One morning as I was meditating on Him and His beauty I heard Him say to me to “Lift up your eyes”. I looked up a few verses on that and started to see what He was telling me. It is sometimes easy to let the circumstances of life catch us off guard and we begin to look inward instead of up to Him. As I study I find myself focusing so much more on Him and His glory. I know by experience the difference looking to Him brings and I know most of you do too. But there are still those moments in our lives and there are so many people around who don’t understand this truth and are so caught up in the woes of the world. These verses can help us minister to them. These words “Lift up your eyes” minister to my heart as I pray. The Lord showed me that the focus of our eyes- physically, emotionally and spiritually has everything to do with the direction of our heart. So this week I want to minister on and pray about keeping our eyes lifted up.
 
Sunday: Father, Oh how awesome and grand You are. I want to always keep my eyes and focus on You. The things around me tend to want to grab my attention but I know when I focus on that stuff my view of You tend to get blurry. “I will lift up my eyes to the hills, from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.” Psalm 121:1-2 If my eyes are lifted up I see Your promises, I see Your rainbow. I see Your beauty and Your creation. There is nothing more beautiful than having my eyes lifted to You. I worship You and praise Your name always. Amen
 
Monday:  Lord, in the physical when I walk with my head looking at the ground I can’t see what is in front of me. It is no different when I keep my focus on my issues and problems instead of looking up to You. I can see my immediate steps which keeps me focused on the present and not what is all around me. “Unto You I lift up my eyes..” Psalm 123:1 “My eyes are ever toward the Lord..” Psalm 25:15 When my eyes are lifted up I see Your beauty, I see the mountains, the sky, the clouds. Flowers look up to the sun, I look up to You. They know what keeps them alive. I need to get my mind off the issues of life and keep my eyes and heart on You. I rejoice that You have given me everything and all I have to do is lift up my eyes to You and I can see it all. I don’t have to be blind and lost in darkness. I lift my life to You today and thank You for Your unconditional love. My eyes are ever toward You!!! Amen
 
Tuesday:  Father, I’ve noticed that when my thoughts are constantly turned inward toward my situation, my circumstances, my problems, my heartaches, my hardships, my misfortune, my abuse, then I become down, discouraged and depressed. When I am in this place I can only see what has happened before and what is happening to me now. I don’t see You and Your glory. When I do think of the future I find myself thinking a bunch of thoughts created by fear, vain imaginations and selfishness. I really don’t like it when I am in this place! I want to lift my eyes to You and see Your ways, Your thoughts, Your love and Your peace.  “But my eyes are upon You, O God the Lord; In You do I trust and take refuge..” Psalm 141:8 I thank You that You are my Refuge and I can always see You and always trust You. I lift my eyes and my voice to You and praise Your name forever and ever. “God is our refuge and strength. A very present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1 Amen
 
Wednesday: “For I always pray to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the deep and intimate knowledge of Him. By having the eyes of your heart enlightened so that you may know and understand the hope to which He has called you and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints. And so you can know and understand what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength.” Ephesians 3:17-19   Many times, Lord, I find myself hiding my head in the sand so that I don’t have to see. There are things I don’t know how to deal with and it seems at the moment that hiding from the situations is easier than looking up to You. This verse tells me that I can have the eyes of my heart open “so I can know and understand what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of Your power in and for me who believes, as demonstrated in the working of Your mighty strength.” I can keep the eyes of my heart lifted up to You. My heart is the center of my of being and I desire to keep it that I understand and comprehend You. You aren’t trying to be a big secret person that we can’t understand or follow. Your ways and thoughts always have me in mind. You say I can “know and understand what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of Your power in and for me who believes”. I believe. I lift my eye to You. I choose to lift my heart and eyes to You. Amen
 
Thursday:  Lord Jesus, I am so thankful for You and that You are always there for me. I can look and see You wherever I look. I am never alone. I don’t want to keep my eyes closed and blinded to what You are doing and what You have done. “So be very careful how you live, not being like those with no understanding, but live honorably with true wisdom, for we are living in evil times. Take full advantage of every day as you spend your life for his purposes. And don’t live foolishly for then you will have discernment to fully understand God’s will.  And don’t get drunk with wine, which is rebellion; instead be filled with the fullness of the Holy Spirit. And your hearts will overflow with a joyful song to the Lord Jehovah. Keep speaking to each other with words of Scripture, singing the Psalms with praises and spontaneous songs given by the Spirit! Always give thanks to Father God for every person he brings into your life in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And out of your reverence for Christ be supportive of each other in love.” Ephesians 5:15-21 I praise You always and thank You again that I can lift my eyes to You and always see You! Amen
 
Friday: “So no wonder we don’t give up. For even though our outer person gradually wears out, our inner being is renewed every single day.  We view our slight, short-lived troubles in the light of eternity. We see our difficulties as the substance that produces for us an eternal, weighty glory far beyond all comparison, because we don’t focus our attention on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but the unseen realm is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 When I lift my eyes to You I will see things differently than what I try to see on my own. Paul was saying in these verses that I can see something that can’t be seen with the natural eye. I can see Your reality – from Your perspective. I must choose Your reality to escape the destruction of the world. As I let Your reality and opinions replace how I see things and what I hold dear – my weakness and fears are replaced with Your power. My sadness is turned to joy. My lack becomes abundance. My sickness is replaced with wholeness in the body. To live in Your abundance I must believe the truth about my identity of righteousness in You. I must lift my eyes to You and see from Your perspective. I give You my life and love. Amen
 
Saturday:  “He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength causing it to multiply and making it to abound. But those that wait for the Lord, who expect, look for, and hope in Him, shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up close to God as eagles mount up to the sun; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint or become tired.” Isaiah 40:29, 30 When my eyes are lifted up to You – then my heart is lifted up to You. My strength is renewed and I fly like an eagle and am close to You. Wow! Lifting my eyes to You results in lifting my life to You which results in being able to run and not be weary; to walk and not faint or become tired. What a promise from You. You care for me. You value me beyond my comprehension. Your desire is for me to always be able to look to You and walk in perfect peace and love. I desire that and say that “I will lift up my eyes to the hills, from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.” Amen
 
 

I love this time of year. It is so beautiful right now. I also enjoy the harvest time. I am not able to plant a lot of veggie but we always have fresh tomatoes. We enjoy planting them and watching them grow to this point and now we are to harvest the fruit from the plant. We so enjoy and get excited to see the fruit of our labor. We love our life and have even chosen the life style to have full days. The Lord spoke to my heart that we don’t want busy lives, we want our lives to be fruitful and produce a harvest. That blessed me so much. I don’t mind doing lots but I want what I do to count. We’ve always want to make everything we do count. No matter what we do we always have a desire to do it with purpose and make memories. When we make a decision to do something we almost always consider how it will affect the lives that are involved. It is God’s desire for us to have a fruitful life with a harvest purpose. That was the example He was for us on earth. Everything He did and everywhere He went had a purpose and brought forth fruit. Busyness is just doing and doing with no purpose or direction and the harvest is little to none. We want all we do to bear fruit, have a purpose and produce a mighty harvest. Fruitfulness brings harvest which brings fulfillment.
 
Sunday: “The uncompromisingly righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, be long-lived, stately, upright, useful and fruitful. They shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon, majestic, stable, durable and incorruptible. Planted in the house of the Lord, they shall flourish in the courts of our God. Growing in grace they shall still bring forth fruit in their old age; they shall be full of sap, of spiritual vitality, and rich in the verdure - of trust, love, and contentment.” Psalm 92:12-14 Lord, I thank You that I can flourish and be fruitful every minute of my life no matter how many years I live to be. I thank You that I can continue to grow in Your grace and knowledge and be full of sap, of spiritual vitality, and rich in  trust, love, and contentment. You are my Father and I thank You for giving me life and strength to do all You have called me to do – every day of my long life!! Amen”
 
Monday:  “Heavenly Father, I don’t want to bear fruit just for myself but I want to share my love for You and all You have given me with others. Daily I want others to see the fruit of my relationship with You. “You will fully recognize them by their fruits. Do people pick grapes from thorns or figs from thistles? Even so, every healthy, sound tree bears fruit worthy of admiration, but the sickly, decaying, worthless tree bears bad, worthless fruit. A good healthy tree cannot bear bad, worthless fruit, nor can a bad, diseased tree bear excellent fruit, worthy of admiration.” Matthew 7:16-18 I praise You always and thank You for living in me!! Amen”
 
 Tuesday:  “Father, my ministry is fruitful when I am seeing people saved, delivered, healed and set free from the bondage of this world. “The fruit of the uncompromisingly righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise captures human lives for God, as fisher of men - he gathers and receives them for eternity.” Proverbs 11:30 I desire, Lord, to share Your unconditional love with the world. It may be through the fruitful words of my mouth or my giving of my bountifulness or the love I share through You and the fruit that is evident just in my being. “Say to the righteous that it shall be well for them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.” Isaiah 3:10 You are always with me directing me to those that need Your love and salvation. May I have listening ears always and a heart to let others know how great You are in me and all I have by being in You. You are my great and awesome Father and I love You with all my heart. Amen”
 
Wednesday: “Dwell in Me and I will dwell in you. Live in Me and I will live in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in, being vitally united to the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much, abundant fruit. However, apart from Me, cut off from vital union with Me, you can do nothing.” John 15:4-5
Father, what awesome verses. Without You I am nothing! With You I am everything! Abiding in You. I love those words and I love to see the picture of myself in You, a part of You and bearing Your fruit. I worship You because You love me so much that You want me to abide in You – to be joined with You yet You want to abide in me and be with me all the time. What an awesome Father You are. You are my example of a fruitful life that brings a harvest! Amen”
 
Thursday:  “Lord, I want to also have a fruitful home and family. I will know my family is fruitful when there is peace, joy, love, gentleness and kindness. My home is fruitful when the fruit of the Spirit is present and also when it is a welcoming place. You share in Your Word about opening up my home and having hospitality. I can see the importance of that and how much that fruit would bring. “But the fruit of the Spirit, the work which His presence within accomplishes is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23 I thank You for the Holy Spirit Who also dwells in me and produces fruit that produces a harvest. You have given me everything I need to live a completely fruitful life. I praise Your precious Name!! Amen
 
Friday:  “Father, I also know there are attitudes and things that stop fruit from being produced in my life. “Now the doings, practices of the flesh are clear, obvious; they are immorality, impurity, indecency, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, divisions, party spirit (factions, sects with peculiar opinions, heresies), envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like...” . Galatians 5:19-21 These verses tell me many things. One is doing things on my own instead of abiding in You will bring bad fruit and no harvest. If my life is not being fruitful I will be living the very opposite of the fruit of the Spirit. These things are the desires of the flesh and not fruit of a fruitful life. Thank You, Father, for not making me try to guess and judge myself what is fruitful or not. Your Word is plain and full of truth and answers. You are my All in All, my Shepherd, My Guide and my closest Friend. I love You and praise You always!! Amen.”
 
Saturday:   “The sower sows the word. The ones along the path are those who have the Word sown in their hearts but when they hear, satan comes at once and takes away the message which is sown in them. And in the same way the ones sown on stony ground are those who, when they hear the Word, at once they receive and accept and welcome it with joy. And they have no real root in themselves and so they endure for a little while; then when trouble or persecution arises on account of the Word, they immediately are offended and they stumble and fall away. And those sown among the thorns are others who hear the Word. Then the cares of the world and distractions of the age, and the pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches, and the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke and suffocate the Word and it becomes fruitless. And those sown on the good, well-adapted soil are the ones who hear the Word and receive and accept and welcome it and bear fruit - some thirty times as much as was sown, some sixty times as much and some hundred times as much.” Mark 4:14-20. As I end my week of prayer Lord, I thank You for these verses that tell me Your promises and Your desires. You desire for my fruit to be 30-60-100 times more than the seed I plant. That is HARVEST! I can’t comprehend all that but I know Your Word and promises are true and real. I know I don’t want to plant seeds that are stolen and wasted. I don’t want the cares of the world to creep in and choke and suffocate the Word and it becomes fruitless. Thank You for always showing me where and when to plant and the best “soil” to plant in. You are the master Gardner. You are the harvester. I thank You for guiding me as I learn to plant, sow and harvest in Your Kingdom life. Amen.”
 
 
 

The other evening we had a celebration of our 25 years of ministering at Mountain High Chapel. It was such a sweet time and we thank everyone who was able to come and be a part of our celebration. I have been talking about prayer the last few weeks and I want to share a little of our journey the last 25 years and say that this miracle is all because of the Lord and prayer.

          Our story actually begins 41½ years ago at Mtn High Chapel when the Lord brought us together. Even though we weren’t ministering then, Ed never even thought of such a thing, the Lord was preparing our hearts and we were learning so much about life and God’s love. For myself, the story starts when I was a little girl and knew I wanted to be a preacher’s wife, Sunday School teacher and missionary.

          In the beginning of our marriage there wasn’t much thought on church and ministry. It actually looked and seemed impossible to me. Then as things happened and we reaped the crop from the bad seeds we planted we both began to see the Lord work. From about 1981-1994 we worked in the ministry, served our pastors, learned so much, grew in His ways and submitted our lives to the Lord. We worked hard at the church. We were there with our kids whenever the doors were open whether it was daily prayer at 6:30 am or late night meetings. In these 13-14 years we learned to give and serve. They were the greatest classroom we could ever have. We were faithful to the ministry every day of those years and never quit. Our pastor instilled being faithful, available and teachable (F.A.T.). To this day we can’t even imagine being anything else. It’s so embedded in our hearts to be F.A.T. and to give and serve. We are eternally grateful to the Lord for taking us on that path for all those years. Then in June 1994 we obeyed the Lord and accepted the call to be pastors at Mtn High. We NEVER thought we would pastor here let alone be here for 25 years.

          BUT it hasn’t been an easy road. The first few years were tough.  People came against us, left the church in groves, tries to keep us down and discouraged. We weren’t paid much or well if at all. We tried multiple times to quit, go somewhere else but knew this was where we were to be. We were young in reality but since we were 40 we thought we knew more than we did. Our kids struggled, were condemned and spoken against. We would say we had the pastor car curse because we were told we had a drive old beaters that ran by faith. We didn’t even know the love, grace and peace message as we do now. The church was not Spirit filled so when we brought the church into the things of the Spirit – there was more division. Day by day, month by month we began learning from our mentors and friends. Dave and Bonnie Duell were the first ones who believed in us and imparted faith. We then met Andrew Wommack and grew more and more. We have so many friends and family who imparted into our lives for the last 23 years or so. We were some hurting pastors with lots of fears, doubts, misconceptions, misguided information and perspectives. It’s taken many years of faithfulness from our friends and ourselves to get to 25 years. We are so thankful to ALL who sowed love into our lives.

          I was thinking about what God has done in the 25 years of this ministry. The church hasn’t grown to 1000’s of people. Good thing we gave up having to have value and identity by the numbers in our church. In the world’s eyes it probably doesn’t look like much has happened but we know we have been faithful and obedient to what He has called us to do. Sometimes I wonder myself about the fruit of the ministry and the Lord shows me those I taught in Children’s Church 20 years ago that are bringing their children today. We don’t always see the fruit in the ministry of the church but we know the seeds were planted. In 25 years things change, ways change, technology changes but I am so thankful He NEVER changes or His Word! Even though we may not know all the “new” stuff we can still teach and preach His Word, love, grace and peace. That is the same yesterday, today and forever. He tells us we are never too old to minister about Him and we don’t need fancy – new gadgets to share His love. New tools can be to our advantage and we are thankful for younger folks who can minister with us.

          In the last 25 years we have:

• Built orphanages in Venezuela, Honduras, Kenya and Peru
• Ministered at 100’s of funerals and weddings
• Ministered outreaches in Cowboy churches in many places
• Ministered to 100’s of marriages
• Have been with others through sickness and surgeries 100’s of times
• Have had Holy Ghost meetings on a monthly basis
• Taught classes on many different subjects
• Wrote several curriculum to teach
• Taught Children’s Church, Vacation Bible Schools and Kid’s Camps
• Ministered to other pastors
• Had a radio program here and in Oregon
• Started a church in Fairplay and now in Del Norte
• Started the Legendary Bar Church in Evergreen
• Traveled many miles to encourage someone we knew was struggling, down or sick
• We had a Young Life Home Group in our home for years
• Taught Ladies Bible Study    Men’s Bible Study   Marriage classes     Parenting classes
• Substance Abuse classes
• We have raised up missionaries that went out from here
• The ministry has remained debt free and gives beyond what seems possible
• We have fundraisers for the orphans and mission trips
• We host, organize, serve and minister at events here at the church & other venues
• In 25 years we have traveled to and ministered in Russia, England, Scotland, Portugal, India, Nepal, Israel, Kenya, Tanzania, Venezuela, Peru, Canada and Afghanistan. Some many times. We have done minister conferences in several of these countries.

                   
          In these years we have learned more than we ever thought possible and changed even more. We are so thankful for our 5 children and their support through all the stuff that we put them through. They are amazing! And now we have our 5 children by love and 22 grandchildren who love and support us. We have missed many of our family’s events to minister to someone else and they have been very understanding. We have also made our mistakes and didn’t always put our family first which we have apologized for. We haven’t done everything to everyone’s approval and never will but we will do all we can to listen to the Lord and what He is directing us to do. We are also grateful to our extended family and our very dear friends who have stuck by us through thick and thin for these 25 years. They have encouraged us and wouldn’t let us quit when we thought we couldn’t deal with one more thing. Wow! We are so thankful we’ve never been alone in this journey!

          What does the next 25 years hold? More excitement, more changed lives, tons of ministry, miles and miles of travel, fantastic times, challenging times, sad times and His times. There will be lots of change, lots of adventures, new people, new leaders, new friends and continued strong relationships with all our family and friends now. We will grow together, learn together, change together and share Him together. We will always believe and declare His Word, His Truth and His Grace in the Holy Spirit. We will see people healed, miracles, salvations, lives changed and lives restored. His love will always be the foundation of all we do.
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          We have many new adventures He has shown us and new ministries He will guide us to begin when the time is right. We will continue to give and plant into many good soils and except a mighty harvest. We won’t quit, we won’t give up and we will continue to encourage each person to go forward in the calling the Lord has for them. We pray you want to come along with us! There’s nothing like serving Him with all your life!!!
 
These are some of our life promises we clung to the last 25 years.
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20
 
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6
 
“All things work together for good to those who love God and those that are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
 
“ For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
 
These are the verses He has for us the next 25 years! “But those who wait for the Lord, who expect, look for, and hope in Him, Will gain new strength and renew their power; They will lift up their wings and rise up close to God like eagles, rising toward the sun; They will run and not become weary, They will walk and not grow tired.” Isaiah 40:31
 
“Though your beginning was small, Yet your latter end would increase abundantly.” Job 8:7
 
 “The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts, and in this place I shall give the ultimate peace and prosperity,’ declares the Lord of hosts.”
Haggai 2:9