God speaks in unconventional ways.

Our last book assignment was about a book call A Tale of Three Kings. Um don't remember who wrote it. It is a great book, short, easy ready with tons of great points. 

It was the story of Saul, David and Absalom. It focused on David mainly and his reaction to things in his life like having to live with a crazy King Saul. The things that stuck out the most to me was David and how he handled the situations he was in. When David was young he lived with King Saul, who was crazy and used David for spear practiced most of the times. The picture portrayed an example of how you can have people in your life that seem to be awful and do things that make your life miserable like David. It brings up interesting points about if God is allowing you to be put in positions with people that are negative or is he pulling out inner Saul that is in you out. 

Here are some quotes from the book:

There is a vast difference between the outward clothing of the spirits power and the inner filling of the spirits life. 

God gives unworthy vessels power. Why? He sometimes gives unworthy vessels a greater portion of power so that others will eventually see the true state of internal nakedness within that individual.

 

- David was places in a position of being anointed by God and placed under the rule of a King that abused him and tried to kill him. David probably wondered a few times why God gave Saul power and why God put him under that power. 

David was caught in a very uncomfortable position, however he seemed to grasp a deep understanding of the unfolding drama in which he had been caught. He seemed to understand something that few of even the wisest men of his day understood. Something that in our day, when men are wiser still, even fewer understand.

God did not have but wanted very much to have men/women who would live in pain.

God wanted a broken vessel. 

David had such a fear of the Lord that he suffered, endured, and gave every part of himself to a king that eventually would drive him to a cave because he wanted to kill him. 

At first look you wonder why God didn't put a stop to Saul and why he let David live in such a harsh environment. God wasn't punishing David, he was preparing him. David had the fear of the Lord and was willing to be completely mutilated emotionally and spiritually by Saul because he knew that is where the Lord wanted him. David was willing to test his obedience and wait on the Lord. 

If you take a look at it and recognize that King Saul sought to destroy David but his only success was that he became the instrument of God to put to death the Saul who roamed about in the caverns of David's own soul. yes, David was virtually destroyed in the process but this had to be done otherwise the Saul in him would have survived.

Looking back and recognizing "Sauls" in my life made me realize that through these people that I thought were in my life to torment me where actually bringing out inner sauls in me that needed to die. I can see the times God was testing my obedience and the things in my life that were surfaced and died.  This death allowed me to be open to what God's real desires were for my life. I can say I am walking right now in what God wants me to be doing because of Sauls in my life and the results they had on my inner spirit! So next time you find yourself face to face with a Saul in your life, pray for God to get your through it, maybe even out of it, or maybe that you would just be open to letting the Lord come in and maybe show you an inner part of that Saul you have living in you and let God clean it out and replace it with a lovely gift from Him. 

Late Post!

Sorry this post has been a long time coming! I can't believe how time flies! I have many things on my heart that I have learned over the last few weeks but don't have enough room to write them all nor would you want to read a post that long! =) I think one of the biggest things that I feel like God wants me to share is about how he is with us every second of every day. We learned about destiny and calling one week and this is a huge topic as you can tell just by the title but to simplify it I really learned a lot about how much God picked each one of us, created and molded each one of us and is really with us every second of every day. (Isaiah 43) I think this is something we need to meditate on more. Really bring it into your life and take it to the extreme. God is with you when you wake up and think whatever you think when you first wake up and He is with you when you are trying to make decisions on what to eat for breakfast or lunch today. He is apart of it all! I often forget that. I often take that for granted and often don't harness that and use it. How much different would my life look if I truly walked in a relationship with Jesus that was me in connection with Him on every decision that I make throughout the day? I know I have taken this to the extreme but until you start to live out something then it never becomes part of your life. It never become part of your routines that you live every day and it never allows God the opportunity to impact your life and more importantly other peoples lives the way He so creatively wants to on a day to day basis. Sometimes I forget that God wants to love people every day, I think that I have to bring some huge gospel message and they have to be saved or else God isn't happy with my work. One that is the totally wrong assumption on how God views success (which could be a whole other topic of its own - maybe later! ) But two my God is a God of love, so it would make sense that He just wants us to love one another. I have to remind myself that my God created the universe and is more creative than I could ever imagine so He could use me in ways I never could imagine and I would be bold enough to say probably half of them would and will be in ways that are so small I wouldn't think twice about them. That if I allowed Him to lead my decisions throughout the day that amazing work could be done and I wouldn't even have preached a message, or sang a praise song, or maybe even prayed that day. God is really just been transforming my view of what praise to Him really entails. I really think we limit how we can praise God and the methods that we think He accepts as praise. God has also been repeatedly bringing up learning how to fear the Lord so I think that plays into this topic a lot. That also is a whole other topic that may need to come later. We only have internet til 11 so I have to post this now. I miss everyone and love everyone!

Funny Stories!!!

Hey Everyone! 

So I have some funny stories. We are in the midst of changing season from summer to fall. Sad day! With the change of seasons we are seeing more and more spiders and bugs! YUCK! So far we have had none in our room or bathroom until the other day! We had two in our bathroom! I am posting pictures of the Spider just so you know how gross they really are! =) I was walking into the stall to go to the bathroom and I walked like 10 inches away from it! I about died! Let's just say that spider didn't last long! Then we had one crawling around on the ceiling at 6 o'clock in the morning while we were trying to take showers! I woke up real fast! 

I went surfing again this past weekend for another unsuccessful attempted. It is a lot harder than you think. The waves were massive and I was a little unmotivated at 8 O'clock in the morning! But I will be good by the end of this trip!!! 

This past weekend we went to this town called Kiama. It is the town of the world's largest blow hole! It was stinking awesome and we climbed this cliff and took pictures on the top! Those are the pic's on here! It was so fun! We went over to one of the couples that staff on base for a BBQ! What a good weekend.

Other than that we just live normal. Lectures all day, chores in the afternoon, running or swimming at the beach as much as possible, and night time chill sessions! Missing everyone but learning so much! Love you all and will write more later! 

 

The Facts.

 This past week we learned about missions. There were interesting topics that were brought up during this week. One question that we were presented with is why do we resist giving up our lives to Jesus. There is a lack of completely letting Jesus be the Lord of our lives sometimes. Is it trust issue? Are you afraid that if you ask Jesus what he has for you in your life He is going to send you to some desolate country to live in a hut and mission? Are we afraid to let Jesus be Lord of our lives? These were all the thoughts going on in my head. But the facts are if He isn't Lord over your life what is? Or are you? Being saved is putting Jesus as Lord of your life. Trusting Him with everything and believing that He is a good and caring God that is going to put you on a path that is beyond your expectations. The only way to trust God is to look at Christ. He was and is God. The example of a shepherd with his sheep was given. The sheep cares for the sheep and the sheep trust him and know his voice. But a sheep that stray because he doesn't listen or hear his shepherds voice is dumb. I am trying not to be a dumb sheep anymore. 

A big issue for me was why God lets bad things happen. A pretty dumb thought one because God doesn't want them to happen but we watched video and talked about countless groups of people that are being hurt, oppressed, abused, and I would just question God everyday why is it happening. What do I tell these people when I meet them that you are a God of love and power and you don't want them to hurt but not have any explanation for why this happened. God spoke to me and simply made it clear to me that He isn't taking sides in this world. He doesn't see the men that are abusing young kids in the sex trade and take sides with the kids. He cries for them all. He cries for the kids and He cries for those men. This revelation was huge and really freed my anger that I was holding on God. There is evil in the world. We have free will and satan is constantly drawing people to do things that are sinful and it hurts others in the end. The root of all sin is selfishness. God weeps over all of it. His heart breaks with every decision made.

A big concept that we focused on this past week was in Genesis 12:2-3. It is when God is speaking to Abraham. He tells Abraham that He is going to bless him. Pretty sweet and I must say I like this part. Then he turns around and states and you will be a blessing. So you see - God blesses us - We bless others. It really makes sense. Sometimes I think we get it backwards. Kind of like the greatest commandment. Love your God with all your heart, mind, and soul. Then love your neighbor as yourself. Sometimes our minds work by saying I have to love my neighbor so that I prove to God that I am good enough or so that I can impress God and He will then accept my love.  Luke 10:27 - This is the verse that spells it out. Love your God then Love your neighbor. You see the more you love God the more of His love He pours out into your life and then the more you pour out because it is almost a domino effect from the love He is giving you. So when God speaks to Abraham and speaks blessing over his life and then follows it up with now go and bless others, He is just laying it out for us; it is our calling. Be blessed then Bless others! 

I want to share some statistics that were shared with me. I find them eye opening, sickening, and unreal. I hope that they will impact your life and more importantly your actions. I know they have mine.

 There are 2 Billion people in the world that have no access to the Gospel.

 (97 % of the population lives in the 10/40 Window which is where the majority of these unsaved people are with no access to the gospel).

  http://home.snu.edu/~HCULBURT/1040.htm - This is a website to look up the 10/40 window if you aren't familiar with it.

 Christians in the world earn 12.3 trillion dollars a year. ( the majority of these christians live in the United States).

 1.7 % of the 12.3 trillion dollars goes to christian causes every year ( this includes tithe, ywam, salvation army, anything that associates it self with a base of christianity).

 5.4% of the 1.7 % of money goes to foreign missions.

 and 1 % of the 5.4% goes to the unreached people group of the 10/40 window.

 Only 1 in every 20,000 christians that are commissioned to go serve in missions go to the 10/40 window.

I don't post this to bash people or to try and make you feel bad. I really pray that this information is passed on in love and is used to change viewpoints. Action is required.  Pray about what action that is for you. It doesn't mean that you have to pick up and move to the 10/40 window unless God calls you to that but just pray about what action God has for you. 

Matthew 28: 18- 20

then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in^[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

This generation of christians is responsible for this generation of souls on the earth. - Keith Green.

 

 

Different Thoughts

 This past week was hard for me. When you have great speakers and they are only around for one week to teach you, they bring a lot to the table all at once. I just want to encourage you that if you are at a place where you think that you know God then you need to re-evaluate because there is so much more of Him that He wants to give us. Keeping seeking after Him, never believe that you have reached your full potential with God - He can always rock your world with a new aspect of Him.  I felt a lot of relief from just junk in my life after this week. The topic was the father heart of God which was a hard topic for me anyways but it really changed me in a different way than I expected. Our speaker, Ross Latto, taught us about recognizing when the devil has planted a bad seed in your life and realizing that the devil can't grow that seed, you do. We meditated and prayed about a lot of seeds that had been planted in my life early on that I was continuing to grow. I was believing these lies about fears and rejections because they had been growing in my life for so long I didn't even think twice about them. You have to look at your life, pray for God to show you past experiences or situations that have sown seed of evil in your life. After you acknowledge them then you can up root them but once you uproot them then you have to replace them with a good seed otherwise the old seed will just sprout up again. (sorry for the plant analogy - it just works so stick with me ) Anyways I just love that my God loves me so much that he has show me these lies and freed me from them. He has helped me uproot them and replace them and is continuing to show me more and more about his loving, comforting, caring nature. I know this is a simple concept but it was one of the huge light bulbs for me this week. I really can't express the way I felt on friday during our intercession prayer time. I really felt closer to God than ever before. It was a two way street. He was speaking to me and I was responding and I felt what He felt and was loved and loved Him. 

One thing I did want to tell everyone about it something that we watched during our small group time. This was really powerful in my life because of my past but it is a series of scripture that have been put together to make a letter to God's children from God expressing how much He loves us. If you have never seen or listened to this I encourage you to look it up on youtube - it is called father's love letter. For me, it has always been hard to believe that God could love me as much as this letter expresses. This is the way that God sees us as His children. This was a powerful word for me and opened me up to letting God love me. 

It has been a mad house around here the past two days that is why my blog is late. The DTS before us got back from their outreach phase - which is their three months in different countries. So we have an extra 20 people on base. There used to be 3 girls in my room now there are 13! It has been a shock and fun and crazy and trying all at once. They are getting us so excited about outreach from their stories! So that is my excuse. =) 

I am sorry but I keep thinking of things I want to tell everybody! So this blog is still going. I am just really excited about our class. God has just been speaking words over our group about peace makers, being a family, and we have received the scripture Isiaih 61  a lot. Every time we turn around our speaker or somebody random is speaking that chapter over us! I am just getting really excited because even though we have only been in a group and know each other for 5 weeks we really are becoming a family. We are walking together in unity with God as a group and that is powerful! It is excited to see how God brings us together each week! He is faithful to His words over us. Last week we all sat around a banqueting table to tell each other about where we are with God and how we can lift everyone up so that we move forward in God as a family. It is awesome! okay so I am done now!! Miss everyone and LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

A word from the Outback,,,

 Hey all! 

Just wanted to drop a line and say hey before my next serious post!!! I am so stoked about being here still!! I just have to brag about the fact that I live a mile away from the beach and I get to go running there like everyday!! I am hopefully going to go surfing again this weekend! I was successful last time but just the last few runs and only for a few seconds so much more practice is needed!! It has been raining here for the past week and a half and we are all about to go insane!! We need sun!! The sun should be coming out tomorrow so fingers crossed!! =) How is the cold weather!!! haha I love you guys!! Well not much to say about life. I get up at 6 yes 6 o clock everyday to shower and get ready for the day. Most days are filled with lectures, prayer, praise and worship, and then afternoon chores! Then beach of course when its not raining that is. I have seen tons of spiders! They are big brown hairy and so gross!! We are preparing for the last class to get back from outreach so that means that instead of 3 girls in my room there are going to be 14!!!!!! This is going to be crazy!!! Pray for us!!!! =) It is going to be so much fun! okay well I guess I have rambled enough! Love you all! Miss you! 

A new look

 

 Hey All! Well I have to say that I don't think many of you are praying about my spider situation because since my last blog I have seen like 10! A couple of them huntsman spiders! Yuck!  =) I really can't complain because life is good! I am transforming my life and my relationship with God, I live a mile or so from two beaches, and I am living with amazing people!! Here are some pics up top... beach, fun and girls I live with! 

 This week we are learning about the nature and character of God. This seems like such a easy topic because you think you know a lot about God. YOU DON'T !! Well I don't. This week is completely based around the question Who are you God? I want to tell the story of Moses in the way that our speaker Adriel Booker told it because it completely changed my view of Moses. A common story, one that if you have been to Sunday school you would know right. Well it starts by Moses being born and immediately his mom has to get rid of him because the Pharaoh has made a law that stated that every first born has to die. So Moses gets put in a basket and picked up by Pharaoh's daughter and she says he is a gift from the gods. So then Moses's sister who was following Moses tells the Pharaoh's daughter hey you should let someone nurse him and I know a woman so Pharaoh's daughter agrees so then Moses goes back to his mom to be nursed then when he is old enough he goes back to Pharaoh's palace. So Moses has just been passed around like 4 times in his early childhood between two totally different cultures. Do you think he was a little confused about his identity? He looks Hebrew and he is growing up in a Egyptian palace. So 40 yrs go by. 40 yrs that's a long time. When Moses was 40 he saw an Egyptian mistreating a Hebrew and he killed the Egyptian. I know y'all know the story,  he feels  he doesn't fit in either culture and he could possible fear getting in trouble for killing this man. He goes to the desert, marries and starts a new life. Creates this entirely new identity for himself. He is a shepard. He does this for 40 yrs. Okay so by this time he is probably happy - it doesn't say that in the bible but it doesn't say that he was unhappy and he had a wife, son, and career I think he was probably happy. It has been 80 yrs. that is a stinking long time. So he is older and has created this new identity after all the struggles in Egypt about who his true identity really was. So one day he is doing his shepard thing and he sees this bush that is on fire but it doesn't burn so he says literally ch. 3:3 Moses's thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight - why the bush does not burn up." How hilarious is that answer? I would be like freaking out and Moses is just like huh that bush doesn't burn maybe I should go check that out. Anyways so they go through the whole you are on holy ground take off your sandals and within 3 verses God reveals who he is(God that is), who moses's true identity is, and what moses's calling is for his life. Okay so think about this for a minute. You have gone through 80 yrs of your life not knowing this God, you don't really know where you came from and you didn't know you had a calling.  (Ch. 3:6-8.) So God calls out to Moses's and says I am God, the God of your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and I want you to free my people out of Egypt. So God spills out this statement I am your God, you are Hebrew because I am the God of your fathers so go free the Hebrews, and then gives him directions on how to do this task. This amazes me. three verses boom - we are talking a few minutes and Moses's has all the answers to his questions how overwhelmed would you be? So after this Moses is a little hesitant can't say I blame the guy and then he totally agrees to this plan and goes for it. WOW. We are talking faith!! 80 yrs old  and he starts his walk with God. From that he frees the Egyptians and lives a life being one of the guys ( I think) that had one of the closest connections with God. When he died he was called a friend of God. I want that. I want to have such close, deep intimate relationship with God that when I die they won't name off my accomplishments or focus on anything other than she really was a friend of God. So how do you do that? Friendship is built on trust and trust on knowing the other person involved in the relationship. So that is my call and my question that  I have decided to ask myself for the rest of this DTS and probably life is who are you God. I believe the more I know about Him the more I will start to understand who I am and the calling He has for my life. 

This post was kind of long... if you endured it, I hope you got something out of it! Miss everyone and love you all!!