Bend Oregon

The following is something i wrote about 3 months before i moved to Bend. I feel them same about Bend now as i did then. Perhaps this will fill in some blanks for your thoughts as to WHY exactly did she move to little Bend Oregon....

Bend Oregon
Hebrews 11:1
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

This is the first verse I recorded as a verse that I believe the Lord showed me in regards to Bend Oregon in my life! The second is equally important:

Romans 5:5
“And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

Vision
“You must allow your mind to wander outside the boundaries of what is and begin to create a mental picture of what could be.” –Andy Stanley Next Generation Leader

I can’t explain why it’s Bend. Why it isn’t Seattle, Lynden, Blaine, San Diego, or Senegal. If I could I would. But I believe that the Lord has something for me to do in Bend. I know it has to do with the Generations and things the Lord has done in my life that will empower those to come in someway. I also believe that the Lord wants to grow faith in this whole experience, not just for me, but also for those who are a witness to what the Lord has done in my life.

John 1:6-8 “God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light.”

My desire is to be a walking testimony of the Light; What God can do when we surrender what we know and follow the light he has given. I know I won’t always have the “big picture”. I may be holding a flash light and walking in complete darkness, but where the light shines I will see and follow its path as long as it is safe and clear. If the light is shone on a snake, or deep ditch I would hope I would be smart enough not to try and walk through it or leap over it, but shine the light in another direction and prayerfully follow where it leads.

I have to go to Bend. To learn about ministry. To grow in my faith. To believe for more than I have seen God do. To, perhaps walk through a fire…. To be refined into the beauty the Lord has for me.

Zechariah 13:9

“I will bring that group through the fire

and make them pure.

I will refine them like silver

and purify them like gold.

They will call on my name,

and I will answer them.

I will say, ‘These are my people,’

and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”