Oh How He Loves Us.

I am suddenly painfully aware of how we pale in comparison to the Almighty Father. Just goes to show how very much He loves us that he extends to us His grace. To us sinners. To us who disobey Him. To us who search for our fulfillment in any other way. And yet still, with all of our grand failings He is there waiting for us, wanting us. Yes, He actually wants us. In fact, He's chosen us, (John 15:16) and when we finally choose Him in return He is merciful to us. And we live happily ever after with the Ultimate Bridegroom.

Tehillah.

FAITH. 5 little letters, so unbelievably packed with power. Do I have Faith? Yes, I believe -- but what's holding me back from the complete confidence that you can and will do anything. I do not need to give you an out. After all, You are the All-Powerful God. Connect the dots for me. Show me. Give me faith. RADICAL FAITH. Send me, keep me on your channel. I want to hear your voice. I know that means I need to be listening for it. I always want to be tuned in to your channel. All day. Wherever I am, that you would be there also. If you have somebody you want me to talk to, I want to know. Even if it means being uncomfortable. Since when does my comfort level weigh on your abilities. If you send me to Tim Hortons to love on people, then that's what I am going to do. Or if you send me to Superstore to start a revival. Whatever you say. I am Yours. But I need more faith, more of you. Unshakeable confidence in You and all your glory being able to use someone like me.

United as One

So I’ve been meaning to write a blog entry for a while. Except I really didn’t know what to write about. Sure, I’ve been learning about a lot in class it’s just not the kind of stuff you can really blog about. Until tonight. It was unplanned, unstructured, and totally awesome. With the night off, I found myself without anything to do. So I wandered over to the skateboard ramps in search of Ruth, instead I found another group of people visiting, doing homework, and eating. I joined them in casual conversation. As the group dwindled I wondered to myself what else I would occupy my time with. Everyone had left except for Michael and Tanner. They stood up to leave and asked if I wanted to join there bible study. Not really knowing what they planned to study, I asked if we could just stay there … somewhat expecting they would leave anyways. Instead they stayed and we began our bible study. No instruction or information was shared; we just sat and listened to the chapter of John 17 on an audio bible. John 17 talks 3 times about unity. John 17:21 says, “I pray that they will all be as one, just as you and I are one.”

And that’s how our discussion began. We discussed unity and disunity. Why it is that there is so much disunity within the church. As we talked I began to dream of a transformation within the church. Like one who goes out to reach nations I want to be one who goes out and starts the change of the church. Non-believers look at Christians, and with good reason wonder, “why should I follow your God.” We as a group are a terrible example of Christ’s love. And I admit, it starts with me. It probably starts with you too. I have come to the conclusion that the root of disunity is pride. Our unity is being disassembled by pride. It starts in a one on one relationship, where two people use scripture to argue one’s point. It’s always about being right or wrong. And often, we are placing God in a box to fit our beliefs, instead of accepting that we, in fact, might not be right and take the opportunity to learn more about God. From there it grows, two people grows into three and four until churches are divided and separate themselves into different ‘denominations.’ Have you thought about that? We all identify ourselves as a part of a denomination ….. What if these people had gone about it differently when they came to points of the bible that they could not agree on. I sincerely believe instead of trying to find the answers on our own, if the two parties were to come together to earnestly seek God, and be willing to lay down there pride, that God would reveal Himself to them.

We talked about different denominations view on communion, baptism, and Santa Claus. Yes Santa Claus. Between the three of us we were able to come together agreeably on every topic. What we found was how misconstrued God’s word often is. That we need to look at the point of the scripture, and not the logistics. For example, when talking about Communion: Michael was saying how some believe that as you eat and drink that you are literally eating and drinking of Christ’s body and blood. Others believe it’s symbolic, and so forth. What we concluded was that ultimately the story of the last supper when Jesus says “do this in remembrance of me” he is saying to come together in fellowship. You see, it is not about whether or not it’s actually blood and body, or wine and crackers. When Jesus spoke those words he was encouraging us as believers to come together, and to remember him. We all come from a society where our church is incredibly legalistic. It’s about time we stop arguing over who is right and start loving as Christ loves.

Frankly, I think a lot of us argue just to argue. Because we like to be right. We grow up being taught a certain viewpoint, and will defend it to the death. So I challenge you to ask yourself, “Why do I think what I think?” Are the things you believe simply something you have been told all your life or do you actually believe them.

We concluded with a prayer, and it is a prayer I pray over all of us:

God, would you open our eyes and our ears to see the truth in your word. Would you reveal to us the message the author intended in their writing. Challenge us to read beyond the words on the page and study what it is you want to say to us. Help us to recognize the truth in your word and to keep it as you have intended, to not take it out of context. Your word is a gift to us, and yet we use it as a weapon against each other instead of against the enemy. Bring us together as a body in unity, as you are within the perfect trinity. We love you, and we want to see glory brought to your name through the body.

Destiny by Design

Wow. We are in our 7^th week already. Really time flies here, we are past the half way point of lecture phase and outreach is just around the corner. This week we are studying Destiny by Design with David. I didn’t know that that was this weeks topic until Monday morning in class. The crazy thing is how God was already preparing me for the week without me knowing it. Now you know me, I always have been and likely always will be the girl with a million ideas of what to do in life. People here always ask “what are your plans for after DTS?” And I usually tell them a couple before they get the idea and change the topic … This weekend though I started thinking a lot about what it is that I actually am going to do after DTS. Go back home and work? Stay in YWAM? Go to University? The options are endless. I spent Sunday afternoon with a student in the FCD and we spent some time looking through U of N schools and talking about different options. Then came Monday morning when I found out we were going to be studying destiny. Where was this course years ago? Seriously. There is an acronoym for what we are learning.

D-Dreams

E-Experiences

S-Soulprint

I-Identity

G-Gifts

N-Networks

This week taught me so much that I know I will continue to learn from. I know with this knowledge and more time in prayer God will reveal more and more to me the plans that he has for me. Instead now of begging God to tell me what that plan is I’ve realized that there is a possibility that if he told me what his plans are now, I wouldn’t believe him. So I know that in his perfect timing, so long as I continue to seek him, he will reveal it to me.

In fact this week he already started to show me a bit. I love the way God works in me. How he shows me a glimpse of something one day, and than weeks or months later he brings it back to remind me of what I already started learning and then he teaches me more.

Just another day

You know, I was thinking today about friendships, and wondered how many of them are real. What’s the difference between asking someone “How is it going and how are you doing?” Quite a difference if you ask me. I cannot say I’ve ever been asked more than a handful of times, “how are you doing?” Not just the kind of asked where people expect the classic – I don’t actually care I’m just being polite – how are you, but the kind that actually cares. How are you – no really, how are you truly?

On another note, have you ever heard of Korean style prayer? At home, we usually do popcorn prayer or something of the sort. Well here at the base Korean prayer is the norm. As a base we do a lot of intercession, and essentially, the more people who pray the better. It usually goes like this; everyone is told who or what we are praying for and then one person leads in prayer and everyone joins in all at the same time. It’s quite interesting, I didn’t know what to think at first. But I like it, and suggest it’s worth a try.

Love love.

Monday night we went as a group to a park where Pablo and Ingrid minister to the prostitutes. Tony was telling me that 80% of the tourists to Costa Rica come to be involved in the sex trade. And that Costa Rica is like Thailand of Central America. I went with the intention of being shown different areas of ministry where we can be the hands and the feet. To see what it looks like and to pray over the ministry that is already in place. What I did not expect was to feel such empathy for these people. I found myself sitting there and looking at my feet, wondering if anyone’s feet had stood in the exact same place as mine. If they had, what kind of hurt must have consumed them? It’s sad to think about how much of God’s love exists – an infinite amount, yet his love is the furthest thing from what anyone searches for. His love is right there, you can go left and find his love, or turn right and try to run away. And at the next crossroads you will be faced with the exact same situation. No matter how many times you choose to turn right he will always be there, on the left, waiting for you to choose his love.

God’s love. This week we are learning about the Character and Nature of God. No matter what point is made, it always comes back to God’s love. He did not need us; not our company or our help. He created us because he had so much love that he wanted to pour it out on us. Perfect love already existed within the trinity. Father, Spirit, and Son. Each a lover, each a beloved. His love is so immense there is no way for us to possibly comprehend and ever be able to love as deeply. We learned that there are two basic longings of the human soul: the need to love, and the need to be loved. God fulfills both of those in us. When I fall in love with God it is a result of him loving me first.

And so it begins

So it seems about time I finally take the time to update everyone at home. I realize now I really should have started this much sooner, since so much has happened I am bound to miss a lot. As of today I have been here almost a month, time has flown by. It’s all so strange really, because enough has happened that in one way it feels like it’s been six months of classes, and of living with all of my roommates. And on the other hand our first night, hardly feels further away than yesterday.

Honestly, so much has happened. At first I started to write about specific events and then realized it was already two pages and I was still on the first week. I am going to try again, and this time just give an overview. Each week we study a specific topic during our class time. Our first week was on hearing the voice of God. Our second week was on Intimacy with the Father. The third was what they call the “Plumb Line.” (Amos 7:7-9) And this week we are leaning all about the Father heart of God.

To try and explain to you all that I have learned would be nearly impossible. What I can say is that our DTS has such the most amazing hunger and passion for God. More has happened in these past 4 weeks than in my lifetime of being a Christian. Words honestly cannot begin to describe the events that have happened in our classroom. One thing that I am really learning here is how very real the spiritual realm is. Sure, I always believed it. But to be honest, was not very aware of it. And if anyone was ever telling demon stories I did not want to hear it, because it scared me. Now when I look around, I see more outside the physical. And the thing is, wherever you are reading this – it’s just as real where you are.

That is just one of the many things that I have learned since coming here. But, I won’t go into to much detail about our classes yet. Life here is all about living in community. All together there are about seventy people living on the base, including people from my DTS, another school here and all the staff. We spend most of our time on the base, and occasionally go out on evenings off and weekends. I live in a room with 9 others girls, we make up the ten not married girls in our DTS. These are the girls that I will spend 24/7 with for the next five months. Thankfully, God has brought us together as a very tight knit group. United as one is something we are constantly striving for as a team. If you want to keep us in your prayers here are the names of each of my roommates:

Jody (Junior) – Winkler, Manitoba

Hannah – Colorado

Nicole – Washington

Mel-anny – Guatemala

Valeria – California

Mayim – Minnesota

Johanna – Costa Rica

Stephanie – Texas

Jody Jordan - Vermont

To give you a glimpse of what my life is like here I’ll share with you a typical day. Breakfast is served at 6:30, which as I am sure you assumed I sleep through every day. Our schedule includes one hour of quiet time with God every morning from 7 to 8. Then from 8 – 9 everyday we have base activities such as worship and intercession. The rest of the day we are split up into our individual schools. DTS has class every morning from 9 to 12:30, when we break for lunch. Mmm lunch, rice and beans every day. Oh and dinner is also rice and beans everyday. They do a good job of making the rice taste different all the time. Classes resume from 2 to 4, and at 4 everybody has their trabajitos – or work duties. It’s basically like chores that everybody does to keep the base in tip top shape. We have dinner at 6, and then every evening is different. Sometime we have classes, family night, or free nights.

So basically that is a bit of what the last month has been like for me. From now on I will try to update more regularly, so that I can go deeper into the lessons that God has been teaching me and share them all with you.