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Exceedingly Abundantly Above |
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What a glorious God we
serve! What a beautiful Bridegroom we have! Full of love and grace, showering
down every good gift! When I arrived in Kansas
City, I was overwhelmed by the goodness of God - staying at such a beautiful
house, with such wonderful people who also have a call of God to Africa. I
would lie in the bathtub with tears on my face, that God would allow me to
stay here. Everything just such a huge blessing! Getting to drink milk again,
and eat cheese, and have people around you who love the Lord and love you. People would comment on
how good I look - of course, with all the joy and excitement of being back,
of seeing my friends again, being in God's house again, having corporate
worship again. The night I arrived in Kansas City, I just had to go right
away to the International House of Prayer (IHOP - where they have 24/7
praise and worship) to be with God. And then I went back to the church I had
been a part of during Bible School, and worship was so glorious I just
dropped to the floor and wept and wept. How I had missed worshipping the Lord
in Spirit and truth with hundreds of other Christians! And then I got to be
at the church I love, with people I love, including my former teacher Jill
Austin, and I wept more on their floor. And I'd continue at IHOP, on their
floor. And then I saw my precious friends who lead the Healing Rooms there,
and got to pour out again like in "old times". I've now been in Kansas
City for two weeks, and they have been tremendous weeks! I've been really
busy, meeting with friends or with God. It's so awesome seeing all these
precious friends and people of God again, getting to share and fellowship,
and there's still quite a few more I haven't seen yet. And today I'm writing you
to share a HUGE thing the Lord has done, just days after I arrived here, and
it's a financial miracle. Last week, I accompanied
my friend to his class at Faith Bible College which is the school I
got my doctorate from last year. I wanted to talk to the director about
teaching their materials in Mali, and that wonderful school that is there to
serve and to give gave me the whole one-year certificate course materials as
a gift. So, next year I will be teaching Simeon and Emmanuel, and after
completing all 12 courses they will receive a certificate from Faith Bible
College. The challenge (time-consuming!) will be to translate all the
courses. Praise God! I'm so excited about this! After our conversation, I
sat in class which the director - Dr. Nick - taught. At the end of the
two-hour class he said that God had been speaking to him the whole class to
do something he had never done before. I was called up front and Dr. Nick
said a few words about what I'm doing and asked people to give. One student
after the other came forward and put money in my hands, many of them really
moved by Holy Spirit. It was so awesome, and I was deeply touched. What they
didn't know was that I had no money left at that time. After they prayed for me,
I was talking to a lady who asked me about Mali and the needs we have. I
mentioned the car we desperately needed, plus the property/building we'll be
getting. As I mentioned the car and huge amount of money we'd need right
away, another lady listening in suddenly said, "Now I know! It's for
you! I have something in the car for you!" So she left and came back
with a check in her hand. Then she explained, "This morning I closed a
deal, and I was asking God what the money was for, and He said it was for a
car. I didn't understand because I have a car and I don't need a car. So when
I heard you talking I suddenly realized that it's not MY car but YOUR
car." Then she handed me the check. I looked at the number on that check
and could barely believe my eyes. It said $30,000. WOW! I was absolutely
overwhelmed! The fear on the Lord was immediately on me, that God would
entrust me with so much. This is God's money, and it's God's vision and God's
work in Mali, and it was so awesome to see him start putting things in place,
because a vision cannot always stay a vision - it has to become a reality. And
here He provided a very important first step. I got so excited thinking of
how that money would enable us to take God's kingdom to Mali and the Malians!
So, right now I'm looking into what the best way is to get a car, since many
missionaries import their cars and customs are very high. Whenever God does
something huge, the enemy comes to challenge it. The devil sure doesn't want
us to go to the villages to preach the gospel, or preach it anywhere else. And
during my first week here I would always feel like failure whenever I'd come
into God's presence. Yes, I'm weak, but that's when His strength can be made
perfect, and that's when there is no way I could get any credit for what He
is doing. This year I have found my limits, seen my weaknesses and
shortcomings, but the Lord is not looking for perfect vessels. He is looking
for WILLING vessels and OBEDIENT vessels who LOVE Him and care ONLY about
Him. So though I'm weak and fail, His power and His Spirit can work through
me. I thank Him that He keeps killing my flesh and pride and making me the
vessel He can use for His glory. Because huge things are ahead, and I just
happen to be one who said YES when He was looking for someone. So, all to
say, this huge miracle was like God saying, I know you are weak, but let's
move on, because there is much ahead to get ready for, and you can't afford
allowing the enemy putting condemnation on you. And now I'm asking you,
my friends, to stand with me in prayer, because the enemy is trying to rob
that money for God's work in Mali. What happened? I went to cash the check
and couldn't (the American banking system is very different from the Austrian
one - much more complicated). The only solution is for that lady to write out
a check to my name. So I went back to Bible College today to return the check
and get a new one, but she couldn't give me a new one. She said that if she
has to put the money first into her account, it's more complicated, because
then she has to first talk to her husband and get his approval, and he won't
like it at all. She said that she doesn't know how much she'll be able to
give me that way. Later she said she might be able to do it through her son. In
any case she asked me to pray - for wisdom how to do it, and favor with her
husband. And she did say again that she knew that God wanted me to have that
money. So, please pray this next
week! I'm meeting with her for lunch in one week, and by then it will have
been decided. I refuse to let the enemy steal God's money - and we have the
power to stand up against him because of Jesus' victory. There is more the Lord
has already done in these two weeks in Kansas City, and I will surely tell
you about it another time. God is awesome, and He
longs to pour out His glory and establish His kingdom in this earth! All He
needs is.... us. Glory to our awesome
King! Claudia ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tel. (+223) 220 0311 IMPORTANT: Don't write my name on
the check, but add a note that it's for me. In Europe: https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=office%40glorywebservices.com&item_name=Claudia+Wintoch&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD |