Thursday, May 10, 2012

Incredible Happenings

The past few months have been quite a ride for me with the Lord. I am honestly just in awe of the blessings the Lord has showweeerrrrreeedddd on me. HE IS JUST SOOOO GOOODDD!!!!!

I think it all really started hitting me when I moved to Lynchburg, VA. I had been praying that God would open up an opportunity for me to live with a great family or friend and allow me to really be apart of a great church community. I also wanted to be able to really dive into worship and the arts heavily wherever I was. So Sheila, my dear friend from The World Race, talked to me on the phone one day and she offered her home as a place for me to stay. She also told me that there was this house of prayer in Lynchburg that was much like the IHOP in Kansas City. At the time I had really been considering going and doing schooling at IHOP so it just all sounded so perfect to me! So I just stepped out in faith and decided to head east!


It turned out that there was an internship coming up at the house of prayer that was about awakening love and diving into some deep intimacy with the Lord and doing ministry as well. It was cheap...and sounded like a great thing to do since I didn't have a job and I really wanted more intimacy with Jesus. Little did I know what that week would do to my life.


The internship consisted of about 20 or so people, about 10 of them being from Shawnee, OK and the rest being from mainly Lynchburg. These people I can now say will be my dear friends forever. They have impacted my life and helped grow and change me so much. I am forever grateful for them. They are all so incredible!! But the internship was a lot of teachings, a lot of worship time, diving into God's presence and experiencing His glory while doing outreach in random spots in Lynchburg. People were experiencing deliverance, healing, and true community...especially me.




I realized at this internship that even though I went on The World Race and experienced so much, I still had a lot of junk within myself. I thought I had figured all this community stuff out as well as believing I was done with healing within myself. But the Lord really did a work in me in those several days. The Lord showed me that I had hurts and wounds from community I had been apart of previously, the truth that God is truly my Daddy hadn't fully resonated in my heart, I had been paralyzed with a lot of fear, and still had issues with depression. He showed me that yes I had been through healing and deliverance in these areas but it's like an onion, where you have to peel off one layer at a time and that it's a process (with much shedding of tears). But I did experience so much healing there and really was given this hope and expectancy for wholeness in the future.

A few other random awesome things happened at the internship:

-The Holy Spirit helped me and several of the other interns play a worship and intercession set for an hour and a half very well! He helped me play the drums :)
-I was given a crazy amount of prophetic words that were all so dead on for my life and my future. I had two that were very specific to my ministry initiative I will be doing in the next few years in Cambodia!!! It was crazy confirmation that that is where the Lord is really leading me.
-A person was completely healed right outside the doors of LHOP of a broken bone!

That's just a few awesome things that happened within those few days together. That week was literally heaven on earth for all of us there. That is how heaven is-living in the constant glory of God, living in true covenant community with fellow believers, feeling whole, and moving in signs and wonders!


That is just the beginning of the incredible happenings that the Lord has brought in the past few months....More to come sooooonnnn!!!!!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Being Back

I have now been home from The World Race for about 2 months. My time at home has been so special with my family and especially with the Lord. I've been able to do a lot the things I've been wanting to do since being on the race-painting, designing clothes, taking bubble baths, etc. It's been so good and after a year of being thoroughly uncomfortable it's been nice to be comfortable again. But through a few events and a lot of refinement, I've realized a lot. 

I can't be comfortable anymore. I can't go a whole day sitting, doing nothing. I can't forget the things I saw this last year. I can't forget the tears I cried over the injustice and brokenness I saw in the world. I can't forget that orphan. I can't forget that one dying of AIDS. I can't forget that one. I still cry, pretty much everyday. I cry because I feel like nobody understands except for my AIM family. I cry because our churches are filled with lots of people, talented musicians, and a preacher but no Presence. I cry because I miss my church-on the dirt with 10 africans worshiping God with all that they have. I cry because so many do not know and live in community, but on the race that's all we had. I cry because I feel like a lot of the believers of 50 years plus really don't KNOW God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit. I cry because its hard being surrounded by televisions, entertainment, and materialism when all I want to be surrounded by is the Lord's presence and my brothers and sisters. I cry because it's disgusting how easy it is to fall back into the American way and mindset. I cry because I feel like the race was just a dream, that it really didn't happen. I cry because I feel like those I met will never hear the name of Jesus again. I cry because that one HEALED of AIDS may go back to his old ways and the healing be in vain. I cry because I know I can't just sit back and not be apart of that one orphans life. I cry because I know I have to go back. 

 I have to go back. Someday. I have to be apart of what God's doing. So please follow my journey, come be apart of what I'm doing and what God is doing through me and in me! Much love:)