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Heavenly Perspective!
Dear Friends,
As you’d expect in the current situation, it’s been extremely quiet here. Auschwitz museum closed its doors to visitors on the 12th March and will remain closed until at least the beginning of July. Last year the museum recorded an average of more than 6400 visitors a day, and now there are zero.
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For all of you who were scheduled to come and couldn’t – we have really missed you!!
In the meantime, we’re seeing wild life everywhere, mostly deer, hare (those over-sized rabbits with huge ears) and pheasants. The chickens from Adam’s farm are getting so bold now, that we’re seeing them in our garden!
At the start of the lockdown, we felt God say, “come up here”. In other words, to spend this “coronavirus time” in a special way with Him. Like so many others, God pushed the pause button to realign us with His heart and purposes.
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Cathy’s dream
One morning as I (Cathy) was settling down to my quiet time, I felt a desire to go back to the beginning of my journal and read all that the Lord has spoken to me during this time, which started just as the coronavirus was taking off, just before Poland closed its borders.
In the middle of my reading, the Lord stopped me and said, “Comfort my people”. And in my spirit, I sensed there are people the Lord wants to comfort. Actually, He IS comforting them, but for some reason they are not sensing it. He doesn’t only want us to feel His comfort, but He also wants us to live in it, and to live from it.
I’ve been having quite a few dreams recently. One of them really got me thinking. I’m not going into all the details, but in one part of the dream I was with some people who were in a restaurant eating food out of dirty toilet bowls! Yes, that is disgusting, and the Lord certainly caught my attention with that one, especially as I was one of them!
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But through the dream, He is asking us, “What are we eating from?”.
Is it the daily news, coronavirus, lockdowns, economic hardship and financial ruin? Because that is what the culture is feeding us. I know from experience, if we look at the circumstances we go up and down with the circumstances, and that be quite a rollercoaster!
Or are we getting our nourishment from the Father? We have His precious and magnificent promises, we have the Holy Spirit our Comforter, we have access to the Father. It’s all good food, but are we eating it?
We can’t receive comfort when we’re focussed on the wrong stuff!
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Heavenly Perspective
In the next village, there are two storks nesting high on a platform at the top of a telephone pole. From their “position”, they can see everything that is happening on the ground around them but are not entangled by it. We could say their “heads are in the clouds!”, which reminds me of Col. 3:2.
Set your hearts on things above, not on earthly things.
That doesn’t mean we ignore what’s going on around us. We don’t want to be like an ostrich who buries its head in the sand. But rather the Father wants us to take whatever we see and hear to Him and ask Him for His perspective.
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Mark’s “Frame”
When we look at something we need to learn how to “frame” it correctly. Not just to look at the immediate circumstances, but to see it from the perspective of our magnificent covenant-keeping God.
For example, if I have a financial need and I’m only looking at the circumstances, my frame is too small. All I see is lack, and the result is fear and panic. Believe me, I’ve been there!
But if I take into account my relationship with our Heavenly Father, who has never let me down and knows what I will need before I need it, then my frame is much bigger. I decide to trust Him, and the result is rest and peace.
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We may not have all that emotional security at the beginning, but God wants to show us that He is able to meet our needs. The more He demonstrates His faithfulness in meeting our needs in impossible circumstances, the more we can enjoy emotional security and rest. It’s all part of our discipleship training.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:6-7)
Another way to make the frame bigger and come into greater alignment with God’s frame, is to take a few steps back. When we look at something, whether it’s coronavirus or something else we’re going through, it’s just a snapshot, a moment in history, one moment in our lives. But when God sees it, He sees the snapshot as part of a movie. He sees the bigger picture.
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He knows what is going to happen and has ALREADY put His plans in place. He“knows the plans He has for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. Our God is a God who redeems and restores. He WILL restore what the locusts have eaten.
In the last few weeks when Jesus was on earth, there were evil men who were plotting evil schemes. They were planning to murder Jesus, who was causing trouble and getting in their way.
In the midst of that, Jesus and His Father in heaven had their own plans and agenda.
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If we look at the snapshot, the crucifixion of Jesus was a disaster. For the disciples at the time, their closest friend had been murdered as a common criminal. They were heartbroken and confused; all their hopes were smashed. The wicked schemes of those evil men had triumphed. It was a terrible, terrible day.
We all know the story. Three days later Jesus was supernaturally raised from the dead. He “disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public spectacle of them”, He destroyed the power of death, redeemed mankind, transformed the disciples lives and gave them eternal life!
If we look at the snapshot, it was a disaster. If we look at the movie, it was glorious. The Father walked away with the victory.
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And so, it is the same today. If we only look at the snapshot, things can look really bad, but if we step back and look at the movie, our magnificent covenant-keeping God will use it all for His own glorious purposes!
That’s why we need to be careful how we pray. Just to ask God to take away a problem because it’s not comfortable is not the solution. We need to go higher and hear from the Father, “What are You saying to me? What do You want to teach me through this? How do You want me to grow in this situation?” He may not always tell us, and there are times when we don’t need to know – that’s when we simply have to trust.
But through it all He wants us to come to Him and enter into a deeper place of intimacy and rest.
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Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will direct your path. (Prov. 3:5,6)
+++ SELAH +++
Latest on the Building
Despite the lockdown restrictions, construction work has continued as normal in Poland. We hadn’t organised much during the past couple of months, as our focus is on the major work we’ve scheduled for the end of May, which is to complete the outside of building.
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We’ve also got another big job scheduled for the beginning of July, which is to finish all the walls and the ceilings inside the house with a fine skim plaster. This will make the walls perfectly smooth and ready for painting.
We haven’t heard anything from the LORD to say that we should postpone these contracts, so we’re going ahead with both contracts as planned.
However, we have made some progress in other areas over the past couple of months. We’ve installed most of the lights in the Prayer Room.
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We’ve also tiled the 3 downstairs toilets.
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Finally, Mark put on his work clothes and has done a few things himself… In the following video he’s plastering the attic (which is the room above the Prayer Room). It took him ages, but it actually looks really nice! For your amusement, Cathy put together a little video clip of Mark in the attic!
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We trust that in the midst of all that is happening, that you are enjoying God and finding peace and rest in HIM.
With our love and blessings
Mark & Cathy
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For more options (incl. Paypal and Polish Zloty Account)
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Fundacja Living Stones
ul Boczna 4
32-600 Brzezinka Oświęcim
Poland
+48 519 433 612
f.livingstones@gmail.com
www.livingstones.com.pl
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