Update from Redding

Hello my wonderful friends and family in distant lands,

Once again we have flipped over another page of the calendar. I find it astonishing how time flies. This year is going by so much faster than last year did. Let me tell you, there’s something about attending a school of supernatural ministry that somehow seems to speed up time in comparison to lazying through grade twelve homeschooling (last year)! I love it though; it’s just scary and exciting at the same time.

Every time I send home an update from here (which I apologize has been only two or three times so far), I feel like I still have not captured the essence of what is happening out here. So I  figured that this time I will try to update you on what REALLY is going on here. If THAT is even possible.

There’s something about the atmosphere that one can’t easily put into words. There’s so much churning, changing, winding, and resetting in my mindset—and most of it has nothing to do with certain events happening here, but rather just being nonstop exposed to the culture out here.

There’s several things that come to mind when I think of what it is about the culture here that is changing my life like this. Here at Bethel, we have even named the different aspects because everyone knows about it: the culture of honour, the grace culture, and of course the culture for the supernatural (English experts, I know that’s not ‘parallel’ but those are the common names given to those parts of culture). Each is extremely important for revival and keeping fresh with what the Holy Spirit is doing inside and outside the church.

The culture of honour here is possibly one of the most important in the atmosphere. Without honour, no move of God can last very long. We are taught right from the start that we are an honourable people, and therefore we honour those to whom honour is due. There are leaders who had spent decades seeking the Lord’s face and receiving revelation, giving their lives to become intimate with God, and opening the way for the rest of us to follow. They deserve our honour. Not only must we honour those in authority over us, but also the people around us. See, I am an honourable person, because in Christ I am royalty. And because I am honourable, I honour other people. Not because they deserve it, but because I deserve it. It actually dishonours me when I am dishonourable to my fellow students or less fortunate people.

A large part of being a part of a culture of honour is pulling out the gold from a person’s heart. Nobody needs to hear about the dirt in their life. They KNOW it’s there without you telling them. Instead, we learn to draw out the beauty God has put inside. For example, when we prophecy over someone, and we sense  anger has taken hold of this person, we wouldn’t say that. We ask the Lord what he wants to say in response to this. So instead of saying, “You are struggling with anger and God just wants you to know that until you get rid of it, you won’t receive breakthrough in your leadership”; we say something like, “God just wants to fill you with His love right now. He has placed in you a passion that, when yielded to the Holy Spirit, is your strength to lead people with love. You are an amazing leader. You have the fire inside you that it takes to lead a generation to following the move of the Spirit. You are also a carrier of peace and joy, something that will draw the people to you because they feel so joyful and peaceful around you.” Guess how this person would feel? Suddenly they realize the good that God has placed in them. This is highly likely something they’ve never heard about before. Me, a leader? Peace and joy carrier? Lead a generation? And they start believing it. It clicks with their heart, because it really IS the truth, the truth of heaven. The desire to be angry or take revenge begins dissipating because love feels so much better than that heavy baggage of anger. God starts working in their heart. You know, according to God’s Word, it is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance.

The grace culture is a beautiful thing. It really runs right along with the culture of honour. Grace. God loves grace. We are no longer under the old Covenant, but under the new. Now we walk according to the Spirit, and not according to the letter of the law. This is not a permission slip to sin. In fact, the expectations are much higher under grace than even under the law! The law said, “Don’t’ murder.” But grace says, “If you hate a person, you’ve already committed murder.” The said, “Don’t commit adultery.” But grace says, “If you so much as look at a woman with lust in your eyes, you’ve already committed adultery.” But the beautiful thing is that by the grace of God, He’s given us the Holy Spirit who guides us. He empowers us to overcome temptation. And whenever we have made a mistake or sinned, God is not there with a big stick ready to strike us over. Instead, he extends his grace to us and forgives, the instant that we turn our heart back to him. It is not our place to judge the hearts of other people. We are to give grace the way God gives grace. Jesus was the perfect example. Did he not extend grace to whoever he passed? Instead of condemning the adulterous woman to be stoned to death, he looked her in the eye and said, “Go and sin no more.” I can imagine her life was never the same after that. Somebody believed in her enough to give her a second chance in a situation where she should have been killed instantly by stoning.

Lastly, there’s the culture of the supernatural that Bethel has cultivated for years and years now. There is a general air of expectancy here. We expect the miracle to happen. We expect that God is going to do something amazing today. We are certain that Jesus is the same today as He was yesterday, and will be forever. It pays off having this faith, you know. There is an open heaven here that’s been created with a mix of faith, honour, grace, and testimonies. With open heaven, we mean that literally. Heaven is open over us, pouring out blessing after miracle after testimony! It often does not even take a literal prayer for diseases to be healed. Cultivating a soil where miracles happen on regular basis takes a LOT of dedication and patience. Some people have to pray 100 times for deaf ears before the deaf start to get healed by their prayers. But there’s a certain atmosphere at Bethel that has already received that breakthrough due to our leaders’ decades of dedication. Claiming the power of testimonies that God wants to do it again, is as powerful as prayer for a miracle even! Did you know that the word testimony comes from a Greek word that means “do it again”? So if you declare a testimony of what God has done, that releases the power of God to have it happen again!

Again, breaking down what Bethel’s culture is really like, is quite a monumental task. I could rewrite this email fifty times and each time I could go into greater detail, say it a better way, and think of other important aspects. But these three unique characteristics are what most of us feel to be the most defining for Bethel.

So… that is the thing that’s molding me out here. Constant exposure to the Bethel culture. I love it. It’s challenging at times, but such a good challenge!

Now for those of you who prefer to hear actual ‘day to day’ type updates, I’ll satisfy your curiosity a little bit as well.  In October our family celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving by inviting over our family’s great friends, a Texan couple Jeff & Julie Brown (I’ve talked about them before, I think). But then of course, along came American Thanksgiving which gave us a one week break. Many students went home for the break, but we stayed here.

We’ve had one week of school so far after Thanksgiving, and now there’s only two more weeks to go and then we have a three week Christmas break!

It’s crazy how time flies! I find it almost unbelievable that our time here is basically one third up. Last year, by Christmas it felt like we’d been here for a year. Now it feels like a mere one or two months, and yet it’s already four months that we’ve been here since summer.

We’ve been blessed with having Canadian visitors here for a weekend—Jake & Annie Wiebe were here three or four weeks ago. And soon we get some more visitors! My mom’s brother and sister, Wilmer and Florence, are coming here for a week, right before Christmas! It’ll be so good having family here from home!

In January I am anticipating seeing Clara, who is in Toronto at a similar ministry training school, as she’s coming to Oroville, California. That’s a 1 hour and 45 minute drive from Redding, where we live. Yaya for best friends from home coming to visit! J

Right now my mom is in Rwanda, Africa, on a ministry trip with the prophetic art team. I am really excited for what they are doing out there. Rwanda has lost its very own drumbeat due to the intense suffering they’ve gone through. Some years ago, there was a genocide that lasted a hundred days in which everyone was killing everyone. MORE than one tenth of Rwanda’s population are orphans. Everyone in Kenya has loved ones who were killed, and everyone has loved ones who killed others. The ministry team is working with these orphans, using the arts to help open their hearts so they can experience inner healing. Most of these orphans have never yet opened up and told anyone about the tragic, horrific things they’ve witnessed. So that is what my mom is a part of right now. My mom has written us one email already from Rwanda. She says it’s REALLY intense. There was one night where no one in the entire team had slept. On Sunday my mom preached at a church, and she said she had done amazing! J

So while my mom is gone we older girls (myself, Clarice, and Dylana) take turns getting up at 6:55 AM each morning to get breakfast and lunch ready for the school babies.  So far it’s gone well, and I’m quite sure we’ll continue to survive and maybe even thrive till my mom gets back! Heheh.

I cannot close this entry without sharing at least one testimony. And this time it’s my own! YAY! Jesus said, “Go heal the sick.” So sometimes you just gotta be brave and do it. I was on outreach, and a ten year old girl named Shyanne was complaining about her hip hurting really badly whenever she walked or did anything. At this point I wasn’t there yet, but another first year student, Sam, prayed for her. Nothing happened, so Sam called me over to come help pray. I prayed with Sam, and Shyenne said it was better. But when she started walking on it, she groaned that it was hurting again. By this time Sam went to tend to another child, so it was up to me to keep pressing for healing. I prayed for Shyanne again. She walked and was delighted to tell me it was completely fine! So she decided to try doing a cartwheel, as that’s what had put her hip in pain. But when she did her cartwheel, her hip instantly was in pain again! So I prayed for her again. She did another cartwheel. It was better, but not completely gone. I prayed AGAIN. And this time, when she did cartwheels, there was no more pain! She went on through the rest of our time there without pain in her hip! Praise Jesus! Later, she slipped and hurt her thigh. She came to me, whining and rubbing her thigh where she’d hurt it. I looked at it and said, “Aw, should I pray for it too?” Before she even thought to say yes, she realized the pain was no longer there! Haha! Sometimes you just don’t even need to pray and God heals you!

All right. This update is by far long enough. It might take you a week to read… haha. In any case, I love you all! And I would love to hear back from you and hear what’s going on with you wherever you are! Blessings to you!

All the way from California….

       ~Crystal Dueck~

Update about Life in California

Hey everyone!

God is doing so much stuff! I don't even know where to begin! Because it's been so long since I've written, there would be so much to update. But I'll just start rambling on about the more recent stuff, whatever comes to my mind.

First in my mind right now is my mission trip. Everyone in Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry is required to take a mission trip in order to graduate. So everyone has to apply for their top five choices, and then the mission trip leaders hand-select the team they want to take on their trip. Last year, my parents were sorely disappointed, as they did not get ANY of their five choices, in fact, they got the trip they had been Hoping they wouldn't get. So I was somewhat anxious as to whether I would get a trip of my choice. It was kind of one of those things where you KNOW God sees the desires of your heart and He could totally let you go to your preferred place, but you also know that hundreds of people out the 1000+ people here will not get their choice trip. And that could easily be me, as well as any of them.

Well, about a week or ago I talked to a girl who already knew she was going to Siberia, Russia. And her friend had already gotten an email that she'd been accepted to go to Mozambique Iris (Heidi Baker's ministry). Well, Mozambique was one of my highest choices (#2), so my heart kind of sank, knowing I'd obviously not been accepted for that trip. I went home thinking, I hope I won't be disappointed. But if I am, I'll try to still be happy and find God's will in that. So I went home, and basically did my "nightly rounds" in checking my facebook and my email. I found an odd looking email titled "BSSM Recommendation." Hmm. Sounded weird to me, like why would they recommend me and to whom? Well, I was quite the shocked girl when I read the first sentance of the email...!!!!!!!! "Hi Crystal... Congratulations, Im delighted to have you as part of the team to Kenya (Bungoma)!"

Kenya has been in the dreams of my heart since I was in first grade. So although it was the third choice on my application (Thailand was first, Mozambique second), Kenya has always been the first choice of my heart! We will fly to western Kenya first. There we'll partner with the Global Children's Movement and minister in churches, hospitals, businesses, police stations and the streets of the city of Bungoma. Then we will fly to northern Kenya to release God's Kingdom in a multi-ntaional refugee camp and also to the remote and mostly unreached Turkana tribe. The Turkana tribe is one of two tribes in all of Kenya that has not really been touched by western civilization, to my understanding. I can't wait to see what happens when a "despised" people group experiences becoming children of the living God! 

This trip happens to be right over my 19th birthday. March 17-30. And my birthday is the 19th. It's kind of interesting where I've spent my birthdays the last few years. My fifteenth birthday is the last birthday I've had at home in Canada. For my 16th, I was in Argentina. For my 17, I was in Belize. For my 18, in California. And now for my 19th, I'll be in Kenya! Wonder where I'll be next year! hahaha

Talking about mission trips, my parents are going to Israel. And Clarice, who is living with us, got her first choice as well: the Philippines. 

Wow this email is already so long and all I've talked about is mission trips!

We have started outreach time already. I do Sidewalk Sunday School, and it happens every Thursday. What we've done the last two weeks is just walk around knocking door to door, meeting the parents and inviting them to send their kids outside to play and hang out with us. Next week we will begin the real thing, having somewhat of a Sunday School program and teaching them about God and how much God loves them and how important they are. the first time, only a few kids showed up. But that was still fun. We basically just stood/sat around and chatted with them. One of the leaders, Oskar (from Iceland) found out the one of the boys' knee had been hurt in an accident and it had been in pain for a year. So Oskar prayed for the knee, and it got better! The boy began bending it around, surprised that he could kneel on the ground without pain! The boy beside him said that he'd also had some kind of accident, and now he had staples in his ankle and couldn't really run or bend his ankle as a result. At first this boy (Billy) didn't want prayer, but finally agreed. Oskar prayed, and Billy's ankle started crackling! He freaked out. Part of what freaked him out so much was that he could feel the Holy Spirit's presence and he's never felt that before. Well, Billy started bending his ankle around, rotating it. Then he started jumping on it! He exclaimed, "I've been through a haunted house and this is scarier!" People on the street who have no real experience with the true God usually have no idea how to express themselves when they do come in contact with God. Kris (the other boy who got healed) said, "Billy, you should try running on it!" So Billy took off running around the block on the sidewalk! So I would say that was a great first day of outreach. 

I'm learning so much out here. A very big emphasis is God's love and our identity. We have to realize that God made us amazing. He created me amazing, and if I don't be who I am made to be, then I am robbing the world of seeing one side of God that only I can represent! I'm also really experiencing more of the joy that the Holy Spirit gives. Have you ever cried in God's presence, just because the presence of God somehow touches you so deeply? Well, have you ever thought of it that it is also possibly to laugh in the same way? Sometimes the Holy Spirit touches a deep place in my heart that I can't help but begin laughing. And it's a deep laugh that comes from way deep down. It feels so good. The joy of the Lord is my STRENGTH, not a weakness. 

Another very huge thing we're learning here is the power of testimonies. If God does something for a person, and that person retells the story, that releases for the same thing to happen again. In fact one of the meanings of the word testimony in the Bible is "to return, repeat, go about, do again." And remember how much power words have? God spoke and created the universe. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. So the things we declare are filled with power. So imagine this: when you speak a testimony of what God has done in your life, you are declaring a thing that has the power to "repeat" or "do again"!!!!! This has been proven numerous times. For example, Bill Johnson (our senior pastor) once prayed for a child who had club feet (toes curled up and the feet awkwardly curved inward making it very difficult to walk) This was a 3 or 4 year old boy who had never been able to run and play because of her feet. As Bill prayed, her feet became straight! A little girl, the boy's friend, exclaimed, "Run, Timmy Run!!" So Timmy took off running around the inside of the church, for the first time in his life. Imagine the joyful tears of his mother who had only dreamed of how it would be if her child could be normal enough to play games like normal children! I cry each time Bill Johnson tells us this beautiful story. Well anyway, a few months later, Pastor Bill tells this testimony in church. Well, sitting in church is another mother whose 5 year old daughter also has club feet. Knowing the power of testimony, she silently says in her heart, "I receive that testimony for my daughter, may she be healed." After the church service when this mother goes to pick up her daughter from Children's Church, her daughter runs into her arms, her feet completely straight! And then, another few months or so later, Pastor Bill was preaching in church about the power of testimony and he used the example of the girl's feet being healed as a result of this mother claiming the testimony for her own child after hearing about the boy whose feet were healed. This time, another mother was listening to this message being preached via the podcast a few days later. She had an older daughter (I think 10 years old or so). This mother was so encouraged, she thought she would try it on her daughter. So she called her daughter, and as her daughter walked toward her the mother watched her feet slowly straighten! By the time she reach her, the feet were completely straight!

God is so good. He is ALWAYS in a good mood! He loves to bless his children, love his children, heal his children, and surprise his children. If earthly fathers know how to give their children good gifts, how much more will our heavenly Father give us good gifts? He is the same today as he was yesterday, and will be forever! I praise God that I am alive at this time in world history - it's an exciting time to be alive! 

All right, I'll leave it at that for now. Again, I love to hear your feedback to these updates. It's encouraging to read your responses, and I love to stay in contact in a two-way conversation, not just having it one-sided. 

Have a great evening!

.....Heavenly dreams....

           ~Crystal~

Chapter Fifteen

To the few dear people who follow my writing here....


I completed Chapter 15 a few weeks ago. That was a moment of rejoicing for me, let me tell you! I think it has like 18 or so pages. When you get near the end of the chapter and you know you're almost done writing, you get this exhilarating feeling that makes you want to finish it so fast just right away so you start almost slacking off and ending too soon. But I always try to be careful to not do that. 


Can you imagine? I've only got two more complete chapters to write! This is beyond exciting! This is a dream come true! This is something that's been prophesied over me several times and God's given me many words of encouragement about. So it is by the grace of God that I will complete this book, as I have had some tough times with it through the summer. Now I'm back in the swing of writing, although the times are kind of scattered and far between when I actually sit down for a few hours and write. But at least, when I write now, I don't sit there for an hour not feeling the flow to actually write. For that I am so happy!


Finishing the third last chapter of the book is not my only accomplishment toward publishing my book -- I have chosen a girl that also goes to school here to be the model for my book cover. She's a lovely island girl from Tahiti who looks very much like I envision my main character Sakierra to look. So I am very excited about that! It'll be so much fun doing the photo shoot and designing the cover. I am very excited also about how the end result of the book cover will look. Something you will have to wait to find out! :D


You might wonder why I spend so little time actually writing on my book. The truth is, if I fully focused my attention on writing I could have been finished with my book in September. But I have other important things too, that are of a similar priority. So I juggle priorities and make a little bit room for all of them. The biggest priority of course is school. Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry is doing amazing stuff in me and it's one of the best things that could happen to my life. Some other things include creating my line of jewellery for the Adoria Fashion Show, homegroups in the evenings, and staying connected with friends far away. I am also starting an online business that'll involve selling my jewellery. I'm in the planning process of that still, but it might be something about creativity or the prophetic in the arts.


All right... that gives you an idea of where I'm at right now. Once again, I really deeply appreciate your thoughts and prayers and comments on this blog. Writers are often said to be the loneliest people on earth. I don't think that needs to be true! Wouldn't you agree?  :D 


Blessings to you.


~Crystal~

More, Lord!

I have completed Chapter Fourteen! WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited about my progress. God is SO good! Not only have I finished with my 14th chapter, I also re-mapped out the last three chapters. I added a chapter to the book, which I also mapped out. So right now there are 17 chapters in the complete book.

Ahh my heart is bursting with the goodness of my God!

Oh God my heart burns for you! Keep this fire forever burning! I love you so much! Consume me forever with your love. Consume me with your presence. I want to live a holy life before you. Thank you for clothing me with the righteousness of Jesus!

Thank you for who you are, my God. You hear me every time I call to you. You feel me every time I crawl in close on your lap. You touch me each time I reach to you. You are my inspiration. You are my song. You are my story. You are my everything! I love you!

Progress is happening...

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to say that I am actually making progress in my book. I have completed chapter 13 and am well into chapter 14 by now.

Clarice has been here since Monday, and it's so much fun hanging out with her and getting her settled in. But she's great about giving me time to write too. So just yesterday, she volunteered to make supper with Dylana so that I could go upstairs and write! It was so good! In a little less than two hours I churned out six pages of exciting material. It's one of the most intriguing, mysterious parts of my book, so it was fun to write.

Thank you to everyone who's praying for me. It helps SO much! I appreciate your support. I especially love the support I feel each time anybody comments on this blog or on facebook. It just encourages me so much like you can't even imagine. So thank you.

With God,

~Crystal~

Restoration

The day after my last post where I notified you of my writing trouble, I was journaling and I wrote out my heart in a poem-like piece. This will shed some light into where my heart was at that point:

~This Valley~

The sun once lit this lovely valley

Casting light on flowers, trees, the river.

But then shade came, slowly, gradually

And the pretty places of this valley became chilly.

The birds stopped singing, the shade grew darker

Until at last, night set in. It was dark. And cold.

It's in this cold valley where I'm shivering

Wondering where to turn or where to rest.

I feel lost now in this darkness. Where's the sun?

Not even the stars or moon is glowing. I'm lost.

But I remember hearing something that gives me hope:

Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

I wonder if the sun will come again in the morning?

I wonder if soon this too shall pass? Please Lord.

That's kind of bland maybe and definitely completely unedited and unretouched. That is simply how I felt that evening. My heart cried out for clarity off vision, for healing in my dull and wounded heart.

I started to feel hopeful that my joy would return eventually to begin writing again, but to refocus I laid my writing aside for a full month.

Now that we've returned to Redding, California, the time has come to begin again. But there were several issues concerning my writing to be resolved first before I could even think of beginning again.

So a few evenings ago I spent an hour in the prayer house, revisiting my old journal entries to remember what it was in my heart that stopped me from writing. Some wounds can only be healed by reopening them, cleaning them up, and then they can heal shut properly. That evening was an opening of my wound.

The day after that in the morning I talked with my mom about my wound. We had a good heart to heart. Dumping out my feelings to her was the cleaning part of the process.

And then today at church, Sherri Silke the speaker asked that all who had dropped a dream of theirs to raise their hand and the people around them would pray for them. I raised my hand. Yes. I dropped my vision of writing this book for a while because things weren't working smoothly as they should. Even if but for a few moments, I lost hope. A handful of caring women around me laid their hands on me and prayed for me. I cried. Of course I cried! But it felt good. It was a release. Afterward Mommy hugged me and whispered in my ear, "Now you can write your book again." Exactly.

So now I am excited to begin working on my book again next week. I am halfway through chapter thirteen, and there's sixteen chapters in total if all goes as I've planned so far. I am planning to restructure my story a little bit and make it even more exciting. I don't know yet how I will do that or what changes I'll make, though I have a slight idea. We'll see what happens. We'll see what happens when the creative juices are flowing and things start happening in the story. With the Holy Spirit giving inspiration, anything can happen! Anything is possible!

Rougher Spots

Hi everyone,

For those of you who care to know, I have been having some tougher times with my writing. Due to different circumstances and different people's priorities and other such surrounding things, I've lost some of my joy in writing. Please pray for me! Writing is what I want to do, and I cannot quit. But you would be shocked if you knew all the thoughts that've run through my mind during the worst moments. 

I won't go into any detail. I just want to let the few of you who care know, so you can pray for me. Thank you so much. I appreciate it so much.

Love,

     Crystal.

Progress on my Book!

I have completed Chapter TWELVE! 

I'm really excited about my progress I've made in writing out the first draft of my book. I remember when I first had a dream that one night in 2005. It was so vivid and so mysterious that I knew I absolutely must write it down. It turned out to be a five page dream. More than two years later, I rediscovered it in my writing drawer. I reread it, and realized that this was really amazing novel material. 

Shortly after arrival in Redding, CA, my dreams of writing a book came back to me pretty strongly. So every time I got the chance, I took my binder of notes to the prayer house and began outlining my book. I remember how excited I was to finally have completed my drafting out all my chapters, and then deciding to split my 34+ chapters into a two book series rather than one big fat 500 page book. 

And then I began writing. Slowly, I churned out chapter after chapter.I worked on it for months. And now we're back in Canada for the summer, and I'm still working at it every chance I get.

I'm done Chapter Twelve, and already halfway done Chapter Thirteen. I can hardly believe it. Chapter Eight marks the half-done milestone. But I'm beyond half done! Chapter Twelve marks the 3/4 milestone. I'm already past that too! 

God is so good to me. Sometimes I felt completely uncreative and uninspired. But the Holy Spirit has been intimately involved with each part of my progress, and thanks to Him, I've been able to come this far. I am so grateful for that. If God ever lays it on your heart to pray for me as I write, please do so. I greatly appreciate knowing someone supports me in prayer.

God bless you!

~Crystal~

Sin Creature

Sin Creature

Slowly, stealthily, the creature crept out of its pit. A yellow gleam in the eye and a hiss inside the throat revealed its nefarious delight in seeing its victims standing before him. Its partially scaled, partially hairy black body was not too big to be formidable; but oh, certainly big enough to beat down any one of these unfortunate humans who dared rebel his touch.

* * * 

“Crystal! CRYSTAL!”

My door swung open and I jerked upright in my bed. What? It’s three in the morning! “Calm down, Katie!” I said. “What is it?”

Katie’s eyes grew large and her voice lowered to a whisper. “It’s out again!”

The musty little trailer I had just moved into took on an even more sinister atmosphere as I realized what she meant. The time had come. Throwing my damp, lumpy quilt around my shoulders and stepping into my slippers, I rushed outside with Katie. “I’m taking care of this, Katie. Don’t worry.”

I followed Katie to the back of the village, and into the deep forest. “You say this happens every night?” I asked.

Katie nodded. “Every night.” Her voice was tight with fear.

I had heard absurd and creepy descriptions of this creature. Not that it scared me though—this was my duty.  But as we walked deeper into the forest, my heart quickened.

Obvious terror marked every face around the pit. All eyes were trained on one old man, who shook as though a shock of electricity were shooting through him. But I saw no creature! Then I remembered that this was believed to be a spiritual manifestation, so I ought to pray for my eyes to be opened.

“Do you see it?” asked Katie.

I shook my head. Holy Spirit, open my eyes. I paused. And let me not be afraid when I do see.

And then I saw it. A hideous black creature that looked like sin itself was standing up on the electrified man, licking the area over his heart.

Katie screamed when it clambered toward her, but became silent as it made eye contact with her.

“Sin Creature, STOP! In Jesus’ name STOP!” I was surprised when it did not heed my command.

“It’ll stop when finished,” an old woman said. “Always does.”

At last the creature crawled into its pit. The spell broken, everyone sighed with relief.

Why didn’t it stop? What’s this thing anyway? I was not about to let this continue another night.

Then God spoke to me. Crystal, this creature is the embodiment of sin. Many years ago, the villagers committed a sin that has woven itself into a dreadful creature that now haunts them every night. Only repentance will release them from its grip.

In as simple words as possible, I explained to Katie and the others that Jesus had died for their sins to free them from Sin Creature. They had only to repent and believe in Jesus’ power, and they would be relieved of Sin Creature’s power.

Solemnly, they confessed their sins and thanked Jesus for his sacrifice. Smiles shone in their eyes as the Holy Spirit filled their hearts.

“Now you have authority to destroy that sinful thing!” I exclaimed.

With joy in their faces and confidence in their hearts, they marched back to overcome their sin together.

“Come out, Sin Creature!” they called.

Confused, Sin Creature crept back up.

“We’re done with you!” The old man threw a stone at it.

“Can’t torment us any more!” An elderly lady hammered it with her broomstick.

“Our sins are forgiven us!” A young man shouted as he kicked the writhing creature.

Sin Creature groaned as it wriggled toward Katie.

“In Jesus’ name, LEAVE!” She shouted, pointing to the pit. “And don’t EVER return!”

Sighing and moaning, the beaten creature fell backwards into its pit. The pit closed up, swallowing the village’s sin forever.

The people erupted in cheers. “We’re free!”

That night, a heavy rain began falling. In this rain, the villagers stood with open arms, letting the grime wash off their clothes, off their skin. No more stains of sin were left on any of them.

That was a year ago. Since that rain, a large pool of cleansing water lies over the area where the pit used to be. Yes, the villagers are still human and make mistakes, but now each time they do, they bathe in the Waters of Remembrance and ask the Lord for forgiveness.

THE END

 

- Crystal Dueck (May 2009)

Introducing Myself

I love my Father who loves me and cares for me. I love Jesus who gave his life for me so that I can be his Bride. I love the Spirit who speaks to me and comforts me and opens my eyes to things unrevealed.

If you took away my family, my home, my friends, my years of education, my church,   and all my material things... you still would not have taken away the one thing that nobody could EVER take away from me.... my relationship with God. He means everything to me.

But that does not make me an odd or crazy person. I am a normal teenage girl who just graduated from high school, who has normal teenage problems and issues, and I have normal things happening to me... (gotta admit though, the life with Jesus is WAAAAY the most adventurous life to live EVER!).....

You might think me quite ambitious...(whether that be positive or negative) but YES, I am actually in the midst of writing my first draft of Book One of a two-book novel series. I'll release it at the end of this year if all goes as planned.

Starting this September, I will also be going to Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. I can't wait! My parents went there last year, and the results are amazing! Can't get enough of God's amazing love for his people and the way he loves to show his power through the supernatural!

I love talking about whatever people are open to talk about. I am NOT, however, interested in theological debates that are meant just for the sake of having an argument. My God is a God of LOVE. He doesn't need to prove himself, and I don't need to prove him either.

Well anyway, that tells you a bit about me and what's the most important about me. The other little details you'll have to ask about, or wait till I decide to share little snippets of my life. Now it would help a lot if you actually made the effort and took the time to comment on entries I post, or else you know as well as I how long this blog thing will last. But like most other things in my life, this too is an "experiment." Cool thing is, lots of my experiments turn into experiences! 

I don't really know where this blog will take me. Maybe it'll be like a public online journal. That sounds a little scary. Maybe I'll just randomly post quotes or articles or other inspirational things I find. Maybe it'll be something to keep you mostly updated on how my story is coming along. Maybe if people leave comments or messages, I can address different questions you post. Is there issues you'd like help with, that you'd be okay with my addressing out in the open? Others might have the same question and they'd thank you for asking. I'm not your number one advice person or counsellor, but I love talking about it and see if I can be of any help. Maybe I can offer you God's love. I love doing that! Just ask!!!!

Until next time,,,,,

~Crystal~