A Powerful Seed

"Thank You Lord for not giving up on us." ---Amy Calkins, this morning in prayer

You ever feel like you might be on the brink of God giving up on you? You know He has great things for your life, but you just seem to fall short repeatedly?

Yeah, we know that feeling.

This morning, as Amy prayed that prayer, I had an unmistakable impression from the Father:

"How could I give up on you? I've got too much invested in you to ever give one thought to giving up on you."

The impression came with a sense of warmth and tenderness that touched my heart. My soul found rest in the notion that He is fully invested in my life and destiny, and He doesn't make unwise investments. He sowed a most lavish Seed into my destiny:

"He who did not spare His own Son..." (Romans 8:32) 

Be encouraged today that Your success in carrying out the plan of God for your life is more determined by His investment than yours. Yes, we have a responsibility to steward that which has been entrusted to us, but the power of the Seed in you is far greater than your power to screw things up. If your heart is His, and you are diligent to pursue His plan for your life, He will see it through to completion. So work hard, but be at rest in His grace today.

"He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, but he (He) who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." (2 Corinthians 9:6)

New Doors

At the end of June, our family will be relocating to Redding, California. Mark will be a student at the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, under the leadership of Bill Johnson. If you are not familiar with Bethel Church, I strongly encourage you to visit www.ibethel.org and listen to a sermon on their site. We've been impacted tremendously by the ministry of Bethel Church. Whenever we've listened to a message or heard a live speaker from there, we've felt transformed and inspired. 

For a number of years, it has been in our hearts to go, but the Lord has stirred our hearts that the time is now. We feel a strong call to church-planting and leadership and are moving to Redding to be further equipped to pursue our destiny. 

We will be using this page to share updates from our journey as well as things that the Lord is teaching us as we go. Our desire is that you would be blessed in reading this blog in the days and weeks to come.

One last note: If it is on your heart to support us financially, there are a couple of ways for you to do so. We know that He is our Provider, but if you feel stirred, here's how to give:

1. For a non tax-deductible gift, you can use the paypal button on this page. This will go straight to us, after paypal collects their transaction fee.

2. If you'd like to give toward my tuition for school, go to: www.ibssm.org and follow the instructions. 

3. To receive a tax-deduction, you can mail a check, with a note attached specifying that it is for us, to: New Hope Community Church, 3355 Union St., N. Chili NY, 14514.

4. Lastly, I will be posting some links on this site to books from some of the leaders at Bethel. Please use these links to buy them. In doing so, we generate a commission (it's not much, but you get an awesome book and we get a little cash :) For starters, here's a link to Bill Johnson's first book, When Heaven Invades Earth. If you have not read it, it will absolutely rock your world!

Blessings friends and we promise to stay in touch!

Mark, Amy, Abigail, Evan, and Susanna Calkins