He is Healer!

{JUNE 15, 2016 }

“Go to the lost sheep of Israel {LAS VEGAS}.As you go, proclaim this message:
‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 
Heal the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse the lepers, drive out demons.
Freely you have received;
freely give.” -Matthew 10:5-8

       Heal the sick. Someone once pointed out to me that Jesus didn’t say to pray for the sick. He said to go and heal them. Aka… He knew we’d be able to because of Holy Spirit in us!

The Lord has really been challenging me with this and it is still something that I’m growing in my knowledge of but I do know this- He is Jehovah Rophe; the God Who Heals.

This past Saturday, June 11th, Grace City had it’s very first block party of the summer! (We through a free party that has food, games, face painting, free prayer and the gospel is shared every hour.) We had this first one at Molasky Park, a park in a more impoverished area of town. Many of the staff members and interns are assigned specific jobs such as running a game or giving out food, while others are assigned to be minglers. As a mingler, your job is simply to make friends, like Jesus did; get to know people and love them where they are.

Right as the block party was beginning I walked over to speak to a woman, Elaine, who is a frequent attendee of our Flamingo Campus, to say hello. One of my friends, Ryan, was speaking with her when I went over and he asked her if we could pray for her for anything. She then told us that she had severe back pain and pain in her left knee. She explained that since her son is in a wheel chair the pain makes it harder for her to lift him out of it.

So my friend and I laid hands on her back and her knee and prayed. She told us that the pain had totally left her back, after we prayed the first time! We were astonished! She then told us that the pain went down in her knee, so we decided to pray again! We prayed again, and the pain decreased again! So we prayed a third time! While praying, we felt the muscles and tendons around her knee begin to move around! It was insane and I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t been feeling it! Then she began to exclaim that it felt even better than the other one!! Her knee was completely healed! 

She told us that it had been hurting since 1998 and she had had two operations on it since then and now- it was perfectly restored! She began running and dancing and praising the Lord, as did we!

This is a video we felt lead to take moments after Elaine was healed! This is what Jesus does!

COME ON! Can I get a, “YAY, GOD!!”? He’s so incredible!

Right after this, we found out one of our interns twisted his knee and was in a ton of pain! So Ryan and I had Elaine come with us and we all prayed for his knee as well! He told us his pain level was around 10 and after prayer for about ten minutes it was at a 0! Praise the Lord!

I don’t fully understand healing! I don’t understand why we don’t always see it right away! I don’t understand why sometimes we pray for a minute and sometimes we have to pray for hours to see anything happen. I don’t understand why some people don’t see healing the way we believe they should.

BUT, the Lord has taught me not to shape my theology around my experience.  (And let me just say… that is SO HARD. But there is so much grace.)

So, friends, I ask that you will pray that this will only be the beginning; that we will see healing, deliverance, and salvation wash over Las Vegas! Pray for revival! He can do it!

Week One = DONE

{ June 6, 2016 }

Well, already, my first week on staff at Grace City is over. So much has happened already!

I went through New Staff Orientation which was absolutely amazing- I literally cried over how much I love this church and how grateful I am to be a part of it.

I began to get settled into the office stuff and helped plan for a ton of worship events that will be happening this summer!

Already, I was able to lead worship three times! First, at the Flamingo Campus at our Wednesday community night. Every Wednesday, Grace City takes buses over to one of the parks in town, where many homeless people are, invite anyone and everyone to church, and then we have dinner with them and then we have a worship service and time of teaching.

This is one of my most favorite services at Grace City.  Many of the people who attend this service are homeless or impoverished. Eating dinner with a homeless person will flip your world upside-down. And leading them in worship does something deep in your soul. This week I lead them in a song called, “The Simple Gospel.” And it simply says, “I will rejoice in the simple Gospel! I will rejoice in You, Lord!” Many of them have a different view of a song like that than many of us do. They get it! It is simple- He loves us and He’s all we have.  Wow!

I also had the privilege of leading worship at a Grace City Ordination Service! Three of our staff members became ordained pastors! It was amazing to see their callings confirmed in such a powerful way.

Lastly, I was able to play guitar on the Sunday worship team! Our morning service is at Silverado High School and our evening service is at our Flamingo Campus! Our evening service kicked off our BURN week! We meet twice a day, everyday, for a week and pursue the Lord and His presence and ask Him to set us on fire!!  It is such an incredible, and life changing time! I cant wait to write another post in a week and tell you about what the Lord has done!

Lastly, I want to tell you about a moment from yesterday! My Dad and brother are in town, helping me get all settled in. After church in the morning, we went to the strip for just a bit and walked across one of the bridges and walked by about ten homeless people, panhandling, in the blazing hot sunshine- one of them talking to himself, one man had a bra on, many just looked broken down by the world. Once we passed them and entered the casino I began to weep. It was such a whirlwind of emotion- it wasn’t all sadness for the people I had just seen, though much of it was! After seeing them I began to pray, “Lord rescue my city.” After praying that, my heart was so overwhelmed that I can finally really pray “LORD, RESCUE MY CITY!” It hit me how important it is that there are Christians here. It hit me how important it is to walk on to the strip and say, “Holy Spirit! You are welcome here!”

This place is so sin ridden. It’s so full of darkness. It rejoices in evil; it exalts it! So many Christians (I absolutely used to) look at Vegas and compare it to Sodom and Gomorrah and I’m sure there are similarities, but one difference is pretty great. The Lord isn’t about to destroy Las Vegas. His wrath isn’t about to shower fire down on her.

Jesus loves Las Vegas.

Did you catch that!?

Jesus loves Las Vegas. 

I can’t get over it!

Jesus loves Las Vegas.

So, as challenging as this transition has been, as hard as it is to leave home, as hard as it is to live in the blistering desert- Jesus is worth it and so are His lost children.

Please continue to pray, every single day, for salvation to fall all over this place. Pray that the Holy Spirit would baptize this entire city!! Pray that there will be a day when people look to Vegas and see the glory of God!! We can pray big audacious prayers like that because we have a HUGE God who is crazy about us!!!

He loves Las Vegas.

He loves you, too.

FINALLY

{ MAY 31, 2016 }

Wow! I cannot believe that I am finally in Las Vegas! The Lord is so faithful! My heart is so full.

I arrived just a few days ago and have moved into a house with two incredible ladies from Grace City, Michelle and Kelsey! They have been so welcoming its been such a great start to this adventure!

I want to say, “THANK YOU!” to everyone who is supporting me, in prayer and in finance. Your sacrifice of love is what got me here and I could never thank you enough. Thank you  for not being okay with status of this city! Thank you for standing with me in believing that the Lord has great love for Sin City and will chase after her people. Thank you for praying with me for the floodgates of heaven to open up and for the Spirit to bring revival to this dry place. Thank you for loving me and believing in the dreams that Christ has put in my heart. To go is one thing to be sent  is another.

As I am here, please continue to pray:

• That the Holy Spirit washes over this city, that revival will come, and that salvation would come to the people here

• Against attacks of the enemy on me and all of Grace City

• That signs and wonders will follow us

• Against burn out and discouragement

• For growth and unity within our Body

• For Christ to be glorified in everything that we do

Once again THANK YOU. When the Body of Christ comes together in faith and prays, we see mountains move.

May joy and peace fall thick all around you and your family.

When We Turn To Gold

{ May 1, 2016 }

No one really prepares you for this moment. No one really tells you what its going to be like to be two weeks away from your college graduation. I’d say that’s because its such an indescribable feeling.

My time at Liberty was not at all what I anticipated. If my senior-year-of-high-school-self could see where I am right now… she’d be confused. Wasn’t I supposed to be on a ministry team? Wasn’t I supposed to be engaged by now? Wasn’t I supposed to have been skinny by now? Wasn’t I supposed to be heading off to Nashville to become a world wide superstar!?
(Can you hear heaven sweetly chuckle?)

Liberty was not always kind to me. But I’ve learned so much more than what my degree says I have.

I’ve learned what it is to love Christians who frustrate me.
I’ve learned not to be offended by opposing opinions, but to listen with love and respond with kindness.
I’ve learned what scripture means when it says, “pride goes before the fall.”  
I’ve learned that idols will destroy everything in my life. 
I’ve learned that full surrender means wanting the Lord and His will at any cost. 
I’ve learned what it means to walk in my identity as a Daughter of the Most High.
I’ve learned that dancing isn’t about perfection- its about freedom.
I’ve learned that working out is not a punishment for overeating.
I’ve learned that there is always more freedom.
I’ve learned that not everyone will like me- and that’s okay.
I’ve learned that Jesus likes me. WOAH.

The list could go on for ages, but I’ll stop there. But now what? How do you close a chapter like this? It doesn’t feel like a chapter, but an epic novel. I’m not at all who I was when I first arrived. I couldn’t be more happy to say that, either.

When I arrived, my first semester here I had to take an Evangelism course. One class, my professor, Dr. Wheeler, gave us all index cards and asked us if the Lord had our “Yes.” I remember thinking, “well duh. I’m a Christian! I love the Lord! I’d do anything for Him!” But then I felt anxious when he asked us to write down the word “YES” if we were willing to do anything, go anywhere, that the Lord may ask. I stared at the card for several minutes and then wrote my “YES.”

Saying, “Yes” to the Lord was the best thing I’ve ever done, but it meant letting go and hearing Him say, “no” to many things I had held on to.

My dreams are not what they once were. The Lord has said “no” to some of them and I’ve learned so much about letting go and saying goodbye.

Like I said earlier, I had imagined myself graduating LU, married or engaged, moving to Nashville to pursue stardom and fame. Yet here I am, single as a pringle, moving across the country to Las Vegas to be on staff at a church and I’m raising my own support! Not at all “the plan” but WOW am I grateful for giving my “YES” and the Father lovingly giving His, “no’s.”

He’s taught me that really trusting Him, is saying, “yes” to anything He has, and letting go of everything else.

That’s when everything shifts. When I let go, who I am changes. Because when I let go of everything I want, all my hopes and plans, all my desires, all my expectations… I can cling to the Father, alone.
When I let it all go- I can see the Father. 

And that changes everything. That’s when we turn to gold.

I was recently at my church here in Lynchburg, Revival Scene, and had the most bizarre and lovely encounter with the Lord. (We’ve been in a crazy season of Revival here in Lynchburg and we’ve been meeting almost every single day and the Lord has done some incredible things in this season.) I had finished leading worship and was sitting in the front of the church while many people were lying flat on the ground before the Lord; many were laughing, many were crying. I was sitting there and felt as if Jesus was sitting directly in front of me. I spoke to Him about the future and with my heart full of love I said, “Jesus, You are all I want.” Then I felt Him smile at me and say one word, full of love and almost with a sigh of relief, as if He’d been waiting for me to say those words since the dawn of time, He simply said,

“Finally.”

So as the season is about to change, I leave you with a question; are you holding on to anything that isn’t Jesus?

Are you willing to say, “YES” to Jesus, and let go of everything else?
You will never be the same- life will never be the same!
He’s waiting for you to fully surrender at all cost– to take you with Him on the greatest adventure of your life!

Shout out to Joel Ansett for this incredible song. The Lord has used it in such a mighty way in my life through the season and it was such a privilege to sing it in my Senior Artist Program. If you’re looking for new music that will change your life and draw you closer to Christ, check out his album The Nature of Us. It’ll change the way you see yourself and the way you see Jesus.

Spring is always coming

{ MARCH 29, 2016 }

Have you ever had moments that you just feel like everything is falling apart?

Or days?

Or weeks?

Or months?

Me too.

Some seasons are long and hard.

Some seasons are like a never-ending winter; everything is dull and dark and dreary.

The past two+ months have been that type of season for me. I constantly felt like I was falling short; that nothing I did was good enough for anyone in my life. School seemed impossibly hard and busy.  I was perpetually tired. I kept getting sick. Relationships were falling apart; hard and fast. Work felt daunting. Even my Zumba classes felt like they were sucking the life out of me.

About a month ago, someone asked me how my relationship with Jesus was and I told them that if it was a dating relationship, we’d be on a break.

Yikes.

I had been praying rather hard for something for a while and I told myself that the Lord was giving me a “Yes” when I knew it was a “wait.” …But then I got tired of waiting and I said, “No. I’m done waiting. I give up.” Honestly, I felt bullied. I felt betrayed by people in my life and, what was worse, I felt like God was gonna do whatever He wanted with my life and that I would just have to deal with it.

And then I cracked.

My soul felt like a house after a devastating earthquake.

There was so much more to my “no” than what was on the surface.

My “no” also said, “Lord, I don’t trust you.”

It said, “My ways are better than Yours.”

“You’ve left me stranded.”

“You’ve broken my heart.”

“You’ve let me down.”

When lies become your “truth” its hard to do anything at all. I couldn’t keep my house clean, I couldn’t get work done at my job, I couldn’t sleep, I felt like I could barely focus my eyes to read. It was all I could do to put on a big smile and continue letting everyone believe that I was totally perfectly fine!

But I was hurt and broken and angry.

When you stop believing that the love of the Father is for you, all you can feel is anger and despair.

To my relief, I found myself on the long road back to my home in PA for spring break. I’ve never been more excited to leave Lynchburg in my entire college experience. I pulled into the driveway of my childhood home and fell into my moms arms. I was home. I was safe. 

I found myself healing there because I was able to let all the walls fall, I was able to take off my mask, and simply be broken. When I’m home I’m aware that I am known there… and I am loved for who and all that I am.

And that brought me back to what the Love of the Father really is. It’s a love that’s okay when I throw a fit because my plans got derailed. It’s a love that isn’t angry with me when I’m angry at Him. It’s a love that catches all of my broken pieces when I fall a part. It’s a love that lets me go through these seasons if it means I’ll refocus my eyes back on Him. It’s a love that knows me- fully and loves me for who I am- without condition.

I cried before leaving home. Not simply because I was sad to say goodbye to my family (or home cooked meals) but because all of Lynchburg seemed tainted to me. I was so scared to return to the hell I had just ran from.

But seeing that I only had 8 weeks left of my entire college career… staying at home was not a viable option.

So I, begrudgingly, set back out for Lynchburg. The drive isn’t so bad, it’s a little over five hours of weaving through the mountains of West Virginia and Virginia, after a long shot of the dreaded Pennsylvania Turnpike. But this drive was different.

As I looked out in front of me at one of the mountainsides, I was rather confused it looked like it was covered in snow! How could that be? It was 60°+ outside and had been for a while! And then I realized that it wasn’t snow, it was the flowers budding on dogwood trees all over the mountains.

Then I began to notice that there were purple flowers everywhere on the trees around me and white and yellow flowers surrounding the highway.

Spring had come.

I felt, in my soul, the Lord say, “It’s a new season, Lia.”

Sometimes winter seems never-ending.

But spring is always coming.

Winter may be harsh, but spring makes everything new again.

We aren’t stuck in this winter forever.

Spring is coming.

No matter how long winter is, keep your eyes fixed on Him who makes all things new...

Spring is coming.

No Fear In Love?

{ FEBRUARY 13, 2016 }

I don’t care how cheesy it may sound– I LOVE love!
I love songs about love, movies, books, TV shows– all of it!

That being said, I’m not embarrassed to confess that I watch The Bachelor. (Don’t you judge!) There is one thing, besides drama and complete chaos, that is consistent throughout the various seasons.One thing that is said more than anything else. One thing that is said in the hearts of almost every human who’s ever lived…

“I’m just so afraid I’m going to get hurt.”
This fear is universally understood and encountered. It’s human nature!

We expect to be hurt. We expect to fall short or fail in some way- we expect that we are not good enough for the one we love. We expect that they’ll see who we really are and they’ll walk away.

And honestly, this fear is often realized. Hardly anyone can say that they’ve never lost in love- it happens! But, it’s been said a million times and I’ll say it once more- that it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.

Something incredible happens when we love. When we love selflessly, we experience something extraordinary. We partake in part of the character of the Father.

♫ To love another person, is to see the face of God ♫ -Les Miserables

Lately, its been a popular thing to say “There’s no fear in love!” But what in the world does that mean!? Didn’t I just say that basically everyone is afraid to love? Absolutely! Love is terrifying.. but perfect love?

1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love because perfect love drives out fear!”

Do you ever hear something that makes you want to fall asleep because its so blissfully restful for your soul? That sentence gives me that feeling every time.

I’m not so much terrified of getting hurt from love, rather I basically expect it. If I catch feelings for someone I honestly just assume that it isn’t going to end in my favor.

But this verse changes everything. 

People are flawed and messy and can never love perfectly.. yet we have the absurd privilege of being the objects of perfect love.

When we were at our worst Christ looked at us in perfect love and gave everything just to be with us forever. He isn’t mad at us. He isn’t disappointed. He isn’t trying to fix us up and make us prettier. He likes us as individuals- our corks and silly things that make us, us!

And He is recklessly in love with us.

Yet, so often, I find myself terrified of the future. I’m so afraid that I’ll never amount to anything or reach my goals in life. I’m afraid I’ll never pay of my college loans (can I get an amen, students?). I’m afraid I’ll end up alone in life. OR that if I do get married and have kids that they’ll all hate me or that I’ll ruin them somehow.
Or, worst of all, I’m afraid of letting my Savior down.

Every single time I tell the Lord about these fears, He simply replies, “But, I love you!”

What if we believed that? What if we believed that High King of Heaven loves us? Not just a little bit, but a crazy amount! This changes everything. It changes everything because that simple, “But, I love you!” goes so far beyond the surface.

• “BUT, I LOVE YOU!”  FROM THE LORD SAYS SO MUCH MORE THAN IT EVER COULD FROM US.
  IT SAYS:

  • I will provide for you.            (Philippians 4:19)

  • I will never leave you.          (Deuteronomy 31:6)

  • I will heal you.                      (Isaiah 53:5)

  • I will restore you.                  (Jeremiah 31:4)

  • I will empower you.               (Acts 1:8)

  • I will pull you close to My heart.         (James 4:8)

  • I will fill your life with good things        (Psalm 103:5)

  • I will say, “yes” to the desires of your heart when you seek Me.      (Psalm 37:4)

  • I have a plan for your life that is for My glory and your good!    (Romans 8:28)

  • You will never be hopeless.     (Romans 15:13)

  • You are safe in My arms.         (Proverbs 18:10)

We can rest in this Love. This is a Love that we can face the storms with. This a Love that we can dare to dream bigger with.

He isn’t going to break our hearts. He isn’t going to run away when things get messy. He isn’t going to be disappointed in us when we aren’t perfect. There is nothing we could ever do that would cause Him to love us less. Ever!

Today is the day to let go of fear and fall deeply in love with the One who is recklessly and completely in love with you.

Happy Valentines Day,
Liafaith

The Dream’s of a Child

{ JANUARY 12, 2016 }

Life is kind of funny, isnt it?

As children we planned and we dreamed and we dared to believe that anything was possible. We believed that we could be a super star, the president, and a brain surgeon. We believed that life would certainly be nothing short of extraordinary.

But somewhere along the way, things change in our thinking patterns. We begin to shrink our once larger than life dreams down to the size of our small town realities and told ourselves that we were foolish to dream so audaciously.  In essence, we stop believing that our lives were worthy of the extraordinary.

But what if this was never the way life was intended to be? What if we believed Jesus meant what He said when He said that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those with childlike faith?  What if the audacious dreams of our childhoods were meant to passionately propel us into a future where we daily fell in love with life itself- and with its Giver.

Yet, we live in a world that tells us to live only chasing what is not only possible, but what is most probable. But what a relief it is that this world does not get the final say about our destiny; the Father does. 

We were adopted by a Father who wrote such beautiful dreams for each of us and nestled them into our hearts as children. He delighted in our wonderment in them and was sadden when we saw them (and Him) as too grand for our little lives. But when we shook hands with the ordinary, He remained King of the extraordinary, and never forgot the dreams of our childhood.

When I was a child, a family of missionaries would frequently come and speak to the children in the church. They lived challenging yet thrilling lives full of adventures from taking the Gospel to lost and hurting people all over the world. I couldn’t get the stories out of my head! My young heart began to swell with excitement, “Daddy, I want to do something like that someday!” I told both my earthly and Heavenly Dad.

As I grew, my love for the Lord and for the lost did as well. I went on several week long trips to Mexico and Haiti and absolutely loved every moment of every trip. I would frequently ask the Lord to use me in any way that He wanted to.

I had said “yes” to a mission that had not yet been given out.

I had decided to go to Liberty U to get my degree in Worship and Artist Development to pursue other childhood dreams; becoming a song writer and recording artist. I decided that I wanted to share my life, and all that the Lord had done, with people through the songs I had written and that that would be my mission field.

When it was time to go on an internship I told my school that I wanted to get as close to LA as possible, in hopes of opportunities to perform and pursue a career in music there.

Can you imagine my surprise when Vegas called? 10 weeks at a church in Sin City? Although it wasn’t in my original plan, it sounded like an absolute blast.

My first week working as an intern for Grace City was full of hours of prayer and worship, and then hours of orientation. It was then that we learned that the staff are all missionaries, living on support, to the unreached people group of Las Vegas. I was completely in awe. I quickly fell in love with the Church, with seeing lives radically transformed there, and caught the Love that the Father has for every person in Sin City. My heart broke for this desert land where it was so incredibly dry; physically and spiritually.

After weeks and weeks of 120°+ weather, it began to down pour for about an hour all over the city. As my friends and I ran around jumping in puddles, laughing because joy had overflowed in our hearts, the Lord said, “YES” to the dreams of a child.

As He watered the dusty streets and restored the thirsty land, He sealed on my heart that He would do the same in the hearts of the people of Sin City. I then felt the dreams of my childhood swell in my heart once again, as I asked my Father if He would use me; if He would allow me to be an instrument in calling His kids in Las Vegas back to Him.

“Yes.”

He loves to say “YES” to our audacious dreams. He loves to say “Yes” to things we’ve forgotten we’ve ever asked for. He loves to surprise us and lavish the extraordinary upon us.

A life in the Father’s family is nothing short of extraordinary. Because HE is the King of extraordinary- extraordinary love, extraordinary grace, extraordinary dreams that become extraordinary realities.