With a Full Heart and Great Expectations

The next 6 months of our lives starts in 3 days. As I consider the words of YWAM's founder, Loren Cunningham, author of The Book that Changes Nations, Is That Really You, God, and Daring to Live on the Edge I get the feeling that this 6 months of training could have an impact equal or greater than my college experience had on my life (save finding my soul mate, and becoming equipped for my life's calling as a teacher). I'd like to consider this an introduction to what is going to be happening the next six months.

 

A Jonathan and I prepared to move and finally arrived in Kailua-Kona, there were mostly question marks in my mind concerning what it is that we were going to be doing here with YWAM. This was especially hard to deal with when trying to raise support to do something that we both knew God was calling us to. But how do you explain to someone that you are going somewhere but you don't know what you're going to do there, yet they should support you financially? Maybe, though, that's part of the beauty of serving our God... Yeah, I knew we were doing a Discipleship Training School (DTS), but what is a DTS and what do you do in one?

 Soon after we landed in Kona, I realized for the first time since booking our flights (this had had eluded my planning mind somehow) that we were here a whole 38 days before school starts. I had been thinking we would be here just a couple of weeks earlier...hmmm. What were we going to do with my parents for a full 38 days?

 Wow. Those 38 days were not lost on God.

 Mom and Dad, when asked what we could contibute to living expensies, said they'd like to make up for all the time they missed playing "host" to us while we were 5,000 miles away in college. I, being the understanding daughter I am ;), couldn't take this away from them, so we obliged.

What I didn't realize in this was the incredible gift that God, through my parents was giving us. If I could sum up the past 34 days in a sentence, it would be this.

It has been like going back in time to my favorite memories as a child growing up in Florida, and being able to, in every sense, re-live them with my husband.

God's blessing on Jonathan and I has been so uniquely tangible. Whether is was snorkeling and finding sea treasure wth my dad, or cooking with my mom, playing games around the dining table with my cousins, or gathering in the living room to pray as a family, hearing the familiar strumming of my dad playing--yes, even the some of the same songs--on the guitar in the other room, God miraculously game me something I didn't know I wanted so greatly.

I think the timing of this was incredible, for at any other time in life I would not have appreciated all these little things to such an extent. And so God gave me the gift of family this month.

  So now, with our hearts full, our bodies rested, and our minds renewed we look forward with great anticipation to what lies ahead for us in our Community Transformation DTS 2012.

 So what do I expect from this DTS? It will be interesting to go back and read this post when we, Lord willing, graduate next March. I know that the Lord has been giving me hints of what is to come, so with the clues I've gathered, the blurry picture of what is to come has come a little more into focus.

 I. To learn how to lean on the Holy Spirit as my comforter and counselor as never before.

II. How to intercede for others as I've never done.

III. How to build relationships to share and reveal the love of Jesus with that person so their life can be transformed by His Healing power.

 IV. To appreciate a bigger portion of the body of Christ as I work alongside many others from diverse denominations and congregations.

V. To claim HIS strength when I am weak.

 
This is what I believe I will learn in my time in discipleship training school and these are my goals I have set before me that I might not remain unchanged my the mighty power of Christ.

To you, dear friend, I encourage you to drink so deeply from the sweet living waters He offers us.

There is no burden so light as the one He offers we take up to follow Him.

You will NEVER be let down if you surrender it all to Him.

 He is so faithful.

Praying from the Psalms

Today I want to share a little something I did in my personal devotions.

Some of my friends mentioned that they had prayed from the Psalms, so I figured I'd try it out. I chose Psalm 20 yesterday because it was the 20th day of September. Wow, what a great Psalm too! I wrote it down as was going through it, and it turned into a great family discussion/research project. I even headed over to Bible.cc to get advice from Clarke's commentary and to look up cross references.

Now, before you read it, I just want to let you know, it's nothing fancy at all. You can easily do it yourself. In fact, all I did was put it into personal terms so I could apply the words to my life, instead of simply reading it as text on a page. Also know, that I do not consider my work as part of the inspired Word of God, but this was merely an exercise in personalizing the scriptures, and you can do it too!

For the original scriptures in the New Living Translation, click HERE

Psalm 20

When I am in trouble, Lord please answer my cries. May the name of the God of the Israelites keep me safe from harm.
You will send me your sanctuary and give strength from Zion. You will remember all I've offered and look favorably on my sacrifices.
Heavenly Father, grant my heart's desire and make my plans succeed.
I will testify with joy when I hear of your victory over evil, and raise a public banner proclaiming your power.
Thank you, Father, for answering my prayers.
Having the anointing of the Holy Spirit in my life is the only hope I have of amounting to anything. God, you give me your holy wisdom and understanding, and rescue me by your great power.
While some find their successes in tangible things, I can boast in the power of the name of God.
Those people will sadly find their world crumbling, but I will stand tall and find my footing sure.
Give victory to your anointed, oh Lord, and show me your glory.

I really hope you decide to do this too! It truly was so encouraging to put this in a light where it personally meant something to me right where I am in life.

Be encouraged!

Waipio Valley 9/20/12

Doin' The Surge

First off, please read the book God, is that Really You? by Loren Cunningham. This book is the AMAZING testimony of Mr. Cunningham's life and how YWAM came to be. After I finished that book, I walked around the University of Nations campus with chills down my back realizing how much of a miracle it is that this campus exists. He is so honest about how pride can ruin the best of "Christian intentions", but of how God can restore and even resurrect something that had completely failed. God truly has used this man to help build God's kingdom in such a beautiful way.

Physically speaking, the student body on the Kona Campus is growing in huge numbers causing housing to become something of a problem. To combat this problem and the need for larger and more updated cafeteria and tech centers they have been holding the "Kona Summer Surge" on campus. Before Jonathan and I arrived in Kona, we had hopes that in some small way we could contribute to the monumental task they have of building student housing/dorms.

So last week and this week, we had an opportunity to dig into the fun. Last Wednesday, I got to scrub floors on my hands and knees for a solid 4 hours. Now, I'm used to hard work, and I know what it takes to get things clean, but I tell you, I have NEVER spent that much time on my hands and knees scraping dust, paint and epoxy off concrete floors. However, when you are working with girls that love Jesus and are overflowing with stories of His love and miracles in their personal lives, it makes time go quickly and enjoyably. :) Almost made up for the 3 days of a sore gluteus maximus following that work day..almost haha. Jonathan got to spend that time digging trenches for irrigation. He had some interesting stories regarding the Hawaiian terrain and the lava rocks one must contend with while excavating channels for water pipes. Yikes, that made scrubbing seem pretty tame.

Saturday, Jonathan went back with dad to help paint the interiors of the dorms, and Monday this week, we went back together to help reinforce the bunk beds being installed in the dorms.

Truly, we barely put a dent into the massive amount of work that has already been done and still needs to be done here by those participating in the Summer Surge. Those people are professional volunteers that (usually) bring their families along with them so they can work free of charge or pay for x amount of time. 

So here are a couple of pictures I took whilst I assisted my husband drill holes into the bunk beds.

JESUS!! Cuz that's who's it's all about!

oh, yes. The bunks...

Okay, last part of this post..

Loren Cunningham was on campus Monday and they held a ribbon cutting ceremony so he could pray over the buildings. From what I heard, they were to have occupancy permits by today so they would have enough room for the 550+ students arriving next week (including Jonathan and I, yay!!!). The video below is an unedited clip I took of the ribbon cutting ceremony (if you're interested :).

AH!! So next week we start our Disciple Training School with Community Transformations and we are just beside ourselves with glee :) From all the incredible people we've met so far and with what we've seen of the Holy Spirit moving here, we've just gotten a little taste of what's ahead and it tastes SO GOOD (Ps. 34:8)!

P.S. I LOVE getting your comments, so please feel free to ask questions, or voice your prayers for us, or just say hi :) Thank you all for your love, prayers, and financial support! We're inching our way closer to our goal! :)

suc·cess, but not as defined by webster

Dictionary.com word of my day:
suc·cess/səkˈses/

Noun:

The accomplishment of an aim or purpose. The attainment of popularity or profit.

But will this fulfill my life?

What is success?
Is it starting a career immediately after obtaining a degree to begin climbing the "latter of advancement"? Is it knowing the right people and namedropping at the appropriate times? Is it having the newest and best things? Clothes? Then why did we just walk away from all of that?
In faith, we both walked away from connections and places where we could have easily begun careers. In faith we left influential people that we knew in a certain place on the globe. In faith, we sold wedding gifts so we could support ourselves to go into discipleship training. In faith I sold boxes of my favorite clothing to a Haitian women at a nickel a shirt. In faith, we jumped on a plane with a one way ticket. Have I just slammed the back door of "success" behind me? Or is there more to success than what meets the eye?

I invite you to join me in my little quest for understanding in this realm...

King David, on his death bed imparted the secret of success to his son Solomon in I Kings 2:3 (NLT).

Observe the requirements of the Lord your God, and follow all his ways. Keep the decrees, commands, regulations, and laws written in the Law of Moses so that you will be successful in all you do and wherever you go.

Solomon followed his father's advise and saw GREAT success as the world defines it, but unfortunately became blinded by it all because he forgot Who it was all about. How can I avoid that mistake? And now that we're past the Law of Moses, and Jesus came to fulfill the law, what does this mean in my world today? How do I, in my early 20's find the success that God wants for my life?

When we look in the new testament for examples of success we find Hebrews 11. This chapter is fairly glittering with the successes of God's faithful servants. "What?? How can 'success' ever be in the same sentence as the word 'servant'?" Suddenly I realize I'm in for a serious view point change. John, in chapter 3 verses 29 and 30 says that "It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the best man is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success. He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less."  So..it's not about my success. It's all about the success Jesus has in my life. Hebrews 11 is about the successes not that each individual found in their life, but the success the Holy Spirit had in their life. I encourage you to read this chapter and see what I mean. This chapter has a lot to say about faith and it seems that this was the key to their success. But what is it?

Heb. 11:1 (NLT)

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

Hope is given by the Holy Spirit...but how? Romans 10:17 (NLT) says, "So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ." 

Question to all: Do you get truly excited when you hear again how Jesus came to die for your sins to take them away so you could be completely TRANSFORMED? Romans 12:2a (NIV) backs this up with " Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Does it just BLOW YOUR MIND how because of Jesus, you are now headed towards heaven? Does that fact make you want to tell EVERYONE you meet the good news so they can experience this goodness as well? Part two of this verse says " Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." But what is his will? Refer to Rom. 12:1, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship." (emphasis added by myself)
It's that simple... but so complicated because life is naturally complicated.

Next important question: what do I hope for? 
My sincere hope is that I will learn to love like Jesus and to live how he wants me to live. I see so many holes in my life and room for improvement, BUT from a teacher's standpoint, that means I have that much more room to rejoice when I overcome those weaknesses through the power of Christ!

So now if I plug all these things in together I will understand that:
When I hear the Good News about Christ, I will have confidence that my hope to be more like Christ will come to pass. In becoming like Jesus I find true success.

Therefore, success is being willing to be whoever and do whatever the Holy Spirit prompts you to be and do in harmony with what scripture says.

Then, I laugh...because when the Holy Spirit shares glimmers of the answers of my questions, it all seems so simple. And maybe that's another key... to live simply to please God only, because if I have that down, then everything will fall into it's place.

"My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame;
But wholly lean on Jesus' name;
On Christ the solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand." --Edward Mote

When the cousins came to town

Family. I can't tell you how many times I've wished I was home with my family in the past 6 years because truly, I've lost count. But God. Oh yes, He did it again :) Since leaving "home" in Florida, Jonathan and I have been able to visit the Grand Canyon with my grandparents, and then this past week God let us gallivant around the Big Island of Hawai'i with my cousin and her husband. He knows the desires of our heart!! Wow,  what a fabulous week this was, and I totally wasn't expecting this until just 3 weeks ago when they decided to make the trip here for their 2nd anniversary.

Ahhh, we had a BLAST!

Aloha to Chris and Anjilee! (please note her lovely lai  handmade by myself :)

Enjoying the waterfront views

Watching the sunset

Simply beautiful

Saturday, they rented a sweet convertible Mustang and invited us along for a road trip around the island of Hawai'i. We hit up 4 major spots I'll share below. Needless to say, we did lots of time in the car, but really took in the awe of the Isle of Orchids.

Road Trip!

Definitely got a bit windy!

 #1 Black Sand Beach 

Black Sand Beach. Notice turtles in the foreground :)

Turtles! This is a sure spot to see them resting.

#2 Volcano National Park

Steam coming from the mouth of the Volcano.

Cuties :)

Entering the lava tube!

This lava tube is extinct, meaning that once it acted as a conduit through which lava flowed, but now it is just a cave-like tube that remains empty. Truly a neat experience.

Way too much fun ;)

 

#3 Hilo 

In Hilo, at Rainbow Falls

We walked around town and stopped at a Thai restaurant for lunch. We were famished when we got there, and it was some of THE BEST Thai food we've eaten. We were pretty happy campers by the time we bid adieu to the biggest city on the island.

#4 The tallest mountain in Hawaii, Mauna Kea 

This comes with a kinda funny story. Prior to arriving at Mauna Kea's base, we all had heard of the treacherous driving conditions that the only road up to the summit offered. The 6 miles to the observatory (located at over 9,000 ft) were not so bad. Totally paved road, we drove with the top of the convertible down as far as we could stand it because we wanted to, I quote, "eat the cloud like ice cream." Jonathan declared that the top should not come up until we were below 60 degrees F. And so we drove on with the wind in our hair without one little care... I promise it was much closer to 50 degrees by the time we tasted that cloud, but it was pretty awesome..

The clouds we tasted. So. Good.

Above the clouds!

When we got to the observatory, we still had 8 miles before we could reach the tip top summit of this mountain. There was a gift shop and all kinds of fun facts about the mountain and an informtional video playing.. That video outlined the finer points of the last 8 miles to the summit. Things like, unpaved roads, incredibly steep grade, hairpin turns on crazy switchbacks, severe altitude sickness, and sudden death. Chris asked a driver of a tour van if there was any way we could hitch a ride up to the top due to our front wheel driven convertible not being the frst option we'd take on this venture. Nope. Not possible. His response in typical carefree island style: You guys will be FINE! Just drive! So I had to ask, "Have any strange things happened to people going up this week?" "Oh, stuff happens all the time!" He replied.. ACK! "But don't worry, the rangers will come get you if you slide off the road!" Greaaaaat. Welp, the sun was headed down and we weren't getting any younger, so it was now or never. So we did what any haole would do. We drove right on up. My hands were sweating the whole way, I kid you not. But to Anjilee's credit we got there in good time and in one piece :)

13,796 ft over sea level, the view was staggering. Worth it all.

Regular Mountaineers are we

They keep some pretty rare and expensive telescopes up there to study the skies. Normally, visitors are allowed in before 4pm, but alas we were too late.

On top of the world with the love of my life!

The way back involved smoking brakes and lots of bumps in the road, but in the end...we lived to tell the tale. And the tale was pretty cool. In hindsight, I did experience a bizarre dizziness while up there. Something attributed to the high altitude.

The last day they were on the island with us, we went kayaking and snorkeling where Capt. Cook was killed. Capt. Cook's Memorial will show you some great pictures. Literally, some of the best snorkeling in the world is right there. Spectacular.

Next door is a place called "Place of Refuge." We walked around here and snapped a few shots. Super interesting stuff with really cool history. Basically, if a man committed a crime and could make it to this place, he was granted safety and fair trial until it was over.

It was sooooo wonderful to spend this week with Chris and Anjilee. They are such special people to us and have so much to offer the world to make it a better place. Guys, we love you lots and wish you best! Come back soon!!

Our Goodbyes