Greetings from the midwest! It’s been a little bit since I have connected with you all! I pray you are healthy, happy and full in the Spirit! So much has happened in the past few months I barely know where to start! God is so good, I am so blessed to be His! I have so much to be thankful for.
I finished my first semester of the Forerunner School of Ministry and jumped immediately into my second semester via e-school. This allows me to soar right in as a 2nd year student in the fall. The course load is super intense as I have to jam an entire semester into two and a half months but despite working two jobs and moving twice, I’m two weeks ahead of schedule. Just to give you an idea about what my class schedule looks like... I have about 14-hour long lectures, a report, a comprehensive test, an assigned book to read, a journal assignment and 10+ prayer room hours to fulfill per week. I’m keeping very busy, but I am enjoying every minute of what the Lord is doing in my life. Right now in my practicum my journal assignment is a verse by verse hand written commentary of Psalm 119. Unexpectedly my commentary has turned into an outpouring of my heart in prayer, the Lord has been speaking so much to my heart through it.
I just finished reading the book “Why Revival Tarries” by Leonard Ravenhill. I would highly recommend everyone read it, this book convicted my heart in so many ways and has inspired me even more to pursue the Lord with everything that I am. Ravenhill’s thoughts on prayer were especially powerful, “Who can tell the measure of God’s power? One might estimate the weight of the world, tell the size of the Celestial city, count the stars of heaven, measure the speed of lightning, and tell the time of the rising and setting of the sun--but you cannot estimate prayer power. Prayer is as vast as God because He is behind it. Prayer is as mighty as God because He has committed Himself to answer it. God pity us that in this noblest of all employments for the tongue and for the spirit, we stammer so. If God does not illuminate us in the closet, we walk in darkness. At the judgement seat the most embarrassing thing the believer will face will be the smallness of his praying.” p.156
I must say, the measure of my faith in prayer must increase, the passion that drives my prayer life must increase, the brevity of my prayers must cease, Father give me the burden for intercession! This has been the cry of my heart lately, the burden of prayer I have carried in my heart up until now has been so miniscule compared to the burden the Lord wants to give me.
I started a new job serving at Bluestem a few weeks ago, it is an ultra-fine-dining restaurant that offers two options, a 5 course tasting menu and a 10 course tasting menu. Although the food is unmatched in the midwest and the pay will be a huge step up from NoRTH, I have never worked in such a spiritually dark place before. I have to constantly ask the Lord to keep my heart in check and to give me grace to be salt and light to my co-workers. Due to my school schedule in the fall I will only be available to work on Saturday nights which might pose an issue but I’m trusting the Lord to guide me and to provide for me, so all in all I have peace that whatever direction He leads it will be good.
Regardless of where I am working I have requested time off during the 2nd week of August to come home! I have been missing everyone so badly that I have been bursting into tears every time I see someone who reminds me of someone back home. I’ll keep you posted on when that will be, I have yet to make travel arrangements.
Somehow I have managed to encounter nearly all of the hazards of the midwest in the short time I have been here, from tarantula’s (no joke) and cottonmouth snakes to getting vampired by deer ticks, why do I have to be such an adventurer!!?!? I had a rude awakening when 12 tornado’s swept the streets of my neighborhood one morning. My roommates and I piled into the bathtub under a mattress for two hours to wait until the coast was clear. The Lord had His mighty hand on us as it was three days after the Joplin tragedy and no serious damage was done. Speaking of Joplin, it is only 2 hours south of me and IHOPU is sending teams to aid the families involved as well as raise up prayer furnaces in the city. Some of my friends have gone to help and they say that it is surreal walking through the devastated streets. Every house is leveled to it’s foundation minus a couch or a shower or a closet that remained untouched. It is amazing to see the mercy of the Lord for the people because 9 times out of ten the untouched place is where the people were hiding. A classmate who was there told me that out of about 7,000 homes that were destroyed only 162 people were killed. As a result, I have heard several testimonies of people giving their lives to the Lord. Praise God! The people there are still in an incredible state of shock and need a ton of prayer, love and support. Please pray for Joplin!
Well, I have much more to tell but it will have to wait until another day!
I love you all and think of you often! Please let me know how to pray for you! I love hearing from you!
Bless you!
Korynne Van Riper
