TINY ROCK, BUT HUGE HEAVENLY FATHER

The Lord laid this story on me some months ago to lay it out to all of you, but I didn't do it.  NOW, I am.  After driving around and about today, focusing on the Lord and worshiping was my goal.  I sang my dear "God-songs" for a couple hours.  Came home now, and this was dropped in solidly.  So now I'm obeying Him.

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Near Susan's, photo she took, 2010. I live in Omaha, Nebraska, but I'm a heart-filled northern Minnesota person. Have many dear friends who live there and we have become spiritual warfare "families".

In September of 2006, I went up to northern Minnesota to stay at Susan's and connect with spiritual warfare people who I had already been connected with when I was up there a few months earlier.  They were on their prayer walks already and had hit Highway 2 from Grand Forks, North Dakota. Their goal was to walk all the way from there to Duluth, Minnesota, the east side of Minnesota.  They broke into specific divisions and walked a few miles each, the van driver going around and about and picking up and transferring.  It was a significant issue to switch around and take-turns process.  

I was able to catch up to them the morning after my arrival.  They had already walked the equivalent of about 100 miles.  I drove my car where they would connect to me near Bemidji, which was a bit less of that long distance they'd already gone through, because a leader wanted to show me where they had gone, what they had done.  I don't remember if I walked much that day, but we spent the night at a church location east of Bemidji by about 40 miles.  The next day I had a co-walking, co-driving new friend given to me by them.  Kathy would drop me off to walk, would drive 2 miles, park my car.  Then she'd get out and walk 2 miles.  Eventually,  I'd get to my car and drive the next stretch, passing by her, and waving and honking, and then would park in that 2-mile distance and begin my walk.  We did stop a bit to talk about the spiritual issues that concerned us on that section of the highway.  

From Bemidji to Duluth was approximately 150 miles.  We all continued to stop in towns, meet pastors, Christian school leaders/teachers, and share the spiritual reality with them and they with us.  We stayed in wonderful places usually and were blessed with food.  So, this went on for about 4 days, as I recall.

One of the things Kathy and I started doing, was to clean up the side of the highway while walking.  I had plastic trash bags, and we filled my trunk with them and dropped them at towns.  People seemed to be pleased while driving past, honked, and clapped, and one of the blessing was that some of the "trash" was also connected to "spiritual" garbage, too.

Late on the 2nd day, I had one very serious physical problem that had never occurred before.  My ankles and feet swelled so significantly I could hardly walk easily.  I did, but it was difficult. At night, usually, a church-related nurse wherever we were staying, would wrap my ankles tightly and have me sleep on a couch where my feet could be placed up.  And many prayed for me.  However, I... was...scared!  Truly was. [A few days later, when at Susan's and a doctor giving instructions, it was fully healed.]

When we reached Duluth, while on the west edge having had a wonderful lunch time with a youth pastor and his wife and some of the youth, we then actually stopped walking and rode into town and went to a hotel.  We all continued to have a blessed night.  In fact, I even took a couple of the ladies interested in paintings up the hills to see my Duluth artist friend, Jackie. What a treat!

This was in November, 2012, when Dave and I visited them.

 

This is the first one Dave and I purchased in 2002

 The next day, because, even though they were living forever in northern Minnesota, a couple of the ladies, who were farmers, had never been to see the Lake.  For most of the morning, I led everyone from Duluth to a few of the state parks that were north.  They all  enjoyed seeing the cliffs, the wonderful hills with piles of trees, seeing the Lake's waves coming in and moving around.  Everyone, even those who had been to the North Shore before, really loved this time together.

 The last place I led them to is, basically, my favorite place, Tettegouche State Park.  Haven't been able to go there for a couple years now, because it was ruined by a huge storm and is being recovered along with much that was ruined on that highway for many, many miles.  I have lots of rocks from there that I picked up when I first was taken by my husband in 1990.  

My first time at Tettegouche.  Loved it!

And the rocks are usually about the size of my hand.  Or a bit larger or a lot larger.  [One of my addictions.]

However, that day, while sitting on a pile of the rocks by the water and looking out at the lake, I glanced to my side and a rock was put into my heart immediately by the Lord.  It was NOT large.  But it looked like a heart.  I brought it home when I returned from Minnesota about 3 weeks later.  [My husband came up a couple weeks later for a spiritual conference that I was blessed to be involved with.  Then, after a few more days, we went home.]  I took the rock with me, and it has been on a side table in the living room. Always is. 

 I significantly think of the rock as a spiritual gift, a reminder of what and how we were serving the Lord in a very heavy and spiritual time.  I can't spend too much time talking about the spiritual line-crossing we did in certain places, but it was not an easy bit and piece some of the time during the walking and at churches at night.  I do know we opened doors and pastors warned us about where to NOT walk, what to watch out for, and when to not take our attention away from what was in front of us.  It was an intense stretch of time, believe me.

When I look at or touch that rock, day by day, I always remember the walking, the prayer times, the spiritual warfare, the friends [old and new ones], and how the Lord worded to us, warned to us, and poured blessings upon us.

Overall, a wonderful time.  Intense? Yes.  But, as I mentioned wonderful is that true?  YES!!!