Happy Mother’s Day, with love, Lara
It’s Mother’s Day weekend, and I am in the car rushing back from 100 Huntley Street on the Road in Ottawa and Kanesatake First Nation in Montreal!
Over the last 6 days, we filmed 11 interviews with Canadian leaders, 7+ field shoots featuring community outreaches and ministries, and historical monuments, the national prayer breakfast, the national leadership dinner, and 6, 100 Huntley Street programs, including a special Canada Day program from Commissioners Park in Ottawa! And we did all of this thanks to the faithful support of our Crossroads partners and friends of the ministry!
As I watch the cars pass by on the highway, and Nicole, my very kind ministry team member drives, I just keep thinking about the huge hug I am going to give my sons Jake and Ben, my husband, Jeff, when I see them in about an hour’s time. I have lovely souvenirs jam-packed into my luggage including a t-shirt with a cute black bear on it, some maple-flavored cookies, and fresh bagels, lots of fresh bagels, from a bakery in Montreal!
After the hugs and souvenirs are all done, I get to do something else… I get to tell my loved ones about the one-of-a-kind trip I just got to be part of. I get to share the stories of life transformation our team witnessed, the hearts of political leaders who are following Jesus and fighting to foster biblical values in Canadian society, and the moments where we saw the Holy Spirit move mightily!
God is at work in the hearts and lives of Canadians and in our nation’s capital. Throughout my time on “The Hill,” I kept getting the sense that God is up to something really, really good in our nation and we are only just seeing the first fruits of what is to come. As our Crossroads and YESTV CEO, Kevin Shepherd, my co-host for this special week of programming, often reminds our Crossroads teams, we must foster “pronoia,” (the positive counterpart of paranoia), that God is always moving and able to do beyond what we can even hope or imagine just like Ephesians 3:20-21 says.
Our goal for this 100 Huntley Street on the Road trip to Ottawa and Kanesatake was to proclaim the hope of Jesus and share the love of God across the nation, to inspire citizens to foster a biblical vision for Canada, to encourage people to pray for our leaders and our country, and to highlight God in action in our nation’s capital. God’s goal for my heart; to ignite a deeper passion for His purposes for Canada; that we would be a nation of prayer, justice, peace, and biblical truth.
We will be airing this special week of programming June 24-28 and July 1st, 2024, on YESTV, and in it, you will see tours of parliament and the 25+ Bible verses present in the Peace Tower, interviews with political leaders like the Honourable Senator Jonah Martin (Canada’s first Korean Canadian Senator), the Honourable Member of Parliament Ed Fast (who proposed the private member’s bill c-314 to stop the expansion of MAID to include those with mental illness), National Chief Cindy Woodhouse, leader of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN which oversees over 600 First Nations bands from coast to coast), and leaders in local ministry and not-for-profit like the CEO of Cardus (a faith-focused think tank in Ottawa) and Mel and Sue Finlay of Nation at Prayer.
I hope this trip blesses you as much as it has blessed me. I pray that as you watch this week of programming, you will feel the protection, provision, and peace of God which we experienced, and that you will be reminded that the words paraphrased on Canada’s Coat of Arms and written in the Peace Tower remain true for God’s vision of Canada,
“He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.”
PSALM 72:8
And now for a reunion with my sons and my husband, and then just a little later tonight, a very special celebration at Crossroads dedicating the building, “Crossroads Unity Commons,” to God’s purposes in our nation. And on Sunday, I will spend the day with my family and with my mom, and mother-in-law, to celebrate mother’s day and talk about all I saw God do on this trip to Ottawa and Kanesatake and all He is yet to do from coast to coast.
As you journey through your weekend, if you need any encouragement or to be reminded that you are created for a purpose, you are loved and you are not alone, please call our prayer lines at 1-866-273-4444, and someone will be there to spend time with you and show you how much you matter to your Crossroads family and to God.
Love, Lara
