February 16, 2009

Since the day I gave my life to the Lord I have thought about families restored. Even now we seem to be in a season of this.

Have you ever thought about the power of family? About the power of seeing a family come together in the power of God? About seeing families transformed? Communities shaken?

Since day 1, I have believed for transformation. At that time of my salvation I was losing my family. I was the product of a broken home. Alcohol, drugs, etc.. Over the years I have ministered to more broken people than I care to think about. All I wanted to see was restoration. I subscribed to everything that related to family. I wanted to unravel my life experience. Only this year Tina and I celebrated our 16th anniversary. Pretty impressive for ones who were both on our third marriage.

And I knew that it required the power of prayer.

And the Lord gave me a word one day while I was praying. Family Altars. Initially, I thought it was about evangelism. And I went out more than I had before. Right up my alley. And then the Lord told me he was talking about real altars. Interesting. My background as a witch caused me much problems here. Altars were always part of everything we did. I sold them in our stores and I must say I struggled with this new revelation. As a believer, I came up with all the reasons why and then all the reasons why not. I have had people tell me it is religious, etc..

But during the last few months, the Lord has been returning me to the "why" of what He had spoken to my heart. And a few weeks ago it happened very strongly during a church service. I was standing there during worship "minding my own business." I began to shake a little and cry. I could sense the drawing power of the Lord. I saw liquid oil. I saw the tabernacle. I saw the altar. "I think this is real." That was my thought. I shared with a few of my friends. The Lord caused me to go through a journey of altars by rereading the Old Testament. I was in the "battle" again. There were many reasons I fought it. Over the years I have told others of this vision. I had spoken to 5 believers about this project during the years since the vision was given. Weird things happened to them. One trashed his life, another died and the others could not see clear to it. There have been many false starts over the years. But something continues to pour into me about this.

And so a few weeks ago, I began to look for a person to help. I hired a man, but he decided he could not do it. And then I found another. The last few weeks he has been diligent, but as he told me yesterday, he got really sick. (And that he thought about what I had told him about one person dying.) So, last week in church I prayed for him and renewed my commitment to pray and find others to pray for him.

As of yesterday, one of the 3 altar styles was completed and looked great. It is a "table top" model. He will be working on the "coffee table" model and then the kneeling altar. (We even discussed a smaller model for children.") Upon completion, he is going to work with a few companies that will create and construct these pieces. These companies will supply things like choices of woods, finish, etc.. From the completion of the pieces, they will be taken to place where they will be prayed over 7 days (The purification of the altar.) I am also in the process of getting a company that will offer a laser cut piece to go in the front if desired, as well as a company that will make a "professionally" done wood burned piece that can be personalized. This panel may be scenes of altars from scriptures, etc..

These will soon be available and we will contacting various ministries, etc., for distribution.

It is our prayer and belief that lives will be touched community by community, state by state, region by region. It is our desire that families will return to the "altar" to pray for one another and their communities.

It is a "funny thing" but as we tell people they get excited about the fact that America would return to her roots. I live in a community where the only documented revival in Vermont took place. I believe we can change things with God, because God is able.

Blessings,
Lee

Thanks for taking time to read this.