A Year Ago Today...

Exactly 365 days ago I received this packet after checking in officially (though I'd been on campus already for a few days). I could not wait to meet my roommate!

Liz

 I met these three lovely ladies at the SetApartGirl conference a few days before Ellerslie began.

Brooke

Maranda

Erin
Girlie/Roomie

Oh my darling roomie, Erin! Shes the sweetest, cutest girl from Arkansas I know (but I don't know many and her having been my roommate makes me a little biased)! I loved her from the get-go.

My Big Brothers
LeRoy & James

I met the Wisco-boys as I was headed into the Lakehouse after having my photo taken by the wonderful Annie Wesche. They were on their way over to get their pictures taken and recognized me as the girl from Wisconsin. The rest is history.

Nathan

Josh

Erin and I passed the two gentleman above rescuing a bunny by shaking it out of a gutter tube. That was my introduction to Nathan and Josh. Its so funny to look back on!

Me, Bronwyn, Katy, Thaysse, LeRoy, John, Mel (not pictured)

That evening we had the banquet. That was an incredible night. Its so strange to think that I didn't know anything about the people at my table until that night. Now they're all so dear to me!

And exactly one year later...
Liz is still in Colorado I believe. I miss hearing her laugh. I love her hunger for the Word.
Maranda is at home in California starting up a bible study for young women called BLOSSOM. I am so excited for her.
Brooke is at Danita's spending time with the His Little Feet team to wrap up the first tour. So bittersweet.

The day the children arrived

Bronwyn is home in Canada and though I haven't heard from her personally in awhile I trust she is as busy as ever pouring out for those around her in need of her Jesus. She is one in a million.
Katy is home in Texas. She was one room over from me at Ellerslie and has a great laugh that I hope to hear again one day. She is such a dear girl!
Thaysse is currently on break at home in Florida but day-to-day she is part of the Ellerslie staff, always lending a helping hand and (from what I understand) spending her free-time before the Lord in prayer.
LeRoy & Erin were married shortly after Ellerslie and are now expecting a little girl. They're here in Wisconsin and I have had the joy of seeing them a handful of times. LeRoy just started a church.
John was around Colorado working on a farm for awhile last fall and stopped over to campus a couple times. It was so great to see him each time.
James is also in Haiti saying goodbye to the kiddos with the rest of the HLF team. He and my dear Kelsey hope to be married in the near future. I can hardly wait!

Nathan has hopped all over the place this year. He's one of my dearest brothers. So proud to know that "little punk" from Florida!
Josh is working at Ellerslie. He recently directed and produced "The Gospel". I'm starting to sound like a broken-record but honestly, I miss hearing him laugh really hard. Its great when he really gets cracked up!

Mel is a dedicated and passionate team member of ARME. She has traveled all over the world this year and is fighting in prayer for revival to sweep the globe. Having her across the hall at Ellerslie was SUCH a blessing and an honor.






That's just a handful of the many precious brothers and sisters I've gained this past year. The previous 365 days have been such a blessing and it only continues to get richer and sweeter. Today as I remember I am just SO thankful.
To the first 50 students ever to be part of Ellerslie: I love you all so dearly. You truly are my family and knowing you has blessed me more than you may ever know. Further in and further up!

Prayer Request

To my faithful blog readers:

Please pray for me as I begin working on Project Awareness after this long pause. May the Lord receive the glory due His name.

His and yours,

MsMills

Biblical Manhood

A fantastic study of Biblical Manhood is taking place these days at this link. 

I encourage you to be in on it. 

the Commission

"Go! And make disciples of all men. Go, and be unashamed of My Gospel and preach it! Go! Rescue the least in the power of My Name! For is not the Lamb that was slain worthy to receive the reward of His suffering?!"

Mothers with HIV/Aids having to give up their little babies because they are to poor and too sick to care for them, even though that is all they have left in this world.

HIV/Aids crisis in Southern Africa. 

Orphaned and vulnerable children in Russia who are prime targets for human trafficking.

Little girls in slavery, who are treated worse than animals in the Brothels in Thailand and Cambodia.

Orphans in our own “back yard”, those who have no advocate right here in America, those under the banner of foster care. Who have been taken from their homes and the familiar (even if what was familiar was destruction it was, in allot of cases, all they knew).

Kids who are “aging out” of the Foster Care system, with no family and no stability, suddenly loosing the only thread of stability.

Babies in orphanages all across the world who have no one to hold them. Who have lost almost all emotion from lack of love and connection.

Special needs babies in China who are scorned by society and abandoned by parents.

Boys and girls kidnapped and forced to fight in the LRA (“Lords Resistance Army”) in Liberia. 

[From Kourtney's blog]

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ~Romans 8:35-39 (KJV)

This is my story, my song, but what about those who have never heard of the Lord Jesus?

“How deaf must be the deafness of the ear which has never heard the story; how blind the eye that has not looked on Christ for light; how pressed the soul that has no hope of glory; how hideous the fate of man who knoweth only night! God arouse us to care, to feel as He Himself does for their welfare.” - Jim Elliot

There is an Enemy who wants to keep people damned.

“Could a mariner sit idle if he heard the drowning cry? Could a doctor sit in comfort and just let his patients die? Could a fireman sit idle, let men burn and give no hand? Can you sit at ease in Zion with the world around you DAMNED?” (Leonard Ravenhill) 

...

The great paradox today is that Christians could believe in hell and have not a tear in their eyes nor the slightest anguish in their hearts over the lost and perishing world around them. 

...

One cannot disregard the prophetic song written by brother Keith Green: “Do you see, do you see all the people sinking down? Don’t you care, don’t you care, are you gonna let them drown? How can you be so numb not to care if they come? You close your eyes and pretend the job’s done. ‘Oh bless me Lord, bless me Lord,’ you know it’s all I ever hear. No one aches, no one hurts, no one even sheds one tear.”

A story I read yesterday afternoon has haunted me ever since. Read and weep.

“Charlie Peace was a criminal. Laws of God or man curbed him not. Finally the law caught up with him, and he was condemned to death. On the fatal morning in Armley Jail, Leeds, England, he was taken on the death-walk. Before him went the prison chaplain, routinely and sleepily reading Bible verses. The criminal touched the preacher and asked what he was reading. ‘The Consolations of Religion,’ was the reply. Charlie Peace was shocked at the way he professionally read about hell. Could a man be so unmoved under the very shadow of the scaffold as to lead a fellow-human there and yet, dry-eyed, read of a pit that has no bottom into which this fellow must fall? Could this preacher believe the words that there is an eternal fire that never consumes its victims, and yet slide over the phrase without a tremor? Is a man human at all who can say with no tears, ‘You will be eternally dying and yet never know the relief that death brings’? All this was too much for Charlie Peace. So he preached. Listen to his on-the-eve-of-hell sermon.

‘Sir,’ addressing the preacher, ‘if I believed what you and the church of God say that you believe, even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it, if need be, on hands and knees and think it worthwhile living, just to save one soul from an eternal hell like that!’”

I weep as I write for I fear that I am no different than this chaplain. Oh, Jesus have mercy. How can I be so numb, so cold, so indifferent to those who I know are running to an everlasting sentence of unceasing burning in hell? How can a hardened, godless criminal have more love for a soul than a professing Christian?

We must awaken from our slumber of temporal, worldly thinking and begin to see things from an eternal perspective. We must pray along with Jonathan Edwards, “O God! Stamp eternity on my eyeballs!” For there are millions of souls perishing as we speak without hope and without Christ who will spend forever in the most horrible of torment.

[From Nick's blog]

Once freed from damnation and brought near by the blood of Christ we're made inseparable from the love of Christ. The bands of wickedness, heavy burdens and yokes that oppress that we are commissioned to loose from others are the ones found first and foremost on their souls. 

How can we free them from the Enemy's hold? We have been deceived in the church to think that the best we can hope to do for the Kingdom is good works, meeting the physical needs of those around us along with the humanitarians. The Enemy has blinded us to the truth of the Exchanged Life and the power of the Holy Spirit. The Devil has convinced us to be content in our shallow "faith" because as long as we remain deceived we take none of his territory and do not advance the kingdom here on earth. Before we can hope to do anything for the King and His Kingdom we need to be freed, redeemed and made new.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. How often have we read, sung, prayed, and proclaimed these words? But more than fodder for lyrical fanciness or a great statement of supplication, has these words become the reality of your life? 

...

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You. (Psalm 51.10-13) 

...

It is not that we need a new blood-pumping organ; but we do need a new “heart” (our seat of emotions – our mind, will, understanding, inner man). David has gone overboard in verses 1-9 talking about how corrupt he is (we are too), but he realizes that God desires to cleanse his heart. The word “clean” is the same word in verse two denoting a ceremonial cleansing to make pure and righteous. Amy Carmichael said it well when she wrote: “A pure heart is one in which all that is not of God is strange and jarring.”

Is that the case in your life? Has the things NOT of God become repulsive and shocking? Have you become so in tune with Jesus that anything that is not of His character and nature seems odd and foreign and grotesque? I would go so far as to say that if the world seems attractive and its vices appealing (all of which are not of God), then you do not have a pure heart and a right spirit. Will you allow Jesus to have full access in your life to CREATE and correct so that your crooked spirit is righted and your wicked-cold heart becomes pure? 

...

Have you become so accustomed with sin in your life that you haven’t noticed a lack of intimacy with Jesus? Not that you don’t think about Him, go to church and hear about Him, even read your Bible … but there is no passionate oneness, intimacy, and deep communion with Him on a daily basis. Sin blinds and separates you from having relationship with God. 

...

ure, I may have a lot of joy when I receive salvation but God’s joy makes mine look like a drop in the ocean. It is this immense joy that David wants deposited within his soul. Interestingly it is the very thing God wants to put there.

In Galatians, Paul says that the fruits of the spirit are: love, JOY, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. When you get into the passage, you find that each of these fruits are merely the outflow of Jesus being in your life. If you have Jesus, you can’t help but have all these fruits start to blossom forth. In other words, Jesus becomes each of these fruits in our life. He IS our love. He IS our joy. He IS our patience and peace and kindness and and and. He is EVERYTHING we need for life and Godliness (2 Peter 1.3).

[From Nathan's blog]

How is it that the world couldn’t get on with the holiest Man that every lived and can get on with you and me? Are we compromised? Have we no spiritual stature? Have we no righteousness that reflects their corruption? Is the world crucified to you…or does it fascinate you? -Leonard Ravenhill

"The Spirit indwelt life is not a special deluxe edition of Christianity to be enjoyed by a certain rare and privileged few who happen to be made of finer and more sensitive stuff than the rest. Rather, it is the normal state for every redeemed man and women the world over." - A.W. Tozer

With a clean heart and steadfast spirit, with the Indwelling Life of Christ, we have the power needed to intercede.

Intercessory prayer is the weapon of our spiritual battle and it is not a kids toy, it is MIGHTY to the pulling down of strong holds -- not small tents, huts or sheds, but fortresses and garrisons of the Enemy's forces. 

[From an older post]

For I am not ashamed of the Gospel (good news) of Christ, for it is God's power working unto salvation [for deliverance from eternal death] to everyone who believes with a personal trust and a confident surrender and firm reliance, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith [disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith]. As it is written, The man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith. ~ Romans 1:16-17 (Amplified Version)

I APPEAL to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]. For by the grace (unmerited favor of God) given to me I warn everyone among you not to estimate and think of himself more highly than he ought [not to have an exaggerated opinion of his own importance], but to rate his ability with sober judgment, each according to the degree of faith apportioned by God to him. ~Romans 12:1-3 (Amplified version)


Faith. Its so much richer than modern "Christianity" makes it out to be. Once we are saved through it we are then able to live by it at which point the Lord works through us and through faith we are able to do greater things than even our Lord did while on the earth (remember that it is Him doing it through us).

And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. ~Hebrews 11:32-34 (KJV) 

Living by faith, reckoning true the promise, of Romans 8 -- For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. -- leaves us free from the burdens and afflictions of this life that come as a result of loving and living for Christ. Ponder these truths...

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" Romans 8:35

God does not keep a man immune from trouble; He says - "I will be with him in trouble." It does not matter what actual troubles in the most extreme form get hold of a man's life, not one of them can separate him from his relationship to God. We are "more than conquerors in all these things." Paul is not talking of imaginary things, but of things that are desperately actual; and he says we are super-victors in the midst of them, not by our ingenuity, or by our courage, or by anything other than the fact that not one of them affects our relationship to God in Jesus Christ. Rightly or wrongly, we are where we are, exactly in the condition we are in. I am sorry for the Christian who has not something in his circumstances he wishes was not there.

"Shall tribulation . . . ?" Tribulation is never a noble thing; but let tribulation be what it may - exhausting, galling, fatiguing, it is not able to separate us from the love of God. Never let cares or tribulations separate you from the fact that God loves you.

"Shall anguish . . . ?" - can God's love hold when everything says that His love is a lie, and that there is no such thing as justice?

"Shall famine . . . ?" - can we not only believe in the love of God but be more than conquerors, even while we are being starved?

Either Jesus Christ is a deceiver and Paul is deluded, or some extraordinary thing happens to a man who holds on to the love of God when the odds are all against God's character. Logic is silenced in the face of every one of these things. Only one thing can account for it - the love of God in Christ Jesus. "Out of the wreck I rise" every time. 

[From 'My Utmost for His Highest', May 19]

 “This momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

What a statement! Paul looked at all the unbearable pain and suffering he endured for the Gospel and he called it “momentary, light affliction” as if it were no big deal at all. His eyes were not fixed upon his present situation, they were fixed upon eternity. This man was driven by eternity. He knew the earthy, visible things would soon pass away, but the eternal, unseen things would be from everlasting to everlasting.  He knew his present hardships would be swept away shortly and he would be caught up in the presence of his God forever in the heavenlies. He could sing for joy even in the darkest nights because his eyes were on something all together lovely and not on his present adversity. And therefore, he could gladly “share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3).

Can the same be said of you, Christian? Or are you so earthy minded that you wallow and mourn when hardships come your way? Are you driven by the things of eternity or by the passing things of this broken world?

Oh, if we could see the grand privilege it is to bleed, suffer, and die for the glory of our King; if we could see what an honor it is to bear the name of our mighty God and fight for Him and the expansion of His Kingdom; if we could catch even the slightest glimpse of His majesty and glory then we would find the greatest joy and delight in suffering for His name’s sake.

We must get our eyes off of ourselves and our present, soon-to-be-passing situation and plead with God to fix our eyes upon Himself and the things of eternity. For “what is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little time and then VANISHES” (James 4:14).

You will soon be departing from this earth, friend. Your earthly life will evaporate swiftly. Does this not bring comfort to your soul? How glorious that day will be!

May we live with eternity in sight and in light of eternity call the distress of this passing hour easy and light. “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14). Therefore, do not lose heart. Give no place to discouragement and despair. Give yourself for the things of the Lord that are glorious and without end. Allow Him to spend you and waste you and pour you out for His glory and do it with joyous songs of adoration spilling forth from your heart as you fix your eyes on that which is everlasting! 

[From Nick's blog] 

And I will close this declaration (courtesy of the pithy words of one of my favorite hymns):

Jesus, I my cross have taken,

All to leave and follow Thee.

Destitute, despised, forsaken,

Thou from hence my all shall be.

Perish every fond ambition,

All I've sought or hoped or known.

Yet how rich is my condition!

God and heaven are still my own.

Let the world despise and leave me,

They have left my Savior, too.

Human hearts and looks deceive me;

Thou art not, like them, untrue.

O while Thou dost smile upon me,

God of wisdom, love, and might,

Foes may hate and friends disown me,

Show Thy face and all is bright.

Man may trouble and distress me,

Twill but drive me to Thy breast.

Life with trials hard may press me;

Heaven will bring me sweeter rest.

Oh, tis not in grief to harm me

While Thy love is left to me;

Oh, twere not in joy to charm me,

Were that joy unmixed with Thee.

Go, then, earthly fame and treasure,

Come disaster, scorn and pain

In Thy service, pain is pleasure,

With Thy favor, loss is gain

I have called Thee Abba Father,

I have stayed my heart on Thee

Storms may howl, and clouds may gather;

All must work for good to me.

Soul, then know thy full salvation

Rise oer sin and fear and care

Joy to find in every station,

Something still to do or bear.

Think what Spirit dwells within thee,

Think what Fathers smiles are thine,

Think that Jesus died to win thee,

Child of heaven, canst thou repine.

Haste thee on from grace to glory,

Armed by faith, and winged by prayer.

Heavens eternal days before thee,

Gods own hand shall guide us there.

Soon shall close thy earthly mission,

Soon shall pass thy pilgrim days,

Hope shall change to glad fruition,

Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.

[Jesus, I my cross have taken]

This was long and it was probably rough, so thank you for sticking with me to the end. It is what the Lord has been working in my own heart the past few days: repentance, faith, obedience, prayer, joy... 
the commission.

Mighty Men of our Generation

The Lord is calling out the remnant of His faithful ones in this generation. Two men I believe will someday be on a par with such "Legends of Yesteryear" as Ravenhill, Studd, Spurgeon and the late David Wilkerson, are known simply as

NRJohnson

 and

NJThompson

It is my great privilege to know them as Brothers in the Lord.
The humility, submission and obedience to God Almighty that they walk in daily coupled with their growl for His glory, love for His Word, and compassion for others is just the beginning signs of the Spirit within these two lives yielded to the King for the advancement of His kingdom and the recovering of His renown in our generation. And, while I am tempted to sit back and watch them bound ahead into the depths and heights and lengths of the Endless Frontier while I set up camp, how can I be satisfied to stay here when there is so much more of my Jesus to know, so many lives who need to hear of Him, and so much He desires to do through me? Their pursuit of my God fuels my own yearning for Him. I encourage you, read their blogs and be blessed -- but also be spurred forward, never to look back!
After all, I have the same God as Studd, the same God as Wilkerson and the same God as NRJohnson and NJThompson.

---

Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:12-14

"Our God is on the move and this is merely the proof."

[Read more here]

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:31-39

Travels: Nebraska - HLF

 "His Little Feet’s Children’s Choir travels the United States, being the voice for orphaned and vulnerable children worldwide. The purpose of the tour is to bring the awareness to the millions of children around the world in need of care, as well as facilitate opportunities for Americans to respond to the needs of children through giving, sponsoring, going and adopting."

Christa Hahn

Mike and Christa Hahn are the directors and founders of His Little Feet. They're friends with the Ludy's and I had the joy and privilege of interacting with them during the course of my days in Colorado. The two of them are so wonderful and I have a great respect and affection for them as my fellow co-heirs with Christ.

The children arrive from Haiti

Originally the first children's choir from Haiti was scheduled to arrive during the summer semester at Ellerslie and so my entire class eagerly anticipated meeting the precious children. By the divine orchestration and perfect timing of the Lord's hand the children didnt arrive in the States until the middle of the fall semester. Their getting to come to the States is miraculous and we rejoice in the Lord for bringing them here for His purposes.

--- --- ---

The current His Little Feet staff interns are a handful of my dearest friends in the world: Brooke, Carrie, Rachel, Aaron and James (my Big Brother). Since they are so dear to me it is hard to not see them very often but since they have been on tour I've been able to visit them twice. Most recently I went to Nebraska with my little brother and spent two blissful days with the HLF crew (all except for Carrie who was visiting her family at the time). We ran errands, ate, talked, went on walks, and just enjoyed sweet fellowship. I felt so at home in the midst of all the precious lives that make up HLF and it was very hard to leave them. I love the people (staff and kiddos!) and love the ministry. As much as I would have loved to have just hopped on the bus and finished out the tour with them, I am back home recalling our memorable times together and getting the wonderful privilege of carrying them to my Jesus in prayer as they make the last few stops on this tour.

Aaron, Rachel, Chelsea, Brooke, James

What Now?

Here I am, I haven't even written up four posts on individual countries and the injustices within them (specifically to children) and I got stalled. I am kept on pause from writing any more posts. Why, I'm not entirely sure, but I have chosen to surrender the blog series to the Hand that has kept me from proceeding and in the meantime I am keeping my ear tuned to His guidance.

Its been a few months now since I wrote about Brazil and the plan was to finish up in South America, cover Mexico and Haiti and then head over to Europe, etc, etc. You could call the pause writer's block but that's not entirely the case because I could continue to whip up facts and broaden your awareness of the physical conditions for people but this series is deeper than that. Each post that I have already written was inspired, the Lord impressed upon me what to boil them down to, and I don't aim to snatch up the pen and keep writing just because He's put it down. Remember, the vulnerable children of the world and the commission of the Church is much more important to the Lord than to me and His timing is perfectly laid out.

You could say I got bored and developed a terrible case of procrastination but that also is not accurate. The series is very exciting when my Jesus is leading me through it step by step, but when I try to "run on ahead" through my own efforts it loses its shine and does in a sense become boring. Procrastination is putting something off until the last minute, delaying until you are near your deadline. I set a deadline for myself but as this series is from my Jesus for me (and other brothers and sisters in Him) He is the one who gets to set the deadline and for now He hasn't set on before me. He has asked me to wait patiently to continue and as I do He is leading me deeper than before.

He has given me some dreams and while I have tucked them away in my memory and have carefully considered them it wasn't until just recently that He revealed to me what they meant (at least in part). Very few people in America or the Church here in America are aware of the need all around and have chosen to remain unaware so they can keep living in comfort instead of taking to heart the commission and heart of our King for the lost and the least. I wanted to attempt to broaden the awareness of anyone who came across my blog by offering a taste of the injustices around the world. However, that's really as far as I had gone: spreading awareness. Sure I had found great websites for donating to excellent ministries that are working daily to end specific problems for those in need and I myself was praying about how the Lord desired to use me, personally, for His kingdom work (because He has a very specific call for me -- and you -- and I want to only do what He has planned; after all, He desires my absolute obedience, not my efforts/works/deeds), but He wants YOU to be seeking out Him and His kingdom too! Awareness is only the start of YOUR journey. Once you are aware of the homeless and the orphans and the sick and the vulnerable, what will you do about it? Once you are moved by His grace from blindness to awareness and you have tasted of abundant life you can't do nothing, you must do something. The beautiful part is that you aren't the one to figure out what that "something" is, He already knows and you have to draw even nearer to Him to find it out. I love how He works.

I have studied and researched, read books and watched videos, had dreams and heard stories and I desire to go and visit the place the Lord has laid on my heart and wash the feet of the children He has burdened me for not for further head knowledge but to "pound the final nail in the coffin", make it so that there is no returning to ignorance. Once I have seen I will be forever responsible, and as soon as my Lord leads me that next step forward I know He will also fill me even fuller with Himself to bear the burden He will then place upon my weak, willing shoulders. But I can tell you right now that you don't have to go far to see and be made responsible. I pass homeless people on a regular basis. There are poor and sick in my community. There are children being aborted in my town. I cannot turn a blind eye, but must instead ask the Lord how He specifically wants to reach out to them the Hand that heals and makes lives whole, the One who makes all things new, through me. This is where He has brought me during this time of stillness and this is my plea and prayer for you:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 

(Romans 12:1) 

[Steven Curtis Chapman - What Now]
I saw the face of Jesus in a little orphan girl

She was standing in the corner on the other side of the world
And I heard the voice of Jesus gently whisper to my heart
Didn't you say you wanted to find me?
Well here I am, here you are

So, What now?
What will you do now that you found Me?
What now?
What will you do with this treasure you've found?
I know I may not look like what you expected
But if you remember this is right where I said I would be
You've found me
What now?

And I saw the face of Jesus down on Sixteenth Avenue
He was sleeping in an old car, while his mom went looking for food
And I heard the voice of Jesus gently whisper to my soul
Didn't you say you wanted to know me?
Well here I am, and it's getting cold

So, What now?
What will you do now that you found Me?
What now?
What will you do with this treasure you've found?
I know I may not look like what you expected
But if you remember this is right where I said I would be
You've found me

So, come and know
Come and know, know me now
Come, come and know, know me now
Come and know
Come and know, know me now
Come, come and know, know me now

What will you do now that you found me?
What now?
What will you do with this treasure you've found?
I know I may not look like what you expected
But if you remember this is right where I said I would be
You've found me
What now?
What now?

David Wilkerson's God is my God too.

While many believers grieve the loss of this great man of God known as David Wilkerson, I find myself rejoicing. I'm not happy that he has died, I wouldn't have wished him to die anytime soon, but my Lord has taught me something through his passing that is fundamental. 


Some would say that a void has been created by the death of this dear brother in Christ. Well, let me encourage you. It is a void that can easily be filled. 


There was nothing special about what Wilkerson had, the thing that was special about his life was how it was used. You see, his life was only about the Lord, thats what we revered and what we miss having as a  walking-among-us example of Christianity as it ought to be. The glory brought to our God and the kingdom work accomplished in his life can only be accredited to Christ IN Wilkerson -- on his own he wouldn't have been the man we knew him to be. 


This is what is so exciting, this is what leads me to rejoice in the midst of the sorrow, the God that lived through Wilkerson and gained glory and advanced His kingdom through that yielded life is the same God I have! The difference between he and I is not the God we serve, it is the level of surrender to and abiding in my God that I have allowed Him to bring me to. 


This "gap" or "void" that has supposedly been created is easily filled. All it requires is a surrendered life to the Lord. 


You'll find that you can't even manage to surrender by your own efforts, but when He calls you and you answer, He will enable you to surrender. 


Perhaps before I was okay with folks like Wilkerson "bearing the load" on earth while I took my time in allowing the Lord to prepare me, but with his passing I am more motivated than ever to be made a yielded vessel say that I may be at the disposal of my King. As a dear sister put it, I am longing to be made simple enough to become an etcetera. May my testimony be that of Gladys Aylward and of William Booth who said, 

"I wasn't God's first choice for what I've done for China…I don't know who it was…It must have been a man…a well-educated man. I don't know what happened. Perhaps he died. Perhaps he wasn't willing…and God looked down…and saw Gladys Aylward…And God said - "Well, she's willing." 

[Gladys Aylward]

"I will tell you the secret. God has had all there was of me. There have been men with greater brains than I, men with greater opportunities. But from the day I got the poor of London on my heart and caught a vision of all Jesus Christ could do with them, on that day I made up my mind that God would have all of William Booth there was. And if there is anything of power in the Salvation Army today, it is because God has had all the adoration of my heart, all the power of my will, and all the influence of my life." 

[William Booth]

~~~

Faithful is He Who calls you, Who also will do it.

1 Thessalonians 5:24

"Not called!" did you say? "Not heard the call," I think you should say. 

Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. 

Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. 

Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters, and servants and masters not to come there. 

And then look Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed to obey, and tell him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish his mercy to the world.

[William Booth]