A few weeks ago, we had the wonderful privilege of meeting with friends and leaders at the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City. In the midst of meetings and some wonderful times of fellowship, we were able to spend some quality time just soaking in the House of Prayer.
It was a very encouraging time of simply drinking in the presence of the Lord and hearing the heart of the Father. As I share these words I received, I pray for the same anointing, the same comfort and the same closeness of His presence that I experienced.

“My Child, Look at my smile, it’s in you right now. Look at it! See my eyes of joy… My sparkle… it’s spilling out right now over you. All around you is My sparkle. It’s My glory. It’s My goodness. Let Me take you away with Me. Come away with Me. I so love being together with you…it brings Me such joy. When I saw you in your pitiful state, I came for you and I was so happy that you heard Me… you saw Me. Your desire for Me has brought Me great joy. So, come away with Me… Your journey has barely begun.

As you sit right now, you are in My presence… the Holy Spirit surrounds you… open your eyes and see Him. Know that He is good! It’s like washing waves spilling down saturating you in Me. I love having you with Me. Let My cascading waves fully soak you in me. Pant for Me, like the deer does. Let Me take you deeper into my heart. Let Me soak you in My presence, My cascading presence saturating you.

It’s ok for you to receive right now… just receive. Let Me pour into you. Let Me give you all that I am. I am completely selfish for you. I want to show you My graciousness. I want you to see Me. Let Me unveil your eyes. I’m your eyes. I’m your Father and I want you to know everything about Me. Let My cascading presence soak in more. Let it soak in. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted. I know there are times when you feel like you have more questions than you have answers. It’s ok, I am completely confident in what I am doing. Just focus on Me!

There is nothing more important or valuable right now or ever. Let the knowing of My love motivate you. Go with your heart and let Me take you deeper.”

Testimony - Darlene Christian

I was so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the Singing Waters team to Australia. It was a life long dream come true. More then I could hope or think. Like Russ Irwin would say, it was “too much”.

It was great seeing old friends and meeting new ones, the love and hospitality we received was like coming home to family after a long journey. He sustained us and enabled us to do what He wanted us to do, bringing and releasing the Fathers Heart.

I personally walked in a new level of anointing as an intercessor and receiving and releasing the Father’s love and compassion. He wants us to release the treasures He placed in our hearts to others and He will make a way where there seems to be no way.

I am thankful He chose the way through Singing Waters heart for the nations and that I could be a part of it.

I felt His overwhelming compassion and presence being released over Australia. I believe He will complete that which He begun. They will always have a special place in my heart and I am praying He will open the door for me to go back.

Adjusting the Sails
Will and Madeleine Walker
Ministry Centre Managers

Our God is a God of new beginnings. The Bible speaks about a New Covenant, a New Creation, a New Name, a New Heart, a New Spirit, a New Life, a New Heaven and a New Earth, and even at the end, God promised: “I am making everything new” (Rev. 21:5).

We read in Isaiah 43:15-19: “I am the Lord, Your Holy One, Israel’s Creator, Your King. This is what the Lord says— He who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland”.

God knows our tendency is always to think and remember and dwell in the past. But because He is the God of “New Beginnings”, He wants to direct our attention in the future, when He says: “See, I am doing a new thing”, He wants us to focus our eyes in the future. This is an echo of what the Lord said in chapter 42:9: “See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being, I announce them to you”.

After 400 years of Egyptian bondage and another 40 years in the wilderness, God gave Israel the opportunity for a new beginning. New beginnings are not found in Egypt, the wilderness or the world, but in the Lord. A new beginning is a new opportunity. He said to Joshua: “Arise - make your way prosperous – don’t be afraid - pass over the Jordan - possess the land”.

Every new beginning has new obstacles, new decisions, but also new opportunities to experience the power of God.

God knows our tendency is to repeat history… to stick to traditions… to the old, to the common and the usual things, to duplicate what others or we have done. But God is always original; He does not use a duplicating machine. “Behold all things are new!”

In a downtown hospital hallway, a poster on the wall reads: “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the leader adjusts the sails”. We cannot change the past. Nor can we change some conditions in the present. But with God’s help, we can change the future.

In Isaiah God said: “Arise, Shine for your light has come… ” -- the light of a new day, a new beginning. It is not time to dwell in the past. If we do, the dawn of a new day will come and we will not see it. In our jubilee year, God is calling us to a new beginning, a new experience in the Spirit. We choose to “adjust our sails” to catch the new thing He wants to do among us, especially in how He wants to bring healing to the broken and wounded.

For Israel, the year of jubilee meant new beginnings - freedom, provision, restoration, hope. Yet strangely and regrettably, they never took advantage of what God was offering them. May that not be true of us. Let our year of jubilee be a new beginning, a year of opportunity, of unstoppable blessing as we rest in Him and His wisdom.

It was a cool clear dawn when 8 members of the Singing Waters family gathered to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead. The little group gathered on the edge of the valley overlooking most of Singing Waters. You could hear the river singing in the distance and the breeze stirring in the trees, it was a morning full of promise.

The little band began by declaring Jesus is Lord! over each life and over Singing Waters. We then shared communion together in awe and reverence for the incredible gift that Jesus lay down His life for us. It was very moving out in the fresh early morning air, we felt the anointing of His presence and the warmth of His love.

As the sun began to rise over the treetops in the east, we read the account of His resurrection and victory over death. We proclaimed an ongoing release of His resurrection power over the property. We considered the first resurrection service that would have taken place at Singing Waters in 1957 with Kay Golbeck and commemorated the flow of His life over and through this property for 50 years. We felt so blessed to be standing on such dedicated ground. After reading the resurrection account we began to sing “He Lives”, we sang at the top of our voices because we were rejoicing in the burst of dawn and the truth that He does indeed live today. We were uplifted.

Many of us shared what the Lord had emphasized in our hearts about this time. It was so dear and sweet. We declared the verse “the Son arose with healing in His wings,” and claimed it for all those we knew were struggling with illness.

A banks of clouds closed over the sun and rather than be disappointed we realized it was a picture that our faith is not built on outward circumstances, but on the inward reality, He lives! We closed the time by singing “Because He lives, we can face tomorrow, because He lives, all fear is gone.” It isn’t because of situation or circumstance, it is all because He lives.

From the womb of the long dark night comes the morning. Winter has finally given way to Spring. Desires and hope long unfulfilled reassert themselves and cry out for fulfillment.

There is a deep cry for reality. For many, you have lived in the land of faith, constantly projecting into the future. You then wake up one day, and to your utter surprise realize that 30, 20, 10 years have gone by, and you seem no nearer to your goal, than when you first began to hope and dream.

Many different things happen in these intervening years. For some, the realization is that you are living your dream, just not in the way you envisioned. For most it could be that you are so intent on reaching some special goal, you missed the whole journey. You never lived in the moment.

You were always on tip toes looking over the heads of those around you; looking searchingly over the next hill, the next horizon. Never being satisfied with life as you are presently experiencing it.

This is hard when God has spoken to you of certain things; made promises that now seem so (humanly) impossible. You try to be upbeat about it, but your heart will not cooperate, so you are left feeling sad, lonely and disappointed.

There is a call which comes o’er the restless waves, and it speaks to you who feel battered, bruised, broken, and disappointed by life. It is the Voice of your Father, God.

“Rise up My love, My fair one, and come away.”
Song of Songs 2: 10-13

Yes, come away from Egypt’s bondage. Look away from all that entangle you in this life.

You think, if only I could find a wife, or a husband.
If only I had no financial strain.
If only I could afford a better car.
If only I had a good friend, someone I can trust and confide in.
If only I didn’t have this health issue.
If only I had better children.
If only I had a better job, working with nicer people.
If only, if only…

If you would quiet the beating of your heart and listen. Listen to that still small Voice inside. It is a Voice like no other voice. It is the Voice of Love. Like that “Horse Whisperer” in the movie of the same name, God has been waiting patiently for you.

The father of the Prodigal son, every day he scanned the road stretching out before him, looking for his son. Today is your day to come Home. Home to God. It is Resurrection Springtime.

Do something in the natural to mark the beginning of this new chapter of your life. Do it today. Commit to some course of action and follow through with it. Remember your goal is to connect or reconnect with God.

Here is one of my favorite poems, written by J. Danson Smith.

“Unto Myself, my dear child, I would bring thee!
Who like Myself thy sure solace can be?
Who can reach down, down so deeply within thee?
Give to thy heart such a full sympathy?

Mournest thou sore that thy loved ones have failed thee?
Failed, sadly failed thy true comfort to be?
“Why did they fail” dost thou ask? Let Me whisper-
That thou should’st find thy heart’s true comfort in Me.”

Unto Myself! Ah, no not unto others,
Dearest, or sweetest, or fairest, or best;
Only in Me lieth unchanging solace,
Only in Me is thy promise of rest!

Child of My love, to Myself I would bring thee!
Not to some PLACE of most heavenly bliss:
Places, like people, may all disappoint thee,
Till thou hast learned to drink higher than this.

Unto Myself, my dear child, I would bring thee!
None like Myself thy full portion can be!
While, in my heart, there is hunger and longing
That I might find choicest treasure in thee.

Unto Myself! To Myself – not My service!
Then to most sweetly and certainly prove,
That I can make thee My channel of blessing,
Use thee to shed forth the wealth of My love.”

J. Danson Smith

On February 13th, I went to have fun and “hang out” with some of the other Young Leaders in Training (YLiTs) on the little hill leading into the valley. It was during the winter school and I went to do a little tobogganing.

By now the toboggan trails were made of hard packed snow. On either side of the trail was nothing but powder (snow). So I decided to try a little bit of snowboarding since my grandparents had scored a really good deal on a quality snowboard and a pair of snowboard boots. At first, when I unwrapped it I noticed that it claimed to be a freestyle design. So I thought, “Cool! A good, brand new snowboard and it is designed for quick bursts of speed - I like speed".

By the time I was out with the group I had become somewhat familiar with how to control it without falling over (falling over when it is your first time can be a bit painful). I tried various types of toboggans small ones, big ones, even that “crazy but fun” round disc-if you get turned around-brace yourself. Then I went back to my snowboard.

I managed to go off the small jump a few times without pain, except for the few times when I fell on my butt - which I obviously did not enjoy. However, when I went for what was to be my final (and fateful) jump, it did not work out so well.

Our bodies seem to have a wonderful annoyance of having a natural tendency of straying aside from danger when we think we know exactly what we’re doing. Which is exactly what happened to me.

I tried to go for the jump, straying away from it, tried to steer back toward it but in the process, over steered thus making my board skid, making me go off the jump crossed up (not straight).

So I obviously flew into the air but with my forward foot higher than my head, and because of that the last thing I remember is lying on the ground with snow in my face feeling like someone had hit me in the stomach with a bowling ball.

So I turned over to lie down in the soft snow on the side but the pain did not go away, it became isolated, and started to get worse. It got so bad that the group had to carry me into the building using the large sled.

I ended up going to hospital and required a CAT scan and an ultrasound, only to find out that my spleen had ruptured. So having numerous shots and blood tests, I spent three days in the hospital.

Strangely, a few days before my accident, I had asked the Lord to aid me in the process of maturing, i.e: if I was 20 years old, I wanted to act with the maturity of a 20 year old or more. So when I heard that I had to stay overnight for observation, I thought to myself, “Great. A large room that I would have to share with 2 or 3 people, a huge window behind my head, an old fashioned telephone and a three inch black and white TV to perhaps watch a western movie.” How boring, I thought.

Then I remembered that I had asked the Lord for maturity. I didn't think it would necessarily happen this way but then again our Lord has strange ways of doing things.
As it turned out, I didn't end up in that kind of room. Instead, because they had a shortage of beds I ended up in the children’s ward.

I guess this proves that God will still pamper His children because when they wheeled me into the room I noticed only a single bed, a colorful art picture, an enormous window to my right, a complete bathroom (not just sink and toilet) and a 22 inch color television with a VCR wired into it.

I almost couldn't believe it. Nonetheless, because of this I spent most of my time watching the winter Olympics. When I saw three downhill skiers have unfortunate accidents, I then realized that I did not fall quite so bad.

After several days they sent me home, which is just outside of the Ottawa area, where I ended up spending a month and a half recuperating. During this time, all the Singing Waters team called me on the phone to wish me happy birthday, which made me really homesick to go back.

I returned to Singing Waters on April 1st. Needless to say, I feel much better now and have no wish to leave soon. I find the team feel like family now - especially when we all hang out and I find the atmosphere to be priceless.

I wouldn't dream of trading my experience here so far at Singing Waters for anything. I definitely know that prayer works because I asked the team to pray for me while I was at the hospital and home recuperating. My recovery time was cut in half. To have waited that long and now be back here at Singing Waters, God must have a purpose in there somewhere.

Even though God sometimes allows annoying circumstances to happen and we are not able to figure them out, I am comfortable in knowing that God is in control of my career, future, family - everything. Even though it seems somewhat strange at times, God does NOT fail, for I am back, praise God!

It has been a month of seeing the incredible out flowing of the grace of our Lord. He has truly shown Himself faithful!

Donna, Steve and Darlene had a fantastic trip to Australia. They had a safe trip there and home and their health was strong throughout the trip. The teaching impacted many people and many were set free to enjoy a greater intimacy with our Father.

Brenda Goss reported her mother has been growing stronger. She is responding to treatment and her father is also starting to have hope restored as a result of the improvement in his wife. Thank you Lord!

Emily Mann’s mom, Pam Cundick, was seeing incredible progress in her fight against cancer and has now experienced a set-back. Please continue to pray that the treatment will have positive effects and she will once again see the cancer retreat. We want to also join together in asking for her healing 100%.

Lorena Hurtubise has been in hospital for over a week fighting Gilead Barr’s Syndrome. Her anti-bodies are attacking her nervous system. While the doctors are uncertain as to why the disease was triggered, they have commenced treatment and Lorena has been improving with treatment. We are standing with her and with Gord in asking the Lord for a supernatural healing that will completely restore what this disease has weaken. Lorena is an important part of the Singing Waters Team and we are calling her back to her place.

A friend of Singing Waters has asked for prayer for his grandson. This 10-month-old boy has been diagnosed with cancer. We are petitioning The Giver of Life to fight for this little one and give him complete victory over this attack. Please join us in this prayer.

Gladys McGarrel’s daughter, Karen is fighting brain cancer. Please continue to pray for healing. She is living in New Zealand and undergoing treatment there.

We are continuing to pray for Emily Grace, Beverly Bryant’s 3 month old niece, who under went surgery earlier in March. We pray Emily Grace will have 100% effective treatment from the surgery and that there will be no after effects from the traumatic experience of surgery.

We had a wonderful report from Gudrun Bonnedal concerning the successful treatment of her cancer. Even the doctors were amazed. Our God does amazing work!

We are praying that the Lord continue to strengthen Linda Riesberry after her treatment to ensure there were no cancer cells remaining in her body. She reported that while she was exhausted, the Lord had graciously spared her many of the devasting side-effects that can be experienced with cancer treatment.

Please pray for the weekend “Freedom from Shame” with Peter and Heather Jackson. This course is providing an important opportunity for people to be released from the shame of their past, wounds and sins. Please pray that the logistics go well and that all the people the Holy Spirit would desire to be in attendance would be there. Also, that Peter and Heather are able to release what has been placed on their hearts freely and clearly.

Jean Knox fell and severely broker her ankle in March. It has been healing, but we want to cover her in prayer so that the healing is complete and so there are no lingering effects.

Donna, Steve and Russ Irwin will be traveling to New Jersey and then to Taiwan. Please pray for their safe travel, good health, covering of their homes and a full release of the Holy Spirit.

Bless you faithful prayer partners!