:::Little Tidbits

Here are little sayings and quotes I've gathered from just going back over my notes from the past 2 months... these are the things that stuck out most to me during my lectures::

- F.E.A.R - False Evidence Appearing Real
- Don't base stuff off emotions, base it on TRUTH.
- "If you wanna be a giant-killer, hang around giant-killers."
- Psalms 34:8 "Taste and see that God is good for YOURSELF."
- Be hungry and teachable... being teachable is out of humility.
- Do the little things in excellence - Luke 16:10.
- Get a glimpse of God's grace and go after Him with everything!
- Be GROUNDED in the word of God, be GROUNDED in truth.
- A lot of times we try to shape the Bible into what we want it to be, rather than let it shape us.
- Be 100% dependent upon hearing the voice of God.
- He is a personal God, ENGAGE in Him!
- Seek FIRST the Kingdom!
- Discipline yourself for the purpose of Godliness.
- I have NOTHING outside the grace of God.
- How long do you prepare your body for getting ready for church, compared to preparing your heart to get ready for church?
- A Disciple of Christ allows God to change their way of thinking.
- Repentence is a way of life, as is humility.
- The Enemy tries to get you to be prideful because humility helps you overcome sins like lust, etc.
- Wherever there are massive/little amounts of evil, there is spiritual warfare!
- To DELIGHT in persecutions is to be humble, to desire humility, and desire to be like Christ.
- If it's God's will, it's God's bill.
- Humility is the willingness to be known for who you REALLY are.
- You have only one life to live, and only what is done for Christ will last.
- Love God, make Him known.
- God doesn't promise you an emotional rollercoaster of a relationship in the Bible. He's under no obligation to make you feel good. He's only under the obligation of His promises. That's the cost of discipleship. It's Spiritual Maturity. You read your Bible and obey because you are willing to follow Him.
- You can do anything God calls you to do because He'll give you the grace to do it.
- What do you REALLY believe?
- The issue isn't my feelings, the issue is my faith.
- Make your Bible your best friend.
- Cultivate your relationship and desire for the Lord.
- The Gospel is about how your life influences others rather than how its all about me.
- Heart of the Gospel Message: Come back home to what you were SUPPOSED to be!
- You read the Bible not as a handbook, but you read the Bible to get to KNOW THE AUTHOR!
- Humanity was never designed to have its heart broken; we were designed for Eden.
- Get out of the past and future and live the RIGHT NOW!
- Pray Desperately.
- Live with PASSION.
- Holiness is tested within relationships with other people, not in a hermit on the hill.
- We're spending so much time cleaning out our lives while people are dying in poverty.
- Light IMMEDIATELY stops the darkness.
- Connect the dots: The way I live has an impact on whats going on in the world!
- Pain and brokenness is the fruit of a fallen world.
- Our view of the Kingdom shouldn't be to just survive and exist.
- How often do I sit in judgment on God? (eg: "God, how can You be a good God when THIS bad thing happened in my life?")
- START at the place of, "God is good." When we start there, we filter our pain through that truth rather than filter God through our pain.
- God DOES justice, but He IS love!
- If Jesus IS who He said He is, nothing will ever be the same again. The way we spend money, spend our time, EVERYTHING. Who do you say that He is?

::: Pix Pix Pix

- Sunrise on the North Shore...



- My Roomie, Kelsey from Canada, and I loving Kona and the ocean on the Big Island!



- My two beautiful, FAVORITE roommates... (L) Kelsey from Canada, and (R) Malene (pronounced "Malayna") from Norway!! I LOVE THESE GIRLS!!!! Having these girls as my roommates is one of the BEST blessings I've received since I've been here in my DTS! They're amazing:)



- My friend Grace and I, making dinner for the whole base, about 75 people!! Grillin' it up:)



-At the airport in Kona... SO happy but SO sad because being here in front of this tatue made me think of my family!! Mom and Dad, remember all the pics we took in front of these hula statues?? Totally thought of you this whole time, Ha I miss you guys:)


- Me holding my favorite baby boy, Johnathan!! This was a friday night for the fall festival of a church I go to... it was so fun! He's precious:)


Kelsey, me, and Judith from Switzerland, all enjoying a lagoon in Kona!

OHANA NIGHT!!!
An "Awards" type night they held for my DTS, everybody dressed up and looked really really nice. It was a crazy fun silly time! :)



- My Kyrgyzstan team all dressed up and looking good for ohana night! :)


- My friend Katie Mac, from Canada, and I dressed up:)


- beautiful DTS girls!! :)



-- Me and Katie Miller, my female leader who's leading me to Kyrgyzstan, SHE'S FROM COLORADO SPRINGS TOO!!! :) I love her she's my favorite staff girl, she's amazing.

- Me at my favorite beach, Bellows beach!! :)

CAMPING TRIP!!!
North Shore of Hawaii... Waimea Bay and Pipeline!! :)

- Getting Baptized at North Shore!! :) By Katie, my Kyrgyzstan leader, and Chris Johnson, my base director who's AMAZING!

Me loving Pipeline... the surfing mecca of the world! :) Amazing!

- The Mill at Pipeline! :)


- My WHOLE DTS, after people got baptized!!! SO awesome:)

- Some girls trying to set up tents... haha I love these people:)

:::Catch Up

Gosh I haven't posted in forever. Partly because I've been learning so much that I don't even know where to start... and partly because I've been borderline distracted. ANYWAYS.

Here it is... the update:)
The past few weeks have been INcredible. We've had some of the MOST AMAZING speakers I've ever heard in my life.
A man named Andy Byrd came and spoke on Prayer and Intercession - ahhh... so epic.
Amy Sollars, a prophet from Alaska, came and spoke on the Holy Spirit the week after him - and my life is basically changed forever from it.

Wade Belt, a previous Honolulu DTS student and Staffer came and spoke on the Character Traits of God - also amazing. He's an awesome, adventurous guy!

And finally this past week, we've had a speaker named Art Collins from California speaking on Servanthood - so far its been amazing and I've definitely learned a lot about what Jesus thinks about a servant and what it means for the "last to be first," etc.

Right now tho, I'm gonna focus on two speakers... Andy Byrd and Amy Sollars.

*sigh*.... where to begin.

Well. Let me begin by saying that Andy and Amy are SO passionately in love with God and SO COMPLETELY led by the Holy Spirit. Andy is this crazy young red-headed 27 year old guy from Alaska that came and did his DTS in Maui several years ago, and now serves on leadership at the Kona base and speaks to several DTS's across the world and is SO passionate to see our generation rise up and take our place as deliverers!!! (Ahh.... such a long, drawn out idea that I'll explain to you one day when I get home)

Now for Amy Sollars. Ahhh... honestly this lady is intense and crazy and SO amazing. She's has an AMAZING testimony, growing up in the woods of Alaska and learning how to shoot and skin a bear by the time she was 9. She's a 28 year old passionate woman who grew up being very sensitive to the spiritual life. She was blessed with the gift of Prophesy... like to the max... and was even kicked out of churches and things because of how strong her gift is and because she was kind of immature with it at first... I mean she was literally able to prophesy over people and pastors and students and everything.

Its actually pretty hilarious to hear her stories... like one time when she was serving as a Youth Pastor, she went away for a week on a trip and while she was gone she had a dream about one of her students in her youth group. In her dream she saw the student at a party and drinking and messing around... so when she came back she asked him about it and she was right on!!! Stuff like this happened all the time to her... like before she knew how to properly use her gifts and things, she would go and prophesy over her high school friends stuff like "You see that girl over there? She likes you. And tomorrow, she's going to come up to you and talk to you after lunch. And you two will probably start dating in a couple months." Lo and behold... everything she said came true and they ended up dating a few months later!! I'm telling you, this lady was extreme to the max right ON with so much stuff... especially stuff in the lives on the students in my own DTS. Even in my life. Crazy stuff.

So ya. Amy and Andy both serve together on the Kona leadership team... they're both very good friends, both red-heads, both from Alaska. Both amazing in love with the King of Kings... its so inspirational.

Andy came and brought his family with him... his beautiful blonde petite wife named Holly, and two PRECIOUS kids - Asher (3) and Hadassah (1) - that I absolutely fell in LOVE with. Hadassah especially.... I couldn't let her go she was so so cute!!

Me and Amy Sollars!! :)

Andy Byrd and his little boy, Asher. Like father, like son! :)

Me, Hadassah, and Asher. Love these kids... ahh they're precious!

So ya. Love these people:)

Anyways. Been learning a lot. Been falling deeper and deeper in love with the King of Kings. Been learning so much about who I am in Christ and what it means to have a relationship with the Holy Spirit... a real, intimate, friendship/relationship which is what God is longing to have with us more than anything.
Its funny when you think about it... well actually probably more sad than funny... that the Holy Spirit is the least talked about thing in church today. Its sad because if you think about it, its the part of the trinity that we have WITH US today. God is the God of the Old Testament... Jesus was the main God of the New Testament, and the Holy Spirit is the "God" of today! Don't get me wrong... I know they are all one in the same. I know they're not separate, but it does talk about in the Bible where each one is today. God the Father is in Heaven, Jesus the Son is at the right hand of the Father in Heaven, and the Holy Spirit is like the wind and lives among us and inside of us. The Holy Spirit is the POWER God... Jesus needed the Holy Spirit and the power that comes from Him to be raised from the dead, and its with the Holy Spirit that Jesus said we will do marvelous things and works greater than what Jesus Himself did... which is crazy to think about.

The Holy Spirit is the God of today... the one that lives inside of us. The same power that conquered the grave lives inside of us and is what leads us and guides us everyday!! I LOVE that! But the thing is that the Spirit freaks churches out and so its not talked about hardly at all. Which is so sad. The spirit is the POWER, it should be everything to us and we get scared of it and try to avoid it as much as possible. That kills me!


Amy came and talked a lot about the nine spiritual gifts taught in 1 Corinthians... she described a little bit of what they are and how to live them and obtain them. It says in the Bible to "Earnestly Desire Spiritual Gifts..." and I really think thats part of what it means to walk in the fullness of the Spirit. To walk in the fullness of the Spiritual gifts. That is, to walk in the power!! We have the power to heal, we have the power to prophesy, to speak in tongues, all of it! All it takes is for us to ask and receive and walk in out in Faith. I'm trying to do that more and more.
I think its easy to get discouraged, especially when it comes to the gift of Healing. Its so discouraging to pray for healing for someone and see them NOT get healed... ahh that used to kill me. But here's the thing. Andy and Amy explained that its really not about US, its about bringing glory to God's name. All He asks us to do is to obey and walk it out in faith. You might pray for 100 sick people before you see even ONE of them get healed... but the thing is that you DO it. You're strength in Him grows and your faith GROWS the more and more you walk in this.

*************

Every Friday Night we go out to downtown Waikiki and Hotel Street to evangelize. It's an awesome experience, and of course at first all of us students were really nervous to just approach random people and try to tell them about Jesus. I was SO nervous! But, after you break the ice and after you've had an experience talking to the first person, its really, really not as nerve-wracking. So the Friday after Andy Byrd came and spoke, students went again to downtown Waikiki... and watched God MOVE in powerful ways!!

So its Friday Night. The students are SO pumped after hearing Andy preach that week on intercession and a little bit about the power of the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts... so they're ready to go.
They head down to this place in Waikiki called the "International Market Place," which is just a bunch of little markets and stores with little necklaces and touristy gifts all put together. In this marketplace, there is a psychic sitting there in her little booth and then another lady with taro cards. There are about three students that go and position themselves around the Psychics booth, and start praying against the dark spirits of power and start praying for
God's light to shine and for her to have no connection with the spirits that are giving her her power and psychic abilities. These three students start praying over her boothe, and sure enough, the psychic comes out a few minutes later.
Psychic: "What are you doing here?"
Nervous DTS Students: "Uhhh, just chilling here."
Psychic: "Are you with them?" (points to the taro card lady behind her.)
DTS Student: "No... just us."
The Psychic glares at them, nods, and walks back in her booth. The students see her reach for her phone and make a phone call. She called the cops on them!!! So sure enough, a cop comes up to them and starts talking to them.
Cop: "What are you doing here?"
Michael, a DTS student: "Just hanging out."
Cop: "Well I think you're doing more than that. The psychic lady called and said you are intervening with her work and you need to stop praying."
Michael: "Actually sir, according to the first amendment, I have a right to pray here."
Cop: "No sir, because right now you're actually loitering. You can only be here for 15 minutes and after that you must leave."
HA!!!!!!!!
The psychic couldn't finish her job and wasn't getting a clear reading because of the Holy Spirit power that was on the students as they were praying... that she had to call the cops and get them kicked out of the Marketplace!!! That's power right there!!! :)

Story #2: This staff guy named Duke came and was teamed up with another girl in our school named Autumn, and they were walking up and down the waikiki strip. They saw this man in a wheelchair that was cruising the strip with his wife, so they went up and started talking to him. They said they were Christians and part of an organization called Youth With A MIssion and asked if they could pray for him, and he totally welcomed the idea. So they prayed for healing for his legs and for complete restoration of his body, and after they were done praying.... nothing really happened. Nothing that was super obvious or phsyically noticeable, but the man and his wife thanked Duke and Autumn and were really grateful. Duke and Autumn asked if there was anything else they could pray for, and the man leaned in and said "What was that? I'm sorry, I have trouble hearing. I have completely lost hearing in my left ear." So Duke and Autumn of course offer to pray for healing in his hear, and he of course accepts it again. So they lay hands on his ear and start praying, and once they finished, Autumn asked the man if she could speak into the ear. She did... and mans face lit up!!! He was so excited because HE COULD HEAR NOW!!!!!!! :) :)

AMAZING!!!!
THAT'S the kind of God we serve. He LOVES the people He created, HE longs for us to walk in line with what He originally designed us for... the Garden of Eden. To live in paradise. We were never intended to have our hearts broken, we were never intended to experience divorce, hatred, sadness, war, any of that. But God is so good, and Jesus humbled Himself completely and came down to restore the relationship between a sinful man and a perfect God!!!
Then Jesus died on the cross to conquer Sin and Death, rose again on the third day, and left us here as His number one plan to spread the good news of Salvation and abundant life to every person. He didn't leave us powerless tho... He gave us His Spirit.
The Holy Spirit, that is our ultimate comforter, strength, power, our EVERYTHING. We need to learn as the church to walk in an intimate relationship with Him and be lead completely by Him daily.
Anyways... THATS what I've been learning lately.

It might be a little confusing because, basically... I've been learning so much that its hard for me to even begin somewhere in one specific spot. I'm gonna try to copy some of my notes into a blog and try to make more sense of this topic... and not leave you in so much confusion. lol.

God is GOOD. He's a stronghold in the day of trouble. He knows those people who trust in Him. He is TRUTH. He will never leave us or forsake us. He works ALL things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. He is ROCK. He is close to the broken-hearted. He is JEALOUS for my heart and my attention. His thoughts towards me are more than the sum of every grain of sand and every star in the sky. He is everlasting. He is outside of time. He knit me together in my mothers womb and knows the number of hair on my head. He's the God that created our freakishly Huge universe.... and by Him, for Him, through Him, and in Him, is EVERYTHING held together.
He's the KING of Love... and if everything in my life was taken away and I still had Him, that would be enough.
He's worthy of my life.
He died for me, so I live for Him. Its that simple.