Adventure of Faith: 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.