Journal of Joy ~ Mobile, Biloxi and Gulfport, Alabama & Slidell, Louisiana ~ June 18, 2006 ~ FATHER's Day
The morning held a couple of surprises. One filled with delight - a very unusual and beautiful Ring of Glory gift from my FATHER, which was immediately followed by a not so lovely surprise. I heard the sound of someone screaming, when I realized it was me in response to the huge wolf spider running across the tile floor. Diana calmly and peacefully arose and squished it as I screamed. Had we not been praying over Wolf Bay just a few hours before I might have just overlooked it as the norm for Alabama. My spirit witnessed something different than the norm as spiders are usually a warning to me...so I prayed fervently before we gathered for the departing photo. Jan blew the Shofar before the Georgia girls departed. I was just amazed as I did not know that she had a Shofar. So, of course the Shofar must accompany us to Mississippi and Louisiana. None of us could blow it, but we were taking it on faith. The Georgia Girls - Lissa and Doris were on their way to Georgia and Brenda, Diana and I were on our way to Slidell, Mississippi where Brenda lives. Diana graciously arose very early to go and borrow a suitable vehicle for our trip and was the chauffeur for the trip in addition to supernaturally sounding the Shofar across the land. We did not leave until 11:35 AM because...well...as you know....sometimes goodbyes take awhile. Smiles.
We drove through Mobile, Alabama along Hwy 90 and prayed over the USS Alabama, then through Pascagoula and on to Biloxi. We drove along the Gulf of Mexico where hurricane Ivan and Katrina had left their mark of destruction on the land. Arriving in Louisiana on August 29, 2005 hurricane Katrina was the most deadly storm since 1928 with an estimated 1,836 fatalities and winds up to 175 mph. Ivan arrived just under a year earlier on September 16, 2004. Mercy JESUS ...and hurricane Dennis visited in between those two.
Signs along the way: JOY 225, White Lion, Gold Intrepid, JESUS is LORD, Welcome to Mississippi, It is like Coming Home at 12:58, 1111 (Hebrews 11:11)
We stopped in Biloxi to pour out oil along the beach and pray over the land. The first artifact that I found in the sand was an angel wing.
The prophetic names of the oils are: We poured out the following five anointing oils:
HIS Justice! Anointing Oil
HIS 58 Covenant Blessings! Anointing Oil
HIS Holy Righteous and Pure Fire! Anointing Oil
HIS Pentecost Fire! Anointing Oil
HIS Crown and Key! Anointing Oil
After I had poured out some of the oil and prayed, I noticed a heart in the sand. It was the remnant of a heart ring with very clearly a bruise on the heart. And I thought about how many hearts were bruised by this storm. Many seasons in my life were very stormy, and I had this saying on my office wall for a long time, "The things you learn in storms, you will never learn anywhere else."
Then I noticed a piece of fabric buried in the sand, and found it to be a red linen table napkin...as I had just released the Linen Napkin Story the day before, this seemed very relevant. Immediately I knew in my spirit the heart ring, the napkin, and the angel wing would be a part of the next Glory Ring for the State of Mississippi. Then Diana found another napkin (double portion) and a motel key - room 168 was added (16 is symbolic of the FATHER's Love and 8 is for New Beginning's) so I prayed for our FATHER's Love and HIS New Beginnings to come to Mississippi immediately.
The angels were hovering around us and for those of you with eyes to see, you will readily recognize them in the photos. Diana sounded the Shofar across the waves and throughout the heavens beckoning the fullness of the Power, Peace and Presence of GOD to inhabit Mississippi.
We had returned the flags to Becky, so we did not have them on this Prayer Journey. We continued along the Gulf of Mexico, with Brenda leading and Diana and I forming the rear-guard. As a visitor a year later, there is no way for me to begin to comprehend the devastation. As many places are the same as they were a day after the storm - ravaged, barren, devastated, empty and annihilated.
Along the way, we stopped in Biloxi at a mall and ate lunch at the Piccadeli, a buffet style restaurant. The waitress lightly touched my shoulder as she walked by and the only word that crossed my lips was, "JESUS?" Diana looked at me. I said, "Mercy, she is so anointed." When she returned we visited a bit. Brenda was inspired of the Holy Spirit to give her a CD and the LORD directed us to give her a love offering. I was simply undone and amazed that the LORD would choose someone so quickly for the Mississippi Glory Ring....especially one who waited on tables in light of the linen napkins HE had already provided from the ocean shore.
We arrived in Slidell, Louisiana in the late afternoon and went to Brenda's home where she is standing with her Glory Ring from the workshop. Even though 80% of Slidell was flooded at the hand of Katrina, Brenda's home was untouched. Simply a miracle of GOD. We poured out HIS 58 Covenant Blessings Anointing Oil at Brenda's and prayed over her household.
Try to imagine the first and/or second floor of your dwelling place being blown a mile or so down the road....and what it feels like to go and search through the rubble strewn across the land for one single thread of your life, your memories, your treasures...simple things like a photograph. Then try to imagine that without any savings account or insurance or any possible way to rebuild.
We went to the shores of Lake Pontchartrain to pour out Anointing Oil. Cindy, a friend of Brenda's joined us. The second bottle of oil formed a "Tree of Life" on the water (Ezekiel 47:12 and Revelation 22:1-2). I was so overwhelmed by the grief in the land that I really needed the Holy Spirit to SHOW me how to pray. HE IS BEYOND FAITHFUL! I asked Brenda and Cindy to pour out the last bottle of Anointing Oil as it is their land and they were survivors of the storm. Diana sealed our time of prayer and intercession with the sound of the Shofar and I danced (on the enemy's head) with her Glory Ring....the flags of blue and white diamonds from heaven!
As we were leaving, Diana noticed the tree coming back to life with just a few leaves...the promise of GOD's word manifested. We stopped by Cindy's home and took a brief tour as she is a very anointed and gifted artist and poured out HIS Justice Anointing Oil on her land. Cindy's husband died three years ago with cancer. She and her two children survived hurricane Katrina two years later.
We arrived in Foley, Alabama that night at 10:10 PM - trusting fully for the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY to bring the fullness of HIS ABUNDANT, OVERFLOWING LIFE THROUGH THE RESURRECTION POWER OF JESUS CHRIST to every place we walked and drove this day.
Heartfelt thanks to Brenda and Diana the faithful ones, the radical intercessors of HIS Glory Ring Ministries and Christians United Ministries.
I remain humbled to be a part of this prayer journey...