Spiritual warfare...

Click to enlarge the photo. Can you spot me in the group?

It seems a long time since we were meeting in the Netherlands with the KKI international leadership team, intercessors, guests and emerging leaders. So much has happened since then: this lung infection that's dragging on and on (I'm beginning to get a bit tired of all the coughing), not to mention the strange accident that left me with third degree burns on my face (See previous two posts.) A family from Taiwan also experienced a strange accident after the ILT - getting involved in a car crash that left the lady with cuts all over her face.

In recent days, I've had emails from intercessors, sharing their impression that we are in a spiritual battle as we contend for the young people and families of this generation. A sacrifice of time and money is required when we travel and meet up as a leadership team every year in March… but the impact in the spiritual realm is much more than we ourselves realise, and it's important that we have intercessors around us to engage in the battle with us.

If you're reading this blog post today, and if God prompts you to stand in the gap with us, please would you take just a few moments to pray for the ministry of KKI and the international leaders who serve so faithfully around the globe. Thank you.

The vampire or the extra-terrestrial?

Thank you for your prayers over these two weeks when I’ve been feeling so ill. Shaking off the lung infection hasn’t been easy; despite taking antibiotics for ten days, I’m still struggling with coughing, chest pain and difficulty breathing. Yesterday I had to go to the doctor again, and I’ve been given a different antibiotic for the coming week, as well as something for the continuing phlegm.
As for the third degree burns on my face, it’s been encouraging to see those slowly beginning to heal too. The nurse said to me one day this week that it was amazing how good the wounds were looking already, when you consider what a mess they were at the end of last week. “I think it’s healing well,” she said. 

“I hope so,” I answered, “Because I’ve got people all over the world praying for that.”

“Well, tell them to keep praying,” she said. “It’s working!”

Just as I was rejoicing over this amazing answer to prayer, she then said something that totally shocked me:  “Of course,” she continued, “The hardest time is just beginning now.”

I looked at her in puzzlement, wondering what she meant, and what could possibly be harder than the horrible weekend I’d just had, with my face so painful and bleeding all the time. ”What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, the most important thing you can do now to avoid scarring,” she replied, “is to stay out of the sun this summer. Remember you’ve lost all three layers of your skin. As new skin begins to grow in again, it doesn’t have any melanin. If you allow it to be exposed to the sun, it will turn dark brown and stay that way for the rest of your life.”

I looked at her incredulously. We live in southern Spain, and the seemingly long winter is finally over. It’s going to be sunny almost every single day for the next six months. The only way to avoid getting any sun would be to shut yourself inside the house for the next six months - only emerging after dark (like the vampires in old black and white movies!)

My heart sank as I thought of all the LDC activities that happen outdoors, thought of the things I’d hoped to do with my parents when they come to Spain for holiday this summer....  thought of the Planting Together outreaches in Senegal. “So, for how many weeks or months do I need to stay out of the sun?” I asked her. “I’m planning a trip to Africa for the whole month of August, and maybe another one towards the end of the year.”

Imagine my shock when she told me I’d be wise to stay out of the sun for the rest of the year. I could try using total block sunscreen as my face heals more, but the only way to guarantee protection would be to stay indoors or to wear some kind of headgear that completely hides your face from the sun.

I was speechless. I had been praying for smooth healing without scarring, but I hadn't for a moment imagined consequences like these. I’d seen the whole burning episode as a bizarre accident, but now it began to feel like a tactic of the enemy to rob me of Africa and of my outreach involvement there this summer. It seemed inconceivable that I wouldn’t be able to go outside in the sunshine until this time next year, or that it wouldn't be possible for me to be part of the Planting Together outreaches in Senegal again this year. For some days, I was seeking God in prayer and still reeling from the shock of the news.

And now? Well, I’ve decided that the vampire lifestyle isn’t what God has for me this year! And so I’ve taken the doctors at their word and have ordered (from China) an odd looking hat with a complete facial guard. I’ll probably look ridiculous, or risk being mistaken for an extra-terrestrial, but it seems the only way to protect my face in the way the doctors recommend, and still be able to participate in the different ministry and outreach activities that I’ve committed to for this year.

My face looks so much better than it did this time last week. It’s just very pink (kind of like a chicken breast!) and feels sort of itchy as it heals. Please would you join me in praying that it will heal well, without major scarring, and pray also for this respiratory infection to really clear up now, so that life can get back to normal.. Thank you.

We all need Ziba in our life...

You may have heard that I've been facing a few challenges since finishing the ILT meetings and returning to Spain this week. I'd been feeling a sore throat threatening since our day in Amsterdam and, sure enough, I woke up on Wednesday morning with bronchitis-like symptoms and no voice at all. By Thursday, I also had a pounding sinus headache and was finding it difficult to breathe and so, that morning, I decided to inhale with a menthol vapour rub.

And that's when a really bizarre accident happened: there must have been an undissolved lump of vapour rub in the water, and when I put my face above it to inhale the steam, it suddenly "exploded," showering my face with scalding water. My skin began to peel off - like when you immerse a tomato in boiling water to remove the skin. Anyway, I knew enough to immerse my face in cold water for as long as possible, and I also put egg whites on it, as I've heard the natural collagen is good for burns.

But nonetheless, when I got to accident and emergency, they told me that part of my cheek had third degree burns and that there was quite extensive burning on the rest of my face too. My eye was swollen shut and surrounded by painful blisters, but when they checked the inside of my eye they were able to tell me that there were no lesions on the cornea. Even so, I have a painful and ugly mess down the right side of my face. It's a sticky pallet of dead skin when I wake up in the morning, and then it begins to bleed so that it's looking like a raw steak by the afternoon. As I'm a bit anaemic, tending to heal slowly and scar easily, I'm praying very much that it won't leave major scarring on my face.

Anyway, as I was still very ill and weak with the respiratory infection, and now I had painful bleeding facial burns on top of that, I was really feeling in a bad way. My friends and teammates have been amazing, though. It's said that "a friend in need is a friend indeed," and my friends have been wonderful over the past couple of days: driving me to the doctor, sending me food, doing my shopping for me (so that I don't scare people in the supermarket!), helping me clean my house in preparation for a guest arriving from overseas, offering to pick my friend up from the airport (as I can't put on glasses and wouldn't be able to see to drive…) I've also had an influx of emails, best wishes and assurances of prayer from other friends around the world.

This morning in my quiet time, I was reading in 2nd Samuel chapter 16, part of the story where David is fleeing from Absalom and heading into the desert.  In the first two verses of that chapter, a man called Ziba comes out to meet David in the desert, bringing him food, wine and donkeys. I found these things quite symbolic of the help that friends can give us when we're in a hard place. Food spoke to me of providing nourishment and strength (like the person who sent me food today), while the donkeys spoke to me of support and help (like the people who did my shopping for me or helped me clean the house.) And vs 2 says that the wine is for refreshment when exhausted; I don't like wine personally, so I can't imagine it being refreshing, but this spoke to me of the refreshing that comes from knowing that different people are praying for you, and emailing with kind words.

And so, I couldn't help thinking that we all need people like Ziba in our lives; we all need people who will reach out to us with help and refreshment when we're in a hard place (or, like David, in a dry and desert place.) And we need also to be that kind of person for others.

Who are the Zibas in your life? Who are the people you can turn to and depend on when things are hard? And to whom are you, or could you be, a Ziba in their time of need? I've been blessed this week by the love and care of good friends, and I know that we all need friends like that.

I also want to say thank you to everyone who has emailed me to say they are praying. I do very much value your prayers for recovering from this bronchitis, as well as for prayers that this burnt flesh will heal quickly and well, and not leave ugly scarring on my face. Thank you.

ILT continues to meet...

Yesterday we took a break from our intensive schedule of leadership meetings to take a trip to the city of Amsterdam, where some went on a walking tour of the city and others visited the Ann Frank museum - the house where a Jewish teenager and her family were in hiding during the second world war. Then, last night we had a lovely meal together (an Indonesian buffet) and an informal time of sharing ministry ideas and opportunities from around the world.

Today we are continuing with our leadership meetings. One of our sessions will see us listening to God and making plans for a large international gathering that we’ll hold in Africa, this time next year. Another session will see us considering more effective ways of communication, especially when it comes to to passing on the Biblical values that God has entrusted to us. Thanks for your continued prayers during these days

Write the vision on tablets

This morning in our ILT meetings, as one of our KKI leaders was sharing a message from the Old Testament book of Habakkuk, we all had to smile at the part (in chapter 2 verse 2) where God told the prophet to write the vision clearly on tablets. We looked around the room and people were taking notes on their iPads, smartphones and other kinds of tablet computers. How amusing that God, thousands of years ago, told us to write the vision on “tablets” and now that’s exactly what we were doing as we spent time in His presence and listened to His guidance for our ministry with young people and families!

What we were writing - on those tablets, computers, and ordinary old fashioned notebooks - were our prayer impressions in response to two questions from verse 1 - where Habakkuk went up to the lookout tower and stationed himself on the city wall. Taking the tower as a symbol of looking into the distance and discerning what God has for us in the future, we were prayerfully waiting in silence and asking God, “What lies ahead for us? What should we be preparing for?” And, taking the city wall as a symbol of being able to look around us and see what needs attention in the here and now- in our own lives or in our ministry - we were asking God, “What warnings do you want to give us? What do we need to repair or protect in order to be ready for the things that are on your heart for us in the future?”

Those are the things we were writing in our notebooks and on our computers. What about you? What is God saying to you about the rest of 2014, or about the coming five years? And what do you need to do or deal with personally in order to be ready and equipped for the things that lie ahead?

Changing from ELT to ILT...

We're encouraged by good progress made during our KKI European leadership meetings over the past two days. We've made a good start to planning our November conference, we've dreamt  with God and shared vision for Europe over the coming years, we've considered new communication strategies, and we've prayed about adding new and younger leaders to the team…. All in all, a fruitful time, and here we are last night when we out to relax and have a meal together.

From meeting in a small group of five people, we're changing gear now and over the coming week we'll be meeting with the KKI International leadership team, together with a group of intercessors and a variety of young leaders from around the world that we've invited to join us for this time. This will make us a group of around fifty people when we gather for our first ILT meeting this evening. Thanks for your continued prayers.

Frost and fellowship

I woke up this morning to see frost on the grass outside; it's been a long time since that last happened (other than the snow in the Ukraine.) It seemed very cold as we walked to our morning meeting… and yet the weather websites say that it's not any colder than back home in Alhaurín. Our European leadership team meetings have got off to a good start, and it's also been good to connect with a group of our younger leaders from around the world, who are here for meetings at the same time. Tomorrow our two groups will combine, together with other international leaders who'll arrive for the start of the ILY meetings. Thanks, everyone, for your prayers.