MTI

Hey Everyone!

            I just got back from my training through Missionary Training International (MTI) a few weeks ago, but because of Christmas I never was actually able to write about it. So I thought I would copy some of the thoughts I had written down during my three weeks there...

            So I've been here at MTI for a little over two weeks now and have just been completely blown away. I came very reluctantly dragging my feet and complaining that I had about 50 other things I needed to do instead right now. However, it didn't take long until my hardened heart was broken, and God was doing big things in me. 

             Through a completely trustworthy community I learned so much more about trusting God and even others. This Sunday I got really sick and my room that I had to myself was the last room away from ...well anything, the kitchen, the lounge, it all, so as I was laying there not really able to move in fear of getting sick again, I started to worry. I worried about what I would do if I needed to get something to drink or even eventually eat. I didn't think I could do it on my own, and what was worse was that I didn't have anyone's number to even call. In my worrying though, I heard God's voice just saying trust me I will take care of you. So I tried, I still felt a little stressed, but I didn't have much choice other than just to trust Him. 

             Then in a few hours I heard a knock, it was a friend coming to check on me, she along with several other people came in all day, checking in on me and nursing me back to health. And what was more was that the kitchen was even serving chicken noodle soup that day. That evening I just sat back and was amazed at how God provided and cared for me. He even reminded me of how important it is to trust others and allow them in as well. In the end I am just in awe of His faithfulness and even thoughtfulness, down to the chicken noddle soup. He is fully trustworthy!

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord,  to sing praises to the Most High.

² 

It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning,  your faithfulness in the evening" 

-Psalm 92:1-2

We are the temple

         So I know it’s been so long since I've just written here on my blog, but today I just felt the need. I am right in the middle of doing my three week training with my organization, which is a requirement for me to go full-time, and I'm at the part where we do a study called Kairos. In Greek I am told that Kairos means the perfect time, or when a time is fully fulfilled. It is an incredible study on God's heart for missions and how He has called each of us to participate in that with Him. It has been so good and I would whole heartedly recommend it, even though it hasn't been an easy course.

        This week has been such a challenge and it's only day two. I have known with my head so much of what they are talking about, but many things I never allowed to get fully to my heart. This week though the message is getting all the way deep down into every ventricle.

        One of the things we are learning about is that the temple of God now is us, and applying what God says about His temple to us. Through Isaiah and Jesus, God says, "My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations." This was originally said by Isaiah and then Jesus quoted this several times after He drove the people out of the court of the Gentiles in the temple. In our study we talked about the reason why Jesus was so angry was because that part of the temple was supposed to be a place for people from all over the world could come and know God and worship Him. However because of these money changer and venders, those who came to worship God and know Him more were hindered from coming to Him. Then during the study we were challenged to ask ourselves the question, "What does our temple look like?"

      While looking at my own heart, I have started the process of allowing Jesus to come in and turn over my tables, knowing fully that He is cleansing me and asking Him for forgiveness and what must I do to change? Asking the all important question, "What do you want Your temple to look like Jesus?

      As I walk on this journey with Him, I know that He will guide me in every day change through the process of being holy, through the exchange of old self to new self, and to see His glorious kingdom come, knowing that it first came in my heart and then will go out my mouth to invite all of those lost to be found and to come and worship at the feet of Him who has saved us all!

      Although I know that this training is going to be only the beginning of this very very busy preparing process, I know that God is doing something great and is going to prepare me in every way for this next step. So I will walk in His truth, learn from Him, and trust Him that He has it all in His hands. He is just showing me so much and I am so excited to see what He is going to do!

Mark 11:15-17, "When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, and he stopped everyone from using the Temple as a marketplace.He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”

August/September Update

Hey Everyone!!
        This month has simply flown by, it has been busy, but with so many good things. I have done more preparing for the return to Spain. I have also had the privilege of traveling to visit many family members and friends. I truly feel incredibly thankful to have been able to spent  some time with friends and family, some of whom I haven’t seen in a very long time.  

        As I was traveling back home through Virginia I saw the first evidence that fall really has begun, I saw among the trees bright splashes of color beginning to mix with the green all around me. I love this time of year, it is a beautiful sight to see all the leaves bursting into so many vibrant colors. This  is such a great reminder for me how God makes all things beautiful, every situation is worked for the good of those who love Him.  There is beauty in every season, just as leaves are most radiant at the end of that season of their lives, God wants to use every season of our lives to display His glory. He takes hard situations that are over and have past and somehow makes them radiant. He doesn’t waste any season, any time of our lives, no matter how hard or ugly it may have been He desires to bring beauty from those ashes, not just ignore them.

       God brought this to my mind today after I finished a conversation with the Principle of my old elementary school. She called because she wanted me to come and speak in their chapel and help with their Spanish classes one day next week. Now if any of you know me well you will know that elementary school through High School was not my thing, I wasn’t bad at it, school just was not something I enjoyed.

       So needless to say I was surprised at the call, and also honored that I could have this opportunity. After getting off the phone I was once again reminded of God’s desire to use all of me, to make everything in life even the past be for His glory.  Now I can honestly say I am so excited to be able to go to school and speak to kids that may be feeling the same things I did sitting in the same spot that they are in right now. I can’t wait to share with them how passionate God is about them, His children, and about His heart for Spain and for all of the lost throughout the world. So I ask that all of you please be in prayer for this time at the school on October 2nd, for the kids to be receptive, and for me to speak what God has to say to them.

Jesus says to us even today, "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,

the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor." -Isaiah 61:1-3

Back Home

Hey!
  So it has been entirely too long! I just haven't been able to keep up with a blog and a newsletter so far, but maybe someday I will be able to accomplish it. So for now I am just going to post my monthly newsletters on here, just in case some of you don't get them...

Back Home!

          "Well I think that I may be finally getting settled back into American culture. It has been a process of unpacking 16 months of living in another culture.  I had heard of reverse culture shock, its symptoms and ways to help debrief, however I quickly learned it is one thing to learn about it, and it is quite another to live it. However, it has been such a precious time for me because I truly have felt God lead me through each stage, and help me through each emotion and each question while providing many encouraging people and situations along the way.

This time has certainly been a time of learning to trust God more and more. I have needed to trust that He would supply all my needs from everyday living expenses to all my trainings and travels, to supply me with enough energy and patience to do all that needs to be done during this time, and even to trust that He would continue to guide my steps and show me that Spain is indeed where He desires me to go. I feel Him leading me into a new place of relying on Him and seeing allowing Him to lead in every situation from small things in everyday life to larger things that will affect the rest of my life.

As I was thinking about this and just rejoicing that God has been faithful in each of these things that I listed above so far, God led me to 1 Samuel 7:1-13. This is the story of one of the times when the Israelites repented of their unfaithfulness to God, and begged Him to save them from the Philistines. Then after God saved them by His mighty power, they set up a stone, to remember what God had done calling it Ebenezer, which means “Thus far, the Lord has helped us.”

As I was mediating on this story I was reminded of something that I had read in a Beth Moore Bible study. I had read that in 1 Peter 2:5 we are called living stones or living Ebenezers for Christ. This means that my life, and yours as well should look in a way that reminds those around us, that the Lord has helped us this far. We are the living stones the living reminders of God, and He will continue to help us.   So even though this time may not be the altogether easy , it may come with a lot of questions, and a lot of emotions, and just require a lot of me, I can rejoice because especially in this time I can say along with all of you that God has helped us this far!

“And you are living stones that God is building into His spiritual temple. What’s more, you are His holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.” -1 Peter 2:5 (NLT)

artinmotion2011's photostream

artinmotion2011's photostream on Flickr.

Pics of the Retreat with the Youth

Our Unstoppable God

Hey!
  Whew it’s been such a long time since I’ve been able to sit down and write here!I am coming to find I am not a very reliable blogger, and for that I apologize. Anyways after too long a time here goes…
                I am not going to lie and say that these past few months have been the easiest of my life, there was loneliness and missing those I love during the Christmas time, a lot of stress and uncertainty about God’s plan for my future, and some discouragement as well. I battled, struggled, and fought, and in this place I came to know our God in a way that I have never fully experienced before, a God that fought for me, battled with me, and fiercely loved me.  

This love is a love that floors me over and over again, a love that is characterized by selflessness, relentlessness, and the inability to fail. In the times that I have felt the heaviness of this world weighing on my heart,times where I missed all that was familiar, and the times I felt so useless, God gentle took ahold of me, and said I won’t stop…I won’t stop forgiving you…I won’t stop chasing after that rebellious heart of yours…I won’t stop reminding you of who you are in Me…I won’t stop being faithful…I won’t stop guiding you…I won’t stop working through you…I won’t stop loving you with all that is in Me, You are mine, and I am yours…And that will never stop.

As I am brought through this storm I am filled with a new hope, a renewed peace, a desire for more of my Beloved Father, and a joy that is truly indescribable. I can feel God calling me deeper and deeper into true life, into a life that is lived completely from and through Him. I know this doesn’t mean that I will never struggle or battle, actually it probably means that I may have even more battles and struggles. However, now I can rejoice in them because I know it just gives Christ another opportunity to show me more about His goodness and faithfulness. My situations may not be changing, it still is hard and I still feel tempted to feel discouraged and useless, but the Holy Spirit is changing my mind, letting me see things the way He does and is encouraging me in the ways only He can. I know I am being refined by a holy fire, and all I need to do is trust in His skillful hands and masterful plan for me.

A part of that plan that God has shown me, is that He wants me to start a bible study with the girls from the youth group. Through several different situations, He has made it very clear that the girls need some kind of discipleship. So last week I felt very convicted to look up a book that I love in English called Captivating and see if it was available in Spanish, and what do you know it was! So I am starting the process of figuring out how all this would work. Right now we are still trying to figure out who could come, when they can come, and where is the best place to have it. So in this time of preparation, I would ask if you all could please be in prayer for the girls of the group that their hearts will be ready and open to knowing God more deeply and to hearing His truth, and that all the details that need to be worked out will work out.   

 Two girls from the youth group Danielle, Noelia,  and I. 

"I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit." -Romans 15:13

"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see." -Hebrews 11:1