Pursuit of the Holy

Who am I?

What is this talk about the Holy Spirit?

Who is God?

Well, I have been reading this book called "Pursuit of the Holy" by Corey Russell, and those are just a few questions that are addressed in the book. It is one of the most incredible books I have ever read, and will create a burning desire within you to pursue the Lord with everything that is in you! I could write a novel on my own personal opinions of the book, but a compilation of excerpts will do it way more justice. So, enjoy:

Identity Crisis

"We don't know who we are. We don't know why we're here. We don't know why we were created. We live with our eyes on the ground, just trying to obey the Lord and resist temptation and do good deeds, not realizing that the Lord wants His people to know Him, to understand His heart. He created us out of His desire for communion and fellowship with mankind. But we have lost God's high vision for us. Instead, we're trying to find our own purpose in life. " pg. 12

"We were made by God for God. Period. We were made to search Him out." pg. 13

Living with the Holy Spirit

"The day we said 'Yes' to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, He placed within us the very spirit of God as a down payment of the age to come, for the purpose of leading us into all truth concerning God, both the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit now lives in us, and His job is to lead us into revelatory knowledge of the son, who reveals the Father." pg. 16

"Knowing God is about more than having information. It is about who can and who cannot be trusted with the deep things of God's heart." pg. 19

The Knowledge of God

" The majority of us, even in the church, are wasting our lives doing good things instead of the best thing: living in intimacy with our Father in His house. We do a thousand things in His name, but the true and living knowledge of God is absent in our experience. We get burned out and bored when we continue serving without truly knowing God, without relating to Him intimately and personally. We need something more than our ministries. We need to be filled with God." pg. 57

"Our Father will reveal His heart and His commitment to us, and this revelation will mature us and bring us into the knowledge of God." pg. 58

"It's not about our commitment to God; it's about God's commitment to us. He is the God of blazing holiness who will not ignore His people just because they ignore Him." pg. 101/120

Praise the Lord for the way He uses His children to write such incredibly inspiring and provoking books. I'm telling you, this book will challenge you and push you closer and closer to the Lord as you seek to pursue holiness.

The Gospel in the Classroom

"Buenas Días clase. Siéntense en un círculo, por favor.”

As my spanish class slowly moved our desks into a circle, I had no reason to believe that today’s class would be any different than any other. We were going to be discussing a play that we were assigned to read about a group of puppets that were placed in a room and randomly chosen by “la niña de muerte” (the girl of death) to die via explosion. (I know, it sounds a little messed up)
Anyways, the professor randomly called on students to answer the questions about the story. When she called my name, I realized that the question I was about to answer was the question concerning the depiction of “god” in the story. The god in the play was portrayed as blind and unable to help the puppets in regard to life and death. So I answered the question of how the puppets perceived god, and was then asked my opinion of god in the real world.

My pulse instantly tripled.

I don’t know how it happened, (or how my Spanish was good enough to explain such a concept in a different language), but obviously I had a little help. *Thanks Holy Spirit… you’re the man.
I proceeded to explain how the true God was alive and not blind at all, but a happy, loving God who is very much involved in our lives.

The professor then posed the statement: So then God must control death? We all still die. So then God is bad.

I quickly responded: No, God is good. He gives us the choice to believe in Him and His Son, and if we do then we don’t die. We die from this world, but we will never die because we will live with Him in heaven for eternity!

After that she changed the subject… It may not seem very extravagant, and it may not seem like much.. but it’s a seed. A seed of Truth that was planted in the hearts of my classmates as well as my professor.

Jesus… Thank you for courage. And the opportunity to speak the Gospel in a classroom! Never in a million years would I have thought it wouldn’t be in English… haha

He.Is.Faithful.

A New Adventure

*Actual date: January 25, 2011

I have officially embarked on my newest adventure: Back to college! *Who’s to say college can’t be an adventure?? Anything is an adventure when you’re living by the Spirit! However, sometimes it does become a little difficult. It’s only after so many days that you start to feel trapped in the system of the world again… But I know my God has a purpose in everything, and He didn’t send me here to just fill time and space.

In the times when the journey seems boring or monotonous, we must hold fast to the promise of God’s Word and know that, whether we feel it or not, we are being changed every day. - Corey Russell

Just these 2 short weeks of being back at school have already showed me the value of pursuing the knowledge of God. It’s a choice, a fight. You have to fight for time with the Lord, and if it’s not your first priority… well, consider it swept away under the stacks of homework and activities on your to-do list. Prioritizing the secret place is one of the most violent things you will ever do.. if you commit to it. And I have undoubtedly been learning this, the art of violently pursuing the knowledge of God.

And will continue to learn this.
After all, it is a journey…

Oregon State University

A daughter to the Kingdom

When I woke up Tuesday morning, I really had no idea what the Lord has in store. Our team was at Oregon State University and started our day walking around the campus praying for people and seeing where the Lord led. As I walked with my friend Lauren, she felt that the Lord said to go buy snacks at the vending machine to give away to people. So we headed to the library and purchased some snacks by asking the Lord which ones to get. While down there we were able to buy a beautiful Muslim woman’s snack, talk with her, and even pray for her! [It really is about the little things in life]

As we walked outside with a bag of redvines in hand, we noticed a girl walking towards us and instantly knew that she was the girl for the redvines. As we approached her, she was highly thrown off and a bit confused as to why two completely random girls would give her free redvines (which she said she really liked). We started talking to her and conversationally prophesying over her and speaking life over her. Lauren got a word that she was a poet, and read Psalm 42 over her which says, “deep cries unto deep at the roar of your waterfalls”. I then saw her painting a beautiful picture of a waterfall, and asked her if she was an artist. Sure enough she was, and I was able to encourage the gift inside of her and challenge her to read the Psalms and see what pictures the Lord will give her to paint. She didn’t have a Bible, so Lauren gave hers to her to have. We then got to pray over her and invited her to come to a worship set that we were leading that night. She agreed, and we left feeling super expectant that the Lord wanted to encounter her that night!

As we arrived at the worship night, I looked around the room, disappointed that I didn’t see her there. But then, sure enough, she walked in. I just knew God had His hand all over this situation! During worship I prayed with her and talked to her about God’s presence and love, and a bit later in the night Lauren prayed with her too. The three of us then went into a back room where it was a bit quieter to talk. After talking for a little bit, she decided that she wanted to commit her life to the Lord! I led her in a prayer of repentance, and claiming Jesus as her Savior, and we also got to pray for the Holy Spirit to come and live inside of her! Praise God! As we finished praying, I was overcome with joy! I had never led anyone to the Lord, and could almost hear heaven celebrating at this new addition to the Kingdom!

The next day, Lauren and I were able to meet up with her again and introduce her to a wonderful girl who lives right on campus that will be able to disciple her. We got to buy her a journal also, and got her connected with local churches and campus ministries. Such a wonderful time!

I am still so blown away by the Lords faithfulness to her! He had been after her heart, and just chose to use two of His daughters to bring her into the Kingdom. What an incredible Father we have!

Outreach 2.0

Oh, how to begin…

Outreach has officially commenced, and been well underway for a week and a half now. Our team has been in Washington – Spokane, Marble, and Seattle – and speaking for myself, I am in love with this state. From the cool, fresh air, the beautiful mountains & glimmering lakes, to the towering buildings downtown and the quant little shops at Pikes Place market, with the smell of coffee around every corner… I could live here forever. [Jesus, please send me to Seattle]

As I embark on this second outreach, I feel from the Lord that it was going to look very different from before in regards to ministry. When ever I prayed about, I felt that this time was way more focused on relationship and discipleship, and turns out to be looking much like that. I asked the Lord to lead me to girls that I would be able to talk with, pray for, and encourage in their identity in the Lord. The past week at Seattle Pacific University, the Lord has been so faithful in leading me to girls that I instantly connected with and was able to talk to about things on the Lord’s heart. I met up with 6 girls individually for coffee and was able to talk with them about what it looks like to fully surrender everything for the Lord and live solely for Him. I was able to pray with them, encourage them, and was so blessed by the conversations. When I think about it, I am still so utterly overwhelmed by the fact that the Lord would trust me to speak into the lives of His little girls. [Jesus, you have so redeemed my life]

I would love to speak in detail of the conversations held between the girls and I, but they are simply too precious to speak so overtly about.

I will be continuing on in this journey at Oregon State University, and then moving down into California. I feel like quite the nomad, but am highly enjoying the adventure. Who knows what each stop will entail? But I have full expectation for what the Lord has in store at our next locations, and can’t wait to tell of my experience. [Jesus, you are faithful]

Until again...

“What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Hebrew 2:6-8 [Jesus, thank you for using me to bring glory to your name]

A Journey of Faith

The list:
one backpack of bare necessities.
no money, no cell phone, no computer.

Tuesday morning arrived and my outreach team gathered outside of the prayer room to venture off on our 4 day faith journey. We were given an envelope for each day containing a list of tasks to be completed, in faith. We were given a bus schedule and a map of our location (yes, an actual paper map). My team in particular would be venturing to the town of Captain Cook; a very small community located up the mountain towards the south end of the island.

It would be way too much to write everything that was on our task lists, but I’ll give you a few just to give you an idea of what we had on our plates.

Prophesy over 3 people accurately
Meet with a government employee
Get invited to a home for a meal
Get $100 worth of free groceries and give it to a family in need, asking the Lord for the address of the family
Get on the radio to prophesy or share the gospel
Pray for at least 1 physical healing
Speak at a small group in a local church
Street preach

There were many more things on our lists each day, but those were a few of the big ones from the journey. Imagine having those kinds of things on your “to-do” list every day! But the greatest part… every single one of them came to pass! Praise You Jesus for your faithfulness! I would love to give the story from each one.. they were all so detailed and incredible. But unfortunately, I simply do not have the time to write that much.

Here is one of the coolest stories that happened…

One afternoon as we were walking down the street, we noticed a bunch of teenage skaters up at this self-made skate park by this house that was under construction. So the two guys on our team decided to go up and just hang out with them for a bit. When Marty and Erik get up there, they see about 15 teenage boys skating and smoking weed. The perfect spot. Luckily Hawaiian culture is super welcoming, so they instantly started up conversation with some of the guys. They decided to build relationship first, so they didn’t say anything about God or what they believed. But then Marty felt like the Holy Spirit told him to show the boys his tattoo. So he asked one of the guys about their tattoo, and then followed by showing them his. The second he took off his zip-up, the boys were fixed are Marty’s tattoo. It’s a picture of a lion with a fox in it’s mouth. They boys asked what it meant, so he got to explain how the Lion represented God, Truth, and the fox was all things that are counterfeit of the truth, such as drugs, alcohol, hooking up with girls, etc. The boys all began to ask questions, which flung open the door for Marty and Erik to begin to talk to them about the love of God and how much better He is than all of this stuff in the world. As he spoke about God, he could watch as the boys were coming off of their high! (Amazing what the Holy Spirit can do!) He then felt like he was supposed to ask them if they wanted to experience the love of God right then. The main guy was like, “yeah man!” and of course made all his friends come over too. So Marty and Erik began to pray that the Holy Spirit would come so that these boys could feel the love of God. A few minutes later the boys looked up, huge smiles across their faces, and exclaiming, “woahh… I feel really good! That was crazy!” Marty and Erik got to pray for the guys, and were able to go back the next day to hang out with them and talk more about God and His amazing love!

How incredible is that!? These boys were able to experience first hand the joy of the Father over them, and how much He loves them. They were able to hang out with two guys, very close in age, who are radically committed to the Lord and His Kingdom. Jesus, you are so awesome!

In addition to this story, Lauren and I were able to sit down with the president of the high school for an hour (the Lord totally opened the doors) and talk about the value of each students destiny, the importance of family and community, and the necessity of mentorship in the students lives! We were also able to pray for the healing of a man who had pancreatic cancer. And I say “had” because I know in full faith that he was healed. The Holy Spirit was ALL over it. The $100 of groceries was given to 3 women who are living together with a baby under the age of 2 in a shack-type house. We were led their by God and able to pray with them and bless them with the food!

I’d say that through the entire week the primary things that I learned were that God is SO faithful and you can trust Him with anything. He is so committed to every single heart, and He will always provide for His children. (and yes, that means food! We also had free food for half of our meals! and I’m talking feasts!)

Why take a week to go on a faith journey? I legitimately want this to be the way I live the rest of my life: solely on the faithfulness of God.

Here is us with our free groceries! Who does this?! Only our God. =)

That the Lord may receive His Glory

It's hard to believe I'm already well into my second week of the School of Revival in Kona, Hawaii. It feels like just yesterday I embarked on this crazy adventure of intimacy and radical devotion to the Lord...

Class had kicked into full gear, and has already begun to blow my mind. This week we have a speaker from New Zealand names Aaron Walsh. Incredible lover of Jesus... The way this man uses the english language is impeccable. I think my entire 7 pages of notes (from only 2 days of class) consists of epic one-liners. I'll try to give you a short synopsis of the massive revelation I've received so far...

If I had to pick one theme that I was getting from his message, it would be that we all need a shift in perspective to grasp the concept that it's ALL for His glory. Nothing else. Our internal posture needs to be set on what is concrete and ultimate: heaven. This world is temporal and finite. So why do we behave as if the world has everything to offer? If our fundamental understanding is misaligned from Gods, then internal disturbances is unavoidable. The glory of God is God's primary goal, so why is it not ours? It's not out of vanity or for God to go on some ego-trip. It's simply because He is worthy! When the glory of God fills the earth, day and night worship will not need justification. It will be a necessary reaction to His worthiness!

Goodness... I know for myself it is so hard to fully understand just how worthy the Lord is. I say things like, "I mean, I really like the service but the worship just wasn't very good." and then I'm confronted with the realization that it simply isn't about me! We often go into worship with a mentality of what it will do for us. Make us feel better, maybe get some prayers answered, etc. But the reality is that worship is for God! It's because He is WORTHY! He is worthy of our praises, of our lives, of our money, of our time. He's worthy of it all! Because in eternal perspective, He is all that matters. It's as simple as that. and all of the longings inside of us, the supremacy of Jesus is the source of all of our longings! He's THAT good. All of the longings inside of our heart He put there. and He conveniently made Himself the answer to all of them. He is just that amazing...

Needles to say, I'm having an incredible time dwelling in the heart of the Lord. This is such an incredible season of being brought together with like minded people who have dedicated themselves to setting themselves to seek the face of the Lord first and foremost. To be radically consecrated to Him and love nothing more than His presence.

In regards to how you can be praying, I am in need of $5,500 in two weeks! So if you could please pray that finances will come, I would be so appreciative! I find out my outreach location this week, so when I do I will have to update this again to let you all know how you can be praying, etc! May God shower blessings upon you!

Madison

(If you are interested in partnering with what I am doing here and what I will be doing on outreach, please email me at madison.wooster@okstate.edu or on facebook! For financial contributions, PayPal Donation link is also on the top of this blog)

The Next Step

As many of you know, over the past 6 months I have fallen madly in love with my Savior. He has entirely won my heart and will forever possess it. After all, He is and always will be the ultimate father, leader, and romancer. He loves me just because He does, and nothing I can do will ever change that! How could I not love Him back? How could I not give my entire life to bringing Him glory? So of course, I have given him my plans for the future. It is all in His hands now. In February I started hearing the Lord speak to me about what He wanted me to do after those 6 months of DTS, but if any of you know me relatively well, you'll know that I have to be utterly convinced before I will do something out of my comfort zone. And of course God knows me better than anyone, so He knew He would have to tell me what He wanted me to do next at least 10 times before I would agree. Which is exactly what He did.

Over a course of 3 months, the Lord endlessly asked me to return to YWAM to do a secondary school called the School of Revival. It is another 6 month program that will be focussed on deeper intimacy with Jesus as well as revival history. We will each have a social injustice, region, country, or people group that the Lord has placed on our hearts to pray for during the 6 months and will be doing reports and a final thesis as to how to bring the presence of God to that place or how to reach that people group, etc. The first 3 months will be in the classroom, and the last 3 will be on another outreach.

Although it does scare me to not be going back to college right away, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is what the Lord has asked me to do. And i know that being in the Will of God is the safest place to be! Hopefully I will be back at Oklahoma State in January, but that too is up to the Lord. I have come to a place a realizing that my life really doesn't belong to me.. it is the Lord's to do with as He pleases. I know that my happiness will forever be found in my Beloved... and I really will follow Him to the ends of the earth.

Your prayers are so greatly appreciated, and do more than you could ever know! I am so thankful for all of your support in what I am doing. However, I want to ask that if anyone is willing to support me financially, I would be so entirely thankful! I am needing to raise $10,000 for housing, food, classes, books, and outreach expenses. I know that the Lord will provide though! If you do feel that you would like to contribute to my mission, I have a paypal "Donate" link on the upper left-hand side of this blog. It is completely secure and is used by many non-profit organizations and missionaries. This is a much easier way than paper checks, and even the littlest bit helps so, so much!

Thank you so much for following me as I continue with spreading God's love to people all over the world, and I hope that you will pray about supporting me!

I love you and pray that God will bless you and your families!

Faith Journey: NYC

As we went over our weekly schedule Monday afternoon, our leaders purposefully skipped our plans for Saturday telling us that we had a surprise. Little did we know, it was going to be a day full of faith in the heart of New York City.

Our leaders prayed about it, and felt like the Lord wanted us to accomplish the following things:

Individually share our testimony, the gospel, give an accurate word of knowledge, prophesy over someone, and heal a sick person. Corporately we were to street preach, do some sort of artistic performance, get recorded on some type of video/media, get food for free to feed the homeless, prophesy and pray over a business and the owner, and somehow get a bike for free to give to someone.

Sounds pretty ridiculous, right? Better yet, our leaders were not coming. Instead, they put me and my teammate Ben in charge. They gave us a train ticket, $5, and said they'd pick us up in the city in 8 hours. So off we went, and our adventures began as soon as we got on the train. The Lord began to speak to me to this woman a row back and over, so before our stop I made my way over to her seat to begin to talk with her. I told her all about how the Lord sees her, and a few more personal things that she was going through. She looked at me with this awed expression, seemingly confused as to how I would know that. I explained to her that God knows her, which is why He told me those things. Unfortunately our train arrived, but I was able to share God's love with a total stranger. A few other of our team got to share the gospel with people on the train as well!

When we got to NYC, we were heading towards time square when we spotted a psychic stand on the side of the road. Ben instantly knew he was supposed to talk to her. So he went up and started telling her about herself, her family, and how much the Lord wanted to bring her out of her struggles. She starred at him extremely confused and replied, "uh.. okay get outta here kid. I'm supposed to be the one reading you, not you reading me!" Ben then shared the love of God with her before leaving! -- As we continued walking towards time square, Kayla was singing something to herself like usual when Lauren stopped and said, "we should sing on the red steps in the center of time square!" We all stopped and looked at her like she was crazy, but then decided - what the heck! So we figured out what songs and decided that Kayla would street preach right after. Now for those of you who don't know, the red steps are the back of TKTS, a discount ticket booth that hundreds of people line up for every day. It is the very center of time square, where everyone comes to take pictures. We climbed up the steps and just began to worship God. As we were singing, I opened my eyes and saw that all the people in the line to the left were turning to listen, as was the school of high school students to our right. We had been nervous that no one would be able to hear us in such a loud and busy city, but it was as if God hit the "mute-button" on NYC as soon as we started singing! As we were worshipping, I then noticed some super model walking towards the steps with a whole camera crew behind her, video taping with huge microphones and everything. She walked up the steps to right beside us, but her videographer didn't follow. He kept his camera and microphone on us. =) As we finished, Kayla began to tell everyone that we were just a bunch of kids in love with Jesus and how much He loved them too. It was so amazing!

After sharing God's love in time square, we headed towards central park. On the way we prayed for a few people, Lauren shared her testimony in a guitar shop, and a few other things I can't fully remember. We were walking through this huge shopping strip with stands all down the road when I suddenly felt like we were supposed to ask these businesses if we could have free food to feed the homeless. So we split up and started asking. Kayla and I walked up to one and I explained to the owner that we were christian missionaries who were looking for food to be donated for us to fee the homeless. He then told us he was Jewish, and we freaked out! We got to tell him all about how we are always praying and interceding for Jerusalem and about his inheritance in Jesus! We then got to pray over his business and the owner himself. It was unbelievable! He also agreed to give us free food! We found about 3 businesses that would donate food, so we said we'd come back towards dusk.

As we continued on towards central park Pascale and I walked right past a guy with a sign that read "Shalom Bike Rentals"... we looked at each other and started smiling and said, "we have to talk to him!" So we turned around and he began to ask us if we wanted to rent a bike. I replied, "um.. no, weird story actually. We're a bunch of Christian missionaries from Hawaii and this morning the Lord told us that we were going to meet someone with bikes who would be willing to give us one for free so that we could give it to someone in need." He didn't speak much english, but luckily Pascale spoke both of his languages: french and some african language! She talked to him and found out he was muslim. She got to share the gospel with him and talk to him about the bible for quite some time. He then told us that his boss was a few blocks up and to ask him about the bike. So when we got to them and told them the story, they said the boss was actually a few blocks over but to come back later.

After we went to central park and prayed for people, we made our way back towards the bike boss. I don't know how, but the gift of faith came on me so strong and I just knew we were going to get a bike! (as crazy as it may seem to get a free bike in nyc) - The guys saw me and were seemingly surprised that I actually came back. They walked me, Ben, and Pascale across the street to a van with a bunch of bikes in it, and pointed out the boss. (or so I thought). I again told the story of how the Lord told us to give a bike to someone in need and that we'd get it for free. He replied, "well, I'm technically not the owner, but I'm in charge for today... hold on a sec." He talked to someone and then turned back to me .. "you can have a bike." - I couldn't believe it! I thought it would be a small crappy run-down bike, but it was a legit black and red bike, full size! We thanked and prayed over each employee and walked down the street with our free bike! We then headed off to go collect our free food...

We prayed about who God wanted us to give the bike to and some people got an older man and some got a teenage boy. So we walked around looking for people to give the food to first. God led us to these sweet old ladies and an elderly man. We had full on hot meals! Not just a bag of corn! When we gave them the food they were soooo thankful! One of the ladies didn't speak english, but I got to talk to her in spanish and share my testimony with her as well as pray together! It was incredible! But after that, we still had a whole box of corn in the husks left and a bike. Everyone we asked didn't want the corn, which was getting annoying. Then Joel said he felt like God said whoever accepts the corn is who we're supposed to give the bike to. We stumbled upon a basketball court and felt like this 14 year old boy was definitely the one. But Ben and Joel were convinced that we had to stick with the corn word. So they walked across the court and offered the kid corn. He looked at them like they were crazy and said no. We were like, "well of course they aren't going to want corn! They're playing basketball!" but they were just like .. well then he's not the guy.

We had about 15 minutes until we were being picked up and we still had a box of corn and a bike. We were wondering where in the world we were going to find this guy when an older man came up and said, "hey, how much you want that bike for?" We all stopped and stared at him because we weren't expecting someone to approach us! We looked wide-eyed at Joel who was holding the corn, and he goes, "uh... you want some corn?" and the guy responds, "can I have the corn and the bike?" and we were like, "YES!! You actually can!" He looked so confused, but we explained the whole story to him. He then told us how he had surgery to remove his intestinal cancer a few weeks ago and had been looking for a bike because it hurts to walk around a lot. But he didn't have a lot of money so was hoping he could buy it off us kids for cheap. He showed us the scar and everything from the surgery, and told us how earlier that day someone had given him free water with the ten commandments attached to it. We got to share the gospel with him and how God was showing him that He would provide! Then we all got to pray for the healing of his cancer.

As Felix walked off with his box of corn and new bike, we heard him yell across the street to his friend, "HEY! I just got a free bike!" with total excitement in his voice. It made all of us smile SO big!

(The girls and Felix with his bike and corn!)

Basically, it was the coolest day ever. We got to see God's faithfulness and how He always provides. God could send His spirit to times square and everyone would proclaim that He is King. But this Saturday, God just wanted to bless Felix and a few homeless people. Our God never forgets the individual. He is so kind, that He will even give His child a bike who wants one. Thats the God I'm in love with...

Our Nations Captiol

As we all climbed out of the Greyhound bus and gathered our suitcases, we were greeted with a cheery, "Well team, welcome to our Nations capitol!" from our very own leader, Sam Harper. We had finally reached a location that we could call home for an entire month! This was a little over 2 weeks ago, and little did I know how intense our time here was going to be.

Our first couple days was primarily consumed with getting to know our contacts here at the Justice House of Prayer (our base). Hearing stories of how JHOP was started and its vision was so inspiring. We also got to hear alot about the birth of the famous red LIFE tape, a prayer movement for the ending of abortion. Those first couple days we were also given the privilege to do our first LIFE siege. As we all lined up in front of the Supreme Court, the smell of red duct tape over my mouth, I began to pray for the ending of abortion. As I was standing in the cold wind, I looked to my right to see a family taking their picture on the steps. The Lord started speaking to me about all of the children who will never have the opportunity to go on family vacations, to take pictures with their mom & dad, or tug on their mothers shirt to tell her that they're hungry. I instantly began to bawl. As the tears started coming faster, I realized I couldn't really breathe anymore... I still had the tape over my mouth. I thought to my self, "gosh, I can't even cry!" and thats when I heard the Lord speak so softly with such a sadness in His voice, "Exactly... they can't even cry. No one can hear them..." - That broke my heart.

^ My team standing in front of the Supreme Court praying for the ending of abortion.

Don't get me wrong, it's not all depressing. At the same time as this, there are always people who are talking to our spokesperson. They're given the opportunity to share our heart for the power of prayer and the love of Christ. We're often even encouraged by passers-by! (passers-by may sound like incorrect grammar, but I'll have you know I had the greatest English teacher my senior year, Mrs. Pile, and I now know that passers-by is correct! haha) - We've gotten to do many sieges, and will be continuing throughout our stay in DC.

My favorite story so far is from when we on a tour of the National Mall. As we were ending our tour for the day at the Jefferson Memorial, we had some spare time before we were to be picked up. In the lower level of the memorial there is a museum type area with souvenir shops and such. We noticed a quote written on the wall above a nook that stated that "the knowledge of man is happiness" or something of the sort. My leader Levi instantly prayed out, "No, the knowledge of God is happiness." - We somehow ended up sitting around in that nook wasting time, when Jackson pulled out his guitar to just play quietly during our spare time. As he played, we were all quietly singing praises to the Lord. I guess we picked up some volume over time though, because when we opened our eyes we were greeted to a crowd of people who had gathered to listen. We were all a little startled to see so many people watching and taking pictures, but Levi stepped out to proclaim, "hey guys, uh.. we weren't really planning on this but we're Christians and we believe that Christ died for all of our sins. and if any of you guys would like to talk or pray with one of us we would love to." - As Levi was saying this, the Lord began to speak to me about a middle-aged woman in the crowd. So I weaseled through and tapped her on the shoulder. Our conversation went something like this:

Me- "Ma'am? The Lord just wanted me to tell you that He sees you. That He is wanting to comfort you in this time. That He sees what is going on in your family and He just wants to let you know that He is holding you...."

Woman-- she instantly started to bawl and threw her arms around me. As I stood there hugging her as she cried, she looked up to me and said, "My mother just died last week." - and continued crying while thanking me through her tears.

Me- "Is that your daughter right there?" (the Lord had highlighted her to me as well) and sure enough, it was. "I feel like the Lord is wanting to bring you two together in this time. To mend your relationship." I think I said a few more things, but by this point the mother and daughter were both crying and hugging each other.

That was quite possibly the most incredible thing I have ever experienced. As I was praying for the mother and daughter, my team was quick to jump on the opportunity to prophesy over the other bystanders. Kayla was hugging a teenage girl who was bawling, a few of the boys were ministering to this teenage punk boy, while the leaders were each talking to people as well. It was so humbling to see how the Lord will use people who are willing and listening for His voice at all times. I think that is what I am learning the most about... to simply listen at all times. If you're always listening for God's voice, then He knows He can use you because you're ready to respond.

Our team will be in DC until May 24, when we will venture to New Jersey and New York for a few weeks! That will be SO exciting! After that we have a short 3 day debrief in South Carolina and then back home to Hawaii for graduation!!! I can't believe the time is going to quickly!

I know I am failing miserably at updating my blog... but with such a busy schedule it is kind of hard to find the time to type up all the the thoughts and emotions that go on during the day. Hopefully I'll get better at it!

God bless you all!

Madison

Hello East Coast!

My time here has been absolutely amazing so far. My team has become family. We are in New England, Connecticut and the Yale campus looks like Englad! It's almost as if God is giving me little pieces of Europe in America! The Lord is already moving in the most amazing ways possible.. and He's actually using ME! I cannot believe it...

At a burn Friday night (at the church we're living at) One of our leaders Levi called people up for healing. I don't know what came over me.. I don't know how it happened.. but God actually used MY hands to work through. I prayed for 3 people, who were ALL healed. One lady hadn't been able to lift her extend her leg since September, and she even showed me how she couldn't raise it. After I prayed for her she just kicked it right up! After another prayer all pain and tightness was gone too! She kicked so high she accidentally kicked Kayla in the hand! haha I was flabbergasted.. This other lady had abscesses in her stomach or intestines, I can't remember. But it was constantly painful and she couldn't eat without excruciating pain. I prayed for her and she said, "um.. it's a little better" - So I prayed again, but then God started giving me different words for her. So I just started praying over her and emotional stuff. and she started shaking and weeping and almost fell over because the Holy Spirit was shaking her so much. After that she kept thanking and hugging me.. I totally forgot about her stomach. but as she was walking off I was like, "hey wait, how is your stomach?!" and she started feeling her stomach and looked back at me with a huge smile, "It doesn't hurt at all!" ... I saw her at church this morning and she said she ate breakfast for the first time without pain.. unbelievable.

Last night was an awakening meeting on Yale's campus with the IHOP University students. Lou Engle's son Jesse was there. And he prayed over me! He is SO cool! We got to talk for a while too afterward. During the meeting we were praying for students and people in the community that were in the room, and I got to pray over a few people. And God actually spoke through me! I can't believe it actually happened. People are falling out in the spirit even when it's only me who is praying for them! The girl came up to me afterward and explained how dead on my words were. I almost cried. Like crazy accurate stuff that I could have NEVER done on my own. Its AMAZING! The Lord is so good.

Easter Sunday is incredible. This incredible family invited us over for dinner. We got to spend the whole afternoon playing games outside, relaxing, eating a ton, and simply lying around together. I love my family here. They are such a blessing!

I'll try to update as much as possible, but our schedule is ridiculous! We've been getting to sleep around 130am and going all day!

Love you all!

Last day with Steve - Day 4

Once again, I'm going to copy my notes verbatim in hopes of somehow expressing the incredible concepts given to us in class.

If you are a believer you are a part of a new humanity, a redeemed humanity. And the Holy Spirit abides in you and guides you into all truth.

A supernatural quality of life and ministry is possible, beyond past experiences or what has ever been seen before. Do you believe that? You can know it in your head that it's possible, but that is only knowledge. Until you believe in your heart it will have minimized effect on your life. Romans 10:9

Self-evaluation is chronically sewn into our cultures to try to fix ourselves so that we can "help" God. Our self evaluation is us thinking that what God made wasn't quite enough, that we have to someone improve. The Bible says the righteous are bold as a lion! But we have an emotional reaction to confidence of thinking that it's setting yourself up for failure. We're thinking that from a perspective of what we can do in and from ourselves and not from God.
We're afraid that if we truly believe we are beautiful we will become vain or arrogant. But when your belief that you are beautiful comes not from self-evaluation or comparing yourself to others but from the voice of the Father over you, it can be believed in complete humility! The world wants us to be encouraged but is terrified we'll believe it.

The result of Adam and Eve eating the fruit in the garden was that they now looked at themselves They now had self-evaluation. They saw themselves and for the first time saw that they were naked. Before this they did not know anything about themselves except for what the Father told them. So when God came to the garden, instead of running towards God they ran away from God because they looked at themselves and knew they were naked.

We are so often afraid to complain to God. But it's right smack dab in the middle of the Bible! David complained to God and God called it worship! God just wants you to talk to Him! If we engage God, He will engage us. We're so wrapped up in our theology that we answer a lot of our own questions instead of going to God.

John 16
verse 7 - "It is better for you that I go away, for if I do not go away the helper (Holy Spirit) will not come to you." - Jesus
The disciples were living a supernatural life with Jesus. Healing the sick, seeing crazy miracles. But the Lord said that we will live a better life with the Holy Spirit. We're supposed to be living a more supernatural life with the Holy Spirit than the disciples lived with Jesus on earth!

The Holy Spirit does not come to convict us! He comes to empower us! Focusing on all of your wrong will only disable you from doing what is right and what you were created to do!

There was some more, but I don't think simply writing it on a blog would do it justice.

BLOW my mind - Day 3

Once again I am going to copy down my notes from class word-for-word. Some of the stuff is very raw and super blunt.. but so good at the same time. Please don't get offended. =)

Getting born again is not about getting heaven when we die and forgiveness when you sin. It's about making all things new. When you are born again, you are not just a normal person anymore. You are to be living with a chronic sense of God's pleasure over your life.

We have been taught that the promises of God are dependent on us and what we do. But its not! In Luke 11:1 the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. This was after Jesus had sent them out to cast out demons and heal the sick. So why do we keep thinking we aren't ready or not equipped enough? Shoot! The disciples hadn't even been taught how to pray! When you truly realize that you are a new creation you will start trying to act like one.

Luke 1:74 - We can serve God without fear in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life! Not serve got FOR holiness and righteousness, but IN them. Because Christ has made us holy and righteous in Him. Some may think that saying that is arrogant, but it's not. How can you be arrogant if what you have was given to you? It's a gift! You can rejoice in that the Lord has made you righteous and holy and you can serve Him all the days of your life.

We were so much time trying to lessen ourselves, misquoting scripture to say that we ahve to be weak so that God can be strong. News flash! God is strong all the time! And he doesn't want there to be less of you, He created you!

Christianity has been systematized self-hatred produced by religious language.

Genesis 3
It is said that the serpent, Satan, is crafty/subtle. So you have to be looking for the subtleties of Satan's deception. Satan says, if you eat of this God knows that you will become like Him. What a subtle deception! Because that was implying that they weren't already like God, when it says that they were made like God in the beginning! The second deception was that God was trying to hide something from them (the knowledge of good and evil), so God must not really be that good. Satan uses subtle deception to trick us.

- God does not have love, a temporary emotion. God IS love. Everything about Him is love! We are going to be discovering for eternity the goodness and kindness of God. When you experience God's love, it is the most transforming thing you will ever encounter. So powerful is His love! We have to get rooted and grounded in His love.

We have been taught that "your sin separates you from God!".. the deception in that is that God leaves you. That the holy spirit removes his presence from you. Which is so not true! In Genesis 3 when God's children sin, He comes searching for them, to walk with them. Mankind ran away, not God. Because mankind felt guilty, he ran.

Before deception, we only knew what God told us about ourself. We instantly believed and manifested what He spoke. God said "you have authority!" and we simply walked in it. He said "you are like me!" and we agreed and knew it to be true. Self-evaluation was a result of the fall. We have never really seen a generation who is living how the Lord intended. We're so consumed with all sin and how messed up we are that we aren't living how He had in mind.

God has made us NEW! So why are we always trying to fix ourselves? We are called to live by faith. How much faith does it take to believe that you have sin? We have to live by faith in that we are made new, we are righteous and holy.

Thats pretty jumbled, but everything that he said was ust blowing my mind. I hope some of you dear friends find some of this interesting and challenging!

The Spirit and the Bride say "Come!"

Once again, I am going to word vomit all of my notes from class. Because I really want to be able to share this week with everyone. Basically it is amazing, so try to bear with how scattered it is!

So.. this may offend some people, or really rock your paradigm. But please don’t get offended.

- God is not in control of things on the earth. –

Gen:1:28 – God gives mankind authority in the earth. God has authority in the earth also, but He gave control to us. If God was in control would there be sickness, crime, poverty, abortion, sex trafficking, or abuse? No. If we believe that God is in control of our planet, then why would we have any passion to change the earth? Yes, all power belongs to God, but He gave us control over the earth. Why do you think the battle is over mankind? Whoever is influencing mankind is controlling the earth because mankind decides which direction the earth goes.

We were made to control the earth supernaturally. But not out of anger or forcefulness, but out of love. And by our supernatural compassion people will be drawn in to worship the living God.

We are called to replenish the earth and subdue the enemy. Bu the recent western church has been so angry with the world for living in sin that we have been trying to subdue the people of the earth and by doing that we were replenishing the enemy.

Hebrews 10:10-13 --- Christ sanctified us ONCE for all time, and since then He has been sitting on the right hand of God, waiting in expectance for His enemies to be made a footstool under His feet! We have to realize that we are so important! But you also have to understand how much He loves you or you will become too overwhelmed with the pressure. You have to understand that God wants to use you regardless of your flaws. He sees your tripping, stumbling obedience and He loves it!

We have been teaching people how to act like Christians instead of being Christ-like. We are teaching people how to live in a culture of concealment, how to act instead of exposing the problems so that someone can help. Because we’ve been taught that having sin issues is bad, no one will admit it. But by keeping it inside, in the dark, you are permitting it to cultivate.

We are supernatural by divine birth. We may say “well, I don’t feel supernatural” because we feel that we have to do enough good in the natural, be religious enough before we become supernatural. But that is false! We were born supernatural! “The Spirit and the Bride say Come!” but “creation is longing for the sons and daughters of man”. The greatest thing you can do for the planet is to walk in your supernatural anointing because it is GROANING for us! We need to no longer be simply doers of good, but be containers of God.

Don’t pray and worship to get somewhere with God. Pray and worship recognizing that you ARE with God. He is in you and you have been placed in His Heavenly Throne room.

That was alot... sorry.. but please pray over some of this stuff. It's changing my life. God is so good.

Say that again backwards!

It is Monday at 12 noon. And this week has already been radical. Our speaker this week is Steve Thompson, who is unbelievably incredible. I believe my jaw was at the floor the ENTIRE class period. I can hardly contain it all, so I just had to copy down a bunch of my notes onto my blog so that more people can be blown away! It will probably be pretty scatter-brained, but I'm literally just going to copy down the notes from class, so just keep truckin, cause it's so cool!

- God is raising up a generation to demonstrate the supernatural, but not out of stress or striving but out of a place of peace and rest. He wants us to be able to be supernatural without being bizarre. Sometimes we may feel weird by saying "yes, I am supernatural" because we remember all of the times we've tried to pray for healing or be prophetic, etc and nothing happened. But when we do that we're basing it off of what we've done instead of who God says we are. And when you try and maybe fail, it's okay. God is perfect, but He's not a perfectionist. He's a dad.

- People are so concerned about being "left behind" .. well, news flash! You already have been left behind. You've been left behind to make His Kingdom come on earth. We've had our thinking backwards. We, the church, have been trying to make ourselves holy to please God, and hope that in return God would change the world. But we can't make ourselves holy.. God makes us holy. And our mandate is to change the world. We've also been trying to transfer people from the world and into the church. We think if we have a bigger pile of people in the church than the world has, then we win! But last time it was checked, God left His disciples in the world. So why are we trying to come out of it?

- Gods Original Intention-

Genesis 1:26 God made man (1) in His image, (2) after His likeness, (3) and let us have dominion over the earth. So we were created with this intention that has 3 components:

(1) We were made in His images so that we would be His friend

(2) We were made like Him to show his likeness to the earth

(3) We were given dominion over the earth so that we may rule the earth WITH God

We were not created to maintain the status quo. Maintaining is boring! We were created to replenish and subdue (Genesis 1:28).

*God did not put Satan in the garden! He put the garden in Satan's fallen territory, put man in the garden, and said to expand the garden until God's kingdom fills the earth and kicks the enemy off the planet! We were given authority over the earth!*

Don't for one second think you are not valued by God

Genesis 2:7 - God breathed into mans nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living creature. God created EVERYTHING we see by simply speaking, by simply permitting it to be. He "let there be light". But He couldn't handle staying that far away for us. He had to reach down and hand make us with the soil of the earth. And then even that wasn't enough, He wanted to come face to face with us and breathe into us. Personally.

We were made from the earth's soil and then breathed into us was the breath of God. We were made by the natural, and then the breath of God made us supernatural. That is now our calling on the earth, to be a supernatural expression of God.

So you may feel unqualified for what God has called you to, but being unqualified God can still use you to succeed at the highest level. Jesus didn't come to back bad people good. He came to make natural people supernatural. So get going.

Chew on that for a bit! =)

The Sound

Wow

So this past week we had the Tacoma Team here speaking on freedom/deliverance. It was really amazing. The teams prayed with each one of us individually, asking God what our original design was and different things in the past that are strongholds which are keeping us from fully living in how the Lord designed us. So we all got to work through a bunch of crap, which was awesome.

Thursday in class Brian was going to be talking about Passivity and Fear, or something like that. I'm not really sure, because about 30-45 minutes into class he got off on a rabbit trail... or so we thought. He started talking about how there's something different with us. Not only our generation, but our class specifically. He was saying how he's seen classes filled with the Holy Spirit, he's been to radical worship sets with the presence of God in the room, etc. But there's something different about us. He was saying there is a sound coming out of us that people are talking about all over the world. At this point he threw down the class manuel and set the microphone down as he began to pour out his heart. I honestly don't know how to explain the rest of the day, but I'll do my best. Here's the gist:

We are the generation that the prophets have been praying for. The people who are going to do signs and miracles greater than those done by Jesus when He was on earth. Perform miraculous healings and see endless salvations. Somewhere in there the presence of God came in the room, and everyone was wrecked. People were bawling (myself included, of course) with the spirit of revelation heavy in the room. Our leader Amy said when she was a little girl God gave her a vision of an Army, an army emitting a sound that would shake the Nations and beckon the return of the King. She's had the vision many times, and she said we are that sound. Our class didn't move from that room for 6 hours. No break, no lunch, no nothing. Just soaking in the presence of God, praying, singing, worshipping, and journalling. UNBELIEVABLE.

It was in that room, somewhere in those 6 hours, that I knew my life was over. There is too much the Lord wants to use me for for me to have my own life and my own ambitions. My spirit was stirring inside of me because it remembered the sound and knew that this is why I was created. I was created for my Jesus and His glory. For bringing others into His Kingdom. Since that day something inside of me has changed, and will never be the same. I know too much now.

Jesus I'm Yours

Lovesick

So.. this past week has been incredible. One of the co-founders and original worship leaders of IHOP KC (International House of Prayer in Kansas City) was our speaker. His name is Chris Dupre and he is incredible!

He started the week with his unbelievable testimony that blew my mind. It really brought to my attention how much the Lord cares about every little detail in our life. I would love to go in to detail, but 1. I feel like it's kind of personal for me to re-tell and 2. it's really long. But basically God showed Chris in a VERY specific and personal way just how much He truly loved him. All of the girls were crying, and some of the guys too lol

One of my favorite things he said was "ministry isn't what you do, it's who you are. If you yourself are not ministry, then when you stop doing ministry you are back to being the Lord of your own life." --- chew on that for a while...

So, we've been seeing some crazy incredible stuff happening lately. Last Monday we had ministry night with Ivan Roman. Crazy on fire for God. Anyways, so we're all just worshipping and praying and then Ivan started feeling Gods heart for healing. So he started calling people out based on words of knowledge. This lady had sciatic nerve problem in her hip area, and one of her legs was WAY shorter than the other one, which was inflicting a lot of the pain. So we all gathered around her and were praying for healing and literally right in front of our eyes her leg grew out to the length of the other one! It was insane! And then this lady who was 50% deaf in her right ear and constantly heard ringing out of it was completely healed too! and the most emotional one for me was this girl Sarah. She has cerebral palsy and is in a motorized wheelchair. She rolled up to the front and was right by me, so we all started laying hands on her and praying for her. While we were praying, God just downloaded in me His heart for her and I instantly started bawling. Like, uncontrollable. It was nuts. But we're all hardcore praying over her and this guy Sammie was like, "Sarah, it's time to stand up." - So she unbuckled her belt fro the chair, and reached for my hand for support. Sarah stood up, on her own. She usually can't stand for more than a few seconds on her own, and she stood for 10. Then she told us to let go, and she wanted to walk to me. So I stood there with my arms out watching her walk to me! She would take a few shaky steps and reach my arms to rest. and then do it again. She walked around without her chair for over 20 minutes! It was the most incredible thing I have ever experienced. God's work at hand. and we are fully confident that God is going to complete her healing! (Phil 1:6 - "and I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion"). It's going to happen. But yeah, it was pretty much beyond amazing. Praise Jesus!

Also, a super common theme the past 3 weeks in general has been how much the Lord loves you. It sounds like such a simple, basic concept.. but there is SO much depth to it. It's really hard to fully comprehend, but until you understand His love for you, you cannot truly love. He is SO madly enthralled with me, and He wants me to know that! It's insane. I was beating myself up this week because I felt like everyone else was "hearing God's voice" or having radical experiences with Him and I wasn't. And then just yesterday when I was at lunch with a dear friend God intensely downloaded His reasoning for not just so easily "appearing" when I wanted Him to. We were talking about everything and bleh and bam. God spoke. He said to me, "Madison.. you are so used to being able to go after something and obtain it relatively easy" (which makes sense because I'm a very determined person) "and you're trying to do that with Me. Stop and simply rest. Let me pursue your heart and I'll show you true romance." AHHH Jesus is so FREAKING cool! How amazing is that? The Lord and Savior of the Universe told me He wants to pursue MY heart and show me true romance! Love.

Sooooooo yes, sorry I haven't updated in a long time. I'll try to get better at that but I'm always really busy. =/ Love you all dearly

Link to my facebook album of my glory weekend at Kua Bay!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2034717&id=1447920125

(Put that in the address bar!)

Madison

Outreach!

I wanted to explain how I came to the point of going on outreach in the country that I'm going to. So, here it is:

The options:

1 team to Northern China near the border of North Korea

1 team to Guam/New Zealand

1 team to East Coast America

2 teams to northern Afghanistan

2 teams to Europe

1 team to Haiti (added after the earthquake)

When I first got here I instantly connected with one of the leaders, Lizzy. It was totally a spiritual connection. After hanging out with her for less than a week, I just knew that I would be going on outreach with her. I couldn't figure out why God would give me such a connection with someone if I wasn't going to be walking with them for a long time. Lizzy is also from London, which was perfect because I have always had such a desire to go to Europe. and lo and behold, there are two teams going to Europe! I then found out that she was leading with Levi, this guy that I also had a weird spiritual connection with. So I was pumped and totally convinced that they were leading a Europe team. God was SO good!

The day that they introduced which leaders were leading which teams, I was so excited! Until I realized that Lizzy and Levi were standing up for the team going to the East Coast of America. My heart literally plummeted through the floor. So I prayed and prayed about it... the leaders for Europe teams were ABSOLUTELY incredible as well, so I just figured it was my flesh just wanting to go somewhere with Lizzy. God wants to give us the desires of our heart, and I have desired to go to Europe for atleast 4 years. So when we wrote down our options I put the two Europe teams as 1 and 2 and put America as 3 just so I wasn't "shutting doors" on God. pff.. I'm retarded.

So later that afternoon, right after our 2 hour prayer and worship set this super prophetic guy was like, "Hey Madison, God gave me a word for you during worship.. It could be really wrong, but I just felt like God was saying that when you wrote down your outreach options you put your first choices down because that was what your flesh desired, but you felt like you heard a whisper from God but just put that as your last option." and I was like .... ughhhh.. So I talked to my leader about it and she said I should take another night to pray about it. When I went back to my room and started praying, I just knew it was God. There is no way I could go to Europe after God gave me a second chance to listen to His voice. It was so hard to let go of my dream of going to Europe. Specially since I was replacing it with the last place in the world I wanted to go. But I had such peace that God IS going to take me to Europe, just not right now. So I changed it, and put America as 1.

Today we were all revealed our outreach groups, and boy is God good. My team is incredible. INCREDIBLE. Not only are my leaders Lizzy, Levi, and Sam, but one of my roommates Lauren is in my team. Two other girls that I absolutely adore as well! and the guys are all so solid. It's going to be AMAZING!! I'm so so so excited. We'll be on the east coast, New York, Pennsylvania, Jersey area. All the details are yet to be sorted out. But we know God is going to be moving so thick through this country as we pray and intercede for revival and revelation of His love. It's going to be so good. I know this is completely God calling me to this nation and I can't wait to see everything He is going to do. God has a heart for the revival of America just as much as he does Africa, Europe, and China!

So yes, East Coast America here I come! =)

Week 1: Check!

Wow.. week 1 was amazing, and I can only imagine what this next week is going to bring. Luckily we had a recap on Friday, so now I atleast have some sort of idea on how to summarize last week!

Monday was a day of destroying our old foundation so that we can start over on the foundation of Christ. Kind of breaking our old patterns of religion that have kept us trapped. It was really good. Tuesday was what I had written about previously, the day of surrender. It was just realizing our need for surrender, because intimacy without surrender is not intimacy at all. Also we talked about how we need to be completely leaning in to our Lord so that when he turns left, we turn left. In the light of what we are inheriting, we are not really surrendering anything! Wednesday was really talking about how we are the sheep who need to rest in our dependency of the Lord, the shepherd. And resting in the season we are in and also just resting in the arms of Jesus. Thursday was talking about having a disciplined intimacy. Really learning how to posture our lives to where we will walk with Him every day. Learning how to get out of the "microwave mindset". Intimacy with God is a long term thing, and it takes time. Just like building an earthly relationship.

So yeah.. that's kind of a recap of our first week. This week we have an INCREDIBLE speaker. His name is Ivan Roman and he is awesome! I'm so excited, it's going to be so so good.

This weekend my friends and I all hitch hiked to an awesome beach! It is SOOO beautiful. Here's a picture.

Beautiful, right? We could see whales out in the water spouting and breeching and flipping their tails up! It was so awesome!

We find out outreach locations tomorrow or Wednesday. God is so good and I can't wait to meet my small group! I'll let you know.

Madison

A day of surrender

Man... day 2 and they are NOT wasting time. One of our leaders, Andy Byrd is speaking this week. And boy is it absolutely incredible. He is such an unbelievable man of God who is SO anointed.

I wanted to type all about what we've been learning, but I don't even know how to regurgitate everything that has been poured into me over the last 2 days.. Just alot about surrendering everything to the Lord. and how intimacy without surrender is not intimacy at all.. At the end of class we were all worshipping and just declaring things that we were surrendering.. our plans, our personal desires, our comfort, our parents' ideas of success.. everything. It's alot harder to actually do than to say.. It's more of a thing of saying "Okay God, I surrender everything today. Now help me to continue to live it out tomorrow." And sometimes we feel that we are surrendering SO much and that we're giving up SO much.. but when you look at the amount we gain when we surrender everything it makes the surrender so sweet.. Ah glory Lord.

He also spoke today on just resting in the Lord. We're like little hyper-active 3 year olds. Our father adores us so much and just wants us to chill out and rest in His arms.. One of the greatest postures of revelation is rest. We need to feel grace and comfort to lie back into His arms. That would be such a place a restoration.

This is so jambled and all over the place.. It's so hard to express all the work God is doing on my heart. But I wanted to share atleast something