Amsterdam Outreach - Exciting News!

       I absolutely love being able to share exciting news with you, and that is what I have today!!  As you can see from the picture above, there is a bit of traveling in the new future for me.  And, if you have been on any other forms of media you have seen my posts about a trip to Amsterdam in March!
       I have been in The Leadership Track for just under a year now, and as leadership has prayed, they have felt the Lord call them to take an outreach as a group every 3 months, and I get to be a part of the first one!  The idea to go to Amsterdam was a word that was given to the Leadership Track by Loren & Darlene Cunningham and a few other key leaders on the YWAM base here in Kona.  As they were going over places where we had teams going consistently, they felt a tug on their hearts to send more people into Amsterdam, and asked us to take it on.  Needless to say, we are very excited to see what the Lord is going to do through us!  Here are a few objectives to our trip:

• Meet with Key Leaders in the city to possibly start Fire & Fragrance DTS' there in the very near future
• Building relationships to prepare the way for future YWAM teams to be in Amsterdam months at a time
• Going into the 3 Red-Light Districts to minister to the prostitutes who have been victims of sex-trafficking.
• Doing prayer watches in the 24-7 house of prayer in the middle of the Red-Light District
• Working with the organization Serve The City Amsterdam

 
       The more I think & pray about what this trip is suppose to hold, my spirit gets so excited!  We all have felt that we are going to be a "strike team" as we go in.  We have a mission, to revive hearts & bring life to the dead.  We want our lives to be a witness to all those around us.  We realize that our time in Amsterdam is a short 2.5 weeks, but there is such an expectation in our spirits for what the Lord is going to do!! When the Lord calls a people to a place, there is more that He can do in one day than we could do in 7 years without Him.  And the call of the Lord on this trip has been immense!!
       I know that this is the Lord by many different signs, but one of them has been the financial provision over all of us.  In just 2 weeks I was able to raise over half of the money I needed for the outreach, which is amazing!  I was also able to watch my leaders, who have a family of 5, have had over $11,000 given to them within 2 weeks!  The stories go on and on of how the Lord has been so faithful to provide for this trip.  We are all getting very stirred!
       So on March 11th, I will be flying to Amsterdam, which will be my first time to Europe.  I also have the opportunity to go to a couple other places in Europe when we are done.  We have 2 week break before we have to be back to base for the April quarter of schools.  Between March 28th and April 11th, I will be traveling with a few friends to Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and London.  Those two weeks will be filled with seeing a handful of friends that I have not seen in quite some time, visiting other YWAM bases around Europe, investing in friendships, and continuing to dig the wells of our hearts for what the Lord has for all of us in the upcoming months.

       I want to personally thank all of you for investing in not only this trip, but investing in the dreams the Lord has put inside of me.  You have each been a testimony of Gods faithfulness, and a sign & a wonder to my own life.  THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for obeying the Lord is the biggest and simplest ways.  You have been a part of a story with Jesus that is so priceless.  While we are in Europe I will try to update this as much as I can to keep you in the loop.  If you would like to receive email updates (which may be more frequent), please contact me at oceansroar@gmail.com and I will put you on there!
       If any of you still feel led to give and would like to invest in the rest of this trip, I only need $500 for all the housing, food & transportation while on outreach in Amsterdam.  Please email me at the address above and I will give you multiple options for giving!

God bless you all, have a beautiful week!

-Lizzie

If We Will Listen, We Will Obtain

It had been about 28-30 hours into this feeling, that hour by hour continued to overtake me.  My kindness began to wear thin, my patience was failing, dis-gratitude and annoyance grew thick, and I was growing weary, quick.  All desire to invest in people was quickly disappearing and all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep it away.  I tried everything in the book.  Physically, I drank tons of water and I tried resting, I took a shower to see if that would calm my heart down.  Anxiety just grew, and nothing I was doing was helping.  I broke off, rebuked, repented, asked for prayer from a few close friends.  I filled myself up with truth, and declared the love of God over my heart.

Over the past week, I have been crying out for more hunger.  I have been pressing in for fresh revelation, from the Holy Spirit Himself, not through other peoples revelation.  I am tired of it being easy, and I was getting sick of not having to press in.  So I cried out.  I asked God for hunger; over, and over, and over again.  I desperately needed, not just an experience of God being close, but an awakening in my spirit to the reality of the goodness of God, and the reality of my weak self, so in need of a Savior.  I hate living in a robot mentality... from meeting to meeting, prayer set to worship set, intercession to contending, then a meeting, then worship, eat and sleep a little, have a little fun, intercession, worship.... It was become a routine, rather than a desperate cry for more.

I decided to go home and really get with God.  I needed to just seek Him, with only the sounds of birds and the wisp of the breeze.  So I did.  And in the midst of my wrestling inside, I felt Him speak to me...
"What if every action you did, brought in the Kingdom?  What if you lived a life where nothing hindered my presence?  What if this feeling never left; would you still seek me?  What if fear never entered your heart, and you lived - day in and day out, in that state?  What if you asked me first in every feeling what I wanted to reveal?  Beloved, I am teaching you to fight for yourself."  And in that moment I realized He was answering my prayers, and breaking my box of How I thought He was going to do it.  Hunger is refreshing & beautiful, in all it's messiness.

A dear friend of mine, dealing with somewhat of the same thing, said this, "Sometimes I am always fighting for others, that I forget to fight for myself."  Instantly I had a picture of Jesus, leaving the disciples, to get alone with God.  I believe part of that was Him fighting for Himself, for His own heart, for Truth to be resounding in every aspect of who He was, and that He would have the mind of the Father above His own.
I feel sometimes we get so caught up in believing things are from the enemy, that we discount the fact that, through everything, the Father wants to reveal His heart to His children.  I felt His spirit come upon me and I literally stopped in my tracks as He said "If you would quiet yourself, and listen, you will obtain much."  And even in the struggle within me, I choose to still my heart before Him... And though I did not "feel" still, I knew my spirit was ready to listen.  And a cry within my heart resounded "I will do anything Jesus."

I always want to be broken before Him, and aware of my need for Him.  I never want to be in a place where I think the methods I have used in the past will cure every situation.  I want my heart to be molded by His methods, not my own.  And although He is always constant, His way of doing things changes all the time.  I believe He does this so we don't start thinking it's our own selves alone that bring things to pass, but that He is always above... For we only know and see in part, but He knows the whole - from beginning to end.  And "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion."

I believe He always wants to reveal things to us, but I believe we are on soil ground with the Father right now.  I think it's a very important time to press into His voice, to throw off our own rights and entitlements for things to go a certain way, and really listen to what He has to say for this time.  He has fresh bread, fresh revelation, and fresh wisdom & strategy for the age we are in.  We are being prepared for things far greater than we could understand, and He will be faithful to clothe us with the armor we need, because of our faithfulness and obedience to yield to Him, to His voice, and to His timing for things.