Happy New Year! 2009

It's another year ahead of us! Wow, I hope you all had a lovely New Year's.

I have to apologize for the lack of blogs being posted this month. I am sure everyone no matter who or where you are can agree that December always seems to be a busy month with all Christmas gatherings, church services, shopping and dinners going on. I haven’t really experienced the traditional Christmas this year, but a very blessed Christmas nonetheless. It is about the celebration of our Saviour’s birth, so I am not sure how much that gift can change. I had a lovely Christmas lunch/supper on Christmas day where everyone on the base of Reef to Outback came to celebrate. We all had our stalking and a secret angel in which we got to open our gifts. I know you all are curious on what I received and so for those who are noisy, I will share. I received a yellow tang-top, head band, chocolates, candies and cards. We also had a white elephant gift game in which everyone had to bring a gift that is used, found around the house or homemade. In this game I gave my Canadian bag and received guitar strings in which I switched for a book called, “The Sacred Romance”. In the afternoon of Christmas everyone seemed to find their beds and in the evening we all watched some classic Christmas movies together. I did miss my family, but God has provided me with a family out here, and thus it was grand time.

It’s January 1st 2009 today. A whole new year ahead of us; time seems to stop for no one. I am only nine days away from my outreach mission trip to Thailand. I want to be able to share all my emotions or at least what I am thinking about Thailand. I am not too nervous. I feel confident that God is leading and that I need to trust in Him. I was studying James 4, and “What is life? You are a midst that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that”.” God is with us and my life is His. Nothing is out of His hands and so there are no worries. I am a bit nervous about the language barrier but even that God allows not just communicating in language but through actions and love. I have to admit that even after studying in free time about Thailand, I still don’t know what to fully expect. God doesn’t call the equipped - He equips the called.
I will attach the itinerary of our Thailand Outreach if you would like to check it out. Some dates or things may change due to circumstances but that is what our ‘schedule’ of dates and places. In summary, I am excited for Thailand and to really experience a different cultural and share my life in Christ with others. I love Mother Theresa with her wonderful saying, “Preach the Gospel, if necessary use words.” It’s by our actions and our love that people will see who we live for.

Together, we are the children of God. We are the hands and feet of Christ. May the Lord bless you and take you on crazy adventures this year.

Want Something... Give it Away...

November 27th till December 7th I was in the Australian Rainforest, camping with my Discipleship Training School. Spicing up the scenery and enjoying God’s beautiful nature, we had lectures in the heat of the day with all the humidity that was lavished upon us. Every individual at some point had sweat dripping from their forehead down to their toes. To try to explain the sweat and smell that came off our bodies would be too revealing; so much so that I might just scare off anyone who thought of attending a DTS or going into the Aussie Rainforest. Other than that, there was much of God’s beautiful creation to adore such as a calm river to bathe in, the vast colors of butterflies, the forest full of trees, diverse animals such as tree snakes, wallabies, goannas, salamanders, frogs of yellow and light green, large toads, horse flies, saccades, ticks and leeches. My personal favourite was the saccades. This is an original masterpiece of God’s. Saccades are large tree bugs that make lots of noise, like a screeching possum. They either pee or spit (you choose what expression you like better) on you all day and night. You would think its raining or something, but no... it is just saccades giving you a lovely shower...It would have been something extremely gross, but since the sweating was already there it could be seen as...refreshing... The evening skies were beautiful. Almost every evening lightning and thunder would diligently make its appearance. The stars were of many, and one evening we went out to the road and made our proclamations to God and just stood in awe at His Handy Work. This was in the second week with the speaker, Mark Parker, a Kiwi, who spoke on the topic of Lordship. As all of the DTS students were on the road, we knew we were to lay down our troubles, fears and to allow the Lord to move in and through us. The stars shone out the Lord’s radiance which humbled all of us to serve Our Lord and serve others. The realizations that we needed to sow something today to be able to reap something tomorrow dawned on me. It was clear that no day would be better to start then today.
My purposes are so simple and yet often times I miss them. I am to love God and make Him increase and me, decrease. God must get bigger, and making Him known makes me so aware of His presence that I don’t even care. God’s grace is more than enough. Christ broke the chains that would hold me back. I am no longer held down by sin. Yet I am dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. I have been debating for too long to give just half my life away thinking that was enough. It wasn’t. I have given my life away. God wants to use me to love others and genuinely share my love for Him. He loved me first, so that I might love Him. God is calling me not to just to follow and go along with the crowd but to lead out. I will seek to obey God even if it seems impossible because my Refuge and Protector is on my side. It might not make sense and look irresponsible, ridiculous and crazy. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. I am consecrating my life to the Giver of Life. I am confident that my Father will never leave me nor forsake me. The Holy Spirit will always be with me and lead me into purposely challenging places where I am to bring and speak life. I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me...I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. There is no life...without death.
God has always pursued me. Always. It’s about time that I started pursuing Him, my first love. Every day He calls me His child; His sweet beloved. I am endeavoured to you my family who has encouraged me and pursued me to grow in the knowledge of our Lord.
Being back from the Rainforest and back in Townsville on Ingham Road I am constantly itching like every DTS student. The bites that cover our legs are undeniably, uncontrollably uncomfortable. The scratching and itching will last for another week as testimonies were given by others to affirm this monstrosity. As Christmas is approaching, our schedule is filling up. We host a youth summer camp called Impact Summer which is from December 17th-23rd. It is easily understood as a mini DTS for kids ages 12-17 where they can learn more about God and share that love with others. Then two days later it is Christmas. That seems so peculiar; I won’t be at home with family, or attending our candle light service. From being away from all the familiarities, I have been really dwelling on the real meaning of Christmas. How it’s not about me and my comforts, but about the gift that was given to us at the cross. There is a lot that is happening, but God is forever Good.

Silent Night, Holy Night

Land of Smiles

The Kingdom of Thailand

Location: South East Asia

Population:64.9 million

Language: Thai

Capital: Bangkok

Major Religion: Buddhism

Currency: Baht

Climate: hot and humid

God's Heart in Our Hands.

Watch:

http://callandresponse.com/trailer.html

Child Prostitution:

Definition: sexual exploitation of a child for remuneration in cash or kind, usually but not always organized by an intermediary (parent, family member, procurer or teacher).

• 10 million children worldwide are engaged in some facet of the sex industry. Each year at least one million children, mostly girls, become prostitutes.

• In Thailand, 10-12 year old girls service men in the sex industry. They typically have sex with men 10-15 times daily and sometimes as many as 20-30.

• In South Africa, there are 40,000 child prostitutes.

Prostitution:

Definition: prostitution is the sale of sexual services for money. Many trafficked girls and women start out in cheap brothels where they are broken in through a process of rapes and beatings. This process is called, "seasoning".

• 2 million girls between ages 5-15 are introduced into the commerical sex market each year
• 89% of prostitutes want to escape. 60 to 75% have been raped.
• At least 200,000 women and children work in prostitution in Thailand.
• 1/3 of the women are under the age of 18, and girls as young as six years old work in prostitution.

Voi(e for the Voi(eless

http://www.reeftooutback.com/profile/Voice

This information focusing on child prostitution and prostitution has been taken from the the Voi(e for the Voi(eless forty day devotional. As a DTS, we have been studying global injustices issues as a devotion each Thursday Morning at 7:30am. They give a definition, facts, and a story on the topic. After which we take time to pray and mediate on what is happening.

These facts and statistic's are undeniably true. These are things that we can find if we just dig under the surface. Can you even imagine what you could find if you dug deeper? I found pages of statistics and I started to write them down, but I began to think that statistics is not what you or I need. We know of so many injustices in the world, yet we often lower ourselves and think what am I going to do that is going to make a difference? It's easily used as an excuse. Take the time. Take the time to write a letter to the government that could take action, study and share this in your church, work place and circle of influence, or support ministries that work against these injustices.
Be the Change.

Spontaneous Thoughts and Words

I read a book called, Mistaken Identity telling the true story of Laura Van Ryn and Whitney Cerak. There were both two beautiful blonde girls. As they were in a van with all their university friends and teachers, a truck came and passed the median and hit the van. Five people died and two were flown to a hospital. Whitney Cerak passed away, and their family went through all the motions of the reality of death, and the funeral. Laura was taken to the hospital where she was in a coma, and her parents, family, friends, and boyfriend supported her as the weeks went on. After five weeks, the family started realizing that this girl who was lying in this bed wasn’t their daughter. It then was revealed that the girl lying in the bed was actually Whitney Cerak, and not Laura Van Ryn. The girl that the Van Ryn's believed to be their living daughter was actually Whitney Cerak. How this happened? That is for you to go and figure out. The book is written by both the Cerak and Van Ryn parents who I would describe as strong children of the Lord. This book has encouraged me in my faith, as they saw God in every area of death and life. This book also left me thinking about my own life.

God has so richly blessed me in uncountable ways. Often times I go about my life not even recognizing these blessings, but after I look back, I see God’s Almighty Hand at work. I often times question who I am, what is my purpose, how do I fit in and where does God want me? Yet gently through conversations, speakers, pastors, friends, scripture and creation, Christ reminds me that I am found in Him, and He in me. All my identity is within Him. To follow Christ is my purpose and to listen to His voice.

From a blessed family, beautiful looks, and written blogs some might say I got it all together. Don’t be fooled. I am as human as you are. I struggle each day of my life. Realizing that my everything is originated in Christ doesn’t make life some ‘teddy bear picnic’. No. Each and every day I have to remind myself what God did for me. As my pastor always tells us, look to the Cross. There lies the treasure of the world. The foolish will miss this gold, looking in all other places but in the open. The wise will come to appreciate and grasp the gift that lies open for everyone. The wise understand the suffering of Jesus on the cross was not in vain, but for you and me. Every day, I need to denounce the devil in my life. I make so many choices in one day that if I don’t guard my heart, he sneaks in. I want you to know that I have taken up the Lord’s armour and am ready for battle. With Christ, you and I are victorious. I am more than just a conqueror, yet also a co-heir with Christ. I am a princess. A daughter of the King. A child of God.
These past two weeks I have been learning so much about the worldview of humanity and how we are to be in this world but not of it. Captain Jesse taught us about Missions, and Rob taught us about the Character of God. My heart is taking a change in the manner of renouncing all attitudes of independence and pride. Life is a gift. We are to receive God’s gift of grace and be dependent on God and his goodness. Grace should affect change. Through his free gift of grace we see God’s love for us. God’s love is not like the love the world says it is. It is not evoked by feelings. Nothing is a surprise to God. God made a choice knowing everything. It’s so relieving that God knows everything about me and still embraces every part of me.

God searched the world to find something to extravagant and beautiful and he couldn’t find what he was looking for. IT was to be a flower of a new brand. It would shine colors that only this flower could bring. He couldn’t find it in this world, and He had decided it needed it to be made. He called her Elizabeth. This week, I had a lot of affirmations given to me about whom I am and God’s love for me. One of my friends’s also had a similar vision to this previous one which was told to me by the speaker Rob about me being a matchless flower. The flower was half opened. It was beautiful as it was, but the beauty could only grow in so much measure if it soaked up the sun so that it could open all the way. The sun was beaming on this flower. All it needed to do was take in the light. God was illustrated as the sun and I the flower... God has so much for me, and I just need to embrace His love. God not only loves you and I, but he likes us. He gets so excited about us. Our Father likes us all intimately.

Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22: 37-40

This blog has been all over the map in thoughts and feelings incorporating what I have been learning in lectures, and in my daily life. I want you to all know that I am doing well in Australia and the Discipleship Training School has been such a blessing to me. I thank you for all your support and prayers. You are my brothers and sisters in Christ, and I need you to stay along side of me. This coming weekend, I am leaving to go to the Aussie Bush / Rainforest to go camping for two weeks where we will have our lectures in a different setting. It will be a great time to have our quiet times out in God’s creation and soak in nature. After I come back from camping, I have four and half weeks till I go on Outreach to Thailand. So the time is just moving along out here. I constantly think of our church and my friends all back at home. I love hearing from all you, and thank you for the feedback and supportive comments.

How Can I Keep From Singing?

Fearfully & Wonderfully Made

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:3-6
This week has brought me challenges and affirmations. Challenges of being truthful about myself and the affirmation that God’s love is unconditional, He is my Healer, and thinks I am ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’. This week’s speaker is Joanne Blaik, who is speaking on the topic of Identity. She brought in two duplicate pictures of what she claimed to be the most beautiful masterpiece of all time. Joanne explained how much impact these pictures had on her life and thus she wanted us to experience it too, by ourselves. She got the leaders to blind fold each student and then bring us one at a time behind a curtain where they left the individual. I was left alone and when I removed my blind fold, I was staring into a mirror that had written on it, “fearfully and wonderfully made”. I was really taken a back. I did not expect that at all. I was the masterpiece? The most capturing artwork that she bragged about? Bringing into light once again, that God is the author and artist of creativity and diversity. It really opened my eyes to the idea that what the world says beauty is doesn’t mean that is it. We learned about how the Ideal Man/Woman of this World is so un-ideal. It’s every changing and you will never be able to attain to being that ideal. My heart is being challenged, and this school is demanding a lot of emotions – spiritual, mental, and then even physical. Waking up in the mornings can be a tough go (smiles).

This past week, following up just too yesterday, every DTS student has been anxious to find out where they are going on their outreach. It was on a lot of my fellow classmates’ hearts. It was cool. I found out through a game yesterday. It was like tag, and whoever the leader tagged had to hold onto their backs and so on. Then when the game was over, they made us sit with the people who were attached to the tagger and they said, welcome to your outreach team. So where am I going? I am going to Thailand. I am more than excited. My heart seems to be leaping in and out of me. I don’t know exactly where we are going in Thailand; the details are still being worked out. I just want to say that I am so thankful for your prayer support and encouragement. It means a lot to me. I don’t want to leave it at that. I wanted to share with you why I choose Thailand as my first choice. We were in worship on a Wednesday morning and I felt the Spirit moving in this place. The Lord really put me back in my place, and I broke down in tears because once again for the hundredth time I realized how corrupt and sinful I am, and how undeserving I am of his Love and Grace. I wasn’t panicking about where to go on my outreach but I did want to seek God’s guidance. While I was on the ground, I opened my Bible, and brought myself to Proverbs 31 - Epilogue of the wife/woman with noble character. I just knew that God wanted me to open my arms to these women in Thailand, and work with eager hands side by side with them. God wants me to show them that He wants to clothe them with strength and dignity. They were worthy of respect from men, women, us and God. After understanding that this was the Lord and His Word that had confirmed this to me, I shed a few more tears to the excitement of just feeling a calmness that this was what God wanted of me. I started to touch my Huguenot necklace and became wanted to suddenly read Matthew 5:8, which I knew was beatitude but didn’t know which one. It reads, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” This was an amazing experience for me, and it’s hard to put all of this in words, but learning to hear the voice of God has been overwhelming in such an amazing way.
I think this is a fully loaded blog and I will keep you all posted on my further adventures, as I want you to come and join me on this journey. Keep in touch.

Yes and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me (or what will happen) will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Philippians 2:18b-21

Outreach

"...Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" Mark 16:15

A missionary is an individual or a group of people who partake in a mission of Christ by serving other people; becoming the hands and feet of Jesus Christ.

On October 14th at 9:30pm, I was given the locations of where my possible outreach will be. There are three locations I am able to choose from. I am starting to hate that sentence already...”three locations I am able to choose from”. My life is not about me, nor should it ever be. I desire to go where the Lord leads, but I am scared my personal desires will interfer. I want to be open with where God calls, but when my minds constantly tells me where I want to go, I lose track of God’s voice and leading. It’s as simple as we all know it, seek the Lord through His Word and Prayer. This week is a time a prayer and I ask that you take part in this prayer.

Meditating scripture and prayer is the remedy. I am going to ask you, the readers of these blogs, my friends and family, to uplift me in your prayers. My request is that you pray that I may keep a clear conscious mind, open to the Lord’s leading and guiding, and that I may not be persuaded by my own selfish desires. In the upcoming week I need to have a decision made so I need all the prayers and encouragement I can get. All the students are not talking about the outreach with one another so they will not be persuaded by others. Right now I want to enter my brothers and sisters back at home into helping me understand where I should go. We all need to be obedient to God. So with your prayers and mine, I pray that God would lead me in the right direction.

These are my three choices of outreaches:

1: Palm Island / Mount Isa – within North Queensland
· Focus: Indigenous & youth

2: Darwin & East Timor - Northern Territory & newest country yet seeming one of the poorest
· Focus: Poverty & Injustice

3: Thailand – Patia – sex trade capital
· Prostitution (team of all girls)

“...And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in the sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.”
Isaiah: 58: 10-12

Take Time In Prayer.

Lead and Guide Me.

The Flights

I am in Australia. It’s so hard to take in all at once. My eyes are red-rimmed, my face white, and my body sluggish, yet still little bursts of energy creep upon me. I have had some long flights, yet great flights. I have slept a total of around 4 hours in the last thirty five or so hours. To explain all the little details of these flights, the people I met, and the things I have already seen makes me burst with excitement. I don’t have hours to tell you everything but I thought I would type out a piece of my journal which should give you a small taste of the conversations I have shared with those who were created by the same God.

...The flight attendents were sweet as I stepped on the plane and yet, I was quickly distracted as I quickly began to look ahead to find my seat number, 22A. More importantly, who was I going to be sitting beside. As I found my seat, my nerves calmed as I excused myself to get past a mother and a daughter so I could get to my seat by the window. They were both beauitufl. They were kind and soft featured. As I sat in 22A, reality sank in. I am going to Australia. Physically it looks like I am alone. I am not going alone, but with God. I turned on my ipod and listened to Chris Rice, and when the song Carry Your Candle played I was moved. The tears came. I didn’t want to bring attention to myself, so I tried to discretely whip the tears from my eyes. But like now, they just can’t be stopped. I have seen families, young lovers, children, family, business men and women and it seems to always bring me to home. I think of the beautiful mother and her daughters at home....but we got to be children of God. We are called to take Big Leaps and challenges in His Name. So with my will, I will follow Him. I am reminder by a bracelet, a special gift, that God guides me and tells me directly in which ways I am to act. The fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience,kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. God is my strength...As I continued to talk to this family beside me, the husband came and sat by me and talked about travels. As he asked me what I was doing, he was so interested and attentive. He said to me with te softest eyes and kindest hearts, “God Bless You”. That was enough. He might of not known it, but this was just telling me once more that God is totally behind this all. Not only is He behind it, but He’s ahead of it too. God is with me. When we search for God, God will reveal Himself to us.

Psalm 46:10

I don’t know if that says much to you, but it’s alive in me. These feelings, this goodness. IT all comes from Him, the Giver of Life. I don’t have anyone, or anything to feel comfortable with. This is all new to me, and it’s crazy and scary. I miss my home and all its luxious comforts, just being with the people we love. But right now, God is working something really big in me. Just all the little things that are happening .

So update: I am going to land in Townsville in an hour and a half. I have meet five lovely ladies who are taking up a challenge to learn and understand God through Reef to Outback too, thus hopefully creating a stronger relationship with Christ. The transitions of flights have gone excellent. I haven’t gotten lost or forgotten documents any where. I am living off the excitement God has planted in me, but yet my body is fighting back.

Thanks you all for your continual prayer support. I pray that all things are going just as great at home. Please continue to pray as this journey has only begun. There much power in prayer, and we should not underestimate it. God is truly full of surprises.

‘All this, and Jesus too?’