Walking in Memphis

--- This was published on Dec 1, 2013, then I accidentally deleted it. Thankful for cache to recover!---
Thanksgiving Day you would've found us first in a large church in a suburb of Memphis, New Hope Christian Church. I loved this, because my home church's name is New Hope. From Wednesday through Saturday morning we were doing ministry in Memphis. Thursday we split into 3 teams, all of which had been given a list of different places for us to physically go to and pray for. First, the Big Blue van wasn't working so after a lot of prayer we finally had to leave it behind and take a minivan. That in itself was a God thing, because we wouldn't have had that mini-van if 2 of the guys in our school hadn't needed to drive separately. Anyway, so my team of 7 went first to a Psychic's place to pray outside, then to the famous Sun Studio where Elvis Presley himself, AND Johnny Cash, first recorded! We were all super excited to go. It was closed, of course, being Thanksgiving Day, and the streets were empty so it worked out fine for us to pray and take pictures.
  We also went to an abortion clinic, a coffeehouse ministry, and McD's... not to pray, but praying makes us hungry. Later that day we went to a homeless shelter and several of the students from our base led worship & a few of us gave testimonies. The shelter was Calvary Mission and it was such a cool ministry! They are raising money to build a shelter twice the size, to house 108 instead of 46. They have led so many people to Jesus, and changed their lives, it's crazy!
  Friday we first went to Orange Mound, a community in the roughest part of Memphis, and worked with a mission there. We built raised beds for one of the three community gardens they have there. We aren't professionals by any means, but the beds turned out perfectly! The rest of Friday we did door-to-door evangelism. Several people started a relationship with God that day, and one boy was freed from a demonic spirit. We all learned to be bold in Christ.
  You may have heard of Beale Street. It's pretty much the most famous place in Memphis. We went there several times this week. Friday night we went, just waiting to see who God would lead us to. The neatest experience of that night had nothing to do with evangelism and everything to do with John Mayer.
See, John Mayer was playing RIGHT where we were. My friend Marissa reallllly wanted to see him. But we have no money. We finished our work at 8:30 then she and I and another friend, Trinity, decided to walk up to the doors. We were up there, talking, looking longingly inside, when a couple who had just been cleared to go in, poked their heads out. The man said, "My daughter wasn't able to make it and we have a free ticket. Would you like to go?" And Marissa was like "YES!!" So we told her to go, and we'd text her when we needed to leave. She only got to see the first song, but it was so amazing for her, just what she wanted! She got to kind of witness to the couple she was with, too, which was also pretty amazing. We've been learning here that God really wants a relationship with us where we are his lovers and He is ours. He wants to love on us. So sometimes he surprises us with little things like free concerts, just cuz he can!
  I learned so much this week. I am really glad to be back on base, sleeping on my bunk bed instead of on the floor! I don't realize how much I have to be thankful for until I don't have it ;)
We only have two weeks left on base though. And it's Christmas season for everyone, not just me now! My favorite random part of this week was when we were praying in Oasis, the coffeeshop. This ministry is targeted towards African American students at the University of Tennessee, just as a safe, welcoming place for them to come & hopefully be impacted by God. My team was praying and I was the "scribe" keeping track of what God showed us for each place. Christmas music was playing, and a song I love came on. I pretty much started crying. I love Christmas music so much, and I was missing being at home in Ohio, where from November to Christmas we have it playing a ton. This weekend for some reason I'd heard NO Christmas music, just stupid classical in the car ;) but anyway I really needed Christmas music. That whole prayer, my friends got amazing messages for the ministry. When it came my turn to share, all I could say was I was touched by the music. God works in mysterious ways, right?!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Do You Hear What I Hear?

What you hear would be :YWAM Nashville people celebrating electricity (because the electric company decided to work on it for 4 1/2 hours, in the whole tiny town of Adams, the day after we get back..) and maybe some puking. Because we're so unlucky. Read on.

 Me, Marissa, and Sheridan at Jacksonville Beach in Florida a couple of weeks ago :) This is the life

I have a slight obsession with Christmas. I started listening to Christmas music in October and I haven't stopped. It's just intensified. But that's not really what this post is about.
We spent a week at home in Adams learning about the Bible from Art Collins. We also watched the Louis Giglio film "How Great is Our God" and it was amazing.

Last week our whole base was at the YWAM Southeast Conference in Talladega, Alabama. There were about 8 bases represented, with over 500 people. I met students from all over the U.S. and from many countries throughout the world. It is indescribable to be with people from so many different walks of life, and to have in common the fact that we are all "YWAM-ers". We had amazing worship every morning and evening, and God moved in great ways. Our speaker taught on "Lord, Build Your Kingdom." One of my favorite parts, honestly, was the free time from 1-5:30. DTS students just don't get free time usually. (Which isn't that bad, because I would be bored to death if we had nothing to do every afternoon. But for a week it was AMAZING.) The conference was at Shocco Springs retreat center, which had pretty much any recreational activity you could want. Including hiking, which I love. Everything I hiked on seemed to be uphill the whole way. Interesting how that works.

   But honestly this is how I spent most of my free time - when we didn't have base meetings 

- talking

- sitting outside in the glorious weather until it got like 40 degrees and froze us all

-trying to read but actually

-sleeping.

I meant to go play soccer two days. Both days I accidentally fell asleep instead.

Oh, well.

We had an outreach prep meeting while there and we started to do skits. Eeeep! It makes outreach seem so CLOSE. We learned we do have a place to stay, and that we have some sort of a bathroom (which wasn't a given), and some other details. Only 4 more weeks of lecture :( then Christmas, then stateside outreach, then UGANDA.

Today is Saturday. We got home around 3 yesterday. I love road trips. I just sing and dance to my music the whole way. And brainstorm Christmas activities to do here. (We are so making gingerbread houses ASAP). Sadly, the flu has struck YWAM. The last couple of weeks we passed around the common cold (dontcha just love living in community)! Now, we get the puking stuff. So far only 3 people here have been sick. I disinfected doorknobs and light switches today. Yes, I was that person. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

 

Please pray though for those sick and those not yet sick. It seems to be a less than 24 hour bug, which is good. But if everyone does get sick, spaced out so a few get sick a day this thing will be here FOREVER > let's talk optimistically and pray it away.

LORD JESUS LET NO MORE PUKING TOUCH THIS BASE. Amen.

 

I freaking love my base, my new friends, all the DTS students here. I miss all my home people but Christmas will be here before we know it.

Of course, Christmas is already here to me.

Until next time...

Road Trippin and Florida Sunshine

Hey everybody!

Last night, we got back "home" from 5 days in Jacksonville, Florida at the "Finish the Task" conference hosted by the YWAM Jacksonville Beach base. The drive was about 10 hours long. It was considerably longer based on the fact that on the way down there I had to pee like 3 times in an hour, and one of our 12 passenger vans blew out a tire and had to wait a couple hours to get it fixed. But my van made it down there Sunday night just in time for the opening night worship.
  The best part of the week for me was definitely in the worship times. God moved so powerfully! One of my friends and I got to share an amazing prayer and really feel the Holy Spirit touch us and cover us. On Tuesday, we were split into different teams for outreach. My team went to the Jacksonville base and help clean up their property. Then we went to the ocean. There were some people who had never been to the ocean, and others who hardly ever go and it was incredibly fun to watch them experience.
  We all went in the ocean Thursday. Apparently they have a little bit of a jelly fish problem, and several people on our team got stung.
 
  So, road tripping with me can't be a very peaceful experience. There was a lot of muffled singing and not so muffled dancing going on. I had a blast though! Thankfully we're not totally burned out on road trips, because next Sunday we'll be leaving again, for Talladega, AL this time. We're all so glad to be back in Adams, TN for a week. Now we get to experience the pleasure of having 2 functioning washers & 1 working dryer for about 25 people who all need to use them at the same time.

 Fall has come to Tennessee and it's beautiful! It almost makes up for leaving the 80 degree weather in Florida :)
God bless!

Week Five!

Hello again from YWAM Nashville!

Yesterday was four weeks exactly that I first met my fellow students in this Discipleship Training School and made this base my new temporary home. This means I have eight weeks left here before spending a week home for Christmas. I love it here so much I don’t really want these eight weeks to go fast at all.

  Saturday I went to Nashville for the first time with my grandparents who visited me from Illinois. We went to Opryland, shopped, ate, and visited the Grand Ole Opry (I’m definitely going back there sometime). I sent out newsletters last week, and I’m excited to hear that lots of people have received them.

  A typical week looks like this: We have a new speaker every week. Last week Joseph Watson spoke on Identity and destiny, this week Andrew Lamb will be speaking on the Holy Spirit. Every day I wake up around 6:45, breakfast is served from 7 to 7:20 so we have to eat fast. Quiet time is from 7:30 to 8:20. Quiet time is just alone time to pray, read the Bible, and just spend time with God. Usually I go out back to the cliffs overlooking the Red River, but now that it’s colder some of us go to the Glory Barn, a building right beside the Big House used just for worship and prayer. Anytime we want we can go worship. There is an IPod continually playing worship music. We have worship or intercession for an hour in the morning at the school building down the hill. We should get in shape walking up and down that hill many times a day! We have class til 12:30 every day but Wednesday, when class is in the afternoon. Afternoons and evenings vary per day. Every Monday we have study hall at night, group Bible reading in the afternoon, Thursdays we do small group in the afternoon, etc.

  Thursday nights we have community night, where all the staff brings their families and we worship and have a speaker. This week I am stoked that Polen, a band from my area at home, is coming to play their music for us!! On Fridays we do evangelism class from 4-6 then evangelism til 9 or 9:30. We usually go to Clarksville, a town about 30 minutes from us. It’s really the nearest large town.

  The first couple weeks I went with a group to the Riverwalk. We prayed for people and the second week five accepted Christ into their lives! The first week I was terrified, but prayed for a lady who was about to be evicted, had no job, just been divorced, and was afraid she’d lose her daughter. She was so encouraged to be prayed for that it encouraged me! Yesterday I went to the Clarksville mall with a group. We are split into teams of two to go ask people if they want prayer. I prayed for a lady who just asked for us to pray for her 16 year old son. So I did. I didn’t know what to say, but God gave me the words, and they just happened to be exactly what he was going through! It encouraged her so much, she hugged my friend and I – twice – and said she was going to keep shopping and cry, she was so touched! It is a step out of my comfort zone, but once I start talking to people I love it.

  We did find out this week where each student will be going for outreach. I am going to beautiful Uganda!!! There are 14 of us going to Uganda and 8 to Nepal, plus staff. The Uganda team will be split up into two group going to slightly different places. We don’t know yet who will be with whom or what we’ll be doing, but we learn more every Tuesday in outreach prep classes!

  This time next week, our group will be on our way to Jacksonville, FL for the “Finish the Task” conference with all the other Southeast YWAM bases. This is going to be a road trip to be remembered J

Please pray for me! Pray for unity in the teams, direction as the YWAM staff members decide specifics of the trip, and continual growth as we learn more every day. I miss all of you Ohio people!

We learned again this week how God blesses us and our dreams when we dare to dream big. Keep dreaming! I sure am!

I am a YWAM-er

Once a YWAM-er, always a YWAM-er, they say.
I am beyond excited to be on this journey!

I came in to the YWAM Nashville base September 22nd. I have 3 awesome roommates and there are 22 students total. I love everyone here, students and staff.

Our first week was about Relationships. I learned so much. We also did our first street evangelism on Friday night from 6-10 p.m. I was on the team that went to the ghetto - so far out of my comfort zone. It was a predominantly black neighborhood. As we were there, at least 3 drug deals occurred. Still, as terrified and out of my comfort zone, I felt safe and at peace. We prayed for many people, then went to the Riverview park. There, we divided into teams of two. Me and one of my roommates prayed for two women; the first had a military daughter in Korea who was very ill. The second lady had been through a difficult divorce and marriage, as her husband of 15 years had abused her and mistreated her - "You name it, he did it" she said. She fought for custody of her daughter, and got her but lost all her money in the process. She is also without a job and no one will hire her. All her friends left as soon as times got rough. She was crying the first time we prayed for her, when she hadn't told us anything. Then when I saw she was upset, I asked if there was anything else we could pray for & that story came out. We prayed again & got her a business card for the church we were working with. They are going to help her with finances, and electrical and other needs as she's afraid she's going to get evicted. She was so blessed by the experience, and so was I! I realized I've been living in a little protective bubble. There are so many hurt people out there, living in dangerous places every day, inside the US!

This week our topics are about Hearing the Voice of God. Already, I've realized that God is always speaking and sometimes I'm the one not listening. He first revealed himself first by the sentence "In the beginning, God created..." which reveals him first as our Creator. So Creation itself is God speaking to us.
Also I realized my mindset is wrong. Instead of talking about how we wish Jesus would just come back now, I want to live, as our speaker said "Wanting to give Jesus a kingdom worth coming for. There is too much work to be done, we need more time!" Let's not have Jesus come back to a kingdom that doesn't recognize him.

A random note that gave me hope was that in Iran alone there are over 1 and a half million underground church missionaries!!

There is so much more I'm learning. I love it all.
We have quiet time scheduled in the morning. I am learning to just be quiet and let God tell me what to pray for, what part of His Word to read, and just let him speak.
We also are having fun just getting to know each other here. I should find out which place I'm going for the 8-week outreach phase in a week or so!

Two Weeks then New Horizons

Two weeks.
In two weeks, I will be leaving two states away from where I've lived my whole life.
In two weeks, I will say good-bye to all those I know best and make a new "family" of friends.
In two weeks, I will hug those I love, the last time for three months.
In two weeks, I will leave the life I've known behind forever. I will be changed, I know it.
I will leave complacency, comfort, for challenges and the rewards that come with them.
I will leave relationships and church family for new ones that I'm sure will stay with me forever.

Two weeks will fly by. I am ready yet unprepared, contradicting though that may seem. I'm ready because God has called me to do this, and to always be prepared to go when he says. I am not prepared because I have my own list of things to do such as buying early Christmas gifts, spending time with friends not seen enough, and cleaning out my room, all of which should be done but I can survive if it doesn't.

The last few weeks, our pastor has been speaking on "Greater Things", challenging us to go out of our comfort zones, a fitting message for where I am in life. Today, we sang "Glory to God Forever" by Fee which says: "Take my life and let it be, all for you and for your glory, Take my life and let it be Yours"   http://youtu.be/h64opCwLZCw

And "So I stand, with arms high and heart abandoned, in awe, of the One who gave it all. I stand, my soul Lord, to you surrendered, All I am, is Yours"
 And those lyrics echo the cry of my heart. All I am is His.
That's why I am not sad to leave. I will miss this, I will miss the people, but how can I be sad when He has called me? How can I be sad when true sadness and heartbreak is calling from the hearts of the broken and needy, those who I am going to learn how to minister to? Why should I let fear and comfort control me (again from the spot-on sermon at church today) when, by leaving, I can help deliver the message of hope this world needs so desperately?

So I wonder about these two weeks, as I desperately try to cover all that needs done before I leave (which in the eternal realm of things, doesn't matter anyway. Other than spending time with people. Relationships last to eternity, I believe). I wonder how they'll ever pass, how this dream of YWAM will become a reality, and I wonder because days just pass so darn fast. I can't imagine what God has in store for me. I'm not even going to try, for I may accidentally put him in a box and try to limit what He has for me.
  I am excited, nervous, hopeful, thankful, and in awe of this opportunity before me. I will try not to be sad ever. Though missing people is allowed. I will miss the babies that I consider family, the babies that are now three and two (two years tomorrow) that I had the privilege of being more-than-babysitter to for their whole lives. I will miss the New Hope church family that I've so recently come to know but love so much already. I will miss the friends of my previous church, who are just as much part of my church family today though our churches are different. (So thankful to those mentors who knew me since I was a baby, who pray for me, and encourage me on occasions, like today, of God's plan for me.) I will miss the friends my age, those who I've known forever and those who I've recently met. I will miss the family that, of course, knows me better than anyone else, and who I haven't been apart from more than two weeks in my life.
  But I won't miss Jesus because, of course, he's the Best Friend that I can take anywhere :) Now isn't that nice!
New things, new faces, new ministries, new chances for God to work.
These are dreams coming true, in two weeks.

Pure Joy

Romans 8: 38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 A quick word for today. The love of God abundantly provides for my every need. It covers me in my sin, with His grace.
  My small group was talking about suffering last night. We are doing the video series "Unstuck" featuring Francis Chan and a few author notable speakers and authors. How ungrateful I can be in my situations! There are so many people enduring loss, pain, and tragedy, and yet I, so often, complain that it's too hot, or that my life is so hard. "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds," James 1:2 states clearly.
  I want to remember this for the inevitable times that I must face suffering. It is a blessing from God. As hard as it is to grasp, God allows trials for our sake, to make us stronger. When people we love die, if they are saved we know they are in a better place. Yet we can take the pain and agony of dealing with their loss as if it is an opportunity to draw closer to God, learn more of him, and yes, discover joy.

Joy is not found in our circumstances, but in our God.

So I will praise Jesus in the easy, sunny, happy times and in the dark, painful, hard times for his constant love is present in each occasion. He loves me enough to let each day come. He loves me, yes, to give me struggles. For I can use these circumstances to demonstrate to the world that all I need is the love of God. Love that nothing and no one can take away from me.

In Him I'll find my joy.
In Him my dreams will become reality.

 Keep dreaming :)

I'm a Really Bad Blogger

It's been about seven months since I last published a blog entry.
 *Whoops!*

 I believe that entry talked about me starting a job. I finished that internship the end of May. My family and I went on a vacation to the beach in South Carolina right afterwards, which did my heart good.

  Now I am back in another searching phase of my life. It seems my whole life has been about figuring out what I'm going to do next. I'm looking at doing something like YWAM in the fall. YWAM, or Youth With A Mission, focuses on discipleship for 3 months and then outreach, to another country, for about 2 months. (The time itself varies for each YWAM base.) I need to make a decision asap and, as decision-making is not my strongpoint, I'm a little overwhelmed.

  Meanwhile, I've been stretched as a Christian and teenager/young woman these past months. I started doing classes at my wonderful, God-touched church on Sunday mornings, which were designed to equip people to disciple and lead others. After that, I felt called to lead a group for 15-20 year old young women. I was terrified. In April, my kick-off group began. I think I had 2 girls show up. After that, each meeting was (and is) difficult in its own way. There has been six of us, including me and my lil sister, who I drag along to each meeting (no, she actually likes it) and all the girls are wonderful, interactive, and make leading so much fun. Still, I think some people are born leaders and some become leaders. Everyone can, and should, be a leader in some respects, but it didn't really come easy for me. The group has been meeting for 2 months and there are still kinks that need worked out, but that's how it is supposed to be.

   It's amazing, what God can do through a slightly-willing person. I NEVER thought I would lead a group, until I was as old as my parents, at least. I NEVER would have considered going away for 5-6 months, studying the Bible and learning how to be a better Christian, and spend part of that time overseas. Not that I thought it was bad, I just wanted to stay at home in my comfortable, safe environment and never do anything risky or, even worse, alone. I have a big family - it's a pretty big step to do anything without one of them. But it's a step I'm willing to take now.

  Does that mean I'm not afraid? No. Am I really excited about this? Well, yes. Yet my human flesh still knocks me down and keeps me from being utterly fearless about doing these things. I just don't want to miss out on what God has for me. That's the truth, plain and simple.
  That's why I'm considering something that I never would've considered. Anyway, 2 Corinithians 12:9 has been my anthem of late, because I'm discovering it's really true that God uses our weaknesses and runs wild with them. Then I, and the world, will know that it truly is his Power accomplishing the things that I seem to accomplish. If I do anything, it will be with God's help and truly be HIS work. And if I do YWAM or something that involves work out of my comfort zone, it will be an even greater example of his divine power working through me. It will be His deeds and I will praise his name even more.

 2 Cor. 12: 9a: "But He said to me: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
  Why hide from my weakness, then? For when I let his grace cover me and bring me on when I'm terrified, lonely, confused, or hurt, that is when his power is made perfect.

In conclusion, I'm just as uncertain about my next steps as I was a year ago. But I know my greater purpose, which is to honor God and make him known. My purpose extends past the earthly confines we see and into the heavenly realms, where I will one day praise my Father face-to-face. Life's worries seem so insignificant compared to that, don't they? So I won't worry about tomorrow. Whatever happens, God's plans will be done (Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails, Proverbs 19:21)

Dream of tomorrow, the future is bright <3
P.S. Congrats to all the graduates of 2013. Keep dreaming.