Perseverance!

Hey guys! So something crazy cool has been happening! This past week we learned about Spiritual Warfare with Dean Sherman. It's a really neat lesson and I'm learning a lot, but the super cool part is that a couple days into the lesson we realized that we were being faced with a spiritual battle! We sent out our second letters two weeks ago today, the letters telling people more about our mission trip to Peru. It should have only taken them about three days to arrive at their destinations, but so far only a few that have been sent out have actually been received. At first we just thought it seemed odd, but as we kept watching our videos on spiritual warfare we realized that this was two things : God putting our faith in His faithfulness to the test, but that it was also an attack from the enemy, trying to prevent our letters from reaching people. During intercession for our YWAM base at the conference two weeks ago, God gave someone the image of a bow and arrow. The tighter the bowstring, the more resistance there is when you have to pull it back; but the arrow will fly farther and with more accuracy to hit it's mark. So that makes sense, it lines up with God testing our faith! Another person heard that Peru would be good for the Peruvians, but that it would also be good for our team. So that also lines up with the attack from Satan - of course he doesn't want us going to Peru and changing lives (including our own)! He wants to do everything he can to prevent that. Someone else got that there would be a time of fasting at our base. Our leader Kristen wasn't at intercession that day at the conference, so when she mentioned that she felt maybe we should fast during lunch and pray about this the other afternoon, it was obviously no coincidence! Our class got together and prayed about it again last night, and asked the Lord what we should do next. We know that He will provide for this trip, but we also know that we can't just be lazy about it, we need to fight for this! So after praying about it, resisting the enemy and his works in this situation, and asking the Lord what our next steps to take were, we felt that He told us to reprint and send another round of letters. So that's just what we did!

About an hour ago I just got back from a jog around the neighborhood. It was hot and sunny this afternoon, and I've been out of my running routine for a few weeks now. Needless to say, it was more difficult than usual and I was tired! But every time I felt like saying "eh, that's enough. I'll just walk it now." I kept telling myself "one more mailbox. just make it past one more mail box!" As I was doing this it totally reminded me of this past week, and what we've learned through this whole experience with our letters. Yes, there will be times when we're tired of fighting and we feel like saying "eh, that's enough now," and we'll want to quit, but that's not what we should do! We need to keep fighting for it and take it one step at a time! Yes, God is always moving and working, but we need to do our part! God moves on behalf of our prayers! So we need to take action, and even when it seems to be getting too difficult we need to persevere!

So, this week I feel that God has definitely been teaching me about perseverance! I think it's really neat that as we're learning about spiritual warfare we get to put what we learn into practice, and I'm super excited to see what God has in store and how this all works out! :)

YWAM Conference 2014

So I just got back from North Carolina last night! Our DTS and SOMD went to the YWAM Charlotte base for a conference last week, and it was so much fun! The YWAM Nashville, Orlando, and New York bases were there too. I got to meet a bunch of cool people and hear a little about what God's been doing in their lives, so that was really neat. It also made me break out of my shell a little bit, because I had to introduce myself to new people! Haha. 

We had the privilege of hearing Paul Hawkins speak on The Character and Nature of God, and after that lesson I definitely have some processing to do this weekend! The nature of God is who God is that we cannot be (omnipotent, omnipresent, infinite, omnipresent..) and the character of God is who God is that we are to become (loving, forgiving, wise, holy, etc.) The teaching was titled "God is the Model," because we are supposed to be imitators of Christ! (Ephesians 5:1) There was a lot in this teaching that was more like review of what I had already learned in the previous six weeks of DTS, but God definitely spoke through a couple a of points! We've been learning a lot about relationship with God throughout DTS, and in order to be like Him we first need to have relationship with Him, so that was basically the overall point of the lesson. Without relationship with Him, we can't really know Him, therefore we can't become like Him. We can't trust Him, so we can't live by faith in Him. (That summary did the lesson no justice, but it's hard to wrap it up simply! It was such a great lesson.) But what really "punched me," as Paul put it, was when he said "the desire of your heart is what your thinking about when you're not thinking about anything." (Psalm 19:14) That one hurt, because I realized that what my heart has been desiring is not more of the Lord. I've been desiring things that will never be able to satisfy me, and I've been cheating myself of true joy and perfect satisfaction in my loving Father! I'm so glad that the Holy Spirit threw that one right in my face this past week, because I know I will be so much happier when I am free of that chain keeping me from a beautiful relationship with God! It's so exciting to look back and see how I've been growing in my relationship with Him more everyday! :)

God's surprise!

So this past Thursday at VOA (Volunteers of America), my friend Leah and I decided to go sit by this lady who was all by herself. Her name was Cocoa (I'm not entirely sure if she spells it that way though), she has two kids, and she's from Africa! As we started talking to her we got to find out a little bit about what she's gone through, and as she was telling us I just really felt like I needed to offer to pray for her. I was afraid to ask though, because I didn't want to weird her out or anything. (And for those of you who know me, you know that I'm not usually the first to offer to pray out loud, or do anything involving speaking in front of other people haha. So it was definitely the Holy Spirit moving!) So I thought I'd just wait a few weeks until we got to know her a little better. Then as the conversation went on she asked us if we were in school, and as Leah started to tell her about Youth With A Mission she just looked at us in surprise and told us that she was in YWAM before! The look on her face was a mix of shock, excitement, and comfort. She continued to tell us about how she did her DTS in 1996 in Kona, and about a few other secondary schools she went to. As she was talking to us about it she teared up a few times, and it was just so moving! I didn't even know what to say because I was so excited about what was happening. We could tell that she definitely needed that at that moment, to hear about YWAM. It was so neat to see how the Lord had drawn us to talk to this woman, and watch Him totally work in the situation for each of our lives. He totally took over and gave me the words and courage to pray for her, and it was so awesome to see the Lord's faithfulness to me, how through Him I truly can do anything! Now I can't wait to see her every Thursday to see how she's been doing and how the Lord has been moving in her life. Typing out this story does it no justice, because words can't describe what was experienced! It was just such an exciting night, like God had given me just a little glimpse of what I'll be experiencing on outreach in Peru this summer, and in life in general as I continue to obey the Holy Spirit and walk in His plan for my life! 
So yeah! That was my big experience from this past week, and I can't wait to see what God will show me next! :)

Original Design

These past couple of days we talked about our identity in Christ and how to live in freedom as who He created us to be. We talked about how God made us for a purpose, and that He wants to reveal that purpose to us. Just like He revealed His plan to Abraham in Genesis 17:3-8, to John the Baptist in Luke 1:13-17, and to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:4-5. We are each set apart to do something special for God! Imagine if Abraham hadn't followed God's plan? Where would we be today? We need to fulfill the purpose that God has given us.

So yesterday after class we all individually got together with a couple of leaders and asked God to reveal what He originally designed us for. It was so cool! As we prayed and heard from the Lord, I could already see how some of His purposes have already been playing out in my life! Things about my personality that I never would have really thought had significance as part of His plan, He put there on purpose to help me lead others towards Him! Just to hear what amazing things the Lord wants to do with my life was so exciting! The second part to this was asking what strongholds have been keeping me from being the person I was made to be. A stronghold is an obstacle between us and God, a place where we have given Satan control in our life. My obstacle was definitely fear - insecurity, fear of man, shyness (inferiority pride also tied in with this.) So we prayed and asked God to reveal what may have started this fear in my life. We didn't get a specific answer, but for as long as I can remember I have always been afraid, especially as a kid. I think that it's just a place that I let Satan have control over when I was young, and without thinking too much of it, it's just grown with me. So then I got to do the four "R's." Repent, Receive, Rebuke, Replace. First, I repented and asked God to forgive me for believing the lies Satan has been feeding me, then I received His forgiveness. Then I rebuked the devil, which was awesome! Due to the fear I was so consumed by, I never wanted to before. Even while here at YWAM. So it felt really great to know that in Christ I have the authority to tell Satan to get the heck out of my life, and I don't have to be afraid to do it! And then I asked God to reveal His truth to me to replace the lies I had believed. This is an important step, because in Luke 11:24-26 we see that it's not enough to simply clean out the lies. We have to replace them with truth so when Satan comes back to try again He won't be able to enter our lives.

Yesterday was such a great day! It was so amazing to have this break through in my relationship with Christ! I feel so much freedom now, and even though I know there will always be more stuff to work through, I'm so excited to see what God's going to show me next!

Picture time!

Hey guys! So since I've just been posting about what I've been learning, I figured I'd just post some fun stuff today! Here are some pictures from these past four weeks! :)

           On Wednesdays we like to dress up, just to shake things up a bit!

   My friend Mikaila and I taking out the trash after brunch clean up last Saturday.

  Just having some fun with the DTS (Discipleship Training School) and SOMD (School of Ministry Development) girls!

              All of us DTS girls dressed up for Easter Sunday last weekend!

                                               Local ministry at Exit 0!

Like an Eagle

  This week we're learning about "The Father Heart of God." Yesterday our speaker, Doug Easterday, taught on something that I consider to be the most impactful lesson that I have heard so far at DTS. He talked about how studying the Bible is more than just "studying the Bible," it's about finding the meaning behind it. (Seems super obvious, I know.) As an example, he used Deuteronomy 32:11, which says, "..like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions." Personally, whenever I have read or heard this verse in the past, I just took it at face value. Doug, however, looked at this verse and asked himself, "why an eagle? Why, over all the other types of birds He created, does God choose to compare Himself to an eagle?" So Doug decided to research eagles! What he discovered was that 1.) a mother eagle is the best mother of all birds, 2.) baby eagles are stubborn, and 3.) baby eagles are slow learners. Seems to be adding up already! Haha. 

  Now, to break down the verse a bit so we have a better understanding. First, it says that, like an eagle, God "stirs up the nest." I didn't know anything about eagles, so just taking this at face value meant absolutely nothing to me. However, when Doug described what it meant for an eagle to stir up its nest, it immediately took a new level. When a mother eagle builds a nest for her babies, it's about one meter wide, and one meter high. She lines the inside with soft leaves and feathers for her young, and keeps them safe in this mansion of a nest. Whatever her babies need, she provides! Baby bird seems to have it made; but when it's time for baby bird to learn to fly, she completely destroys the nest! Baby bird has no idea what is going on - why in the world is mom destroying our house? She's gone crazy! Have you ever felt, either in your heart or the circumstances you're going through, that God has gone crazy? You have no idea why He's doing what He's doing in your life? You're so comfortable, why would God stir up the nest just when everything is so great? You being comfortable is exactly the reason. We don't want to just sit idle, staying right where we our in our journey with God. We want to grow in it, to be challenged! Which brings us to the second part of the verse, which says that the eagle "hovers over its young." I don't know about you, but when I think of the word "hover," I think protection, like God's watching over us, making sure that we're safe and that everything's going well. Far from it! Incase you haven't noticed, an eagle's wings are made very differently than a hummingbird's! This is something I had never put much thought into before. For an eagle to hover, it has to rapidly flap its wings, which span from 6-9 feet! It takes more energy for an eagle to hover than it does for it to fly full speed. Needless to say, there's some major wind going on around baby bird's freshly stirred nest. Do you ever feel like God's blowing some major wind in your direction, and you don't understand why? Well there are two reasons for the mother eagle to create such a wind storm, and the first is because the baby eagle's wings are not yet strong enough for flight. The first reaction of the baby eagle is to hold his wings up, straining against the wind. This is difficult for him, but in doing this, his wings are being strengthened. The second reason is because a baby eagle's feathers aren't ready for flight, but there is oil in their body that changes their baby feathers to adult feathers. This wind storm draws out that oil! When there's wind in our lives and we don't understand why God's putting us through it, He is doing it to strengthen us! He's building up the muscles in our wings, and he's helping us grow our adult feathers so we can fly! In the third part of the verse, it says that God is like an eagle "that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions." When it's time for the baby eagle to learn how to fly, momma eagle pushes him right off the branch, then swoops under and catches him. Mom does this over and over until the baby learns to fly! I found it interesting that some eagles take as little as fifteen tries to learn how to fly, while others take over five HUNDRED! Do you know what the difference is between the eagle that learns in fifteen tries and the one that takes over five hundred? It's the attitude of the baby eagle. Remember how in the beginning I said that baby eagles are stubborn? If you haven't made the connection yet, we are the baby eagle. I don't know about you, but I can be very stubborn! Which eagle do you want to be? Because God is going to keep throwing us off that branch until we decide to check our attitude, give it our best shot, spread our wings, and fly with Him. A great quote that I took from this lesson was "God is more interested in your character than your comfort." So next time God is stirring up your nest, creating a giant wind storm, or throwing you off a branch and catching you on His wings, remember that He's doing it to make you better! He is not a cruel God who just enjoys to sit back and watch us struggle, He has OUR best interest in mind! He wants to strengthen us so we can soar! 

  Needless to say, I have now seen exactly how important it is to take the time to look deeper into the meanings behind God's word. Something as simple as doing a little research on eagles can give a verse a whole new perspective! 

Volunteers of America

Hey guys! So just a quick update : last night was my second night of local ministry! This week we broke into our groups, so it was my first week with my team, and my first time at Volunteer's of America. We got to go help clean up the cafeteria, serve dinner, and meet some sweet people! We also got to help out by watching the kids in the play room! I was a little nervous on the way over there, because I'd never done anything like it before. But once we got there and started working, the nerves went away! It was so much fun, and I can't wait to go back next week! I'm excited to see how God uses us in this ministry. :)