Summary of the last 3 months

It’s nearing the end of a year and the new year will begin. I know I haven’t written here in 3 months, so let me start off by paraphrasing what’s been going on in my life.
God has been teaching me how to be more vulnerable which in results in trusting Him more. He is teaching me more positional and spiritual leadership. He is teaching me to believe and hope more in the things He has promised me or that I would like to see happen. He is teaching me how to dream with Him. And I am sure there are more things that He is teaching me.

I have been extremely busy this last 3 months and it’s been good but at the same time extremely exhausting. I know things will be slowing down soon, and as things slow down I will still be busy but in a different way because God still wants to work on these things more in my life.

Some decisions I’ve made in the last 3 months:
* To stay on staff with YWAM Denver until 2015 or 2016.
* To move out of my apartment and move on campus (to save money)
* To sell my car to pay off credit card debt.
* To possibly go on an outreach this summer, to see if I want to lead people on missions trips.

 

This entry is kind of all over the place, and it’s because my mind is in several place. I am currently sitting at the airport waiting to go back to Denver. I had an earlier flight, but had a chance to get a voucher so I took it. I still have 3 more hours at the airport until I board. I will hopefully write a deeper entry soon.

It’s JUST the Beginning

The outreach to Orange County, California is over but the work that God has done in the lives of the people there has just begun. Hundreds of people gave their lives to Christ and some rededicated their lives to Him. Many people were delivered from addictions and oppression, while many more were filled up with the Holy Spirit. And about 40 people, including myself, were baptized with in the Pacific Ocean.

Every day we would begin all 250 of us at a church with worship, testimonies, and intercession. We would take a break for lunch and then split into groups to pray about what God wanted us to do for the day. Most of the time my group would break off into two or more people and just love on people by speaking truth into strangers lives, or even simply pray for them.

It was a very fruitful outreach, the people were ready and beautiful willing to have God move in their life. It was beautiful to be bold and courageous to do the things God was putting on our hearts to do.

This was the end of the outreach but only the beginning of what God is doing in our lives and in the lives of people in Orange County.

Day 3 of 10: This is Real

I don’t even know where to begin telling about today. I will just give a brief synopsis of what happened today. We began with worship and then John Dawson spoke and encouraged us. John was is one of the founders of YWAM when it began and he encouraged us about revival and about how hungry people are for hearing about God. After this time of John speaking, we took a break for lunch and gathered again into our groups to go off into ministry.

My group went to Huntington Beach and walked along and talked to people. We share with them about a “party” at a tent at the Hilton that we were having and they were invited. There were several crazy. amazing stories shared as we gathered.

God is moving in RADICAL ways. I feel like as I am living my life right now that I am reading it in a fictional story. But this is not fiction… THIS IS REAL!!!! And it is amazing to see more and more healings, salvations, and more people come back to God after falling away. It’s so beautiful. The atmosphere is changing in a good way. Woo Hoo!!!

I am so privileged to be a part of another revival moment that will soon be written about in history books.

Day 2 of 10: The Circuit Riders have Arrived

Today we began our day with fellowship and worship. It was an encouraging time to be joined together with Ywam Denver and the Circuit Riders from Kona, Hawaii. Even though we are from 2 different places and doing different things, we have all joined together to see revival be spread across the United States, beginning in the West. The people in Hawaii and Denver are not 2 different groups, but 1 large group moving in unity to the heartbeat of our Father. My heart was overjoyed to see about 300 people giving their all in worship, and literally crying out to God for the salvation of people all across the world. I have been to church camps, Acquire The Fire, Christian concerts, and evangelists preach on revival in churches, BUT I have never seen so many people of all ages so passionate about partnering with God about a revival in America. It is so exciting what God is doing and how He is moving. He is already moving in Orange County and people are noticing a shift in the spiritual atmosphere.

After a time of worship and talking about the things God wants to do while we are here in Orange County, we took a break for lunch and then met back to organize into ministry groups. Most of us went over to Huntington Beach to simply share the love of Jesus with people. It was amazing to walk around and see us talking to people or praying for someone. I am sure tomorrow we will hear some stories of God moving while we are here in the O.C. and I am sure tomorrow will look much like today. Around 7pm most of us went to a nearby church where Brian Brennt was speaking. Brian is the visionary behind the Circuit Riders school in Kona.

We arrived back at one of the churches that we are staying around 9:45pm and most of the girls were eager to get into bed. Today was a fruitful and exciting day.

Day 1 of 10: Heading to Orange County

As I write this, I am driving through Utah in a 15 passenger van headed for California. There are around 100 people from YWAM Denver traveling right now with me to meet up with abut 120 people from Kona, Hawaii who just finished a 5 week seminar on seeking revival in America.

For one week there will be meetings in a tent next to the Hilton Hotel by Huntington Beach. These meetings will be evangelism focused, however I am not sure what it will look like from day to day but I am very excited. I believe God has been giving me small glimpses of what amazingness He is going to do in Orange County, while over 200 YWAMers from all across the world are joining to catch the wave of vision that God has been sharing to many people.

I brought my laptop along with me to help blog the process of  what God is doing in Orange County, through my perspective.

A picture I found off flickr.com

God is doing a NEW THING

I don’t know where to begin this blog post. Since I have been back from Africa I have been steadily busy. The Summer Quarter at YWAM Denver began June 27th, one month ago. I am staffing the School of Biblical Foundations (SBF) along with being the Hospitality Assistant. One of the requirements for the SBF students is to read through the Bible in chronological order within the 3 months of the school, I am trying to read along with them. It’s about 16 chapters a day. It is really good, but I must admit that I am behind on the reading. However, I am confident that I will catch up and I will have completed reading the Bible by the end of the quarter.

I have had a busy summer and looking ahead it is just going to get even more busy. My 26th birthday is in 3 weeks, and the SBF students and staff will drive to Orange County at about 3AM. We are partnering with an evangelism outreach from Kona, Hawaii and we will be out there for 2 weeks. I need to raise $100 for food and a bus pass. It’s not much, but if YOU are reading this and would like to donate please email me at becca81385@gmail.com and then I will be able to help you figure out a way that works out best for you.

I do not know much about the outreach to Orange County, California except that I will praying for people and that it will be like a modern day tent service and modern day Billy Gram street evangelism. We are sending all of the students and most of the staff to be out at Huntington Beach to see God pour out His spirit and bring REVIVAL. I don’t know if you feel it where you are, but God is doing a NEW THING!

Forget the former things;
   do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
   Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
   and streams in the wasteland.
The wild animals honor me,
   the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the wilderness
   and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
the people I formed for myself
   that they may proclaim my praise.

--- Isaiah 43:18-21

Still Processing ...

Well, I am back from Africa. I am currently on vacation at my parents house, in Illinois. A few days ago I forced myself to sit and process the past 6 months. It’s not that it was a terrible time  of my life, but probably one of the best times of my life. I gave so much of myself to the girls I discipled in my small group, and while in Africa for 7 weeks I continued to give of myself to other students as well.

It was an amazing time of my life and a growing time. I would love to write this update to you, my readers, and tell you of some crazy awesome memories and/or share pictures. But right now, that will have to wait until another day. I need to process more, because when I processed a few days ago, it wasn’t enough. I journaled for 3 hours at Starbucks, but it was just the surface, and I have much more that I need to reflect and even dig into while I  ask God some tough questions.

However, I will say that Africa is beautiful. I recommend anyone and everyone to go to South Africa… it is stunning with beauty. The land is stunning and the people are friendly with beautiful accents. Mozambique is also beautiful, just in a deeper way. The people are friendly and hospitable, and the land is natural with very few concrete buildings (compared to the US).

Also, I have learned that I love 3rd world countries. There is something about the simplicity and joy in the little things, that excites my spirit. Every morning when I would wake up, I would be  excited and have an expectation for God to do miracles and amazing things, even if unseen by human eyes. I also enjoyed, sometimes, the challenge of the language barrier. I loved that the people there are so hungry for the truth. I love the relationships that I began there and in South Africa, of which I miss tremendously.

Maybe next time will be an update about Africa…

AFRICA!!!!!!

I have exciting news that I am eager to share with you. I AM GOING TO AFRICA!!!!! Ever since I did my Discipleship Training School (DTS) and did my outreach phase/missions trip 4 years ago, I knew that I wanted to be a missionary. But I had no specific idea where I wanted to go, so I began asking God 3 questions: Where, What, and Why. I soon realized that I had a huge heart for Africa, specifically the Southern part of Africa. As I continued to ask God about what I was called to do in Africa he showed me that I come alive when I hear about AIDS and HIV in Africa. Then I asked the final question, “Why?” and the answer is bring faith to the faithless, hope to the hopeless, and to love the unloved – simply as Jesus did and continues to do. Then God gave me the verse 1 Corinthians 13:13, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” I believe this dream and passion to go to Africa started when I was around the age of 8 when I watched the movie The Lion King. I know now that Africa is not like the movie, but I still get excited thinking about when I will be going there.

So you may be asking, how did you get chosen to go to Africa? Every small group leader in the DTS gets put into consideration as to who will assist the outreach leader. In the DTS that I am staffing, there are 2 outreach locations for the students to choose from. One is to China and the other is to Africa. I talked to one person responsible for choosing outreach assistants and told them that I would love to go to Africa. A couple weeks later they approached me and asked if I would like to go to Africa. I screamed and said, YES!!!!! There will be 23 students going to Africa, and for every 5 students 1 staff person needs to go. So I will be assisting the leader along with a married couple and their 2 year old son.

The next question that may have crossed your mind is, where will you be going in Africa, and what will you be doing? We will be going to Johannesburg, South Africa for 3 weeks. Then we will be going to Dondo, Mozambique for the final 4 weeks of the outreach. In South Africa we will be working in the slums and also with AIDS babies. While in Mozambique we will be working with Heidi Baker’s ministry called Iris Ministries. This specific location that we will be at is boy’s orphanage ages between 7-18years old. We will be working hard on this trip by helping with farming, plowing fields, leading church services, loving on the widows and orphans, and many other things.

There are many more details to be worked out and our plane tickets will be bought soon. The tentative dates that we will be traveling will be from March 28^th – May 7^th. After arriving back in Denver, Colorado the students will go through a week of teaching and debrief times as well. They will then graduate on May 20^th and will go back to their homes.

My current plan after the students graduate is to take a 3 week vacation where I will be spending about a week in Arvada, CO with my parents and then flying back home to Illinois with them for about 2 weeks. I’ve been wanting to spend more than a week in Illinois, because 1 week is not enough time to see family and friends. I am also hoping to share with friends, family, and supporters about specific stories and things that God did in my life during this trip. I believe that while I am in Africa God will give me answers to questions that I have been asking Him for awhile now.

I will try to send out another update before I leave for Africa.

Update and Plans

It’s the start of a new week and the Compassion DTS is 1/3 of its way through the lecture phase. I am so excited about the willingness that the students have been putting forth and God is doing so many things in their lives and healing them from things in their past. God is so amazing.

So here is what in store for me and the DTS…

It’s the beginning of week 4 for the Compassion DTS and during week 6 the Musicians DTS that I staffed last quarter will be back from Norway and Mexico. I am so excited to hear their testimonies, what God spoke to them, and what is next in their lives. They will be sharing with this current DTS about the things that God did while they were on outreach.
For week 8, the Compassion DTS and the staff will be traveling to LA for a week to do ministry at the Dream Center. I am really looking forward to God using the students and preparing them for their 7 week outreach to another country.

The outreach opportunities for the DTS are China and Mozambique, Africa. Since I am on staff with the DTS, I have a chance to go. I would love to go to Mozambique, because I have such a heart for Africa and Mozambique is one of the places that I have wanted to go to. I also have a heart to do ministry with women and children, and that is what the DTS will be doing in Mozambique.

Also, God has been teaching me to immediately obey Him, when I feel his prompting. It’s been good through cause when I obey, God uses me in great ways and to speak words of encouragement to people. It’s so good.

Growth and Maybe More...

It’s 2011 and I hardly have any insight from God as to what this year will bring for me. Usually by this time I have a word or some insight into the new year, but this time… not much. I have myself to blame. I have been procrastinating in asking God questions about this next year, because honestly I was extremely disappointed in the month of December. The plans and ideas that I had thought I heard from God did not come true as I had envisioned they would. Now I know last year was a year of “Great Expectations”  and “Big Things”, even if they did not meet my own expectations and desires. But my disappointment is in the past and it’s a new year, so I am moving on.

I really believe that this year is going to be a year of tremendous growth. At first this sounds exciting and new, but as I have learned in the last 3 months – growth does not come easy. You have to choose to grow and be stretched. You have to be willing to step out of your comfort zone. You have to be sensitive to God’s leading, because He will lead you to places where you will not fall or stumble. He is a safe place of refuge. Growing is not an easy thing, and it doesn’t always come naturally. But the end result is life, nourishment, and fulfillment.

All I know for this new year, is that the journey is going to be difficult at times, but the end result is going to be fruitful.

 

Dictionary.com says growth is - something that has grown or developed by or as if by a natural process.