March 26, 2023
It is officially Spring! May not look like the Spring pictures from calendars and catalogs but new life is taking place even when we cannot see it. The Spring snows are so welcome as they are preparing the earth with all it needs for this new life. How awesome is our Creator! We, ourselves, are looking forward toward Spring, warm sunshine, green grass and leaves, and blooming flowers. We are ready to see all the newness of life. Something about this past winter was harder for us than normal. Maybe it was the bitter cold and lack of sunlight. Even in ministry we are looking forward to the “Spring” season. In the natural, farmers start planning and plotting out their fields and vegetable gardens when the snow is still falling. The focus of the planting plan is always the harvest. As we are planning our ministry harvest the Lord is showing what seeds to sow or plant for the crop He wants to harvest. Here is the harvest vision the Lord gave us. “Christ is our message! We preach to awaken hearts and bring every person into the full understanding of truth. It has become my inspiration and passion in ministry to labor with a tireless intensity, with his power flowing through me, to present to every believer the revelation of being his perfect one in Jesus Christ.” Colossians 1:28-29 TPT
 
The Lord is showing us we are to plant with purpose. The past few years with so much confusion and many distractions, it seems we have scattered seeds instead of planting in a garden plot of rows. There is a time to scatter seeds but also a time to plant with a plan and purpose. Part of the garden plot plan is unity, oneness and partnering together in the vision of Mtn High Chapel. This partnership is not with people but with God. God wants to partner with us. In Billy Epperhart’s book Run Your Race he shares how this was the plan from the beginning of time. God created Adam, placed him in the Garden with the purpose of working and keeping it. As God entrusted this job to Adam He was inviting Adam to partner with Him in the creative process. Adam was partnered with God to work in the Garden and partner with God in fellowship which was our Father’s purpose for creating mankind. He wants an intimate, close relationship with us.  
 
Planting a garden involves work. Work isn’t a bad 4 letter word. God created work in the beginning to be peaceful and fulfilling.  “Work hard and cheerfully at all you do, just as though you were working for the Lord and not merely for your masters, remembering that it is the Lord Christ who is going to pay you, giving you your full portion of all he owns. He is the one you are really working for.” Colossians 3:23-24  Partnering with God brings ownership. In partnering with Mtn High Chapel, you are partnering with God to work and fulfill the vision He has given for this ministry. Your calling from the Lord brings a connection to the partnership with Mtn High. God is our boss. We each have a calling and we submit to that calling and work to do His vision. Partnership is knowing where you end and where God begins. We are co-laborers with God. God gives the vision and all we need to fulfill it is do the work He has given us “Work hard and cheerfully at all you do, just as though you were working for the Lord” The plan is from God and our part is to carry out His plan.
 
This goes with the partnership of Mtn High vision as well as with our personal lives and our work. There should be no difference in who you are and how you work for the Lord on Sunday and with the rest of the week. All the same principals apply. Do it all as unto Him. He is your boss. Do all you do with joy and worship. Worship and work come from the same root word in many scriptures. Imagine if all we did everyday was with the attitude of joy and worship! That’s where His peace that passes all understanding comes from. Worship is doing what you were created to do, doing your calling from Him.
 
We are wanting those who feel their calling or desires from the Lord could work together with the God vision for Mtn High to partner with us. The Vision Statement for this ministry is: Our vision is to reach the rejected, hurt Believer that believes they owe God something and the unbeliever who doesn’t know God loves them right now as they are – went the Good News of God’s unlimited, immeasurable, unrestricted love for them. That they may experience grace, which nis God’s ability in them and know that there is peace between God and man. We want everyone to know and experience that God is a good God and know that God is not mad. We want to share this with our community, natin and world.  We are a mission minded ministry. We desire to minister to the orphans and widows. Our mission statement is reaching the world with the message of His love, grace and peace and to present the Word of God in a way that will cause the hearers to trust, believe and receive from God. We want to tach and disciple so that each person’s determined purpose is to have a more intimate relationship with God. Then to equip each Believer with the truths to go forth into their world and share the Good News. We want to be a lighthouse on this mountain, a place of hope and love. Then that same light will shine around the world. The light of a lighthouse shines far and wide. There are many ways we accomplish this vision. We preach to awaken hearts and bring every person into the full understanding of truth. It is our intention that everyone who comes in contact with the ministry of Mountain High Chapel will experience love, enthusiasm and will be refreshed. We want them to leave feeling encouraged and full of peace and joy. We intend to accomplish this by having services that are real, relevant, transparent, uplifting and encouraging.
 
To fulfill the vision of this ministry we need partners to come along side, “all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication” (Acts 1:14), “Those who believed were of one heart and one soul;” (Acts 4:32). As a church family we commit to work together in one accord to do the work of the ministry, the vision. There is One God, One Jesus, one Holy Spirit and One Body. In that One Body we each do our part. Even as there are many parts in the ministry of a church family, each church family is a part of His Body. Each ministry is different fulfilling the vision God has given them. It takes the whole Body, every part to do all there is to do in this lost world. If your calling doesn’t fitly join together with this vision, we don’t expect you to partner with us. We are fitly joined together and each ministry that is preaching Christ, His love, His resurrection, power of His truth, the Word, is doing their part.
 
In this season of planting and looking at what we want to harvest, we have some plans. He is our Source and shows us the Resources He has given us. This past year the finances of Mtn High have struggled. As the Pastors, we have prayed, sought Him and learned from Him. He has given us some revelations and wisdom. We know He as our Source provides many Resources since His promise is to supply all our needs. The church family is a resource as everyone gives but the church family is not our only resource. We are to be flowing in abundance and we have not been. We want to plant different seeds to be a part of the harvest. Our greatest gift and resource is our physical church building. The Lord has given us words that this is an asset we have not utilized. One direction we believe we are to go is to create a wedding venue that could give us more finances to do what He has called us to do. If He calls – He provides. However, we have to use the resources He provides. This is a huge step in planting this garden. It will take physical work, diligence, creativity and some long hours to create a venue that can be used for that special wedding day and yet safe enough for children to play in. The gym was built with the purpose to be used for the community.
 
We are trusting the Lord in this, trusting His love for us. God cares about this ministry and vision and is going to work it all out for His glory. When we trust Him, we will find ourselves cooperating with His work going on in us and His ministry. Trust isn’t coasting along singing Kum Ba Yah, whatever will be will be. Trust is an active partnership that rises up out of our relationship with Him. As we trust His direction, we discover how to actively participate with Him in the work He is doing and not trusting our own efforts.
 
His work brings joy! His work is worship! Let’s work together!​

​March 19, 2023
Today we are having an Irish Lunch that is part of a fund raiser for Esther Children’s Home in Kissi, Kenya. As most of you know, my call and passion is children. The Lord showed me when I was 9 years old that I would go orphanages in Africa and the Andes Mountains and I would marry a pastor. He has given each of us a call, a passion and a heart for His people. We each then go forward with the calling He has for us. The church family is a Body with many members, we each do our calling and part to have a healthy Body. Yet, we all work together as a body works together to help others in any way we can. It’s an amazing oneness when we each do what we believe is our part, then pray for and help one another in their part. Usually, more than one part of the body is working together with other parts in everything that is happening. We always honor, respect, care for and support each individual part of the church Body just like we do our physical body. Here are a few various verses in 1 Corinthians 12 from the Passion Translation.
“Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us…..There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.
 
The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit. Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything? But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”….All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.”
 
I met Vincent, leader of Esther Children’s Home, in 2007 at a Faith Ministries Conference in Nakuru, Kenya. Many people flock you when you go there and ask for support. Vincent was the sincerest young man I talked to. He didn’t high pressure, manipulate, or beg. We just connected. He was 32 at the time, the same age as our daughter. He is now 48. Never in 15 years of us supporting him has he been disrespectful or has he used the money in the wrong way. He and his wife, Alice, keep an account of everywhere the money is spent. We are so blessed to partner with such responsible, trustworthy young people. They communicate with us once or twice a week.
 
Vincent and Alice have an arranged marriage which is very common. Alice had a heart for the many orphans in Kenya and had taken a few into her home.  Vincent’s mother saw what Alice was doing and told Vincent he was to marry her, so he did. They had about 12-15 orphans in their home when we met. Their home was small and they needed to expand for the children they had plus the many more that needed help. Vincent and Alice were also both pastors and had a church. They have a heart for God and Kenya. We have been there several times and have given the funds they needed to build rooms for the children, toilets (not everyone in Kenya is blessed to have a nice outhouse), a chapel, school room, kitchen and more. Vincent has been through Bill and Lenah’s Bible School as have many of the youth been through their youth program. They are changing the way Kenya sees and loves God.
 
We have supported Vincent, Alice, their 3 children (Eddie, Mona and Robin😊) and the other children for 15 years now. We send them funds weekly ($500) for food and necessities, extra $200/month for medical insurance and made a commitment when the first child went to Secondary school 11 years ago, that we would help them get the best education they could by helping with the school fees. There have now been about 12 that have completed University and have good careers. The primary way we are able to feed them each week is through sponsorships. Our sponsorship program about dwindled away with Covid and it is also harder for us to promote sponsorships when we haven’t been there for 4½ years. We have given them the same weekly funds and have had the same sponsorship program for years, even though the economy has changed. But they are thankful for all we are able to give.
 
We are wanting to have every child sponsored and prayed for this year. I do have current pictures and would like each picture to be on someone’s refrigerator😊 The average sponsorship is  $25/month/child. Costs have increased but we will send whatever we get to help with daily needs. The sponsorships are a monthly commitment for daily needs and not for school fees. School fees are a once-a-year gift for schooling. Their school year is January – November. We have only sponsored a few so far this year to go to school and we will continue to do what we can before they get further behind in their studies.
 
Our next goal is to help Vincent build a chicken farm so they can support more of the expenses themselves. It is a $6000-8000 project but we know our God is able to help us help them. This will be so good for the children to work for their needs and not just depend on others. That’s the attitude Vincent is wanting to instill in them so they can be a part of building Kenya and not be a burden.
 
We have prayed and believe we are to go there in late November- early December. It is usually about a 2-week trip and we would leave around Thanksgiving. We are working on details and we will have a general meeting for anyone believing they are called to go then in a few weeks. It is an amazing time and a life changer.  Thank you for praying for these beautiful children.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

March 12, 2023
 
This past week we were able to go spend time with our son and family is eastern Tennessee. It is spring there, though it’s still got down to freezing a couple nights. The trees are in bloom, grass is green, daffodils are blooming, lunch outside on the picnic table, and baby goats were just born. It was just what the Lord had ordered for me/us right now. I enjoyed every second.
 
Since we just returned Thursday evening, I haven’t had much time to write. Friday, I met my sister-in-law to pick up my mom, Saturday was full of ministry and preparing for today. My heart and mind are full of what He has been ministering to me about but I just can’t get it all on paper right now.
 
Our son, daughter-in-law and 6 granddaughters live in the hills of Eastern TN and it is a beautiful place. Jereme turned the loft of his big shop into a guest room, it’s called the Upper Room😊. It’s a wonderful place of refuge and rest. I spent the week soaking in the Son as well as the sun. Think I needed them both. Then there was the time with the family. A house with 6 girls, ages 8-19, is never quiet. Five of the girls play the piano, not just pick at the piano but PLAY the piano. They are all amazing and someone is sitting playing beautiful pieces all the time. I think a recital is coming up. Then there is the constant sound of dice on the table as they had me playing lots of Farkle😊. Papa even joined in a game or two when he heard the exciting laughter and screams when someone Farkles. I had to spend time in the goat barn since this is my roots. Even milked a goat, played with the babies and watched them do their chores diligently. Brought back many memories.
 
On the weekend our granddaughter, Hannah, who is married, came to visit. She is expecting and so we had a “Reveal party”. She had made cupcakes and the suspense was on to what color was in the center. The little sisters pestered and pestered her until the evening came when it was time for dessert. Drum roll….. PINK! Another girl added to the family. Our second great-granddaughter will be born in July. She is due the day after Mom’s birthday so maybe Mom will have 2 great-great granddaughters share her day😊. She will be close for sure. We were also blessed to be able to go visit our granddaughter from Montana who is in school about 3 hours from our son. We took 3 girls and had a beautiful ride through the mountains to North Carolina to visit Alisha. What a blessing. That day was finished off with coming back to their church that is seeing a renewal of hearts. We were able to be a part of their prayer and worship service one night. It was so awesome and just added to my refreshing and hearing more from my Father.
 
I don’t have too many days without many responsibilities so this time was precious. It’s something we all need to do occasionally. Just go somewhere with not much agenda, no computer time, few responsibilities and spend time with Him. I honestly could have used a couple more days but since my cup was full and running over, I am still over joyed with His presence. He spoke to me so much about His love. I know He loves me regardless but there are still areas of my life, everyone’s lives, that need reminded of His love. Our son is teaching a class at their church on “He Loves You”. This past week the lesson was on fear of God. There was a list of fears, that we don’t consider fears sometimes, that made us stop and think about what is still deep inside and sometimes these fears are not buried too deep. He showed me fears I thought I had surrendered to Him and sent away. They have a way of creeping back when they are something you learned in childhood. He showed me how much of my pain in my body is stress as I didn’t hurt much when I was there. Praise the Lord! He gave us visions, goals, words of confirmation, words of encouragement. We prayed over our family and ministered to them a lot since they are still in grief and questioning how this could have happened to Caleb. Lots of tears and hugs. Three of the girls are having issues with allergies, headaches and their lungs. We ministered life and healing to them. I’m determined to find a way to get back there before another year since that is too long to go without seeing them.
 
The Lord talked to me about trust, faith, hearing Him, His love, my fears. I spend a lot of time with Him everyday but this time in the “quiet” hills of Tennessee in an Upper Room He was able to touch my heart and areas were healed that have hurt for so long. Being with our children who lost their son and brother, our grandson, was so healing. Last year when we were there the time was full of events and it had only been a year since he was killed so hearts didn’t open up like this time. It was a fruitful time in every way.
 
I have much more I can say and verses the Lord gave me but I think I will close for now. Thank you to everyone who made this time possible for us. My family who loved on mom for a few days, Josh and Aimee who took care of the details of the ministry and Josh who poured out his hurting heart last Sunday. All those who helped with the children, making the videos work doing the classes, deposits, shoveling snow, keeping the place clean, and the list is endless. We are thankful for the young lady who cared for our home and animals and family who picked up deliveries we had coming and made deposits for us. Takes a lot of help to go out of town and we so appreciated everyone. We are thankful beyond measure for this church family who lets us go away, prays for us and supports us. You are amazing and we love you!
 
Oh, we also had a movie afternoon with our son and a granddaughter and were able to go see Jesus Revolution! Amazing movie! Amazing memories. I lived in California a year after the major part of the Jesus movement and even went to Chuck Smith’s church. It was fun to watch and remember the bell bottoms, bare feet and halter tops. That was a LONG time ago😊
 
Love and blessings to you all!!

February 26, 2023
Last week I shared a word I felt the Lord had shown me. It was a powerful word for me and one I needed to hear from the Lord and it was for many others. The word was concerning the issues of our hearts. The Word says in Proverbs 23:7 “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” That verse came alive to me 25+ years ago. It changed my life when I realized all those thoughts running around in my mind that became a belief of my heart, were thoughts of life or death. So much legalism was inside me and I had absolute thoughts of my unworthines to the Lord. Since that time I have studied the Word concerning the areas of the heart and I now know the truth of my identity in Jesus Christ but I must,
“Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23 AMPC
 
Guard my heart. He has spoken that to me many, many times. I shared a few weeks back how I keep speaking that something caught me off guard. I caught myself saying it one time and I asked the Lord to help me with that. Sometimes I was caught off guard because of lack of knowledge in an area, sometimes I was caught off guard because I wasn’t listening and other times, I became so self-focused that I was just plain and simple not on guard of what was going on. There were times fear caught me off guard when I was focusing on something besides His precious love and Word. When I wasn’t feeling well and hadn’t received my healing many thoughts and situation just caught me off guard. Doubt caught me off guard a time or two. Basically, when I wasn’t guard my heart with all diligence or vigilance it was easy to get caught off guard or surprised by a situation. Ephesians 6:18 says: Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God’s consecrated people). This verse follows our instructions to put on the full armor of God. It says to keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance. This comes from being fully clothed in His armor, praying in the Spirit and praying all the time. The answer is not complicated but the enemy does all he can to get us distracted.
 
When I get caught off guard, I am not paying attention as I should. My mind is wandering or maybe even dreaming. “Watch over your heart with all diligence for from it flow the springs, issue of life.” Watchmen must guard what they let enter in their heart. Our feelings, will, emotions, intellect, want to run our lives and emotions.  We are the doorkeepers and determine what is let in our hearts which determines who we are in word and deed. We are who we are because of what we allow in our minds causing us to think a certain way. Another way to say it is whatever a person lets into his soul, so will he be. Each of us is the product of what we allowed to get into our mind and heart. That means to be careful who you around. Our pastor used to say, “You become like who you hang around”. It doesn’t mean you don’t minister to or talk to someone who you do not want to be like, but you don’t keep constant company with them. One rotten apple spoils the whole bushel It’s just critical we are gatekeepers or doorkeepers of our own heart. I read in one of Dutch Sheets books, “We, as human beings, are not controlled by that which is true. We are controlled by that which we believe is true, whether it is or not”. When we are controlled by something that is not even true, though we believe in our hearts to be true, that is a stronghold. A stronghold is a prison in the mind. We all have different strongholds and during our lives we have plenty of opportunity to develop strongholds. Everything we have ever experienced is recorded in our souls. We’ve all had negative experiences that have caused us to think in certain ways. Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard our hearts for out of it flows the issues of life. As gatekeepers of our heart, we must not get caught off guard and let things in that will allow satan to succeed in establishing strongholds.
 
Becoming a Believer doesn’t automatically erase all the hurts, traumas, unbiblical information that came into our hearts before we know Jesus. There will be strongholds and as soon as we realize there is a stronghold affecting your life, you need to take that caught captive to the obedience of the Word.
 “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 12:3-5
 
In Romans 12:1-2, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  Do not be conformed to this world,  but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
 
The process of letting go and sending away the strongholds in your heart can somethings take time and diligence. Some things get ahold of our hearts and the enemy wants to use it to destroy each of us. But it is vitally important to be the doorkeepers of our heart so we don’t let these thoughts become strongholds. The fear of the pandemic and COVID 3 years ago became strongholds in the minds of a vast number of people. They did things they would have never thought they would do because they believed the deceptions and lies the enemy was feeding them. They thought things were true that were not. We all probably got caught up in deception during that time in one area or another. I’ve shared my struggle of last fall that I got into fear of all the shortages that were coming for the next year. They were presented in a way that the enemy used the lies to cause me to fear how I would care for my mom in one of these horrible nuclear attacks or whatever. My issue was I let the words of fear and dome in at least 3 times and many more times we talked about it in causal conversations with one another. I didn’t even realize the depth of the fear until I almost fell apart emotionally.
 
In Hebrews 4:11-12 the Lord gives us some insight to destroying strongholds in our heart.
“Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.  For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
 
These verses are deep and have many details to sending away the strongholds but the answer is the Word of God. The Word is actively alive and is filled with the life of God. It works in our hearts and is effective, it is adequate to accomplish its goal of healing our hearts. It is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of our heart and gets rid of those strongholds that are trying to destroy. We must get into the living Word and find a truth that needs to be hidden in our heart to replace that lie. We meditate on the truth, soak it in, believe it, receive it, and let the truth conqueror every lie and replace it with truth. The Word says to renew our minds daily. Daily we feed upon His truths.
 
Next, we “Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.” Be careful what you listen to. Be aware of the words you are speaking. It’s much easier to guard your heart from deceptions in the beginning than to get rid of the stronghold later.
 
This is one of my passions and I want so much for others to learn the truth of the power of our thoughts and words. Be the gatekeeper of all that tries to get in. Only let His truth past the gate of your heart. This is a daily devotion of your heart and time and effects every area of life: health, relationships, finances, prosperity, and your oneness with Him. Be the gatekeeper. It is more important today than ever before. Don’t get caught off guard! You will be blessed!