A Movement of God

Lithuania Ministry Trip Update

Dear friend, 

I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of prayer I received for this ministry trip to Lithuania!  The powerful and encouraging messages I received from you in response to my prayer letter was an indication that the Lord was already moving before I got to Lithuania!! 

 My cousin in the UK shared that while she was praying for our meetings, she “had a picture of an eggshell cracking open (constraints breaking) and a chick emerging – finding freedom.” 

As I closed our last day of conference on Saturday evening 11^th February, I invited women to come to the altar for prayer.  As I was praying, I opened my eyes and saw one lady standing alone at the altar with her hands out.  I continued praying and when I next looked up, rows of women, hungry like little birds, were lined up at the altar with their hands, hearts and mouths open to receive from the Lord, HIs mercy, freedom and healing.  Out of more than 150 women attending, over 1/3 came forward for prayer, while others prayed with open hands at their tables. 

I was reminded of the compassion of Jesus in Matthew 9 “when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like a shepherd having no shepherd.” I sensed God’s deep compassion for these women. He saw into their hearts as they came to Him for repentance, healing and freedom from spirits of rejection, abuse, unforgiveness, sadness, depression, addictions, fears, shame.   

We sensed the Holy Spirit moving from the beginning and throughout the day in the beautiful worship, teaching sessions and reflection times, but evidence that hearts were cracking open, and constraints were being broken was seen in their hearts responding at the end of the day.

I was thankful for Diana’s team of Lithuanian butterfly leaders who I met in our meetings during the week, and for our European team who came from Cyprus, Greece, Moldova, Spain, and Poland. They all joined me at the altar and around the room to pray with women lining up for prayer, for over an hour.  

A table of Ukraine women joined us at the event. They had not met each other until the event and were so blessed to meet other Ukrainian sisters in exile. One young Ukrainian woman was on the worship team playing the piano. She could not play when she left Ukraine. But someone had gifted the center where she was staying with a piano. She got online and taught herself and was now in the worship team! God used music as a healing tool to bring her through the trauma of leaving her country. No one could tell she had only been playing the piano for 8 months!!

Our Armenian/Greek butterfly who joined me at the beginning of the week shared “It was such a beautiful time meeting with the groups. Each butterfly had invited a friend, and they invited others to the meetings. It was a vision of what we can do in our own country. It was a “WOW”.  Diana’s butterflies organized the event. They started to fly, and now they are inviting others to fly together with them! Seeing them come to pray at the altar – I want to see every nation fly like this! There is nothing impossible with God. We need to fly further!  This was the first time I prayed in Russian, but I prayed with a woman at the altar – it was a challenge, but I did it with God’s help!!”

Our butterfly from Cyprus shared – “It was nice to see a totally different culture with over 150 women worshipping God. It was wonderful to see Diana ministering to her butterflies and how they helped to put this together. It shows what we can do together as women. I also saw that there are so many hurting women in every country.”

Gema, our butterfly leader from Spain, and leader for Agape Europe’s Women’s Initiative shared “It was encouraging to see how all these women came from 1 woman starting the journey 3 years ago in Lithuania. The Soviet oppression still affects the culture but it is being overcome through Diana’s life set free.  We think, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth – out of small places – but we see how God has used Diana and her team. We see how the Lord has transformed their lives through LUV discipleship. This weekend could be an example of how to reach this generation.”

In the days before the event, we met with butterflies and group leaders in the beautiful cities of Vilnius and Kaunus. I was touched by their sweet spirits, hospitality and gentle humility. They were kind, gracious and generous with their gifts and responsiveness. They shared their testimonies of freedom and transformation yet were hungry to learn more.  These were the women who had initiated, organized, and invited other women to the main event. They wanted to multiply the freedom they have experienced by sharing it with others.  Several have been given vision and empowered during their discipleship journey with Diana and her team, to start different ministries in Lithuania; a Christian school, a retreat center, and a home for women in trouble.  

Dear friend, thank you for praying!  What we witnessed and experienced is the supernatural movement of the Holy Spirit working through the lives of women who have been set free to worship Jesus in Spirit and in Truth. Their testimonies are evidence of the power of God to redeem, deliver, transform, to heal the broken hearted and set the captives free.

Following the conference over 40 new women have joined LUV discipleship groups.  Four new groups will begin their 3.5-year LUV journey in April under Diana’s leadership, some groups led by her second and third generation butterfly disciples. A fifth LUV group will start for the Ukrainian women who have requested to join a group. This group will be in Russian. A date is yet to be set. 

The teens, daughters of mothers at the event, were also deeply touched. They were given the option so be in another room during the conference, but they chose to stay with us for the day. The mothers and daughters are now going to meet in September for a Butterfly retreat, to continue to learn and grow in their identity in Jesus together.

While our focus is on the women, we were so thankful for Diana’s husband Robert who with a humble heart and servant spirit drove us from airport to hotels and between cities and venues, often making the 1.5-hour journey between cities twice in one day.  He also brought his technical expertise to the event.  The videos of the teaching sessions which he recorded at the conference have been shared across Lithuania, with one pastor requesting copies for his own use.  Robert was a great blessing to us and though he was in the minority, he told Diana he was also very blessed by the conference!

Please pray the Holy Spirit will continue the work He is doing in Lithuania among women, and spread beyond Lithuania to other places.  Pray the women joining new groups will continue to have a hunger for God until they meet in April.  Pray the Lord will give the new leaders wisdom, boldness, and courage as they step out to disciple others by faith, in His power.  May the Lord continue to raise laborers to work in this harvest in Lithuania. 

 Jesus then said to His disciples, “The Harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

Liz

Liz Dickson
Founder & Executive Director, Love UnVeiled