He loves me for me.

I spent the morning with Wilder and was filled to the brim, overflowing with love for him, pleasure & delight over him.  As he sat on my lap, i clapped his hands, kissed his feet, and watched as his eyes began to squint and that fully gummed, toothless smile took over, joy filling all he was.  His smile undoes me.  As i sat there with tears filling my eyes, I thought how he does nothing for me, he just is.  He doesn’t perform, he doesn’t offer help or advice, he doesn’t demand m attention, and I am extremely proud of him.  Even in the moments where he won’t stop screaming & i can so easily get frustrated and overwhelmed… even in those moments, there is not one second that I wouldn’t lay down all I am for this precious three month old.

He looks into my eyes & I am undone.  I love watching him discover the world, get excited by the wind & the colors of nature.  I love seeing him learn about his hands and experience things for the very first time.

Oh, and how much more the Father is head over heels undone by me.  He longs to just BE with me.  Not because of what I can do for Him, or because of what I can offer.  But because I am ME and I am what He has dreamt of.  I am His dream come to life.

He loves me.

In my victories.

In my failures.

His love is not wavered by my doing or lack of it.

He sees ME for how He created me and He is enthralled.

I lock eyes with Him & he is speechless, filled to the brim & overflowing with joy & delight.

I can not do anything to gain an increase of affection.

I could not do anything for His affection to decrease.

And my living a life laid before Him comes from this place and not for this place.

There is not place like this place.  Freedom & Truth reign here.  Love abounds here & shatters every lie, it crushes all fear & shouts perfectly making all things new, making all things like HIM.

In this season of Marriage i am learning that when Shea is loved & comes alive, my hearts response is joy joy joy.  I love seeing him find true abundant life.  I come alive watching him come alive.  And it mirrors the Kingdom.  When God receives the glory, when I see Him getting the honor & praise He is due… When i see people coming into alignment with Truth & walking in freedom, receiving the gifts the Father has given, something comes alive in me like never before.  I get filled with joy, abundant life, and exhilaration when I see the Kingdom of God invade the earth by coming alive & transforming the broken & empty hearts into whole Children of God who know their dad & know they’re loved.

This place of knowing whose we are is what the world is missing.  We all long to belong.  And we search for it in so many things.  We fill that longing with work, additions, parties, family, friends, shopping, sarcasm, violence, anxiety, fear, doing good things, going to church, and bible studies.  We fight to prove ourselves worthy of love, worthy of being really seen.  But we perform our way to this & in the process we put up walls, doing exactly what we thing makes us “loved”, but for someone we are not.  And we hide behind these masks because “fall love is better than no love”, right?

We try to get out but we fail & go back inside our cages that make us feel safe, in control, and free.  The cage is a facade of freedom & safety.

And what we don’t allow ourselves to believe, but is the only ay to freedom, is that before you ever did, you were. And that’s what Chris laid His life down for, who you ARE.

Not what you can do.

He saw me, He saw you without walls.

He saw you without a lens.

He sees me pure, just me.

And that is who He loves, who He daily pursues.

I am loved, I am seen, I am fought for, I am pure, I am free.

I am not forgotten, I am not lacking, I am not bound, dirty or alone.

Truth sets us free.

And sometimes we have to speak this over our hearts until we believe it, until it becomes our reality.

Truth is a person.  He is alive & searching the earth for broken hearts that are hungry for truth, for lives in shambles ready for change.

We don’t have to get clean to come to His table.  When we arrive, he has a place with our name on it, and it’s His joy to wash us, to make us whole.  He doesn’t wash our dirty rags, but gives us fresh, never-worn, pure white robes.  He adorns us with His love.

He call us son; daughter.

He washes our feet & pours his most expensive possession out for us.

He withholds no good thing.

He loves without reserve.

He pours out without boundaries.

He is the perfect Father.

He is the good Shepherd.

He is the faithful Friend.

He has already won our battles.  He is the VICTORIOUS KING.

And when we say “yes” to Him… Each day waking up, no matter the success or failure of the day before, we give him a fresh YES to come and walk WITH us, we get to walk in the victory with Him.

But without Him we walk into a battle with no weapons or armor.

He give us Kingdom armor…

The breastplate of Righteousness.

The belt of Truth.

The helmet of Salvation.

The sword of the Spirit.

And shoes of Peace.

Father,

I ask right now that your Holy Spirit would come over every heart that stumbles upon these words, that you would awaken fresh hope and new eyes to see the way that you see.  I pray that all fear, shame, condemnation, anxiety, hopelessness, and everything that contradicts who you are, would be washed away under the blood of Jesus and that you would fill to overflowing the empty places within our hearts.  You are a good Father, you don’t ever disappoint or give false hope, but you give everlasting peace & hope that doesn’t disappoint… come and reveal your good nature, your faithfulness to our lives.  Thank you for the way you never give up but continually pursue us, inviting us deeper and deeper into your courts.  Give us the courage and bravery to say “yes” in the moments where things seem impossible, give us strength to dream again, hope to believe again, faith to trust again and reveal your Truth to us even greater today, Truth that sets us free.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Short Update & 2013 Travel Plans!

Hello everyone!

I have officially arrived back in Kona after a fantastic two and a half weeks away.  I was able to be home for the wedding and spend two weeks with my family, and then on my way to Kona I stopped in Seattle for a few days to get time with my boyfriend and his family.

While I was home I was able to share in my church on what I am doing in YWAM and really felt the Holy Spirit come into the room in a very sweet and tangible way.  It was so fun to be used by the Father to release His love and power to my spiritual family & those who have commissioned me out into missions.  I also held a Dessert Night where I shared in even great detail what God was doing in my life, in Kona, and in YWAM as a whole.  Even though it was only 2 weeks, it was such a full and wonderful time!!

     

Since arriving in Kona I have been so gladly thrown back into the swing of things.  We have over 100 people in the Awakening Track this quarter.  And man are they hungry!!  Although I have only been here a day, I have heard so many stories of what God has already done in the past two weeks of being together.  There is a great expectancy in all of our hearts for what's happening not only in our own lives, but what the Lord is preparing all of us for.  Ever since joining the Track, it has become a beautiful reality in my heart that we never "graduate" from learning, and for me that takes the pressure off of having to "get something" and move on!  I just keep letting simple truths sink into my heart and the Father continues to take me deeper in revelation.

Something I have always faced in my life is fear, but with always learning I am always being challenged in new ways.  I could lie and say that I hate it, and in certain moments it's not necessarily enjoyable… But at the end of the day when I have said "yes" to the Lord taking me somewhere with Him, I am always SO thankful that I did because He continues to break me free of fear and insecurities and I get to walk in the fullness of who He has created me to be!

After arriving back in Kona, about an hour after, I was told I was going to be leading an intercession set.  This looks like about an hour of leading 200 people in praying for revival in the world-wide church.  Seems pretty simple & easy, but instantly I was hit with fear.  Instead of sulking in it, I just said "yes" in my heart.  And you know what?  IT WAS AWESOME, ha-ha.  I felt so encouraged, free, alive, and full of joy when it was all over.  When we say yes to the Holy Spirit, He always comes.  We never have to fear being left!  No matter the circumstance or situation, He is always there.  He really is our strong tower, He really is a rock to stand on, He really is peace itself and love Himself.  It is so comforting to know I can trust Jesus to be who He says that He is!

I am also leading our "family time" in the Track tomorrow which is about an hour and a half with over 100 of the most wild-eyed revivalists who are hungry for the presence of the Father and fullness of what He has for our lives.

Needless to say, it has already been a full time back and I am thankful to be doing what I love to do!

I have a few fun updates on my plans for the remainder of 2013 and my travel dates!

Brave Love - from November 7th-12th I have been invited to Pasadena, California for a gathering of women called Brave Love.  The heart of this gathering is not that we would have a conference, but that we would become love activists.  We will be trained by women around the world who are living the message of love and be trained in becoming a messenger to a generation that is starting to see Jesus in our own hands and feet.  For this weekend I need $600 for a ticket and about $100 for food while I am there.

For more information on Brave Love please visit http://oneloveus.org

Strike Team - If you remember last March I was able to go to Amsterdam for two weeks where we worshiped, interceded, and served the YWAM base there.  We were able to lift up the arms of the ones who have been planting seeds and plowing in a place that can tend to get very heavy.  We were able to refresh the staff, pray and get life-giving words over each of them and give them a hope for what they are doing in Amsterdam.  Our time there was so fruitful that they have asked us to come back for another two weeks!!  We prayed and felt so honored and heard a clear yes from the Lord, so on December 1-15th I will be leading, along with Blake & Shannon Casteel, a group of us from the Awakening Track back to Amsterdam.  For these two weeks I will need $2,000 for my plane ticket, housing, food & transportation while I am there.

Home for Christmas - After Amsterdam, I have two free weeks where I am going to be able to visit Seattle with Shea (my boyfriend), and then we will both spend about 10 days in North Carolina for Christmas.  After this I will head back to Kona for the beginning of the January Quarter.

In order to go home, I will need around $2000 for my plane tickets from Amsterdam to Seattle to Charlotte then back to Kona.

I ask that each of you would pray and ask the Lord if you are suppose to give to these next three months!!  I am currently in the process of saving money and miles to be able to go on these missions trips but would love to have each of you be a part of the story that the Lord is writing!

If you would like to give financially, please email me back and I would love to give you options.

It is also possible to transfer miles over!! So if you have any extra that you would like to donate, we can talk about that too.

Thank you for already being a part of what the Lord is doing in my life.  I love to be able to share the victories & struggles with you.  Thank you for all of your prayers and support for my heart.

I love you all!  Have a wonderful day.

-Lizzie

The Harvest Is Ripe in America

Dear friends,

I am filled with such joy as I am able to tell you just a handful of the amazing things that God has done in my life, the lives around me, and in the world over this past summer.  It has been nothing short of overflowing with testimony after testimony of God's love for His children and deep passion for all to know His name an fall deeper in love with Him.  I have never in my life been more convinced that the Gospel really is the good news and the power that the blood of the lamb and our testimony has.  God is alive and moving in the earth, and me & you get to be a part of it.  How exciting!

Exactly 3 months ago (to the day!) I wrote you and shared what the first two weeks of the Summer Quarter looked like.  As I read back over what I wrote, I am amazed that it only got better from there.  Our expectation for the summer as a whole was that the Lord was going to do something out of the ordinary, that he was going to knit our hearts together and bring us somewhere in the spirit that we had never gone before, because of the unity we had with each other, and the holiness and purity we walked as we chased after being fixated with one thing, and one thing only; the man Jesus Christ.  And as I write you three months later, I am more than thrilled to report the summer has been just that… more than we expected and full of promises fulfilled by the Father.

I was so blessed to have many of you invest in prayer & finances as I got to go to Pennsylvania for Circuit Riders this past month!!  One day, we were praying for all of the CR schools going to Fiji, LA, Pennsylvania, Kansas City, Kona, & Norway, something began to happen in my heart unlike anything I had ever experienced as we prayed for the one in Lancaster, PA and I said to myself "I have to be there."  I didn't know how I was going to get the money, or if I would even be able to go…. Housing, food, transportation, and so many things were ahead to figure out but I knew I had to be there.  Something inside of me knew that if I went, my life would be changed forever.  After only one week, I think actually less than 7 days, someone pledged to match $1.00 to every $1.00 that I was able to raise!!  So I got myself in to gear and did everything I could.  At the end of those handful of days, the Lord had provided above and beyond what I needed!  He also got me free housing with some of my best fiends that was walking distance from the school being held and almost all my food was taken care of!  God is the God of abundance!

Circuit Riders kicked off in the heart of Lancaster, PA for a full week.  Every day we would have training with about 500 other students who had signed up for the school.  And every day that number would grow because people would get saved, and immediately want to come to training to learn how to preach the gospel…. and this was a reoccurring story!  Every night we opened up the place to whoever wanted to come as we worshiped the King of Kings, and heard a message from one of the leaders.  And again, we started at around 1400 people the first night, and by the last night we grew to just shy of 2,000 people!!!  In just 2 days of outreach we saw over 320 salvations and 60+ hearings, just on the streets in this small town!!  People are ready to hear the gospel, the harvest is ripe!!!

Every day I could feel more and more fear break off of me as I became convinced at the reality of the Gospel, and the sacrifice of Jesus' life for not only mine, but every single person in the world.  If God send His son to  died for every person, wouldn't He want every person to know about it?  And as Christians, we have the answer and the privilege of sharing it with a lost and dying world in need of a savior.  We all were there at one point, we all have been saved by Grace and not by works, but by a loving Father who is so desiring a world to fall in love with Him…. and now from that place of knowing who we once were, and where we once were, we get to tell the rest of the world the good news.  Hallelujah!!

As Circuit Riders traveled all around the world (but mainly in America), they figured out that there was 1 salvation for every minute of outreach.  Jesus Is Alive!!!  He is awakening His bride, saving the lost, and preparing us all for His great return!!  Being a part of this story is one of the most exciting things in the earth.

We were so privileged in Kona to have held a Circuit Riders two weeks after I returned and it was also amazing!  I got to lead a small group for training of about 14 people.  As we hit the streets all of the outreaches as a whole saw 10 salvations in town and a handful of healings too!  I personally was able to be a part of 3 stories of 2 young women and a teenage boy coming to know Jesus.  It was so wonderful to see things like this happen in Kona, right in our back yard!!

After going to PA, I was able to go to Washington, DC with one of my best friends, Grace.  While I was there I got a call from my dad saying him & my mom wanted to visit me before I headed back to Kona.  Our time together was so sweet! We were able to just enjoyed each others company, share stories from the places we all had been over the last 8 months apart, and were also able to love on people in the streets of Washington, DC.  It was so fun to be able to share the gospel with my parents by my side.  It made something in my heart come alive and it was so fun!

It's been four weeks since I returned back to Kona and have continued in the Track.   Just two weeks ago we had our quarterly Love Feast.  This is pretty much where we love on each other like crazy!!  We eat good food, we dance, we honor each other, and we have presentations from the electives that we have (Song Writing, Preaching & Teaching, Biblical Studies).  We had such a fun night all together and were able to reminisce about all the lovely things we were able to all experience over these past 3 months.

We are now at the end of the quarter & preparing for next quarter!!  The schools in the Track this past quarter were Compassion Ablaze, Community Transformations, and Crisis Response International and they have all transitioned into Staff Training and preparing for all of their students in the DTS' to come in just two short weeks!

I had the privilege this quarter as many of you know, to lead the Track with Blake & Shannon Casteel for the first time, and it went amazing.  So amazing that they have asked if I would join official leadership of the Awakening Leadership Track, and there was no hesitation in my heart!  In less than 2 short weeks we will kick off everything again for the Fall.  With around 100 staff coming to join us to be trained to staff DTS' this coming January, it is again the largest quarter we have ever had… and it just keeps growing!!  We are so blessed, and quite honestly blown away at how rapidly things are morphing into something that is wanting to be replicated on many YWAM bases across the world.  I don't know how I got into this position, other than the kindness of the Lord.  There are no qualifications on my part, except that He is my strength & qualifies me by His love and mercy every day.  Being in the Track, and now helping lead, my life has been extremely transformed in every way and I am so thankful for God's plans for my life overriding my dreams that I thought would satisfy.  He is so committed to each and every one of this and I am more convinced of it everywhere I go and with everyone I talk to.

In 3 weeks I will be headed home to North Carolina to spend 2 weeks with my family!  I am able to see one of my best friends from childhood get married and to meet my niece Dylan Rose for the first time!! I am very excited for this trip and appreciate your prayers as I am traveling!!

Thank you to every person who has invested in my life on this journey.  I am full of gratitude and thankfulness as I think of how each of you have had a part to play in this wonderful story.  I am blessed beyond belief!!

Have a wonderful day filled with the fullness of all the Father has to pour out on you!

You are very much loved.

-Lizzie Stein




For more information on the history/vision of YWAM and the purpose/heart of The Awakening Leadership Track, please visit another page on this blog:
http://shebegantofly.blogspot.com/p/vision-heart.html

If you would like to partner with me in prayer or be a one-time or monthly support please email me at oceansroar@gmail.com or click the following link: http://www.uofnkona.edu/support/missionaries/5644

God Loves To Show Up! [First 2 weeks of the Summer Quarter]

One of my favorite things about being on staff here in Kona is that every 3 months we start a new quarter.  This holds so much excitement in the days previous and especially the first couple of weeks in.  We experience a whole flood of new students who are desperate for change and hungry for God, people who have laid down everything they've ever known to have Jesus & discover the Truth, some for the 100th time, and some for the very first time.  The level of faith & expectancy is high, and not only do we love it, but God loves it.  We get to go to new heights every quarter, we get to see lives changed every 3 months, we get to experience a new side of God and go deeper in what He's already taught us.  If ever I forget the purpose of why God has me in this place, I am quickly reminded by the sweet Holy Spirit when I see lives absolutely transformed & laid down before the only who is worthy… and it compels me to go to that place of surrender again and again.

Just 2 weeks ago we started this wonderful process again.  5 DTS' were started: Awaken, Ships, Trailblazers, Island Breeze & Market Place, many 2nd level schools began, and over 80 people have come in to join the Awakening Leadership Track to be trained to lead over 3 DTS' next quarter.  And we have had an incredibly fun & fruitful time, to say the least.  Here's a couple of things that have been going on!

-- Every Monday night we gather together to worship for 2-3 hours, and pretty much just make space for Holy Spirit to take over our night.  The first one that we held, two weeks ago was amazing!  We saw over 20 instant hearings!!  One guy lost hearing in his ear, and instantly it popped and he could hear better in that one than the one that was fine!  Another girl was 100% healed from herniated discs all down her spine, while another one received healing from a headache & toothache!  Another crazy one was a torn ligament in a leg, causing a guy to not be able to jump.  We were amazed as we watched him jump up and down so high with no pain!  God really does love to heal, and loves to see us get so pumped again and again at the ways He moves!

-- The other day we got word that one of the schools Kona sends out, The School of the Circuit Riders, just finished in Fiji and they saw over 250 salvations in ONE WEEK!  Now they are headed off to California, Pennsylvania, Kansas City, Hawaii, Texas and ending in Norway!

-- Just in the past 2 weeks in the Track, we have seen people get set free from fear, break off life-long addictions, find family for the first time, and discover even greater the love of Jesus for them.  We have been gripped with holiness and laying down every part of who we are for the fullness of what God has for us.

We have seen miracle after miracle, a handful of salvations and have even baptized people right in the ocean downtown Kona just in the past 2 weeks… it definitely hasn't been a boring start, for sure!

(( Most of the things I have shared have only been a very small part of what we are involved in here.  If you would like to know a bigger perspective of what we do, please visit the University Of The Nations website at:  http://www.uofnkona.edu and http://thecircuitrider.com/school-of-the-circuit-rider/ ))

I want to thank all of you for praying for me & supporting me.  You are such a powerful people and I am really thankful for your friendship and all you've done to invest in me whether it be through finances, prayers, phone calls & pictures and sweet little updates.

It is always a little hard to be so far away from the ones you've grown up with and have gone through so much with.  Please know I miss you guys a lot and cannot wait to see those of you in NC in October when I make a visit home!

I pray that this update leaves you with joy, excitement, and fresh faith to see what God wants to do around you!  The thing I love about Jesus is that He loves to "wow" all of His children and to do amazing things no matter where we are at in our own lives and no matter where we may reside in the world.  So I would challenge & encourage you to really seek the Lord on what He wants to do in your life this week!  He is just waiting for hungry, faith-filled children to ask and say yes to what He has!

Me and some of my best friends here leading a worship & prayer set on Revival in America together!
[Grace (leading intercession), Tyler, Miriam and I singing, and Carly (leading worship)]

I will let you go with a fun little picture of Loren Cunningham, who is the founder of YWAM, and I… At our weekly staff meeting with the whole base 2 days ago, Loren shared an amazing word with us and I thought to myself, "I've been under this mans leadership and benefiting from His obedience for 3 years now, I really should get a picture!" and so I did.  He proceeded to pat me on the head and ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, because I am so short… then he chuckled at himself and called me cute.  It was a great moment, haha.  He is such a sweet man and I am so honored to be here bringing the Kingdom to earth and seeing lives radically changed for God's glory, and having a blast doing it.  

Thank you again!

Current Need:  In just a few short weeks The School Of The Circuit Riders starts in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  During this week some of my friends are also getting married there.  I have really felt it from the Lord that I am suppose to be there for this week, and am in need of finances to be able to go.  Someone has pledged me that for every $1.00 I raise, they will match it!  Which is absolutely amazing!  Currently I have raised $70, which brings me to $140.  I need to raise $730 more to meet my goal of $1600 by the end of this week.

I ask that you would prayerfully consider supporting me, whether it be $100 or $1... every penny counts!

God Is Moving!

What an incredible couple of days it has been!!  The week has been very full, with people coming back from outreach, people in the Awakening Track transitioning out of the track into staffing a DTS, I got to MC our Love Feast, and we got to do some really awesome community outreach!
But I wanted to share with you about the Community Outreach real quick, and then about our Outreach Testimony Report Back that all happened just yesterday!

          Every Wednesday afternoon we set aside time to go out into the community in various ways to do outreach.  As you know, we have been partnering with churches and distributing Bibles to the houses in Kona all around, and it's been amazing!!  We just heard that with our group and the DTS' that did their outreach here, over 150 families got a Bible for the first time in their home!!
Well, the outreach with the churches has ended so as we prayed about what we should do, someone got the idea to buy a bunch of burgers and head into town and pass them out to the hungry; so we did!!  We bought 20 burgers from McDonalds, walked about 5 minutes down the street and hit the beach where a bunch of surfers were.  We got to share the gospel with over 7 people and give them food.  Then we headed into town and met a bunch of homeless people who we were able to really love on.  Kona is full of people living on the streets, because it's so easy to do.  And a lot of them are caught up in drugs and drinking, so it's not uncommon to find them hiding out by the beaches and on the sidewalk drinking in the middle of the day.  We ran into about 5 people who were really drunk and just wasting the day away.  We got to share the gospel with them, pray with them, give them food, and show them Jesus' love.  It was so much fun!!

          Over the past 3 days, the campus has been filling up with the returning outreach teams who have been gone for 3 months in various parts of the world.  Fire & Fragrance teams returned from Monday morning until Wednesday morning, and it's felt like the biggest family reunion all week!! It's been so wonderful to have them back and hear all of the amazing stories.

[Pete & Kenzie Mitchell, and Ethan Leavitt as we are about to hit the streets!!]

          Every time a DTS returns, we all gather back for Outreach Testimony Report Back, where we listen to each outreach team share on the amazing things that happened, so we got to do that last night!  As I was sitting there, surrounded by well over 300 people, I listened to the stories of Gods faithfulness and His pursuit after the ones He has created and longs for, and my mind was blown at what I heard!!

The teams were sent out into India, Nepal, Amsterdam/London, South Africa, Uganda, LA, New York City, and DC.  The story of each was that the simple gospel was preached, and thousands came to know Jesus for the first time!

Uganda alone saw over 500 SALVATIONS!!  India saw in a short hour over 100 people instantly healed from major sicknesses and pains.

In Nepal, they told people that they would pray for them to be healed of whatever they had.  A man then walks up to them with a fractured wrist.  It was visibly obvious that the bone was out of place as it was penetrating the skin, and the man was in a lot of pain.  As the girl on the Nepal outreach team began to pray for him, all of the sudden they hear cracking and look down and his wrist had popped back into place and became COMPLETELY HEALED!!!!

This is just one of many many stories that we heard of over 2 hours of sharing.  It was amazing!!  With all of the outreaches combined, the Good News of Jesus was shared to over 5,000 people, and they saw over 1,500 salvations in just 2.5 months with 150 people sharing the gospel!!!  They saw blind eyes open, deaf ears begin to hear, they saw the dead raise right here in Hawaii, and many many more amazing things of Jesus pouring out His love.  Jesus is so ready to encounter His people and loves when we partner with Him and believe that He actually is willing AND able!  People are hungry to hear the GOOD NEWS of the gospel, and it's absolute proof by these testimonies.

[In the Fire & Fragrance Tent listening to the powerful testimonies]

I am so stirred by yesterday to not walk in any fear, but just to love on people the way that Jesus did and tell them of who He is and who He has been in my life.  Our testimony and story with Jesus is the most powerful tool that we carry to bring the kingdom to earth.

I hope you are all pumped & excited and that this put fresh faith in you for what God is doing all around the world!! I love you all and hope to hear from you soon!