Song in the Desert: The Big Day

So after all the hard work, everything came together so beautifully. About 250 women met together to celebrate the Presence of God. Let me share the pictures of our day together.

We began the morning worshiping together. The sound of running water filled the hall as we sat in the presence of God.

The women were able to walk around and spend time at each of the doors, allowing the Lord to speak to their hearts.

What a privilege to preach the living Word of God!

We shared a wonderful tea together and were spoilt with these amazing "honey cakes" that a very precious woman of God made especially for us ... it was a perfect snack in the desert :)

We were privileged to host a delegation from Kenya at the conference. I would like to dedicate one of my next posts to who these amazing women are and the incredible work that God is doing through them. Everyone was blessed by their testimonies.

We listened to a few womens testimonies of how God has miraculously seen them through desert experience. The woman below is Phindi Mathebula. She is one of my spiritual daughters all the way from JHB. What a testimony her life is. I was so pleased that she was able to join us and share her powerful testimony.

We shared the Word and prayed together.

And then we took time to be still before the Father to break bread and record what He was saying to each of us.

We ended the afternoon praising our awesome God!

Jesus, thank you for the hope that you always present to us. No matter what season we find ourselves in ... You are always there, leading us and loving us. I praise you for pouring your Word, hope and love over us. May our lips always have a song of love and thanksgiving to sing to you!

Lindah

Song in the Desert: The preparation

Wow! God is so faithful! What a month September was for us at Family Transformation Ministries. There are so many things that I would like to share with you. Let me pace myself with one post at a time :-)

My key focus over September was our annual Woman of Peace conference which I always look forward to. The theme that God spoke into my heart this year was "A Song in the Desert".

As usual with me, what started off as a message in my heart, has turned out to be more than I could ever have dreamed of! I really believe that this one day conference is about to grow into a whole new seminar all on it's own. God began to show me so many beautiful, creative dynamics to mix into the message. I have so many beautiful photo's to share with you. I am going to let the photo's do the talking.

Stage 1: The Video Shoot

As a creative person, I always love to make God's message "visual", so we took a camera crew down to one of our most beautiful beaches to re-create a "desert" look. We put together such amazing footage of a woman's journey through her "desert experience" which at some point I will try post for you.

It was such a joy for me to have one of my daughter's-in-grace, Penny Robinson, agree to be our "actress" for the day! One of the highlights was the scene of her riding on a white horse - a scene depicting her rescue and deliverance. I really have to get the video clip uploaded for you!

Our team was absolutely incredible. One of the main points of my message was recognizing some of the doors that God leads us to in our experience in the desert. The team helped us load up our doors and set them up for the shoot ....

Stage 2: The Preparation

We then packed everything up and had the hall to decorate for the big day. I want to weep when I see the way God brings people together to impart His full picture. We had so many people who came to help and add their gifts to make this such a special day. Here are some of the pics of the hall being prepared ...

The men giving us a helping hand.

My amazing team of ladies from the Family Transformation Centre.

The door of Righteousness.

The door of Faithfulness.

The door of Love.

The door of Mercy.

The door of Justice.

Tomorrow I will post the rest of the pictures of the big day! For all of you who helped me put this together ... THANK YOU!!! You are such a key part of the success of the amazing day we shared.

Much love,

Lindah

God's message of love and peace being shared in the prisons

I am so excited to share this post with you!!! A few months ago Drummond and I visited Kenya, a country which has grown so close to our hearts. We have been working with Benjaline and Julius Akenga for years, establishing a Family Transformation Center there. They run all of our courses and oversee the Family Center in Kenya. On this particular visit, we were thrilled to see the opening of new and exciting doors. They planted their first church linked in with Family Transformation and God miraculously opened another new door ... into the prisons! Just before we had to leave, we met a wonderful, God fearing Christian woman who is a top warden in one of the prisons who expressed her desire to see the wardens trained up to begin running "Woman of Peace" in the Prisons! Benjaline was onto it as soon as we left to come back home. The wardens have now been trained and the first group has begun. God continues to work the miraculous. The wife of the vice-president of Kenya will be attending the graduation of this first "Woman of Peace" group. Each prisoner who has completed the course will be receiving a graduation certificate. For the first time, the families of these women will be allowed to attend the graduation ceremony and the dinner that we will provide for them making it a historic and family-building event.

It is my prayer that as you look at these pictures, you would commit yourself to be praying for these women. Hebrews 13:3 exhorts us to "Remember the prisoners as if chained with them - those who are mistreated - since you yourselves are in the body also." What a joy to know that our God is sending His daughters into the prisons to bring hope, truth and peace to these, His children who He knows by name. He is causing the lost to be found in Him!

Precious smiles and excitement as the course begins!

Pray for these precious mothers as they are finding the path to peace in Jesus!

Open hearts ready to receive!

These wonderful women are the wardens who are giving of their time to be trained to minister to the women in prison.

"Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,

Whose hope is in the Lord his God,

Who made heaven and earth,

The sea, and all that is in them;

Who keeps truth forever,

Who executes justice for the oppressed,

Who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners."

Psalm 146:5-7

As you pray for these women, join with me in believing that His truth will bring peace and freedom, not only to these women, but to their children and families too! What a MIGHTY God we serve. He is able to redeem all things!

Much love,

Lindah

5 Women share their Testimonies

Recently I shared with you how one of our faithful facilitators, Dorraine Nortier was running a course in Galvendale, Port Elizabeth. Below are the testimonies from the ladies who were in her group. As I read them, I cannot help but want to sing God's praises! He is a faithful God who is committed to our freedom! As you read, may you be richly encouraged and strengthened today.

Meet Dorraine's precious group of ladies. Here are their stories.

"Before I started the WOP course, I thought that everything in my life was under control, after all, I am a child of God. Well I soon realized that this was not the case. There were such a lot of areas in my life that I needed to work on, repent of and ask for forgiveness. This course has helped me to do just that. The Lord really helped me by showing me through scripture that I can overcome shame that was hidden away inside of me, and how to break those strongholds in my life in order to find true peace. I have learnt through this course, with the tools that I have been supplied with, how to deal with family/work situations, and I must say, where I would become angry about the smallest thing, I have learnt how to control myself, by first thinking about my answer and then to respond. I have received such peace by applying this method to my everyday life. Anxiety, despair and hopelessness which kept me in bondage, has become a thing of the past. The Lord has helped me to discover the “TRUE TREASURES” in life. My faith has increased. My love for God and others have increased as I have learnt how important the four cornerstones are. I am an overcomer. I am victorious. I am a princess. I am His beloved. I am His Bride! I have become a Woman of Peace!" BERYL WAGNER

“What an awesome experience!” When I was chosen to be part of the Woman of Peace course, I knew it was from God. Just a week before the course started, I completed the Anointed Marriage Course. Everything fitted into place. That’s all I needed! “Give God all the glory!” By doing this course , I gained back inner peace. I learned so much about myself that I did not know. Spiritually I have grown a lot! My relationship with God is much stronger. I became more bold in any situation. Praise God! It was great being part of this group. We have really learned from one another’s experiences by sharing, and most of all, our group leader Dorraine, what a wonderful daughter of God. We really learned a lot from her, so faithful and humble. May the Lord bless her in abundance and I know many doors will be opened." BARBARA BAEZACHT

"Since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God, because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we stand, and we, confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing Gods glory. (Romans 5:1-2) I give the Lord all the glory, honour and praise for what He has done in my life through this Woman of Peace course. It was absolutely awesome! It has really given me a new vision and insight to what my purpose and destiny as a woman is. My relationship with the Lord has deepened and I really feel at peace with myself. It was wonderful to have been part of a group of women where each and everyone helped and inspired each other to grow spiritually by praying for each other. Thank you to the most wonderful facilitator, Dorraine. She is truly a humble and faithful servant of the Lord, He is very pleased with her!! I pray that the Lord will bless her in abundance as she continue making a difference in many woman’s lives." PHILDA JOOSTE

"At the start of this course I was under severe attack, at one stage I thought there was something wrong with me because in the beginning everyone was raving about how good things were going in their lives. I had financial difficulties as well as problems in my relationship. As the course unfolded I started listening to the voice of God and I started drawing closer and closer to Him. I must admit Woman of Peace was the best thing that happened to me since Positioned for Blessings. I’ve learned to rely fully on God and I have so much peace within me. I was the type of person who was fast to react but I’ve learned to STOP AND THINK first. Thank God for Dorraine, a true woman of peace, filled with humility, love and kindness. Thank you for everything, I’m going to miss you and a special thanks for all your prayers. A special thanks to Lindah as well. God Bless you!!!" LAVERNE BUTLER

"I was told about this course by my daughter. I decided to go. The first thing I have learned is to make peace in my heart and not have anything to say about people. The Lord has given me this opportunity to be more closer to Him. How to handle my family. I enjoyed the session about the hats that a woman must use every day. For me I learned a lot and would like to be at more courses, because you are never too old to learn. It was a very interesting course. I have changed a lot! I even know to pray more during the day and that is very, very important to me. I thank our leader for everything and I pray that she will continue the good work." CRESWELL BUTLER

"God showed me that an unrighteous relationship was standing in the way of my relationship with the Lord. That was stealing my peace. I prayed that God would give me the strength to end it. I have ended it and I feel so free. My peace has been restored. Thank you Father." SONIA STARBUCK

Storms River Testimonies

Hello ladies! It's been a busy stretch and I am working on my feedback for you from my exciting trip to Kenya. In the mean time I wanted to post some recent testimonies from a Woman of Peace group led by Elna who all took a little trip to Storms River together. Below are their stories:

“Standing at the top of the mountain at Storms River on Freedom Day was truly significant. It signalled my freedom from the enemy's oppression over my mind for so long. As I stood there with outstretched arms, I could only thank my Lord Jesus Christ for giving His life to set me free. Standing there overlooking all the beauty of His creation, I had a sense that God wants to give us all SO much more, show us so much more, do so much more in His Name, if only we'll follow Him, submit to Him and surrender our whole lives to Him. All I have to do is appropriate it, believe it, and to live like it. I know He wants me to be free to fulfil the destiny and purpose He has for me. Something had broken in the spirit realm that day, and I will never be the same. God has also shown me since then that He created each one of us unique, and that I needed to start to embrace that uniqueness instead of always finding myself inferior to others. Comparisons always leave one feeling unworthy, and I believe God has set me free from that too. This Woman of Peace course was God's plan to set me free from bondages, so that I can have and live that abundant life He died to give me. I believe this course equips women to be women of peace, passion and purpose! Thank you for your obedience to God to run this course - I am not the same woman I was when I started this course, I am forever changed! Glory to God!” Debbie

God graced us with a beautiful day and not to mention the beauty of it. It was absolutely awesome. Coming from many trials in my life going on that walk was like a breath of fresh air to my situation. The climb was exhausting and daunting as you don’t know what hurdle is next but the destination was absolutely awesome. Worth all my exhaustion!!!!! To me this is how it reflects on my own life………. Going through life and all the obstacles I have encountered is hard and sometimes it is difficult to just take that next step forward. When you try and look forward it looks long and also feels that you will never reach your destination and many times you actually just feel like giving up. But by putting that one foot in front the other, eventually I did get there!!!! On reaching the top it was so beautiful I actually forgot about the exhaustion coming up and looking back it did not actually seem so bad. Also looking back at the route I travelled up…….it was unbelievable that I actually came all that way. On the route coming down I was in an elated mood knowing that I conquered and seeing the beauty through different eyes……seeing things that I obviously passed on the way up but was not in the right frame of mind to see. God has blessed us all with a quality……endurance. We go through rough patches in our life but only because God has something so much more beautiful that we can ever imagine, planned for us. This walk was so applicable to my own life and for me a revelation that God has BIG things planned for me. Many times I feel so exhausted with life and feel like giving up…..well God showed me on this walk that I am able to press forward and His promise for my life is clear to me. And all that God expects from me is to have Faith! Thanks to God for a beautiful day and for a wonderful group to share it with!” Vanessa

“I woke up early as I was so looking forward to the outing with my Woman of Peace Group and it was ME time as I don't get out much. I had an awesome time just exploring God's Beautiful Creation. I have experienced that the walk path is not always an easy path and that I will have trials but with God's Grace and help he will give me Victory despite the circumstances. So I will have Peace in my Life as the Lord says "I will never leave you nor forsake you". Sometimes I feel like a stone on the beach that the water washes over, after that stone has been thrown around it ends, the stone is smooth and shining it glistens in the sunlight. When u get God in your life, like that stone that glistens that is how you are. In life you feel tired because you don't see the end and it feels it takes too long but if you press forward, sometimes it feels long and winding but you will reach your destination with God's help. When I got to the top I felt the Beauty and the fresh air and I forgot about the way I was feeling on the way up and I felt so FREE AND AT PEACE. I just want to thank Elna and the Woman of Peace Ladies for making this Outing possible it was really an AWSOME EXPERIENCE AND HAD A LOVELY TIME.” Cheryl

Kenya, here we come!!!

Hi ladies! Janine here (Lindah's 'daughter in-grace'). I too am a huge "Woman of Peace" fan ;) I have been facilitating the course with such an amazing group of ladies for the last few weeks in my home on a Thursday morning. I don't know what I am going to do with myself when the 14 weeks come to an end!!! Anyway, back to the point at hand ...

Lindah has asked me to "man the fort" of her blog for her while she and Drummond have flown over to Kenya for a few days. (I just got an sms to say that they have landed safely and are already in their first meetings!). She is so excited to be meeting with Benjaline Akenga who together with her husband Julius, head up Family Transformation Ministry under Drum and Lindah in Kenya. Benji launched the Family Centre there after such amazing success running Woman of Peace groups (she is pictured below with the microphone introducing a group of women who have all been through or run Woman of Peace. Don't you just love how vibrant and colourful they look! So beautiful!).

This weekend Lindah will be congratulating a large group of women who are graduating from Woman of Peace! In Kenya, they make a huge celebration of it and hold a graduation banquet. We will post some pics when Lindah gets back. Please keep her and Drummond in your prayers as they travel and minister. They will be back in South Africa next week Monday.

Much love to you!

Janine

A Testimony from Galvendale

A big part of my vision for running this blog is to encourage you with testimonies coming out of the different Woman of Peace groups running in many different communities, cities and countries. I would love this blog to be a place of community for the many woman who have either attended the courses, run the course or are interested in getting involved. We as women are called to encourage one another. Please send me your testimonies, thoughts and ideas.

Below is a recent testimony from a group of women meeting in Galvendale, Port Elizabeth:

"Glory to God! Last night was fantastic and a time of breakthrough for a lot of the ladies. There were also tears as the Lord was just cleaning out closet. We did the “Eve Factor” and I made them write down the name of every person, (especially mother figures) that they needed to forgive, also where they needed to repent (as Lindah said in the DVD) and forgive themselves, as well as just releasing hurt from the past to the Lord. The Holy Spirit really moved and some of them wrote pages full. We prayed together and just released it all to God. Afterwards everybody looked so light and free. The Presence of God was there in such an tangible way and I am just so grateful. I really feel it was a breakthrough evening last night. Over the weekend Keith and I prayed for the WOP group and the Lord gave us a word for them, saying that He was going to do the supernatural in the group and as the course continues to unfold, we will see the manifestation of His Spirit in their lives and they must just keep their eyes on Him and keep their eyes off each other and He is going to transform them. Praise God!!! Love Dorraine"

My heart rejoices in the Lord to be a witness of God's transforming power as He reaches out to mend broken hearts, renew strength for the weary and reveal to us the path of peace even in difficult or dark times. May you be encouraged by Dorraine's testimony today as you realize just how committed God is to your heart being completely whole and free.

Love, Lindah

Singing Songs of Peace

Hi precious "Peace Warriors". Isn't it awesome that when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Lord raises up a standard! And YOU are part of that standard. We are living in such awesome days and I am sensing that there is a mighty shift taking place in the Spirit. When Jesus died on the cross we are told that the earth split and many were raised from the dead and walked around the city. Lazarus too was raised up from a place of death simply at the sound of the voice of Jesus. As we have witnessed many earth shattering natural disasters in the pasts weeks, we realise the importance for us to know the foundations on which we stand. Isaiah 33:6 says "He will be a sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation, wisdom and knowledge and the key to this treasure is the fear of the Lord."

Many people are asking questions at this time. What an opportunity for us as Women of Peace to be able to testify by word and deed of our love relationship with the Prince of Peace who promises us that though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, His steadfast love and covenant of peace shall not be removed from us. (Isaiah 55:10)

Even in my country, there have been many shaking's. Last year the Lord began to speak to me about a new song that He wanted to release to His people. Here in South Africa at a time where a song of hate has stirred up much fear and descention amongst people, we need to rise up and sing this love song which has the power to change and shape our nation so that it would be for the display of His glory. This love song needs to go forth founded on the strong promises of God. We need to hear the notes of this song from the throne-room of God so that it can be released accurately and melodically into our every day ordinary lives, into our homes, into the workplace and to all that we come into contact with bringing His government and order. Let it flow in time with His heartbeat in the unforced rhythms of His grace and mercy that it might release life to all who hear.

I am reminded of the powerful song that Jehoshaphat released through his army. It reads "Give thanks to the Lord for His love endures forever." As this song went out the enemy turned on itself and the battle was won! What an inspiration to us. The army ended up in the valley of blessing. I trust that as the earth "shifts" you too will be shifted and positioned to take up your place in the army of peace and that the song of the Lord will go forth from you as a lifestyle. Be encouraged Women of Peace. You have been called for such a time as this!

Love Lindah