In ALL We Do

He won't relent until He has it all, my heart is His. 


Not only my heart, but my soul, my spirit, and my body. It's all His!


Something that God put on my heart years ago is something that's very much at the front of my mind at all times. And that is taking care of His temple. Our bodies are His temple, so we not only have no right to trash them, but it's just downright disrespectful to our God to not take excellent care of His dwelling place.


You can see the temples of idols lined with intricate designs of gold and precious stones, flowing with fragrant flowers and incense... but the temple of the one true God? How many of us actually treat our bodies like temples? And I don't mean with extravagant decorations and perfumes.


There has up to now only been one solid year in my life during which I respected the house of God with the respect, love, and discipline that He so deserves. That year was not this year, nor the last. Since God has put this so hugely on my heart, I have not stopped thinking about it, but I stopped fully doing it. 


It's time to get back into the place of my calling. A worshiper who comes before God proving her love to Him through her service of caring for His house. I don't wish only to be a Proverbs 31 woman, I will strive to be a Proverbs 31 worshiper.


I don't know if this is something that God has particularly put on your heart, but if so, I would like to invite you to join me in becoming a Proverbs 31 worshiper.




^10 [b]A wife of noble character who can find? 
   She is worth far more than rubies. 
¹¹ Her husband has full confidence in her 
   and lacks nothing of value. 
¹² She brings him good, not harm, 
   all the days of her life. 
¹³ She selects wool and flax 
   and works with eager hands. 
¹⁴ She is like the merchant ships, 
   bringing her food from afar. 
¹⁵ She gets up while it is still night; 
   she provides food for her family 
   and portions for her female servants. 
¹⁶ She considers a field and buys it; 
   out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. 
¹⁷ She sets about her work vigorously; 
   her arms are strong for her tasks. 
¹⁸ She sees that her trading is profitable, 
   and her lamp does not go out at night. 
¹⁹ In her hand she holds the distaff 
   and grasps the spindle with her fingers. 
²⁰ She opens her arms to the poor 
   and extends her hands to the needy. 
²¹ When it snows, she has no fear for her household; 
   for all of them are clothed in scarlet. 
²² She makes coverings for her bed; 
   she is clothed in fine linen and purple. 
²³ Her husband is respected at the city gate, 
   where he takes his seat among the elders of the land. 
²⁴ She makes linen garments and sells them, 
   and supplies the merchants with sashes. 
²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity; 
   she can laugh at the days to come. 
²⁶ She speaks with wisdom, 
   and faithful instruction is on her tongue. 
²⁷ She watches over the affairs of her household 
   and does not eat the bread of idleness. 
²⁸ Her children arise and call her blessed; 
   her husband also, and he praises her: 
²⁹ “Many women do noble things, 
   but you surpass them all.” 
³⁰ Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; 
   but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. 
³¹ Honor her for all that her hands have done, 
   and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.


It sounds like hard work because it is hard work. The question is, does He DESERVE us to love Him with this agape love? And the answer just for clarification, is YES. Absolutely.


One of the practical ways I'm loving Him during these next couple weeks is joining my church family in our annual Daniel fast. For prayer I will simply and passionately be praising Him, even when I don't feel like it. For the fast, I have already started experimenting with new recipes to add to the list from back when I was vegan.


Here are a couple different granola bar recipes:

Apricot Oatmeal Squares


*Make sure that you read labels when purchasing ingredients and make sure the product has no ingredients other than the one you want, such as sugar, sulfur, flavors, and preservatives*



2 cups water
5 cups old fashioned oatmeal
1/2 cup raw almond butter
1/3 cup raw+organic honey (the FDA has approved honey industries to add corn syrup to their honey WITHOUT declaring it on the ingredients list unless it is sold as raw AND organic)

3/4 cup raisins

1/2 cup dried apricots

(or any other nuts/dried fruit you prefer)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Bring the water to a boil in a large pot, then add only 2 cups of oatmeal and stir. Let boil for 3 minutes, and then allow to simmer for an additional 5 minutes, or until the oatmeal is extremely thick and pasty, stirring often. 

3. Scatter 2 cups of oatmeal on a cookie sheet with raised edges (so as not to spill oatmeal in your oven), spreading the oatmeal as evenly as possible. Toast in the oven for about 5 minutes, or until it begins to smell like it's toasted. A little golden brown is ok, but be cautious not to burn the oatmeal.

4. Melt almond butter and half of honey (1/6 cup) into the boiled oatmeal and stir well.

5. Stir in raisins, and then stir in the toasted oatmeal.

6. Divide mixture into 8 evenly sized balls, and then shape into thick squares.

7. Roll one side and all of the edges of each square into remaining oatmeal, leaving the top of the square bare.

8. Slice apricots into long, thin slices, and decoratively place on top of squares.

9. Drizzle remaining honey over apricots to keep them from falling off. 

10. Bake for 20-25 minutes on parchment paper on top of a cookie sheet, and if you see the apricots beginning to brown, get those squares outta there!

11. Cool and store in the refrigerator.

Also eat them. But not all at the same time... that could cause problems.

Tropical Granola Bars

*Make sure that you read labels when purchasing ingredients and make sure the product has no ingredients other than the one you want, such as sugar, sulfur, flavors, and preservatives*

6 cups old fashioned oatmeal

1/2 cup raw+organic honey (the FDA has approved honey industries to add corn syrup to their honey WITHOUT declaring it on the ingredients list unless it is sold as raw AND organic)

5 bananas

1 cup dried unsweetened pineapple

1 cup dried unsweetened mango

1/2 cup macadamia nuts

1 cup dried unsweetened coconut flakes

1. Heat oven to 350 F.

2. Scatter oatmeal on a cookie sheet with raised edges (so as not to spill oatmeal in your oven), spreading the oatmeal as evenly as possible. Toast in the oven for about 7 minutes, or until it begins to smell like it's toasted. A little golden brown is ok, but be cautious not to burn the oatmeal.

3. Puree bananas and put into large pot with honey

4. Heat the pot just enough to melt the honey, and stir honey and bananas together

5. Chop all dried fruit and nuts into small pieces, and stir into banana mixture

6. Stir in toasted oatmeal (if the mixture is too dry for shaping, add more banana)

7. Divide into 12 balls, and roll each into a cylindrical shape

8. Roll bars in coconut, and place on parchment paper on a cookie sheet

9. Finish shaping into rectangular granola bars

10. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until coconut begins to brown

11. Cool and store in fridge

And enjoy!

I hope that these are helpful whether God is speaking to you about caring for His temple or not. They're certainly tasty either way!

Here's to being a Proverbs 31 worshiper in ALL we do.

Conspiracy to Immobilize

Have you ever simply cuddled up to a warm kitty and burrowed your face in her big fluffy belly? Maybe that's a little unsanitary, but I don't really care.

Or have you ever sat in bed with a journal and a cup of tea, but nothing to write?

When was the last time that your primary obligation was to do nothing at all?

It has been much too long for me.

Before returning to Vegas, God was speaking to me about rest. Resting in Him as well as just resting in general. I knew He was telling me to take it easy, to not load my plate with a hundred different things to do every week, and I planned on doing exactly that... not much. As soon as I arrived though, the calendar was whipped out and the reminders were set. I told myself that I could rest between errands and appointments, but I knew I was only trying to fool myself.

But God drew me still nearer.

As soon as I moved home from the YWAM base, I was hit by a bug. It wasn't too bad, so I tried to pretend that it was not there so it wouldn't slow me down, but then my car went into cahoots with my immune system and decided not to work anymore. So Cornelius (my car) has been at the shop all week, and I have been trying to get along without it. After devising transportation plans for the rest of the week, my body decided not to let me leave the house either! At first I was frustrated, until I laid down to REST. Then it really clicked inside of me that I was ACTUALLY supposed to be resting! Not theoretically or planning to sometime in the future, really resting, right now.

Today I sat on my dad's bed as he worked and I studied and sipped on green tea. It was paradisiacal. I don't remember the last time I melted into a mattress and just... was.

Tomorrow I look forward to some awesomely restful time with God. And kitty cuddling. Can't leave out the kitties.


Hopefully since I've learned my lesson my car will be functional now. Eh God?


<3

Crocodile Dreams

Last night (Jan 7-8) I had quite the vivid dream.

I wouldn't go so far as to call it prophetic, but I haven't been able to stop thinking about it all day. In fact I would say that it was more of a reflective sort of dream, even though to even say that one would need to be quite creative.

I even miss my babies that I adopted in my dream. They were so real! I have no clue what else to say about this dream. It was strange and vivid, not entirely pleasant, but I want my babies from the dream back. So weird.
__________________________

I was on a mission trip in Nepal with Joshua and Stacy, and we were driving somewhere in their new red convertible. Nepal at this point looked exactly like suburban America. There were extensive instructions on how to merge onto the freeway painted on the road of the onramp. Joshua got distracted reading the instructions and didn't notice the car right in front of him stopping suddenly. We rear ended the other car, and there was a big explosion that turned the cars to shrapnel and the road to rubble. 

We were all ok, but there was blood oozing into the mud from under Joshua's legs. He got up and was fine, but there was a badly mangled and obviously dead young Korean girl sinking in the mud. I got out of the car to help her, but the piece of road (which was about the size of my actual car) I was standing on fell away from the rest of the road. I fell down the hill, and the piece of road flattened me like roadkill. When Joshua and Stacy asked if I was alright, I said I was and came back up to help. 

I pulled the Korean girl out along with her parents, and the parents were unconscious but alive. I yelled for Meredith to come pray for them, but she wasn't around so the three of us prayed. The parents woke up, but it took a little longer to bring the girl to life. She came to life though, and we all went our separate ways.

Later while in a village-y sort of place, there was a strange supernatural disaster that killed all but 46 of adults who lived in Nepal (there were people being lifted into and dropped from the sky.. It was just plain weird). There were thousands of kids still alive though. I found two Nepali boys, a Nepali girl and an American girl who needed a home, so I asked them if they wanted me to be their mother. They all said yes, but the American girl had an abusive older brother who was very angry about it. He called her across the river and she went to him, but when he started yanking her around I told the other children to stay put while I swam across to fetch her. I had a hard time getting her back across, but we made it. 

When I got back, I just looked intently into the eyes of my new babies, not wanting to mix up their names or forget what they looked like... Also cherishing this moment when I first became a mother. The boys were about the same age, maybe 6 or 7. One was slightly darker and heavier, and he had his right eye injured in the disaster. His hair was meant to be short, but it was getting kind of shaggy. The other boy wasn't light, but lighter than the first. His hair was the same, but the opposite eye was injured and he was slightly leaner than the other. The Nepali girl was about 8, she was very dark and had corn rows in her shoulder blade length hair. She never stopped smiling, and had genuine joy just bubbling out all the time. The American girl was extremely small, as if undernourished. She was about 5, but was the height of a 2 1/2 year old,  and even smaller around. She had short, thin, straight, blonde hair that was held up with two pigtails.

Soon after there was a program put in place by foreign missionaries for the Nepali children. Families would move to Nepal and take in about 4-5 children and raise them as their own, and as responsible Nepali citizens, but with a foundation in truth about the one true God. 

There was a summer camp sort of thing going on, and so I took all my babies to stay at a cabin with me there. When we arrived, my sister was there! She was staying with my mom and a different family in another cabin, but she spent most of her time with me. She brought all of her clothes and luggage over to my cabin as well. She was somewhat excited to be an aunt, but was sad that I didn't have as much time to hang out with her. She would skip camp activities to just chill at my cabin while my kids were at the activities. We Skyped Dad on my iPod, and got frozen yogurt, etc etc, but she got in trouble one day and my mom was angry at me for taking her away, so she had to go back to her own cabin.  

The night she left, she left her stuff at my cabin, and tried to leave out the back door. I had a bad feeling about that door, so I told her to go the front way so I could watch and make sure she was safe. She was embarrassed but did it anyway. Up her steps she fell over and was even more embarrassed, but I waved to her goodnight, and she smiled and waved as well. I looked out the back door to see what was out there, and the back door was a very insecure door held by plastic rope and chains behind my dresser. When I looked out, it was a straight drop into the river! Just at the time when I was looking out, I saw a crocodile swim past. Even though I had embarrassed my sister, I was glad she was safe.

Seeing the condition of the back door worried me, so I tried to close it a little more securely. I went around closing all the doors and locking them, but eventually found that an entire wall was missing! I moved my babies into a room that was "secure", grabbed my camera and iPod, and slept in there for the night. I laid awake for hours that night, praying for my sister and my babies. I finally fell asleep, and that's when I woke up.

________________________________

Weird right? I know I haven't posted much of anything about the actual trip, but this just felt so important. I guess dreams are just strange like that.

BAM

Lately God has been teaching me a lot about pride. I never really thought I'd had a problem with it, but when you're not watching out it can creep up on you.

Sunday I was asked to preach in a Nepali church in Mumbai, and as I was praying about what to say, all I heard from the Lord was the word pride. I knew that God had already started speaking to my heart about it, but I didn't think it was that big of a problem area in my life. As I wrote the sermon God really convicted me of each scripture that He pointed out. I ended up just doing a study on James 4 that morning.

Today at a networking meeting/Christmas outreach prep, after I finished wrapping care packages, God pulled me outside for a chat. I had a good cry as I poured out my frustrations with team members, and a better cry as He convicted me to love them and stop letting stupid things get in the way of our team unity. It's amazing what a long conversation with God and a few tears will do for the soul.

As I was repenting of my pride, He told me to look up Proverbs 12:4, and it was like BAM. Cleansing conviction. I was previously not only frustrated with everyone on the team, but I had also been acting like quite the know-it-all... And still I didn't understand why I felt so disrespected at times. The verse pretty much summed it up in a sentence. Here's my situational paraphrase:

It's better to be humble and have the respect of your brothers, than to have a big mouth and give them every reason not to.

Anyways, I don't know exactly why I shared all that, but since God's teaching me about pride, I guess I'll just get over myself and be open.

And it's only week two! I'm excited to see what else God has to teach me on this journey.

From the Tea Corner

Wow!

So much has happened in the past couple weeks, I don't even know where to start. I guess the beginning is probably a good place.

While in transit to Mumbai, we found out that our housing fell through and our contact had to find something else for us. He did a great job of securing something else, but again the owners changed their minds. We ended up staying at a hotel for one night, and our contact found us an apartment that we could use for a couple weeks. We cleaned out the dirt and trash ridden apartment, not even daring to touch one bathroom. We worked on it for two days, and after it was spotless, the landlord decided not to let us stay there. It was a combination of the stress of her mom passing away, and the stress of having unwelcome foreigners in her apartment building.

Our contact brought us then to the Salvation Army hostel, which is located in the historic architecture-esque area of Mumbai. We even took the train from the station in Slumdog Millionaire almost every day! The hospitality of the people working there was amazing, and we were all extremely blessed to have been able to stay there.

Boy was it hot though! We never stopped sweating the entire time. Actually no, a couple of us stopped at a Café Coffee Day, and we ate at an air conditioned restaurant. But at least we never dealt with dry skin!

We worked alongside YWAM Mumbai in their different ministries, and got to partner with them in prayer. One of the first things we did was prayer walk through Kamathipura, one of the biggest red light districts in India. We also helped with their street kids, slum kids, HIV/AIDS, and prayer ministries.

The thing that touched my heart the most was simply being able to pray with Hindu families who were going through hard times. The ministry that YWAM Mumbai has already been doing with them has opened their hearts to Jesus, and helped them turn to Him in their time of need. In the future we are praying for those families to reject their idols and worship Yahweh alone, because He is the only one worthy of their praise, and the only one whose love can make them righteous. Praise the Lord for those guys in Mumbai doing His work there!

Today is our first full day in Kathmandu, and we are loving the weather and the culture already. It's cool enough during the day that we can wear jackets, but not so cold we must. At night it is chilly enough to get cozy with a hot cup of tea and a warm sleeping bag. I'm personally so glad to feel like it's really Christmas!

When we took the bus yesterday, we were all struck by the fact that the bus actually stopped and waited for us to get on, and one of the guys working on the bus helped us put our bags on the top! We aren't stared at quite as much here, but we are definitely not inconspicuous.

We are excited to get started today. We will be working with women rescued from trafficking situations, and maybe even going into clubs looking for girls to reach out to. I'm excited to really get into the anti-slavery aspect of the trip, especially seeing how our contacts already have the tools to rescue and rehabilitate the people they rescue.

Thank you so much for your prayers, and please keep them coming! We are going to need all the prayer backing we can get.

Prayer points:
Healing for Meredith's stomach
Overall health for Jake and Marissa (and the whole team)
Safety for the team and the people we'll be reaching out to
Lots and lots of blessings poured out on YWAM Mumbai and Kathmandu!

Thanks, and have a wonderfully blessed day :)

--God is my strength

Justice

Before reading this blog, please listen to this sermon by Paris Reidhead.

 Yes, it is long, and the beginning may not seem that exciting, but stick it out.

This is one of those paradigm shifting words from God that you cannot be unchanged by unless you consciously choose not to.

 

Wow.

Brenda Lewis played this sermon for our school, and it absolutely rocked our world. Our world had consisted of justice for the trafficked person, punishment and shame towards traffickers, and God's love towards us being our Christian focus. Now does this really sound that terrible? 

But who of us really desires the justice that we can serve on our own accord? Justice by the power of man would require punishment of any and all sin, death and permanent separation from God. Our idea of justice was warped. Saving the victims and taking out 'God's wrath' on the victimizers. But tell me what victim has achieved perfection, what victim deserves to be saved. Tell me also, what human who holds captive another human, takes away their rights, and forces them to do the unspeakable is LESS human than their victim. If JUSTICE... were to be served by the power of man alone, who would escape the gavel falling on their guilt?

Now who of us desires our own justice?

The only justice that we should be fighting for is justice towards God Himself! Human trafficking is unjust towards God, because the very people He purchased are not being turned over to Him, and are being stolen from Him.

NONE OF US deserves God. By our own power we can be only monsters of iniquity. God did not send His Son to purchase us ALL, just for you or me to choose who "deserve" Him. Who of us deserve Him? None of us deserve God, but He deserves us all.

I am not speaking of a message of a condemnation, but one of redemption. But, if you and I cannot see our sin, recognize our own guilt, how then can we recognize the beautiful, powerful, heart wrenching, chain breaking mercy of our God? We are free! We are righteous! We are holy.

How can I now say we are holy, when only moments ago I pointed out the fact that we are monsters of iniquity? Because God Himself bought us from iniquity! The only righteous purchase of a human is the purchase by the blood of our Saviour. A man buys a girl for an hour and she is a prostitute. A woman sells a child and he is a slave. A resistance steals a child and murders his family, brainwashes him, hands him a gun, and he is a child soldier. Adam and Eve sold humanity into sin, and we are monsters of iniquity. God bought us, and we are holy. What purchase will you and I choose to come under?

The only true justice is God's justice. Justice that declares us purchased by the blood of Christ, holy, and worthy of God. Worthy. Not of our own righteousness, but His blood. We owed Satan our graves the moment we sold ourselves to sin, but our God TRADED Himself for us. Took our place in the grave, took back the keys to Sheol, and conquered death itself.

Now who of us has the RIGHT to say who deserves mercy and who deserves death?

It may sound like I want no person to have to pay for their wrongdoings, for slave traders and rapists to get off scotch-free. Absolutely not. For every action there is a consequence, and our earthly laws need to reflect that. God's purchase applies to EVERYONE who wants to be called His. Here I speak of salvation, second chances, and the respect we must show to one another as masterpieces whom God deems as valuable as His Son (again, by His doing only, not our achievements or abstinence from sin). To label another human being as irredeemable is total trash. To not reach out to them, to not AT LEAST always make known to them their choice to come under the purchase of God's redeeming love, that is condemnation of which we have no authority to hold over another man.

Yes, I believe a pimp should be harshly sentenced by the law and separated from the very people they are taking advantage of for a very long time. The potential buyer of another human being should be so conscious of the fact that if they are caught, the consequences would not be worth the purchase of temporary pleasure. The chances of being caught should ideally be very, very high. But what of God's love can we show to these? How can we show them that they CAN die to their greed and come under the purchase of Christ's sacrifice? And most of all, how can these bring glory to God?

How AMAZING it would be to have a redeemed trafficker in our family! How powerful their testimony for the glory of God, how useful their experiences would be in order to bring more prodigal sons back into the Father's arms? Where there is much to forgive, there not only mercy abounds, but grace overflows.

I am also by no means downplaying the horrendous suffering endured by those who have been trafficked. Should you forgive the one who made you work with no compensation, or the one who raped you daily and convinced you they did not? Should you forgive the one who sold you to 50 or more men a day and made you believe that was your only source of value, or forced you to mow down your own family and told you it was the right thing to do? I tell you that it is nearly impossible without the grace of God in your own life. But I must also ask, is your life your own? Anyone who has done these to you has done them to God Himself because you are not your own. And He has already paid for their sin.

I ask us as fellow humans who have been redeemed, to get rid of our hatred once and for all. We do not have the right to withhold from any other person God's gift of salvation, nor do we have the right to withhold from God the very people that He deserves!

Do our hearts break when we see that the Lamb who was slain does not receive the reward of His suffering? Or do we say that it is just that He does not?

3 o' Clock Miracle

Reminded now of the times when God changed the weather with the release of a prayer.

I'm sitting on my roommate's bed, still somewhat in shock. Busyness all around the building, Florence singing love songs on the other side of the wall, airplanes flying low over the base. I can't move but I can't stay still! The dried tears on my face joyfully praise God and repent of the doubt that previously lingered in my heart. I tried not to doubt the promises that God had already spoken to me, time passes but His word remains solid.

When praying with a friend for provision to staff the Abolitionist DTS, He made His promise clear enough for me to be sure that it was His word and not my fickle heart. She and I both got gold dust on our hands, and my worry was gone. I thank God so much now for that neon sign, because otherwise I wouldn't be sure that I actually heard His voice calling me here.

I knew I WANTED to go to India and Nepal for outreach, but I wanted to seek God's will for the end of the school. India/Nepal? Thailand? Las Vegas? I'd prayed a bit but still hadn't heard His voice. One Wednesday morning during worship, my spirit cried out to hear God's heartbeat and for my heart to beat in sync with His. On the way to my room a couple days later, I randomly laid my ear over India on the giant map, and I heard a heartbeat! Not audibly, but I knew it wasn't my imagination. India and Nepal it was.

I have been unnecessarily been worried about finances this month, because I could not raise the funds on my own, nor did I hear God telling me a specific way to raise the money. I knew God had promised the money and called me to go on outreach, so this week I've had much more of a peace about it, but have been quite impatient for God to provide the funds. Yesterday I decided I would still pack and ride with the India team to the airport just in case God sent the money at the extreme last minute, because I knew it was coming one way or another. Still, I was prepared to stay in Vegas if that should be the case.

At 3 o'clock, the absolute deadline, someone donated all the money needed to pay for everyone's outreaches who hadn't had the money! I have no clue who it was, and the base director won't tell, but to everyone who prayed, and if the sponsor is reading this right now, thank you. Thanks so much for being obedient to God's call for you to be a blessing and for releasing God's promises!

Wow.

Wow.

Wow!

WOW

So now, I guess I could ask for more prayer, as we all need it!

-For my family
-For team unity
-For all of us to hear God's voice clearly
-For strong discernment

If you have anything that I can pray for for you, please email me! BUT, please don't use the words pray, God, Jesus, or anything like that. Ask me to ask dad for something and proofread for any Christian/religious words. Don't want to get in trouble with the government!

Thanks :)

God is my strength and is the victory of His people.