prayer

Hoping for a House Call

| Laura Lee Bonde

Yesterday in the park, God just brought people to me. I don’t know why it amazes me every time. It’s so His Character. He wants people to experience His nonjudgmental Love.

As soon as I sat down, I met a woman named Sandy. She was from Oakland (naturally blessed because she’s a Raiders fan). We began talking about her dog, her visit, her kids, and I told her what I do in the park daily. She liked that. Then, she opened up.

She told me that just the other day, she woke up with the thought that she’s wasted her life, that she hadn’t done well with the time that God had given her. I spoke into her heart how much God loves her, and that it’s never to late. When I asked if she’d like prayer for anything, she mentioned her son, who has an incurable sickness going on. Guess where he lives? Imperial Beach. I offered to go to him to pray over him. She said in surprise, “You’d do that?” I said, “Of Course!” She took my phone number for him. I hope he calls.

After I prayed for her, a homeless man named Dan came up. He was commenting on Sandy’s dog. I asked him questions about his life, his homelessness, his dog. At one point, he served our country oversees. As he was sharing, he stated that it was most important for him to feed his wife, his dog, and then himself. He showed me the food he’d found in the dumpster. He said, “People throw away perfectly good food all the time.” I offered him the candy canes I had in my pocket, but he said he needed to watch his figure.

He let me know where they sleep in the park. I’ll be walking with a friend today, so I’ll see if we can go visit them. God is so good! He loves so deeply, so uniquely. I love that he always has me around dogs. He’s softening my heart towards them, and it’s working.

Meet Emil

| Laura Lee Bonde
Me and Emil 1-15-15
Me and Emil 1-15-15

This is my friend from the bus stop outside of my work. When I first met him a few months ago, he was grumpy. Look at him now!!

Since the first day I met him, what’s happened?

He let me bless him.
He let me pray over him.
Prayers were answered…freaked him out.
He almost died.
He was placed in a home.
He believes in God.
Transformation.

Over time, I’ve talked with him, laughed with him, loved him. We’ve become friends. He is the sweetest man! He used to be grumpy. Now, he’s not. I never know when I will catch him at the bus stop. Yesterday, I was so happy and surprised to see him, and he felt the same way about seeing me. I rarely have my phone on me at work, so after we talked for a little, I ran in and grabbed my friend to take a picture of us. I’m so glad because in case I never see him again, I will always have this picture!

Kneeling

| Laura Lee Bonde

Yesterday, the neatest things happened. (I love how the “neatest things” happen daily. It makes the morning so exciting.) It all started on the way to work in my prayer time.

In the early morning, I heard a pastor sharing about his amazing time with God in his bedroom with the door closed, kneeling, laying before Jesus…just a sweet time. The first reaction in my heart was ‘I wish I had my own room.’ (I share a room with my kids.) Anyway, I continued on with my morning and left for work.

As I was driving down the road, listening to worship, I began praying. I was thanking God for the cross…all that was accomplished. All of a sudden, my knees began burning with this cooling sensation, like Icy Hot. It was amazing! Immediately, I KNEW it was God, so I shut off the CD, turned off my ear piece, tossed my phone and started thanking Him, and I asked Him what it was for. He explained.

God revealed to me that kneeling isn’t the position of your body; it’s the position of your heart, and the way I was communing with Him at that moment was the expression of the kneeling of my heart. I was undone. He told me more, but those things are private…just between me and Him. (By the way, the burning in my knees last two hours!)

I was just enjoying His Presence, arrived near work, parked, and started walking. I was having the best time with Him. As I was walking down the sidewalk, I made eye contact with a homeless man named Rick.

At first, he was hesitant to reveal his name, but after I told him mine, he softened. He extended his hand as if to shake mine and stopped. He said he didn’t want to get my germs and didn’t want to give me his, so we fist pounded. [Will I ever feel comfortable doing that?]

He went on to tell me that he didn’t want to get sick, that he had enough problems with arthritis and COPD. I said, “Hey, God loves you and wants to get rid of that. Can I pray for you?” He started crying. He said, “Forget that. Pray for the alcohol to leave.” I melted, literally. I knelt at his feet and listened. He poured out his heart, the oppression, the strong hold he was trapped in. I just listened.

Right then, a resident came down the stairs to leave and said hi to Rick. Rick called him by name and said hi back. (He must’ve been a regular on those steps.) Rick was telling him what was going on and how I was praying for him, and he said something funny, which made me laugh. He said, “But I don’t like her laugh though.” It was hilarious. I told him my laugh is like tequila: you either love it or hate it. He smiled.

As I was praying, he was weeping. It was an amazing encounter with God. We said good-bye, and I went on to work. As I was walking with God, it dawned on me: I just got to “kneel” at his feet. It was just a cool realization of kneeling in my heart and kneeling on the ground. God is so good!

I love it when I’m able to “feel” God’s touch, and I’m glad I don’t “need” that to know He’s there. I don’t “need” a room with the door closed. I need an open heart with eyes ready to see all that God wants to do. No one can take away what I have with Him. Actually, even the loneliness has gone away. I’m taken. I’m loved. I’m favored. I’m used. Hallelujah!

Paralyzing Love

| Laura Lee Bonde

Have you ever been paralyzed by fear? On Christmas Eve, I found myself paralyzed by love.

As most of you know, throughout the years, God has been restoring a beautiful bond between me and my kids. This year, there has been an acceleration. One very important holiday to my kids is Christmas, especially Christmas Eve.

When Katie, my twenty-two year old, heard me talking about taking Christmas to the people of the dump in Mexico, she said (in anger), “We’ll just have Christmas Eve without you!” I said, “Katie, I’ll be back in time for us to be together in the evening.” That seemed to diffuse the bomb, so it was VERY important for me to get back in time.

It’s not that we DO anything special. We’re just together, so I was needing to be back in the evening, the earlier the better. And this is the best part: we all go to sleep at the same time in the same room. We fall asleep giggling, talking, laughing, planning out our morning, etc. And we all wake up in the same way: talking, giggling, laughing…it’s the earliest my kids EVER wake up together. We walk out into the living room together. We’re just “together.”

So, I “thought” I trusted God and headed to Mexico. The plan was to leave the dump at 3:30 pm. Well, the plan changed. The Tecate border wouldn’t let our bus pass through. The Otay border wouldn’t let our bus pass through. Each time took hours because once we heard we couldn’t get through, we had to turn around and go through customs to enter back into America. The third border, San Ysidro, let us through. This was a great joy to everyone but me.

By this time, it was 2 pm. We would barely make it to the dump by 3 pm, so our 3:30 departure was out of the question. Now, it was a play-it-by-ear schedule. I had a decision to make: I would either cross the border on foot back into America, grab the trolley, and make it back to my kids, or I would board the bus and head to the dump. I was literally standing at the ramp. All of me wanted to turn around and be love for my kids, and all of me wanted to journey forward and be love to the lost. I wept. I was, without a doubt, paralyzed by love.

Janel grabbed hold of me and began to pray. She promised to get me back to the border. She wanted me to go forward to the dump. As she prayed, I wept. Just remembering it is bringing me to tears. I made a choice and stepped onto the bus.

God had a plan, and I was in it. I enjoyed serving Him at the dump and made it back in time for my kids. That night, we all went to bed at the same time in the same room and talked, giggled, laughed. Even Nathan said, “I wish we could talk all night.” It was so precious. I love these moments because they remind me that there isn’t any room for a man in my life. The coolest part is that we all woke up at the same time but were all lying there because we didn’t know if the others were awake. Then, Kyle spoke…then Katie…then Nathan…then me…and then Carolyn.

I love my God. I love my kids. I love my life. I love my story. I love that God is holding the pen and doesn’t have any reason to set it down. I am yielded to Him. At times, I experience loneliness, but I have my prayer warriors who lift me out of that.

There for One

| Laura Lee Bonde

On Christmas Eve, a bunch of us went to Mexico to take some Christmas joy to the residents of one of the dumps. It was quite amazing. The place was full of people, but I believe God had me there for one in particular.

When the bus unloaded and we headed down towards the Christmas tree with all our bags, I heard the distant sound of mariachi music, and my heart began to dance. I couldn’t wait to let my body join in with my heart.

As I approached, I saw Phillip, dropped my bags, and ran to give him a hug. He was excited to see me. (Not many people smile there. I’m not sure if it’s because they are without joy or if it’s because they have bad teeth. We should probably take them some toothbrushes and toothpaste.) We hugged. I spoke a little in English. He spoke a little in Spanish, and then, I ate. What do you know! The trash can was next to the mariachi band. That was SO God. I threw away my plate and started dancing with the only man out there.

10403054_10203623588889898_2401755518315701031_nHis name was Ezekiel. The bus had arrived AFTER the mariachi band, and apparently, this gentleman had already been dancing. As it turns out, God had me there to be his partner.

We danced and danced. He really “knew” what he was doing. I was just hopping around. It was so fun to watch him enjoy this moment in life. It seemed like he had stopped dancing years ago and had been waiting to let it out, which he did! After dancing a few songs, we talked.

He spoke pretty good English. He told me, “I don’t know what’s wrong with everybody. Nobody wants to dance, except you. Thank you for dancing with me.” I prayed over him and spoke a prophetic word into his heart. God revealed that he had the anointing of a lion. Actually, his home was at the top of the hill. He said he protects everyone, watches over them, because there are bad people that try to come after them to take their belongings…very neat man. He’s been there three years.

Near the end of praying, he said, “Can I give you something?” I said, “YOU want to give ME something?” For a moment, I was baffled. What could he want to give me. He asked again, “Can I give you something? If I give you something, will you take it?” I said, “Yes, I will take it.”

He took off his cross necklace and placed it over my head and set it around my neck. AMAZING!10403054_10203623588889898_2401755518315701031_n (2)

To me, this was so HUGE: a man who had very little gave me something so valuable. I will keep it forever. He told me that the greatest Christmas gift he could have ever received was someone to dance with him. It was funny: at one point, he tried to dance with me as a partner. Then, he let go to dance solo and said, “It’s better this way.” That made me laugh.

Do you know how huge all of this is? There’s a past that existed where I was a stripper and used my dancing to get what I wanted. Now, that past is dead, and every moment, God is creating a new past. This one is full of Him using my dancing to bless people. Ezekiel was blessed, and I was glad that God was able to use me to dance.

A Moment of Value

| Laura Lee Bonde

A little while ago, I met a very grumpy homeless person at the bus stop outside of work. We would talk here and there. I would pray for him, bless him. He mentioned he didn’t believe in God but would “humor” me by letting me pray. Then, he met God.

A couple months back, he collapsed, was rushed to the hospital, and returned back to the bus stop with a pacemaker and a walker. (He was not a fan of either one, especially the walker. When he sits, he uses it as a head rest. When he walks, he carries it.) When he had returned to the bus stop and I had seen him, he said, “Laura, after almost dying, everything looks different now.” And it was only the beginning.

I had prayed for him that day, and when he returned (like a week later), he said he was freaked out because after I had prayed, “things happened.” Anyway, a couple weeks ago, he gave me an envelope with papers in it to show the kids. It was about model airplanes. His passion. (When a homeless person loans you something, that’s huge because they don’t have much to lend out.) I really wanted to return this to him but stopped seeing him.

The past two weeks, I have been checking almost daily at the same time he’s usually there and haven’t seen him. He always caught the 10:08 am bus. I wouldn’t see him every day, maybe once or twice a week. Yesterday, he wasn’t there again, so I told God, “Alright! Where is he? Will you let me know if he’s okay?” He answered.

Around 11:30 am, I went outside to deliver mail, and there he was! I said, “Emil! Where have you been?” He was happy to see me and had been blessed with a temporary place to sleep (if he’s early enough). We only had a couple minutes to talk, and the bus approached. He got up, and I pointed at him and said, “YOU have VALUE!” He looked up toward heaven and yelled, “Do you hear that, Ma?!” Then he looked at me, smiled, and got on the bus.

I love God, how He moves, how He loves, how He waits, how He protects! He’s so awesome!

The Beauty of Friendship

| Laura Lee Bonde

Throughout my life, I had never like women. To me, they were backstabbing, manipulative, not trustworthy. And then I sobered up but still kept women at arm’s length away from me. That was all part of the enemy’s plan, but now, I live through victory!

The majority of phone numbers in my phone are of women I know. They have blessed me beyond belief in so many different ways and in so many different areas of my life. I can’t even imagine living life apart from my lady friends, and this morning, I enjoyed time with one of them.

Every few weeks, this girlfriend of mine and I make time for each other in the early morning hours and go walking together. This morning, she came over at 6:30 am, and we ended back at my place a little after eight. What an incredible time we had!

When we walk, we talk about life, relationships, God, healing, issues, torment…everything, but at the moment something comes to light that needs the attention of heaven, we stop and pray. It is such a blessing! We laugh. We cry. We rejoice. It’s just amazing!

Life is too good to be lived alone. God is too big to be hidden. Love is too strong to be kept inside. Relationships – friendships – are so amazingly important! Today, isolation has no place in my life. Hallelujah!!