Hello to my beautiful friends and family! I am now into my second week on dts! Crazy I feel like I have known these people forever. This week we are talking about friendship with God. Such a different concept to think about huh? Normally it is he is our Father, our lover or our king but I have never really thought about God as my friend, my best friend.
Adriel Booker is our speaker this week. I love the way she speaks to us like we are in a personal conversation with her rather than she is lecturing to 35 students. The first day she had us simply analyze the friendships we have in our lives and things we love in our friends. I am so blessed that I have the friends that I do and so many examples of friendship that pull out the qualities that people want in a friend. It makes it so much easier to relate friendship to God. Abraham and Moses were the only two people in the whole bible to be called friends of God so we studied their stories and the characteristics they brought to their friendship with Christ. Jesus just wants to enjoy us, go on adventures with us, laugh with us, talk with us, and simply BE with us.
After talking about friendship with Christ she began to talk about fear of the Lord. Dun dun dun everyone instantly thinks fear of the Lord as being afraid, walking on egg shells or waiting for God to punish us. Buuuut in fact that is not what the bible means at all. In Hebrew fear means stand in awe of/reverence. A way she related this was to our fathers. We know they love us more than the world, wants the best for us and would do anything to protect us. They would never do anything to harm us but yet we still have a sense of fear towards them never to disappoint them and always wanting to respect them. Same thing with God. So then we analyzed if our delight was in the fear of the Lord to answer that we looked at scripture(funny how everything is in scripture huh :) One of my favorite parts of this days lecture was when we looked at Jesus' value system and compared it to the world's value system...
Jesus' Value System
Lay down your rights
Leaders are to serve their people
Love your enemies
Befriend the outcasts
Accept Foreigners
Marriage and sex=sacred
Cover sin and restore
Build others up
The World's Value System
Fight for your rights
People serve the leaders
Revenge
Protect yourself from the outcast Go back 'home'
'try before you buy'
Expose it
Compete
After really taking a good look at that it just blows my mind by the world we live in. Then we went on to talk about Why we fear the Lord. We fear him because of who he is, because it is commanded in scripture (Deuteronomy 10:12-13) and because of the benefits! The benefits are we get to have intimacy with God, for our own good and the good of our children, protection, prolonged life, provision, to avoid evil, wealth, honor, life, and to be spared by the Lord. We also fear him to grow and strengthen the church and most importantly to give him glory!!
Naturally as a human my biggest question was HOW DO WE DO THIS?!? ha okay here is how...1. Persuing him/knowing him. 2.Dealing with fear of man(could go on forever on this one) 3.Obeying Him. 4. Being holy (holy does not mean perfect. holiness is positional..in God's family) 5.Identifying sin issues. 6.Dealing with sin (confession and repentance) I know that was a lot but so far this week's topic has been awesome and continues to humble me and make me fall more in love with my God.
On Tuesday nights we have outreach prep to get us ready when we go on our outreach! I think we find out locations next week..so exciting!! This week we just did a bunch of team building games. We are going to have four outreach teams so it is going to be great! I cannot wait!!
On Wednesday we have all base worship in the morning and it is soooooo good! Ahh it is so nice to come together with everyone here...like 200 people right now and just worship. Always starts the day off right. Then Wednesday nights we have community bbq where we invite people from the community to come share in a meal with us and just hang out. It is a good time to get to know people in the town and let them know what ywam is all about and our mission. We also celebrate birthdays on these nights..so cake is always fun :)
On Thursday nights we have study time to do our journals for the week and our workbooks. They are due weekly and are pretty extensive but I am really trying to not label it as homework because the scriptures we read for it and the questions they ask us are awesome and really make us analyze our faith and where we are at in our walk. We all get together and do them with each other so it is fun!
Friday nights are free nights so we just do whatever. Saturday is when we have our youth program!! I met 3 awesome middle schooler girls last week and it was so fun to just hang out with them and begin to build relationships with them. The youth here need Jesus. We are doing a Youthstreet has talent night this weekend for them to get up on stage and put on an act. We are excited!!
Sundays are our free days as well. Last Sunday we went to a park on the beach and had a huge bbq consisting of chicken, buffalo wings, chips, corn on the cob, veggies, soda...so good!! I love just being with the people here. Everyone is so encouraging and just living in community-I love it!!
Well I have made this super long..thank you to everyone who made it to the bottom of this..to those who stopped halfway...I still love you :) I hope this finds everyone in good health and happy. I miss you all and I would love to hear updates. Send me an email or a message on facebook. You are all missed dearly. To my little Olivia...I had our song stuck in my head the other day. "Woah Woah stuck like glue, you and me baby we're stuck like glue" I love you!!
Prayer requests: energy for our team! We get up at 5:30 everyday-praise the Lord I am adjusting really really well but it is difficult for some people. Finances for my team-school fees are due this friday (mine are in, praise jesus) but some people still owe a lot of money so we are excited to see the Lord provide. Outreach finances..we don't know exact amounts yet until we find out where we are going but it looks like I am still going to need some finances for that but I will have that figured out next week. I am so thankful for everyones prayers and support!! You are all apart of this with me and on this adventure with me...the people in australia and the people in papa new guinea who we are helping thank you as well. I love you all!
PS it is raining here so Oregon is on my mind!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Don't seek God for an answer, seek God..for God.
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
I have heard this quote several times but when I heard it today in lectures...it was a whole new meaning!! We are learning about hearing God's voice this week by a woman named Joanne. She is awesome and through her story, her knowledge and her experience she is is teaching me a lot!
Hearing God's voice is something I have often had a hard time with because I can never decipher if it is mine or his. Joanne started off with telling us before anything we needed to realize who we were in Christ. He is our King-making us children of God-Princesses or Princes. That is so awesome to think about. Song of Songs 4:9 says "You have captured my heart, my treasure, my bride. You hold it hostage with one glance of your eyes, with a single jewel of your necklace." That is God talking about us!! We mean that much to him! Therefore..he cares, he loves us and he is going to speak to us.
After beginning to grasp that concept she proceeded to challenge us on hearing his voice. Like any relationship, we need to get to know His voice before we are going to be able to recognize it! Like our best friend's voice-it is after many many long talks that we now recognize their voice when we hear it. Same goes with Jesus! She also used this great example of mountains. The closer you get with the Lord-the less you know. Seeing mountains from far away they look smaller and you feel like you know exactly what it looks like. The closer you get-the more detail there is, the more you notice and the more your perspective of the mountain-changes. All of this was so eye opening it was great. Tons of ahhh hhaaaa moments! God is a personal and loving God-he knows the number of hairs on each of our heads therefore he knows the way we listen, the way our brains think and the way we communicate, he WILL speak to each of us individually and in our own ways!! Gosh I just love it!!
We have been having some intense volleyball matches here at the base-it is so fun to all come together and get a little competitive! The other night we went down to the strand(beach) and played some rugby after having a community bbq!! We got assigned our work duties yesterday as well and I will be helping out before dinner to prepare the meal. That will be 2 hours a day! Other fun news...we are having a ton of stuff going on at the base within the next couple months with tons of conferences and stuff so more people than normal sooo...they need more places for people to stay...and the medical ship comes home to townsville on Friday....so in about 2 weeks us girls get to move down to the ship which is at the beach and we get to stay there for 2 weeks!! We are all super excited because the beach is about 45 minutes away so for 2 weeks we get to live right on it! It will be a fun little adventure!
Okay this post is super long but I am learning lots and wanted to update you all on it!! Oh ya one more thing :) we are also going through the book...Is that really you God? and it is awesome I recommend it if you are looking for a good book on our faithful God! Alright well I miss you all and continue to ask for prayer and support...you all are awesome and I don't know where I would be without any of you!!
I have heard this quote several times but when I heard it today in lectures...it was a whole new meaning!! We are learning about hearing God's voice this week by a woman named Joanne. She is awesome and through her story, her knowledge and her experience she is is teaching me a lot!
Hearing God's voice is something I have often had a hard time with because I can never decipher if it is mine or his. Joanne started off with telling us before anything we needed to realize who we were in Christ. He is our King-making us children of God-Princesses or Princes. That is so awesome to think about. Song of Songs 4:9 says "You have captured my heart, my treasure, my bride. You hold it hostage with one glance of your eyes, with a single jewel of your necklace." That is God talking about us!! We mean that much to him! Therefore..he cares, he loves us and he is going to speak to us.
After beginning to grasp that concept she proceeded to challenge us on hearing his voice. Like any relationship, we need to get to know His voice before we are going to be able to recognize it! Like our best friend's voice-it is after many many long talks that we now recognize their voice when we hear it. Same goes with Jesus! She also used this great example of mountains. The closer you get with the Lord-the less you know. Seeing mountains from far away they look smaller and you feel like you know exactly what it looks like. The closer you get-the more detail there is, the more you notice and the more your perspective of the mountain-changes. All of this was so eye opening it was great. Tons of ahhh hhaaaa moments! God is a personal and loving God-he knows the number of hairs on each of our heads therefore he knows the way we listen, the way our brains think and the way we communicate, he WILL speak to each of us individually and in our own ways!! Gosh I just love it!!
We have been having some intense volleyball matches here at the base-it is so fun to all come together and get a little competitive! The other night we went down to the strand(beach) and played some rugby after having a community bbq!! We got assigned our work duties yesterday as well and I will be helping out before dinner to prepare the meal. That will be 2 hours a day! Other fun news...we are having a ton of stuff going on at the base within the next couple months with tons of conferences and stuff so more people than normal sooo...they need more places for people to stay...and the medical ship comes home to townsville on Friday....so in about 2 weeks us girls get to move down to the ship which is at the beach and we get to stay there for 2 weeks!! We are all super excited because the beach is about 45 minutes away so for 2 weeks we get to live right on it! It will be a fun little adventure!
Okay this post is super long but I am learning lots and wanted to update you all on it!! Oh ya one more thing :) we are also going through the book...Is that really you God? and it is awesome I recommend it if you are looking for a good book on our faithful God! Alright well I miss you all and continue to ask for prayer and support...you all are awesome and I don't know where I would be without any of you!!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Hello alll!!! I have been in Australia for 3 days now!! It is absolutely beautiful here! My group consists of 19 girls and 17 boys. I was shocked at how almost even it was!! We have several people from the states, northern Ireland, England, Switzerland, Sweden, Japan, Australia and Canada! I love having all the different cultures here! The accents are probably my favorite part! I live in a room with ten other girls so I know we are in store for a lot of fun!! We are all getting along really well so that is nice! School starts today with orientation so I am stoked to hear about our schedule and everything we will be doing!!
On Saturday we went to the beach all day and it is postcard pretty!! Everyone in Australia isn't too impressed by the beach in Townsville because Australia has much prettier beaches but I love it! They call it the strand-it has plenty of shops, food spots and full of palm trees!! I will upload pictures when I am able to!! The sun here is hot-so sunscreen is a must!! On Saturdays we run a program called youthstreet. It is a lot like younglife which I was involved with at home so God for sure had his hand in that. We invite kids to the base to hang out and we have different teams all day such as art team, sports team, and music team. Then at night we feed them dinner and put on a concert. It is a good way to get to know the kids, spend time with them and share the good news of Jesus with them!! Yesterday was registration, more paperwork, taking our student photos, and paying the last bit of our fees!! Praise God he provided me with all of my school fees. You are all amazing! Now for outreach!! We don't know where that will be yet so we do not have a final cost.
Well I will keep you updated when the time comes!! Bless you all heaps! ( They say that word a lot here :) ) I miss and love you family and friends!!
Oh and I ate kangaroo for lunch yesterday...no big deal...
On Saturday we went to the beach all day and it is postcard pretty!! Everyone in Australia isn't too impressed by the beach in Townsville because Australia has much prettier beaches but I love it! They call it the strand-it has plenty of shops, food spots and full of palm trees!! I will upload pictures when I am able to!! The sun here is hot-so sunscreen is a must!! On Saturdays we run a program called youthstreet. It is a lot like younglife which I was involved with at home so God for sure had his hand in that. We invite kids to the base to hang out and we have different teams all day such as art team, sports team, and music team. Then at night we feed them dinner and put on a concert. It is a good way to get to know the kids, spend time with them and share the good news of Jesus with them!! Yesterday was registration, more paperwork, taking our student photos, and paying the last bit of our fees!! Praise God he provided me with all of my school fees. You are all amazing! Now for outreach!! We don't know where that will be yet so we do not have a final cost.
Well I will keep you updated when the time comes!! Bless you all heaps! ( They say that word a lot here :) ) I miss and love you family and friends!!
Oh and I ate kangaroo for lunch yesterday...no big deal...
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