“We Believe God.”

In this year of Jubilee we are doing a lot of reflecting on God’s faithfulness to Singing Waters and how He has honoured the simple faith of so many over the years.

My spiritual parents, Jim and Marion, also understood the power of simple faith.

In addition to the 50 troubled young people who lived with them over the years (of which Alex and I were in that number) countless others continually streamed through their home, finding acceptance, healing and restoration for their wounded and battered lives.

Jim and Marion had no master plan or strategy. All they had was a big dinner table, a giant stew pot, a genuine love for the hurting and a simple faith that honoured Christ. People’s lives were changed and transformed as a result!

If you are like me at all, you might from time to time find yourself making things more complicated than they need to be. At those times we need to be reminded of Elijah’s experience when God passed by in front of him – there was a great wind but God was not in the wind. There was a massive earthquake, but He wasn’t in the earthquake and there was a blazing fire but He wasn’t in the fire. He was, however, in the “still small voice.”

Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit came, He would glorify Him. That tells me that if we just listen for the still small voice and put our mustard seed-like faith solely upon Jesus and simply believe, the Holy Spirit will automatically join us in glorifying Him and we will experience His life transforming presence as a result.

This really is the key to God’s power. Simply… just believe! In this the 50th anniversary year of Singing Waters, there are three words that are resounding among us --- simply --- We Believe God.!

And it really is that simple.

Testimony - Nancy Harper

Singing waters has been an amazing resource to Dave and I over the years. Our relationship here began 20 years ago when our church Youth Group came for a weekend retreat. I can remember staying up late into the night praying and worshipping together. Then as missionaries home on furlough we found Singing Waters to be a place where we can receive personal ministry. Coming back to Canada feeling battle weary, it was such a blessing to come and have people willing to meet with us individually and minister to us. I can still remember how fortunate and cared for I felt.

This past year, while on sabbatical from Youth with a Mission, we attended the Isaiah 61 summer school and were deeply impacted, both individually as well as in our marriage. God addressed and corrected things in the core of our beings that were not in alignment with His truth. I postponed a pre-operative appointment I had booked with a surgeon, hoping that healing would take place in my body during the course. Praise God, He did touch me, and after four months I have had no more of the symptoms that had required surgery.

An unexpected turn of events has now brought me to Singing Waters in the role of House Supervisor. Together with the team of young Leaders in Training (YLITS) we create a welcoming, safe environment for those who come here for healing and renewal. I feel blessed to be working alongside the young leaders as they discover God’s destiny for them and are trained to be leaders in the kingdom. It’s wonderful to be a part of God’s plans.

Healing our Image of God
Will and Madeleine Walker
Ministry Centre Managers

The cross is the ultimate expression of the Father’s love for us. While the focus is on Jesus, behind the pain, the suffering and the unimaginable moment of abandonment when the Father turned His back on His son, stands the unfailing love of the Father.

To understand the cross is to understand that the central theme of Jesus’ personal life was His growing intimacy, trust and love of His Abba. Thus His voluntary laying down of His life was the greatest single act of unswerving trust in His Father’s love for Him. It was the first time He felt abandoned by His Father yet there is no evidence whatsoever that He lost trust in His Father while on the cross.

In the midst of His greatest trial and agony His love for His Abba and His unswerving trust in who He was, speaks the most powerful message of healing into our brokenness and hurts and pain. To trust God no matter what happens in our lives or when everything seems to be falling apart, is an utterly ruthless act and while it is not always an easy thing to do, it is the pre-eminent expression of love. Jesus knew His identity. But more importantly He knew who His Father was and what He was like.

Healing our image of God heals our image of ourselves. If we could only tap into the tenderness and unfailing love of the Father so much of our hurts and fears would dissolve. The story of the cross is the story of the Prodigal son. The grime and dirt of years of wasteful living were wiped out in a moment as the Father ran to His son and with a kiss and a hug, loved Him to life and wholeness. What we need most in our healing is that intimate, ruthless trust in the Father’s love for us.

I know it’s in the realm of speculation but I like what one theologian believes God said to Jesus while He hung on the cross. “ … Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come! For see, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of pruning the vines has come, and the song of the dove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs and the vines, in bloom, giving forth fragrance. Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come! O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the secret recesses of the cliff. Let me see you, let me hear your voice. For your voice is sweet, and you are lovely" (Song of Songs 2:10-14 - NAB). Then upon hearing the voice of His Abba, Jesus responds, "It is finished. I'm coming home!" 

Let’s take another look at the cross this Easter season. Look beyond the One who hung there for us and see the Father standing, no, running to meet us, as we bring our fears, our hurts, our pain to Him to be kissed by His ruthless and unfailing love.

Come home to His love.

God has helped me greatly in making decisions. He has given me strength in weaker moments and He has brought me calm in stormier times. He has returned to me a great deal of what the enemy had robbed from me. But as most of us, I am still in process on the journey, and continue to rely more and more on Him to fully restore me.

As for my kitchen duties, I have had the privilege of personally thanking Jesus when mealtime found us with a sudden increase in numbers. With delight the words ring out, “the more the merrier”.

As we long for a greater sense of God’s presence, for a greater revelation of His glory in our midst at Singing Waters, we found ourselves echoing Isaiah’s words (Isaiah 64:11):

“Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down.”

But as we prayed this, it was almost as if we weren’t sure that we dared ask for such a thing! And we were particularly impressed to ask for the Lord to increase our capacity to receive such an outpouring.

We thought of the Israelites who were terrified of the presence of the Lord and the power of His voice at Mount Sinai. One person shared about a time when she, too, had such a terrifying experience.

We reflected in awe that although it is the Lord’s deepest desire to draw us into relationship with Him, that He would be fully known to us, perhaps He restrains Himself because He knows when we are not yet ready to receive Him in His fullness – indeed such an outpouring of God that we long for is often more than we could bear!

(Psalm 103:13b-14 “the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.”)

We were impressed that He waits upon us.

Isaiah 30:18 (Amplified) “And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]!

And, yet, it IS our desire to KNOW Him and EXPERIENCE Him in His fullness. And of course, this is His desire for us – the complete outworking of the Cross. And we see examples in Scripture: Moses, Joshua, Elijah and others who were comfortable in the Lord’s presence. They had the capacity for it! We can, too!

We talked about the scripture that refers to new vs. old wineskins and wondered about the capacity of new skins over old ones - was there a process that stretched the new skins as they were filled with wine? Do we need to be stretched, grown (wider? deeper?) to receive Him?

Joshua 3:5 “consecrate yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”

And this was the question that we brought before the Lord and with which we still wait: HOW do we consecrate ourselves? What is required to prepare us to receive what our hearts cry out for? We felt this had to do with capacity to receive Him more than anything else and we asked: HOW do we increase our capacity?

Please join us in seeking God with this question. We believe that He is pleased to answer our hearts’ cry!

Barb Chua
Your Singing Waters Prayer Partner