So I got to go home last week which was pretty awesome. For the days before Wednesday, everyone was getting tired and antsy to go home, which caused everyone to be a little distant, but still good towards each other. I'm also not too sure what was the last thing that I wrote about so I'll try to hit all of the major things that have been happening in the last little while. Two days ago we got to go snowboarding! It was really fun and was the second time that I was able to go here in Denver. The first time that we went, I ended with a really hard spill so I was a little hesitant on Friday, but with a little bit of prayer, God gave me a lot of confidence to hit the hill and I was able to improve so much. I know that there is not a lot of eternal significance to the skill of my snowboarding, but it was really awesome to see how much God cares about the things that we care about. I was very encouraged.
We have also been getting really close as a room. It's too bad that it's been such a long time coming, but we do have two weeks together still and we are having such a good time together. There is a mass tiredness spreading through the camp and a bit of sickness, so one morning all of us layed in bed, coming up with the most serious illness we could have that would cause us not to have to get up and experience the day. It's pretty ridiculous, but the comfort level has risen to a whole new level since we have been back from "Thanksgiving" and it's really great! Sad that we are all leaving each other so soon though.
I'll go back to the beginning though, Kevin Verone was our speaker for the three days that we had before our short break and it was really great since he just let us have time to process what we've learned. It's great for me having a lot of information thrown at us in the short time, but I and others have had a hard time reviewing what we've learned and being able to let it really sink in. So him just asking us to tell him what we've learned and expanding on points that we were foggy on was amazing. He also talked to us about what our identity should look like in Christ, very profound. He talked about how God, like a father, wants us to be able to make decisions that would make Him proud without Him having to tell us. It seems so simple, but it was something that never really registered to me before. I think it's so amazing that He has enable us to be His stewards without exact direction and it makes me very hungry to be reading His word and learn of His character as well as to be able to become comfortable in His presence. I feel confident that the decisions I make, will become more and more a reflection of Him, the more time that I spend with Him. I love how every new topic ignites the Holy Spirits fire within me again and makes me hungry to know Him more. God's crazy depth and mystery is awesome, I can be sure that I will never stop learning more about Him!
I was also able to spend time on that Monday to go on a local outreach like we do every week. We went to a place called confluence, and we were able to just do a prayer walk around a neighborhood who hasn't yet welcomed the Lord a lot. It was amazing the impressions God was putting on my heart though because I have never before felt the need to pray for a building, but that night I was drawn to one specifically and the words that flowed out of my mouth were definitely not mine. Not only the building though, I was walking down one street and I felt God telling me to claim the ground that we were walking on as His, and Holy ground. Seems crazy because it was just a sidewalk, but it was awesome how much I felt His presence with me that night.
After the short week, I headed back home!! It was so great to see my family again and the few friends that I could see, but I realized that getting back into a routine where I have to discipline myself is going to be crazy hard. I spend all day everyday, learning and loving on Jesus so when I am in an enviroment that isn't centred 100% around that I'm going to have to be strong all on my own and that scares me! I know that my family is there to support me and I appreciate the wisdom that they have for me, but it's just so different being here where all everyone is trying to do is be closer to Jesus. I think it was good for me to be able to have a little taste of what post-DTS is going to be like and to be able to recharge and see the people who know me best and love me! I didn't realize how much I missed everyone until I got home, but it's been amazing how God has been making me so content with where I'm at, wherever that is. I have been able to be almost stress free about the future and just so confident in what God has for me now and how I can be closer to Him, so I'm just ready to take on outreach and whatever else comes at me while I'm still here in Denver. I feel like I'm a missionary already, even though I'm not technically on the "mission field".
When I got back, I can't believe I've only been back for a week, but it felt almost surreal or like it was my first day at DTS again. I had a hard time feeling like I fit in again, but we jumped right back into outreach the next day and I was forced, thankfully, to get right back into the swing of things. Before outreach, since I had no laundry, I spent three and a half hours reading the latest book that we are assigned, "Peace Child", by Don Richards. I honestly could not put the book down and I am so excited to go to heaven to hang out with some of the inspiring Sawi men. I would suggest the book to anyone who can handle a little bit of evil, before redemption. Then I had a very relaxing outreach, where I got to paint art supply bags for a non-profit called "Art For the Nations". It was a nice, simple way to get back into serving Jesus.
This week we had class on Bible Study and I am, for the first time, confident that I have the tools to understand what God wants to tell me through the Bible. I have never been confident in understanding what He wants to say to me, but I realized that I shouldn't be stressing out about what the Bible says to other people and how I can understand it in the deepest way possible. God just wants me to be able to relax in His presence and be someone that I love being around and feel comfortable with instead of someone that I feel that i always have to prove myself to. This should have been something that I always felt, but it actually was a revelation the Holy Spirit gave to me and I am so excited to begin this new way of reading in Isaiah. We also learend a lot about how to lead Bible Studies, use concordances and all of the real in depth stuff that I think will help me a lot. I also have a desire to learn Greek so that I can just understand the New Testament in it's original form. But I can't see that being a realistic plan, so I'll take it as it comes.
We also had Thailand/Colombia team meetings and God has putting the idea of passionate prayer on my heart for our team. He just showed me that He wants us to be so broken for the pain and injustice going on around us and that when we pray, we need to be so full of passion and want to be praying for everything that we choose or He chooses us to pray for. I struggle with my prayer life, but it's something that God's working in me with and I am excited that He is revealing to me, the farthest thing from a prayer warrior, that this is what He has planned for us doing His work. It's really amazing how He is moving in us all here.
It's been great to see people come out of their shells and find their identites in Christ. Being able to fellowship with believers who are all at different places but all wanting the same thing and learning together is the most valuable thing that God has given me and I am so excited that He has been pursueing me the way that He has.
Today was an amazing example of the relentless pursuit He has for me. I have been struggling to get back into the groove a hundred percent because I had a set schedule and idea down that worked for me, but today He pulled me back in again. I was running alone after church and I went much farther than I do when I was in my group. I felt God wanted me to listen to worship music and like every other run, I focussed on prayer instead of the physical exertion. The first person that I felt to pray for, I later found out was being prayed for by all of the girls here and that she was having a really hard and discouraging day which was soo cool. Then I was praying for people as well as thinking about the sermon that we were assigned to prepare for our outreachs. As I was invisioning what I would say, God took hold of my heart and was like "Hey Karly, this is what I've been trying to say to you." It was crazy how thinking about Jesus hanging on the cross, taking all of our sins inside Himself! Just because He loves us got to me like it did when I first decided to commit my life to Christ. I was so broken and He once again unleashed the tears for me so that I could be overcome with His presence. I scared a man on His horse, but it was so symbolic of the safety that I have in God and that He cares about me not only spiritually, but emotionally and physically too! Ah it was the most amazing run I have ever experienced and I am so excited to be able to dedicate my physical body to God's work too, even in times of excersize. It has been a rollercoaster of a couple weeks, but I am excited to see what God has in store for us and ready for outreach. We need prayer for safety and still support for a few of our teams members.
Once again, please check out the Jesus Freaks videos that are continuously being posted and make them part of your blog, website or facebook status. We want to start an epidemic!
http://www.jesusfreaksmovie.com/
Also in case you are interested, the music God has been using to really get my soul started lately is United Pursuit Band. They are amazing and are dedicated to following the Holy Spirits leading
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