Crossing Over 
to the Promised Land
by Shannon Parish

Yes, I know.  The newsletter is late by a couple of days.  But wait until you hear why!

These past six weeks, my husband has been teaching on the journey "Out of the Wilderness" by the children of Israel and how each camp that they stopped at, had a profound effect on their lives.  So great has the response been to this teaching, that after much begging and persuading, he has finally sat down to write this teaching as a book with a study guide! (Each camp signifies an emotional, spiritual, relational or physical milestone in the life of God's children.)

Now in the process of wrapping up their journey, it came to me why those who had come out of Egypt just couldn't cross over the Jordan into the promised land.  There may be some of you who already have this revelation, but bear with me.

I've long seen how special and wonderful each one of us are in God's big picture to bring about the Kingdom of God on this Earth - when we allow Jesus Christ to rule and reign in our lives.  Each of us have a part to play, and as I wrote last week, no one can do- what we do- the way we do it! When we all do what we are called to do, and do it in love , we will fit together and pave the way for those who do not know Jesus, and to experience HIM, personified in our lives and into salvation through His shed blood.

The children of Israel had been in slavery for hundreds of years, and knew only that lifestyle.  When God called them out of slavery, that had to have been frightening!  No wonder so many whined and complained! Many of us today, will remain in an abusive relationship, a dead end job or stay wrongly placed in ministry because we are familiar with that 'routine', that lifestyle.  We know the turmoil, the strife, the stress, the heartache of that life.  To do something else is beyond our experience.  And to allow God to do something new in our lives would require us to learn and experience something new.  The unknown is always more frightening than the known.  We don't know what to expect.  We loose what 'control' we think we have.

To cross over the Jordan and claim the promised land was just too much!  That just didn't 'compute' with the Israelites thinking and experience.  They had never fought for their freedom - why should they start now?  So God had them work out their 'issues' in the wilderness desert - all the while building and strengthening their children.  

The children of the Israelites were born in the wilderness - saw that it was not the place to be and dreamed of a better life.  The wilderness strengthened and toughened them.  Never having known the limitations of slavery - they yearned for the day when they would take their promise!

This is where I share my own revelation on how this applies to me personally, and why the newsletter is late.  All of my life, I've been taught by our society to do as you are told.  Get a good paying job, submit to the rules and accept the fact that those who 'make it big' were destined to do just that.  That 'our family' is not made for greatness, or that 'our family never wins'.  As a child, I dreamed of creating things and making money from it.  But experience and the words around me soon suffocated those dreams, and like most of the masses, I fell into a routine of acceptance of whatever it was that came my way as being God's will for my life.

Through a string of circumstances, I've come to this place in my life with a dream and vision so large for Sarah's Tent and my fellow ministers and women in ministry that it would be easy to back off and say, "Nah, this is to big - to grandiose for someone like me."  Yet, I cannot deny that like you, I've 'been called for such a time as this".  But it is I who must cross over old mind sets and claim my Promised Land.  It is I who must face the giants in my life and sweat to obtain what my eyes can see.  It is not going to come to me, even though I've made it through the wilderness and am now camped so close to my promise that I can see and smell the land across the river.  It will come when I do not look back and gather what belongs to me - get what I need and push through the waters of adversity and unbelief.  

As you know, I've begun my own company called Completed People. Working mainly with the professional speaking industry, I've inventoried my talents and equipment and have built a business on the needs I've witnessed in the struggles of professional speakers, working to get their own businesses off the ground.  Seeing the resources available through not only my own personal talents, but those of you who are now reading this newsletter, a 'virtual office' for speakers can be provided literally around the world!

This past week, God has surrounded me with favor, and connections to make just that, happen. (Hence, the late newsletter).  Along with providing the e-commerce store within Sarah's Tent to provide an outlet for those of you who are authors and entrepreneurs at heart, I'm networking with others to create a bridge that will 'cross-over' the Jordan and into our Promised Land.  (That network includes: web designers, desktop publishing, the travel industry and scheduling, marketing and sales, bookkeeping, administrative skills, editing, cartooning...etc.)

What excited me in my husband's message was this.  I was one who had been enslaved to the ways of Egyptian slavery (world systems) and because of my experiences in the wilderness had come to face those giants in my life which have in turn, strengthened me to fight the giants I will encounter in my Promised Land.  (How fulfilling to realize that your chains have been broken, and that you are actually crossing the Jordan!)  How exciting to realize that if you desire to do the same, that the bridge is now being built that will allow us to cross over together!

With God, ALL THINGS are possible!

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Josh 1:7
Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.

______________________________

To be free must be a passion, not a passive wish. 
- Shannon Parish
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Regarding last week's article on the Shame Game:

Your writing hit home. That is exactly with what I'm dealing with right now: figuring out all the stuff I was taught, disregarding what is not God's, replacing it with God's Word, trying to learn how to walk with this new 'clothing' and growing up at the same time without hurting myself or others.

For the past couple of days, the Lord has led to me the story of David and Goliath, where David can't walk with Saul's armor so he takes it off and fights with what's familiar to him.
Then I read your teaching. And today I watch a video where TD Jakes teaches to do in the church what you are passionate about. To do it another way is like you say PROSTITUTING God's grace (strong stuff, boy!), and TD Jakes spells it as failure.

God bless you. Only God can manage to get His point across to me when I need to hear it the most, and in the process uses you who knows nothing about what I'm going thru to bring me back to my spiritual senses.

Once again, thank you. And may God bless you with even more wisdom, science, understanding, anointing, power and strength."

Carola

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A child shall lead them:

"Shannon,
 I wanted to share this with you to help encourage some of the others with small
kids. I run a day care from my home (JC's Kiddz) and one of the kids that I care for
is an 18 month little girl. well after her first week with me on Saturday
morning i get a call from the mother asking me what her daughter is doing, she
is sitting in her high chair with her hands folded, refusing to eat. she asked
if I had any idea what was going on. trying hard not to laugh, i explained
that her daughter was waiting to pray before she ate. so i then shared with
the mom the prayer and had her write it down so they could pray before meals.
and we wonder how young is too young to share, well this little one, taught
her mom how to pray. Ain't He grand!!!!!!!!."

In the Masters hands,
Barb
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We received this from the National Association for Christian Recovery:

SPIRITUAL ABUSE WEB SITE NOW OPEN

Our newest 'sister' ministry is Spiritual Abuse Recovery Resources. Jeff VanVonderen, coauthor of The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse, has agreed to serve as executive director. Please stop by next time you are on-line. If spiritual abuse is part of your journey, you might want to consider participating in the discussion forum at the site:

http://www.spiritualabuse.com

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Deut 30:5-7
Then the LORD your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. 

What is your motivation? Is it something that God can bless?
_____________________________

The colored ball was not found last week, 
however, the dancing penguin was!

Here's what our winner had to say about her win:

"Hi Shannon!

Wow! I'm in shock! Actually I have never looked at the close ups of the
prints, and they are awesome. "Rest" is particularly anointed. I have been
looking for things to put in my husband's office...and I didn't want generic
art, but the Christian stuff isn't always exactly right either. These are
beautiful. (Please quote me in the newsletter so if anyone else hasn't checked
them out yet, maybe they will!)"

Julie Brockett

Click Here to Play! 
Contributing a prize is a great way to show off your talents or business! 
Contact Sarahstent@sarahstent.com for more information.