"Mighty Musk Ox Prayer Warrior Princesses"

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of GOD, and not of us." 2 Corinthians 4:7

Dear Fellow Mighty Musk Ox Prayer Warrior Princesses, (and a few Princes),
I will explain more about that greeting later...but first I want to give you and update on Krystal, the new mom that i asked you to pray for yesterday. Krystal is the daughter of my best friend, Wanda Adams. Greg and Wanda adopted her as an adult a few years ago, just as she was getting married. Krystal and her husband have desired a child since shortly after their marriage, and their journey to become parents has been one of difficulty. Last week, GOD gave them the desire of their heart, and Krystal delivered a beautiful, baby girl, Madalyn Avery. Everything appeared to be going well, until earlier this week when Krystal began hemorrhaging, and hurting in her back. By Wednesday morning, her fever was 104, and she was taken to the emergency room. She had developed sepsis (infection) throughout her body and nearly died Wednesday night, according to Wanda. Yesterday morning, Wanda called early and explained the critical situation of her daughter as i was mixing up my IV. She asked me to put Krystal on my church prayer chain, and of course i thought of ya'll. I just couldn't get to the computer for a while while i took my IV. Wanda called her church, First Baptist, and Lindsay Lane, and asked for prayer for Krystal. Her other daughter Paige, asked for prayer on Facebook. This was yesterday morning. Late yesterday afternoon, i saw this posted on Paige's status concerning her sister Krystal..."

Quote from her doctor "I have never seen a patients condition deteriorate as quickly as you did last night" and then this afternoon " i am shocked by your rapid improvement!!" ... fever is at 99 and if improvement continues she can be taken out of ICU tomorrow.... MAYBE go home Sunday."

Paige, Wanda's other daughter, was thanking her friends for their prayers on Facebook, and i want to thank you also for your prayers for Krystal. GOD has certainly shown HIS power through answering the prayers of HIS children for Krystal. Please continue to remember her, Wanda said her blood pressure dropped again, and she continues to have difficulty getting deep breaths. She is still in ICU. Wanda and Greg are up there with Bob and Krystal in Ann Arbor, Michigan and what a blessing they are to be there to be able to care for Madalyn Avery, while her Mom is so sick. Madalyn is a wonderful baby and they are enjoying being able to care for her. Thank you for remembering this dear family in your prayers...and all that GOD is doing in the midst of their lives.
I have one more prayer request before i continue...my children are on their way to Indiana even as i type, to visit their dear cousin, Corrine, this weekend at Indiana University. I think this is John Mac and Hannah Beth's first solo road trip together...sure do appreciate you remembering them in your prayers this weekend. It's a six hours drive up there...and they plan to return on Sunday. Thank you so much for your prayers for them, and all that GOD has for them this weekend.


Now, i guess you're wondering about the different greeting this week, "Mighty Musk Ox Prayer Warrior Princesses." Well, last week, after i didn't get to Mobile with Johnny and Hannah Beth, i knew the LORD had a reason for keeping me home. Thank you so much for praying for Johnny and Hannah Beth. They had a really good trip together and got her signed up for school in the fall...that will be another prayer request in the future:). Even though i knew GOD had a reason for not letting me go i was still really disappointed and a little bit mad to be honest when they pulled out to leave. I didn't know what the specific reason was that GOD didn't have for me to go on that trip...and i still don't know one specific reason, but the LORD blessed my socks off last weekend, and i've just been trying to figure out what blessings to share with you. My first blessing was in being able to share with you through the email, "Embrace the Cross," last Friday. GOD used that email to encourage many of your hearts, and i thank GOD for that. I wouldn't have been able to write that email if i had gone on that trip. Missing a trip was small in comparison to the encouragement that GOD gave some of you through that email and the blessings i received from CHRIST throughout the weekend. Last week's email was certainly "borne," out of my cross of not feeling well and being "Left Behind," as many of my emails are "birthed," from my cross. Lord help me to remember, "to count all things loss for the surpassing greatness of knowing CHRIST JESUS my LORD..." Phil 3:8.

On Thursday evening, (last week) as i was writing my Friday email ( i usually do write it before Friday like i'm doing today:), i had written on my Facebook status that i didn't feel up to going to Mobile with my family. Betty Dean Newman, from First Baptist, wrote me and said, "Now you can come to the Woman's Conference this weekend at First Baptist...i'll have you a ticket at the front desk. Wow...little did i know the blessing the LORD had in store for me at that conference, and how thankful i am for Betty Dean's persistence, and all the women who invited me to go.

Before i get to Friday night though at the Women's Conference, the next morning, after GOD safely saw me through the night, i was sitting on the couch reading when the doorbell rang. It was my next door neighbor and she had accidentally locked herself out of the house. Her son was having "Kite Day," at his school, and she was due to be there, right then. She asked if i could take her, and i said sure just let me brush my hair and get my shoes on. She and I and "Troy," loaded up and drove to her son's school which isn't very far away. It was a beautiful April morning here in Alabama with the dogwoods and azaleas in bloom, and after we dropped Trisha off, me and Troy decided to walk around the little track there in front of the library. As we walked around, it was a lot of fun to watch the kids and their parents flying kites together. We ended up staying long enough to take Trisha to her husband's office to get a key to unlock the house and then went home. It was such a blessing to be there for Trisha, and she said she had called everyone to try to get a ride. I'm so thankful i was there to help her out that morning...if i had been in Mobile i couldn't have done that for her. Thank you, JESUS!

I still wasn't feeling the best in the world Friday, so i stuck pretty close to home that afternoon. I didn't really feel like talking to anyone, so i was kind of glad everyone thought i was gone. I know that sounds bad, but i really didn't feel well and the peace and quiet was a real blessing. About and hour and a half before i was supposed to leave for the Ladies Conference Friday night at FBC, Athens, i was going to go lay down and rest. The phone rang, as i was on my way back to the bedroom, and it was someone i had never talked with before. She had gotten my name from the Growing Kids International office in Iowa i believe where i used to be on the list for mom's who encouraged other mom's going through the Growing Kid's Curriculum (www.gfi.org). I got off of the list recently because i wasn't staying current with the material, and i didn't feel that i could represent them efficiently. So, i was surprised to get this call, but it was amazing...this lady lives very close to me, and basically was sinking and just needed some encouragement, and a friend. We have so much in common and we ended up talking an hour, and she prayed for me before i went to the Conference. I was very thankful for her taking that initiative, and really praying diligently for me that the LORD would use this conference to be a blessing to me. She really wanted to go herself, and loves women's ministry but was not able to at this season of her life. I realized she is a very special person the LORD has brought into my life. When i tried to pray for her, the words just didn't flow and i apologized for not being able to pray very much. I still wasn't feeling the best in the world, but the LORD really strengthened me, and i was able to attend the service that evening.

Now, i have tried to discern what the LORD wanted me to share with you from that conference and this morning as i was reading back over my notes, i thought well, maybe i'll just share some of my notes with you. I don't know how long that will be so i'll just start typing and see what happens:
The conference speaker was named Donna Partow (www.donnapartow.com) and i'll be honest i had never heard of her before she came to this conference at First Baptist. I understand she has sold lots and lots of books. I decided to look at her website before i went, just so i'd have a little idea of who she was...but i was still pretty clueless who she was. The wonderful thing is when i stepped into First Baptist Church building that evening was the love i felt from the women there. We have gone to church there in the past, and these women are like my family...well, they are my family in CHRIST. They made me feel so loved and special, and i was glad to be there. They had on these neat black aprons with "Willing Hearts," stitched on them. I soon learned that it was the "Willing Hearts," Bible study group that this Conference was birthed from. I found a seat, and decided i'd better move a little farther away on the outskirts. With me not feeling well, i didn't want to battle perfume smells all evening. The first part of the service was a dedication to Sadie Roberts, one of the dear saints at First Baptist who recently graduated to heaven after fighting an eight year battle with cancer, and she had come up with the name, "Willing Hearts." Before Donna got up to speak, the music leader sang, "Broken and Spilled Out," by Bill and Gloria Gaither. I thought that was neat, i had just listened to that song last week when i had found "Embrace the Cross." Steve Green sang them both. When Donna got up to speak, i immediately didn't think i was going to care for her too much. I can't tell you exactly why, may have been the way i was feeling, her New Jersey accent...but let's just say i wasn't carried away with the way she started. As the night moved on, and Donna shared truths from GOD's Word, i was blessed by what she had to say...and thought i'd come back the next day for as long as i could stay. The theme of the conference was "Becoming a Vessel That GOD Uses," and the Scripture theme was the one i used above: But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of GOD, and not of us."II Cor. 4:7.
She first got my attention in her prayer...as she prayed to her FATHER, "YOU'RE not limited to the words I speak. It's not what i'm saying, it's what YOU're doing." I thought wow...i like that, and i pray that what i desire for the emails i write... the LORD is not limited to what I share, but it's what HE is doing in your lives, and that's the blessing of hearing from you each week, what GOD is doing in your hearts. It encourages the fire out of me! In her first session, she talked about acceptance (have you heard that recently, "in acceptance lieth peace." She tried to get us to accept that the devil is going to come against us, as JESUS promised us we would have trials and tribulations. But how do we respond when the devil comes against us? I didn't realize it but she was laying the groundwork for the rest of the conference. She reminded us of the verse in John 10:10, "The thief comes only to kill,steal and destroy. I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly."
She said, "The attacks will come, along with the disappointments. We're in a spiritual war...and then she mentioned the power of prayer.
PRAYER-
GOD prompts HIS people to pray-it is inevitable that the devil will try to disrupt the work of GOD." She gave examples of GOD prompting people to pray for others, and what a difference those prayers made in those people's lives. This was a real encouragement to my heart as the LORD has laid different people on my heart to pray for and i've been amazed later when they have shared with me what was going on in their lives when the LORD impressed them so heavily on my heart to pray for them.
She said that GOD is looking for someone to build up the wall and used the verse in 1 Peter 2:5, "You always like living stones are being built into a spiritual house."
She gave a very graphic example of standing in the gap, and "being a living stone" as she picked a person to be the person we're praying for, one person to be the prayer, and one person to be the devil. She had them all standing up front so that we could see how the person who was praying was a "stone," or wall between the person that was being prayed for and the devil. The neat thing she then demonstrated is when a person has their Mom praying for them, aunts, grandmothers, church family...how that "wall," stands between the person being prayed for and the devil. She asked the "devil," person what she was going to do with that "wall," surrounding the person being prayed for and she said, "I'm going to leave her alone."
It's a simple illustration, but powerful...if you get this image in your mind of being surrounded by "living stones," a wall of GOD's people interceding for one whom the devil is attacking. At the end of the evening, she gave the illustration about musk oxen and how they surround their young to protect them from the attacks of wolves. They literally make a "wall," around their young, so that the wolves will not be able to get in and kill them. She used this illustration that evening to encourage us to be, "Mighty Musk Ox Prayer Warrior Princesses," for JESUS and intercede on behalf of others...we are in a spiritual war and praying for them through JESUS is the most powerful way we can do battle. So thus, that's where the title came from for this email...and i might just start calling ya'll that if you don't mind:). I want to be a "Mighty Musk Ox Prayer Warrior Princess" (that's Prince for you guys), how about you?
The next morning...the session was about being empty vessels the LORD can use. She reminded us from the session the night before to "accept the inevitable, the devil is bad and wants to make a mess of our circumstances." Then she encouraged us to "become empty of self." One thing she said that i have never thought about is "that the more opinions you have, the more the devil can grab a hold of you." I hadn't thought about it, but it's true. She went around talking about the decorations on stage, and giving her opinion, and we all laughed, but it's true. I'm not talking about biblically based convictions...but opinions about things that really don't mean anything in the scheme of eternity and men's souls, but they stand between us and others, and can cause a whole world of bitterness when we hold on to our opinions and get angry, and stay angry.

She said, 2 things hold us back from GOD:
1) Food-we're so full of food, we're not hungry for GOD
2)Idle chit chat...she encourage us not to be idle chit chatters but to have stories worth telling that magnify GOD

Concerning GOD's Assignments:
"GOD has selected a battlefield and all HE needs is a willing and obedient vessel."
"When GOD gives you an assignment, HE gives YOU everything you need."
"When GOD makes up HIS mind to set someone free, HE's going to do it...power of GOD's timing."
"GOD going and you're along for the ride."

She used Moses as an example for the above, and how GOD had to empty Moses of himself before GOD could use him to lead the children of Israel out of captivity.

"When GOD gives us an assignment, HE will be with us and go with us...we are representing the KING, not ourselves. The KING is committed to backing us up, we are operating with HIS power, and HE will "cover our backs."


Concerning Bitterness and Being a "Porcupine,"
"A bitter old woman is one of the crowning works of the devil."
She was sharing this about something she was struggling with...and she didn't want to become a bitter old woman...neither do i.

"We fight the WRONG battles...we fight to prove we're right, and we fight to have our way.
She likened bitterness to making us like a "Porcupine"-a creature with a lot of good points, but nobody wants to be around. She shared you can tell a lot about a person by the stories they tell.
"If you are a porcupine, if you have a lot of opinions, you will be sick."

On having PEACE:

"You have need of many things, but one thing in particular you must develop for your own preservation, and that is an absolute confidence in GOD's loving care."
"GOD has your back...fighting this battle for you."
"GOD wants me resting in HIM. "Come unto ME all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." Matt. 11:28
"Only when your mind is at rest can your body build health."
"Peace is a weapon of spiritual warfare."
"Unshakable Faith-Soul at Rest, Body in Motion, on the Battlefield

About telling Stories:
"Self-Pity"-story "all about me." Start with a different part of story...at the beginning, see me....later on see GOD!!!! We need to be empty of ourselves.
"TELL a Story Worth Telling."
-Be careful...the story you tell over and over is the story you'll tell over and over again when you're old.
"Tell Story of GOD's faithfulness."

Session 3, Being a Cleansed Vessel:
"If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the MASTER and prepared to do any good work." II Timothy 2:21
Purity is the key to unleashing the power of GOD.
Purity is the pathway to spiritual power.

Lunch:

We had wonderful lunch will all kinds of beautiful decorated tables...on each table was special keepsake. On my table, so beautifully decorated by Lea Kinney, who invited me to sit at her table when i walked in by myself, was a vase that had been her grandmothers, and two more empty vessels. For each of us she had a beautiful brown vase with yellow daisies inside to remind us of the theme of the conference. I have it setting on my prayer table in my "Joy Room" to remind me each day to be an empty and cleansed vessel that GOD wants to fill and use to for HIS glory. The men of FBC served the wonderful meal prepared by the ladies there...chicken salad, and strawberry shortcake is all i can remember, it was delicious!

After lunch was the closing session when she really encouraged us that GOD can use anyone who is an empty vessel. She gave the example of Naamun in the Bible who was a very successful officer in the Syrian army who got leprosy. His maid, who had been captured from Israel, told him to go and see Elijah and he could be healed. She made several good points, but the one i want to mention, is GOD used Naamun's maid, who had been brought there against her will, to bring healing to Naamun. No matter what our place is in life...GOD has an assignment for us there. She also gave an example of a movie star, whose maid came to live with him and his wife for the express purpose of leading them to CHRIST. He came to know the LORD a year later, and his wife seven years later.
GOD has left me here to be HIS vessel. He wants me to bring HIS comfort to the world
"Praise be to the FATHER of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, the FATHER of compassion and the GOD of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble wih the comfort we ourselves have received from GOD." 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
paracletos-called alongside, responding to the call of GOD.
What ALONGSIDE looks like:
-on a playground
-at the grocery store
-among the poor

Be obedient to the "piece" HE gives me.
""Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from GOD. HE has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant." 1 Cor. 3:5-6

On being a "Cracked Vessel:"
This was one of my favorite parts, because i am definitely a "cracked vessel." She took a hammer and cracked a clay pot, and used it as an example of how the light of CHRIST shines through our cracks. She said that anything we have in our lives where we have been comforted is where GOD can use our credentials. She was a drug addict, alcoholic and promiscuous before the LORD saved her...she didn't try to hide these things, she allows GOD to use her "cracks," that HE might comfort and minister to others who struggle where she has.
One thing about that "cracked pot." If you are a "porcupine," inside, filled with bitterness and prickly, when the pot is cracked, instead of the the light of CHRIST shining through, that "porcupine," will snuff out the light of CHRIST. Sure don't want to be a "porcupine," underneath and keep the light of CHRIST from shining through me.

On being "REAL," Sincere:
This is part of being a cracked vessel, and instead of trying to hide our weaknesses, letting CHRIST be strong through them.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from GOD and not from us."
Sincerity=(Greek) without wax
"Unlike so many, we do not peddle the Word of GOD for profit. ON the contrary, in CHRIST we speak before GOD with sincerity, like men sent from GOD." II Cor. 2:17
"Don't put on wax, just be real with people. We're all the same...You want to be a minister-comfort people.
People need to feel they're not alone.
Be real GOD will use you

The spiritual battleground in my life is where someone hurt me...either CHRIST will shine forth or the enemy will gain a stronghold.
Either HIS light will shine, or the "porcupine" will block out the light.
Broken places can never be neutral territory.
We are never to fight for our own vindication.

On CHRIST transforming our brokenness, our hurts:
CHRIST's broken body not a defeat, greatest victory.
Broken places can become your greatest victory.
GOD transforms our crosses into something beautiful...
We battle in prayer and GOD moves our circumstances.
All that hurt, all that pain just makes me more powerful as CHRIST transforms it.
Conclusion:
I can be a porcupine or a mighty warrior...
She showed a video of men who were in World War II and they parachuted behind enemy lines to fight the battle.
Am i willing to go behind enemy lines for JESUS CHRIST and be a mighty warrior in HIS strength?
We had all been handed a piece of a broken clay pot when we came back from lunch along with a sharpie to write on. At the conclusion of the video she encouraged us to write down the "broken places," in our lives that GOD wants to transform and use to comfort others. She gave us an opportunity to come and lay those pieces at the altar for GOD to transform them into something beautiful. We also picked up the "Mighty Musk Ox Declaration," with a picture of a "Musk Ox" on that declared:

I am a Mighty Musk Ox Warrior Princess
I have been chosen by GOD.
HE has called me
to be a spiritual warrior
in my own home
in my church and community
in this nation
even to the very ends of the earth.

In this critical hour
I take my stand and declare
No devil in hell
No porcupine on earth
Nothing and no one
can stop me from fulfilling
my kingdom assignment
As long as...
I choose to walk in peace
With my soul at rest
And my body in motion

I have absolute confidence
in my FATHER's loving care
GOD's got my back
I am standing in the gap
And i will not be moved.

I will fight battles worth fighting
and tell stories worth telling

Because I am-and always will remain-

A mighty MUSK OX PRAYER WARRIOR PRINCESS!


All right, there you have it...the highlights of the conference. I pray they will be a blessing to you, as it has been for me to go back through my notes, and even gain more understanding of what it means to be a "Mighty Musk Ox Prayer Warrior Princess!" Thank you "Willing Heart," ministry and ladies of FBC, Athens, for working and praying so hard for the conference. I am a life that was loved and changed by your "Willing Hearts."

GOD continued to bless my weekend with more "grace upon grace," and Johnny and i took a day trip over to Ft. Payne, Al to see Little River Canyon, and DeSota St. Park, and hear the Greene's (www.thegreenesgospel.com ) sing that night. What a blessing each one of these things were..."grace upon grace." We had planned an overnight trip, but when the fertilizer they used around the lodge was getting me...my husband rescued me and brought me home. I didn't think of it as that at first, i was really disappointed, really disappointed but GOD gave me the grace to accept his decision. The next morning when i woke up, the first thing that came to my mind, was Johnny "rescued me from the fertilizer," and i was so grateful. He did, i would have been miserable to have stayed, even in a cabin away from the fertilizer because i was already uptight from the fertilizer. "Disappointments are HIS appointments" and we had a good day at home, catching up on clothes, and ironing. Then a friend of HB's invited her to go hiking on Rainbow Mtn. and i got to tag along. What a blessing! "Grace upon grace, upon grace...our FATHER loves us so very much and has a plan for us each day. He wants us to be an empty, cleansed vessel..."useful for the MASTER, and prepared for any good work."

I'm going to close with the beautiful song, "Broken and Spilled Out," the song sung to open the Women's Conference. If you've read this far...now you will see how fitting this song was to be sung at a conference with the theme, "Becoming a Vessel GOD can Use." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPXAju9z7Cs&feature=related "Broken and Spilled Out."

Thanks for taking time to stop by this week...and next time i greet you with "Mighty Musk Ox Warrior Princess," you'll know what i'm talking about!

With all HIS love,
mitzi

"The message of the Cross is transformation. We bring our sufferings, and CHRIST gives us joy. We bring our pains, and HE gives us comfort. We bring our deaths, and HE gives us life." Elisabeth Elliot

"I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly." John 10:10




The pictures are of the falls at Little River Canyon, and one of the falls near the lodge at DeSota St. Park. If you get a chance to go over there, go for it...it's so beautiful especially this time of year!





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" In HIS inscrutable wisdom and love, GOD is able to use the most agonizing circumstances in your life to refine and purify you, to make you fruitful, and to magnify HIS grace and glory through your life." Nancy Leigh DeMoss, www.reviveourhearts.com

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances'; for this is the will of GOD in CHRIST JESUS for you. (I Thess. 5:16-18)