As I sit down to write, the lyrics of this song "Come thou fount" really speak to me, especially thinking back to these past couple months...
"Come, thou Fount of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing thy grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
mount of thy redeeming love.
Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I'm come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.
From July until now, my life has been pretty face paced go-go-go every day---
being a staff leader on this Discipleship Training School..
Looking back, I could have never pictured actually doing what I just did;
From July-September--- (Our training portion in Perth with a group of 40 young adults)
Waking up at 5 am, 6 am exercise, 7:15am staff prayer and meeting, 8 am morning chores,
8:30 worship 9:30 class until 12:30 pm, 1:30 pm mentoring, class, prayer, preparations, 5:30 pm dinner, 7:30 small groups, more class, evangelism, services, or free nights (tend to be mixed) and then crashing into bed around 11 pm.... really takes a toll on a person.
And then from October- December----(Our outreach portion with 9 of us in total.. taking place in Australia, Myanmar and Thailand)
6 am waking up and praying, preparing for the day with my co-leader, 8 am team meetings/chores/ worship, and then doing ministry for the day until after dinner.. and even late into the night some nights.
That is definitely a schedule I couldn't even anticipate to understand until I actually put myself inside of it and lived it... and by the grace of God, here I am.
These last 6 months have brought with them some of the most difficult, challenging moments of my life.. as I have been entrusted into a position of leadership. I had no idea what it meant to be a leader, until I was asked to be one. In those first 3 months, I learned so much about responsibility; understanding what I'm meant to be doing, setting my mind to it, and being faithful to follow through with it--- HUGE life lessons that I'll never forget.
My second 3 months, I learned so much about a righteousness and integrity. Being entrsuted with the lives of 8 people plus myself, as a 19 year old, traveling to 3 different leaders and me oon the front lines was pretty mind boggling for me. During those 3 months, there were moments, where I'd be asked to make an important decision, and lo and behold I didn't always know what to do. Those were the moments where I really learned what it meant to trust God, and actually put that verb into practice. There were also times where my patience was tested some people on my team wouldn't necessarily do what I'd asked them to do, or communicate things with me in the kindest manner. I was really put to the test, yet thankfully by God's grace, I passed and am writing to you about it!
I love how that verse talks about mercies never ceasing and being redeemed by God's love. I feel that was and is a daily reality for me as new challenges come, I try them out, make mistakes, try again, make more mistakes, and then by the end of the day I'm still saved by grace and love.. which compels me to try again tomorrow.
I have learned heaps about communication as well...
-How to communicate rightly
-How to communicate the point trying to be made
-How to communicate and relate to the person
-Remembering to communicate something that seems so small, one might not even think it needs to be communicated
-Communicating out of love for the person communicating with
There was a point in Thailand, where I woke up one morning and I thought to myself "If this is what being married and having kids is like... I don't know if I'll ever make it to that day". Of course I'm joking, but these lessons listed above have quite a few stories attached to them, meaning things weren't always a cake walk. However, with the help of Jesus, we were conquerors.
We got back to Perth, and I was pretty spent, I will not lie. And then we had a week of processing with each other, prepping the students to go home, and then saying goodbye.. which is never easy, especially when you've built strong friendships throughout the time. But there is a season for everything, and ours had to come to an end at some point. I'm thrilled to know that God has His hand on each person from our class, and they are all going to serve him in some way or another, whether that is to go home and go to school and get involved in their church ministries, or go somewhere else in the world to do relief work, to stick around in Youth With a Mission in Perth... etc.. I'm honored to have been given the opportunity to be a part of their lives.
Things have been slowly starting to make more sense as I have settled back down at our base in Perth.
This past month I have been back with our ministry team that focuses on developing our property. Our goals are to raise funds in whatever ways we can for the base..So that means calling companies and asking for donations of a financial gift or free or discounted supplies that we may need. I have been delegated the task of searching for paper towel dispensers, soap dispensers, and steel brushed waste bins for our new property and finding sweet deals for these things. As well, I have been in contact with a few companies about getting the best price on steel that will be used for “flashing”---this metal that covers the top and edges of walls so the sheet rock doesn’t show. I’m learning quite a bit about construction too. . which is really cool because I feel I’m taking after my dad’s heart a bit. This building project is a miracle at work I tell ya.. We’ve got so many unexperienced international volunteers who have stepped up to the plate and it given it their best effort.. And it’s been amazing to see how a vision transforms into a physical reality… as we have worked so hard on this beautiful building.. I will post pictures when it’s done because it really is gorgeous.
I’ve been praying a lot about this year in 2012.. and I keep getting this sense that this year in 2012 is gonna be a really big one, filled with lots of change, challenge, new things, and lots of fun. A few goals of mine are:
- To really step up as a leader…being bold, unafraid, and ready for anything
- To take the word “responsibility” very seriously, being faithful in following through with the small things
- To remain in a position where I’m eager to learn and keep growing.. being teachable and humble.
- Really seeking after God’ s voice and following Him as He leads me into becoming the woman He designed me to be.
- To enjoy this year.
And so far.. I’ve been really pleased with how things have been going.. I see that I really have nothing holding me back. And I’m really truly experiencing what it’s like to live life to the FULL… and it’s the best place I’ve ever been in.
My prayer for you all this year is that God’s presence touches you in those quiet moments of your day. May you find peace and rest in Him. Be blessed abundantly … and may He use you to glorify His name in everything you do.
O to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here's my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above."
All glory to God! May His love compel us to love beyond our own understanding. Halleluah! Amen!
