Ending A Season Victoriously!

Wow!  I am the worse blogger in the world.  It's been well over 2 months since I have written you, and I am super duper sorry!  I have no good excuse except doing the Lords work ;) haha.
How is everybody?  I feel I need a followers update on your hearts & lives back home and around me.

Things here have been absolutely fantastic & and I am completely filled with the joy, love, and faithfulness of my Father.  I just returned back to Kona from Irvine, California.  A lot of things have changed since I last talk to you, so I will get you updated just a bit!
We headed off to California on the first lovely day of July.  We lost housing 24 hours before we boarded the plane, and really didn't know what to do except pray, so we did!  Within that 24 hours, we received a phone call 20 minutes before we boarded the plane, saying we could stay the whole 7 weeks with a family who are pastors of Newsong Church in Irvine.  We headed out, and soon came to the obstacle of no transportation, but yet again! the Lord provided.  The family let us rent out their van from them for the whole time we were there.  We were blown away and so encouraged for what the Lord had for us!  As the weeks continued, the stories didn't change.  Yes we had our ups & downs, our highs & lows, but nothing could take us down.  We were strong & committed to the word of the Lord to be in California.  About 4 weeks in my co-leader, Kellye, and I felt the Lord nudging in our spirits to stay in California (we had originally planned to finish the 4 weeks of outreach in New York City).  After praying with our leaders, bringing it to the team, we were all in complete agreement this was from the Lord & we decided to stay.  Thank goodness we listened because let me tell you, those last 3 weeks in California were the best of all outreach!
We had the privilege of joining the Circuit Riders for the last 2 weeks we were there, for as much as we could.  We still stayed with our normal ministries, but used all of our free time to be involved in what the Lord was doing in & through them.  To read more about who they are & what they are doing, go to the Fire & Fragrance - Circuit Riders website).  We were able to be a part of over 100 salvations in 4 days, over 50 healings, mass revelation & downpour of the Holy Spirit daily for 2 full weeks!  Every night we ended on Huntington Beach at the Hilton Hotel.  They rented out a big white tent & each night it was bombarded with drug addicts, atheists, the broken, the lost, the homeless & the hurting and all, in one way or another, encountered the love of Jesus.  It was a powerful time.
On September 3rd at 7am we boarded a plane and flew back to Kona, our home sweet home with our big Call2All family.  And man has it been refreshing!  We all spent the first night back together eating pizza, drinking sodas, having a party & sharing stories.

So now it is Monday & tomorrow we are starting our debrief week.  This is where we share even more stories & testimonies, hear each others hearts more in depth, and share in the victory of all that the Lord did on outreach & the past 6 months we have been together.  It's basically like a family reunion for a week straight, super fun!  The students will graduate on the 21st of September and then we are done!  I cannot believe it's already been almost 8 months since I arrived here & 6 months since the school started.  The consistent thread throughout this whole time has been the faithfulness of the Lord over our school. Time & time again He proved Himself worthy of ALL praise & worship.  Something all of my girls said at the end of the outreach was "We have completely fallen in love with the man Jesus, and have no reason not to give our whole lives to Him."  If that is all I saw through this whole thing, it would have been worth it... Because if we do not have that as the foundation, nothing else matters.  But! we saw even more than that... Because we had that foundation everything just began to overflow out of that place of intimacy with Jesus.  HE IS SO GOOD!
I am incredibly encouraged, lifted up, walking victorious in Jesus & what He says.  I am in love & overwhelmed with His goodness to ALL of His children.

I apologize this is so short, but I would love to tell more of the stories in person.  Thank you to every single person who invested in this time in my life.  Whether you gave financially, or prayed, or just thought about us on our journey, it was all needed & I am deeply deeply thankful for your investment.  The Father will bless you immensely for being a part.

God bless!

-Lizzie

The amazing women that I have the privilege of leading, at

Universal Studios for our Debrief Week of outreach!

Hello from California!

"Seek first the Kingdom and all these things shall be added unto you."
"The winter has past and the springtime has come."
"Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?  He who has clean hands & a pure heart."

What does it look like to live a lifestyle of ministry, of pouring out your heart to the broken and the needing, to walk hand and hand with Jesus wherever the Holy Spirit may lead, and not get burned out?  As Christians, this is a huge question, and a necessary one to figure out because we are called to live this type of lifestyle.  Whether you are called to the "mission field", to the marketplace, to be a stay at home mom or dad, or whatever you want to categorize it as... We are all called to live a life worthy of the gospel.  I believe we can find all the answers in the Word, by revelation through the Holy Spirit, and then by acting it out.

I've been in the lovely state of California for a total for 18 days now, and let me just say: it's been amazing.  Yes, California is amazing... but living in community with an incredible family, spending every morning with my team before the Lord, playing with children, setting up ministry nights, hanging out with the homeless, hearing the unheard and touching the shunned...  I could do this for the rest of my life.  As Kellye and I headed in to this outreach, we really felt it was on the Lords heart to create a lifestyle of ministry, something our team could continue even when their DTS was finished.  Little did I know, it was something I needed to learn, maybe even more.  The Lord has opened up a place in my heart I didn't know existed, and I'm finding out that the closer I get to Him, the more it's not actually my heart, but it's His heart inside of me, and when I rely on HIS strength and not my own, I can do anything.

For the past 2 1/2 weeks we have been blessed in more ways than I could tell you.  We received so many words about us having favor on this outreach, and that word has already been fulfilled time and time again.  One day before we left, we lost all of our housing for LA & found out that we only had $150.00 for transportation for 7 weeks.  Leading a team of 5 girls, that's just not okay, haha.  Well of course the Lord was faithful and 20 minutes before boarding the plane, we received 7 weeks of housing with Dave Gibbons (Pastor of Newsong - Irvine) & his family, and was provided with transportation.  That was just the beginning of it.  Because we lost housing & moving from LA to Irvine, all of the contacts also changed.  Well of course the Lord came through again and all of our contacts were provided here in Irvine.  There have been healings, salvations, breakthroughs, and the list goes on and on.  OH! And the house cooks Gluten-Free so that's always another blessing :).  When we trust in the Lord, when we put our hope in Him, we will NOT be disappointed!!  Because He is not a God who disappoints, but gives good gives to His children.  I am so happy to be His daughter :).

I want to share a little bit of the ministries we are working with this way you have a little bit of an idea of what happens on a day to day basis!


In the mornings we spend 2 hours before the feet of Jesus, worshiping, praying, and then figuring out what the day will look like.  On Tuesdays through Fridays we go to a place called Bishop Mannor.  It's a community of 1/2 Hispanic &  1/2 Cambodian that is run by gangs, but they have an after school program run by an amazing lady, Norma.  So we go in from 1030am-1pm and do crafts with the kids, play with them in the pool, have a 500 water balloon fight, teach them bible studies, and really whatever we want to do.  Norma has given us free reign to do whatever we want to do, and it's a blast!!  The kids range from ages 4-15 and are so hungry for friendship & truth.


Depending on the days we do different things.  On Thursday afternoons & Saturday mornings we spend about 3 hours downtown Santa Ana which is about 15 minutes North of Irvine.  There is a community of about 300 homeless men & women who live around the library.  We have an amazing time going there.  We are working with an incredible friend of Dave's, Maribel.  She has an incredible story of the Lord redeeming her heart & life and we feel so privileged to be partnering up with her.  When we go we pray for people, build relationships, hand out watermelon & water, and really just try to love of them the best we can.  Because in the end all we have to offer is the love of Jesus.  We have met some incredible people on these days.

As soon as we arrived, we were invited to come along side of Newsong and help with any area we were willing to.  So to start off we joined their Sunday morning prayer team.  This has been an incredible time of growing our faith, seeing salvations & healings while praying for people, and just stirring our hunger for more.   Along with that we are also a part of helping launch a new ministry there called "Soak".  For those of you from River Life Fellowship, it is kind of like "God Encounter".  It has been so awesome helping the worship leader of Newsong, Neah, set up this night.  Our first one was this past Friday and we have already began to see healings and the restoration of hearts.  The Lord just continues to pour out His grace & faithfulness.


We have also done a lot of Treasure Hunts in the malls around here, been able to pray with the owner of a major hotel in Irvine & pray for the hotel and it's future.  The Lord has provided so many opportunities for us to invest in relationships and build up the church and connect different people, which was our whole heart for this outreach.  We are so excited to see all that the Lord does because if He has already done so much in just 2 1/2 weeks, what else does He have in store for us these next 5 weeks we have left in Irvine!?
Thank you all so much for your prayers and partnering with us.  We have already been transformed and the Lord is continuing to do such a great work, not just externally but also internally in each one of us.  He is faithful and worthy of ALL our praise!!
If you would like to read more about what He is doing, please follow our Team Blog by clicking here: Call2All - LA/NY.  I'll leave you with a couple more pictures from some fun things we've been able to do :)

The first picture is of all of us girls after our first night of Soak with Neah (the one in the middle in the pink).  Then the second picture is of Kellye (my co-leader) & I on the 4th of July hanging out while watching the fireworks in the 3rd picture.
The 4th picture is our whole amazing team right after church at Newsong for the 2nd time! (from left to right: Erin, Rami, Kellye, Me, Rosey, Nali, & Jamie)

I love these girls so much!!  I could not have asked for a more incredible and full of fire set of women.

Time to Come Alive!

Oh Jesus you are SO good.
It's 3pm and I'm in California.  Yes, you heard me right, CAL-I-FOR-NIA. I've never been here and might I say so far, it's everything I hoped it to be and i've only been here a little bit.  I am outside in the backyard of the Gibbons house in a little neighborhood in the heart of Irvine.  Trees, purple flowers, green grass, perfect 75 degrees (my favorite) with a slight breeze.  Did I say how at peace I am?  Well... I am.  You see, before getting here, we had quite a journey.  Our team changed 4 times, we lost all housing and transportation 2 days before leaving... One thing after another came our way to take us out.  My father said on the phone as I talked to him about everything going on, "You know it's because the enemy is about ot be taken out so he's using anything and everything he can to distract you and take you out before he is." we've only been here a few hours and he was right!  Did I mention we got all 7 weeks of housing 20 minutes prior to boarding the plane?  And in the house with me is another girl who is gluten free?  Needless to say the enemy is being taken out and whatever tactic he might have simple WILL NOT WORK.  Why?  Because we've already won... The victory is already ours - now we just live it out.  So i push past the pain in my joints that continues to get worse, the ache in my stomach and this attack of confusion on my mind because I know we have glory in tribulation and it produces perserverance, which prudces character and character HOPE.  Hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the HOly Spirit who was given to us [Romans 5:3-5].

Breathe in.  Breathe out. The winds come and go through the trees and the birds whistle their tune.  Thank you Jesus.  You are Faithful.  There is NONE like you.  ONLY you satisfy.  You've won my heart over again and again and again.  I am yours forever and this outreach is yours for the wrecking.

It's a freedom you've never known or seen and it comes by realizing the love of the King.

It's your Fathers hand behind you, It's my voice all around you.

It's no fear and it's no restraint.  It's living out love & beauty with Kingdom strength.

It's piercing to the eyes.  It goes straight through stone hearts.

It's alive & fun and It's about to run.

It opens the closed & brings light to the dark.

It's unlike any other thing and it's released from your heart.

Spread your wings & become alive

For this is why you were created to fly.
Break every box. Shatter every fear.

For the Kingdom of God is here.

One Day Away!!!

Well... in just a little over 24 hours I will be boarding a plane and headed to L.A. !!  I am super super excited, a little nervous, but more excited than anything.  I kind of don't know what to expect.  I've never done intentional ministry anywhere but 3rd world countries, and I've also never even been to California... So this is going to be quite interesting!! :)  God knows what He's doing and all I can do is put all of hope & trust in Him because time and time again He's proven Himself worthy!

Before we headed out I wanted to introduce you to my team more properly.  Enjoy this beautiful photos taken by my friend here, Josie Farrior.

 

Individually:

Me ;) 

From: Cornelius, North Carolina

Age: 20

  Erin Crain

From: Washington

Age: 32

Nali Kim

From: Pennsylvania

Age: 20

Rami Son

From: Ecuador

Age: 28

Rosemary Cho

From:

Age: 17

Kellye Vetter: Co Leader :)

From: Oklahoma

Age: 21

Jamie Chang
From: Indiana

Age: 18



















See you on the road! :)

LA & NY Here We Come!!!

Wow.  Has it really already been 3 months since I started this journey?  I honestly cannot believe it.  In ways it seems like it just started last week, in other ways it feel like I've been doing this forever.  Regardless of what it feels most like, I wouldn't trade a second of it for anything.  I've learned so much, I've grown so much and been set free in so many different ways and depths and it's only just begun really!

I am sitting on my couch right now in my room with so many emotions running through me... 2 of my roommates and fellow staffers have already left, one to Kenya & the other to the Philippines.  Brazil has already been invaded with a team as well... In just a few 4 days I will be leaving as well.

                                                 My Co-Leader & I, Kellye Vetter 

On Wednesday I will be landing in Los Angeles leading a team of 5 amazing woman (Rosemary, Jamie, Rami, Erin, & Nali) with my co-leader Kellye Vetter.  in L.A. we will be going to universities, setting up Open Mic Nights at cafe's, street evangelism, working with orphans and prostitutes, hanging out and worshiping in parks, loving on the homeless and the wealthy all with a heart to love those who have never seen true love, to bring a heart of Kingdom Family into a dry & thirsty land, to set the captives free, heal the sick & raise the dead... We want to live the abundant life we have been given through grace by Jesus Christ everywhere we go... to set ourselves on fire with the love of Christ and allow the world to watch us burn.  After 7 weeks of that, we will transition and fly to New York!!  Our heart is the same for this place, although it will look a little different.  We are partnering up with Models of Christ and working at the Fall Fashion Week.  Some of us will be back stage dressing models, others of us will be interning with photographers and bloggers and also getting into the shows. During this week we will be hosting a burn & partnering up with 3 other YWAM teams to set the tone of the love of the Father to flood through this week.  We will be in NY a total for 4 weeks.  Then we head home!!

That's the outline, but doesn't even scratch the surface of what Jesus will do.  We are expectant to see crazy crazy things happen and aren't afraid to pray faith filled prayers of craziness.  We love Jesus and want to live like it and see other people transformed by it.  It's that's simple and that amazing.  We are so stoked! I am so stoked!!

Please partner with us in prayer if you want to!  America is a hard place, hungry and thirsty for truth, and we fully believe we are entering into these major lands at a perfect time when the people are ripe for Jesus and we cannot wait to see what it looks like.  Thank you all for your prayers thus far!
Please continue following this blog as we travel and I will also post another link soon for our Team Blog that will be updated weekly.

I love you all and miss you a lot!!!

The Whole Team Taken @ Love Feast

 [From Left to Right: Rami, Jamie, Rosemary, Me, Kellye, Erin, Nali]

Simple & Profound.

Jesus is so good.

I could just put that as my blog post, and I feel that it would fully explain everything that I could ever say.  It's that simple.  And it's that profound.  There is nothing about Him that isn't good.  Everything about Him is good.  Not just somewhat good, not just sometimes good, but ALL of the time ALWAYS 100% good.  Could it really be that true?  Could He really be that good?  Yes. Because it is & He is.

I've been in Kona now for a little over four months.  You have read the few posts that I have shared my heart in, but no words could describe all that the Lord has done in my heart.  Freedom after freedom after freedom.  From glory to glory to glory.  Revelation after revelation, wisdom upon wisdom, joy for mourning, oil of gladness for the spirit of heaviness... I could go on and on about all that has happened.  Not just in the physical, but more importantly in my heart.  I have been transformed.  Why?  Because He is good & His love for me is eternal.  And not only is that something that I feel and see daily, it's what everything else comes from.

See there's this place that Abba desires to take us all.  It's not the "end".  He isn't there for us so we can get into heaven.  He isn't a means to an end.  But rather HE is the end.  He is heaven.  He is the kingdom.  And what I've been realizing, daily, and even now as I am typing this, is that our whole mindset is messed up.  God didn't send His son JUST so we could go to heaven.  I mean, Heaven is amazing, don't go me wrong.  But it's not the end.  The end is Jesus.  It's being in relationship with Him.  It's seeing LOVE.  It's showing other people Truth.  It's living abundant life.  It's not about struggling for a few 70 years on earth and then finally getting to heaven.  It's about living out the Kingdom on earth, it's about bringing heaven to earth. "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." It's not a sweet little prayer.  It's a prayer dripping with a passionate Father who is desperately crying out for His children to look Him in the eyes, to know who He is, and to walk out who He is in them.  It's a song overflowing with the melodies of heaven.  It's a cry that we would deny ourselves daily, die to our selves in every situation, pick up our cross, and live as Jesus lived.

This may seem simple to you.  And it is.  But it's my heart.  It's the journey that the Lord is taking me on.  I have experienced the good.  I have experienced the bad.  I know heartache, I've walked through loss.  But even more than my failures, even more than my sad days and painful moments, even more than seasons of wilderness and seeing the enemy win in situations... Even more than all of that, I see that the Lord is good and His mercies endure FOREVER.  I see that His perfect love casts out all fear.  I see peace that surpasses ALL of my understanding and it guards my heart & my mind in Christ Jesus.  I see that HE is love and that He will never leave me nor forsake me.  I see that He fights for my heart.  I see that in Him we have all authority.  I see that the victory has ALREADY been won & that my life was created to fall deeply in love with my creator & live out the victory that He's fought and won for me, and for the rest of the world.

Jesus loves you so much.  His desire for you is so far beyond anything you could ever desire.  It erases all of the fear, it eliminates any shame or condemnation.  His love breathes hope, it drips with power & anointing.  His love speaks volumes and it's the faintest whisper.  His love for you is like a warehouse of treasure boxes just waiting for you to open.  He never disappoints, He never leaves, He never forgets.  He has always been there.  He doesn't look on you with eyes of pity... But rather He looks at you and sees you as His son.  He looks at you and sees you as His daughter.  All that you've done is wiped away, anything you've ever looked at, anything you've ever done, any thought... It all gets covered in the blood.  Because before you were even born, before sin ever took place in your life... Jesus saw you, He knew you, and He died for you because you were that precious and knew that your heart was that worth it.

This is my Jesus.  This is my love & my friend.  He is my strength.  He is my hope & my fortress.  He is always there.  He is closer than I even hope for Him to be.  He is the melody within my heart.  He is the song that I sing.  He is fulfillment of all good things.  He is my deliverer, one who brings freedom. He has saved my life.  He has raised my heart from the grave.  He has made me alive & free.  He created me to live for eternity, with Him, with my Abba, with Holy Spirit.  He has anointed me, appointed me, and set me a flame with a love that burns everything else away.  He has pulled me into His family & called me daughter.
This is who He is.  This is who I am.
And nothing will ever change it.

Thank you for supporting me to come here.  To pour myself into others.  It has been the most life changing season ever, and I fully believe it will only get better.  I have fallen in love with my students and my heart has grown bigger than I ever thought it could.  I am surrounded by an incredible family who fights for me and walks next to me.  I could not have even dreamed that this is what the Lord has for me.  He is that good.

Victory.Revelation.Freedom....Jesus!

You know when you feel like if you felt any better, you might just explode?  That's kind of what's been going on in my life.  Day after day, more freedom.  Day after day, more victory.  Day after day, more revelation.  Day after day, more Jesus.  I don't think I could live any other way.  And I see the students that are in this school catching on to it.  So many come from different places, all around the globe, in all different areas & stages of their life.... But they are catching a glimpse of the Fathers heart for them, and it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.  To see broken, hungry & thirsty children of God eat the bread of LIFE and drink of His blood that totally wrecks them anything else but the Father, it makes my heart feel things I have never felt before.  I catch myself continually saying/thinking "I just can't believe it. Is this real?"  If you would have told me a year ago I would be this alive, this free, this full, this healed, this liberated, this full of Jesus and this in love with Him, leading people in amazing breakthrough, making incredible friends with 45 people as we do life together and find freedom in Jesus... I probably would have not believed in my heart that it was possible, although it was fully what I wanted.  And now, here I sit, with all of that to be true and it continues to pour in, as I continue to pour out.

I apologize for not writing sooner.  I love to write, and you all know that.  It's just... A lot of what is going on, I find a hard time putting words to it.  He is the indescribable one, so I figure if He is, than the manifestations of who He is would be also, right? Right.
I feel like the best way to share with you is maybe to just state a few things that have become Truth to me, in my heart, in the past couple of weeks.  I hope & believe that you will find freedom in Jesus through them, and as you breathe in who He is, I know you will look more like Him, act more like Him, smell more like Him, and live more like Him... And who wouldn't desire that?

• In my weakness He is made strong:  Day in and day out, the more I think about Him... the more that I think on things that are of eternal worth, the more I CHOOSE to walk in who He has made me to be, the more happier I truly am.  Not a happy on the surface (although it seems to just pour out), but more so the joy that I have on the inside... It has been rooted in my heart, not by my experience (for if it was because of experience I might be sad), but by the Lord being Lord over my heart, over my life, and it's the only way I know how to live when He begins to be everything in me.  It sometimes that I can rely on.  I cannot put my hope on things below, but rather on things above.  Things here will disappoint: people, money, songs, experiences, coffee (haha).  In the end, as I allow myself to be broken, as I embrace to rawness & transparency, as I allow the Father to humble me... He is given the most glory, HE is able to show His strength because I am not trying to prove my strength, which is none compared to His.  This is where true live begins to be experienced... When I give up my life completely for the life of Christ.  "To live is Christ, to die is gain."
  
  
• I am worth it because He loves me:  God knew what He was doing when He made me.  He didn't mess up.  He didn't do something wrong, and He didn't even second guess Himself.  No, instead.... He loved what He made so much that He took me in as His own.  He knew that my value was of so much that He, before I was even born, sent His son so that we could walk in communion & intimacy with each other, not just for "as long as we both shall live" but rather for eternity!  Now if that is not love, if He does not think I am fully worth it... I honestly don't know what else would say that.  He loves me, because He loves me, because He loves me... and because of that, I am worth it... I am worth the fight, I am worth the tribulation, I am worth the love, I am worth the obedience and sacrifice... I have enormous value.  He LOVES me, with a 1 Corinthians 13 love.  Thank you Jesus!
  
  
• Only Jesus satisfies:  As many of you know my story, you also know it's been one of a lot of searching for satisfaction in the least of satisfactory things.  Some of us go through it more extreme than others, and some of us more evident than others, but I believe it comes out in everyone sometime or another, whether big or little things.  I believe a lot of the reason it happens is because Jesus wants us to CHOOSE Him.  He doesn't want to be loved or sought after because it's the "christian" thing to do, but rather He desires our love to be raw and pure so much that He gives us a choice.  And sometimes we don't choose Him.  But, I have fully chosen Him.  And this season that I've been in here has been a realization that nothing else satisfies but the King alone.  It all starts with Christ, and it all ends with Christ.  There is no one else, there no other thing.... No dream, no vision, no future, no man, no lifestyle, no beverage, no drug, no addiction, no song, no instrument.... Nothing. Else. Satisfies.  It feels so good to say it, and know that it's what my heart truly believes now.  I would have never said before that He doesn't satisfy, but in my heart... I was searching.  I was searching for a place to go to FEEL Him, but sometimes, it's not about the feeling.  Actually, it's never about the feeling.  I believe He gives us the feeling, and I'm so thankful He does because it's a blessing.  But it's about a choice to love, It's about a choice to believe, It's about a choice to walk it out, It's about a choice to answer to the one who first called us, to love back the one who first loved us.  We didn't do anything, He did it all... And He gives us a chance to respond to His wooing.  What a faithful God, a loving Friend, a true Father He is.
  
  
• A Future Decision: After a series of events, and praying about a few different things... The Lord brought peace to my heart after one night of spending time at His feet.  I simply heard Him say after I was searching through different things to do after this DTS, "Why do you continue to rule out staying here?"  I didn't realize that I had done that, I just didn't even think that it was a possibility, haha.  Then I felt Him say "This place is a green house for you spiritually, would you stay if I asked you to?"  As soon as I heard Him say that, it was like my heart took a big sigh.  I felt relief, I felt joy, I felt bliss in the Father and I knew in my heart it was the best thing for me.  He knows what I need, He knows what I want... And as I align myself with Him, a lot of the time those two line up as well.  So I have decided to come back, after the beginning of the year (2012), and spend two years here.  I imagine I will be coming home within those 2 years, but I don't know when or how (depending on financial things).  I will be working with Ronda & Aaron Barker (who I am working with now, and who have become family to me in so many amazing ways).  As it gets closer to the next season I will have more of an idea of what that looks like, but at this point I'm pretty positive it means staffing another DTS next April.  As I know more in detail, I will make sure to include you in on that :).  I am so excited for what the Lord has.  HE is faithful!!  I am so blessed, I am so full of His heart for me, and for those around me.  This is life.  He has come to give us abundant life and I KNOW I've online began to see a little bit of how that is played out in my life.

You are all amazing.  I hope you are blessed, that you are filled with Jesus and that you experience Him every day in new ways, in old ways, in crazy ways, in subtle ways.... In every way that He chooses to fill your life :).

a SMALL update... + a few pics!

I honestly feel like it was just yesterday that I updated you guys on what's been gong on.  I cannot believe how fast this DTS is going, and how MUCH the Lord is doing in such a short amount of time.  Before the school started, I really felt like I heard the Lord say that it was going to be a time of acceleration, and of course He stayed true to His word.  I do not have a lot of time today to update you on everything, but I just wanted to check it and let you guys know I am doing amazing.  The Lord has really been doing so much in the hearts around me and in mine as well and I couldn't be happier to be walking in His will for my life, it's the best thing ever!!
I will try to update tomorrow again on my day off and let you know more in detail what's been going on.  But for now I will leave you with a few pictures from the past couple of weeks :)

This was at open mic night, just last night.  We all got together and had a fun night at the cafe, and Vanessa spiced up the place with some fun decorations.  This was one of the tables :)

This is some of the DTS praying for one of our students, Greg.  We is going to do some more ministries somewhere else.  It was sad to see him go but we had a really awesome time sending him off and blessing him!

 Me & Nali, Rosemary & Erin: All just hanging out one night.  These lovely ladies are some of the ones coming to LA & NY together with me.  They are incredible!!!

This is our DTS!!!!  I think a handful are missing, but this is the majority of all of us.  I have fallen in love so much with this family!!

Kelly Farley and I hanging out at Dodgeball Tournament Night.  I love this girl.  She has become such an amazing friend!!! (I am also discipling her which is SUPER fun!)

Rosemary :) One of the girls I'm discipling and she's coming to LA with me! She has such a beautiful and tender heart.

About to head off to the girls sleepover (all 32 of us in one house! It was a blast!)  This is Monja & she's from Germany & is AWESOME!

Vanessa!!! She rocks my world, has a beautiful heart (and face!), and is just... all around amazing.  This was at the sunrise service on Easter :)

Kellye Vetter!!! Ahh man... my heart!! I love her so much, AND we get to lead outreach together!!! Praisem!!

Hahahha..... Make your eyebrows angry, now smile!!! :)

And working on the kitchen crew!! We each how a certain amount of hours we have to fill each quarter to help out the campus, and we got to wash dishes for 2 weeks.  It was really fun.











So that's all for now :) I hope you got a good little glimpse of what happens day in and day out.  You know the normal stuff like healing hearts & breaking bondages & destroying fear and becoming free and having a lot of fun all at the same time, haha.   Have a beautiful weekend and we shall chat soon!

Simple Obedience...

I went to Lava Java this afternoon, a cute (but expensive) coffee shop/breakfast, lunch, & dinner restaurant.  It's flooded with people, in & out, all day long.  I came here today to get off of campus and just enjoy a couple of hours with just Jesus.  I grabbed my double large caramel Machiatto, opened up my journal with my Bible close beside and just began to write.  The wind was blowing, it was a bit cloudy, with the ocean in front of me and conversations surrounding me.  I began to think about the cross, all that Jesus did for us.  I saw all of these people, and my heart began to hurt.  I am surrounded by the hurting, the broken, the rich & the poor, the hopeful & the hopeless.  The ones that are full of life and then the ones that are dead inside.  There are ones who are on vacation, getting away from the life they live back home, and some of them, this is their home.  Others are in a transition period, and some even are stuck.  The broken, the needy, the hungry, the searching, the empty... All I want is Jesus to come.  I begin to feel a deep hunger inside of me for the hunger of these daughters & sons of God.  Do they know Him?  Do they even want to know Him?  I want to help.  I don't even want my fear to hold me back from a child being encouraged by Truth, or being awakened by love for the first time.  No matter what the request, Lord prepare my heart to say "YES!" with everything in me.

As I sat there, journaling all thats going on inside of me, I prayed that the Lord would use me, in any way He wanted to.  All of these thoughts kept running through my mind...
"Should I stand up and preach the gospel?"
"Should I just say 'God bless you'?"
"Should I smile really gentle at that woman?"
I didn't know what to do.  I wanted my mind to silent, and for my spirit to take over.  I've been practicing this living from the inside out, instead of the outside in (look at my previous blog).  I look over at this family, and I feel the "yes" of the Lord. "Now what?" I think.... "Write a letter."  "A letter Jesus?  What would I even say? I don't even know if they know you, and that would change the whole thing." "It doesn't matter... I will write the words. Write them a letter of encouragement and blessing."  I tear a piece of paper out of my journal, pull my Bible a little closer, look at the family, and my heart sinks into the pit of my stomach.  Something is happening inside of me, I begin trembling, and the Love of the Father over this family hits me.  I begin to feel the impact of the cross, just a bit of it, for this husband & wife and their 2 sons.  They are probably just on vacation and don't expect anything from anyone, they might even be hoping nobody talks to them... Welp, they are in for a treat, haha.  I begin to write.  The Lord gives me words.  Blessing & Encouragement, Blessing & Encouragement, Blessing & Encouragement.  I fold up the letter, I walk over, I explain a little bit that I felt I was suppose to bless & encourage them... their faces look up with surprise, but their eyes glaze over with a peace they didn't have before... and I left.

I don't know what happened with them after wards.  They may have been super encouraged and shared the letter with the whole table.  They may have been weirded out.  Whatever the case is, a seed was planted, and that's all I was called to do, now the Holy Spirit waters it.
It doesn't matter what the Lord asks us to do.  What matters is that we obey.  We have the opportunity to bless the mess out of the people in this world who are hungry for Truth & Love - because most of them haven't seen it for what it truly is.  As children who believe in Jesus & desire to desire what He desires, and who are followers of Him, immitators of Him... We are called to obey, no matter what it looks like.  If it's HUGE, we obey. If it's tiny tiny tiny, we obey.  It doesn't matter to the Father what the task is, when we obey Him He is moved & pleased and pours out even more.

"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much." - Luke 16:10.

Fabulous Friday!!!

What a beautiful week it has been.  Can I just say that I love my school?  It has been so amazing learning from them and being able to pour into them.  We have such amazing students & great staff, but I know I've already told you that a lot.

This week we had Mark Anderson come to speak to us.  I really didn't know what to expect since I didn't know much about him or what he was about.  Let me preface by saying that over the past couple of months, I've been praying that there would just be a continual hunger in me and that I would be sold out... Like NO compromise in any situations, completely set apart.  And Abba has been doing gradual steps in my heart of revealing how good He is, drawing me in, deeper & deeper, from freedom to freedom, from glory to glory.  And having Mark speak this week was so perfect for what the Lord was doing, because he walked in with such authority, spoke in such love and confidence, and really walks in no fear of man. Each day he spoke on a new topic.  Topics like living from the inside --> out instead of from a humanistic mindset (outside --> in), valuing what is important, having an eternities perspective, and revealing to us that we have all that we need, Christ has given us everything, and in Him we have everything we just need to start walking it out.  It's like having a car, AND having the keys to start the car, but we just wait for the car to start and go... we have to put the keys in the ignition and walk in faith!  Another thing that he spoke on was Heaven & hell and a bit about revelation.  I loved this part because I feel like we make it so mystical and unreachable, which sometimes it can feel like that, but I believe that it doesn't have to seem so unknown... Jesus talks SO much about the Kingdom of Heaven in the Bible - we just have to read what he says!!  And one revelation that hit me really hard was how so much of our lives are based on what "feels" good.  And in reality, most of the time, it's not going to feel good.  Jesus died on the cross.  He was pierced. He was whipped. He was torn into pieces, literally.  It didn't feel good.  He even asked for the cup to be taken from Him if it was possible ... BUT he went on with "Not my will, but YOURS be done."  So many times I feel like I am not in the will of the Lord if things around me or inside of me don't feel good.  But it's not truth, that is me living from the outside in, instead... I desire with everything in me to start living from the inside out... From my spirit outside.  Not relying on my feelings to direct Gods voice inside of me... but rather for Gods voice inside of me to direct all of my outside emotions and feelings.  What a drastic change our lives would look like!
So after four wonderful days of Mark pouring revelation into us and really stirring us up for more of Jesus, we ended it all with a ministry night.  That is where I just returned from.  I felt a new freedom tonight, and a new peace, that I haven't felt in a long time.  It's so good.  It's something that I won't even try to explain because it's unexplainable... It's the presence of Jesus & it's a beautiful thing.  It was such a blessing to see people get touched by the Holy Spirit, to be filled with fire and to then go and pray for people right after to release over them what the Lord had given.  This is what it's all about.  Freedom. Love. Jesus. ALL of Jesus.  Not just a portion of what God has. But ALL that He has.  We can have it. We DO have it.

As this week ends I am so thankful.  I am thankful for community & for Jesus.  For worship & for songs.  I am thankful for spiritual mothers & fathers, for brothers & sisters.  I am thankful for the cross & the resurrection.  I am thankful that Jesus loves me so much and that He knew it was better for Him to leave & leave us the Holy Spirit than to stay.  I am thankful for His wisdom & revelation & understanding, and for hope & peace that cannot be understood.  I am thankful for my family back home, for River Life, I am thankful for the prayer room & for the cafe on base.  I am thankful that the Lord is healing my body and that one day we will all be fully restored and in perfection with the Trinity.  Oh... There is so much to be thankful for.  God is so good.  He is so faithful & loving.

I want to give you some verses to chew on.  They've been really sinking into my spirit lately, so I pray that the Lord will reveal even more to you!
1 Peter 1:3-4 -  His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Proverbs 11:25 - A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.

So here I am... it's the weekend and boy am I glad!!  Staffing is exhausting, but one of the most amazing things I have done in my life.  It is such a beautiful season and I cannot believe sometimes that the Lord is bringing me through it.  It totally breaks every ounce of doubt & unbelief in my heart.  He is faithful & loving & just & true and ALL of His promises are Yes and Amen! Woohoo!

Thank you for your prayers.  Thanking you for reading.  Thanking you for supporting this journey :).
I declare life & love into each one of you! And that the presence of Jesus would invade your heart right now.  Be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, over taken by the reality of the Father.  Have a BLESSED weekend!

God is so good!

Here we are, a week in, and I am already blown away by the love of the Father for these students.  I don't like calling them students, because they are really becoming friends to me.  I love my staff. They have become family to me in every way.  They are contending for my healing in such an active way. They are picking me up when I am too weak to walk.  They are walking with me to figure out what my body needs & can't have.  They've shown me so much love and acceptance and have really walked me through becoming free from so many bondage's.  Here I am leading a school of children of God becoming free, and the Lord is doing that exact thing inside of me.  It makes it all so much more of a family atmosphere when we get to experience the goodness of God and His jealous love over our hearts with each other. [And it totally erases any pride too!]  Some may be experiencing at different levels, in different ways, but regardless - any revelation of the Love of the Father over His children is still a revelation, and will still change every part of your life if you allow it to.
I am overwhelmed.  I have never felt more at home, more at peace, more in love with Jesus than I do right now.  Kona has become a home for my heart like no other.  I still have my home in North Carolina, and I always will.  But I truly believe that this is an extremely pivotal season of my life.  I have to choose God, because if I don't I am choosing the enemy.  And everything in me is breaking free from that pattern.  I am choosing life, I am choosing to walk into freedom, I am choosing to break off the religious spirit, I am choosing to reject insecurity & self hatred, I am choosing to love no matter what it feels like, I am choosing Jesus' heart for people no matter my own thoughts over them, I am choosing forgiveness, I am choosing purity & a life of integrity.  I truly believe this season is setting a platform for what the Lord is going to be doing for the rest of my life, in me & through me.
I serve a loving, faithful, compassionate, jealous, strong, warrior of a God.  And He desires me! He blows me away.  Each and every day I just cannot believe how lucky I am to be so loved :)

I will update more later but this is all I've got for now :) Be blessed!

Straight from the Journal

Saturday afternoon. 3pm. Dried. Sandy. Just returned from Samples at Costco & the beach.  Surrounded by hungry daughters and sons - craving to be loved & accepted, wanting so badly to know Truth, and some of them don't even know it - and we are all in it together.  The waves crash... I look at a few of the girls through my aviators and we talk about life... I sit there, I look - my eyes begin to water behind the lens and my heart begins to feel broken & satisfied.  I know how they feel! I know the aches & pain & questions & insecurities & wonders & hopes & joys & losses ... And I know the freedom and restoration, healing & victories that are coming! "This is what I was made to do" I thought to myself sitting there.  Love God . Love people.  Jesus Knew, God has it figured out.  As all three of them were communing, living community out, fellow-shipping in the fullness, they knew our most fulfilled thing in life would be to Love God and to Love People.
In my opinion, one of the best things to do is to listen to hearts.  Because not only do you get to see the reality of a person, not only do you get to see another side of God... But in those moments, however long or short, that daughter, or that son, is trusting you & in that they are allowing themselves to become vulnerable, making room, believing in and hoping for Truth to come, Healing to become a reality and love to saturate there lives because they know it's possible and everything within them desires to keep hoping it'll come their way.

The beauty about this season for me is that I can watch it all, I can be the hands and feet of Jesus!  I can sit there, eyes and ears and heart open and be what they need and usher them to the feet of Jesus, and war for their freedom.
 My heart is so alive.  I am so happy.  The Lord is showing me so much as I just allow Him to use me without me having my own "opinions" getting in the way - because I realize they just get in the way, and I don't really care about my opinions at the end of the day - I just want the fullness of Jesus.  I could not have dreamed to be anywhere else.  He knows what He's doing and I am so glad that I can trust Him.  No matter what it looks like, He is trustworthy, He is true, He is truth.

Ready... Set... GO!!!

Whelp, Here we go.  I cannot believe it's here already, and I could not be more excited!  We have received a few students yesterday & today, but tomorrow is the big day where the majority of them come!  We have 2 families, 7 guys and 26 girls.  Then we have our own staff.  We have a wonderful group and I really am freaking out when I think about all the Lord wants to do.  Sometimes I wonder if its just my desires coming out, but when i think about it... God wants to bring freedom, restoration, life & love, and that is my heart for every single student... So whether it's "my" desires or "Gods" desires doesn't really matter, because I think He put those things inside of me to desire for people.  So lets go get 'em! :)

So I've been praying about sharing something with you guys, to ask you if you would join with me in prayer.  As many of you know, I have battled with being sick since as young as 5th grade.  As I have gotten older, it has gotten worse, but I have also been able to pinpoint some of the causes of it.  I have been to tons of doctors, specialists, had more tests done & been on more diets than I care to keep track of.  Nobody has been able to say "THIS IS IT!" but I am pretty sure I have gotten to the bottom of it, with the wonderful help of my family.  So... I have Celiac Disease, and I also think I have something called Tachycardia.  Celiac Disease is where you have an intolerance to Gluten and it wears down your liver.  It also has many other things connected, like joint pain, nausea, dizziness, weary eyesight after eating, sweating, pain for hours, etc.  Tachycardia has been recently found to be connected in many cases.  I have been experiencing this pretty intensely.  It is an increased heart rate (or heart palpitations), and it also makes it tough to breathe.
Over the past 3 days I have gone completely gluten-free.  It has been hard, but honestly SO worth it.  I have not felt sick once, I have not had any trouble breathing, and I have not had one heart palpitation.  Jesus is SO good.  I realize that I should have just stuck with this last time I tried it, but I really feel a new release in the spirit to walk through this with the Lords grace on it.  At the same time, I believe the Lord has FULL healing and restoration in store for me!  So I ask you to come beside me in this time and just to pray and declare the healing of the Lord over my body.  He is so faithful, He is the healer of all healers, and He so desires restoration for me - I believe it!  And I just want to contend to see it in the fullness of what He has for me.  Thank you so much to everybody who has walked with me through this.  I am so so thankful.  You guys are amazing.

So... We are ready, we have been set in the right place, and the Lord is calling us to go... to pour into the hearts of the young and the old, to live out Isaiah 61 in every thing we say and do, and to love Jesus with everything inside of us, to allow Him to love is through and through and through, and to allow people to be transformed by Jesus inside of us, to allow it to push them into intimacy with Jesus, and for the domino effect to continue, where the world is set on fire with the Love & reality of Jesus and His amazing sacrifice, His life.  I am so blessed & overwhelmed to be able to serve and be loved by such a King.  Woah.  So good.

I love you all. And I bless every single one of you.

Oh... and PS:  I dyed my hair :)

Call2All DTS Staff 2011

I thought it would be a good idea to introduce all of my supports, in every way, to my new family here in Kona.  These are the beautiful sons & daughters of Jesus that I am leading the Call2All DTS with.  Enjoy!

Zion Kuriyama.  He is from Canada & is an amazing man of God that has such a beautiful and dedicated heart.  He likes to act like a thug sometimes (like in the picture), but he is not, hehe.

Vanessa Vawer.  Also from Canada.  Vanessa has such a sweet heart & really caries a gentle piece of the Holy Spirit everywhere she goes.  She is not leading an outreach with us but I am so excited for these 3 three months with her.

Shea Connell.  [Pronounced like shea-butter].  Shea is from Tacoma Washington and has really become like one of my brothers.  His heart for people is so pure and really walks out everything He talks.  He is solid fire.

Kellye Vetter.  From Oklahoma.  Kellye is quickly becoming such a good friend to me.  She has a genuine heart for people and really carries an anointing of releasing the sounds of the Kingdom into the atmosphere.

Levi Miller.  From Washington.  Awesome Man of God.  Levi just joined our team and I am so excited to get to know him more.  Even from the short time that I've known him the Lord has really shown me what a beautiful weight in the spirit he carries.  He is also an amazing worship leader.

  Kaylyn & Brady Manning.

& a little baby boy on the way!

The couple carries such a beautiful heart for people, they are down to
earth & really walk out life in humility & hunger after the heart of the Lord.  They will also not be joining us on outreach (due to their son on the way!) But have such a heart to see people encounter Jesus and a heart for genuine friendship.  I have been so blessed by them in my life.

Jen Card.  From Arizona (and sometimes Tacoma!).  Jen is such a beautiful woman who walks such an honest life, has a desire for more of Jesus, and really longs to see people set free.  I have been blessed to see the Lord work in her & through her already and am so stoked to see how He does even more during DTS!

Carissa Shipley. From Tacoma, Washington.  Fire Fire Fire.  This woman carries such a passion for justice & intimacy with Jesus.  I have been so encouraged by her journey with the Lord.  She stands firm in her belief and really seeks purity in an amazing way that cannot help but push people towards righteousness in Jesus.

Lizzie Stein.  That's me and I'm from North Carolina and really just want to see every student get wrecked with the reality and amazing powerful Truth that Jesus loves them for who they are and wants to be friends with them, lovers with them, and Lord over their heart.

Matt & Laura Nelson with two beautiful sons: David & Ethan (and another boy on the way!)  This family has already been an incredible influence in my life pushing me and stretching me.  They both are some of the most genuine people I have ever met, that have such a thirst for relationship with people
& carry out such a beautiful hunger for the Lord in their lives.  I am so excited to journey with them over the next 3 months.

Aaron & Ronda Barker with three amazing children:  Jacob, Arielle & Haley! This beautiful family is are the leaders of Call2All DTS.  Just last year they were staff and have taken the roll as amazing leaders.  I have been so blessed by their friendship, leadership,
and guidance in my life while being here.  They have quickly become some of the most influential people in my life.  They have such a beautiful heart for people to really fall in love with Jesus & encounter God for who He really is.  Aaron is also a worship leader here on campus and carries an amazing anointing!

Well here we all are.  I cannot express to you how blessed I am to be walking in family and walking out the heart of Jesus with these beautiful people.  I am so extremely honored.  Please continue to pray for us as we walk into this new season.  God is a lot and we are all so excited for what He's going to do!