Outreach Location!

Well... that wasn't a long wait! We found out this afternoon-

I'm off to Indonesia/Malaysia with THE BEST GROUP EVER! 

Leaders: Kat and Cory

Group: Me, Paige B, Sarah, and Lesley

I'm seriously so excited! Wahoo!

10/23/12

I'm just so excited, I'm gonna burst! There really isn't even a specific reason besides God is so good! Which is definitely reason enough to be excited. I'm looking forward to getting to know Him more and seriously I've never enjoyed life in this way more than I have the past few days. The funny thing is, these past few days I've been getting more and more homesick, I miss people and home, we're still waiting to hear about our outreach groups, and overall I've been really tired; the few days that nothing has really happened, I have had the best time in company with God and have drawn closer to Him! I've decided to keep pursuing Him even more and it has been so much fun. Yesterday during homework night with the whole class, I was sitting on the ground  working away and was distracted by an ant that kept crawling around my feet so I was intent on watching it, I was intrigued and amused... call me crazy. I was listening to my iPod, and all of a sudden the ant stopped, lifted it's front legs up in the air and literally started dancing... I'm convinced. It was definitely dancing to my music. I could hardly contain my laughter and who knows if anyone was watching me watch this ant, but I knew God was so amused too. I'm finding joy and love for everything, even the little random things that I used to overlook. I was going through the homework and eating up all of the verses and I was seriously SO tired, but got energized from the promises and truth in the bible that by the end of the night, I didn't even want to go to bed, all I wanted to do was spend more time with God. It's like I'm getting a glimpse of Heaven! It's so hard to explain what's going on with me inside, but all I can say is that it's life changing. It isn't life changing because I flew to Australia and decided to take a year off from college, it's life changing because I chose to pursue God and dedicate my time here to getting to know His voice and to fall more and more in love with Him. It's as simple as that. Already, I notice myself growing in joy, in patience, in humility, in hope, a new attitude... all of those things, but most of all in desperation. It's kind of an oxymoron, but it seems like most of what Jesus taught is that way; we have to die to ourselves in order to truly live, that to be a good leader we have to first follow, that in order to really receive we have to give everything away... so just like that- the more I get to know Him, the more desperate for Him I get. It's a beautiful thing.

Just some thoughts... but much love to you all and I'll post an update on what outreach location I'm chose and the groups when we find out!

Outreach locations!

Woooohoooo! Today we found out our outreach locations... it was through "Storytime with Nana" where our school leader, Hannah, dressed up as "Nana" and read to us a book they as a staff wrote. Meanwhile, they didn't specifically tell us that this was going to be the grand revealing of the locations, but we all are smart cookies and assumed. She read the book and it was all full of clever rhymes and hints to each place, while the other staff acted out what she was saying. It's so awesome to have such a creative staff group... they're all hilarious! After they went through all of the options, they told us that we aren't allowed to talk to each other about our decision making process or anything, which I think is really helpful because I would definitely consciously or subconsciously sway my choice to where some people decided to go. SO without further adieu:

India
Germany/Czech Republic
Indonesia/Malaysia
Russia
Peru

Yay! So those are the options... our deadline is Friday morning, so I will update on my final decision then.

Other than that, I've been learning so much... it's so hard to believe our whole week on Father Heart of God is already over, there's so much information to process and I feel unsettled in a way; confused almost. It's a lot to take in at once, but it's still amazing nonetheless. This week is on Hearing the Voice of God, hence why we found out our outreach locations this week. Our speaker this week Jason Solari is in charge of the independent film production here called The Initiative, he's an amazing and interesting guy so I'm really excited for this week. There has been an intense focus here on the importance of the relationship with God, rather than just a religious spirit towards God, which I have always been aware of the importance of that, but today he broke it down and peeled my eyelids back even further to a new perspective... seriously I'm blown away by the amazing teachers here. I say that I love God and am close to Him and that we have a relationship, but when I truly was honest with myself and thought about it, if God was a human being on earth, I would be the worst friend to Him ever. I don't even spend that much time putting in effort to getting to know Him! Only when I want, or when I do take out time, I expect Him to speak clearly to me or do something crazy so that I know He's there... anything for Him to basically prove Himself to me. It's disgusting! But it was such a great splash of ice cold water today because it gets me that much more excited to finally know why I felt so distant to God; it was because I was the one sitting back on the couch waiting for Him to serve me, while He has such a bigger plan! It's like me meeting someone, declaring we're best friends and then expecting them to know my favorite color, my mom's name, my favorite food, everything that's going on my life... and then also expecting them to come hang out with me and do whatever I want to do even if that's not what they like or have planned... Just because that's what I want to do or want from them. How ridiculous does that sound?! Because it is ridiculous, and selfish. It's what I have found I've done with God. We have this tendency to meet Him and declare that He's good and faithful and that we love Him, while we don't even spend time with Him. So, that's where I am! I'm excited to actually know God and know His heart, to grow in relationship and intimacy with Him.

I wish every one of you could be here with me experiencing the classes, community and activities, but am so glad you can still read glimpses here and I also just want to say thank you for being so active and involved in my life, I can safely assume that if you're reading this I miss you a lot and love you!

Much love,
Lyss

Dear... (your name)

God is so thankful for your heart. Although decisions that you've made have affected you, it is not the end. The hardness that has built up around your heart is not permanent. Your confusions about God is understandable and He isn't mad that you have questions. He isn't mad that you've ignored Him or haven't chosen to pay attention to Him. Whether or not you believe He's there doesn't affect His goodness and His presence and most importantly: His love. There's nothing you could do to make Him forget about you like many people have in your life. He's different, He's the exception. His love for you doesn't even seem to make sense, it doesn't make sense that He loves every one of us because we mess up and we make mistakes. But don't let that condemn you and don't let guilt and shame fall on you. Let acceptance of His love and willingness to receive His love pour out instead. Ask Him questions, tell Him your confusion and your worries, cry out to Him, even if it's like a temper tantrum kicking and screaming. He wants to listen. Because He loves you, unconditionally and without hesitation. He's waiting with His arms spread wide for you to turn around and leap into them. He'll pick up your feet when you can't and will never turn away. He isn't scared of your past or intimidated by your decisions. There's nothing you could have done to make Him cringe, because He chooses to only see you as who He originally created you to be. He'll speak to you, in visions or pictures, in a crystal clear voice, or in a simple thought. I promise. Just ask Him your questions with an honest heart and with patience... soon enough you'll silence yourself enough to be able to hear Him. Explore His love. It's worth an earnest try.


Much love,
Me

Ahhhh!

On Monday, we started lectures. Each week is on a different topic, so there are classes in the morning that pertain to that specific topic. This week is on the Character and Nature of God. Although it's pretty basic information, it's amazing how much God is revealing through our teacher, Hannah! The passion and new perspective is awesome and I've never been more confident in my faith until this week, just because of the truth that is spilled out and it seems like all of the pieces of the puzzle are fitting together in terms of the world and why it is the way it is. It couldn't get much better because it's so apparent that God's hand is on each word that is spoken here in leadership. She shared this video with us today during class... blew my mind! I'll link it here and you have to watch the whole thing.. you won't be disappointed.
Also, we had open community worship held here at the base. Whoahhhh! It was so freeing. Everyone went crazy and I loved it! There was such freedom in the room to dance or sing or shout or pound on the djembe or pray or reach out to others, or do all of it at once and mannn oh man. It was packed full of people and packed full of praise.. but the best part is that it was packed full of God's presence. In that time, it finally stopped becoming about me and my worries or me and my insecurities and instead was wholly focused on praising the one who created EVERYTHING. He doesn't need my praise, He already has the ocean and the stars singing Him praise every moment of every day. But that's what makes it so much more precious, and that's what makes it such a blessing to even be able to give Him worship. It's all about Him.