Wow, God is our healer and he is really good at it.

 Man. I love him so much and how he works. Moving back from Kona Hawaii and working in ministry has been quite the transition. I have experienced Lots of up and downs, good days and REALLY hard days. Feeling like an alien or fish out of water. When you live on a campus of at least 1,000 people who are all there to serve Jesus while reaching the nations, you don’t run out things to talk about, nor out of constant encouragement from one another. Community is very real, biblical and is powerful. When you’re LITERALLY living with other people who have similar goals, and have come from similar places to follow God with everything there are stories to be shared. Stories of previous trials, and how they got to where they are, that leak encouragement to others. Or sharing stories from missionary to missionary who has been on the field for years, to the first timer still figuring out who they are. The tight knit, family bond you create with others is very intentional because without it, it would almost be impossible. God is crafty and creative, how he plans things out and brings people together for certain seasons, reasons and purpose. 

With that said, I have been HOME as in in living in the house that I grew up in, for two years now! When I left two years ago, I had no vision to return to this home I kind of thought out and about, searching to know where to land. This brings up another reason why I’m writing. Searching, I was on a journey of searching. Searching for home, for where I land. Well, God placed me home to show me once again, in his love and kindness, that where I BELONG is in him. As I seek him first, the rest falls into place. (Seek first the kingdom and his righteousness and all else will be added to you) Knowing that I belong in God is what a new believer level of faith, well sometime we need to be reminded of the core foundations to Christian faith. I apparently needed to be reminded of that truth. And I am so very thankful God did remind me. Since I have been reminded of this truth, I have loads more peace in my heart, and I trust God on a deeper level. He is my provider, protector and my shepherd. I love him. These are a few reasons why.

 I hope this post blessed you!

I Praise you God

~I Praise you God for I am fearfully and wonderfully made~ 

PSALM 139

One of my favorite verses in the Bible. As women, we face a lot of accusation from the enemy about being confident with our bodies, and who God created us to be. The media is always flashing a new standard, that seems to be shrinking, along with food portions that we are to intake. And as most of you know, you are what you eat. The food that we give our bodies really does affect us. Media and Hollywood's standard are very unrealistic and unattainable, I know that is a bold statement but its true. I've been there, and done that, before knowing Jesus as my Lord and savior and it left me absolutely miserable and empty inside. I was NEVER enough, nor was I ever going to get there, wherever ENOUGH was, for all I  know its in outer space before NASA invented the aircraft's to fly into space. 

As i was running this afternoon, i noticed some thoughts began to creep into my mind, about self image. Thoughts like, well summer is coming you really need to get serious. Don't you want to look good...? Then I  said no! In my mind, but sometimes I do say stuff like that out loud. No shame.And I started speaking psalm 130 over myself, declaring that I am the Lord's, beautiful daughter. I have been hand crafted by the king of glory himself, I am beautiful inside and out! Man, did I feel so much better. Truth cut right through all of those lies and yuck, and freedom filled my heart and mind. Which caused me to reflect on powerful our decisions really are. I could of chose to let those thoughts control me and overtake me, but I chose truth. I chose to look at those lies square in the face say and say NO to them. What a beautiful victory! Then I thought I should post this on mt Facebook wall to hold myself accountable to working out...and it turned into this lovely post. All that said, my original intentions in writing this was to hold myself accountable to my schedule :

Eating healthy 

Time in the Word

Intimacy with Jesus

Rest

Mile run

Hill sprints

Stretching

Dancing

Drinking water

Amen. 

May you be blessed from this post! P.S. don't forget Mother's day is tomorrow :)

Time of transition.....


Dear friends and family,
As most of you know, I was involved with YWAM in Kona Hawaii for the past 3 years. The Lord has really done an amazing work in my heart, and has used me in even more amazing ways while being in YWAM. He shattered a lot of boxes that I had put him in, and filled me with fresh hope, love, vision and purpose for my life. As I have returned home, I am seeking him to help me put all of that vision and hope into my time here. The details have yet to be fully evolved, but I am expectant for all that I do to be full of him!

As I have been challenged by God, to let his love go deeper in my heart, and to pour out all that he has taught me, I believe that my time in YWAM is ending for a time. My heart burns for the unreached, the hardest and darkest to bring the gospel and his presence into those places. I believe that Jesus is coming back soon and in order for that to happen, all nations must be reached.

As I have been learning and growing in God, he has put on my heart the city of Canton. This deep longing to reach the college aged students and to serve him, through working in the House of Prayer is what I will be doing. Two days a week we will be doing evangelism on college campuses and the other two days, I will  be serving in the prayer room, leading intercession sets as a prayer leader.  I don't have an exact time frame of how long I will be here, I have decided to give myself to God, while serving here in Canton and see where he takes me! But I do not have anything on my map to head out for something long term, just yet! I will keep you all filled in, as God speaks and directs!

On a more practical note, I am looking for a job, something part -time as the rest of my time will be serving in the house of prayer. I am excited and looking forward to this coming season with God! What a beautiful journey called life I am on with him.


Thank you, again to all of those that have supported me and prayed for me! It wouldn't be possible without you! Your obedience to God, didn't go unnoticed by him! I am filled with excitement for the ways that God is working here in Ohio. I invite you all to keep following my blog, my facebook or get together with me!

Blessings!

~Lauren

Past 8 months, wrapped up!

8 month wrap up.......

I decided to take a look at the past 8 months of my life and do some reflecting. I see a time of God really going deeper in my heart and teaching me more about his character. As most of you are aware, I went back to Kona to staff a Discipleship Training School, which is a 5 month missionary training program. I was blessed to lead a team of 7 other men and women, with  a co-leader. 3 of our team members had a Korean background and the rest of them were from the States. I love how the Lord brings people together from all over the world, to follow him. I had a good time learning more about Korean culture, but did find it challenging at times.

During the beginning months of the school, April through June, God was teaching about time management and how to keep him close with a busy schedule. People have told me prior to doing my DTS that staffing is one of the most time consuming things, you can do and you die to yourself a lot. I thought yea, no big deal, I've go God I'll be fine, probably challenged but okay. Well I shortly found out what people were talking about. It felt that every second of my day was spent on other people. Which allowed me to take my eyes off of myself and to have a view of other's needs before mine. I thought that I was a selfless person...well maybe a selfish person with a selfless mindset is a better way to put it. I can't think of a more beautiful example of what it means to lay your life down for another. My prayer life was highlighted, in a way that exposed the power of my prayers, along with the area of praying that I need to grow in. Every day I needed God.

After the busy school schedule was wrapping up, my co-leader and I were preparing the schedule for our time with the team overseas in London first then France. We were all looking forward to a change of scenery for 2 months, along with reaching souls for Christ. We began our journey, along with 25 other students from our school to a place called Harpenden England. There, we joined a training school called Circuit Riders, with 80 other hungry believers.We spent time worshiping together, praying, and searching our hearts for those little stoppers in there masked as fear, unbelief etc. that hold us back from opening our mouths to share the gospel and Christ's heart with people. Being in a room full of people who are passionate about God, and tired of not obeying his commands, leaves for a momentum that can't be stopped! During our time in Harpenden, we did street evangelism 2 days, and saw 129 people give their lives to Jesus, 52 people got healed of physical aliments. God is on the move in England!


From Harpneden, we traveled to another town call Crouch End, which is located outside of the city of London. There we were working with YWAMers, assisting their church services on Sunday mornings, local women and children's home shelter, and other church festivals, sharing our testimonies and playing games with the kids. It was a full time of traveling around and being the lights that Christ has called us to be. We had the privilege of speaking at different churches, on simple topics such as faith, or the love of God or a testimony. It was a powerful thing to share a simple story and to see other people, get encouraged by what God has done. We even got to speak to a  college aged group of students from all around the world, and it turned out that a minimum of 9 people gave their hearts to Jesus and numerous healings took place as well. One of the last few weeks there, we re-located to a town called Romford and helped with a first ever vacation Bible school program for several churches in the area. 99 kids raised their hands to receive Christ! And kids were praying for each other and seeing them get healed!

Concluding our time in England, we were all filled with such hope for England! Shifting countries, we then made our way a bit more south ending in France. Since we were coming from England we thought it would be nice to stop through Paris and at least see the Eiffel tower. We made a short day trip out of it, to see Paris and get a taste of France, before we planted our roots there for a month. After a long day of traveling, we finally arrived in a town called St. Hippolyte Du Fort.

In St. Hippolyte Du Fort, we were staying on the YWAM base, that just got settled in a few months prior to us coming. As they were in transition time for their location and staff members, there were a lot of foundational blocks to be built. They wanted us to help them scout the area of the town, to get a sense of the Lord's heart for the people and to see what connections with the locals could be made to begin building relationships. Every morning we joined with worship and prayer for the town, then would go out on the streets. We didn't have many conversations with the French speaking people, but did a lot of prayer walking. Our main service in France, was not what you think of when you are on a mission trip, which typically looks like reaching the lost souls and ministering to the unsaved. We had the privilege of serving the YWAM base. It was a joyous challenge to set our day to helping cook and clean the venue, and other household work that needed to be done in order to be ready for the DTS to begin that coming September. The Lord did a great and deep work in our hearts as we were there. We had a great taste of team building, and allowing the Lord to strengthen our character to look more like Jesus.

Thank you again to all of you who have supported me and pray for me!

Blessings!
~ Lauren

Thank- You

I can't say thank you enough, for each one of you. All of your encouragement, love, wisdom, prayers and financial support have been huge blessings in my life. As the body of Christ, we need each other, thank you for letting me lean on you when I don't have the words to pray, the wisdom my heart needs or the funds to keep going.

Being in YWAM, there are a lot of sacrifices, that are made. There is a lot laid down and put aside to obey what God is speaking in order to be here. Knowing that I have a body of people who know where I come from, have watched me grow in the Lord, take steps of faith toward, heard my pain and seen me cry, means the WORLD to me! Just as a child can rest in his mother's arms, so can I rest in knowing that I have each of you in my life.

Most of you know my journey and some more than others know my life down to the detail, and I am so great- fully blessed. I have walked through many trials, been up on the mountain top, and knowing that I people who have loved me through it all, brings my heart so much peace and rest. Thank you for being there in the past, and thank you for being here for me now, and for believing for the future!

We are in the last week of lecture phase of the DTS, which means we are almost half way through it all! I can't believe how FAST it has come and gone! We leave exactly one week from tomorrow, Tuesday June 19^th. My team will leave on Tuesday June 26^th, at 12:00pm out of Kona airport.

As I am preparing to depart, would you consider standing with me in the place of prayer?

If so, here are some prayer points :

• Communication for my co-leader and I
• Unity in our team
• The rest of our finances to come in $7,000 total- $2,000 being mine.
• Wisdom from God
• My heart would stay submitted to God
• God's will not mine
• Ability to love my team, even when it's hard

Thank you for taking time to read this! I pray that God blesses you where you are!

Blessings!

~Lauren

:)

Fire and Fragrance DTS : May update!

Faithfulness of God.
Approaching the month of June, my mind is having a bit of trouble keeping up with the fast
pace schedule I am on here in Kona. Meditating on the fact that I have been out here since
March, is hard for me to wrap my mind around. It feels as if I have been out here for
a lot longer that 4 months.

       When I ponder my time here thus far, my heart can't seem to get away from being undone at the character of God. I don't ever hope to get away from being in awe at how faithful he is. Back in August, when I had felt God speaking to me about staffing DTS with Fire and Fragrance, I was convinced that I was going to be in Harrisburg PA, and that it was highly unlikely that I would venture back to Kona. But, when God speaks and wants something to happen he makes sure it gets done, at least I have witnessed him doing that for me. In my time with the Lord he had begun to reawaken several different dreams in my heart, along with certain things that I am passionate about. One of them being, my heart to see this generation raised up and walking in our full identities, completely free by the blood of the lamb. I desire to give all of the love, testimonies and anything else God does in my life, away to those who are hungry and willing to learn. I by no means have any kind of scholarly certification to teach, nor do I have years of experience under my belt, but I do have Jesus and a story of him radically breaking into my darkness and turning my world upside in him.

         What had led me back to Kona, is Fire and Fragrance. Yes i have done my DTS here in the Fire and Fragrance department, in 2010, but it goes much deeper in my heart than just a DTs department. Fire and Fragrance carries a DNA for :


I. Consecrated communities- Set apart to holiness, loving Jesus, the lost and each other. Intentional discipleship and a deep commitment to relationship as the foundation of the kingdom.

II. Living centered around the person, teachings, and presence of Christ- A passion for worship, prayer, intercession, and the study of the scriptures.III. Revival- To see the lost saved and the bride awakened to live in the fullness of what Jesus died to release into the life of every believer

IV. Cultural Reformation- To see a reformation of individual lives, ways of thinking, the body of Christ and society all based on the life and teachings of Christ

Which are all a part of the DNA I feel God has given me since I met him the summer of 2007.  It has been utterly amazing to be here and on the same heart page as a group of believers. More importantly it is amazing to obey the father's specific will for my life, and knowing that God's will is the safest place for me to be, mentally, physically and spiritually! 

I have been, waiting on God and spending time with him, to help me unravel all that he has done in me since March because I feel like a totally different person. Something I keep coming back to the faithfulness of God. His faithfulness to follow through with the vision and dreams he has spoke to me. I believe he is fulfilling his promises in my life and giving me open doors to live the dream of God that is inside of me and was created when he knit me together in my mother;s womb. In this season, more specifically is, him allowing me to mount on wings like eagles and soar to new places. It has been an amazing time of going to new heights, and a beautifully broken time of going to new depths, I have been experiencing God like never before! :) The mountain top times have been unbelievable, and the valleys have been.....well the valley, I don't think there is anymore to say.

My fight has been to press into the Lord with all that I have ALL the time. And I have
been challenged with that. It is something that sounds really nice, and even easy, but I have
been put to the test. And what a beautiful test it has been!
My soul rejoices! My lips sings praises! And my heart is glad, in the Lord! He is my redeemer, my strength,
my fortress and father!

As, we are getting farther into the month of June, so is the time coming up for my team of 9 and I to head off this Island and into Europe! We leave on the 26th of this month for London, and will be there August 2nd, attending the Circuit Rider School. There we will have teaching on preaching the gospel and leadership sharpening skills along with a local community outreach.  Then from there we will proceed to the south of France to a YWAM base. We will be located just north of the city of Marsielle, working with a ministry called YWAM bridges. It is an organization run by a couple, Dudley and Janet Weiner, who operate in the treasure hunt ministry, for those of you who are unaware what that may be, it is simply a prayer focused form of evangelism. More to detail what it will look like, before hitting the streets to share the gospel, we wait on the Lord and ask him for specific people he would like us to pray for, it usually is very random or detailed words / pictures that people get, then we go out and find them. Dudley and Janet, also carry a heart for the gypsy people that live in the area, so we will be partnering with them in that ministry as well.


         

Thank you to all of you that have been praying for me, staying in contact and supporting my financial needs! You all mean so much to me :) I wouldn't be here if it weren't for your obedience to God, thank you. I pray that he continues to bless you and guide and direct your steps!

MANY BLESSINGS!

~Lauren

Dreaming with God.......

Dreams,
When you hear the phrase dream bigger, does it take you a long time to think up BIGGER or does your mind jump right to it?
For me, it takes a little bit of time for me to actually dream BIGGER. 

Around the beginning of the month of March, I began to ask the Lord what was in store for the April Fire & Fragrance DTS that I would be staffing for the first time. I had NO idea what I would be getting myself into, so on my face I went. As I spent time with him, I began to hear a whisper in my heart..... this is the season for dreams! I want to breathe fire on dormant dreams inside of people's hearts AND I want to birth NEW dreams!
I thought, okay that sounds cool and I would love for this to be the season of dreams. Espeically because there are a lot inside of me that I have allowed to grow dim. And dreaming with God is a favorite of mine, so to only imagine the MORE, just blew my mind and set my heart up for a GREAT challenge with him.

Joyfully and thankfully, I have found out that, this really IS the season for dreams! And it is one of the most humbling, heart surrendering times of my life. Apart from staffing a DTS, God's plans for my life have never felt so accessible, touchable tangible and POSSIBLE. I feel that I could honestly do anything that aligns with God's will and his perfect timing, that there are no limits for my life. Which I believe is true and biblical. The word states at least once that "nothing is impossible with God" ( Luke 1:37)
For me to put limitations and boxes around God and his dreams for me, would be complete foolishness on my part. But that is where you come into play. Confession : I am human. I make mistakes and I cripple under fear at times, but am walking into deeper freedom in that area. I need the body of Christ. I need people to pray for me and to remind who I am in God's eyes. We all fall short of the glory of God ( Romans 3: 23 ) including me.

If you would kindly consider lifting me up, when I come across your heart, that would be so wonderful!

I cherish those who are close to my heart and have been lights to me and pointed me closer to God. Thank you for all of your wisdom and love you have imparted to my life.
May our God of heaven, release his blessing and divine favor on you in a greater way!

~Lauren