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.

Details

I have a lot of really cool things that God has done in the past week that I could write about, but these couple little things have significantly increased my faith in God and the power of prayer. It's when He takes care of the little details that I am again taken aback by Jehovah-Jireh. He is so constant, so consistent yet mysterious, so... thorough. I don't know why I still have doubts that He hears and provides.

While taking a moment to pray and write before our presentation at Mariner's Church in Irvine, I couldn't help but be worried and frustrated over the van door and my pen. I had jammed both and couldn't fix them. Really not wanting to cause everyone to have to get in through the front doors, I prayed that God would fix the van door. While I was at it, I prayed for my pen because it was frustrating me. As soon as I prayed, I clicked my pen closed and that was that. A few minutes later, one of the girls came back from retrieving something from the van, and said the door was perfectly fine! So there are two little details that God took care of right then and there. Might sound silly, but I was touched that He would hear such a small request! How could I ever have even thought He wouldn't?

This morning I was getting my things together to go to the bank, when my keys went missing! I put them in my pocket, sat down to look up the closest bank, went into the lounge to show Joe a picture of a hamster, and then my keys were gone. I was looking for them for half an hour, had prayed a couple times for God to help me find them, and still no keys. I texted my friend Kenny and asked him to pray, and before I even got his reply, Jake brought me my keys. Cool right? I was still pretty frustrated, but the prayer of a friend got my keys back. Way cool. Still a minor detail depending on how you look at it, but God certainly cares enough about car keys!

I know He answers prayer because I prayed for the rain to flood the streets over the sidewalks and it did! I prayed for a little sister and God gave me two! Kenny and I prayed that his flight would be changed to Monday, and guess what day it got delayed to?

Matthew 18:19
Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.

God cares! So I'm asking you, will you agree with me for outreach funds? If God is asking you to support me in this, will you follow through?

Thank you SO much for your prayers, keep up the good work!

$2315 to go!

Nothing He can't or won't handle.

Call to Prayer

Location: Las Vegas, Nevada

Mission: Bring to the Lamb who was slain the reward of His suffering

Prayer is much appreciated :)

 

 

 

 

Going out again tonight to share the love of Jesus, can we get some prayer warriors up in here?

Please pray:

For open hearts to receive the love of Christ

For divine appointments

Against spiritual heaviness of the area

Against distractions and/or spiritual attacks against the team and people we'll be hanging with

For wisdom and discernment for the team

Thank you so much!

People Get Ready

 So basically, I just copied this from my last email update. If you were directed here by way of said update, you may want to skip this entry. Carry on.
_________________________________

Well friends, the final week is soon approaching. Gathering outreach clothes, praying for the last funds for plane tickets, saying our goodbyes to our local outreaches, and organizing our final details have made the surreality of the outreach become more of a reality.

Before we go on international outreach though, we are taking the school on a tour around California to speak at churches and universities about human trafficking. They'll be covering what can be done about it, what they're doing about it, and what God has been doing in their lives through the Abolitionist DTS.

If you'd like to hear about the school through the eyes of some of our students, you can check out their blogs- I've put the links at the bottom of this email.

Details about international outreach:
Leaving November 21
Mumbai for 12 days working with women and children in the red light district
Kathmandu for 36 days working with street kids, girls rescued from the sex trade, slum school, and small villages
Returning early January (I don't have the dates on me at the moment)

If you could please pray for safety, health, discernment, and wisdom for all of us during these next couple months, that would be very much appreciated.

The Lovely and Powerful India + Nepal Team! Left to right: Abbey, Me, Katie, Jake, Stacy, Meredith, Marissa, Joe, Arielle, Joshua // Stacy and Joshua- School directors // Marissa and I- Staff // Abbey, Katie, Jake, Meredith, Joe, and Arielle- World changers (aka students)

Personal prayer points:
$1200 before this Friday to hold a plane ticket
The remaining $1500 for the trip before November 14th
Healing for back pain, skin issues, and protection against any other distractions that would keep me from focusing on God

Thank you all so very much! Have a wonderful remainder of your week.

May God be your strength and your victory, Gabrielle Nicole

Rainbeans and Coffeedrops

Later that night,,,

Sweet candles with the essence of fall

Psalm 19

Eyes Full of Rose playing softly in the background
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtZHpCGycKs)
Open window
Chilling breeze dancing with the curtains
Raindrops diving into the makeshift creek between the curb and the street
Minutes like hours
Pen and paper neglected
Peace.

          I've heard it said that if the devil cannot draw you away from God with sin, he'll try to do it with business. Just a couple weeks ago, this was exactly the tactic he was using/I was falling for. 

If you've not heard the story about the mayonnaise jar and the two cups of coffee, then go here to read it: http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=11060

           What bothers me about this story, is that there is no empty space in the jar. I've found that before even putting sand in the jar, I have to set apart some space in the jar where I will put absolutely nothing. One of my golf balls has to be time alone with God and look to Him for my strength and refreshment, but I still have to leave room for nothing in there too. I don't want to get burned out and end up being completely mechanical and useless for pouring God's love into the students here and my family alike.

          Tonight I took one of my lovely one-on-ones to a coffee shop called Sambalatte, and it was absolutely lovely. Live music, comfy chairs, and even a few people I know. Being there reminded me of this story, and after thinking on it a bit, it reminded me that I hadn't updated my blog in a while! And now we've come full circle.

          On that note, I need to head off to bed so that I will be awake enough to worship Jesus to the max in the morning. Woot woot! I am excite.