A Day in the Life of a YWAMer

So I thought I'd do a fun post on what a typical day of mine looks like.
Here you go:

5:45 - Wake up and get ready to start the day!

6-6:45 - I run Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with a small group of girls. On Tuesday and Thursday there is a work-out class that I recently joined - it's a mix of pilates and strength stuff that is intense but so good for me!

7-7:15 - Eat breakfast. I eat the same thing almost everyday: oatmeal with coconut and pineapple/papaya. Yum!

7:45-8:55 - God time. Such an important and vital time of my day. It is really hard to find a quiet, deserted place on this campus, but thankfully it's pretty big so it's not impossible. The prayer room is always an option.

9-12 - Class in the Fire and Fragrance classroom. Each week we have a different speaker who speaks on a particular topic. This week it's restoration and so we've been getting set free from our pasts and things like self-hatred, insecurity, body-image, etc. Basically we're tearing down strongholds and finding our rightful freedom and authority in Christ--it's awesome (more on that in another blog post)!

12-1 - Lunch. I have a one-on-one time with my outreach leader, Alyssa, once a week. It's a great time of encouragement, discipleship, and growing in our friendship.

1-3 - We have a prayer room slot most weekdays where we worship, pray, and intercede for others altogether as a class. Most of the time we don't really have an agenda, so it ends up being Holy Spirit-led awesomeness!

3-5 - This time is set aside for work duty. I have to work in the kitchen every other weekend (Saturday: 6:30-10am and 3-7pm, Sunday: 6-9am and 3-7pm) which means setting up, getting food ready, serving, and cleaning up for ~400 people here on base. Though it is exhausting since you're always on your feet, running around getting things, it's not actually that bad--the other people I work with (all Fire and Fragrance peeps) make it a joy and it's always so much fun. Lots of singing and dancing with rags, dishes, and mops is involved!
Anyways, since I do my work duty on the weekends, I have this time off during the week, which is such a blessing. I prefer getting it done all in one go rather than having it spread out each day.

5-6 - Dinner.

6 onwards - Monday - ministry night. A time where we're all in the prayer room worshipping and ministering to each other. We don't have an agenda for these times and it usually goes wherever the Spirit leads! We've had crazy freedom dance parties in there the past few times which have been AWESOME! So much joy is released during these times and people are getting set free from past issues.
                       Tuesday - community outreach. We are released into the town to love on people. We initiate conversations and start friendships with some of the shop owners and regulars there, pray for people, and simply show the love of Christ to those on the street!
                       Wednesday - free night!
                       Thursday - corporate session. Everyone on base gets together for worship and teaching. We are blessed to have the founders of YWAM, Loren and Darlene Cunningham, living among us so we hear from them a lot during these times.
                        Friday - free night!

10 - Time to hit the sack. Sometimes it's earlier (actually, that is quite rare. it's a gift from the Lord if that happens!) and sometimes it's later. It's hard living with six other girls who all go to bed at different times--PTL for ear plugs!

Weekends are also free, so it gives us time to do any homework we might have, journal, relax, and process things from the week. I usually go to the beach at least once on the weekend with a few of my friends--you're in Hawaii, so you might as well take advantage of the beauty that's around you ;)

So there you have it! It's definitely a loaded schedule, but it's so good. I am SO blessed to be here--I cannot and will not stop saying that! I have a good good Father.

Aloha from Kona, Hawaii!

Wow . . . it's so hard to believe that only about a week and a half ago I was back home in the Emirates. This has been the longest week and a half ever.
More than ever I feel that this is exactly where I'm supposed to be and exactly where God has brought me. I love the wide and spacious place He has brought me into (Psalm 18)! I cannot help but proclaim the goodness of God over and over again as I sit here surrounded by such beauty: coconut trees swaying slightly in the breeze, fluffy off-white clouds hanging low in the sky, and a blue, blue sky.
This is the perfect place for God to romance your heart. You cannot help but fall more madly in love with the Creator after seeing the expressions of His creativity and beauty in the nature here. And that's exactly what's happening to me here: I'm falling more in love with Jesus every single day.

I struggle to put into words what all has happened so far. When I look at the person I was before I came here and the person I am now, I can confidently say that I am not the same person I was. God has already covered so much ground and given me freedom in so many areas and we're only two weeks into the three months that I'll be here! They say that these three months of teaching will be like seven years of church teaching. Talk about majorly compressed!
From the first day, everyone, including the leaders, knew that God was going to go to new places with this Fire & Fragrance school that previous schools had never gone before. Andy Byrd (who was teaching day 1 and the rest of the first week) got to the first point of his notes which was to ask for the spirit of wisdom and revelation from Ephesians when the Holy Spirit's agenda took over. We spent the next two hours or so crying, singing in the spirit, and contending for God to break in with His freedom specifically in areas of unbelief, shame, and self-hatred in our lives.
It was intense.
We realized that God had answered our prayers of asking for the spirit of wisdom and revelation right then and there. When that very Spirit comes in, everything that's not of God (like our shame, self-hatred, unbelief, etc.) squirms, disliking being exposed.
The rest of the week was focused on laying the right foundation: the foundation of the love of God. Our cracked and weak foundation of us trying and striving to love God rightly must be replaced with the foundation of His love for us. It's all about Him. Jesus needs to be put back in His rightful place in the gospel at the center of it all and we need to learn to simply receive that love which He has lavished on us. It's not about us loving Him, but it's about Him loving us. We love because He first loved us. God's love has wrecked me this week. He has given me fresh revelation on exactly how much He really loves me. Zephaniah 3:17 is something very special that I absolutely must share with you. It says this:      

The LORD your God is with you, 

   the Mighty Warrior who saves. 

He will take great delight in you; 

   in his love he will no longer rebuke you, 

   but will rejoice over you with singing.

Andy broke it down into something quite spectacular. The Hebrew words (or something like that) for "rejoice" and "singing" mean two completely different concepts than we'd usually think or associate with those two particular words. To rejoice means to spin around with wild emotion and to sing means to scream with a shrill voice at the top of your lungs. 

Picture God rejoicing and singing over you like that and I can guarantee that you will get so wrecked by His love. He's wild about you! He's crazy with emotion over you! His heart is RAVISHED by just one glance of your eyes. 

Jonathan David Helser, an incredible prophetic worship leader who's with us this week, has this song that puts it perfectly. It goes like this:

You are an endless ocean, a bottomless sea...

There's no end to the affection that you have for me

The ocean of His love for us is so vast, so limitless that we'll still be swimming in it for all of eternity and still we will not find any shore or any bottom. I'm letting that love come and change who I think I am. God is redefining the way that I look at myself. He is releasing me into the fullness of what it means to be a daughter of the King of Kings. He is giving my rightful authority because of how He has seated me in heavenly places. I am a co-heir with Christ! He is restoring my dignity and royalty. He is showing me who I really am. He is giving me freedom to walk that out.

I am my Beloved's. 

I am my Beloved's. 

I am my Beloved's.

It's who I am and who I will forever be. 

That's just a little taste of what God's been speaking over me this past week and a half. So much has happened, and yet I still want more. Who knows what these next weeks will hold? 

Thank you so much for running with me on this journey God is taking me on! May you be rocked by a fresh revelation of how much the Father loves you. 

New Beginnings

So, I've decided to start a blog. Yes. I've been thinking of doing one for a while now but I'm actually doing it now! It's something new to start off the year of 2011, except it's not a New Year's resolution, because those always seem to fail and I actually want to regularly write here!
I have always loved to write! And now, I'm letting you in on it. I'm taking you on my journey. You see, very soon, I will be "flying from the family nest" to face the world on my own. 
Brace yourselves! 


For those of you who don't know, I am headed off to Kona, Hawaii to do a six-month Discipleship Training School (DTS) with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) called Fire and Fragrance (see www.fireandfragrance.com for more info). I AM SO EXCITED! 
Soon, everything I have ever known will be completely turned upside down, 360°. 
I'm such a mix of emotions right now as I think about the fact that I will be in Hawaii five days from now. Five days. 
I am almost jumping up and down with anticipation and excitement for the adventure that awaits me, but, at the same time, not enjoying (to say the least) having to say good-byes to all the amazing people here and leaving the comfortable place I've grown up in that I'm used to. I guess it's the unknown that gets me. It's taking risks that both excites and instills fear in me. I think I'm ready to take it though--ready or not, here it comes! 
This has been (and will continue to be, I'm sure) such a leap of faith for me. I feel like stepping on the plane will be like stepping off the edge of a cliff into the arms of my Father, believing He'll catch me. There are so many questions swirling 'round my head these days, but I just have to keep reminding myself to be like a child - fully trusting, fully knowing. My Daddy's so good. 
God continues to prove Himself faithful and so good time and time again. 

ALL the money that I'll need for the school--three months of teaching and three months of outreach--has come in AND MORE. That's like $10,000 altogether!!! It's been mind-blowing to see how God has provided and continues to provide. It's been such an encouragement to see how He takes my little mustard seed of faith and works with the little I have. 

I'm excited to see what this year holds! Lots of changes await, and adventure lies ahead!