I graduated at 16 years old in August 2012 taking off the next month to go on
a grand adventure with the Lover of my Soul, a journey that brought me
to the sea of love the Savior had for me.
I have gone on a
scouting trip to far away lands and caught a glance of hope for the
world, I heard murmur of destiny waiting for every person; I heard the
the song of God's Goodness and Power in the miraculously healed; and I
heard a Battle Cry of Hope in a Loving Compassionate God who is with us,
Immanuel, because He Himself has put it in my heart.
I am back at Gleanings with my family now, but what would you say to stepping back into the chapter I just finished?
The Chapter starts out with me going to the Lord's Land, YWAM Mendocino, to do a Discipleship Training School, with a three month lecture, and a two month outreach.
In the first week of lecture God said, "First let's fall in love and then let's change the world."
God and I took a leap into our friendship. God wanted me to know that I was dear to Him, He wanted my heart and He wanted me to love Him and really know him. God showed me that my heart was mine to give, a true binding gift. It was like Arwen giving Aragorn her Evenstar necklace, "It is Mine to give to whom I choose, like my heart." While I gave God my heart every day, He showed me how precious He wore it, like an intricate medallion always close to His heart.
We went over thirteen topics in fourteen weeks such as, Father heart of God, Identity and Destiny. God spoke through the teaching in glorious ways, bringing the warm light of truth into some of the dark fearful parts of my life.
The many times I went walking in the woods to talk to God are without a doubt times that I will never forget. These talks in the magnificent woods were about my questions, my fears, God's passions and binding my heart with His; all truly bringing identity and courage, but most of all joyfully falling in love with my Companion.
We took to the air Dec. 31st to follow God's heart and share the great news of Christ with the world. Uganda was where God had asked us to start, South Sudan was next.
The first week was given to the people of Kampala the Capital. I was tired from jet lag and had to make it a point to think of all the things I was thankful for and ask God what to do, knowing that I never wanted to regret not walking through this trip with God.
I was exited that it was God's pleasure to have me share my testimony in two of His churches. It was so well received and people were impassioned to go after their young people and help them through their youth.
My favorite memory from Kampala was going door to door (shack to shack) with two others and praying for a little baby with malaria and sharing Christ with her Mom, who cried when she heard about the hope available for their future.
YWAM Arua! Welcomed by amazing staff, we worked alongside the long termers for three weeks.
This is a picture of me in Arua's market buying food for the poor in the hospital that we went and served twice, praying for many and seeing the power of God's peace, hope and love reign, though we saw no healings yet.
The Arua YWAM planned for us to go to a little village called Koya on the Congo border, so off we went to see what they meant by a "little village." They had promised shelter but left us in some doubt of comfort.
The first day and much of the ones following we interceded for the village which turned out to have a poplulation of about two-hundred adults. We walked the land asking God what strong holds He wanted to break, asking for His grace and mercy for the land and making ourselves available for Him to guide.
This is us walking as we pray. I am in Green.
Koya was were we first saw healing happen, I would hazard a guess that it was due to all the spiritual warfare and devotion of our time that we started with. We saw blind eyes healed, backs, knees, cuts, oh! the list of God's goodness goes on and on.
We prayed for pretty much every one in the village and went to almost every home.
Holding an all day long bible study which turned into Q and A for one team and repentance back to God for the other; we saw God speak to the people through us and meet the questions they had.
After two more weeks in Arua Uganda, we drove to South Sudan, the 193rd country in the World, mountains filled with unreached people groups secluded by tribal warfare, but a country God is seeking after and calling me to help Him reconcile back to Himself.
The second day I was in South Sudan I knew I had found my country, the African Country God had been calling me to. Years before I had thought that it was Ethiopia, but I think God had me focus in on Ethiopia because it was right next door to the country that did not exist yet.
We went to four different places in South Sudan doing quite a range of things. Something that was dear to my heart though was sharing God's loving Character, breaking the lies the devil had spread among the youth of a God who ties you down instead of a God who lifts you up.
We shared testimony of God's goodness in our lives as well as the fantastic Companion He is. I know the people heard what we said because they asked questions, sometimes quite challenging questions, ones that we leaned on the Holy Spirit to answer.
We made a three day trip to the Capital Juba, where we had the privalage of sitting in on a meeting with about 11 Sudanese and Ugandan Ywamers and Loren Cunningham Founder of Youth With A Mission...!
We spent two days at a girls rescue home that some of our team had been to before; they had already made great friendships with the girls there. This is a posed picture that I let a little girl take. They loved having their picture taken and taking pictures. It was an amazing group of 40 healing girls.
*Making bricks in Minyori, S.S.*
I know I have laid important foundation bricks for the future of these countries, as well as in my own heart. I have passion to keep going and sharing the great news of Christ were God has been calling me.
*The Bridge of Healing to the Nations,* at YWAM Arua, expressing their calling to be a bridge of healing to the Nations. The Bridge leads to houses called: India, Scotland, Sudan, etc.
Walking across the bridge felt like stepping into the calling God had given me to spend my life walking over that bridge carrying what God wanted to give His people. It is a journey with Christ that shall never end, for it is the heart of God I am going after, and He is teaching me how to Fly after the dreams we have.
