other sites:

Handbook for Victorious Christian Living - Practical ways to learn to live a victorious Christian life

Blueprint for Victorious Christian Living

Power of the Living Word

Related posts:

1. Mission Trip – Days 2 and 3
2. Mission Trip to Lake City, Michigan

We were all pretty wiped out and went to bed as soon as possible. It was a good day, though, with everybody excited about what is to come. We got up early again and left today about 8 AM to complete the last leg of the trip. We ended up driving about 6 more hours before getting to our motel.

We certainly had some interesting conversations and a lot of laughter. It was an enjoyable trip, even though it was long. We finally checked in about 2 PM.

We took along a cooker and bought some food when we arrived so that we could meet the people of the church and share a meal with them. We had some great grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, some of the best french fries I have ever eaten, and some great desserts.

The people here are warm and friendly, and already we have had some great conversations with them over food.

I can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring, as we actually start revival services in the AM Sunday service. We will be leading the whole thing, and have been praying hard that God will do something miraculous this week.

Check out my other sites:

Handbook for Victorious Christian Living - Practical ways to learn to live a victorious Christian life

Blueprint for Victorious Christian Living

Power of the Living Word

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