I used to get stressed about money...

Since I was a young girl, I remember always being afraid of money. Because of fear, money became something that I controlled and it caused a lot of stress for me. Over the past several years of getting to know the character of God, I learned to trust Him in many areas, but I never really wanted to trust Him (give up control) with money, but He had other plans…

I can only imagine with the state of the economy and so many people being laid off, that many of you may be able to relate to my fear of money. So I hope this will be encouraging to you…

As you all know, in August of 2008, I left the corporate world and went into full-time ministry, which required, living-on-support. And you would think, with my fear of money, I would FREAK OUT or something like that. So I am happy to report that, I did not, in fact, freak out…I actually have not worried about money since the day I quit my job….ha ha ha, how ironic is that!?! And I have found total FREEDOM and PEACE when it comes to money!

It is crazy for me to think back and remember how afraid I used to be of money. Trusting in God to provide for me financially, actually gave me the opportunity to LET Him provide for me…and HE DID! When I was so dependent on myself, I was not able to see how He could and would take care of me. Now that I have let go of the control and completely trust Him, I am blown away by His love, and eagerness to provide for me!

My PRAYER in this season…

Dear Lord, Reveal yourself as the Great Provider to my friends and family TODAY. May everyone who is reading this feel Your love, peace and security by trusting in You! Comfort them, wherever they are. May the holidays be overflowing with love and heart-warming times with their favorite loved ones. In Jesus’ Name I pray, AMEN

MY CURRENT FINANCIAL NEEDS:
I am excited to give you an update and let you know where I am financially today…

Almost half of my support in 2009 came from one-time donations, and those donations are running out, so it is time for me to increase my monthly supporters and gain more one-time donations for 2010…and I can’t wait to experience God providing again!

To be specific, I use $2,691.00 per month to pay my salary and taxes. Currently, I have $1,600.00 in committed monthly supporters. Therefore, I need to raise another $1,091.00 per month.

If you would like to financially support me as a monthly supporter or through a one-time donation, please email me at mkw304@yahoo.com.

THANK YOU for all of the LOVE and support!

Something to be thankful for...

This Thanksgiving Irving Bible Church donated about 25-30 Thanksgiving baskets to our ministry. The women at the brothels and strip club were so blown away and felt completely honored to receive such a gift from the church.

Several of the women made comments like:
· "A lot of us are single moms and this really blesses us..."
· "Oh my gosh, you brought this for us, thank you…"
· "This is so nice; I can’t believe it…"
· "This really helps and means a lot…"

Baskets in the strip club…
One called me and said, "Michelle, I need you to pray for me, I am sick of working in this business and I need to get out!" It was so cool, we never tell them they need to quit their job, but after a year of receiving God's love, she came to me and is asking HIM for it! And we are committed to supporting her and surrounding her with a community of love through the journey!

An interesting Thanksgiving Fest…
Two of the girls and their little boys did not have plans for Thanksgiving so Melissa and I decided to throw together a last minute Turkey dinner and have them over for Thanksgiving. It was really funny cause it was Wednesday late afternoon, and I thought, boy I wish I had kept a basket for this; I really don’t want to go to the grocery store the night before Thanksgiving (if you know me well, you know that I can't stand to go to the grocery period, crowded or not)! And, I was thinking, how do you make a turkey again? Just then, I received a text from an old friend, Christine, at IBC offering me a complete Thanksgiving basket with 2 turkeys AND she offered to bring it all over and help us start cooking! It was so fun to have God provide immediately! Melissa and I pulled off a thanksgiving meal over night (neither one of us know how to cook...it required a lot of help from Christine, googling receipts and waking my mom up at midnight: "mom, I might be a little late to our Thanksgiving dinner, oh, and how do I make deviled eggs if we don't have any mayo?" ...ah ha ha ha, it was great!).

Unfortunately the girls called and they did not come (that is the nature of this business and ministry), and we had a full Turkey dinner, and no guests of honor. So we went out and found a lady walking down the street with 6 kids (read Matthew 22: 8-10) and we invited them to come and eat with us. To be honest we were disappointed the girls that we prepared the meal for did not show up, but the Lord provided that meal and He knew who really needed it…and what guests He wanted to honor! He is teaching us and stretching us so much in this ministry…we just never thought God cared so much about teaching us how to cook!!!!!!! Ah ha ha ha!

American food in the Asian brothels…
A lot of the girls continuously move around, some brothels have closed/moved, changed management, etc....so we are constantly building new relationships and meeting new people so the baskets really gave us an open door for some great conversations and new relationships.

Most of the Asian people said "no thank you, we only eat Asian food," but we got to stand there and talk to them for a while, and they were touched by the generous heart of the Church. One girl did not want the basket, but she just stood there with her mouth basically dropped open, she was truly struck by an encounter with God, we could see it in her face, she received a gift from God that day! No food, or donation needed, just His presence and His love!

OH, and get this: one of the "house mama's" even gave us $20 to help with our ministry and said she really appreciated what we do. WOW, that was so cool!

ALL of the baskets went to VERY thankful hearts, some in need of food and some in need of a gift, a reminder of God's love and acceptance. I am so overwhelmed and thankful for YOU all, none of this could happen without your prayers, participation and support!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

HEALING in the Club and so much more...

As some of you know, on top of reaching out to brothels, we have one strip club that we include in our outreach schedule every couple of months. Strip clubs were not our main focus but God placed this club in our path and keeps prompting us to go there and maintain this relationship, and NOW it is so clear He has work to be done in this place, listen to this...

Favor, Fruit and FUN was the theme of Thursday’s outreach! The atmosphere was truly different for us then it ever has been in that club, everything was lighter and easier! So many stories to tell, where do I start...?

As soon as we walked in, we were embraced and surrounded by the girls all welcoming us...the manager walked up and starts TESTIFYING, "this girl prayed and healed my hip, she prayed for my hip once, it stopped hurting for a long time then it started hurting again, when I told her the pain came back, she prayed for it again, and my hip has not hurt since!" Let me tell you, it has been about 4-5 months since we prayed for his hip, he was truly HEALED...Thank you Jesus! And he is finally giving God the glory and testifying to others (the first time he did not recognize/believe that God did/would heal him, he just dismissed it). Normally he is depressed and moping around and this time he was giddy and beaming with excitement!

All the girls wanted prayer right away, we exchanged several phone numbers, multiple people want to come to church (one girl did and she is supposed to come to lifegroup too), we were there for almost 2 hours this time...God's love and power was just dancing around in that place...it was truly beautiful!

The feet washing was a HIT as always, it is an amazing way to share Jesus' love by serving them and loving on them...not to mention a great way to share the stories of Jesus washing his disciples' feet before he died on the cross for their sins and the sinful woman that washed Jesus' feet.

A special friend of mine donated really nice body scrubs, body washes, lotions etc. and we used them to wash and scrub feet but also bagged them up and gave them as gifts to the girls along with some hand-made pillow cases donated by a great group of Christian quilters...and the hand-made pillow cases were soooooo popular!

The last time we were there we passed out many copies of the book Redeeming Love, by Francine Rivers (also a generous donation from a great lady from "The Church"). If you have not read this book, you need to asap! I am not a reader and I could not put this book down. It is about a girl who is sold into prostitution as a child (takes place in the gold rush time frame). When she is an adult, a Christian man sees her and God speaks to him and tells him to marry her. The story is an amazing love story of her learning about God's love through a godly husband. The girls all loved the book and have been passing it around to other friends (in the industry). One girl said she is giving it to the other girls that did not get one saying, "here you need to read this book, it is about us!" WOW, God is speaking to them and calling them in so many ways!

The manager (whose hip was healed) went outside and talked to our male staff member and told him we should come back more often cause the girls LOVE IT and we are doing such a great job…he always welcomes us, but has never seemed thrilled we are there, now he wants us to come more often!

The male staff member was outside in the parking lot encouraging and loving on all the mangers. He also had the opportunity to pray for several homeless men walking by and had great conversations with them.

One girl pulled me aside and said she had no one else to go to and she wanted help getting free from heroine addiction. We prayed and she surrendered the addiction and her life to the power of God and has committed to Jesus. I assured her I would walk through this with her and we are looking into outpatient treatment option for her right now, so she can keep her kids. Please be praying for her, heroine is the most difficult drug to come off of and there are few resources to help her. If she really commits to this it will be a long hard road, but we assured her we are here to walk through this with her and she is the lucky one, cause she has the power of the Lord to get her through it!

WOW! After writing this down, I looked down to see specifically what I had asked our prayer contacts to be praying on that day and ALL of the day's prayer requests were answered!!!!!! God hears us and answers our prayers!!!!

The sex industry is satan's territory...ha ha, we laugh at the devil, we are declaring it God's territry and showing them the way home! Satan had no power and no authority when the Holy Spirit walks in!

I am going back to school…

Most of you do not know that last year, when I left my apartment in Las Colinas and my career in the corporate world for the ministry, I also had to walk away from a year-long training school that I was very close to getting into up in Denton. I knew I could not commit to the school in Denton and the new ministry in Dallas and I KNEW God wanted me here in this ministry, but I was really disappointed to loose the training opportunity. And I have been wondering if I would ever have the opportunity to get such great training without having to back to school full-time…

Today, I am EXTREMELY excited to announce that I have been accepted to a year long discipleship school, hosted by my VERY OWN church, here in Dallas, starting THIS WEEKEND! This training school has been around for 20 years, but this is the first year they are teaching in Dallas! We meet once a week and once a month on the weekend. It is so funny how God, ALWAYS has a better plan for me than I do for myself!

I have truly been living out my God-given purpose this last year and now He is providing this school to train me in biblical principals, serving the church and spiritual disciplines…I know God is preparing me for something BIG and I can’t wait!

I need to raise additional support to fund this training school: the cost is $900 for the entire year, or $100/month, for 9 months. So I only need 9 people to donation $100, or 18 people to donate $50, or 36 people to donate $25 and the whole year is paid for!
To send support, please:
· Make checks payable to: “Vickery Meadow Ministry”
· Include a note: “Michelle Wood/Training” (do not write on the check)
· Mail check to: PO Box 671127, Dallas, TX 75367

Please keep me in your prayers…Though I have been longing for this type of training for a long time, I normally HATE school. I need the Lord’s help with all of the reading, memorizing, and studying, oh and the financial assistance!
Thank you all for your support for the past year!

When a door closes, God opens a window...

The last time you heard from me, we were going into brothels (prostitution houses) washing feet and building relationships. Girls were being touched by God and accepting Christ! It was AMAZING! About that time, we felt like God was telling us to be bold and go in with urgency because the “doors” would not always be open to us. I was worried and sad, but I was encouraged because God promised me a window…

Over the past several months, those “open doors” have indeed closed temporarily and maybe permanently…managers have changed, businesses have closed down, etc. It was very disappointing at first, but in fact, He did have a window for us. He has provided a new strategy for us, now we call the girls over the phone…daaaa Michelle! We had done this before, but now it is obvious, this is where we need to focus our efforts.

Our vision has always been to get the Church involved and multiply our efforts. But we just did not feel comfortable taking others to the brothels with us yet, for safety reasons and to protect the relationships we were forming. But NOW, I am so excited because using the phone to reach the women is the easier and a safer way to get others involved.

So I have been praying for God to send me people with passionate hearts for this ministry…and he has! At this time, I have about 7 girls total who are trained and committed to do this work with me, voluntarily. And more and more are contacting me every week. I am so thankful for these women and I am learning so much from them! Each time we meet it is a special experience of God and it has become a special time of growing for each one of us!

When we meet together to make the phone calls, we spend about an hour in prayer and worship as a group, asking God to lead and direct the phone calls. Then before we even dial the number, we spend time praying specifically for the girl we are calling. We ask God to speak to us and give us a word of encouragement specifically for her, or insight to this precious individual. We cannot use a script; the Holy Spirit must lead every word, every call. We are learning to LISTEN to God’s voice in a whole new way; we are learning to WAIT on God and we are learning to EXPECT God to move…and He is! As we pray for a girl, we can feel the oppression; see pictures of entrapment and bondage; confusion and anger. Then we hear messages of LOVE and HOPE, from God, to share with her.

We are learning as we go, and sometimes I feel very unqualified to be leading these efforts. But depending on God is such a relief and is where I find peace and direction.

Please be praying that:

• the right people join this outreach and we begin to multiply, covering the hundreds of daily advertisements.


• this will be a time for all of us involved to grow closer to God, by listening to God and learning to use the gifts He has given us to bless others.


• women’s lives and hearts are transformed by God.


• we will make connections that go beyond the first phone call, they will become our friends.

We also need committed prayer support for the phone call outreaches. If you would like to receive an email and pray for us each time we are doing this outreach, please email me directly. I will send emails before each outreach, and maybe during the outreach asking you to pray with us for specific things.

Thank you all for your love and support!

What Happened Next...?

Has anyone been wondering what has happened since those 4 girls in the brothels accepted Christ? Well we are SO EXCITED to tell you, more and more are coming to Christ every week…the Lord has taught us to take His Word everywhere and be intentional about sharing the gospel with everyone (not just inside the brothels and not just to prostitutes)! DUHHHHH, I know, we are slow but God is patient with us and keeps it simple! ☺

We started calling women again with prostitution advertisements and in one day, and 16 calls, 2 girls accepted Christ! After I prayed with one of the girls, she was thanking me for calling her and praying with her, she said, “ I felt so good while we were praying, I felt an energy inside of me.” I told her, “that was not me or my prayer, it is JESUS inside of you!”

Another day we went out on the streets (a very low income neighborhood) and found ourselves surrounded by a large group of women and children…in the end we had 2 circles of women requesting prayer and committing/recommitting their lives to following Jesus!

On top of all of that, on Thursday nights we (staff and volunteers) are intentionally going out to share the gospel in the apartment complex. We are knocking on doors, which is sooooo awkward and intimidating, but it is so worth it! In the past 2 weeks, 2 men came to Christ, all we did was knock on their door and they invited Jesus in (see Revelations 3:20)! We have also had several people ask us into their homes to pray with them for various reasons….and it is always clear that Jesus set up the appointment, in His timing, with His purpose.

So what is next for these new believers…?
Are they really saved?
Are they still in prostitution?
Are they going to church?
Believe me, I have been asking God the same questions! I am so blown away by all of this it is hard to believe it is real…but God has been breathing peace all over me. I feel like God is whispering, “I AM in control, I love these people more than you, I will change their hearts and desires, TRUST Me!” So I am, I am trusting God in all of this and we are pursing each person: offering discipleship and friendship; weekly prayer and worship; and inviting them to church. We will do life with them and are excited to see Jesus work in their lives. God has given us peace that we are not here to “fix” them, just disciple them and love them. And He is changing my view of what a Christian is supposed to look like…

Here is a video that brought us all to tears, it is a perfect illustration of our struggle to fight through this world to truly have a relationship with Jesus. The whole video is amazing, but when she finally reaches Him, after fighting for so long, I loose it! Because I know what it feels like to finally reach Jesus. After believing in Him for 10 years, I finally stopped fighting and now follow Him and have a relationship with Him.
http://www.teen-beauty-tips.com/power-of-your-testimony.html

THANK YOU all for your words of encouragement and offers to get involved. If you are excited about what the Lord is doing and want to be a part of it, YOU CAN!!! Our biggest NEED is to finish raising money for (staff of 6) salaries in 2009. Fund Raising is very time consuming and the time we spend raising money, is time taken away from our work. We still need $50,000 in 2009…if 500 people give $100 we will complete our budget for the year and be freed up to continue this work!

*If you are interested in supporting us with a one-time donation or as a monthly supporter, please email me: mkw304@yahoo.com. Additionally, please share this with others that might like to be involved!

God's AMAZING Grace, 4 girls have been set FREE

AMAZING NEWS...

Tuesday of last week, we went into one of the brothels that we have spent a lot of time washing feet and getting to know the girls. On that day, we met 2 girls we have never seen before…both put up a strong and proud front at first, telling us that they liked what they did (one started street prostitution when she was 14)...but they kept asking questions and seemed eager to talk about Jesus. As the conversation progressed they talked about dreams they had and said they did not want to do this forever. After several hours of talking and answering questions about Jesus they both prayed and asked Christ into their lives, as we read a prayer from the Bible, they repeated it and tears literally broke out of them and poured down their face...I have never seen the Word actually pierce someone’s heart…until that day! It was not our words that pierced them, it was when we stopped talking and read God’s words to them, that they got it, and they wanted it forever!

Then on Thursday, we went into another brothel that we have a good relationship with and offered to wash 2 girls’ feet that we had never met. We read the stories of washing feet in the Bible and they were hanging on ever word. They were relating to the sinful woman saying, "that is us!" When we told them what a Pharisee was, they said, "oh yeah, we know a lot of religious people like that!" They were truly captured by the Word of God! And they too, accepted Christ that day!

We have been in AWE of God ever since…He did all the work, we sounded silly, but when we read his Word, He pierced their hearts…He had prepared them for us to come, they were hungry for Jesus, we just showed up!

Please celebrate with us! These 4 special ladies will now spend eternity with Jesus…and this is only be the beginning of what God has planned!

My only prayer request is for these 4 girls, my new sisters in Christ. I already love them so much and I am worried about them and I want to protect them, and I am going to walk along side them as much as they will let me, but I will ultimately have to trust that God loves them more and He will take care of them!

Take a minute to listen to this song. Think about the chains in your life, past or present...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyFxArMeRDI&NR=1

I am Honored to Wash Their Feet

Over the last few months, we have had several amazing opportunities to go into the brothels (prostitution houses) to begin building relationships with girls and the management. Sure we have had plenty of rejection, but boy we have had so many open doors too. We have taken the girls Thanksgiving dinner baskets, Christmas presents (donated by churches and small groups) and we recently had the opportunity to go in and wash their feet and give them free pedicures. The girls were extremely appreciative and frankly blown away with the love we were pouring on them...

When I commented on one girl’s beautiful feet, she said, “oh no, I have ugly feet, my boyfriend tells me they are too big and ugly.” But she truly had gorgeous feet and we all reassured her. I continued to wash her feet, massage her heels, and rub rasberry scented lotion on her feet. She looked at me, took a deep breath and spoke softly, “You are making me feel so special, like I am not the ugliest girl in this room.”

A customer arrived, the housemama called, “whose turn is it?” They all sat quietly, one of the girls went to answer the door and came back, a young white girl was requested. This girl went away with 4 unpainted toenails and a look of total defeat and disappointment on her face. We looked her in the eyes and said, “we will be here when you get back.”

We had explained to the girls we were from the church and we wanted to let them know we love them and wanted to do something special for them. We would ask if there is anything we could pray about for them. Most wanted prayers for their children and a couple requested bibles.

One girl came and sat down next to her friend that came in later and just starred blankly as we painted her friends nails. After some time of silence, she told her friend, “Ya know, these ladies will pray for you if you want them to.” It confirmed for me that they really understood why we were there. We were not there just to wash feet and paint toes…we were there to share the love of Jesus with them and I believe they understood that.

After some time, the housemama asked us, “but why are you washing our feet?” At that time we were able to explain Jesus’ love for them and that Jesus washed his disciples feet before he died on the cross for their sins.

It was the most significant day of my life and I am honored to wash their feet. These women and young girls are broken and defeated, mistreated and abused all day long…everyone has her own story of how she got there. Jesus loved and forgave prostitutes and I believe I was created to love them like Jesus would when he was here on this earth…and so I will continue to wash their feet…

To read some sweet stories in the Bible on washing feet see:

John 12: 1-7; John 13: 1-17; Luke 7: 36-50