Two Weeks Until My Journey

   Two weeks until I set out on this journey to Asia. Moments throughout my day I catch my breath and realize that this is really happening. Soon I will be stepping on a plane, leaving behind every comfort of home and stepping into a nation where everything around me will change. The peace I hold on to is that my Heavenly Father never changes. He is still the same when I stand in this nation or when my feet take me to another. Although the circumstances around me will have changed, He has not. He is still God and He is still in control. 

    Life around me will be different. I will see things that my mind will not understand and things my heart will not be able to handle. Each moment I believe He will be speaking to me, changing my understanding, and giving me a deeper revelation of His heart for the nations. I know this journey will change me. The desire of my heart is that this trip will not just be a memory, but a moment in my life that will change my future. 

A moment that will propel me into the calling on my life, to stand for justice for the fatherless in the nations. 

    During my stay in Thailand my time will be spent in a restoration home with young children that have been rescued from the snares of human trafficking. The picture of God as a rescuer and healer of the brokenhearted will become reality in the young lives being restored around me. I will witness true freedom come to these little ones that were once prisoners. 

    While in Cambodia I will get to see a beautiful picture of the scriptures that tell us, God sets the lonely in families. It is His heart that all children be in the safety and love of a family. During my stay with the Benz family, at Bykota House, I will get to be a part of sowing into the lives of these precious ones that have been set into a family.

    Lord help me to take in each moment. Let my heart receive what you have for me. Keep me from becoming offended with you when I don't understand what I see around me. Help me to see the people of this nation the way you see them. Help me to love through your eyes. As I walk across this land, let your presence go with me. Without you, I will not go. 

August Update

Hello Everyone!

Hope you are all doing well! Wanted to share with you some updates from the last several weeks of my life here in Kansas City and what the Lord has been doing. I am currently doing a 3 month intensive training with the Orphan Justice Center (OJC), a ministry out of the International House of Prayer in KC. The vision of OJC is to rescue, adopt, and restore the orphan. Fulfilling what scripture says in James 1:27 about caring for the widow and the orphan.

The focus of this training with OJC is to prepare and release us as messengers. The last four weeks we have spent studying the orphan crisis in American and the nations. The next part of our training we begin looking at the different techniques, therapies, and God’s heart in bringing restoration to the orphan. Within this time we will be receiving training with Returning Glory, an equine assisted learning center. It is my hope to one day run my own equine therapy program, to bring healing to children and youth that have been affected by different forms of injustice, as well as children with special needs.
Within our training we are also connecting with the local foster care/adoptive community, mentoring children in crisis, and delivering the message of the orphan mandate. Each of these areas is better equipping me to continue walking in the call that the Lord has placed on my life to care for the orphan, widow, poor, and oppressed.

One thing that the Lord spoke to our group recently was, “We are not doing orphan justice, He is doing orphan justice and we are partnering with His heart.” The scripture says, “The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.” Psalm 103:6. He does not call us to do anything out of our own strength or wisdom. He calls us to be His hands and feet, love those around us, show His love, and be a voice for the voiceless. Our acts of justice must be grounded in a deep relationship with Him, true understanding of His heart, and continual prayer.

Other exciting news! This November & December I have an amazing opportunity to travel to Thailand and Cambodia. 

First Stop!...Thailand...Our team will be spending 2 weeks working with a ministry called Ezekiel Rain. This ministry exists to rescue, restore, and release those who have suffered the injustice of modern day slavery in Southeast Asia. While in Thailand we will be ministering in Bangkok, the prayer room in Chiang Mai, local orphanages, and restoration home.


Next Stop!...Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 2-4 weeks (still uncertain of when I will return), to work with International Orphan Aid and Bykota House. We will live and volunteer in Bykota House children’s home, school,  and visit other local ministries. During the weeks I will spend my days working with several of the children in the home that have special needs, focusing on communication skills and other areas of their education and development.

I pray that each of you are well and enjoying the simple pleasures of everyday life. Know that you are loved by the creator of this world. Nothing will ever change the way He feels about you!

Blessings & Love,
Tisha

To find out more about the ministries I will be working with you can visit their websites!

Thailand

http://www.ezekielrain.com

Cambodia

http://www.bykotahouse.org

http://www.orphanaid.org

"Pray For The Waiting Ones"

The Waiting Children
 

  According to the Heart Gallery of America, there are nearly 500,000 children in foster care in the United States. Over 250,000 will never return home. Over 123,000 need adoptive homes right now. Many of these 123,000 children were taken from situations of abuse and neglect. They are the waiting ones, waiting for families who will adopt them. Most do not have anyone who prays for them, anywhere or at anytime. We want to stand in the gap for these precious lives and cry out for the fullness of their destinies. How significant your prayers are! Your voice might be the only voice lifting up that child's name from earth to heaven. Let's join our hearts with the Father's and defend the cause of the fatherless. (Isaiah 1:17)

View the Heart Gallery of Missouri

For more information please e-mail: 

iwillpray@prayforthewaitingones.org

or 

tishanichole@gmail.com

It's All Gonna Be Ok

Faces of the Ones that Need to Hear....

"It's All Gonna Be OK"

If Your Eye Is On The Sparrow, Then Your Heart IS On Me

Status: Available- A Reason To Pray

"Available" A word that should never be placed next to the name of a child. 

This is David, his name means, "Beloved, greatly loved," and this is the phrase that should be written next to his name. 

My heart was provoked today by a piece of paper that read, Status: Available; next to the smile on this little one's face. 

Each night David goes to bed without his father to tuck him in; without his mother to read him a story. Each morning he wakes up without a family to speak love into his life and without someone that prays for him. 

Davids destiny is to be greatly loved; he has always been the beloved of our heavenly father, but who will teach him this? How will he know he was chosen before the foundation of the world?

The desire of my heart lately has been that God would show me why he has called me to this place of intercession. I longed to know what difference would it make if I was in this prayer room or spending my time elsewhere. Today He answered that question. I realized its more than just what I can do in my own strength, its about what can happen through my prayers. 

God is asking me, asking each of us, to commit to fight for children like David, for their destiny and to bring change to this world. A world where fathers and mothers find healing for their own hearts so they are able to love their children. Where churches rise up and be an example of "pure and genuine religion." A world where no child has to wonder why they don't have a family to love them. 

This is what I will give my life to do. Praying for little ones like David, God's beloved ones, all around the world.

 "And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." Matthew 21:22

Sparrow Faith

"Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"
-Matthew 6:26


   I have spent so much time working to provide for myself, paying for college, struggling to stay out of debt, making sure that I never went without the basic things I desired to have. When the question arose, "Do you trust God to be your provider?" My answer was always, "Yes of course I do." Always answering this question without really much thought behind what I was saying. 
   The biggest challenge of my move to Kansas City, to pursue the deeper desires of my heart, was to lay down a full time career and what I thought was my source of provision. How were my bills going to be paid? How would I buy food, gas, and simple everyday needs? What about the thousands of dollars of debt I still had?
   I realized for the first time in my life that I had never truly seen the Lord as my provider. This thought went through my head one morning while sitting in church. "I have no other option now than to trust God to provide for me." It was a scary thought, but something deep inside my heart longed to feel that complete trust in Him. I longed for a basic trust that God would provide for me because He loves me. I knew He was getting ready to answer that prayer I am sure many of us pray, "Lord help me to trust you." 
   The Lord shows us in Matthew 6:26 that the birds of the air do not sow, reap, or gather and He still feeds them. He is their provider simply because He values them. When we are able to realize that God is our ultimate provider and our employer is only the channel He uses to provide for us then we can not be taken over by fear, anxiety, or worry. The source of your provision is constantly the same. He may change the channel it comes to you from, but He is still the same. 
   In 1 Kings 17:2-16, the Lord comes to Elijah and gives him specific instruction to go to the brook where He will provide for him. When the brook dries up He then directs him to go to the widow next for his provision. In sending him to the widow, the Lord is increasing Elijah's faith, as well as hers; teaching them both that He is their ultimate provider and all they must do is obey His voice. God was after their faith; He wanted to be their source. Faith in God can release miracles.
  For the last 5 months of my life, the Lord has been doing so many miracles and showing me that He is my 100% provider. My faith muscle has been stretched, but I am so thankful for this lesson He has given me. I have countless testimonies of how He broke in a provided exactly what I needed at the perfect moment.
  One of my favorite stories from several months ago: I got to the prayer room that morning very discouraged because I was out of money, out of gas, and rent was due. I told my friend, Hannah, that I couldn't handle the pressure anymore. I was feeling a bit crazy for believing I could do this, and knew that I had to go back to work. Hannah simply prayed, "God today give her a special gift to show her you see her and you are going to provide everything she needs." I heard her pray this, but did not have any faith in the moment to even believe He heard. An hour later, standing in the hallway outside the prayer room, my friend Joy (who I had not shared any of this with) came up to me and handed me something. She said, "I believe God told me to give $40 to you." I began to cry as I realized that God was paying attention to me that morning. He saw my need, heard my friend's prayer, and even in my lack of faith in that moment, He gave me a special gift to show me He was listening. 
  I am sharing this story with you today to help put a new idea in your mind and heart. Do you believe that God is your provider? Are you in need of a miracle? Don't be afraid to ask Him to show you He is listening. He wants you to trust and believe that He will provide everything you need because He loves you!


Share with me some of you favorite provision stories and please continue to keep me in your prayers. I am still in need of finances to help cover my expenses for the next several months. 


Blessings, Tisha

4 Months Into My Journey

It's still hard for me to believe I have already been living here in the city for 4 months now.  Oh how life has changed for me, each day has been a new adventure, with many new lessons to learn. This internship has blessed me in so many ways. The impact of the people around me, the time in the prayer room, the classes, and moments with the Lord have grown me and stretched me in ways I never thought possible. I am starting this blog to share with each of you my experiences and testimonies of what the Lord is doing here in KC at the International House of Prayer. I will post updates of things going on in my life as well as within IHOP.  More to come soon! 


Blessings,
Tisha      


"Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love."
1 Corinthians 13:13

www.ihop.org