All my life I’ve heard it said that everything happens for a reason, that nothing happens by chance. That would mean that I have absolutely no control over my life and how it is played out, but instead God has laid out my whole life and every decision before me, and we are all just like puppets, playing out God’s will. It’s as if God plotted, planned, prepared, and made a movie about humankind and planet earth, and now He is sitting back in a theater, watching it all play out. I know that for much of my life I’ve adopted this philosophy, without even really knowing it, and I think it has reaped some serious consequences in my life.
Considering all this, is there a right or wrong decision? I don’t really know. All I can tell you is that I feel like I’ve made some wrong decisions for my life, and they reaped really bad consequences, but I also know that God turns the bad into good for those who love him. I believe that many of my bad choices have been redeemed.
I have come to the conclusion that God is my navigation system. I do believe that yes, I do make wrong decisions in my life, and yes, I have made many, but I also believe that God is so good that he has the ability to recalculate a new path, or a new route, as soon as we make a bad decision for ourselves, or a wrong turn, if we are plugged into Him. I know that many times in the past that has looked like, “Whoa! Turn around! Make a u-turn immediately!” It has also looked like me driving along, taking a different route on purpose, and God reconfiguring a new path to lay out in front of me. Does he have foreknowledge of our final destination? I really don’t know that either, but my inkling is yes, but I do believe that we can fall out of God’s will for our lives or else Jesus wouldn’t have told us to pray that the Father’s will be done for our lives.
How do we know the best paths, the best turns, the best decisions? How do we know that we are on course? Jesus is our perfect example, and the more we know him, the more we love him, and the more we love him then the more we trust him and his direction. Jesus is the word, so he is scripture, so we can always rely on its truth, love, and wisdom to lead us in the right direction. Probably more importantly, there is the very handy Holy Spirit given to us.
Now I believe that I actually do have control over my life and my destiny, and even though that’s a bit scary to know how much responsibility lies in my hands, it’s also empowering to take the wheel and drive…
Lots of Love!!
Kels
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Week One!
Hey guys! Week one is already over and I’m crazy excited! We have come to a final decision for an outreach…
India and Burma!!!
I’m so excited and I can’t wait! India was in the very top #1 slot of my list of countries to go to and this will be the first trip to India for this particular base and group! We will be working in orphanages and with prostitutes, amongst many, MANY other things that we will be doing over there. I know that there will be a lot of prayer and intercession for those areas and people during our whole stay there; I can’t wait to see what will take place during our stay!
So, a little about the base.. It’s gorgeous out here and I’m with an extraordinary group of Christians. They are so full of love and life.. they are truly inspiring individuals and I’m so grateful that these are the people in leadership over me. I was afraid they would be lame or the really annoying kind of Christians, but the opposite has proved to be true.
I’m not going to lie and not tell you that everything has been perfect. I’ve been on an emotional roller coaster since I’ve been here. Some things that have been lying dormant inside me are bubbling up and surfacing. I’ve had to face some demons of the past and it has been stressful, but I know that everything will be better coming out on the other side of all this. I knew that there was going to be some internal work taking place during this first phase; I just didn’t expect for it to come this soon!
We’ve already done some awesome things during our orientation. One thing that I didn’t realize about YWAM was the level of in-reach that takes place at each base. These people feed and take care of the homeless, and this is only one of the numerous things that they do to love on their community. For example, we went on a prayer tour this week and I wasn't looking forward to going because I thought it sounded incredibly lame, but it ended up being my favorite day by far. Most of the base (about 30 of us) got together to travel to 10 different cities in the central coast, so basically our surrounding area. In each city we all split into groups of 3 and 4 and went to a private location. We each prayed about each city and asked to hear from God on what is on his heart about each city, and then whatever we got we prayed and interceded for on the behalf of that city. Then we all came together to talk about what each group got. When we all shared, all of our groups results blended beautifully into getting the same result. Most of us heard the same word about each city, and the word for each city was very different. There was no way that could have happened outside of God and I was blown away by each and every person’s ability to hear God’s voice! I got to witness it firsthand with my own eyes, and I was just awestruck and so grateful. I think I fell in love with God all over again that day. He just demonstrated his power, glory, and love for personal relationship with each of us, and I was so incredibly inspired for the all things to come. All of us coming together as a group created a powerful tool for intercession for these cities, and I was just blown away by the hugeness and the extreme intimacy of God all at once. I’m sure you would have had to experience it to understand it in full.
So, I’m having a great time here and will continue to give updates at least weekly. Please keep me in your hearts and prayers!
Lots of love!
Kellie
India and Burma!!!
I’m so excited and I can’t wait! India was in the very top #1 slot of my list of countries to go to and this will be the first trip to India for this particular base and group! We will be working in orphanages and with prostitutes, amongst many, MANY other things that we will be doing over there. I know that there will be a lot of prayer and intercession for those areas and people during our whole stay there; I can’t wait to see what will take place during our stay!
So, a little about the base.. It’s gorgeous out here and I’m with an extraordinary group of Christians. They are so full of love and life.. they are truly inspiring individuals and I’m so grateful that these are the people in leadership over me. I was afraid they would be lame or the really annoying kind of Christians, but the opposite has proved to be true.
I’m not going to lie and not tell you that everything has been perfect. I’ve been on an emotional roller coaster since I’ve been here. Some things that have been lying dormant inside me are bubbling up and surfacing. I’ve had to face some demons of the past and it has been stressful, but I know that everything will be better coming out on the other side of all this. I knew that there was going to be some internal work taking place during this first phase; I just didn’t expect for it to come this soon!
We’ve already done some awesome things during our orientation. One thing that I didn’t realize about YWAM was the level of in-reach that takes place at each base. These people feed and take care of the homeless, and this is only one of the numerous things that they do to love on their community. For example, we went on a prayer tour this week and I wasn't looking forward to going because I thought it sounded incredibly lame, but it ended up being my favorite day by far. Most of the base (about 30 of us) got together to travel to 10 different cities in the central coast, so basically our surrounding area. In each city we all split into groups of 3 and 4 and went to a private location. We each prayed about each city and asked to hear from God on what is on his heart about each city, and then whatever we got we prayed and interceded for on the behalf of that city. Then we all came together to talk about what each group got. When we all shared, all of our groups results blended beautifully into getting the same result. Most of us heard the same word about each city, and the word for each city was very different. There was no way that could have happened outside of God and I was blown away by each and every person’s ability to hear God’s voice! I got to witness it firsthand with my own eyes, and I was just awestruck and so grateful. I think I fell in love with God all over again that day. He just demonstrated his power, glory, and love for personal relationship with each of us, and I was so incredibly inspired for the all things to come. All of us coming together as a group created a powerful tool for intercession for these cities, and I was just blown away by the hugeness and the extreme intimacy of God all at once. I’m sure you would have had to experience it to understand it in full.
So, I’m having a great time here and will continue to give updates at least weekly. Please keep me in your hearts and prayers!
Lots of love!
Kellie
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