Christmas joy

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: 

The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a 

son, and they will call him Immanuel.

~ Isaiah 7:14

    It's so easy to get wrapped up and caught up in all of the Christmas festivities that are happening this time of year. Shopping for that perfect gift. Wrapping each present so carefully. Listening to the joyous Christmas sounds.... There is so much happening that sometimes we just get stressed out. 

   That's not how Christmas is supposed to be. Christmas isn't about giving or getting... It's a time to remember the birth of our Savior. The one that God sent down to earth from heaven in the form of fragile infant. 

   The miracle of Christmas happened in a stable.

   The King of kings was born in a stable. Placed in a manger. The God who created the universe sent his perfect son down to earth in the form of tiny infant child. 

   God sent his perfect son, Jesus Christ, down to this crazy messed up world. Jesus sacrificed himself for us. Not only did he die such a horrible death for us, but he became one of us. He gave up his perfect self to be one of us. To live around the sin of this world, yet never be apart of it. He was perfect. 

   Christmas is a time to remember the birth of Jesus. Reflect on what really happened when Jesus was born. I think that sometimes during Christmas, we might just accidentally forget that Mary and Joseph were human. Mary was indeed a virgin, yet was only able to give birth to Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. 

   So many miracles happened that first Christmas. Jesus' birth was prophesied for centuries before it actually happened. When it did happen, a virgin was chosen to give birth to Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Jesus wasn't born in a palace of gold, he was born in the lowest of places. He was born in a stable. Among animals... Jesus was placed in a manger. 

  Jesus came to us as a humble, fragile infant. He came to experience life as a human. He came to die for us and take our punishment on the cross... Because without his death and resurrection, the payment would never be paid. 

  Jesus is the miracle of Christmas. 

  

Thanksgiving and coming weeks

   Had a great Thanksgiving, and hope you all did as well. I am so blessed to have a wonderful family, amazing friends, and Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.

  I don't know how much time I will find in the coming weeks to post... We have family coming home from Christmas and things to prepare for. I get more information about my DTS in January 2015... I can't wait!

  I hope you all had a BLESSED Thanksgiving. Thank you for your prayers and support!

Grateful

   Happy Thanksgiving! God is so good. I didn't think my life  would ever take the direction it is taking, but it is. Thank you for all the prayers and support, I can't do without it. I'm grateful for my amazing friends and family... <3

   Gratitude. Being grateful for what God has given us is so important. Once we begin to magnify the gifts God has already given us, all of 'problems' don't seem as big.

   Gratitude turns whatever we have into enough...
 

The Great Commission

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey 

everything I have commanded you...

- Matthew 28:19-20(NIV)

  

Love this.

Do not worry

   Lately, I have been worrying a lot. What if the funds I need aren't supplied? What happens if....?
Lots of worry and anxiety seem to be crowding my mind. Too many 'What if's" and not enough Jesus.

  Today at church we were talking about the parable of prodigal son found in Luke 5:11-32. The preacher read the story. As he was talking, my mind was often wandering. Think about something else that I needed to do this week. Refocus. Think. Refocus. This went on for quite awhile, until the preacher said something that got me thinking and refocused.

   God does not want us to fear. He is our Protector. He doesn't just protect us from harm, but also from emotional hurts too. With God, we have no need to worry. God has our future in his hands. He knows the big picture... We only get to see a small glimpse of the picture.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, 

for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each

day has enough trouble of its own.

-Matthew 6:34

   So, I have relaxed a little bit about everything that I need to do and what might happen. I'm learning that it's a process that needs to be repeated often... Daily, hourly, every minute. It's a process. It's a journey. 

Next step

   So what is this next step? I have to raise $5300 (not including airfare for the outreach $800-$2000). I have set up a website that allows people to donate to my DTS online. I have also set up a facebook page for people who want to still see updates from both my blog and the my event page.

  Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/sendmedtsjourney
  Donate online: http://www.myywamdts.myevent.com/
 
   If you ever have any questions, please comment and I will do my best to answer them. This DTS is definitely going to stretch me and force me outside my comfort zone. Please pray for me as I continue on this journey... I don't feel ready or even adequate for this, but where I am weak God is strong.

    But he said to me,"My grace is sufficient for you, for my 

power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will

boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that

Christ's power may rest on me.~2 Corinthians 12:9

   

How did I get here?

   I'm not really sure where to begin with this post. I got accepted to do a DTS with YWAM two days ago. That was the last confirmation I needed that this is definitely something God wants me to do.

   So, how'd I get here? Well... To be perfectly honest, going onto the mission field was never in my thoughts. I admired other people who went, but I myself had no desire to go on a mission trip or the mission field.

   Our youth pastor, Wade, announced in January 2014 that there would be a mission trip to Ecuador at some point during the summer. I knew as soon as he mentioned it that I was supposed to go. I got my parent's okay, and got accepted to be apart of the Ecuador Mission Team 2014.

   The Ecuador trip was very eye-opening and life-changing. We did many things while we were in Ecuador, but I think of the biggest things for a lot of us was our time in the jungle.

Part of the Ecuador Team with some of the kids from the jungle.

   While we were in jungle, we were there to serve. We were going to put on a children's outreach and also help build a church that they are trying to start. The kids in the jungle didn't care who you were, what you looked like, or why you were there.... They just flocked to us and wanted us to love on them.

   Seeing kids who were so happy with so little was definitely one thing that hit me. In the USA, kids aren't really content with anything anymore. We always want more... But we don't NEED more. These kids didn't really own anything, but they were still the happiest kids I have ever seen. Their eyes danced with excitement and love. It was amazing to see.

   While we were in the jungle playing with the kids and loving on them, I just felt God whisper, "You aren't going on the path you think you are. This. This is what I want you do. I want you to live a life of missions for my sake."

   I'd have to admit was stubborn. I had my whole life planned out and now God was just suddenly telling me that my life wasn't the way he wanted it to be? I wanted to get a degree in child-development. Start my own daycare. Get married and have kids. Then God tells me that that isn't what he wanted me to do? Yep.

   Well, I started praying that if this was really God telling me this that he would take away my dream and put the dream to live a life of missions there instead. Wanna know something? He did. Within the course of a few days, I realized that I no longer had the desire to get a degree in child-development. Instead, I wanted to go on the mission field and was EXCITED about it!

   After returning from Ecuador, I began to pray about what the next step was if it wasn't college. A lot of people suggested getting some required college classes out of the way. Then, someone reminded me about YWAM (Youth With A Mission). I began to look into it and pray about it. Finally, I decided to apply to do a DTS (Discipleship Training School). I was keeping an open mind about it and decided that if I got turned down, that God was just saying, "No, this one isn't for you. I have something better."

   But, I got accepted!

  So that's how I began this journey... I can't wait to see where God takes me!