Day 117

Day 117 of The Red Shoe Project  -  My alarm went off promptly at 8am.  I threw on a casual outfit along with some comfortable RED shoes, walked the dog, and headed for my SOZO appointment. (See Day 115).   Today's meeting was focusing specifically on breaking any generational ties from Freemasonry.

You know that I've been eagerly awaiting this day.  God has been prepping me for a wonderful blessing. When I arrived, I sat down with three other women and we got started.  Basically this particular prayer and deliverance meeting centered around me reading several pages of script entitled "The Prayer of Release."  It consists of line after line of renouncements of oaths, curses, lies, etc that the individual, (my dad), took during his participation in Freemasonry. I lifted up many, many prayers to God, severing ties and entanglements that were passed down generationally to me and my family.  The goal is to make a clean break from it all.

When we started, we invited the Holy Spirit into our prayer circle.  I primarily did all the praying.  As the Holy Spirit revealed things to me, I told the women in the circle what He was showing me, and they helped facilitate me through the process. Their prayerful support and expertise was essential!

Many great things took place during those two hours of non-stop prayer. I can't share them all here and now, but I will let you in on one of the highlights.

As I was reading through lines and lines of script, denouncing various connections and curses, God showed me a picture of my son with threads connecting him to my dad.  I thought that rather strange.  What could my son possibly have to do with all this? I never anticipated his direct involvement. Wasn't this my time of prayer?  But right there, in the moment, the Lord revealed to me that generational curses are normally passed down through the males in the family... father to son to grandson, etc.  My father had two daughters, no son. Of his two daughters, one had no children, the other one, (me), had two daughters and a son.  That's the male connection.   In this case it's grandfather to grandson. Get it?

Now mind you, nobody in the room explained that to me.  The Holy Spirit revealed it to me, and I simply spoke it out to the women who were praying with me.  I followed through specifically by cutting off those (God revealed) spiritual ties in prayer. The ladies in the circle prayed in agreement with me. That particular piece was huge, it followed with prayers of forgiveness and full restoration between myself and my son.  

When it was over, one of the ladies asked me... "What do you see now?"  I saw a beautiful waterfall.  It was like walking through a dream.  I began to describe the waterfall in detail, in all it's splendor.  It was magnificent.  I felt myself totally drawn to it, and moved in closer to get a better look.  The next thing I know,  I'm totally immersed in the presence of God. Picture yourself getting right up close to the waterfall, and the mist of it resting on your entire body.  Miniscule droplets covering every part of you and just soaking into your skin.

I started to call out,

"It's the Glory of God!  

The waterfall is the Glory of God!"

I don't know what the ladies in the circle were doing or thinking at this point.  All I know is that I was totally lost in the glory.  I felt my posture completely change as I lowered my head almost into my lap in reverence of His presence.  My voice became quiet... almost a whisper.  I began to weep and repeated over and over again...

"Glory to God... Glory to God... Glory to God!   Praise you, Jesus!"

I'm not quite sure how long that went on for.  I couldn't move from that place.  Maybe a few minutes? But then, I looked up and saw the silhouette of someone standing behind the waterfall.  I announced to the ladies,

"There's someone standing behind the waterfall!  I can't 
see his face, but it's a man."  

"The Lord is telling me not to be afraid.  It's okay.  
Don't be afraid!"   

With that,  I moved in for a closer look.  

"He looks like a soldier.  Yes... he is a soldier.  He's very strong.  He has big muscles.  It looks like he's wearing some sort of military fatigues."

I continued to examine the silhouette and noticed something unusual.

"Woe...  He's a big soldier.  He must be eight feet tall.   He's some sort of watchman." And then it came to me.  "He's not a man at all...  He's an angel!  It's an angel standing behind the waterfall."

I was so mesmerized.  This silhouette of an angel was so big,  so strong,  so protective. "He looks like a giant, GI Joe!" I proclaimed.

One of the ladies asked me.  Who's angel is it Gail?  Ask the Holy Spirit if it's your angel."

"No... it's not my angel,"  I responded.  "Oh my gosh... the Lord says it's my son's angel. This is the angel that watches over my son! I never have to worry about my son again... He has this giant GI Joe angel watching over him continuously. -- Thank you, Jesus!"

Wow!  We all had to just stop right there for a few moments and praise the Lord!  Before long, the SOZO session was over.  I was hugging my new prayer partners, heading out  the door in my RED shoes and ready to face the day with joy and gladness.  It was a great day!

Now it's time to testify~
Gail

Day 116

Pauly woke me up extra early on Day 116 of  The Red Shoe Project.  Apparently he wanted to go for an early morning walk, so I jumped out of bed, into my sweats and RED sneakers, and out we went. 

When we got 

back to the house, I noticed that the three small palm trees next to my front door were severely over-

grown.  Since 

the morning air was still cool 

and I didn't have anything else to do at that early hour, I grabbed the hedge clippers from the garage and began 

to snip away at the dead, overgrown branches.  We have a week or so before the community board comes around to do their annual spring check on all the properties, making sure that they are well maintained, so there was good reason for this impromptu trim session. 

Did I mention that I hate yard work?

LOL.  It's just one of those things that need to be done, and I'm the one that gets the lucky draw, every time.  What can I say?  It's hard, messy work.  In order to reach the branches to cut them off,  I have to hold those clippers above my head.  That can be tiring.  Not to mention that as the branches fall down, dirt from the tree goes all over the place (but mostly on me and in my hair), and the needles that protrude from the branches are very sharp and prickly. Ouch!

Today was interesting, however, because I noticed that where I trimmed the branches last time was now a total mess.  The clipped edges that remained had all petrified and now needed to be removed from the tree trunk.  It actually fell away quite easily when I scraped it off with a tool.  All the dead pieces, along with dirt and leaves that had built up there, simply fell to the ground. 

This was another confirmation of what lies ahead for me at that SOZO healing session scheduled for tomorrow morning  (See Day 115).   God gave me a living picture of how easy it is for dead stuff to build up and make a mess of something, and the importance of cleaning it off so that the tree can properly grow.  

It's just not healthy for 

that kind of build up to sit there...  

Not on the tree,  and not in me.

When I was done, I headed straight for the shower.  Yuk.  I couldn't wait to wash all that dirt off me!  I must admit though, the front of the house looks quite nice now.  What a difference!  (I told you that God often speaks the same thing to me in several ways so that I "get it").

After taking care of several business items, I left my office in my RED sandals and headed out to Adrienne's Salon for  a cut and color. For over ten years now,  I've been visiting Adrienne, every six weeks or so and she works her salon magic on me so that I look my best and face the world with confidence. 

Of course my confidence is in Christ... but Adrienne is a true friend that helps me with the externals.  LOL.  She is an awesome Sister-in-the-Lord and I always look forward to this special time of fellowship. Aside from her making me look great, we encourage one another;  testify of what God is doing in our lives;  and lift each other up in prayer!  Today, while I was there, a good friend popped in and testified of God's awesome presence at Church this past Sunday.  God knows our heart's desire and has that incredible way of just melting  us down at the altar.  God is moving in my friend's heart, to say the least!

After hugging Adrienne and thanking her for a wonderful afternoon, I headed off in my little car to my Home Fellowship Group for dinner and fellowship with friends.  Thirteen people were in attendance tonight. It was great!  We had at least thirteen different testimonies of God working in people's lives! 

One of my favorites ever, is when my dear friend walked out the front door of his house and smelled the beautiful fragrance of the Gardenia bush in full bloom. As he took in that wonderful aroma, God spoke to him right then and there, telling him that that's how He smells.  God is fragrant!  Think about it!  How awesome is that?

You know... I love my Home Fellowship Group.  It's a family.  It's my family!  Jim and Wendy are the hosts.  God is The Director.  His Holy Spirit is there amongst us as we build relationships with one another, read and discuss God's Word, testify of God's goodness, and pray for one another.  We eat together.  We learn together.  We laugh and cry together.  It's a good time!  It's a very good time.

I'm home now, and off to bed.

No more RED shoes today. 

Tomorrow awaits me.

See you then, 

Gail

Day 115

Day 115 of  The Red Shoe Project  was a work day!  Power washing the patio, was at the top of today's list of things to do.  I put on some old work clothes and RED flip flops,  grabbed the power washer  and headed outside.

Did I mention that I hate power washing?

That's what got me into this mess.  I haven't been faithful at power washing every season (for a couple years now)  and well, let's just say it was an ugly job!  Dirt built up all around the pool.  The nice white patio had become a dark brown.  We stopped going out there to sit. 

I have, however, been faithful (for quite some time now) at working with God at cleaning out my life. As the Holy Spirit has directed me, I've stopped doing things that were opposing my Christian character and putting a halt to my spiritual growth. I've chosen new friends that pull me towards God, not away from Him.  I'm participating in activities that include the Lord, instead of forcing Him to look the other way. I've closed off my eyes and ears to things that promote worldliness. And I've changed my diet to include spiritually nutritious foods like worship music, prayer, God's Word, and inspirational teaching. 

I know that you're thinking that this all sounds quite legalistic.  So let me just say this...  Like my patio, doing little to nothing to maintain my Christian character and growth didn't produce the results I wanted in my life.  Nobody ever said anything to me. After all,  it's not like I ever paraded people outside my home to see my disgusting, dirty patio and pool. And neither did I bring people into the depths of my heart to evaluate my degraded spiritual condition. But there comes a point when enough is enough. You just can't live that way anymore.  I humbled myself and asked God to forgive me of my sins and help me get back on track.

The Holy Spirit is the 

Ultimate Master of Power Washing 

when it comes to the Human Soul!

Experiencing the forgiveness of sins, (regardless of how big or small the job is), is a wonderfully cleansing occurrence.  No one can argue with that.  It's a good thing! But God requires me to actively participate in the maintenance plan that follows, that His work in my life is not in vain. Remember, this is a Divine Partnership.

Although I haven't  focussed on my backyard, the condition of my heart has been a priority for some time now.  It started with a step in the right direction.  The days turned to months, the months to years. All those little steps in the right direction added up to significant giant steps. I not only got back on track but I'm well down the road God has for me.

A month ago, God woke me up one morning and told me to go with my friend to a training class she was taking to learn about a Healing and Deliverance ministry called SOZO.  While there, He instructed me to sign up for a personal healing session, so I did.  It's happening this weekend.

After all that, I woke up one day, (today), and found myself power washing the patio.  Amidst the hours of moving the washer wand back and forth, back and forth, back and forth... God spoke to me.  He told me that He's seen all the work and effort I've made in what He's asked of me. And now He's going to bless me for it. He said that this SOZO session would be a magnificent internal power washing for me.  Any old build up that's still remaining from my old life will be blasted away by the super-natural power of His Spirit.  It will be so thorough, that I'll actually feel the difference.  Truly I will be walking in the newness of all that God offers.

In RED shoes, of course.

Gail

Day 114

Today was Day 114 of  The Red Shoe Project.  I was decked out in my black business suit and RED heels, and out the door at the break of dawn for a hospital board meeting.  As I was driving there, I caught a quick glimpse, in my
 mind, of "The BIG Picture."

It's always a little strange,  but totally intriguing when that happens.  For a moment, it's as if all the random details of my life come together and make sense.  I can see how they're all connected.
Then quite suddenly,  "POOF!"
The picture is gone!  I've lost it.

Immediately, I start trying to grab ahold of each detail in my memory and put the schematic back together piece by piece.  I want see it again!  I want to study it!  But it's near impossible.

I have a favorite game that I sometimes play when people come to my house.  It's called "The Tray Game."  Before anyone arrives, I take a large tray and position random items on it. Sometimes as many as 15 or more. I walk around slowly and let everyone take a good look at what's on the tray.  I put the tray away and ten or fifteen minutes later, I pass out some paper and pens, and ask people to write down, in detail, what they remember was on the tray.  When everyone is done,  I bring back the tray and we see who remembered the most and in the greatest detail!


I have a dear friend, Carolyn, who loves
to collage.  My idea of collage is a bunch of pictures cut out of magazines, pasted on a poster board, with some words added.  But that's not how Carolyn does it.
No  sir-eee!   She's an amazing artist, totally in tune to detail.  Her collages include paints, pens, markers, buttons, cards, glitter, ribbons, pics,  jewels, words, dates, poems, sayings, and more.

Every single item means something specific to her. 

"details" 

particulars, features, characteristics, 

attributes, specifics, aspects, facets, 

parts, units, components, pieces, elements.

Today the vision rested in my mind a little longer than usual.  I was able to remember a lot of the details.   I called a close friend and basically downloaded, on the spot,  "the BIG picture"  from memory.  The collage we put together consisted of things God had spoken to me from His Word;  promptings from Him in my heart;  specific incidences that occurred that somehow stood out;  remembrances of how God did things in the past;  similar prophetic utterances from different people;  tons of confirmations and reinforcements, anointed conversations, unique thoughts and divine wisdom.  

 WOW!  We were fascinated!  Could it really be?  Is that how all those random happenings are connected?   How crazy is that?  We could never, in a million years, put together such an intricate plan ourselves, but it all seems to make perfect sense.  We sat back and laughed, smiled... I even cried a little.  We prayed together, and released it all back into God's hands.   Time will tell if we got it right.  

Truly, God speaks in a variety of ways, and sometimes, like today, we can collage those details to see the Big Picture.

"For I know the plans I have for you,"

declares the Lord, 

"plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

plans to give you hope and a future."

Jeremiah 29:11

Kicking off my RED shoes for the night, 

and trusting God to bring it all together as 

He wills it.

Gail