Forgiveness

Forgiveness is bringing people into the throne room of God and choosing to allow Jesus to break the chain that connects you to that person and then having the courage to leave them there in the presence of a JUST God. It's not excusing their behavior, or forgetting what they did to you, and it's not even a feeling, but it IS a choice to not use their sin against you as an excuse to sin and become bitter yourself. I think this can be the most difficult thing to choose to do sometimes, but when it is freely given, the giver recieves so much freedom.

Last weeks theme was the Father Heart of God. The speaker talked a lot about the different wounds our parents can cause from our childhood and how sometimes they don't reflect God's true heart towards us simply because they are human. It was a good reminder of how God has healed so many of those wounds and how amazing my relationship is with my parents. One new truth that I received during worship on Monday was that God's door is always open; not just the door to his courts, but the door to His bedroom. Your room is the place you feel most compfortable and when people enter your room and see how you've decorated it they get to know you so much better. You also have to trust someone a lot to let them into your room. God said to me, "my room is never locked, day or night you can always come in." Since I am trusting God more I am able to forgive people that are otherwise impossible to forgive. On friday God helped me to choose to forgive someone and to trust Him enough to bring justice to the situation. It was very freeing. God is a good good Father and his heart is for us not against us.

This weeks theme is relationships and the focus is to bring healing in the areas of broken relationships. So many of the students have already been ministered to, simply because they chose to confess things that have so long been in the dark. Things that have happened to them or people they have hurt by their actions. It's amazing that when one girl shares about their horrible past, many more are free to share because they are not alone. It's a beautiful thing.

Next week I am taking a team of 4 students into Christchurch to serve a church there. We will be staying with kiwi families from the church. I will let you know how that goes.

Mt. Hutt

Here's a veiw from the top of Mt. Hutt where we ride.

Gorgeous!

Small Group

Here are my beautiful small group girls and me. We had fun playing at the play ground this day. I will put more fun photos on later. But for now there names are Mirjam, Mandy, Me, Julie, and Kate at the top. We meet every Wed. Sometimes we go deep and get a chance to pray for each other, but sometimes we just hang out. I love my small group and I will miss them when I go on outreach.

India Team

So this is Team India. We have 6 weeks to go before our departure on the 29th of September. We are still in the process of getting to know each other, but already we feel like family. From left to right we are Anthony, Danielle, Joel, Me, Felix, Carley, and Joe. The cities/villages we are planning to go to are Calcutta, Darjeeling, Varanasi, and Delhi. We are super stoked about Darjeeling because it is up at 8,000 feet in the Himalaya Mountains right by the Nepal border. The photos we have seen are beautiful and I guess the tea is famous. Be praying for Joel and I that we will find the time to organize without feeling too stressed. You guys all know how I get stressed.

Patrick Dodson

This week we are talking about the nature & character of God and we have this incredible speaker named Patrick Dodson. I am totally blown away by some of the revelations I am receiving about the Kingdom of God, and this guy is confirming so many things I've always known about how Christians are supposed to live in this world. I havn't formulated all my thoughts about it yet, but when I do I will write them in here. All I can say is that you have got to check his teachings out! He is such an innovator and has actually put all of his lectures online. He has a power point/media presentation and then he records what he is saying to us on his i-pod and puts it on his website. If you have been asking questions like--What am I supposed to do with my life? Who is God in art, government, education, media...etc? Why is he not speaking to me? and other such questions. You really should take a week and listen to these lectures. You might even hear me ask some questions, like I always do. =) Ok, so his website is http://www.patrickdodson.net Really guys, really check this out. In only 3 days of lectures God is freeing me of so much fear of who I am what I am supposed to do and be. We have so much more responsibility than we think and it's exciting.