I Survived Week One

It is true. I took a semester off from VCUarts to go to Fredericksburg, Va. I am doing the Burn Internship [http://www.theprayerfurnace.org/ministries/burn] with the Fredericksburg Prayer Furnace (FPF). It's been a week of INTENSE orientation, but yesterday I finally got some rest. I know I am going to need some TLC before Monday begins for this week is ::DUN DUN DUN!!!!:: --> DELIVERANCE WEEK. It will be physically and emotionally draining, but I am ready :) For those who need more of an explanation on what will happen-I will explain next post.
But let me tell you how my first week went:
Sun, Jan. 17th-Move-In Day~first of all props to my family and friends who helped me out in getting here! THANK YOU for your prayers, your time, and your support!!! Love all of you all <3 Haha, but okay, the first day was pretty much moving in the whole evening. I am currently living with 3 other girls, but another is coming soon, so that will be a total of 5 girls in a room. It is a lot, but I am used to dorm living, so I do not mind whatsoever. In the whole house, there are 11 girls including our core leaders. We have a house mom..hehehe, which is awesome! I like saying 'house mom' too ^ ^ For dinner, we went to Ronnette's house [Burn Internship Director]...there must have been more than 30 people there-CRAZINESS! We got to learn all 23 interns' names and chat and eat as well as worship together <3 Afterwards, us girls went back to our house and slept. 11PM is lights out.
NEW DAY!
Mon, Jan. 18th-First day was already crazy. We had a welcome from the staff and went through FPF's overview and vision. The interns played a fun icebreaker game of "telephone charades." The day ended with dinner and corporate intercession for churches etc.
Tues, Jan 19th-EPHESIANS 1:16-19 is so jam-packed! All interns meditated on those verses in the prayer room. In the afternoon, we all headed out to Gold's Gym & received a tour [membership is included with our tuition]. Olivia taught Lisha Ann and I how to stretch. It felt so good afterwards :] Lastly, staff and core group leaders shared their personal testimonies with the interns. There was a sense of inspiration and hope in the air. Each testimony was touching in its' own way. I was a bit nervous because I knew the next day, some of the interns would have to share theirs, but talking to the girls in my core group made me feel better. I felt like shame was broken off even then. Bethany is my core group leader and Fiorella, Carlie, and I make up her group :)
Wed, Jan. 20th-FIELD TRIP + TESTIMONIES! On this very cold day, we took a small trip around historic Freddy'sBurg. We learned the prophetic history and promises of the city. Very interesting. We went to a civil war battlefield and the Rappahannock River. It was awesome to listen to David Bradshaw about amazing supernatural stories that happened at Mars Hill including angelic presences and blue feathers falling from nowhere. =O Everyone was moved during testimony time that day. Definitely a lot of tears. I shared mine last and cried a lot. But I am so glad that God gave me courage to share; I have never shared in front a whole bunch of people before. God filled me with small bursts of laughter when we went around to pray for the ones who shared. The Lord told me He wanted to set me free from shame and self-hatred. I was slightly shocked that He said self-hatred, but once I heard it, I totally broke. I don't need to envy other girls, He made me unique in His heart. =]
Thurs, Jan 21st-Spent most of the day in the prayer room. Matt Lockett from Bound4Life came by FPF to lead prayer for the March for Life the next day in Washington DC. He talked about how the prayer meeting held in Houston to ask God to break in and stop the 7-story abortion supercenter. THOUSANDS of pro-life folks showed up, silently marching through the mostly black and hispanic neighborhoods around the abortion clinic.
Fri, Jan 22nd-MARCH FOR LIFE + HOPE AT HAND! Got to Washington DC in the morning, parked, walked a couple blocks to a van and all of us helped carry a bunch of heavy boxes full of pro-life signs ["Mothers do regret abortion/Fathers regret lost fatherhood"]. We spend hours afterwards handing out the free signs to anyone who wanted them. I was encouraged to see many people there in general, as well as many young people enthused about the cause. The cause on God's heart, whether they were Christian or not. I saw a good deal of Catholics there, which was awesome! All denominations came together to stand in the gap for the unborn. I heard last time the March had a 100,000 plus crowd turn out...I have no idea how many showed up this time, but there were people EVERYWHERE! After handing out like 10 boxes of signs, we walked to the US Supreme Court. FPF had a small set up in front of the court with worship and a prayer mic. We all worshipped and prayed to God to end abortion in America and send revival. I remember the beauty I felt when the sun started coming out during worship. Some FPF interns danced in front of the court to worship the Lord. Amazing! I bet the guards thought we were weird-haha! We spend a quite awhile there. As the march got up the Supreme Court, everyone stopped and many did sing with us. Yay! After weaving through the crowd, we eventually got to the Justice House of Prayer [JHOP]. We had pizza for dinner and hung out there for a couple hours. Then, we walked a couple blocks to a hotel and had fun head banging, jumping, and dancing to a Rock for Life show. Hope at Hand was definitely the highlight of the evening for me! I bought their CD and a T-shirt. Finally, we drove back to Freddy'sBurg and met up at the FPF base. Us gals got home at around 1AM. FUN STUFF!
Sat, Jan 23rd-SORE FROM HEAD BANGING!! I know this is totally my fault, so no complaining..hehe. I was happy that a deacon from my church brought his family from RVA and brought me out for lunch and Costco. I am so grateful!! And the food was Korean-YUM-it was SO good! A WEEK UNTIL I TURN TWENTY!!!
Prayer Requests~
*someone to move into my VCU apt
*God's will be done here at FPF in my heart

Finally, Deliverance!

There is a small group that just started up last semester-catering to young adults and VCU students. LIFE group! I love going there to meet with Holy Spirit and my family in Christ SOOOO MUCH!! But last time, I did not feel like calling anyone to pick me up Wed night, which would be my last time before heading up to Freddy'sBurg. I felt I would be "in the way" since I live maybe 30 mins away from Paul and Nancy's [campus pastors] house, so I just settled and planned on resting at home.
Lo and behold! Nancy calls me while I'm making dinner and asked if I had a ride. I said no and that I didn't ask anybody. Then, she said she'd call people and find me a ride. I was feeling indifferent, so I said, "okay, thanks." A few minutes later, she found me a ride and a second afterwards, Patrick called me & told me he was gonna pick me up in 20 mins or so. So speed up the story past getting ready and picked up....zoom right up to when we got to Paul and Nancy's house, a cute little place with a yellow door.
They were singing worship songs and it was lovely, but I couldn't get myself to concentrate on the discussion. I was looking around, thinking about other stuff even when I wanted to listen! I didn't feel depressed...still indifferent, like staring out into space constantly trying to pull myself in. You know that feeling?
Anyways, Nancy even asked me what I was feeling and I just didn't know. I knew it was something not of the Lord, but I didn't know, so she said we'd talk. Someone felt like to end life group, we should separate guys and girls and pray. So six of us gals talked about prayer requests. Many people said they were being attacked by sickness. Two or three were coughing or had a sore throat. Quickly, it got to my turn and I felt a pull to share about what happened to me in the van coming home to Richmond from the OneThing Conference in Kansas City.
"In our van, people were hardcore praying for others to get set fear from oppression, fear etc. I think it is safe to say everyone was in the Spirit that night. When I heard Ethan pray for his sister to get set free from fear, the thing inside me just freaked out. The thing meaning a spirit of darkness...something was trying to hold on to me and it wasn't good. Immediately, every person who could reach me starting praying for me in the spirit or with understanding. They were trying to war against this thing!! One or two asked me to look in their eyes, so they could command it to leave me, but it did not want to look into anybody's eyes. It made me growl and shake and try to escape from the grasps of my friends, while I felt exhausted and scared that this was actually happening again!! [A similar situation happened last year on the way back from OneThing 2008]. My friends tried to discern what this was, but could not. As time went on, I do not know how long, maybe only a couple mins, our driver called Benjamin, prayer director of RIHOP, and all vans came to a halt on the side of the highway. People stopped praying as Benjamin came and brought me to his van instead, leaving my friends in the van feeling afraid and confused I'm sure. I was so tired from the spiritual activity, it was hard for me to get out of the van. But once I got into Benjamin's van, the Lord showed me something. There are altars to Buddha in my grandpa's house AND in my uncle's house."

I shared a very condensed version of that at Life group that night. I told Benjamin when it happened that I didn't understand why. "I'm not in immorality, why did this happen to me again?" Right away, Nancy answered that is it not my fault. I could repent on behalf of my relatives. So the ladies lifted me up in prayer. Nancy led...she said,"Repeat after me, Eva,...I repent...on behalf of my family...for the spirit of adultery...to Buddha!" I did not have to look into her eyes, but it was not long before I could feel IT reacting to the prayers of the saints. After she said, "to Buddha..in Jesus name," I could feel the thing leave. Literally, peace came over my spirit and I lay there on the couch [for I had fallen over] taking deep breaths and feeling joy enter in. Finally! I had been delivered after who knows how many years that thing had been attacking me. The heaviness was lifted and I was so grateful to God and my sisters' prayers! I left with that same gratitude and hugged everyone. Nancy told me that God reminded her to call me to come that specific Wed night like, "Nancy, make sure Eva has a ride." Oh, how the Lord works! I will miss them much in Freddy'sBurg. I know...it is only an hour away, but I love them a lot!
So HALLULEJAH!!! I AM FREE!!!

Mmmm Yum

-COMING SOON-

I shall have my very first post up soon! ::poems, stories, ideas, dreams, sketches, testimonies::