Wonderful Wednesday Prayers

Father, that I may walk in Spirit and in truth, with heart, mind, body and spirit, and that I utilize every gift You have given me for Your glory. That I may fulfill Your assignment, Your call, Your purpose, Your destiny upon my life, being sure of my call and election for Your glory. That I may be continually growing closer to You, never grieving the Spirit, but cooperating fully, with courage, love, faith, and hope always, for Your glory: this I pray today, in Jesus' name,
Amen

Tuesday Quotes

In the command to do the miraculous we find the key, "Freely you have received, freely give" (Matt. 10:8). we can give away kingdom in the measure we experience the King's domain within us. What reigns on the inside rains on the outside.

Bill Johnson

Wonderful Wednesday Prayers

O Father in Jesus' name,
I pray that You would continually bless me with ears like Samuel, wisdom like Solomon as he followed and pleased You, eyes open to Your dimension like Elijah, Elisha, Ezekiel, Daniel, O God, and a heart that is fully pleasing to You, I ask. Be glorified in this, as I humbly bring this request before Your throne of grace. Thank You, Father, in Jesus' name,
Amen

Tuesday Quotes

Posture is to prayer as tone is to communication. If words are what you say, posture is how you say it.

Mark Batterson

Wonderful Wednesday Prayers

Father, help me to bear YOUR burden alone, and no other, for Jesus' sake and glory.
Amen


I am bearing a burden for God and Him alone. Will you help me achieve the dream attached?

Dreaming of a Journey

Everyone has been through something… a trial of some sort. Everyone has to decide at some point what they truly believe in, and what is important to them. This project, Journey to a Thousand Voices, is all about helping people come to deeper realizations about who they are, Whose they are, and what they believe. It’s about learning from the experiences of others, and how we come to believe what we do. So, whether you have a story of overcoming insurmountable odds, of finding strength in weakness, of coming to a major ah-ha moment in your life… Journey to a Thousand Voices may also be an opportunity for you to share YOUR voice.

Follow your heart! Follow your north star!
My own photo.

Hello there, friends, family, and blog readers from around the globe... as many of you know, my name is Harmony, and I have a dream. It’s a simple yet profound dream, really: travel to spend time with a minimum of 1000 people in as many places as I am able, given resources, to listen to the stories within their hearts. At the same time, I’d like to do some acts of kindness along the way and photograph the Journey, blogging my experience and the takeaways from each conversation. With Journey to a Thousand Voices, it is my goal to really get to listen to the heartbeat of the people, the life stories, the challenges and triumphs, the victories over trials that have tried to wipe us out. 

My photo. Standing in the sun.

Tonight, I wanted to tell you a little more about the Journey to a Thousand Voices project I've been asking for help and contributions for. I hope it will clarify a few things and help you, too, become passionate about world change.

My goal for this Journey, ultimately, is to visit with and listen to the stories of a minimum of 1000 people in at least 8 states and 4 countries, capture some amazing photograph, and do some random acts of kindness. Make the Journey unforgettable, life-changing, and therefore world changing. With YOUR help, I'll be able to do just that, and you'll have played a part in helping define history fr the next generation to come.

The more I am able to raise, the more diversity there can be, and the more diversity, the more people will be helped in the broader sense. The more diversity there is the more in-tune we can ALL become with what is happening in our world today in the lives of people just like us. What lessons will we learn along the way? How will our beliefs be strengthened or stretched?

People need HOPE. They need to be able to share their experiences in a safe manner, knowing their listener will respect them, no matter what. I believe my quest to begin – and fulfill – Journey to a Thousand Voices is a vehicle for that to occur.

As a Christian, writer, life coach, and photographer, I understand the power of words, of story, of image, and of authenticity – all important aspects of this Journey. I have extensively studied to prepare myself for such an experience, and was inspired to this end while in grad school at Warner Pacific College, where I looked at the intersection of faith, healing, and creativity. I have also been inspired by the lives of many whom I have had the absolute privilege to meet and get to know through my work with women and children who have endured varying crises, and through varying ministry opportunities and experiences. I have a passion for helping people to become the best selves they possibly can be as they overcome obstacles and obstructions of life and walk into their destinies.

 Will you help me fulfill this Journey? Will you become part of the support team for this endeavor? 

 

I would greatly appreciate it!  

 

You might be asking, What's in it for ME?  I'm glad you asked! 

--Follow my journey via a variety of social media outlets.

--Cool postcards and/or photos along the way for those helping fund the project in amounts over $200.

--Big gratitude, e-thanks, handwritten thanks, Facebook updates, and thank yous posted on the blog I will use for this Journey. (That would be THIS blog!)

--Some of you will have the opportunity to become part of the 1000 I talk with for the blog.

--Depending on how much is raised, those who become part of the 1000 will get to meet with me in some pretty special places! And where it is a group meeting, you have the opportunity to be part of group photos for the blog, too.

--For those who would rather not meet in person, there is a ChocolateThanks option, where I send you some pretty fancy chocolate as part of my thanks. There’s also a pretty cool Glittery Thanks option, which has a one of a kind necklace as part of the thank you. 

 

Why is Journey to a Thousand Voices So Important?

--People can share their stories, which is a cathartic act, leading to healing.

--Readers can follow stories and learn from the lessons of other people's lives.

--Photography of the Journey makes the experience more holistic and fluid. It helps bring the stories to life, while helping others discover the beauty of the world around them.

--Journey to a Thousand Voices is one step in a bigger whole for me. My ultimate goal is to listen to 10,000 stories over the next 10 to 12 years.

--This is a way I can share the unconditional love of Jesus Christ with those around me, no matter who they are, their background, or what they believe.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7 tells us that "Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. "

This is a way that YOU can be a cheerful giver, and so can I. For out of the giving of many, the giving TO many can become a reality!

Thank you for taking the time to read through this, and for your consideration, prayers, contributions, and passings-along of this project, Journey to a Thousand Voices. May it bless all who help prepare the way, beyond measure!

Another Tuesday Quotes

Prayer and praise are both expressions of faith, but praise is a higher dimension of faith. Prayer is asking God to do something, future tense; praise is believing that God has already done it, past tense.

Mark Batterson

Dreamer's Watch, Part 3: The Gift in You

As some of you know, I have become a bit of a Dr. Caroline Leaf enthusiast.

For those of you new to my writing, Dr. Leaf is a Christian, brain scientist, and the author of two books (The Gift in You and Who Switched Off My Brain?) and has a third on the way.

In reading The Gift in You, I've gained a lot of insight into how i think, and therefore, how I dream... and why I dream the way that I do, to some extent. And I find that super exciting...

There is a test in the book that looks at the differing ways people think... looking at what Dr. Leaf calls the Seven Pillars of Thinking, which correspond with the seven pillars of wisdom we read about in the book of Proverbs.

So, what were my results?

My thinking profile... the gift in me... shows that I think in this particular order:
Linguistically
Intrapersonally
Musically
Kinesthetically
Visually/Spacially
Interpersonally
Logically/Mathematically

Linguistic is at the top.. way up there, and logical/mathematical is way down at the bottom. The rest of them all run between 65 and 53.33%.

So, in layman's terms, I think first in words, then I introspect, music tagging along close behind. Then, I have to begin to move as I think, which allows me to see what I'm thinking about, which allows me to communicate it inter-personally, and then, at the end of my thought processing, patterning and other elements of logic/mathematics comes into play.

weheartit.com

So, what does this mean for the dreaming and visioning experience? In itself, it changes nothing going into my mind, but it DOES help me to control what I keep in there... and how I choose to think about it. This goes as much for a dream or vision as for any other thought.

 Dr. Leaf writes, "Thoughts are active: They grow and change. Thoughts influence every decision, word, action and physical reaction we make. A thought may seem harmless. But if it becomes toxic, even just a simple thought can become physically, emotionally or spiritually dangerous."

"Are you paying attention to what words you are saying and what words you are receiving into your spirit?
    Words reflect the thoughts and emotions of the speaker because every word was first a thought and an emotion," she further writes.

So, can you see how important this is to our dream-life, and to other gifts of the Spirit? We must be careful, as Prophet Kim Clement also says, to accept into ourselves only that which doesn't defile us... that which is not going to be toxic in the long-run, or the short.

What does that have to do with the patterns we think through, you may be asking...

If we know the pattern we think through, we can gain better insight into watching what thoughts finish this loop. every thought you have retained has gone through the specified loop, the gift in you. every one of us has a different and unique thinking pattern and set of memories which we filter all the information we encounter through... whether it be information from the world around us spiritually or physically.

For me, that means that, having an understanding of my spiritual gifts, personality, and the way I think, I am better able to understand how God created me and how He works through me as an individual within the whole, the body of Christ. It means knowing I was born to be a dreamer.

More on Dreams

For those of you who are really interested in DREAMS, stay tuned not only to THIS blog, but to the dreams tab over at The Color of Faith. I'm starting to write about dreams there, some, too. :)

Wonderful Wednesday Prayers

This is a prayer my SISTER wrote, actually, and it has been on the wall for a while now... I thought today that I would share it with you.

Lord,

Today, let me live every moment for Your glory and all that is in You. Fill me afresh with Your Holy Spirit. Let me live out Your love. Fill me with a hunger to know You better, for Your Word, and Godly wisdom and revelation. Today, let me not hurt anyone. Meet today's needs today. Protect me from all evil and let me not yield into temptation. Save me from myself, my fleshly desires. Lead me in the way I should go. In Jesus' name I pray,
Amen

Tuesday Quotes

Disappointment is like dream defibrillation. If we can respond to it the right way, disappointment can actually restore our prayer rhythm and resurrect our dream.

Mark Batterson

Shofar Rain

So, lately, two things have really stood out in my dreams... including in the wee hours of the morning today.

One has been the sound of the shofar, and the other has been rain.

Last night, though, the rain was a lot different... and after a while, it turned into snow, but the snow was unlike anything you've ever seen before. If anyone out there has ideas of what meaning it might have, I'd appreciate it...

It was somewhere around maybe 4:30 this morning, and for the third time, I had the same dream of the night; almost more like a vision in how it felt.

It was raining liquid silver drops, and I was standing there, face to the sky, soaking it up. To me, I knew this was being bathed, soaked in God's love.

Here's where it got interesting... not only that time, but at least once more last night: the rain began to change consistency, and when it was all snow, I heard the sound of a shofar blowing teki'ah (one long blast) and somehow knew it was a Yemeni shofar. The next thing I knew, I was face to face with a Great White Lion with the name Judah stamped (tattooed) across His forehead) - the first time I have seen a tattoo on Him as a Lion. His eyes were a bright sea green... so bright, yet stormy with emotion, like the Pacific in a storm. Three times, He roared, and the sound was deafening; it was frightening and yet I knew I would be just fine.

weheartit.com

As the snow was continuing to fall, I noticed a faint "bell" sound. Not wanting to look away from the eyes of the Lion, I tried to concentrate on the flakes falling between us, and here is what I saw: each and every snowflake had a tiny bell in the center, surrounded by a Star of David, surrounded by the frilly fringe of the snowflake. All was not white... the bell was silver, the Star a silvery-blue, and the rest - the outside - of the flake, a purest white. And as the snow began to accumulate on the head of the Lion of Judah, He began to shine, more and more, the more snow fell... as though the snow were giving Him even more strength and purity than He had to begin with.

Just as I was waking up, the Lion turned into a Man, and there was light coming from His hands, and fire from His feet... the fire and light came toward me and it was as though it swallowed me. This part, I understand to mean being swallowed up in God, in His love, in His destiny for my life, covered in the Spirit and made ready for His purposes to come.

I woke up wondering if the snow was a symbol of God bringing Israel back to Himself, into Jesus, or whether it meant something else.

It's Independence Day once more...

It's Independence Day once more... the 4th of July. :)

These past weeks, I have been thankful to have the time to work toward my dreams and goals, which I believe are pretty well God-led.

Today, I marked Independence Day with a mini-celebration of my own, as last evening, I finished an acceptable video for my Kickstarter project, and at this point I'm just waiting to find out their decision on a go-ahead date. It's exciting!

At the same time, I went to a barbecue with some very special loved ones, and one of the ladies who was there was in some recent dreams. I dreamed she was back, but didn't know she was, and then, there she was. lol

This is a woman who has been a missionary nurse in a variety of places, and whom I find to be just awesome. It was a wonderful time just sitting down with her, among others, and chatting, catching up. I hadn't seen her in about 12 years or so, we figured out, and that sounded about right.

I had one of my less than 10 sodas a year, a Virgil's Root Beer (and I didn't even share it with the Virgil who was there). lol

A woman I used to work for was also there, and she was in some dreams of mine last week, too, so it was good to catch up also with her.

I'm finding that more often than not lately, if God has someone from my past in a dream, about three-quarters of the time, I've either run into them directly (either in person or online), or someone else has mentioned them within a couple of weeks of the dream. It's been really pretty fascinating, since that is a newer trend I've noticed.

Anyway, enough about me.

Happy 4th of July to you all!! How did you celebrate?

WeHeartit.com
Happy Independence Day!

UPDATE, July 9th--

As 1 in every 4 Kickstarters that is presented, mine was declined. I am going back to reframe it, and might break the project up between two different sites...

Wonderful Wednesday Prayers

O Father of Lights,

Light up my world, and help me light the world around me for Your glory this week! You are the Light of the word, and we are meant to show You off and shine for You. Help me to SHINE for Your glory, and not my own. Thank You, in Jesus' name,
Amen

Tuesday Quotes

...if you aren't willing to put yourself in "this is crazy" situations, you'll never experience "this is awesome" moments. If you aren't willing to run off the cliff, you'll never fly....You can't not pray when you are running off a cliff. The same is true when we take a flying leap of faith.

Mark Batterson

I Recommend...

I've been able to spend time catching up some on reading, and I thought it'd be nice to more succinctly recommend some of the best of the books I've read in the past few months. (All book cover photos from GoodReads, unless otherwise noted)

So, without further ado...

Outrageous Courage is about one woman's story of overcoming fear to walk into her destiny. Really a wonderful read!

The Gift in You. I'll discuss this book in a bit more detail later, but needless to say, it's very helpful for allowing people to better understand not only how they think, but the unique sequence that their own brain takes to thinking properly.

The Happy Intercessor. Beni is a delightful author and her story is relatable. I totally enjoyed this read, because it deepened my understanding of one of my giftings.

Culture of Honor, by Danny Silk Probably in the top twenty books to really impact my own life in the last fifteen years, Culture of Honor looks at how to build and sustain an environment where God is honored, and so are people. In this way, God is free to do the supernatural through His people.

Mark Batterson's The Circle Maker will truly change your life if you let it. This is for anyone wanting to learn more about prayer in general, and prayer for the issues that raise their ugly heads in our lives in particular.

Really good to read along with The Happy Intercessor and The Gift in You, The Supernatural Power of a Transformed mind is an awesome read!

Dreaming With God, by Bill Johnson, is bound to become a classic for those who really want to take things to the next level, and goes well with the books of James Goll and Kim Clement, aside from the rest of his own, Kris Vallatton's, and Danny Lee Silk's.

Jim Goll's The Seer is one of the best books I have ever read on the gifting of the prophetic, and in particular the gift of the seer prophetic.

In Hosting the Presence, Bill Johnson looks at how we are to interact and cooperate with the Holy Spirit in order to help live more fulfilling lives in the body of Christ.

RC Sproul, Jr's wonderful little book, The Call to Wonder, looks at regaining childlike wonder in one's life. It's a great read for those who tend to take themselves too seriously at times.

Randy Alcorn's little book, The Grace and Truth Paradox, is really great to read around the same time as The Call to Wonder and The Happy Intercessor. The three seem to really mesh well with their ways of thinking and therefore they would be good to read within the same month, probably.

Chip Ingram's Living on the Edge looks at the effects of living out Romans chapter 12 in our every day lives. A very inspiring test to ponder and then, make a move!

For those who are lovers of all things Madeline L'Engle, this gem of a book is what I am reading as I type this. It is reflections on the book of Genesis, and has been quite fascinating thus far... A Circle of Quiet and Walking on Water are also two really great L'Engle texts you might enjoy!

Great to read along with Outrageous Courage, Undaunted, by Christine Caine, is a life-changing book for those seeking to deepen their faith walk with Jesus Christ.

I read this months prior to Outrageous Courage and Undaunted, but still, Bethany Hamilton's testimonial autobiography, Soul Surfer, is an amazing read. If I had planned it out, I would have read all three together, then The Happy Intercessor and so forth from there. Great book!

I DID read The Risk Factor: Crossing the Chicken Line into Your Supernatural Destiny at the same time as Soul Surfer, and the two were quite compatible.  Kevin and Chad Dedmon are quite inspiring in this test, and if there were a sequel, I'd definitely read it!

Inspired by their song of the same title, Matt and Beth Redman's Blessed By Your Name, while a short book, is packed with a lot of power and insight. An awesome read, especially if you're going through a trial at the time of reading.

This image found at Amazon, as goodreads.com had none. Anyway, Leroy Eims' Prayer: More Than Words is one of the best books on prayer I think I've read in about ten years. Powerful and to the point. It's a few years older than most of these on my list, but I'm quite glad I read it!


While I've got more than these read recently, I thought this was a really good starter list for those new to Christianity, or who are looking to gain a closer walk with Jesus or deepening their presencing with the Holy Spirit.