Faithful to the End...

December Newsletter 2011 Gaylin Isobel Downie

Looking over Cape Town from Signal Hill.

What an incredible year has passed by! I feel relieved to say it is over! Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad at all. But it feels as though I have just climbed a very steep mountain, leaving me at the top now to rest a while and enjoy the view!

In the begining of the year I felt God speaking to me that 2011 would be a year of WAR (obviously not physically, but spiritually.) That it would be a war where God was calling me out of my comfort zone to fight in the frontlines...and that is exactly what happened. Fighting in battles isn't something that comes naturally to me...I would honestly prefer sipping tea in a country garden!

Here is a bit of what I have been doing this year:
 The opening of Bethesda House to the public.
- I started our first training in prophetic art, including monthly outreaches and an exhibution.
- Hundreds of hours of inner healing and deliverence sessions.
- The running of our first acredited Leading By the Spirit Cource (LBCS) with the University of the Nations, training 40 students both in Cape Town and Egypt.
- A strategic prayer outreach focusing on the foundations of slavery and injustice in Muizenberg
- Hundreds (maybe thousands) of hours of prayer and Worship in Muizenberg :)
- Prophetic sessions on a weekly basis.
- Being witness to God encountering hundreds of unsaved people through Light&Life events.
- Co-leading the ministry team for two months while my leaders and part of the team were in Egypt.

These are just a few highlights of what God has done. (I do not share this to boast in anyway because i know that none of this is even remotely possible without God doing it!) 

Looking back I can see that this year was not just about the fruit, but more importantly, it was the continuous moulding of my heart by my creator! He has been growing my capacity immensely, gently shaping my character, testing my trust and teaching me on the job!
It has also been a "Joshua season" for me, of conquering my enemies, claiming my inheritance and learning how to lead other's into their promised land.
This journey has not always been easy but I have seen God's unchanging faithfulness to me. There were certain things that perviously would have swept me off my feet, but because of how God has prepared me, I could take on these battles with confidence in the one who has called me. In this i have learned that real strength is found in weakness, that true safety is found in trust and pure joy is found in suffering. That no matter what battles i face, the God of heaven's armies is always victorious.
THE ROAD TO CYPRUS...

The Cyprus Team together in
North Yorkshire.

Please keep me and the team in your prayers as we travel to Cyprus on January 4th for an art workshop and outreach with YWAM Larnaca. I will be going with two friends that I have been working with at Bethesda House and we will be hosting the workshop with local YWAM staff as well as local believers in Larnaca. We are joining with their house of prayer and spending extended time in intercession for Cyprus, while also bringing encouragement and strength to the long term staff there. We will be doing art outreaches partnering with YWAM Larnaca and painting prophetically over the nation.
As we have been praying we are filled with expectation of what God wants to do in these two short  weeks we will be there. We feel that this nation is ready for harvest and that it is time for the church to rise up into their destiny to reach the lost. We also feel that art is a key for the church to carry that will unlock the hearts of the people of Cyprus. We might not see the fruit ourselves, but our prayer is that as we train those working on the ground longterm that they would be empowered to take the message of Jesus to those hungry see an abundance of fruit in this amazing island.
Thankyou so much for your prayer and support in this past year!
happy New Year:)

At Loch Lomond, Scotland