Pass it on Tour.

We arrived home late Saturday night after spending the past two weeks visiting two country bush towns (Oakey and Dalby) on the Pass it on Tour.  The mission is to: Pass on the wisdom of God to the next generation.  The tour is a act of intercession and running.  Our teams physically run from town to town as an act of claiming the authority and land back as God's that we have given to Satan over the years.  We do different activities throughout the week we spend in each town including after school activities, prayer walks, lecture nights, free BBQs and island dancers.  Our goal is to promote family and encourage the youth in the various country towns.

Brad's healed ankle with our team!

Our team (Peru-I'm going to Peru in Nov. if I haven't said that yet!!) started running, we ran from Towoomba to Oakey and ran a total of 40km between 7 of us in a day.  We did a couple service projects, then headed to the next town, Dalby, to prepare for the big group coming behind us.  We were able to help out at a Relay for Life festival making homemade donuts and various other projects.

making donuts for Relay for Life

On Sunday we were asked to lead an evening service at a local church. I gave the sermon, a student shared a testimony and another sang a song.  We opened it up for prayer and so many people wanted prayer. We prayed for over 20 people probably and God did some sweet stuff!  Then we prayed for this young guy Brad, he had some pulled ligaments in his ankle and God told me to pray for healing.  We experience some healing that night and praised God for the progress we saw.  Then we saw him at school the next day without crutches walking perfectly normal:)  It was so fun to see what God had done!

Overall, it was a great time of learning, serving and growth.  We planted many seeds and helped the different churches in the community connect with each other.  Thanks for your prayers, we were in desperate need of them.

team Peru!

helping out with the local youth

work projects

there is no security in what God is doing, only in who He is.

Kristina and Meghan at the Gold Coast

Idun and Meghan at the creek

We are one month into the DTS.  Things are heating up quite a bit.  I tried to send out another newsletter today, but had some technical difficulties, so I hope to get one out ASAP.  God has been doing so much in our lives.  He has been taking all of us to deeper levels of intimacy and relationship with Him.  He has been teaching so many student's about His Father heart and what it looks like to receive His love.  It's still so hard for us to believe on a regular basis that God's love is free, unconditional, no strings attached.


God has been revealing His love, but also the reality of relationship with Him.  He wants every bit of who we are, no more, no less.  He is only satisfied when we are fully relying on Him, surrendering every desire, comfort and security to Him.

We have been having some great conversations with people on our Evangelism nights in the city.  I had the chance to speak with a Hindu man for over an hour about faith and Christianity.  In the middle of the conversation he said faith was a bad thing.  Then after praying with him, he looked at me and said, "it's so good to be around people with so much faith."  Ha!  I love how God can change people so quickly!

We are leaving tomorrow to be part of a running tour around Queensland, called the "Pass it on Tour."  Check out the website for more info. www.gopassiton.org.  Thanks so much for your prayers!

and we're off.

The DTS has officially been running for over a week now.  We spent the first few days in orientation and then we left last weekend for a retreat in the mountains.  It was a great time to get away, get to know everyone and a special time of sharing testimonies.  This week we had lectures on the "Character and Nature of God."  God has so much in store for this school, we can all feel it ready to burst at the seams.  I know I am bursting with love for all the students, they are so hungry for God, so ready to dive in and face everything and anything.

I've been able to have a few adventures of my own over the past couple weeks as well.  I rented a bike a couple weeks ago and headed to the mountains.  I ended up on top of a mountain and a bit tired to say the least, but it was well worth it.  Went rock climbing downtown Brisbane with a few friends.  I went hiking yesterday at a creek and was reminded of how beautiful the Brisbane area is.  Today a couple took us up to Mt. Nebo to view the amazing overlooks in the surrounding areas.

Please pray our students do not go home.  Satan often tries to convince them early on that it's not worth the journey.  Please pray the students would respond to God and not hold back, He's ready for them, but they need to be in a place of receiving from Him.  Love you all!

trust.

Trust is such an abstract idea.  So often it seems it would be easier if trust were more concrete, but really how often are ideas concrete?  How often does God ask us to do anything by following something concrete, like a formula.  Almost never.  I am a logical thinker, that's why I enjoy math and science.  I operate on definite, observable patterns and formulas.  When I follow a formula, I know what the result will be.

I often try to make my life with God into a formula.  I would rather have Him tell me exactly what is required and what the result will be in the end.  But the problem with living life that way is that you are able to remove God completely.  You no longer need Him to direct your steps because you believe if you are following the formula, you are following Him.  I think my greatest fear is a fear of the unknown.  I question where?  Who?  What?  When?  How?  I ask God for the next 20 steps, but He never gives them to me.  He only gives me one step...the next one...the only one I need, then He asks me to trust Him and wait with Him.

One thing I know to be concrete in this life is God and His promises.  I know He has promised His plans are to prosper me and not to harm me.  He has promised to never leave me or forsake me.  He has promised He is on my side and guiding me every step of the way.  Prov. 3:5 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart.  Lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight."

I continue to learn what it looks like for me to trust God more each day.  Going to church all my life it's really easy to spit out 100 definitions, but to tell you what it looks like played out in my life is a much more difficult task.  What does it look like for you to trust God?  Are you?

unexpected blessings.

God is so good.  I love how generous our Father is to all of us children.  I am so blessed by my church here in Australia.  During DTS, I attended a church family called Nexus.  Over the course of my time there, I was so encouraged by the people, worship and teaching.  The teaching is always so challenging, yet uplifting as well.  There was a middle-age couple who decided to be our parents away from home and took us in for home-cooked meals and provided transport to and from church.  Upon returning, we have been able to re-connect with the couple and meet even more members of the church.

The sermon this morning was on sowing, in regards to Luke 6 where the Bible explains we will reap what we sow.  At the end of the service the pastor encouraged giving and had myself and two of my other friends from YWAM stand.  He explained that we do not get paid for our ministry and encouraged people to give if they felt led.  I was astonished at the generosity of the people.  We had so many people come up after the service and place money in our hands and offer us a warm smile.  It was such an unexpected blessing and only a continuation of your generosity.  Thank you so much for being a part of the journey.  May the Lord bless you as you continue to sow good seeds in others' lives.

safe arrival.

Thank you to everyone who is a part of my life.  You are each such a blessing, whether you offered an encouraging word, listening ear, prayer, or financial gift, I thank you.  I arrived safely at the base in Brisbane yesterday morning.  My goal was to stay awake until 9pm, but I was in bed by 8:30pm...jet lag.  The weather is beautiful and it's so good to be here and to see so many familiar faces again.  I feel like I am returning from my home away from home.  Thank you so much for being a part of this journey and I look forward to what the Lord has in store!  I pray the Lord surprises you with His goodness today and reminds you how much He adores you:)

flipping omelets.

A couple weeks ago, I decided I wanted to learn how to flip omelets.  I shared by goal with a friend at work and we discussed the art of flipping omelets.  We discussed how you cannot try to do a half-flip, there is no 'playing it safe' when it comes to flipping.  In order to get the desired results, you must go all-in, you must fully commit, or you will end up with a giant mess and no omelet.  In order to come out with a good omelet, there is an element of risk involved.

This is very similar to our walk with the Lord.  Jesus asks us to walk on water with Him, to do the impossible.  I think that so often we try to put one foot in the water at a time before we commit to saying 'yes.'  We want to test the water to see how it feels, if it's comfortable and safe, we choose to focus on the water and our own well-being, instead of our Savior.  But Jesus never called us to a safe and comfortable life, He said 'follow me.'  End of story. God says in Revelation 3:16 "So because you are lukewarm- neither hot nor cold- I am about to spit you out of my mouth."  If we are following Jesus, we are either in or out, there is no middle ground.  Yet just as with flipping omelets, the more risk involved, the higher the potential reward.  If we risk everything for Jesus, He promises we will be rewarded, if not in this life, but in the life to come.

This morning, I went for it and my omelet was a complete, delicious success:)