Surrender

sur·ren·der

səˈrendər/

verb

verb: surrender; 3rd person present: surrenders; past tense: surrendered; past participle: surrendered; gerund or present participle: surrendering

1. 1.

   cease resistance to an enemy or opponent and submit to their authority.

   "over 140 rebels surrendered to the authorities"

   synonyms:

   capitulate, give in, give (oneself) up, give way, yield, concede (defeat),submit, climb down, back down, cave in, relent, crumble; More

   antonyms:

   resist

   • give up or hand over (a person, right, or possession), typically on compulsion or demand.

     "in 1815 Denmark surrendered Norway to Sweden"

     synonyms:

     give up, relinquish, renounce, forgo, forswear; More

     antonyms:

     seize

   • (in a sports contest) lose (a point, game, or advantage).

     "she surrendered only twenty games in her five qualifying matches"
   • abandon oneself entirely to (a powerful emotion or influence); give in to.

     "he was surprised that Miriam should surrender to this sort of jealousy"
   • (of an insured person) cancel (a life insurance policy) and receive back a proportion of the premiums paid.

noun

noun: surrender; plural noun: surrenders

1. 1.

   the action of surrendering.

   synonyms:

   capitulation, submission, yielding, succumbing, acquiescence; More

   • the action of surrendering a life insurance policy.

Such a simple word at first look and yet such a complex one. last week I had the opportunity to take a Walk in a park in North London, while walking I wanted to have a chat with God about the upper coming year for 2014. I usually ask God for a word that I can focus on and seek His wisdom and favour, usually it takes a while. After a while like a magical wand was waved over my mind or shall I say the Holy spirit impressed on my heart Surrender... I chuckled and said 'God can it be that simple' after a couple of days I would remember that I asked God for a word for this year and Surrender still came up.

Surrender such a big word for I defiantly have issues I am naturally inquisitive and that can often lead me to stubbornly submit to things, I have don't like the idea of yielding my planning and dreaming, relinquishing control is an issue of mine.  And while I admit this now before this word came into my heart, I thought I had progressed and I still think so but I know my Father and when He places a word on His Daughters heart its usually because he wants me to gain strength from Him, He wants me to overcome, He wants me to mature, gain new depth to what He wants for my life.

God is so amazing, he can capture with one word, I keep on thinking about Surrender what it will do to my life and my outlook, how this year of surrender is new territory. I often think of myself as my friend calls me a "Wild Pony" and In many ways she is right, I like to roam, feel the most free trotting around the ranch solo. A pony if its wild needs to be broken , eeekkkk!!! can we stop here broken sounds painful to me and I don't like pain. I mean I am the one that yelps anytime she get a boo boo or a paper cut . back to what I was saying - When a Pony is being lets use the word trained needs to its  bad habits in turn replaced with good ones, boundaries need to be set for where a pony can roam and in essence what use to bring it freedom most likely gave it death and so a whole new transformation has to happen. I know,  I am running with the pony theme a bit to much but you get the gist.  Surrender or I shall I say Surrounding with everything in me makes me squeal. I know why and I am going to try and be as transparent and honest as possible because it will require something that will cost me, something I know and believe I don't have and because of that I know that this most be a God thing. God is never settled with things that he is making anew and for that I am grateful.

Surrender ? so what does that mean for me well I think it means that I need to relinquish control, submit, allow God to do what He does best being Him.

So I am saying it here and I am saying it in faith that God will help me in all these areas to surrender.

I surrender :
Family
Friends
Work
Mission
Finance
Passion
Purpose

Choices to You, believing that you are making this a goal for me this year but ultimately for my life.

You know whats amazing about a Wild Pony that has been trained, it no more a pony or wild it becomes a horse..  usually the trainer will tell you that the beauty of the horse once grown is the fact the wildness is used at it full potential no longer is it unfocused or wondering but its drive, passion, beauty is now on display not hidden for the greater good.  I think I don't mind going through this adventure if I come out on the other side with God and a bit more character and maturity in my spiritual bank.

My prayer for me as well as you is this :

Although frightened, uncomfortable and not sure what's next that You Oh God is good, wise, holy that everything that has happened or will happen is in your hands and so are your children. Thank You Father for allowing us to grow and mature, I pray we would be less apprehensive today then yesterday and that Your will would capture our attention and our passion. May Your Kingdom be glorified and may You Show us favour in 2014 to do what you have asked and go beyond the minimum and go for it.

What Now ?

I wasn't sure, I knew things were changing whether I liked it or not and I knew that wherever I went God had to be leading me there because In my mind Missions was it....

A chapter in my life ended when I left Pais, My life didn't end. It felt like that for a while and at one point oh so very real. And then like that I woke up and felt a little bit more like me again, more like a person I use to be, more like a person who enjoyed blogging and telling stories about my life, more like a person who wants to continue Living A life To Serve and all the mess stuff in between like the mistakes, the failures and the success'.... So here I am  blog world- take a look at my life and hopeful you will learn something maybe even avoid some stuff and while your reading have a laugh, get the fact that this girl Love Jesus but like so many before needs Him so desperately that to not have him would be more a a disaster then an scary movie. 

So What Now ?   

I am living in London with my lovely but strange family and I am trying to figure out what jobs to apply for and not quite sure what next ? 

What Now ? 

Well I took a few months from serving anywhere, I found a local church and started attending community group which is actually called Gospel Community that serve a local estate in Camden and I am very blessed that God would lead me to such a church and such passionate sweet people :) 

What Now ? 
London is a different beast no more Howdy's or Hi y'all, smiles from strangers and tons of invites from people who barely know you to a big BBQ Dinner that very evening. I do adore  my city and I am starting to see the why its so amazing but I also find it quite difficult to reach out, serve a people who are cold or unyielding to help offered. Its gotten me in trouble but thats the price you pay when you want to be a light in a world that is dark, wherever I am God has placed me here, all I can do is be faithful with what his given me and try always to live out what He is currently teaching me ....

So what Now ? An amazing plan that God has had in store for all His Children that want to do His will ... 

Hi Lovely people,

this week was my birthday week, we have a tradition in my family. We have a week of good food and fun and often loads of giggles. Since being in the states it hasn't been like that for me but I have had fun.

                                        


I received an amazing neckless from my one of my closets friends: it had my favourite shape : star and a sister charm but also a Envelope charm . It gets even cooler. You could actually open the envelope charm and put small notes inside. My friend left me a sweet note and I have worn the neckless since last sunday.

Well on Tuesday I felt God dropped on my heart to remove my sweet note from my friend and replace it with the gospel, because someone would ask what it was on what was in it and so I did , in expectance and excitement... this could be so cool I thought.

I went to lunch and no one asked me and I thought ok God when will I be able to share the gospel and how, the day is over but maybe tomorrow.  So I went about my day and went to meet my student , who so happen to bring a friend.... Well I was excited to share somethings that my student and I were going through but soon realised that the girl my student had brought was engaged but never heard the topic of honouring Principles and the rules of things aka the things we are told in the Bible..

Soo after I finished our mentoring, explaining as much as i could and asked her to pray about what she heard, "I don't know how to pray she said and I know what God is but I am not close to him , how do you do that  and yeah what is that on your neck " YIPPEEEEE!!! praise the Lord. I proceed to tell her the gospel in the middle of Starbucks and after that she accepted Christ into her life.

 Did I use fancy words and made a perfect speech and explain in and out of being a Christ follower. I just asked if she wanted to know who Christ was for herself, if she wanted to make room to allow Christ to do His thing in her life and follow him, once she started to search more and be taught more about Him. She said yes!!

Our God is great , he can use anything, if your willing and man did he do something ... I am going to meet with the student this tuesday and I am excited to share with her more about the word of God....

Please keep us in your prayers

REMEMBER God can use anything to speak to people, make space and room for Him to use you...most likely you will do a much better Job then this awkward, babbling girl from London


Much Blessing and Peace

Please if you know anyone who would like to read my blog or interested in being on my mail list, prayer team  or a financially sponsors me  please send me your email below

 :)

Rocky Road ...He is stable

Hi Lovely people,

Its been a long time since I updated you on my blog, I am sorry.

SO many things have happened but I will try and keep it detailed but yet brief.  I know without a doubt that I have been stretched beyond my comfort zone in every area of life- spiritual, physically and emotionally.

My first big blow last semester was losing a team member, Cochran was a great addition to the team but he didn't realise the commitment and decided to leave in later October, I could not help but think that I could have done more to keep him here with us on mission but once he made his mind up, he was gone.

To be honest it was defiantly a blow to my leadership ego but also personally. When your on a team, your together all the time more so then any family member or best friend could be and you become like family in a very short time.

I do believe that God had a plan and I know it wasn't a surprise to Him. We had to move around a lot of things but we are still passionately serving on mission. We have become wiser in our work instead of trying to compensate for our team turning into 2 girl band.

God is so good he has given us more opportunities to partner with the other team in the Arlington area and we have been able to speak to more students and lead Bible study then I thought possible....

November we began to lead a strong group of students in mentoring- helping them gain understanding of how to be a good example, a Godly leader and servant to the community.
Our Students are so passionate about serving they really needed people to come along side them and encourage them to pursing showing people the kingdom of God in there serving.

It reminds me of A service project we had for students in December: we invited students to help with a service project day our aim to serve 3 charities and present the gospel message with children  and play games face paint kids faces at a apartment complex  in one day.

We invited our students to arrive at the church at 8am to rehears the gospel message and go onto serving our first Charity only 3 students turned up . it was quite funny because it was two guys and one girl. Both guys are quite and one in particular is super quite, it made me sad that many didn't turn up - but my heart was so overjoyed that these 3 did  overall the group of students are quite and reserved but I was excited to see how God moved on these students hearts.

The practiced the play and then we moved onto  help a safe house with the yard work and some basic housecleaning chores. Not once did we here are students complain. How crazy amazing is that, students who don't complain..WOW !!

We also went to the apartment complex and the students loved on  the kids and painted faces and played games and when we presented our play some kids knew about jesus but some did not and Praise God 5 kids prayed the sinners prayer kids style.

It was such a glorious day.

Days like that are one of the many reason why I am passionate about what I do. My students ministered to variety of people, they stepped out of there comfort zone and poured there time, strength and grace upon people that were in need, that didn't know about God. His Kingdom came and was shown by there acts....

My teams in Arlington blessed me with a great gift money to go home and I wanted to thank you all for your sponsorship and support in doing that it was very much needed and was so glad that I was able to visit my crazy, lovely family and friends.  I got to rest, eat and top up on some family time. My family are doing well but still need Jesus in there lives. My Nana of 88 is still passionate for the Lord and is continue to pray for me and the ministry she is what you call a firecracker :)

January came around and Bam! Our youth pastor stepped down due to work, a baby on the way and the commute to Dallas and Arlington.

 I was the youth director assisting the youth pastor and now all of a sudden I am in the youth pastor role, I call myself the youth director, I don't feel comfortable calling myself a pastor and I still am grasping to juggle being a Hub leader managing everyone in Arlington, being a team leader and speaking in schools and mentoring kids and also lead and manage a youth group.

On paper it doesn't make sense in my mind.. its a bit jumble and in day to day it can be really crazy but God has given me this to shepherd  these people to pour more wisdom that God has given me into the students, into the youth group and the other team.


I really appreciate your support in time and prayer and your sponsorship.
Thank you

if you could please keep me in prayer specifically about:
Next year my next step in what I should do with my visa, I have one more year with Pais and I have the next month to think about what I would like to do go home and find a new ministry to be a part of or begin the process getting my green card.

I miss my home but I also have a rule in life: "remember the last thing God clearly told you, to do with your life and stick at it until he says other wise"  the last thing was Join Pais and go to America and since praying about this since October , I have heard the same thing over and over again. If you could pray for me and the whole crazy process that would be great.

I want to lift this up to God as I will need to give my answer to Pais in the next 2 weeks.


p.s
please let me know about your lives, I miss the world not filled with teens, please let me know how your doing and what your up to,,,,

Team- Pais Arlington Central

Hi Lovely saints, Friends, family.

We have had such an incredible journey these past few weeks. We have lead a lesson on Goals at a local JRH:

 We have lead FCA: nine students gave there lives to Christ: Praise God !!!

 Prayer at the Pole

 Lead FCA Games at Local Jrh

 Supported Students at there games

 Served with students and built relationships

 All with my lovely team

 and also invited and challenged our students at youth group come along side us and serve the community.

You did this all, through your prayer and support, through your encouragement. Thank you!!!!
And my team, what an amazing group of people who want to serve and show God Kingdom to the 1,000's of kids we have met this past month.

We have taught lesson, we have handed out flyers, we have prayed with our student, served with them and minster to them and to see my team connect with students like Sarah who was invited by the team to youth group and showed up and enjoyed hearing the gospel or Tray who is a student at the local Jrh who came to youth group and really just jumped in with the other students... All of these things great or small are apart of the journey you are taking with our Father and with me....

We have come against some tricky obstacles but God has found a way FCA at local high school. No kids were expected to come but we went out to the hall ways and invited them in, 20 students came 15 stayed and 9 got saved, who knows what God has in store for all the students that did show up but our God made it possible to allow all of these amazing things to occur at the right time. Praise God that we are living our lives as He would have it

 "May His Kingdom come on Earth as it is in Heaven"


This was just a quick picture update, please keep me and the team in prayer, another up date is always round the corner... Don't forget, I want to hear about your lives, I love hearing update on my friends and family and remember Prayer request are always welcome....

Peace and Grace
Adrienne

p.s
Please pass this blog on, the more the merrier

The Wheel's are turning...

Dearest Friends,

What a month it has been for me, the teams are now on the ground and running towards the goal of spreading the gospel and Christ love for His creation, it truly is a site to see...

But with all this hassle and bussle of things, I see how God is humbling me but also making me into a person of more Character then I ever thought possible. I am not boasting here I am boasting of my weakness but it is Him that is giving me the wise words and plans to lead the teams.

This semester I was given a challenge to connect with the Director of Personnel for Arlington ISD (School governing body) and once I connect with the director work with him to find a way to get the international Pais' into the volunteer system aka allowing them to visit students who are part of the local church they lead in and also make connection with teachers who would allow them to teach in the class rooms.

It was crazy but through prayer and persistence, we finally got an answer that was simple and easy but it had been a problem for years but God's favour was upon us and we finally have it resolved.

Building the youth group:
Our youth group is very small and our challenge as soon as we got to town was laying foundations for the youth to grow . We decided to bring in an holistic model to get the students to discover there faith, pursue it . Which basically means that the students each week would have a different experience: 1- wk it would be pray and worship, 2-wk Bible Study, 3- service project//serve the community 4-fellowship.

The students have just gone through the first month of the model and already we have seen 4 students who's family are apart of the church get connect and regularly attend Wednesday night youth group.

PRAISE GOD !!!!  These students who were outsiders are now becoming people who belong not because of there parents but because of there desire placed in them by God. 


We are seeing students wanting to serve the church , family, community when before they had no avenues to do so..

This Month my personal aim was to connect with girl students that seemed quite distant  in the youth group:
One particular girl, seemed very standoffish towards me and  the team and it just seem very upset by our present but once again, I really felt that I need to make it a point to connect with her and we finally got to talk this week, she seemed very open to me once I started to talk about she was into and her busy school life. So my hope is to see her in a play next month. GOD is so good, I have no clue why she was upset the past few weeks I tried to talk to her, I don't know why she doesn't want to join or like youth group but God made a way for me to talk with her ....My hope and desire is to pursue more time with her and actually get her more connected with the church.

It is a big shock to me that people can come to the church for many year but not want to be connected to the Body and I know God has put this girl in my path to really show her the love, joy and peace God has for his people who fellowship with other people and my fear is that many students do this and walk away from the church because they never experience Gods amazing community... God Community is such an amazing place to understand more about God, His love and who we are as people..

Finally I need to tell you about our first girly hangout :
 it was GREAT...The typical girl stuff occurred, dance generation was played on the wii, junk food and loads of giggles but as we settled down to sleep I was able to talk with one of the girls I hope to mentor this year. Through all the random stories of life, she began to share her heart and the hardship that she had gone through this pass 3 yrs and I was once again blown away by God's divine skill to drawn people together.
I met this girl 3 wks ago and was instantly was  drawn to her.... Although I felt this girl seemed to have it all together and it didn't seem to want or needed a mentor, I had no idea that what she was about to reveal to me, teenage heartbreak, misunderstanding and so much more,  it just broke my heart...

While in the mist of all the heartbreak this girl had experienced I was touched because I heard how God had restored her, brought her out of darkness and the journey of how God was and is restoring her, How much it reminded me of my own teenage years and how much now more then ever I see that God was always with me, watching, waiting yearning for me to call upon Him and how He still is for theses teenagers today ....

It will always amaze me that while I am trying to minister to others they are being used by God to minister to me, it wasn't just another conversation with a teen girl, it was an honour, a privilege to see  the amazingness of God through her testimony....



Thank you so much for your support, Friendship and time for reading this....it doesn't go unwanted please continue  to keep us in pray as a team and for me in leading and guiding these missionaries who are making the generation of missionaries.

If you would like to pass this on to others please do....

Peace and Grace

Love
Adrienne

Beginning of the 4th .....

When I heard three year ago the call to join The Pais Project, I thought that It would be just one year  a year. As I transitioned from team member to team leader and then repeating my role as team leader last year, I had no clue What God had planned. That He was bubbling inside of me a new season that would force me to grow and rely on Him more deeply then ever  before. Once more show me that its nothing to do with me but its all about Him... 

Is it not a shocker that your in the mist of living your life, suddenly realize the many things you don’t know about Him and some of those revelations of who God is, is not even the tip of the ice berg. I mean you grasp an understanding of God in certain areas of your life and then God is also showing you His path is not a game or win or lose or even of luck and chance but of providence or His will and of His heart. 

I am just overwhelmed but happy and grateful that God is in the business of shocking and surprising this daughter of His....

I am in my first officially week of being a ...wait for it... Its a big title...Hub Leader, Youth Director, Team Leader....in other words I am overseeing two teams while leading another and building structure into our youth group.  Its a lot to take in... My prayers turned from my own desires and then into His desire, so once I placed my life in His hands the statement that came forth was Trust in me a little bit more, lean into me more then you ever have and again with some nervousness in my heart, I said yes

Yes to loving people into growth, to challenging teams to push behind the norm and to never settle, Yes to Him and No to me and instead of seeing loads of Oh No’s and eeekkks and I am beginning to see so many more Yes’s and possibilities in my life in then I could every have imagined

My life is in his hands and it really is the best place to be ...

Strange

 "Rejoice in hope,be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer." Romans 12:12 


I have the strangest of dreams some are of flying, others of weird planets that don't make sense and safari animals . Now granted its often when I need to take allergy medication and I have had a crazy day but its still strange.

Its that time of year again when everything is about to change. For me its making another step into what God has for me and that is staying on Pais and working as a Missionary.

Strangest thing dreams, sometimes they become a reality and one day you wake up and realise "hey I am living it"  

I laugh now but God gave me a sweet and small dream, to see students come to know the Lord and develop and lead others to know Him. Sometimes this dream is easy to live out and somedays its difficult.  Its be filled with Joy, Kindness, Growth, trails and hiccups and all the while God has truly had me.

Don't you Love our Father, that His not just happy to give us a life that we want but He wants to give us a life we couldn't imagine for ourselves. I couldn't imagine I would meet a student who would hear the word, take the calling and not only run and tell others about her amazing Father in Heaven but give them rides to church and lead people into bible study only just becoming a believe in less then a year or one of our shy male students lead us outside of his campus in prayer.

WOW Lord just a word, just a glimpse, just a touch and BAM! you make something, you make my world spin and use it for your glory and what's amazing about it all, is that you who are reading have amazing stories of the amazing strangest things God has done, you who live in London or Australia, Rome have testimonies of How God is faithful and good to His children.

I am so very overwhelmed sometimes with the things that God has asked me to do and to be honest, I have no idea sometimes what I am doing, I make mistakes, I get inpatient with my team or sometimes students and I don't know how God provides for me and I get disappointed  when God asks me and push me to  ask for help and nothing happens. But I know when it seems so very strange that all of this is  in my life. I look to Him who called me and I need to trust Him because He know best.  Then I remember all them many splendid things he has done. The friendship he has given, the comfort he has shown, the patience he has portioned out for me and I am in owe.

this verse comes to mind in
Romans 12; 12a comes to mind "Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame" (MSG) such a sweet message for me at this time, when the strangest of things happen...




Strangest things happen, when God gives you a dream it cause some amazing things to happen, when you say yes with your heart and and inch step with your feet.

Note:
If you would like to support me in my next year as a missionary or know of someone who would like to read my blog and in turn partner with me this year on Mission. Please  pass on the blog and my contact details below. Thank you once again for reading.

Peace and Grace

Email: adriennemcpherson1@gmail.com
adriennemcpherson@paisproject.com

Monday, Thank you's

What a crazy weekend at the Passion Conference, I went for one thing and God totally showed me His and Yet am still not sure how much I fully grasped. Here are a few things I wanted to lift up and Thank Him for:

31) Men that cry for Christ's grace
32) Honest conversation with  friends
33) Questions that run deep
34) Tender hearts
35) Leaders that care
36) Passionate Students
37) Fundraising
38) Justice
39) Worship
40) Serving the weak

Good Grief !

I have been told many times that there are five stages of grief: Denial, angry, Bargaining depression acceptance.  I wonder if God goes through some of these stages. I know I certainly have. I went to a funereal this week and as I sat in a pew to say goodbye to a person I never met but meant so much to my dear friend. I realized that grief effects us all in so many ways than just the five stages suggested. I have seen grief bring truth, healing, restoration to communities and to the calling that one, once lost. Grief can make you selfish and introverted, it can also awoken your heart to opportunities of selflessness and expression of love.

When it happens to you or someone close this is not what we see or feel, its the opposite. I think God's grief time after time has turned into expression of love: Genesis 6:6  say that  God regrets making man due to there crazy mistakes but he turns that sadness into great doors of redemption.
In Matthew 9:36 say that Jesus saw the people harassed and helpless and he had compassion on them.
I am not a schooler or trying to change the word of God but I place myself in that passage and I feel saddened, deep lose for those in distress and I think good grief, what do you do in that situation and what does Jesus do? He builds up the disciples and creates opportunity to heal, serve, teach ,love for  these people in distress then, now and always.

On a personal note: grief these pass week or shall I say loss has opened my eyes to the way people deal with it. Some mothers cling tightly to the children in hopes that grief will not infect them and there family , some have a new lease on life, others become lost in deep thought about the purpose of life and many of us carry on with no regard for the passing of the dead and all to some degree is good in the right balance but what its done to me is think that maybe, I need to seek Him in my grief not just on how to handle it but also how to rest in Him. The person that died wasn't a relative but its somehow trickled down and effected me through my outlook, my walk and even through my work /ministry.  Questions have arisen : What am I doing? I'm I doing things right? How can I do things better and where do I stand on this and that? None bad but grief has brought somethings in to question....

Questions aren't bad, if the answers are searched out and somewhat answered. I have been told that there are five stages of Grief Anger, Denial, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance, but what if there's another point to consider that when it says in the Bible to rejoice through, in our suffering that God knows something more then we do that Grief is Good.

Thirsty ?

Everyone is Thirsty for something, some for money, popularity, security and all the other candy coated things the world offers.

30 days ago, my team and our community church we partner with, set out on a mission to life up our youth group in prayer for the up and coming disciple now (spiritual students weekend)....

We came across, sickness, dismissals and even forgetfulness. We didn't even have enough people to cover the hourly spots we had for prayer. Through out the weeks we had students sign-up that we thought would never do such a thing, we had students rush to sign-up and others cringe. God is so amazing and wonderful  he softened the hearts of many students and gave parents zeal to nicely push there stiff students to the weekend.

I need to laugh because the group of girls I was given were 8-9th grade girls. I only new two students the others were fairly new to the ministry or had not turned up for youth group in quite sometime. My feeling for the weekend was exciting . I really didn't know what to think or feel about the D-now due to the fact the team and I had a really crazy week volunteering in the school.

I was overwhelmed with the openness of our students. I know that many of us believe that a missionary is someone in Africa or deep jungles of India somewhere and I often imagined that very thing but I firmly believe and know that being a missionary in America is needed, that we are able to impact the youth of a powerful nation to impact the world.  There is true brokenness in America in our girls students. So many of our girls within the group spoke of the perfect look of a family from the outside but many come from broken homes or even just broken relationship within the family home.  It was a heartfelt plea for help. I heard girl after girl confess  the feeling of being unloved,  inadequacy ,  unforgiveness and so much more. These girls are going through divorce, depression, stress  and all the other things that teens have to battle with in this day and age and they have no hope. Many confessed to not understanding Gods love and grace, some are happy to go blindly along and many are so filled with mix messages that they barely see or get the Truth of Gods kindness that they are  thoroughly confused.

God totally showed his kindness and love for his children over the weekend with great discussion, revelation even students ministering to other students of there understanding of God forgiveness and what truth its brought to there own lives. God not only showed up but also stamp His seal on many hearts and if one students genuinely gave there lives to follow christ then the lack of sleep, the girl fights was worth it.

Two of my girls gave there lives to christ and I am so Happy to have even witnessed such a great step, God hope and plan for there futures are so much greater then we can Imagine.

I am so very, very excited to go for it serving and impacting the area with our students and what's great about our weekend is we really push forward in promoting a cause we all want to peruse as a youth group H20 project (14 days only water, save the money and build a water well)...Not only did the students get to experience God and develop a relationship with Him but also take this experience and sow it into another community that needs help and make a impact that they couldn't have on there own, really give them a chance to serve and love on people in thirst.

Everyone students some for relationships, security, peace love and I know that God is the only one that can truly quench the thirst and I believe know and am so very overjoyed that God is not done with our students with our community with our the church.

Our students were thirsty this weekend and the drank from Him who satisfies. My prayer is  that they will not hide or  run from what God is now calling them to do, serve, worship there creator.....

Please continue to pray for our youth, for me and the mission we are heading towards together.


Peace and Grace

Monday Praise!

21) Host Mum's who love to chat
22) Silence
23) Books
24) Jesus as Bridegroom
25) Love that never fades
26) Jesus Culture
27) Time
28) Clean Sheets
29) New Supports for my mission
30) Students

Prayer and Beauty

I pray everyday, not to boast I think its something God has placed in my DNA and I think everyone does in some way or form.

I pray for the day, my students, my team, family friends and for Gods glory to be shun from me and seen by me in what I do and what I see other do to please Our Father.

This week I could not imagine what God would do with my prayers, our prayers, towards our ministry and the students we interact with.

We were so blessed to have spiritual leaders that are over us and apart of our team to really bring forth a great ideas. Our current one is 24hrs prayer for our students before our big student weekend.  Every church puts on a student weekend at one point, especially when they have more then 2 students in there youth group but our hope is to see our students lives changed from ok, to I want more of Him.  Our youth group is at the budding stages, we have many students coming but not many participating our even real engaging with the Word or others. I have seen over the past couple of months our students jump at the chance to serve, its in there hearts to give and create compassion but our students like many have battles to fight, chains to break from and demons to slay.

We have stepped out in our calling to pray for our students for 24 days, 24 hours a day and its getting me, the team, the body excited. I can't wait to see what God has in store for our students.

As well as working with our youth group, Pais Project is all about bridging the gap between the local Church and the school reaching students who might not even have or receive an opportunity to come to church or connect with other believers . We work in a local school as volunteers helping in many different capacity: office aids, Lunch room supervisors, teachers aids etc..

We have been blessed to work with the special needs department and even prayed for the director of the department. Our relationship with the special needs teachers and aids have allowed us this week to bless the special needs girls in particular  with Manicures. They loved it many girls could pick from a variety of colours and although it was hard for many of them to stay still, did so with a look of great easy.

It was a true experience, while I was painting the nails of a few girls I stroke up a few conversations with Melissa, Christine, Stella as they looked at me with expression of happiness in those precious moments. I new and could see Gods beauty in these girls faces and as I casual started to sing praises of over them and there cute faces. I knew that for many of the girls , they had not heard that they were beautiful and I knew it with an urge from my spirit to just speak words of life and encourage over them.  God Presences was never void in the school or in the special needs class room it was just unrecognized and for the time we were in there I was able to see that as clear as day.

We were able to then assist our Seniors in Peer-Mediation (students guiding students to resolve conflict)...We were seeking serves opportunities and the head counselor brought this to our attention, none of the teachers wanted to give up there free periods (where they deal with admin etc..) and we stepped forward with smiles on our faces and a hunger to serve the students aid the student body.

HOW EXCITING IS THAT WE GET TO ADVISE, ASSIT, GUIDE STUDENTS IN MEDIATION AND THUS MENTORING SENIORS ON HOW TO DEAL WITH CONFLICT FROM A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE!!! can you imagine how many students are going to be effected by this program, how we can use Gods word to director them in pouring wisdom into students lives, there own lives. God word does not return void and that is a promise,. Its so Crazy amazing at how and what God at work in..

We even started to see this opportunity open up more, when one of the senior mediators opened up about his past and family, friends. We have  students who want us to be hard and desire some true good input and  advise, its really blows me away at what we are able to do and how we can impact the seniors.
and that was just this week, what will happen for the rest of the semester. I think God is wanting to amaze, shock His children more and more.

I pray all the time its something I do naturally, I think God put it in my DNA but now I pray not only for the things I have always prayed for but things like ceasing God arisen opportunities, to see and appreciate His Beauty and to never forget where it all starts and begins with Him.

Roadtrip

Road-trip are awesome , if you plan it right some amazing things can happen but with all things, there often a few disasters on the way. This time on my little adventure there weren't any disasters as such just mishaps like forgetting a mobile phone, getting lost or packing a luggage way to big for a hatchback car. These little hiccups, were bumps in the road but all in all they made the road trip lovely.

A couple of friends and I decided we need to get out of town and have a little fun and so with a email or two to a local church we scoured a host home for us cash strapped missionaries and headed towards Kanasa our aim the onething Conference by International house of prayer aka IHOP. The conference is based around prayer and aimed for young adults but all are welcome. My friends and I all listen to the live prayer sessions they streams all year round, we all have a heart for intercession. We were just set and excited to go.

I can not tell you how excited and amazed I was at first how my heart sung, seeing all these people who were all about more then onething: Jesus returning, Prayer, People being saved and healed. It blew me away and placed wind in my sails...people were encouraging and there were times for people to pray over each other and the speakers spoke about His love for us and what we need to do to share it and much more but what struck me most was the amazing passion for Jesus as BRIDEGROOM.

I had heard it mentioned, but I had never heard it quite the same way. its not about him being are lovers, boyfriends chum but looking at Jesus as the bridegroom and us as the Bride (church), how he love us, how we should be in a state of yearning for Him. It was new different, good and very real to me.  His our Bridegroom, Our Judge , Our King and that was just more then words to me, it was His character explained in a fresh way to me.

I am thankful for road-trips it gives us time to talk with people, unpack some stuff you felt or learnt on your adventure, it was great because everyday on the way back to the host home we were able to talk and unpack some stuff and it was just another great thing about fellowship, the week flew by and I found myself being in awe of God and wanting to pray and praise him, I would find myself in the 24 hr prayer room seeking God and being filled by Him, through those times I heard God speak about not allowing my feeling or my circumstance dictate to me who I am and the things He says I am. Its the things he has always said that I never spent time to stop and listen to hear.... whilst we brought in the new year at the conference, I knew this was not the end of what God wanted to show me about Himself as the Bridegroom, King, Judge.

So what is God telling you about His character, I would say my friends, ask Him and when he answer commit to really looking deep into his heart, with His word, prayer time with Him.

I am thankful .....

11) Skype Chats
12) Homemade Fudge
13) Little brothers
14) Smell of books
15) Kindness of strangers
16) Childhood memories
17) God voice
18) Wise women
19) Lunar eclipse
20) Planning road trips

Starting

Lord Thank you!!!

So I am starting today, its not monday but my friend Yarnbelle, suggested that I needed to express my love for the one who give me everything from above...

1) The gift of salvation
2) The Word of God
3) Family from all different backgrounds, countries
4) Home cooked meals with unusual flavors
5) Cold Mornings
6) Dogs with silly habits
7) A team that laughs together
8) Friends who are more then sisters
9)  A grandmother that Prays
10)  Life to serve

Cracking And The Breaking

How unusual is it that in somethings cracking and breaking is something to be desired. like vintage jackets, a fashionable bag, old books, all of these things conjure in me attractiveness but I wonder in a person not so attractive or is it?  I imagine that if objects could feel they would consider this process as painful, damaging and hurtful....


I often think that life is a series of moments that often pass us by... as humans we can forget that our Creator uses all that we take as moments for his ultimate purpose.  But what about the pain of life that brings breaking, what about the dryness that comes that also brings cracking.


What happens when this combines into a season in Ones life, do we fold our cards and split or do we stand in the mist of it all and wait. 


"The Lord will fight for you, you need alone to be still"   Exodus 14:14 


Funny, that the cracking and breaking of land is ideal good and used for vineyards that actually when it looks quite distraught there is great richness to the soil. isn't it God who tells us again and again, in His word, In our inner most being that He will use whatever He wants to glorify Himself, that he will use the broken, the weak, the cracking for His kingdom.


I do not have the answers, I don't know where God is leading me in this season,  I hope while this cracking, breaking, dryness in my walk is going on, I have the heart to carry on and live a life pleasing to Him. Towards the One that loves me with a fiery love...

What Do I Do?

I want to be honest, it is a very lonely place doing what I do. its lonely because I forget who I am serving, its lonely because I look at things from people at home and I am not there anymore., It is lonely and the reason why I feel this way its the time of the year. Thanksgiving is coming and Christmas soon after that. I feel this way because for three years I haven't been able to be with my own family, in my own bed with my OWN.....


It seems to be a running theme with me lately. I wonder what shall I do? I can walk around with the woe is me attitude or I can make a choice. I need to make a choice to trust Him even through I have no clue of why or what is going on.....


I went to a conference retreat thing with Pais last week and I was reminded of a word called Kavanah it means the Gods presence and purpose in actions that we have. Its Hebraic, the jewish people strive to allow God in every action, task,  choice we make..... I don't know what happened but it stroke a cord with me. Have I been living a life of no kavanah? the answer was not a pretty one. 


My question is have you been living a life with out thinking of God's presence and purpose?


I think many of us Christ followers live a life that seems pleasing to Him but once again we use our perspective..God is asking me you seek my thoughts, my wisdoms, my knowledge not your own and you will live a true life..






What Do I do? well I keep on trying, I keep on seek Him and along the way I will trip and fail but I should still keep on going, because to not try is to not live a life that my Fahter God died for..

A delicate line for words

Two months notice, two weeks planing, prepping many rewrites and silly drafts and today its here already....


  I refuse to be nervous or get jumbled, I want to do this well. I keep on asking God to help me and I feel quite safe up on stage but in the back of my mind is I want this to be perfect. It my share stubbornness and totally God's grace that is pushing my anxiety down and away from me. 


This was my first official day that I preached/taught  today, my topic the Romans road week 9 on Romans 12.


The verse's I to camp on were simple:
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ²Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."


After so many thoughts it was simple, I was not in control. I tried but it was ultimately Gods project not my own. 


No one tells you that God words are delicate or that using them to teach a person can be so overwhelming. I thought it was simple people would base the sermon on a topic or on a series, maybe unpack a Bible chapter but I never thought that it would be a delicate line of words from page to mind, to heart to page and then spoken. 


....I shared my testimony about how God renewed my mind, how he transformed me and instead of trying to fit into the world's small agenda, I was part of God's ultimate Plan.  I had all these great words, analogies but that wasn't what was used. No it was God's powerful delicate line of words that came forth and i hope pierce the heart of this young flock of lambs. Not me and my pretty empty words or my life story, No, nope it was How God changed me, remolded me, renewed me that did. It was the fact that this word of God that we often down play and cut up into baby pieces for our young people, this word that we forget is so simple, complex, delicate, hard and strong but active that is what did it, tonight. I am in awe that my God, our God can do that, to me while am teaching others about His words, he was teaching me once again....


I didn't feel overjoyed, I didn't feel sad I felt, just so still and in that I place, it was just fine. I can't tell you if I enjoyed it or if I was an amazing speak but am glad I did it, I am glad my students were able to unpack and discuss the word together and I am glad I took the challenge even through at times I was afraid.


A delicate line for words is just as strong and powerful then anything, we ever knew and although I taught tonight, I learnt something that Gods word is more then ink on paper, its more then my past experience with His words, its current, ever present ready to reveal more of His kinds, character essence and nature. What's truly amazing is its even more so the second time you rediscover it.

Another story of God Moving with our students..

I always try and bring students into my life, even when for some reason they may feel overwhelmed or think it totally random. So this is just a little insight to what happened when I invite a student to come along with me to a community gathering.


my week was totally crazy but I thought I need to make a big effort in attending study. So I attend on a bi-weekly basis to this particular  community group that studies the word together every week and quite a few of our students go to this group, to hang out and to hear what God is saying...

I thought while I was hanging with my student in the afternoon, that she could come with me and  what an evening, first of she was on her phone and although I was going to tell her not to God said 'wait' and  then when we started to look at the bible I decided to share my bible with her.  She looked at me in shock and said I can't read the bible and I was double shocked, God said "you needed help once too, be gentle".... you this particular student had been baptized the week before and a month before that had made a commitment to the Lord at the Sliver Ring Thing (purety commitment for saving herself for marriage), you see it was the fact that this student did all these things that shocked me but in that moment it was clear this student was leaning forward to God but she had no one leading her closer in heart and deed, it was just the deed....It was a shock but a encouragement, as God confirmed the reason why I do what I do but also why I was in San Antonio for students like this bright lovely girl. 

Later on: 

A lady that the host of the study knew stepped forward in desperate need for prayer. This woman was asking God for help and wanted to figure out how she could forgive herself, she felt like she could never be forgiven or loved by Him, once the prayer was over I looked over at my student who God lead me to invite and I could tell she was moved but something had changed. You see the faith she was doing all these christ like acts for was now become very really.

The night was wrapping up and my student heading for the door, I wanted to speak to her before she left and the conversations was great, I challenged her to not let this night pass by and if she wanted to be serious about the word we could get together and figure the Word of God out. She was very ready to take the next step...

Thank you God, That I have no clue what works you have in store for us, that you can take a simple invitation to open the doors to someone heart. Bless my student, help me to lead her and may all of take the chance again and again to invite people into your kingdom whether its inviting someone to bible study or buying someone a soda...helps Lord to do that and more.