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August 2000 was, by far, the most difficult month of my life. I was still in shock right after the fire and little things, like a few pictures, gave me much joy. As I shared in my April update, Lisa & I had done much soul searching and agreed to reset our priorities, putting the Lord first in our lives no matter what. As we struggled through each month, trying to stay faithful, small miracles kept us going. We found great homes for most of the dogs that needed to be placed, and we miraculously located the perfect new home for our remaining dogs! We immediately dubbed this place NewZion and went full speed ahead into finding a way to acquire it. Since we had no insurance coverage for our former home, we not only lost the house & all of its contents, we found ourselves with no resources but lots of extra expenses! The day after the fire we had 56 dogs (plus young pups) at Shiloh with NO water or electric! In order to care for them properly, since no one would be living on the property, we had to set up shifts to care for the dogs. Lisa was usually the first one in at daybreak, and always the last one out around midnight. Since it was the middle of winter, and we had extreme weather conditions to deal with, often having to carry in water…. twice daily …. for all of those dogs, this was no easy task! We had no choice but to hire out extra help, purchase a generator, etc. If not for the help we received from our friends & members of this club, I doubt how we would have made it! The emotional & financial support we received kept us pushing forward, despite unbelievable odds. Those first few nights in the motel Lisa & I had done a lot of soul searching, and we both knew that we had to stay on track with the Lord, no matter what! Daily we would cling to the promises I would find during my studies. One of the first things I wanted to do after we got our new home was to prepare a scripture plaque of those promises & hang it on our office wall, for all to see ;-) It consists of verses that have special meanings to me, some of them the Lord gave me many years ago, but I had just not claimed them until now. Some were brand new that he had given me during this time of turmoil. One of these was 2nd Chronicles 7;12 I HAVE HEARD THEY PRAYER, AND HAVE CHOSEN THIS PLACE TO MYSELF FOR AN HOUSE OF SACRIFICE. This verse was at the top of my plaque, right under the picture of NewZion. Another one came from Isaiah 54; 4-17 "FEAR NOT; for thou shall not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt forget the shame of they youth, and shall not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and they redeemer the holy one of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall he be called. For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith they God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord they redeemer. This is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay they stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles and all they borders of pleasant stones. AND ALL THEY CHILDREN SHALL BE TAUGHT OF THE LORD; AND GREAT SHALL BE THE PEACE OF THEY CHILDREN. In righteousness shalt thou be established; Thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear; and from terror; for it shall not come near thee. Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: WHOSOEVER SHALL GATHER TOGETHER AGAINST THEE SHALL FALL FOR THY SAKE. Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. NO WEAPON THAT IS FORMED AGAINST THEE SHALL PROSPER; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord..The second verse I have clung to comes from Isaiah 62; 8-11 "The Lord hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, SURELY I WILL NO MORE GIVE THY CORN TO BE MEAT FOR THINE ENEMIES; AND THE SONS OF THE STRANGER SHALL NOT DRINK THY WINE, FOR THE WHICH THOU HAST LABOURED: BUT THEY THAT HAVE GATHERED IT SHALL EAT IT, AND PRAISE THE LORD; AND THEY THAT HAVE BROUGHT IT TOGETHER SHALL DRINK IT IN THE COURTS OF MY HOLINESS. Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, SAY YE TO THE DAUGHTERS OF ZION, BEHOLD, THY SALVATION COMETH; BEHOLD, HIS REWARD IS WITH HIM, AND HIS WORK BEFORE HIM. I also had chosen scriptures from Joshua and other parts of both testaments. Everything seemed to be coming together as I had expected, until August hit! We already had our dogs settled in this place we had been calling NewZion, the deposit for the closing had been raised, all the requirements had been met, we were just waiting for the closing on 8/2/2000. We had already set up the phone, electric, garbage, and propane, etc. accounts into our name. All we had to do now was to receive a final mortgage commitment and close! Homecoming was fast approaching, invitations had already been mailed, and we had to get final preparations started! Sounds simple? Well, this is when the nightmare went into full mode. First the bank refused to fulfill their mortgage commitment, due to this being a "dual purpose" property, with more then 25% of the "home" being designated for "commercial" use. There was no time to change zoning, find another lender, etc. Homecoming was about to begin & we had to get things organized for that event. We tried to locate private financing, but with such a short notice that too failed. As Homecoming started we received an eviction notice giving us 10 days to remove all of our 28 dogs from this property. My faith was being tested to the limit! I asked the Lord to show me WHY, but got no reply. Maybe I was too busy to listen, because I was spending all of my time running around trying to find a place for my poor dogs! During this time of absolute panic I kept remembering the scripture in Joel that I received the day I found this place. Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain ………… AND I WILL RESTORE TO YOU THE YEARS THAT THE LOCUST HATH EATEN, THE CANKERWORM, AND THE CATERPILLER, AND THE PALMERWORM, MY GREAT ARMY WHICH I SENT AMONG YOU … AND MY PEOPLE SHALL NEVER BE ASHAMED. ……AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS AFTERWARD, THAT I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT UPON ALL FLESH; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS, YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS:I USED TO LOVE SINGING THIS SONG AT CHURCH! It’s beginning to rain ….. through open the windows …. Whosoever will come drink of this water ………. I will pour my spirit out on your sons & your daughter ………It’s beginning to rain ……….. Then I received my Times Square message & David Wilkerson quoted Joel 2; 23 and I read it again slowly. This time I realized that I had missed "in the first month" On 8/25/00 we met at the lawyers office to sign our agreement. It had been exactly 7 months since the fire!! On 9/1/00 we were moving into NewZion! Then I realized that September is the "New Year" or "first month" on God’s calendar!! Praise the Lord, he knew exactly what he was doing! In the future I will try to spend more time "in the spirit" and less "in the flesh" ;-) Yet I know that I will be facing many more tests, and I will probably fail some of them again, but it does not matter because they will only serve to make me stronger … because It’s beginning to rain ……………It's
beginning to rain, hear the voice of the Father It's
beginning to rain, hear the voice of the Father At
the first drop of rain that you hear, throw Please follow Tina's progress by continuing to the next chapter. |
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Tina's Testimony (1987) | Tina's Testimony (1998) | Sharing (July 1999) | The Fire's Aftermath (Jan 2000) | TINA's OnELiST Letters Jan-Feb 2000 | Urgent Letter Feb 2000 | Sharing: April 2000 | Tina's Leap of Faith (April 2000) | Sharing: AUGUST 2000 Food for Thought | Other Christian Links | Pray for israel
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