July 6, 2008



Dear friends,


First of all I want to thank you for all the birthday wishes on my 40th birthday last Sunday. I received so many messages, cards and phone calls that it was truly overwhelming. I’ve never experienced anything like it in my life. Thank you for making me feel remembered and special.



I got a very encouraging blood test result a few days ago. Although the test is not extremely accurate or conclusive, it did show that my “cancer count” has dropped significantly. This is the first test result I have received since February, and it is so good to know that there is progress. It encourages us to keep up the fight! Although the test shows less cancer in my body, the symptoms are still there (and some seems to get worse). The doctors believe that the itching is caused by the tumors, and although the tumors may be dead (or dying) they could still cause itching (and other symptoms) until they are completely gone. I plan to get a CT scan Monday or Tuesday, which will more accurately show what is going on with the tumors.



Many of you know about the revival that has broken out in Lakeland, Florida with Todd Bentley. Quite a few people have urged us to go there, as hundreds have been healed of all kinds of sicknesses & diseases (including cancers). Blind see, deaf ears are opened, the dead has been raised, and the Gospel is being preached. We received flight vouchers from some friends of ours, and will fly to Florida this Wednesday, and be there until Sunday. Please pray that God’s will be done during our time there, and for the girls who will remain at home. You can follow the meetings on www.god.tv and who knows, maybe you’ll see us!



Shanie has now literally become my nurse. She’s given me 3 IVs at our home, and it has gone really well. She’s a natural at it and is so calm and confident. I’m sure I couldn’t do it on her, if the situation was reversed, as I can’t stand the sight of blood and needles.



Attached is a devotional that Shanie wrote, primarily about some of the things we’ve been learning this year.



On July 15th we begin a one month road-trip. We will attend a pastor’s/minister’s conference in Oregon for a week, then 10 days in Washington State to visit family and then 5 days in Redding, California to visit Bethel Church.



Elizabeth has arrived safely in Cape Town, South Africa and is doing really well. Amanda is preparing to go to a DTS in Slovakia in September, and is doing really well. CammiAnn is seriously growing up these days. She’s as tall as her mom now (which doesn’t say too much I know).



Thank you for your faithful friendship and prayers.



We appreciate and love you all,



Peter (and Shanie)




Walking through the Valley

By Shanie Hinge

To say that the past year has been a tough one would most certainly be an understatement! With a series of health issues, several gall stone attacks for me and severe itching culminating in a serious cancer diagnosis for Peter, a death threat against Peter that extended to the family if he were to tell the police, our bank account being accessed illegally and $30,000 (that we didn’t have in it) withdrawn, not to mention our oldest daughter leaving home to spread her wings and pursue her education (not a bad thing, but a huge transition) it has been quite a year! We have comforted ourselves with the old saying, “With the enemy trying this hard to bring us down we must certainly be doing something right!”

As we shared at the conference last month we have been in a very deep valley; the valley of the shadow of death to be more accurate. It has been an intense time of soul searching and what many would call the dark night of the soul. The 23rd Psalm has taken on deeper meaning than ever before. Two verses in particular have had a special place in our meditation. The one I’m sure stands out to most considering our situation is the verse that says, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for You are with me.” This has been a stabilizing force for us as the realization of the presence of God in the midst of the valley of the shadow of death has become a very tangible experience for us. He IS with us and His peace that passes understanding is there too.

The passage in Psalm 23 about Him making me to lie down in green pastures has also been a source of immense comfort to us. We have learned to draw closer to Him and experienced a rest that penetrates the soul and causes a restfulness that is likened to the peace and calm that comes on a warm summer day as you lie down on a soft, cool blanket of lush, green grass and gaze up at a blue sky with cotton clouds slowly drifting overhead. It struck us that very seldom do we as Christians experience that kind of peace and calm in our walk with God. We are so quick to keep moving and find it difficult to stay in the quiet of His presence. The interesting thing that we have discovered is that all too often people walk into the valley of the shadow of death and they set up camp there. We often lie down and allow fear or worry to take over, but then we walk (or rush) through the green pastures! We have found that the green pastures and the valley of the shadow of death can actually exist simultaneously! As we continue to move forward through this valley we find rest in the green pasture of our relationship with our daddy God. It is an amazing place to be! Although we are in the battle of our lives and at times it seems as if it will overwhelm us we have chosen to continue walking, keeping our eyes focused on the promises of God for us and look only to Him for comfort and rest, casting all our cares on Him and lying down only in His presence.

As YWAM we have received a very strong and encouraging word regarding our Promised Land and circumcision. If you are unfamiliar with this you can refer back to Lynn Greens words to us regarding our monthly prayer days and you can read Joshua 5.

When we received this word last fall Peter and I and our family took it very seriously and sat down and asked the Lord to reveal to us the things in our hearts and mind that are not in alignment with His truth and would hinder us in our relationship with Him as well as in our quest for the promise land. We became very aware of the fact that God did not want to send us into the Promised Land unprepared or with a false view of who He is. We realized that His desire for us to be circumcised was not so that we could be hurt and learn to be stronger in tough times, or whatever reason we might, in our religiousness think would be His reason, but that it was because He wanted us to have a right picture of Who HE is and who WE are in Him. That we would come into a greater revelation of our identity in Him and that we would enter the promised land, not as servants, but as sons. That if we did not know who we were and the power and authority that is ours because of who our FATHER is, we would be going more in our own strength and we would fight unnecessarily harder to take the land. Not to mention that strongholds in our lives give the enemy a foothold and keep us vulnerable to his attacks.

We do not in any way believe that God gave Peter the cancer or that He orchestrated any of the things that have happened over the past year. However, some things we have discovered are these:

• God works so closely together with the evil that comes upon our lives that we often think He Himself has caused the painful situation. However, the truth is that He turns what the enemy intended for evil to good for those who love Him.

• God is good ALL the time and nothing evil comes from Him. He doesn’t have it to give!

• We have an incredible amount of authority and power that we do not access because we do not recognize who we are as children of the King of King’s and God is committed to helping us realize our full potential and walk into our destiny. He will take us at our word when we ask Him to show us the things in our lives that need to be circumcised. He is faithful to complete the work He has begun.

• God did not say He would give us an easy life, He promised to walk through it with us and lead us and give us everything we need to fulfill His purposes for our lives. He said to consider it all joy when you face trials of many kinds because the testing of your faith produces perseverance. We NEED our faith to be tested and in order to run the race we need to learn to persevere. In the book of Ezekiel it says, how can you run against horses if you can not run against men and how can you bound over rugged terrain if you stumble on flat ground. We must stop looking at our circumstances through worldly eyes and begin to get God’s perspective and count it a joy when we go through difficulties because our faith is strengthened and we learn to persevere!

• It is possible to be content in ALL situations. Too often we confuse contentment with pleasure, but you can have pleasure without contentment. True contentment does not rely on outside circumstances.

• Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I respond to it.

To be honest the lessons of the past year are so basic and yet so profound. They are also so numerous I can’t possibly write them all here. But these are some of the things that we have come to a deeper revelation of and I hope that it can be of encouragement to you as you face trials, seek to be circumcised and run the race set before you.