For my reward is bringing glory to You.

“I wanna take your word and shine it all around, but first help me just to live it Lord…”

This time of year there is so much to be thankful for; Seasons changing, beautiful weather, lots of chocolate, seeing family and friends and most importantly celebrating the new life and the new hope that we’ve been given. As I reflect on this past month or so and the variety and flavor of things I had my hand in, I praise God for entrusting me with new things to carry. And I am so thankful that I don’t have to carry them alone.

Some of those things haven’t been easy or the most desirable, but when we’re all here to serve, sometimes we won’t get the loveliest of jobs. I will rewind back to March, where we as a base were just entering our new building. There was a lot of deep cleaning that needed to get done before we could really start moving everything in. So, most of us got down on our hands and knees, and scrubbed our little hearts out. Others were finishing up the actual building of our property, and some did paperwork and necessary communication in order to run. We all pitched in and even put in extra hours to see completion come sooner. It was a very intense time, but the fact that every person showed up spoke volumes to me about the commitment and devotion to seeing God’s kingdom come here to Perth. I forget that we are all volunteers, and could be doing other things, and it amazes me how many people are investing themselves here.  It’s pretty cool. Another thing I was a part of was serving breakfast for international meetings that our base hosted. These are some very well known and well respected leaders in different parts of the world, and we were privileged to have them come and stay with us for 2 weeks time. I’m not sure if I have explained our value of hospitality, but we set the standard very high…which is good, but that also means we work hard to make sure our guests are happy. My team of 7 would be at the base at the crack of 6 am and sometimes 5:30 to start preparations for breakfast. As fun as that time was, I hope I don’t have an opportunity to help with something that messes with my sleep for a long time.  There was a lot of people that were around at that time as well, so craziness was just in the air!

                More recently I have been helping with the pursuit of partnering with mining companies around the area of Perth, as there are many. Because we are a non-profit organization, we are always looking for donations of any kind, and we feel if we can really communicate who we are and what we do to these places, there might be some very generous donations and some regular partnership, which would be sweet---and really, more people would be supporting the Kingdom of God..I like looking at it from that perspective. I don’t have much experience at speaking with businesses, so asking for money for our organization intimidates me quite a bit, but I’m learning to jump in and embrace the challenge.

STREET CHAPLAINS: I know I talked about this in my last update… how I have joined a ministry called street chaplains. They go out into the city during the hours of 9pm-4am on the weekends to be a light and provide care and help for people in need. We are partnered with the police so we help them if they need assistance in fights or helping people get home and other sorts.  So, I have finished my training and am now a certified street chaplain. I went out about a month ago on an observation training, and my eyes were astounded at what I saw. There is an incredibly high level of alcohol consumption, girls in way too short of dresses and super tall heels, men obnoxiously yelling,  and too many unnecessary fights breaking out that could have been prevented. People are empty inside and so they go out at night to satisfy that emptiness, only to make some stupid choices, and wake up regretting those choices the next say. I sat with a guy about my age, who had one too many to drink, along with the other chaplains, and just waited for him to sober up. I helped him throw up, and patted his back making sure my shoes didn’t get decorated in the process. But as I was sitting there, I realized how important it was that we were there. We didn’t tell him he needed to stop drinking, or judge him in any way, but we provided care and support because he needed it. And he will remember the people in the purple polos that say “street chaplains” as people who simply wanted to help… it’s an absolutely incredible way to witness the love of Christ without words. It also speaks a lot to bystanders who would normally just point and laugh at this guy. God uses us for so much more than we realize if we let him I’m so honored to be a part of such a great ministry to make a difference in the city of Perth.

Here is a picture of our lovely bunch-----

 

WORSHIP—I have joined the worship team here at Youth with a Mission, as well as our 24/7 Worship and prayer room. I will be singing for the team at our Monday morning worship times, as well as for our Friday Night Meeting services (they are like our church services open to the public). And I am also aiming to lead an hour slot on vocals and keyboard during the week in our worship and prayer room. I am really super stoked about this---it’s been a long time since I have been able to use my passion for music on a weekly basis… and I have had lots of revelation about the gifting of God and to use them for His glory, my own motivations for wanting to sing have lessened and lessoned and I couldn’t be more excited to glorify God with the musical abilities and love for music that He has given me! It’s truly a gift—and to be able to draw people into God’s presence is something I am really keen on doing and learning.

ENDURANCE- I have been learning lately about endurance: What does it mean to keep going even when you don’t feel like it? When you can’t make sense of emotions or understand everything, it’s often a bit more difficult to do things with a joyful heart and spirit. Since we have entered our new base and are now occupying it, the excitement and celebrations has sort of eased a bit. Our hard work is done mostly done, but I think a lot of people are feeling like taking a bit of a break… I know I am. But I’m learning to keep serving where there is help needed, and to keep putting my hand up, even when I don’t really want to… Jesus suffered a lot more than I am now, and I’m not even really suffering.. but He tells us that if we want to follow Him we will share with Him in His suffering. And now as it being Easter I think of all that Jesus did for me… taking sin and dealing with it all on the cross so that I would no longer need to turn back to it and live in bondage, but experience freedom, it puts things back into perspective for me. He is worthy! No matter what I feel or see or am going through, He is worthy of me giving Him everything that I am physically, mentally and emotionally, and willingly able to offer.

EASTER:

He is Risen!  Yes He has.. Easter is one of my favorite times of year! So much celebrating! Usually, for Easter I am at home with my family, and I sing in the choir with my dad.. which is kind of a special thing =) and then my whole family gets together and we do easter egg hunts and the kids (me included) play a game with each other, and it’s just good fun! Lots of laughing and eating sweets…and there’s a feeling in the air I reckon, that I can only sense when it’s Easter time. We had an Easter lunch here at our base on Friday. We had a message from our leader, Caleb. He talked about Easter being a time of hope, love and faith. I’d have to agree. I find hope in the new life and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour.. that hard times shall pass when we hope in Him.. it’s also a time of love, where we recognize how much He truly loved us because of what He  gave up. It moves me to think of that when I see how undeserving I am of eternal life. But that’s how good of a Father our God is and because of His love, He chose to give up His perfect son. Thank you Lord! And Easter is a time of faith. Where we can look to God in faith because of His power and glory. We trust in Him alone to bring us through even greater things yet to come. Praise the Lord for He is good. His merciful love endures forever!

“….And when I’m doing well, help me to never seek a crown, for my reward is bringing glory to you.”

This quote is a verse from a song that I’ve been playing all day. Written by Keith Green, and sung by Jesus Culture, it’s really powerful --- it reminds me why I do what I do.. and who gets the glory for it... Let us all glorify Him in all that we do!  If you’re keen to have a listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1D9AKqoSIU

Still the greatest treasure remains for those who gladly choose you now.

Time flies when you’re having a ball…it also seems like ages when pushing for something that feels like it will never come. There’s also those lulls where no excitement takes place, and then just as rest begins to get a little too friendly, right before your very eyes, you’re back in the action.

 

I’ve felt a bit like all of the above has been true for me over this past month. As a whole base of about 300 people, we’ve been working together relentlessly towards finishing our new property that we will officially own. We’ve got so many inexperienced yet servant-hearted people around who have been willing to give their time so freely to see this project come to completion. It’s amazing how far one’s will can take them…it’s a miracle by the hand of God that this place looks as amazing as it does, as well as what a testimony it is that all different types of people can be used to do something they may have never thought they’d be able to pull off.

Here’s a little video of the building… enjoy ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC9DTLv9XaY

One more cool thing I feel to share about this place is this:

In late 2010 I was praying about where to go next after I finished serving in Mexico City. I felt that I home was my next move, but I had a few random dreams about walking through this building made of tons of glass. I can describe to you one vivid picture of walking up the stairs and looking down from the top, being able to see almost the entire building. When I woke up, I felt like God had given me a vision of what the new base might be like, having absolutely no idea what the floor plan or layout looked like. A whole year later, I was moving some boxes walking up this new building and looked down for the first time, and was instantly taken back to this dream that I had in Mexico. How crazy is that? God showed me a little picture of my future…even though I didn’t realize it at the time!!

I’ve been personally growing in a lot of ways. This past month or so, I feel like I’ve really been establishing myself here in this organization, finding where my contribution lays, as well as pursuing more people who are a part of this family.. and God has been so faithful in really making this place a home for me. ..and it’s not just a statement that I have to repeat in my head anymore to make myself believe that I’m supposed to be here, but it’s a real sense of belonging that I have, and I feel like this is home. And as hard as it is to be away from my family, I recognize the incredible personality and character that surrounds me, and I couldn’t be more thankful. I thought it was a good idea to start a prank war with one of the guys houses down the street… I’ve quickly changed my mind about that now, as they have stolen my water guns and plotted some scheme to annihilate us.

I’ve also joined this ministry in the city called “Street Chaplains”. It is a ministry that has teamed up with the police here in Perth, and on the weekends, the Christians will go out into the city in pairs of two----and from 9pm until 4am they walk around the streets and just help people where there is a need. The majority of the work they do is helping defenseless intoxicated girls, breaking up fights, assisting if first aid is needed, pulling out the vomit bags once in awhile, or just sitting and striking up conversation where there would be an opportunity to minister. It’s really just giving pastoral care to the community in a practical, yet totally different way. God has used it to do a lot of work in the city at those hours…and I see the heart that says, “Just because most people are sleeping at that time, God doesn’t.” It’s an incredible way to reach out to people in need and really minister God’s by just simply caring. I have my first observation this Saturday and I’m pretty stoked about it!

As I was saying earlier… this past month has felt like a whirlwind of emotional ups and downs… definitely great time and incredible amounts of growth, but the ride has been pretty wild. It’s taken my full focus, and heart to really gage each day and maximize it to my best.. There have been moments where I’ve felt pretty discouraged or disheartened, thinking “will this ever happen..” (This was I think a lot of people’s feelings when our base took weeks to get approved).I’m learning it’s not wrong to feel  a bit dull and dry sometimes, but it just means I need to keep pressing on and looking forward because God says there is wonderful joy ahead. And that reminds me that I don’t store my treasures here on earth, but I look for them above.. and I thank God as He stretches my capacity to understand how to be more like Him, and take on more and more weight with a joyful spirit. He is good.

"So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world." 1 Peter: 6-7

I am also aiming to start fund raising for finances to come home in June for a few weeks... to see family, friends, and be there for my sisters graduation...if you could be praying into that for me, I'd definitely appreciate it!

Come Thou Fount.

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!

His hands and feet...

Outreach is winding down.. things will start to get a little less crazy very soon.. but before that happens, I plan to keep on enjoying the ride that God has been taking me on.

I have a team of 8 amazing people from different parts of the world, and we have all been brought together to bring the love of Jesus into the nations of Australia, Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand.

We have already been to Burma and Australia, and now we are currently in Thailand.
The work we were up to in these different places has been just that; very different from one another. It was interesting to serve in Australia, being a first world nation. One would think that there wouldn't be much of a need. But we found that people there are just as broken on the inside as people in poorer nations such as Myanmar and Thailand. Our aim is always to share the gospel but in Australia we started out our ministry with quite a different approach. We found that people there don't care how much we know until they know how much we care. A lot of what we did to serve was physical labor and yard work or doing acts of service for people who could use a bit more help. We came in with a "no-intent" mindset but to just love them, and it's amazing how effective we were able to be without being "preachy". Conversation was so much more natural I found, and there were a lot of people who warmed up to the gospel. We saw one salvation when one of our teamates, Per-Ola (from Sweden) preached a message about Lordship at a church service. It was absolutely amazing how the power of God touched this man as He raised his hands to claim that he would be committing his life to Christ. It really encouraged our team. This was only in the first 2 weeks of outreach, so we continued to pray that God would show us much much more. And that He did...

After about 3 weeks of speaking in Christian High Schools, playing concerts at coffee shops and nursing homes, talking with people at the park,playing soccer with kids, running small groups, baking goodies and giving them away to people on the streets and telling them Jesus loves them (God gave me this idea ;) and running church services, and much more..we packed our bags and rolled on out to Myanmar, over in East Aisa.

There we saw God move in HUGE ways. We had this word that was really spoken over our team from Acts 4:29-31. It says "Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly."

One of our main goals in Myanmar was investing in this 'Chin' church. The chin people live up north in Myanmar and they are 99% Christians in a nation where only 2% of the population are believers. Because of this the authorities don't allow any tourists to go into the Chin areas, but rather they send buddhist missionaries into these Christian areas. So when we arrived, we were only to come in as tourists and had to go under cover. In this church, we taught bible students and church members about how God is for them and if that is true, nothing can stop them from doing what HE wants in their nation. So I actually got to preach to them about evangelism and I just felt that God wanted me to preach about the hope that their nation has, and how incredibly gifted each one one of them were. We definitely saw a transformation there from when we came.. and God really showed them that He will lead them into all truth and to keep going strong after Him, not getting discouraged by circumstances because we serve a God who is always good. It was really amazing to see.. and how God could speak through me personally. So cool! In this nation, we also worked in HIV clinics, orphanages, ran pre-school programs, music workshops, and cultural exchanges. We saw 13 + salvations, and prayed for a whole lot. Despite the fact that we were "under cover", that didn't stop us from reaching out whole heartedly to each thing that we were a part of... Praise the Lord that when He leads us to do something, He always makes a way when we trust in Him to carry it through.

Finally we are ending our outreach in Thailand. The doors have been opened for us to work with victims or daughters of victims in the human-sex trafficking scene. This has been very eye-opening for us as it is something the I find myself turning a blind eye to, so that I don't have to think that these things actually take place. Although that would be nice, the reality is that they do.. but the cool part is that there is hope for change. At this place called the Abba House, we have taught the guys and girls bible studies, English, and how to play worship music, as well as running the Sunday and Wednesday night services. It didn't take long for our team to fall in love with these kids.. and God showed us His heart is to restore their perceptions of who they are, and what they were made for, and to inspire them to chase the dreams that God has already placed within their hearts. It's amazing how easily love can come for people we barely know.. and that definitely happened for our team. We put together a carnival for the guys and girls, where they were able to take part in sac races, 3 legged races, egg and spoon races, bobbing for apples, face painting, bowling, volleyball tournament, a baseball tournament, and tie-dying. THEY LOVED IT! That same week, we decided to have a big thankgiving dinner, where there was heaps of traditional american thanksgiving food. We rolled out long mats and made a huge feast table in the grass with candles and everything...feeding about 40 of us in total. That night at English class, we told the story of how thanksgiving came into being and then I proceeded to teach them an embarrassing song about turkeys, which I hope to never repeat.

It has been INCREDIBLE to be a part of what God is doing over here in East Asia.
God has changed our hearts too in this process and has shown us that we NEED to be the lights for the ones who have no light. And I can honestly say from the bottom of my heart, the more I see God work, the more I find myself falling in love with Him.. He is SO good.. and I know that this is truly the way we were meant to live.. by meeting our maker through His love, and leading others to do the same. Praise the Lord.

We have every reason to Praise the Lord.

First of all, I need to share a quick testimony with you.

I know that I had send out an e-mail about raising finances in order to go out into Thailand, Burma and Southwest Australia. Personally I needed about $2,500 still. I knew that it was possible for God to do… there have been miracles I have seen before in the area of finance, but not really for myself before. So I said “Okay, God show me what I need to do and I will do it” and then I kept praying. As a class we have been meeting at 6 am for 20 minutes to pray for finances to come in since about 4 weeks or so ago. And I have been doing other things that I felt like God has  put on my heart to do as well. A few of them were: Giving away things of mine, making a video, asking my family and friends to pray, and cleaning out my credit card and putting all of the money towards outreach, leaving nothing for any personal needs, which was a pretty big step for me to do… but once I had the word of the Lord, I didn’t hesitate to do it. We also as a team got this scripture: Matthew 4:4 “Man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God”. So we felt to give up bread until we saw the money for our team come in (this wasn’t easy either because we get free donated bread every day and this is usually my breakfast…but “to sacrifice is gain” J 

Then there was a night about a week later after I sent out that e-mail to you all where we had worship and prayer for our class finance to come in. That was the night that I felt to give something away, so I did and then I felt to just keep praying with different people. As I was praying with one of my small group girls  Maddie, we started getting really excited in prayer and all of a sudden I looked up on the board with the names and amounts and my name was completely gone!! I had no idea HOW that money came in at all! And then there was even $500 extra dollars that was given towards my outreach, that I had prayed and felt to give to others’ outreaches as well.. but just the faithfulness of God was really displayed so clearly to me that night. And I knew it wasn’t about the money, it was just about hearing Him and then doing it by faith and then seeing Him work!! So amazing. And it was by the due date as well that the money came in, which I remember praying that morning saying “I have faith that this is going to come in all today!”

So... we did a little celebrating as this all happened and really thanked and praised God for all we had seen Him do.

Praise the Lord! Praise His Holy name! We hear this phrase used all of the time especially in worship music, in the bible, sometimes we say it when something good happens and we celebrate together. But I have gained a deeper understanding of this phrase as I have done exactly that: “Praised His name”

And I really feel to share this with you all..

We praise Him because of who He is.. because He is good, because He is loving, because He is faithful, because He is perfect. And (supposedly) amazing in every way. But I have come to realize that saying these things with my mouth isn’t necessarily what is going on in my heart at all times.. especially if I am under a certain pressure, in a sticky situation, worried, anxious, stressed out about something, in a very difficult predicament, feeling like there is no hope..etc. So that brings me to---There was a speaker who came to talk to our base at our Friday Night gathering service named Paul Hawkins, from the United States. He asked all of us this question “Why is it do you suppose that when people get hurt (Christian or not), they punish God, and move away from God? Why do we not pray? Why do we blame God for what people do to us?”

-Such a good question right? This challenged me to really get at the root of where any worry, anxiety, bad or negative emotion I had when I entered into prayer, worship, or going about my daily life… which is clearly unbelief.. When we don’t go to Him (who made us, knows us better than anyone, loves us more than anyone, and wants to guide us through whatever it is we’re going through) in these times that our circumstances are not the best and we have no control over them, basically that’s showing Him that we don’t believe in His power, His love and His goodness that He wants to show us.

The phrase God is good is so overused and has become almost ineffective today. But I have come to see that God can’t change who He is (He is good by nature), therefore He is always good, even when our circumstances are not, or even when we are not good for that matter. So this deeper knowledge of God’s goodness has forever shifted my way of thinking… I am not being cliché when I say this either: In the good times, I will praise God, in the horrible times, I will praise God, in the times that I have absolutely no idea what to do I will praise God, and I will declare His goodness and faithfulness over my life even if I don’t understand what He is doing at the time. I really hope this is making sense… because it is such a powerful thing to understand, and it has definitely made a difference in the way that I view God over this past year.

These last 3 weeks as a class have had teaching Missions, Lordship, and the Father heart of God which was a really big week--- We spent the week learning how to view God as a father. It was a great week that I think brought a lot of healing, and restoration in many of the students minds. This healing had to do with understanding the grace that God had really given us throughout our lives, and knowing that it’s enough, and knowing there is nothing that you can do more to make God love you any more than He does, and nothing to make Him love you any less. He will always love you. “He who loves much, has been forgiven much. People who have been forgiven much understand grace in a very deep way.”

And I think about that and think back to my life and the grace that God has poured out on my life in so many ways.. the times that I turned myself away because I thought I knew better. He has never given up on me. And He hasn’t given up on anyone for that matter. And I can’t help but tear up out of thankfulness because of His abundant grace. He has given me incredible parents to take care of me and to implant truth into my life that I would be able to grab hold of and understand for myself and walk in those truths and not look back for a second. I want to honor my parents for being so consistent in the way that they have loved me and continue to love me and pray for me and support me, now that I am half way across the world. It’s a blessing I will never fully understand. I also want to thank Him for the blessing of my grandparents and extended family and the friends that have been placed in my paths to shape who I have become. This week has been a real time to just being grateful and thankful for what God has done in me and through me as well. I know that I am excited for more, but I feel like part of the process is to stop and just rest and be thankful for what has happened and for who I am becoming, and that God really has done an incredible work.

I have one other evangelism story.. So about a week and a half ago, we went out on Thursday into the City as a big group. And I partnered up with a girl named Maddy (who is on my outreach team and is a different one from the one I wrote about above). We prayed as we were walking and we just asked God to lead us out and show us where to go. I felt like I had the word “bear” and she had the word “yellow”. So we were like “alright whatever God is doing here, it sure ought to be good”. As we walked we really were not getting any real sense of where to go.. but then I looked over and saw these yellow canopies set up in this patchy piece of grass where there were people underneath each individual tent. And so as we got closer we saw that there were animal shapes underneath the tent coverings and we got excited as we searched for a bear.. at the time I felt like we were meant to be going over the very end tent covering, but I saw that Adam (our leader) and a few other students were over there so we wandered in the other direction.. and started talking to this guy who was sitting down. His name was Ren and he was from Australia, and he was basically just taking it easy as we approached him, and we started to talk to him about his life. As we were talking it was so natural to add in little glimpses of the gospel message and really tell him how much God loves him and cares about him and has purpose for his life. He was still very much processing everything we were telling him, but if all we did was get the wheels turning then Hallelujah! That’s great.. and we will pray for his continual pursuit of our personal Lord and Saviour. Maddy ended up giving him her bible, and we called it a night.. but it was great to be able to talk to someone about God this way in while! It’s moments like this that I remember all of the work and training we do isn’t for nothing! We’re championing young people so that they can go out and do this very same thing for the rest of their lives… pretty cool actually! On top of that, we got back to the group and shared what God told us.. and then Adam said that the people they were talking to were actually promoting animal rights, but not just animal rights, but bear animal rights… how cool is that!

I could keep going with stories, teaching points, and just on and on about things I am learning and growing in, but the main point that I wanted to get out in this update is that God is really moving. He is moving in a deep deep way that I have never seen or experienced before, and I pray that it only continues and that other people may be impacted by the work that is going on here. It’s difficult to put them all into a short update sometimes, but I can try! I have come to this conclusion over the past month or so: if this is what the kingdom of God is supposed to look like here on earth, then oh man, heaven is going to be sweeter than sweet!

Lead me on, and I will run after You.

 

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going”

Let me change this commonly used phrase into a question: “When the going gets tough, where do you go?”

This has been a common question and theme in not only my own life recently but in the lives of the ones around me as well. 

As I was mentioning in one of the last updates, the business never stops here at YWAM in Perth, Australia, and I have found that to be true over these past couple of weeks even more so.  Allow me to explain…

So we had a week of teaching on spiritual warfare (week number 5) which was a great week where we learned about the spiritual realm and how very real it actually is. A lot of focus went towards talking about our armour that God gives us to put on.. and the bible clearly talks about us having armour. Our speaker was Dean Sherman (we watched his videos) who made a great point about the fact that we wouldn’t have armour if we weren’t made to use it. I think this is just something so many of us don’t actually consider when we go about living our daily lives; that we are clothed in the armour of God, and we have been given authority by Jesus to make things happen and to even clear out any powers of darkness that might be working.

And it doesn’t even have to be like these big things, they even start really small. An example of something spiritual going on could be this:  My sisters and I are eating cookies. We all really enjoy cookies so this is a great day for us. But as we continue eating these cookies, the numbers start to decrease and then there are two cookies left. Now since we all like cookies and there are 3 of us this is not a nice situation. Let’s say Molly says “I want one of the last cookies”, and then Abby says “I want one of the last cookies and then I say “I want one of the last cookies”, there starts to be tension that is created among all three of us.

If you take a step back a little bit you can easily recognize what the “spiritual hold” is in this situation. The spirit of SELFISHNESS or GREED has taken over and has started stirring and rising in each of us the more we say WE want that cookie. Now just as easily as this spirit got hold of us, it can be stopped fairly easily as well. It is a simple strategy called MOVING IN THE OPPOSITE  SPIRIT. Now since we have all said we want that cookie, we can’t take what we have already said back. But let’s say Abby recognizes that there is a spirit of greed going on and sees she can respond by moving in the opposite spirit – which is the spirit of SELFLESSNESS or the spirit if GIVING. And then she says “Erika and Molly, you can have the last two cookies”, immediately the spirit of greed has been defeated and can no longer take hold of that situation if we continue to move in the spirit of giving like Abby hypothetically did.

Another example of spiritual warfare is this: There is a brothel (a prostitution house) just down the street from where I am living with my girls. When we walk by there sometimes, we will pray for the spirit of LUST to be broken off of that place. There was a group who did this regularly last year across the street from the building, and crazy enough, the guy in charge actually came out and said “Whatever you guys are doing, you need to stop because I am losing customers”.. so here is a perfect situation of just how powerful we are made and how much authority we have been given by God to do incredible things.

Does this concept of spiritual warfare seem too spiritual or is it practical? I think it seems pretty practical to me, and actually very biblical. And the more we take up authority when we see that there is a situation that didn’t come from God, the more things start to happen. And I have seen this to be true in my own life and in the lives of others as I have made this a regular part of my life. It doesn’t have to be a weird thing, it can just be praying against things when you recognize them because you have authority to do so. It’s pretty cool actually when you think about it.

Week number 6, there was a bit of change in pace. 3 of our students actually developed the chicken pox from 2 of the other students who had it as well… This wouldn’t have been so bad, except for the fact that we had to isolate them from everyone else in a separate building, and bring in DVD’s instead of an actual speaker, and then bring them food because they couldn’t have human contact.  It was a pretty busy week let me tell ya. I was running around to and fro  and on top of that trying to take care of my other girls and also organize a few things for the weekend because we were taking a class trip down south in Australia. Somehow there was just enough grace to make it through. But like I was mentioning earlier, in these times when the going gets tough, where am I gonna go? Will I get going? Or am I gonna stay? And not only am I just gonna stay, but am I gonna give it my best? That week and weekend really challenged me to continue rising. That I can ALWAYS be stronger, and when I don’t feel like I can stay awake or do something, I just reminded myself that if I do this, I can get stronger from it. It’s almost like exercising. The more you take on the stronger you get, and so I am sort of trying to embrace each little challenge thrown at me as a way of just really showing me my own character and things that can be chipped away at and reshaped, because I can tell you right now, I am so far from perfect it is not even funny. So at the moment, I feel like God is just doing a huge work in me by challenging me to rise even when I feel like I can’t anymore.

Once again I was challenged with that this past week in our lectures and over the weekend. And by the way I am talking a lot about this because I feel like it is a great word to share (not just because I am learning about it, but because it’s something I think all of us can always continue to grow in as we walk with Jesus).

Our base leader named Shirley Brownhill spoke to us this week. Our topic was relationships but we veered off a little bit as she was led by God to do so, and she hit on some great points that almost struck some nerves in me:

-Love is a choice, and since we have chosen to love God, we have chosen to love every person He has created

-There is no holiday; this is really what we are called to do:  Love God and love each other. And we do that by---spending TIME with God, spending TIME with each other;  TELLING God how great He is, TELLING one another how great they are; SERVING God by DOING the things He asks us to do, and SERVING each other by DOING the things we ask one another to do, and the list goes on and on but these are the big ones where you can really analyze your life and see where you might not be doing some of these, or even see where you are and affirm yourself. I know for me, I had to do a bit of realignment. And it’s all good because it just means more growth when you’re shown things that you can work on, and growth is good… SO good.

-You will ALWAYS have challenge if you have chosen to follow God’s path

-If you’re having a problem with loving the unlovable, that’s actually an unwillingness to love people with His strength, and I am finding more and more it is an issue of our own selves and not with God.

- YOU are a unique expression of God, there is no one like you and you are getting better every day ---- that’s such a cool thing!

-Pray for those that you have trouble dealing with

-It all comes down to choice, and we have the power and ability to bring life or death with the things that we say and the choices that we make --- He has given us that ability!

This was such a great week of teaching. Shirley really laid out so much truth and now it’s just a matter of choosing to go after all of that or not. It has been amazing to see so many of my girls since week one stepping up and running after God like never before. They have been learning so much and not only letting these things sink into their minds, but in their hearts as well, and they have really begun to apply a lot of the concepts we have been learning about in their lives and I have gotten to see such incredible transformation. It has been amazing. Especially with one of my girls who has never really thought she could “hear” God in such a big way, she has started to spend time with Him and read His word, and I am just blown away at what she comes back to me with, as well as the fact that she has started stepping out in boldness in front of the class and praying out loud in our group in moments where it’s not the thing that most people want to do is be courageous. She’s becoming an incredible leader, and not only that but she is really learning what it means to have a relationship with the living God, and because of that SHE is so much more ALIVE in who she is and who the Lord is making her to be. Another testimony is of one of my girls that I am mentoring as well. She actually is from Perth, and so she gets to see her parents quite often, and she said that her mom made a comment to her saying that she is a totally different person.

It’s moments like those where I am just dancing inside because I know that what I am doing is actually so valuable and it’s making a difference in people’s lives. Like I AM BEING USED TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. It makes me want to cry because I am so thankful .

On Saturday night we put on a concert.

It was a lot of work to set up and take down… which challenged me again in my wholeheartedness, but at the end of the day it was a blast! Our class was such a riot.. One of their bands played “Here comes the Sun” and then there was one of the students who popped up in the middle of the song with a yellow t-shirt that read “I (heart) SUN”. It was a crack up! And then at the end of the concert I was playing a song (Johnny b goode) with our staff and all of the students were jumping up and down on the stage with us as it was the finale.. and Dan and I wanted to do this cool little thing to spice the song up a little bit. I was on keys and he was playing the guitar and we were planning on running and swapping instruments. So we made eye contact towards the end and I got ready and jumped but I tripped over the light accidentally and I hit the ground on stage. I got up quickly and he placed the guitar in my hands and I looked up and the song had just ended. Oh my goodness.. it was such a scream. It was good though because not many people actually saw my little accident in the back, so it didn’t ruin the song. But other than that our concert was so much fun and I think our audience really enjoyed hearing from musicians from all over the world coming together to make beautiful sounds =)

One other thing I wanted to mention. The things I was talking about earlier about all of this really coming down to the choices that we make. I have seen the power that is at hand when we continually choose God over and over. And when not only one but two, three, four, five people etc. keep choosing God and it catches on and starts to look like the body of Christ. And it is a little glimpse of what the kingdom of God actually looks like. And I can testify, it’s really really a beautiful thing. And obviously I am still working to getting this down in my own life, but I want to encourage anyone reading this that it is something that is actually attainable and possible. And it only takes one person to make that a reality.

So, back to the question I asked myself before… “When the going gets tough, where do I go?”

Well, I have a lot of options. But I know where I want to go, and that is straight into the arms of Christ because He is the only one who enables me to do anything and then tells me how to do it, believing in me always, and He will never let me down. 

Dear Lord, 

I LOVE what I am doing, but sometimes I don't know WHAT I'm doing. Please help.

Amen.

Soo.. that’s a little imagery of what my heart has been going through these last 4 weeks of being a part of this school. The good news is that God has answered me every time, and has just continued to give me patience, strength, comfort and peace every day.

Every day is so full-on, starting at 5 am and not stopping until about 11 pm on a regular basis. I am finding that the hardest part of the day is choosing to get out of bed. Once I am out, I have fully committed, and I’m ready to roll and just give everything to that existing day. I haven’t completely mastered it yet, but I am getting there. 

So these last few weeks we have been learning as a class SO many different things.

On the second week, our class had teaching on God’s character. I remember sitting there last year as a student not really knowing why this was an important week, but I have realized now that it’s actually SO key in one’s relationship with God to understand WHO He really is--- there is nothing more important for a Christian to know than this very thing. Throughout the week, our speaker Rod, talked about the different misconceptions of God that people let their minds think because it’s what they have been brought up to believe about who God is. This brought such greater understanding to myself as well as the students, and I actually feel to share them here: 

-          Father Christmas ---- God is not our “fluffy toy” or magic genie lamp. He doesn’t just give us whatever we want, but He disciplines us because He love us so that we may bear fruit and greater holiness later on. Hebrews 12:5-11

-          Distant God ---- God is not far away!! He is SO involved, and He wants to be in the details of things.  Ephesians 2:4 -18

Rod told this story about how his little daughter lost her precious plastic ring, and she was really upset about it. So in his efforts to help her find the ring, he sat down with her and prayed and the two of them asked God to show them where the ring was. He said that God told her exactly where it was and he watched her as she went to look in that exact place and find it there. This speaks volumes to me about how much He cares about our smallest problems.

-          Trickster God ----- He doesn’t play games with us and He doesn’t have any evil.

Psalm 145:17

James 1:13 – He never tempts—if something is too hard God has not brought you there and He does not bring evil things upon us.

-          The FORCE ---- God isn’t some “mystical creature or “cloud” – Genesis 1:26-27

God really has given us an idea of what He is like--- What we see in Jesus is what He is like.

It was really great to have those misconceptions cleared up because so many people have been hurt in the past because they have though God was an angry slave driver God, or just indifferent, or that He has inflicted pain into their lives, and to really realize that we do not serve a God like that can bring restoration and healing to ones’ heart.

After He went over who God is NOT, He went over who God IS.

He is:                                                                                                                                                                                                    

1.        Lord

2.        Uncreated & eternal

3.        He is Spirit

4.        He is infinite

5.       Wise

6.       Just

7.       Merciful

8.       Patient

9.       Gentle

10      Good

11      Kind

12   Truth

1     Compassionate

I loved being able to connect one on one with the 6 girls that I am mentoring at the moment about this week. A lot of them were really just loving the idea that God is so for them and has no intentions but the best for their lives, as well as wanting so badly to be in relationship with them.

On our 3^rd week, we had a week about learning what REPENTANCE and FORGIVENESS is.

Our speaker was Ari, who is a highly respected Dutch leader on our base. His testimony is one that really reveals God’s mercy and grace to it’s fullest as He has been through so much rebelliousness until He came to the place of surrendering His life to the Lord, and God has transformed Him leaps and bounds over the past 13 years that He has been a part of YWAM Perth. Throughout the week He talked about the Ten Commandments in a deeper way, and basically covered each type of sin that is possible to commit. He also talked about how sin separates us from relationship with God, and how we can’t be in right relationship with a perfect God as an imperfect being. And then He talked about why God wants us to repent of our sins and consistently turn away from sin so that we may be more like Him. I think this really challenged the students to try to see sin how God sees sin and to seek to make a lifestyle of making their selves right with God. In the bible Jesus teaches a lot about repenting and turning away from sin, yet it seems likes such a foreign message to Christians, even ones brought up in the church. But by the end of the week , I think the students all really understood the impact their own choices have made on their lives, and how they have had an impact on their relationship with God. They were all asked to take some time and ask the Lord about these sins and were challenged to apply this new thing of “repentance” to their daily lives. Another thing that I felt was key is that we don’t actually have to sin. We have a choice, and God has given all of His followers the same authority that Jesus had to walk away from temptation when it faces us.

It was very cool to learn about.. even a second time around, I felt like I gained a ton more from the teaching.

Which brings me to our 4^th week. This past week, our classes had teaching on prayer and worship--- another thing that we don’t normally think about too deeply. But there is so much that God shows us about both of these things. First of all Prayer.. have you ever wondered why God wants us to pray for things if He could just make them happen Himself?

-          This brings up such an interesting perspective. Our speaker, Cliff said this about that very question and it will forever remain in my mind because it makes sense: “From the beginning of time, God has wanted to use us to make things happen on this earth”.. not only physically by doing things, but also by praying. And when you think about it, it seems so logical because if that were not true, then there would be no point to us praying in the first place at all. 

The main point of the week was that our prayers actually matter. Things HAPPEN when we pray, and when we are in tune to what the Holy Spirit is leading us into praying for, MAN that can be so powerful. And He told an incredible story about this very thing. There was a team that was on outreach in the nations and they were praying and spent some time waiting for God to lead them in what to specifically pray for. They felt like they were supposed to pray for a man named Emmanuel De Costo (who they had never met before and had no idea if he was even a person) but they felt they were supposed to pray that He would discover Jesus, and receive salvation and turn away from drugs. Not long after they prayed, the next nation that they went to serve in they met a man named Emmanuel De Costo who had just recently became a Christian and had turned away from drugs. If that doesn’t send chills up your spine I’m not sure what does. OUR PRAYERS MATTER. And it’s an incredible thing to be able to partner with God in the place of prayer and actually enter into a “battle” for the world. Thid week really inspired me to keep being a fighter on behalf of the nations and my own friends and family because there are things that God does that are because we pray. And I even have a quick example of that today. We had a sausage sizzle over in the city with our class and we sold hot dogs outside this hardware store to raise money for our outreach. We were doing alright, but then it started down pouring and blowing a lot of our stuff away. And it was getting pretty frustrating, but then I just looked at my group and I said “guys, we should pray”. So we grouped together and just asked God that the rain would stop and that He would bring more people in to buy hot dogs. Not even 30 seconds later I looked up and the rain had completely lifted and a group of people walked up to our stand to purchase some dogs. How cool is that? It such a testimony to everything we had talked about this last week, and that God really does care about the little things.

And now my final thing… I found out this last week that I am going to be leading an outreach team with my dear friend Kate into the nations of Burma, Thailand, and Southwest Australia.

This thought literally makes me want to throw up, and jump for excitement at the same time. Never in my life would I have thought at age 19 I would be leading a group of young people across the world with the mission of sharing the gospel. I am so excited, but I think it is still sinking in my mind that it is all happening. I have confidence in the fact that God has appointed me to do this, but it is going to take some massive preparation and perseverance to be able to carry this task out.  

You can pray for me for that! =)

I remember praying for a word from the Lord before this Discipleship Training School started and I saw this passage in my head "Philippians 2:3" and so I looked it up and it read "Don't be selfish; don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves." What a perfect scripture to go back to when I need help doing this because that is the only way I can make it through each day.It's such an incredible way to serve others.

But even in writing this, I am just reminded of how incredible of a blessing it is to be a part of these people’s lives in such an influential way, and be able to care for them, counsel them, love them, and walk alongside them and cheer them on as they discover God for themselves. I couldn’t think of a better job at the moment, and I am so thankful once again to be able to do what I am doing.

This is a little idea of what has been going on here in Perth, Australia lately. I am exhausted constantly, but somehow there is always grace provided to be able to counsel, sit in lectures, and carry out tasks I am asked to do as an overseer of the students. I am being so stretched and challenged in so many areas, and it is incredible to be able to have an opportunity like this to rise up and go for it and grow in the process.  And I think that one thing I have found is that not only is there the grace to be able to do all of these things, but to actually do them all with joy is another key thing and I feel that is something God has been showing me lately. And I have learned that God is always faithful in giving that when we ask for it.

Dear Lord,

I thank you for the fact that you are who you say you are. That you don’t give us more than we can’t handle. Thank you for the joy that comes from serving you. And even in times where it seems we are in over our heads, you ALWAYS provide a way to persevere. And I also thank you that we are so not the point. It really puts things into perspective when I really remember that. I pray that in all things I may give You that glory, the honor and the praise, because you’re the only one worthy of it. I love You.

Amen.