“Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! Speedily then I would subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their adversaries.” Psalm 81:13-14
Lord, please give me words even now that only belong to You. Help me to write the expressions of Your faithfulness and Your heart to redeem and to bless all who will boldly, humbly come to You. Bless the hearts of all those that enter in here...into the place of my thoughts...to see what has been stirring around in me. Provoke them to spill what they are full of, consider their own thought-life, and give them a hunger for your word that causes others to long for home. I thank You for the goodness of Your love at work in us and Your immeasurable abounding grace.
My Dear Friends:
Please grab a cup of tea (I’ve had a few cups by now) and let’s get started. I hope to only take about an hour of your time. I pray that you are ever rejoicing in the little things, thanking God for one another and for every place that your feet have touched, and every opportunity to speak Jesus name and live His word out. I am very thankful that you so patiently endure with me through these once-in-a-while novel size updates.
In the spring I was offered a helicopter hiking job guiding in south eastern Alaska. The people called three times to confirm their interest in my position of employment with their company. Earlier in the year, I had been asked to return for a 7-10 day trip with the canoe camp I took part in last summer in Alaska. Another friend of mine had forwarded me an email of a friend of hers who also was looking for a few volunteers to help guide some river trips. It seemed that I would not be able to do the volunteer positions if I was going to take the other job. After praying and surrendering all my thoughts and ideas of what I thought was supposed to happen. Turns out the other company could not allow me to be off for the time that I had asked for as my sister was due to have a baby (I had given my word to her that I would be there for her). I was still pondering other job offers and possibilities, my family’s immediate financial needs among others, and my desire to return to Alaska did not go away or get any smaller. I prayed God’s will be done no matter what.
A friend from up north called and asked what was the latest with my job options, and if I was still going to Alaska or not. He let me know that God had given him the desire to fund my way there, and he had been waiting to hear me say that it was indeed the next step that God had made clear to me. Some questioned why I would take volunteer jobs when my original thought had been to help support my mom and family financially. Others questioned me asking if I knew 100% if it was God’s will for me to go to Alaska. I questioned myself, “How is this helping my family?” The Lord showed me that I am not my family’s source. God is. I need not concern myself with details if I truly believe He is taking care of all things. My main concern needs to be pleasing and doing the will of my Father in Heaven.
On my way to Alaska God was with me, answering prayers from long ago. I praise Him for giving me such wonderful friends and family no matter where I go, and giving them a desire to share their hearts and all they have with me. It was as if He had brought me there to hide me away and give me rest. Taking me thousands of miles away from everything that was weighing on me and many things I could do nothing about. Just to tell me how much He loves me...to give me a few new songs...and assurance that He is the husbandman that keeps his vine. What a joy to find His Sons and Daughters along the way whose knees are in the dirt and faces to the ground in tears to God, praying His will be done. I was incredibly blessed by every conversation, each encouragement, and every prayer that was prayed.
Father, No One is as generous and kind as You. Your presence alone gives me life, Your ways never cease to amaze me. Your provisions are simple reminders to look nowhere else. I continue to trust that You are leading each of us by Your mercies. Thank You for never tiring to continually give Father/Daughter time to me. Thank You for your promptings and outstretched hand encouraging me to move on and come with You. I pray my life will always point to You. I pray my friends that are wearied from life will be revived once again and ever hold fast to You. Amen.
To begin with it was my hope for this trip to help lighten someone's load along the way. I was determined to be quiet and let my words be few. It was almost like the month I was away was to relearn the importance and necessity of LISTENING.
Spirit dressed in flesh
Command and light comes forth
You Breathe, You speak, You touch
New life is born
How faithful Your promises prove Lord
From the time that I wake and my feet touch the ground
You bless the works of my hands
And continually overcome every doubt
Thank you God for this skin to feel things in
Time spent in the presence of true friends
Sunshine on my face, thankfulness, and the taste of good fruit
A call received unexpectedly and reports of good news
Thank You for the gentle breezes and times by the fire
Hugs and kisses of children
Sleeping and waking up outside
Conversations and inspirations that come late at night
Sitting in the dirt, watching the sun go down
Midnight running in the rain
Flying over distant places and mountain heights
For being my ever present help and abundant life
In season and out, through every moment of change
You lead me forth God and make it very plain
That You know me, love me, and long to show me ---- I belong to You…
I arrived in Anchorage at the airport and my beautiful friend, Renee, picked me up and took me to her family’s house. Where she and her family had prepared a place for me, before she said goodnight she prayed the peace of God upon me. I lay down to sleep and awoke refreshed and filled with joyful expectation of drawing near to God. Without an alarm clock I woke up at exactly 6:am. Love lives in this house. God has blessed me more than I could ever express by adding this family to my life. What healing and right understanding the Lord used them to speak over my heart and mind.
I had volunteered to help one of Renee’s friends, Jason with a river trip the first week in July. His company is called True North Expeditions. (www.truenorthexpeditions.org ) I soon met Jason and His lovely wife Marilyn and their adorable little one Ruben…where they live is some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen (Eagle River). After meeting Anna (friend of Jason’s) her and I and another friend of theirs Ryan started loading and unloading vans, checking gear, counting supplies, and making menus for the trip. I met Nathan (also one of Jason’s friends) who would be one of the main guides on the trip. He selflessly served all continually.
The next day Nathan and I left on a five hour drive with the trailer full of gear for the trip and arrived at a small little airstrip in Chitina (Wrangell Mountain Airport). We had plenty of time to share our stories, read, pray, and wait. Paul Claus, owner of the Ultima Thule Lodge, (www.ultimathulelodge.com) who was also friends of Jason and Nathan picked us up in a propeller plane that had the option of skis for landing gear. He is a very kind and generous man. He took Nathan and I and all the equipment we brought to the lodge (about a 1 hour flight into the mountains). We landed in literally what looked like out in the middle of nowhere in the trees, by the water, in the middle of the mountains.
After unloading all the gear within a few minutes we were in the lodge and sitting down to dinner. At this point I was still determined to be quiet and not purposefully engage anyone in conversation, but allow the Lord to direct all as He wills. A girl started talking to me asking me questions about what I was doing there at the lodge and attempting to know a little more about me. She asked me if I was going to college and then told me of her current thoughts on where she is at with college and career. She asked me if I had spoken with the owner’s wife Donna yet. I had not. She then told me that she thought that I should go tell her my story because she was hosting a “No Fear Forward” women’s meeting. She said the little bit I had spoken to her of my testimony sounds a lot like what Donna had been speaking to the women for days now.
After dinner I went to go wash up and was going to rest as it was raining and I was tired not desiring to do anything else. As I was leaving the bathhouse, the girl that I had been speaking with at dinner came up to me and said that she had spoken with the owner’s wife Donna, and that she would like me to come to the tent where the ladies were having their meeting and speak if I would like to. My heart was pounding with a small glimpse of what was about to be revealed…one of the reasons the Lord had brought me there to the lodge a few days earlier than the actual river trip. I prayed as I walked up the hill to the tent, “God, say what you want to say.”
After entering the tent and looking at all of their faces staring back at me, I prayed and read a passage of scripture ---
IF YE THEN BE NOT ABLE TO DO THAT THING WHICH IS LEAST, WHY TAKE YE THOUGHT FOR THE REST? AND WHY CALL YE ME LORD, LORD, AND DO NOT THE THINGS WHICH I SAY?
Luke 6:26, 46
The starting point of my testimony was when I was about 18 years old and had heard the Lord speak to me about “…being anything I wanted to be or being what He created me to be.” From that point on the Lord was directing me what to say and not to say. I praise Jesus that later on some of the ladies came to me and expressed exactly what God was speaking to them individually throughout the night as I was sharing. They told me that all that I was speaking to them that Donna had been telling them in different words for the last three days. We were in the lodge until sometime after 2am praying with one another. One of the ladies prayed with me specifically for my family back home. As they prayed I was deeply touched and thankful to God for their boldness in exercising their faith and expressing such fervency and compassion in their prayers.
Right before I left for the river trip I had emailed my mom to ask what was going on with our family. She had responded and said the reason she had not written me is because she had all bad reports. She was in a really hard place, she had tried to help one of my brothers and pay her bills, but at the moment she did not even have money for food. I wrote her back a very brief encouragement and told her that I know that God is faithful and will provide for her immediate needs and the needs that she faces. As I went down the river I thought of her often and thanked God for the reminders to pray for her.
And by the way, there are plenty of details to tell about the river trip…drinking water from the source of a spring right out of the ground, hiking for hours, shooting, bear tracks, gravel bar testimonies, bush whacking for hours, praying through a sandstorm, making up my own recipes for dessert. I’ll have to save the rest for your specific request for more.
At the end of that river trip one of the older gentlemen gave me a dollar bill (tipping the guide), I thought it was $10 and thought that he was generous and kind and that was unnecessary. Later on when I was back at the lodge cleaning up and doing laundry that dollar bill fell out of my pocket. It actually was $100. Immediately I thought about my mom. I was not scheduled to leave the lodge for another week and there was no other way that mail left except by plane, so I prayed about who I was supposed to give it to and then asked a certain gentlemen if he would please money order it to my mom. All glory to God the amount my mom received in the mail was $600.00 I found out later on. God keeps His word.
Who is there among you who will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear in the time to come? Isaiah 42:23
The next six days or so I was at the lodge I spent time reading, writing, doing some occasional chores that needed to get done. Also, I spent time getting to know Donna and her daughters Ellie and Logan a little more. My time there passed quickly and these dear people invited me to come back to visit anytime or come and stay for a while to write if the Lord leads me to. Upon saying farewell I was given a raincoat and a card that has continued to remind me God is with me. I got in a plane with a biologist/pilot who was heading to McCarthy. Originally I was suppose to go to Chitina and that’s where my ride was waiting, but there were no flights going that direction so I was going to head to McCarthy. This airstrip is literally also out in the middle of nowhere. The only way to get in was by plane or a foot-bridge miles away. So I got out of the plane and ask the guy to point me in the direction of where he thinks the footbridge is. (by the way – I had sent a one line email to the guy that was waiting for me in Chitina to let him know there was a slight change of plans and in general where I thought I was going to be somewhere in McCarthy). I gave him no specifics.
I started walking and noticing how there seemed to be no signs of civilization around. I almost started to doubt the general directions I had been given [Directions: Look for the sock flag and there should be a trail there. Follow that until you get to a road. Go down that road until it T’s off and then take a left. Follow that until it Y’s off and then take a right. You should see a footbridge somewhere near there.] Standing right in front of the sock flag about to enter the trees, where I was told there was a trail…I saw no trail, not even a shadow of one. Got a gut feeling that I should not endeavor to journey into the trees (even though it is one of my favorite places to be) without anyone else knowing my exact location. I began walking on a road that was nearby, and praying and listening--- thinking and trying not to think too much. I prayed and thanked God for giving me strength to carry my load (the backpack) and for helping me not to take any wrong lefts or rights. I do not believe I was walking more than ten minutes or so when a lady pulled up beside me on a four wheeler and asked if I needed a ride. Immediately I thought that was really quick God. I kind of wondered where exactly she came from because there was really no one around or no houses or businesses that I could tell…only trees and mountains and really long roads ahead of me. We must have been driving fifteen minutes or so (at top speed) before she stopped that thing and let me off. I could only imagine how long it would have taken me by foot and all the lefts and rights she took to get there. Yeah, there was a strong possibility I would have been on the evening news as a person lost in an old mining town, had God not sent that sweet lady to escort me to the foot bridge.
I crossed the bridge and prayed again what the Lord would have me to do. Whether I should wait by the bridge or continue on walking believing that I was going to see ‘my ride’ somewhere down the road (who was also wondering where he was going to find me exactly). I really had no way of communicating at that point except by prayer. Truthfully, I wasn’t even sure where I was, but I figured I would eventually see a sign that would tell me. I started walking, not that long after I looked up and a truck was heading my way with canoes strapped to the top.
I thought…hmmm…is that him? He pulled over and said, “Marcie?! Is that you?” He wondered what I was doing and if I knew where I was going and how did I get there and how did I think I was going to find him. Funny he should ask because I was just contemplating the same questions.
The second river trip was a little different. It rained a lot so that made for some interesting circumstances. I will not tell details because I am certain if you have gotten this far (you probably need a refill on tea) you might not want to read five more pages.
At the end of the second river trip, a few of the youth guys and I were asked to set up camp while the others got the rest of the canoes loaded up. We were all soaking wet, it was still raining some, windy, and we needed to get the tents set up and food prepared. I suggested to the guys to have a race to see who could get their tents set up completely and then we could start working on the fire. I left for a few minutes to get out of my wet clothes and attempt to put on something that was not so damp. I came back in probably ten to fifteen minutes and two of the tents were almost completely ready, but the third tent had not even been taken out of the bag…the zipper was really stuck. The young man had been working on trying to get the zipper unstuck the whole time I was gone. So I asked him if he would like some help. I walked over there and said, “In the name of Jesus unzip.” Immediately I unzipped it right before his eyes with no strain or struggle at all. He stood there with his mouth open… I told him things are frustrating when we do anything in our own strength and forget to call on Jesus. He could not stop talking about what a big deal that was to him.
A few days later he came to me and brought that scenario up again. He said that he leads worship at his church (I am assuming for the youth) and that he has not been doing what he is supposed to be doing. He believes that he has been deceiving himself into thinking that he is ok, but he is not living for God. He repented in tears for not praying and reading God’s word, understanding that there is something more that God wants to show him if he would only give his whole self to God. I believe the Lord heard him that night and awoke an even greater hunger in my heart to see the youth come alive to the Lover of their souls.
On the flight home the Lord gave me words to write entitled: Body Building. If you are interested in reading it you can find it here: www.marcie-mayo.blogspot.com
I do not believe any of us are finished telling our story until we are present with the Lord, so I will end by saying. Thank You for taking time to know my thoughts, for sharing yours when you get the chance. May God find us seeking Him with our whole heart…listening…for our Father’s voice of instruction. That we may know Him – let’s make it our mission to LISTEN intently and fix our gaze, being determined to obey, and whatever we say or do –
DO IT AS UNTO THE LORD.
ABIDING IN OUR REFUGE AND STRENGTH,
Marcie
2008
