Monday, March 24, 2008

"Strength In The Waiting"


OK, it's me Hilary... Sorry I haven't had the chance to write on this thing yet but my amazing husband usually has the laptop, and when he doesn't, I don't feel like writing. Tom has been urging me to share my heart to make the blog more “teamy”. So here is my world, enjoy.

It seems like my heart is always waiting for something. When I was single, it was waiting for “the one” then once I found the one, it was waiting for our wedding day. Then waiting to be pregnant, then waiting for the baby to come. Waiting to transition into a home. Then there's constantly small things to wait for: birthdays, special holidays, anniversary, visits from friends and family, special trips.

Right now I am in the waiting for our second child to come. In this place I've been trying to wait on the Lord daily because I'm finding it's the only thing that strengthens me physically and spiritually. I've been camping in Psalm 27:14, Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!

This particular day it was hard to wait on the Lord I was distracted with things that have to be done, and then thinking I'm not worthy to be in His presence and so on, then I refocus and read the verse again, “be of good courage.” Of course, it takes courage to sit before the Lord because we have to be so vulnerable! But hey, He sees everything anyways right? So why not just wait on Him, then I read, “He shall strengthen your heart!” That is what we get just waiting on him, we receive strength deep within our heart. It's like healing for me, because as I sit there I see all my icky-ness all my sin life and self seeking flash before me and it's like it's coming to the surface and He truly cleanses that part of me and strengthens my heart, He is so good to us!

Then I read Psalm 31:24 Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart, All you who hope in the LORD.

There it is again! And now it says, “all you who hope in the Lord”, this is what we are doing when we wait on Him, we are hoping in Him!

The other day I was feeling weary, just weary in the waiting for this baby to come and all the other transitions I'm waiting for. I was talking with the Lord saying, “I don't like being weary in the waiting, HELP!” He took me to Psalm 33:20-22, Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in Him, Because we have trusted in His holy name. Let Your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, Just as we hope in You.

Then it hit me, the real thing I am waiting for is His return! This should be joyous not wearisome. The words that stuck out to me were: wait, rejoice, trust, and hope. Then I realized that our soul is waiting for Him and in the waiting our heart shall rejoice because He is our reward He is who we are waiting for and it is worth the wait, we shouldn't grow weary in the waiting but we should be rejoicing that we get to be with Him one day. So in the waiting we learn to trust in His holy name and to hope in Him. When we are tired and discouraged just turning and saying, "I bless your name Lord, I hope in you." is a way of keeping our eyes set on eternity.



"Grace to you all as we wait!"

-Hilary

Got 8min? Hit play... Don't? Don't.

Double Trouble!

"I think I'm carrying a little high."-Tom

Friday, March 21, 2008

The First JUMPING Zadok Internship (Jan 06) !


Third from the left in red is my favorite assistant and friend Andy Hailstone.
"Andy if it weren't for you, I'd be fired!"

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Our Favorite Mexican!

"This is Beti Stanghellini! We meet some pretty amazing people in this movement and Beti is no exception! She is one of the newest members of Team Tom and Hilary and I asked her to tell a little about herself! God has taken her all over the planet, most recently South Crackalina! IMPORTANT: It will help if you read on with a thick Mexican accent. Enjoy!" -Tom



My testimony

I was an atheist, mom or dad never took me to church, my father was an atheist, so I grew up without God and without hope; my religion was science and communism. But one day, God called by my name in a dream and encountered me where I was. I was found by Jesus, and I was saved! My life radically changed by His love and His compassion.

A missionary

In the last years, I had been in part time ministry, but last year God called me to full time ministry, I am now an Intercessor missionary, raising my own support.

Where I am now

God had impressed me to start a House of Prayer in El Paso TX; I am pregnant with the vision to birth a Day and Night House of Prayer in El Paso TX. For that purpose God sent me for training/impartation for a 3 months internship at IHOP in Kansas City Mo; right after that, I spent the next three months in Succat Hallel, House of Prayer in Jerusalem, Israel, and now I am at ZHOP, House of Prayer in Fort Mill SC for three months.

My vision about the House of Prayer El Paso

I are seeking to start a Day and Night, city-wide prayer furnace, an intercessory worship center established in El Paso TX –in the spirit of the Tabernacle of David- to maintain a continuous fire of prayer and worship before the Lord and to see righteousness released in the city of El Paso TX, Juarez, Mexico and Las Cruces, NM.(these three cities are a geographical region linked with one another not only ethnically, but also culturally, and economically. I aim to have a worship center committed to developing forerunners given to lives of extravagant worship, prayer, fasting, and holy activism, fueled by intimacy with God's heart.

Strategic location of El Paso, TX and its surrenders

  • The U.S./Mexico border. El Paso and its sister city Juarez, Mexico, comprise the largest metropolitan area on the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Nearly 2.2 million people inhabit the El Paso/Juarez borderplex. Over 1.5 million people reside in Juarez, Mexico and 721,598 in El Paso TX; it is comparable to the Denver and Munnich (Germany) metropolitan areas.

  • Racial mix: 79% Hispanic; 15% White; 5% African American 1% Native American and 1% Asian/Pacific islanders

  • Drugs. El Paso TX/Juarez Mx are the main entrances of all the drugs coming from South America and Mexico to meet the USA demand ; El Paso TX-Juarez, Mexico serves as the gateway for narcotics destined to major metropolitan areas in the U.S., which is commonly referred to as the El Paso/Juarez Corridor.

  • The El Paso/Juarez corridor serves as a transshipment point for cocaine to various locations in the U.S. Seized loads range from 50-800 pounds. Cocaine is the drug of choice among users in USA and the availability is high; these groups are poly-drug organizations smuggling methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, and marijuana to the Dallas/Fort Worth

  • The El Paso/Juarez corridor is the route primarily used to transport drugs to Albuquerque NM for distribution in the Midwestern and Southwestern US and also Dallas/Fort Worth TX area for distribution in the Eastern, Southeastern states.

  • Drugs: Sources-of-supply (SOS) from Mexico move significant quantities of marijuana and cocaine through the POEs using major east/west and north/south interstate highways that crisscross through the El Paso Division. Drug smuggling and illicit transportation are primarily dominated by Mexican, Colombian and Dominican poly-drug trafficking organizations.

  • Abortion Clinics in El Paso serves not only that region in USA, but draws customers from all over Mexico since abortion is not legal in Mexico

  • Murders in Juarez, Mexico. Sadly, the city of Juarez, Mexico (the Mexican twin city) had seen the murder of about 370 young women between the ages of 17 and 22 years of age, many of them students and the majority workers of local factories. According to Amnesty International about 400 girls are still missing. In most of these cases there were signs of sexual violence, abuse, torture or in some cases mutilation. Some had declared that it might be linked to the pornographic industry

  • More information can be found in: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_homicides_in_Ciudad_Ju%C3%A1rez

  • We aim to partner in prayer with our brothers and sisters in Juarez Mexico and pray for justice in the land



Friday, March 14, 2008

Take Your Meditation...

So I'm just sitting here reflecting on my personal journey with meditation(I'm teaching it tomorrow @8am) and thought I'd rehearse my testimony on yall! Enjoy!


Spring of '06 I was in an Encountering God Service at ZHOP's first prayer room. I started feeling despair in my heart because I was watching people younger than me quote bible verses with understanding and revelation and passion on their hearts. I was on the brink of a crisis man... "What does God need me for?" So I asked the Lord, “What can I do?” my mind started frantically racing, “Seminary... On-line Bible School... One year bible reading plan! AAAAAHHH!!”

Then came the chill small voice, "Tom, if you will take one verse out of the scripture and give yourself to meditating on it, I will grant to you a lens by which you can consume My entire Word."

I began to see how God's wisdom confounds my wisdom like, for real! I mean, isn't that so like the Lord to do things His own way and get the maximum amount of glory from the deal?

Two days later I'm in the prayer room journaling about my lens experience and a friend walks up to me and hands me a lens from a pair of sunglasses and says, "The eye of the Lord is not veiled." WOW!

My point is not, 'look at me I had an encounter' but, 'look at God, He likes meditation.' God wants to give each of us our own experiences and testimonies with meditation. It's really on His heart to encounter His people in His Word and to have a people that hide His word in their hearts that they might not sin against Him! Amen and Amen!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Team Mentality.

You may have noticed the T in team, as well as the E, if you are extra perceptive no doubt the A and the M caught your eye! But have you ever noticed that there is no I in team? OK, now that's what I'm talking about with Team Tom and Hilary!

The Lord has really impressed upon our family in recent months that there is no distance in the Spirit. That the ones who have impacted our life near and far are ever before Him. And He has called us to partner with them through prayer!

And so now the next step: call the blog Team Tom and Hilary and bring everyone together in a round table type group to share praise reports and build each others faith, as well as current needs. That way Steve who is on our team, all the sudden has Sally whom he's never met praying for his need... and on and on.

We know that if our Team is praying for us there are places we can get to that we wouldn't have gotten otherwise! Lets Team UP!

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

"Behold I make all things new!"

Blogging is definitely new ground for the Lacy's but you cant beat the convenience and quality and price of a blog these days... so if you can't beat em, join em. We hope to keep this mug updated and enjoyable. We definitely don't want to do the 'start a blog and go on vacation' thing.

Another thing, please keep the comments flowing. We look at this blog site as one of those communal gigs... like it's all of ours, you know, forum style. Don't hesitate to post any questions on this sight, even if they seem unrelated to the material. We desire clarity on every level with our faithful team of friends and family! We are glad to count you in our ever growing, diverse family of affection. Let's Blog it UP!