MOVED!!

HEY!

Here is the link for my other blog:

http://kelliecovert.blogspot.com/

More recent, better design, includes all the posts on this site as well.

An Idea

The small beginnings of an idea....

   

Anxiousness

PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7

Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.  Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.  His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

~NLT

Don't fret or worry.  Instead of worrying, pray.  Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.  Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.  It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. 

 ~The Message

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  

~NIV

...Just keep telling yourself this...

GO

"Whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God our Father." 

James 1:17 (NLT)

Let me tell you 2 stories.  Well, essentially, they are the same story.

Story #1

A long time ago, the Israelites were being led out of Egypt by Moses.  They were in the wilderness between Elim and Mount Sinai and they were hungry.

"Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Look, I'm going to rain down food from heaven for you.  Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day.  I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions.'"

To make a longish story shortish, when they first saw the food that God had sent them, they had no idea what it was or what to do with it.  They had to be told that this was the food that God was providing for them.  So some did as they were told and went out and gathered up just as much as they needed and 'when they measured it out, everyone had just enough.  Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over and those who gathered only a little had enough.'  Whatever wasn't gathered up that day disappeared from the ground.  Morning by morning, the people were able to gather up the food that God provided and have just what they needed.

Exodus 16

Story #2

Not so long ago, there were these two guys, Mike and Sam, who decided they wanted to live the life of a homeless person for 5 months.  (There's a lot more to this story but that's pretty much all you need to know for this story to make sense).

Mike and Sam were in San Francisco and they were hungry.

A man walked by them with a box of leftover pizza and Mike shouted out and asked him if he was going to finish it.  The man looked at the box then back at Mike and Sam and said, "No" and he gave them the box.  Mike and Sam had the pleasure of finishing off half a pepperoni pizza.  And it was just what they needed.

Under the Overpass - Mike Yankoski

It's easy to see how these two stories are similar - some people were hungry so God gave them some food.  But the author of Under the Overpass, Mike, takes it one step further:

After they had finished eating the leftover pizza, Mike said to Sam,

"What do you think would have happened if the Israelites hadn't gone out and picked up the manna God sent?  I mean, don't you think they would have starved if they never actually went out and picked the manna off the ground?"


When I read this, I had to reread it a few times for it to sink in a bit.  After some sinking in time, I began to see it more and more in my own life.  When I got home from England, an opportunity literally fell into my hands.  What an opportunity that was.  When it was over, I didn't know what to do next.  I'll be honest, for a while, I was just waiting for someone else to offer me something.  Well, it doesn't always work like that.  Sometimes it does.  But sometimes, well more often than not, opportunities present themselves in ways that I may not recognize.  Just like the Israelites, at first glance, I may not recognize what or how God is providing, how He is working.  But that's just it, He is still providing, still working.  I just need to go pick it up.

"God answered our prayers for provision, but we still had to ask these guys for it.  We still had to 'pick up the manna.'"


Here is the point of me telling you these 2 stories - the message is the same now as it was then.  God continues to provide exactly what we need when we need it.  We just have to go out and get it.

These two stories have been such a challenge and such an encouragement for me recently.  It's given me a new perspective on things.  It helps me to have that attitude of going out and picking up whatever God throws down - church, jobs, volunteer work, the next steps.  Sometimes it's good, other times it may not be so good and that's ok.  The point is simply to go out knowing and trusting that God knows what He is doing.  He knows what I'm thinking and feeling, He knows my worries and doubts and He sees when I go out.  "You go before me and follow me.  You place your hand of blessing on my head." Psalm 139:5 (NLT)  Everyday, EVERY day, God is providing, God is showing His love and it is there for the taking.

"I wonder how much we miss because we're unwilling to pick it up."


God is providing.


Don't miss it.


Go pick it up.


Go.

   

Truth

For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

But how can they call on Him to save them

unless they believe in Him?

And how can they believe in Him

if they have never heard about Him?

And how can they hear about Him

unless someone tells them?

And how will anyone go and tell

without being sent?

That is why the Scriptures say,

'How beautiful are the feet of messengers

who bring good news!'

~Romans 10:13-15 (NLT)

  

Remember, Life is Funny

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,"

declares the Lord.

"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways

and My thoughts than your thoughts.

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

so is My word that goes out from My mouth:

It will not return to Me empty,

but will accomplish what I desire

and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace;"

Isaiah 55:8-12

So I'm living up here at Camp Redwood Glen in the Santa Cruz mountains, coordinating 2 outreaches.  

How crazy is that statement considering I was on the other side of the world just 2 weeks ago?  

Yep, life is funny.

I have been realizing more and more of how much I love my life right now.  I have just come back from an incredible adventure full of amazing new relationships, life changing experiences, learning more about myself and who God is and just so much more.  Now here I am with the opportunity to take all of that, take all that I have learned and all I have become and continue to put it into practice here.  In my wildest dreams, I could have never imagined that my life would be like it is at this very moment.  I love it.

On graduation night of my DTS, we were told how important it was going to be to do just one thing:

REMEMBER

As simple as that one word may be, there's a whole lot to remember from the last 6 months.  At first, I was a bit worried that it would be so easy to forget everything that I have learned and everything I have done and just go back to how my life was before I left.  As I was traveling around Europe (no big deal) I was reminded that God won't let me forget.  That He would be there to help me remember.  And He is indeed doing that.

As I have said, I will be doing a week of training for the people that are going one these 2 outreaches.  So in preparation for that, I have been going through my Jotter Pad full of copious notes from lectures and attempting to condense 3 months worth of notes into just a couple days.  (A bit of a challenge).  In reading through my notes and just thinking and praying, God has continued to remind me of so many of the incredible things He did in me and through me the last 6 months and even before that.  I am remembering the person that I was before DTS and seeing how that has changed and seeing the person that I am now.  And to be able to share these with someone else, well that's just a big bonus.  I would love to go into more detail about everything that I keep being reminded of but that would just take forever.  But one thing I will say is that I love the person that God has made me to be and I want to continue to be that person.

One thing (among others) that I have been challenged with is simply to trust God.  I was recently reading a friend's blog and at the end of one of his posts he said,

"But I trust Him to finish the work He began.  I trust Him with my forever."

That just really got to me and got me thinking a lot about how I just need to trust God with my future and stop stressing myself out and trying to make my own plans.  I'm so impatient when it comes to figuring out life but I have been reminded over and over that God knows the story of my life better than I do because He is the one writing it.  And the stories that He can write are far more creative and more incredible then I could ever write or even think to write.  At the beginning of lecture phase, they gave us a verse for our school:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Jeremiah 29:11

God has shown me over and over that He knows what He is doing and His timing is perfect.  

Now is just another time that I really need to put my trust in that.

                   Put my trust in Him.

                                         Trust Him with my forever.

"God has wisely kept us in the dark concerning future events and reserved for himself the knowledge of them, that He may train us up in the dependence upon himself and a continued readiness for every event."

~Matthew Henry

   

Jet Lag and Speeding Tickets

What a week.  To say the least.

I've been home for almost 2 weeks now.  Being home is a bit strange but I'm enjoying it thus far.

Jet lag - I'm not so much a fan of it.  It's pretty interesting to leave one country at 2 in the afternoon and after 10 hours in the air get to another country at 4 in the afternoon...on the same day.  A little weird.

This past week I have just been doing lots of visiting people.  Visiting family, friends, camp, etc.  It's definitely good to see everyone again and catch up a bit on life.  As well as eat some of this delicious food...

It's official - After 6 years of having a license, I no longer have a perfect driving record.  Sad day.  I was on a long 3 hour journey home the other day and at one point in the drive I decided to jinx myself and say that one of these days I'm going to get a ticket for driving a 'bit' over the speed limit.  Well, no joke, an hour later, I come to the bottom of a hill and who should I see but a nice California police officer get into his car.  I knew he was coming after me.  Which he was.  Awesome.  Welcome home.  But to my surprise, I didn't cry.  But I might cry later when I find out how much I will have to pay...

So what am I up to now?  Well, first of all, this is my new room for the next couple weeks:

Just before I left England, I had my first week back all planned out with who I was going to go visit and when I would go visit them and all that.  I realized a bit later - "Ok, that's great for the first week back but then what?  What's going to happen after that first week?"  But I was once again reminded that God provides:

I am currently coordinating 2 different outreaches for the summer staff at Camp Redwood Glen.  Yep.  Crazy.  I will be contacting the churches that are hosting the 2 teams and coming up with a schedule for different outreach opportunities in the areas.  I am really excited about this.  At first I had my doubts but I got over that real quick.  It is so incredible that this opportunity came up just 2 days after I get home.  Seriously.  How do things like this happen?  Not only will I be planning the outreach itself, but I am also going to be doing some training for them to get them ready to go on an outreach.  I am so excited to be able to share some of my story of the last 6 months by bringing things that I have learned and experienced and what God has done in my life back here.  This is something that I never would have thought I would or even could ever be doing but here I am doing it.  

   

Graduation and Goodbyes

21 June 2011 - DTS Graduation

Welp, we did it.  We made it through the last 6 months together.  It's so crazy to think that it's over right now.  We graduated and celebrated and then cried and said our goodbyes.  We have all definitely become such a close family.




What a week.

Tuesday, 21 June 2001 - I graduated DTS.  Crazy.  Where did the last 6 months go?

While the night was great - full of pictures and stories and praise to God for what He has done and of course a diploma of sorts and a little trip to the pub afterwards - the morning was not. Goodbyes are no fun at all.  It didn't start hitting me that it is over until about half way through the long 22 hour day of periodic goodbyes.  I won't go into detail about how many tears were shed but it was a rough day for everyone.  Though as hard as that day was, I would rather have a day like that, a day of heartbreaking goodbyes, then to have missed out on this incredible opportunity.  It is when your heart just breaks for something that makes you realize just how much it means to you and that it was real.

Over these last 6 months, we really had become such a tight family.  That's what tends to happen when you live with each other every single day for that long.  It's so crazy to think back to the first day that I was here.  I came to the airport not knowing anything, just looking for any sign that said YWAM and so began my crazy adventure.  How was I to know that the people I met there would become family?  How was I to know that all those awkward ice breaker games in the very beginning would lead to great friendships?  Just thinking about things like this just bring up so many more memories from the beginning that have led to where I am today.  Again I say - Crazy.

DTS is over.  Now what?

What do you do with your life after something like this has happened to you?  It's a tough question.  I don't know yet.  I wish I did.  I wish I could tell you all my elaborate plans for what to do with the rest of my life but I can't.  I barely know what I'm doing to be doing the next couple weeks or months let alone years.  I'm just taking it one step at a time and being patient that the right opportunity will present itself in God's perfect timing.  It happened that way when I decided to come to the other side of the world for 6 months, it can happen again.  But here's the beauty of it - I can pretty much do anything I want.  So many doors have been opened for what I could do and what I would want to do.

"being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion."

The one thing that I do know is that God will not leave me hanging.  He's not going to put me through something like this, something that brought so many close relationships and amazing experiences and joy and then just make me fend for myself.  He will continue to lead and guide me as long as I keep seeking His leading and His guidance.

Welp, I'm seeking.

New Stories Pt. 2

WORCESTER

First of all - The name of this place is most definitely not pronounced as it is spelled.  Silly, I know.

Here is where I will go into a bit more detail about what we did in Worcester, South Africa during outreach.  We were staying at this place called Kibbutz El Shammah which is right next to the neighborhood knows as Roodewal (I think that's how it is spelled).

There were about 4 or 5 of these circles of flats in the area.  One of the first days we were there, we were just walking through the community and we most definitely attracted quite the crowd.  And by crowd, I mean over 100 children.  Seriously.  We were surrounded.  They fought just to hold our hand and wanted to know our names and they just wanted to be with us.  After a couple days, whenever we would walk through the flats, there was always at least 5 kids who would yell out your name no matter where you went.  

Durning the morning we would split off into different groups - one group went and worked in the primary school teaching English classes.  Some went to help out in the preschool, and some did practical work around the area.

There were a couple days when I had the opportunity to go help out in a 2nd grade class.  The teacher's name was Vera and she is pretty much amazing.  Her class is full of 43 crazy 2nd graders.  There was one day in particular that I got to help a couple tables with math.  It was so much fun to be able to teach them how to do something and then watch them actually be able to understand it and do it for themselves.  Then they wanted to go help their friends do the problems.  It also helped me to learn how to count to 10 in Afrikaans real well.

When we first got there, we were asked if we could lead their church service that Sunday which was about 4 days away.  So we planned and put together a church service and everyone was able to be involved.  We had worship, testimonies, a drama, and a message.  It was the first time that I led a couple worship songs to a larger group of people like that.  It was so cool to be able to step out in that way and the whole service went really well.

Each day for a week we would go on a prayer walk through the flats.  One day, 3 older ladies waved at me to come over to them and they asked me if I could pray for them.  So I asked what they wanted prayer for and they told me simply for financial provision.  Nothing specific, just simply that.  So I did and then I went on my way.  The next day at the same time, we went on our prayer walk again and those same 3 ladies were sitting in the same spot so I immediately went over to them to say hello and they were excited to see me and they had stories to tell me.  One of them didn't have enough money for a loaf of bread (a loaf of bread cost about 7 South African Rands which is about 1 US dollar).  She was telling me that after I had prayed for them, her son came over to her and gave her enough money that she needed for a loaf of bread to feed her and the children she watches over.  Then another lady was telling me a long (and somewhat hard to understand) story of how she didn't have enough money to pay her electric bill for the month.  Long story short, the lady that was helping her as she was trying to pay offered to pay the rest of her bill for her.  So her electric bill was payed for the rest of the month.  God provides.

Wow, as I write all of this, so many more stories keep coming to my mind about what we did - we did a lot.

On one of our last nights there, we held an open air in the flats.  The stage was the back of a bakkie (aka - truck).  So we had some worship, some of the girls performed a dance which was so great and Helena and I gave our testimonies.  It was hard to speak to a group of people with a translator because you have to keep stopping and starting but I really liked it for how nervous I was about it at first.  I've never been the biggest fan of speaking in front of people but it wasn't so bad when I actually got up there and started speaking.

Even though it was a hard place to be, we were able to develop a lot of different relationships with the people at the schools, at the Kibbutz and in the flats.  There are so many more things that we did in Worcester.  One thing that was brought up here that we realized for each place we went was that our group was hand-picked to be in the place we were at that time.  God's timing is perfect.  As we were driving away, there was a huge line of little children screaming at us saying goodbye followed by the rest of the staff at the Kibbutz waving us goodbye.   

One of my favorite days was when we got to climb Table Mountain in Cape Town.  Even though I totally destroyed my pants, it was so much fun and it was so beautiful no matter how cold it was at the top.  We conquered that mountain together.  Definitely one of my highlights.

New Stories Pt. 1

Not everything you do will be spectacular

But everything you do will be significant.

As already stated, outreach has officially ended.  We are all finally back together here on the oval.  

Strange?  Yes.  

Great? Yes.  

Overwhelming?  Definitely.  

Now comes the time when I get to realize more about what the heck I just did the last 5 or so months.  So whilst I process things, I just wanted to tell some stories:

I'm going to go a bit backwards with my story telling and talk about our last outreach location first since it is freshest on my mind.  Newcastle Upon Tyne.  Overall - LOVED it.  Seriously.  I think all of us, to some degree, loved Newcastle.  Our first day there, we were all smiles and just really happy to be there. 

When we got there, we had a little meeting with the pastors of the church we were helping out - Tyneside Vineyard - and talked a bit about their story and how they came to be up there planting this church and we looked at what our schedule was going to be like during our time there.  It was all pretty exciting stuff and we were going to be doing things that were completely different from everything we did in Africa.  We did a lot of flyering, as it was their big invite week, we passed out chocolate bars in the busy streets, we passed out free water on the street out by a row of night clubs (some very interesting and entertaining stories came out of that), and we helped out twice with a big craft event for kids.  I loved how every singe day we were there, we were able to do something totally different.  No day was ever the same.

One day, long story short, we made some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and went around and passed them out.  Our group split up a bit and Duane and I ended up walking through the streets basically looking for homeless people to give a sandwich to.  We had no idea where we were walking but the streets just looked cool so we went exploring a bit and stumbled across a homeless man sitting against the wall.  So we gave him a sandwich and some candy and just sat and talked with him.  He was definitely under the influence but he was hurting.  He has been on the streets for the last 7 months, he had been to war in Afghanistan and had gotten shot, and both his wife and daughter died in a car crash.  He felt so guilty and so hopeless.  It's hard to find the words to say in that situation but sometimes, people just need someone to care and to listen to them.  So after talking with him for a bit we prayed for him and went on our way.  His name was Max.

The church runs this compassion ministry called Storehouse.  At Storehouse, homeless and needy people can come on a Saturday morning and get a cup of tea and biscuits, a sausage roll and some pot noodles.  They will also get given a couple articles of clothing or anything else that they might need.  It is also just a really great place for people to come and just have good chats with people in a good environment.  So this one morning, a new lady came in so me and another volunteer chatted with her and filled in a form for her.  As we were talking to her, she was saying just how sick she felt and she looked sick as well.  She had an alcohol problem and she had been on the streets for almost a month and already couldn't take it anymore.  I had no idea what to say to her so I just stayed quiet and listened.  So we brought in another volunteer to come over and talk with her too because he had been in her exact situation not that long ago and was able to change his life around.  So he was telling her what she could do to change things and as he was talking, she just had a bit more hope in her eyes and would look up occasionally and just smile and you could see the hope.  And I just loved it how the other volunteer I was sitting with kept telling her to make sure she comes back to Storehouse because they wanted to watch over her and help her and take care of her in any way they could.  Her story and her situation just broke my heart and I just couldn't help but cry.  Her name was Sam.

HOTS - Healing On The Streets.  The name alone sounds a bit crazy.  Af first I was a bit worried about it but when the day actually came to do it, the same day I met Sam, I was excited, nervous, and a bit anxious but not as worried as I was before.  I actually really liked how it was set up and how it was run.  We went to the monument which is basically one of the main centers in Newcastle, set up some chairs and a big banner that said "Healing" and waited for people who wanted to get prayer for healing or just for anything really.  Crazy, I know.  I was teamed up with one of the people from the church so I was actually able to pray for quite a few people, 8 or 9, which was really cool.  What we do is when they sit in the chair, you kneel down next to them and ask a bit about them and start off by telling them how much God loves them, then you start praying for whatever it is they wanted prayer for.  But the thing is, when you are praying for them, you don't take your eyes off of them.  It definitely can be quite awkward when you are praying for someone and they are looking right into your eyes as you are speaking, but I discovered something about that.  Usually, I would always pray with my eyes closed because that is just what you do.  But praying for someone as you are looking directly at them changes things.  I was able to feel so much more compassion for them and actually see them as a person who just wants to know that they are loved.  It was cool to be able to help someone have that moment with God where they really do feel just how loved they are.  One lady we prayed for, it was so cool just be praying for her and to see her just smile because she really knew that God loved her.  If my eyes had been closed, I wouldn't have been able to see that. We may not have seen spectacular miracles that day, but I know that it made a significant difference to those people's days.

I hope these couple stories will suffice for the time being.

   

Outreach No More.

Outreach is officially over.  How the heck did this happen?  We are all finally back on the oval in beautiful Harpenden.  What were once leafless trees are now very full of life everywhere I look.  It's pretty crazy to be back here after all this time.  It really is so crazy to look at what I just did -  I just spent the last 10 weeks with the same 13 people traveling down to South Africa and up to Newcastle.  We went up a mountain, we played frisbee on the beach, we prayed for people, we taught young kids, we led a church service, we did some more praying (there was lots of that), we worked our butts off on a farm, gave food to grannies, we sang a lot, we talked to homeless people, we gave away chocolate and water...so many things.  What a crazy adventure.  (More stories will come).

So what have I learned from this experience?  Well that's what I hope to find out very soon.  There is just so much that happened in all of the places that we went - so many different experiences, so many different settings and people and places and things to do.  I know that there is a lot to learn from what I just did and also a lot that I already have learned and things that have changed in my heart and in my mind.  I'll let you know when I know.

What will I do now after DTS?  Well, I have no idea...Well that's a slight lie, I may have some inkling as to a possibility that would require a huge step of faith.  I am still very much in the process of making decisions which I absolutely hate doing but that is the price you pay for growing up, right?

But I just wanted to say a quick thank you so much for your continued love and support in this journey.  And it has been quite the journey, I must say.  But what is cool is that though this DTS experience may be coming to an end in just a week and a half, this is just the beginning.  

    

Long Time Coming

Well hello!  I would like to apologize for my absense.  Internet and time has been a bit hard to come by.  But here I am.  I just wanted to give a little glimpse into some of the stuff I've been up to.  Bear in mind, this is the very short and condensed version...

HOPE FARM: Lots of work - shoveling, picking, wheelbarrowing, dirt moving, path-making, weed picking, duck, goose, and chicken chasing, lots and lots of animals and children...That sums it up pretty well I'd say.  Our time here was definitely more practical work and it was cool to be able to see the change that we made on the farm to make it better for them.  Also a part of it was a place called Thembisa.  It is a place for grannies who take care of orphans can go and so we helped pass out food and had opportunities to pray for them.  They are incredible people with such a passion for God. 

KIBBUTZ EL SHAMMAH - A little bit of practical work, working with kids in the primary school and preschool and a bit at the high school, prayer walks, little children hanging on to me and shouting my name wherever I went, more praying and fasting, a bit of worship leading and testimony giving.  It is most definitely a heavy place but it was the most amazing community feel.

NEWCASTLE - This is my current location.  Bascially, I love it here.  We are working with a newish church called Tyneside Vineyard so we have been helping them out in a few different areas. 

DAYS OFF - Climbing Table Mountain in Cape Town - fantastic.  Getting rained out at the Indian Ocean beach, cramming in buses, exploring Newcastle and surrounding areas.

This absolutely does not do it all justice but I just wanted to give a quick overview of things.  More will come later, don't you worry.

Layovers and New Socks

Wednesday morning:

5:30AM - meeting in the lounge

6:00AM - Begin driving to the airport

10:00AM - Flight leaves to Dubai

6 hours later - Arrive in Dubai - the biggest airport I have ever been in my entire life.

13 hours later - leave Dubai for Cape Town.  At this point we don't smell so good and Teresa wanted new socks.  We get on the plane and what should the flight attendants give us?  Some new socks.

9 hours later - Arrive in Cape Town and run through customs because our flight was going to leave in 45 minutes only to find out it was delayed - the first time I have been happy for a delayed flight.

2 hours later - Leave for Durban

Another 2 hours later - Arrive in Durban in what felt like the shortest plane ride ever.

So finally - Thursday night, we all arrived at Hope Farm.

More to come later.  But pretty much, it is beautiful here and I like it a lot and I'm excited for all that we are going to get to do here.

    

Leaving

Well hey there.  Just a quick little update - I am leaving tomorrow.  That is weird.

5 people from our group are already on their way to Africa and the rest of us leave tomorrow morning.  We will be leaving the oval at 6AM.  Again - that is weird.  We start with a 6ish hour flight to Dubai and then we will be sleeping in the airport for 12 hours (oh so exciting) and then another long flight to Cape Town and then a not as long flight to Durban.  We should be there sometime by Thursday.  That's a lot of traveling... So yeah, just wanted to let those that actually read this know that after today, I will be phoneless with limited internet access.  I'll try to keep this as updated as I can.

Please pray for me and the rest of my team and that God would get all of us there safely and would continue to just bless us as we begin this crazy new adventure.  I'm excited and scared and anxious and nervous and every other emotion you can be.

Here we go...

  

One Week.

Welp,

The time is fast approaching for us to go on outreach.  It is so crazy to think that we are in week 11 of lecture phase and just next week we will all be leaving this oval which has become home.  I feel like every day I ask myself, how in the world did I get here?  How did I get to this place?  How crazy is it that God has brought all of us here to this exact place at this exact time with each other?  God definitely knows what He is doing.

So as lecture phase is coming to an end, I'm finding myself wondering - what have I learned?  I think a better question is what haven't I learned?  Each week has brought on a new topic and a new set of challenges and new things to think about, new things to learn.  Each week has been so different for so many reasons.  If I were to write down everything that I have learned, this would be the longest blog post ever.  So I will leave you with some bullet points that will not do it justice but that's alright...

• I have learned so much about who I am and who God is.  So simple but so true.  
• God knows exactly what I need and He knows exactly how to provide it for me in a way that is absolutely perfect for me.  
• God is a gentlemen.
• God loves me more than I could ever know.  He wants me just to BE.  It is out of my becoming that I will do all the stuff.
• I like running.
• When I ask questions, God answers.
• God just wants me to know how much He loves me. 
• Everything I have has been given to me by God.  It is about taking everything that I am blessed with and turning it around and turn it into a blessing for someone else.
• I can rest contented in His love
• I can trust the process and find beauty in it.

There is so much more but it is hard to condense it all into this.  So that's just a little taste...

Here is just a bit of information about what is coming up in the next week.  We are in our last week of lectures which is about Stewardship - taking care of something that belongs to someone else.  Next week we will begin having more of a focus on outreach prep.  My group has been accidently split into 2 different groups - the first group of just 5 people will be leaving on Tuesday April 5 and the rest of us will be leaving on Wednesday April 6.  We will be flying down to Cape Town then get on another plane to Durban which we will be at for the first 3 weeks or so.  (Hopefully by the time I get there I will be able to fill you in more on what we will be doing and all that).  It is coming up so soon, it's hard to get my head around it.

Things to pray for:

• A safe trip for both of the groups - to get there safely with all of our stuff.
• That we would be such a strong team and such a strong support for each other.  Without that support between all of us, we won't be able to do what God wants for us to do.
• Finances - that each person would be able to come up with the right amount of money to pay off all of the fees and flights.
• That we would be able to put all trust and faith in God during this time.  This is such a big thing and we most definitely need God in it all.  Please pray that we would completely rely on God because none of us are perfect and we can do nothing on our own strength.  It is in our weakness that He sends us out.
• Please also keep in mind the other half of my DTS who will be going to Tanzania and Kenya.
• The people on my team:
• Leaders -
• Gareth
• Cindy
• Louise
• Kaylan 
• Laura
• Teresa
• Helena
• Karina 
• Sarah
• Maria Augusta 
• Kellie
• Caleb
• Colby 
• Duane

Thank you so much for your love and support during this time.  I am definitely excited to see what God is going to do with all of us in the coming weeks.  Please continue to pray for us as we head out from the safety of the Oval.  Pray that we would be such a strong team and would really be able to put into practice everything that we have learned during our time here so far.

Thanks so much!

   

5.6 Miles

The Lord your God is with you

He is mighty to save

He will take great delight in you

He will quiet you with His love

He will rejoice over you with singing.

~Zephaniah 3:17

I like running.  I like England.  I like running in England.

Last Saturday a good friend and I decided to go for a bit of a run together.  So this is where we went.  As you can see from the above picture - It was quite the run.  It was quite the beautiful run as well.  The sun was shining beautifully and we just were running through the open fields and through the woods and it was just really great.  5.6 miles.  Let me just say that again - 5.6 MILES.  Yep, that happened.  That's a lot for me.  I may have been hurting a bit the next day but it was totally worth it.

There was one point during our run that I felt that I needed to stop and walk for a second.  But she looked over and said - Really?  Are you sure? - Then I thought, you know what?  No, I don't need to stop, let's keep running.  So we did and I was fine.  Just one of the many reasons why it is so much better to run with someone else.  It's so much better to have someone there that will push you and encourage you to know that you can do it no matter how difficult it may be and no matter how much it may hurt.  I ran without stopping so much more that day then I ever thought I could.

It is our certainty of knowing His unrelenting love for us, even in the midst of our weakness and failure that leads to the fullness of His life. ~He Loves Me

This is something that I have been learning a lot this past week.  Learning how be secure in His presence knowing and trusting that He loves me so much.  That is all that He asks of us.  His deepest desire is not all of the stuff that we can do, but it is just for us to be, for us to be in a deeper relationship with Him, for us to be loved by Him and love Him in return.  It is in our becoming that we will do all the stuff and we will do it with the confidence that is found in Him.

There are so many times that I feel like I can't do something because it’s hard or I’m tired but I know that I will have God running right next to me saying - Really?  Are you sure you want to stop?  I can look over at Him and realize that it is because of His love and the confidence that I can find in His love that I will be able to push through no matter what it is.  I'd say that's pretty great. 

Such confidence we have through Christ before God.  Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.

~2 Corinthians 3:4-5

   

Peanut Butter Popcorn

I've been cooking/baking a lot since I've been here.  From delicious flapjacks to Pick-a-berry Boo cookies and more.  This weekend brought on a new snack -

Peanut Butter Popcorn

SOOOOO GOOD.

PMA

PMA PMA!

OOOO I FEEL GOOD, EH!

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!

EH THAT'S OK THAT'S OK THAT'S OK!

PMA - Positive Mental Attitude

Here's how the song works - one person is the leader and shouts out one line incredibly loud while doing a little dance with it and the rest of the group echos.  One day, I had the privilege of being the one to lead this fantastic thing in the middle of Harpenden.  Which was quite a shock to the residents of the town because someone complained to the police that we were being loud - or rather that we were being happy very loudly.  Pretty funny.

I've been here on the oval for over 7 weeks now.  Crazy.  It has gone by so fast.  But I am absolutely loving it here.  I am learning so much about so many things and I am just so excited for what God is doing in my heart right now and what He is going to continue to do with the rest of my time here.  Which is only one month! I am leaving for South Africa in just one month!!!  How did this happen?

Speaking of South Africa - here is a little update for you on what's going on with that.  My team has booked our flights already so it's set!  We will be leaving for South Africa on April 6.  That is so soon I can't even believe it.  We will be going to 3 different cities there - First we will be in Durban for almost 3 weeks helping out at a place called Hope Farm.  This is a place for kids who have no where else to go can go and find shelter and a loving environment.  Then we will be going to Worchester.  Then we will spend a bit of time in Cape Town then come back to the UK for the UK outreach portion which will be about 4 weeks.  We are still trying to figure out where we are going for the UK part of it.  So that's pretty exciting.

GOD LOVES YOU AS YOU ARE BUT TOO MUCH TO KEEP YOU THAT WAY.

It's hard for me to summarize all of the things that have been going with me over here.  I feel that every day brings something new and exciting and challenging.  

God knows what is good and perfect for me.  He will provide whatever it is that I need in the perfect way that He has planned out just for me.  And He is so excited for those plans and so am I, whatever they may be.

   

FRISBEE!!

7:00AM

Staff Vs. Students

We may have lost 6-10 BUT....

We sure looked looked good.

OUTREACH!!!

I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING FOR OUTREACH!!!

On Thursday morning we were given 2 choices on which to pray about...

ZIPPERS

OR

BUTTONS

We had no idea what the places were or anything, we were just to pray and ask God which one to choose. Almost immediately, even before we all went out to pray, I instantly thought  - ZIPPERS - So I still went out to pray and I just felt like I knew it was going to be zippers and that was it.  I wrote it on a piece of paper with my name on it and handed it in.

So where is it that I'm going?!?!

SOUTH AFRICA!!!

Yep that's right - I'm going to South Africa with a fantastic group of people.  It was such an exciting time to find out where we were going and who it was going to be with.  It's so crazy how much things have changed in this group in the last month since I've been here.  I love it.  We have all been split into 2 groups and the other group is going to Tanzania.  So all of us are going to Africa!

For those that don't know, I'll explain a bit about what outreach is.  It is pretty much the whole purpose of the DTS.  It is an incredible opportunity to go to another place and take everything that we have learned here on the Oval during the lecture phase and put it into practice.  Let me tell you, at least for me, I have already learned so much since being here.  I have learned so much about myself and about God and just so many things and I know there is still so much more to learn.  I've already been able to see ways in which I can put into practice what we have talked about in lectures throughout my day.  It's pretty great.  

So for outreach, there will be 6 (I think) weeks of being in South Africa and another 4 weeks somewhere in the UK.  We haven't figured out where that will be for each of our teams...I have no idea what exactly we will be doing or where exactly in South Africa we will be but still - I'm going to freaking South Africa and that's pretty amazing.  

God speaks to me through my gut instinct.  I've been noticing this more and more with being here.  I think that almost from the beginning of being here, I just had a feeling that I was going to be going to some place in Africa.  We spend some time in prayer one day a couple weeks ago about where we should all go for outreach, waiting to hear from God where He wanted us to go and I saw 2 pictures in my mind of something that I felt was Africa.  I just kept thinking - I'm totally going to Africa and my heart started racing and got really excited.  And guess what?! I am.  God is speaking to me whether I realize it at the time or not but I know that He is and it's so exciting.  

  

Original Design

REST CONTENTED IN GOD'S LOVE

So one day last week, it was sunny.  Just the one day...So I decided to go for a walk in the woods.  There was a lot going through my mind about a lot of what we were talking about in classes this week and so I just went to get away and be alone and just think.  So I just kept walking not knowing where I was going but just sticking to the path and I happened to stumble upon this beautiful tree.  I was hooked. All I wanted to do was just look at it.  I don't know what it is, but I love trees.  I especially love the ones that are just in the middle of nowhere. There is just some kind of joy and contentment that comes from them. 

This past week was freedom week.  The basic premise of freedom week is simple - FREEDOM.  It is really looking into who God made you to be.  A big part of that is breaking down the strongholds that are created in our hearts by the enemy and allowing God to tell us who we are and who we will be instead of believing the lies the enemy tells us.  It really brought to light all the lies that I tend to believe about myself and it is so encouraging to know that those aren't true, that's not what God thinks of me.  So that is what we were prayed for.  We were able to all be prayed for in a small group in the chapel and just hear from God who He created us to be and what those strongholds in our lives are.  It's called "Original Design" and we've talked about that a lot here.  

Original Design - who God says that I am.  These are the things that God thinks of me, these are elements of the person that God has created me to be:

I AM RELIABLE, DETERMINED, POSITIVELY AGGRESSIVE

I AM COMPASSIONATE, EMPATHETIC, CONCERNED

I FEEL OTHERS PAIN

I WORSHIP GOD IN PRACTICAL WAYS

I SEE THE BEAUTY OF THINGS FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

I AM A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET - RELIABLE, DEPENDABLE

ALWAYS SETS IN THE WEST BUT ALWAYS A DIFFERENT COLOR

I BRING JOY

I CAN SEE GOD MOVING IN EVERY SITUATION

I AM A PEACEMAKER

I AM A SPEAKER OF TRUTH IN LOVE

I AM KNOWN AND LOVED BY GOD

GOD WILL PROVIDE WHAT IS PERFECT FOR ME

That is who God created me to be.  Now the important part is truly believing that all of those things are absolutely 100% true because they come from God.  It's so easy to lose sight of that.  It's so easy to sink back into the lies that the enemy tells because his plan is that we would not reach our original design.  But God's design is perfect and good and right.  Everyone has an Original Design.  It is different for each person but that is the beauty of it.  God created each one us differently and He knows what is perfect for each of us and He will give us opportunities to be that person.  I don't know if I became completely free from the strongholds in my life because as with everything else in my life...freedom is a process.  It will come.  I just need to wait.  REST CONTENTED IN GOD'S LOVE.  It is when I am in that place that I can be all of those things that He created me to be, because those things come from God.

I am here for a reason...I came to learn more about who I am and who God is and this is just the beginning of this journey and I can't wait to see where it takes me.  

  

New Life.

We lift up our eyes

We lift up our eyes

You're the Giver of Life.

~Matt Redman

Those words have never had so much meaning before in my life.  Giver of Life.

I've been here on the oval for 2 weeks now.  It has definitely gone by very quickly.  This week we got into what our daily routine will be for the next 3 months here at the base.  Our days consist of breakfast, then lectures, worship, or a time of prayer, or all 3.  Then lunch and work duties.  I have the great privilege of getting to prepare dinner every night.  It's a good time.  Though the downside of that is I smell like food all the time.  That's not so nice.

There are some other things that are a part of our daily lives here on the oval as well.  One is small groups.  This is a time when we can come together with a smaller group of people and just talk about the week and how we are doing etc.  I always love small groups.  They're great and I think this one will be great as well.  We also get to have workout!  I really do love workouts every monday, wednesday and friday morning.  It's nice and short but it works you.  I've been sore pretty much all week.  But it hurts so good. Another big part of our time here is one-on-ones.  We are each paired with someone else on the oval and this person we get to meet with once a week or whenever just to talk about anything, how we are doing, what we are struggling with, what we are excited about and just really anything.  It's so great to have someone here that I can talk to and get things out and it really helps that I have pretty much the best one-on-one ever (praise the Jesus).

The topic of the lectures this week was discipleship, learning what it means to be a disciple.  I really enjoyed this week and I feel like it's just the beginning of what God wants to do in my own life and in the lives of everyone else here on my DTS.  There was so much to think about and I'm excited to look back over my notes and learn more.  That's what I want to do, I want to learn more.  It was also great this week to have a time one night to get to hear everyone in our group's testimonies and how they all came to be here in Harpenden.  It's so crazy how God works in bringing everyone here at this time.  God knows what He is doing and His timing is perfect.  I think God is really creating a close community with us here and that's really great.

Every tuesday night we have a community meeting where everyone on the base comes together for a time of worship and prayer and have a little message.  At last week's meeting, I truly felt that God has brought me here to give me new life.  My whole life seemed to be taken away when I moved and now I think God is finally beginning to put something back in it's place.  I was remembering what it meant to feel loved by God again.  This is a safe place here and I'm so thankful for that.

This week has definitely had it's up and downs, good moments and not so good moments but I know that this is just the start of finding this new life that God has for me.  It's going to be hard, it's going to be scary at times and it's going to require all of me.

Needless to say...I like it here.

You alone can rescue

You alone can save

You alone can lift us from the grave
You came down to find us
Led us out of death
To You alone belongs the highest praise.


   

New Adventures Pt. 1

Dancing is good for the soul.  Seriously.  

I feel good on this cold, cloudy Saturday.  We just finished our first week of lectures and we went out with a bang - quite possibly the greatest dance party I have been a part of in a very long time.  3 hours.  Non-stop.  Yep.  It was great.  Real great.  Though this morning, I am sore.  Incredibly sore, to the point of finding it very difficult to sit and stand and walk. Workout in the morning plus dance party at night equals hurting legs and butt.  However - totally worth it.  It’s so great just to dance.


A small group of us went on quite the adventure today in the town of Harpenden.  It started off with just a nice walk in the park...

We then decided to keep on walking and found this...it was pretty cool.

Then we decided to keep walking, though it was getting colder.  We stumbled upon a very large estate house.  We may have trespassed a bit but in all fairness, there weren't really any signs to tell us otherwise (except maybe some common sense).  We were about to turn back when someone saw something large and white sticking up a bit above the trees.  So naturally, we explored and stumbled upon a very large (slightly inappropriate) statue in the middle of this big opening.  Then we saw another pathway and explored and finally got out of the most likely private property...

OOPS.


We kept walking around and found the main part of the estate, the front part, the part that you're allowed to see...

We just did our little tour a bit backwards.




  

The Process

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Jeremiah 29:11

How on earth do I even begin to describe this last week without writing a novel?  There are just so many things that have happened this last week that it is so hard to narrow it all down to something that would be somewhat comprehensive to anyone else.

As you can see in my previous post, I live in a pretty sweet place.  It's real pretty.  And it's cold - I love it.  If you still don't know, I'm doing the Discipleship Training School (DTS) in Harpenden, England.  There are about 20 other people that are a part of this DTS as well.  All from so many different places.  We pretty much have the whole world covered.  This last week has pretty much just been an introduction to all things DTS and YWAM and to some of the things we will be doing and learning about in the next 3 months during lecture phase. 

 New? Yes.  Different? Yes.  Exciting? Yes.  Overwhelming?  Most definitely yes.  

There have been a number of times this week when I find I ask myself, what in the world have I gotten myself into?  Can I really do this?  Am I ready?   

A couple weeks before I came here, I locked my keys in my car.  Great.  So I was there holding the flashlight standing in the frigid air as I watched my dad and uncle attempt to break into my car.  The whole time, all I kept thinking was that I just wanted to skip to the part when my door was opened.  I wanted to skip past all the waiting, all the hard work of finding a way into the car.  I feel that same way with a lot of things, especially right now.  A lot of times I just want to skip past all the hard things and get to the part when things are ok, when things are good, really good.  I don't always want to go through the difficult process of it all.  As much as I struggle to believe this most of the time, what is the point of skipping through the things that will test and grow you and strengthen you the most?  That's the beauty of the process, as ugly as it may seem, right?  I feel like there is a lot in my head and in my heart that is in need of going through this process, no matter how terrified I am about it.

I realize that I'm being incredibly vague at the moment but things are still pretty vague in my own mind at this point.  There was a lot from this week that is floating around in my mind and so it's just going in 20 different directions right now.  But I'm sure of this - In my heart and in my mind I know that there is a change that desperately needs to be made.  I'm just not sure what exactly it is or how it's going to happen.  But I know it's coming.