To Know God and To Make Him Known
My life in Houston was rich with opportunities and fellowship as I was surrounded by amazing people at Ad Deum, my church (Mission24), and my work (West University Dance Centre). I loved my life in Houston, but I began to feel a stirring in my heart and a restlessness that change was coming. There were many sleepless nights trying to figure it out. I had many desires in my heart. Part of me wanted to move home to be closer to family. I lived away from home for about 5 years, and was tired of missing out on family events and activities with my nieces and nephews. But then there was another part of me that was yearning for adventure, like caring for orphans in Africa or doing a Discipleship Training School (DTS) with Youth With A Mission (YWAM).
I first learned about YWAM through Ad Deum. The history of Ad Deum actually traces back to a YWAM base in Switzerland. Here's a little information about YWAM I copied from their website: "Youth With A Mission is a global movement of Christians from many cultures, age groups, and Christian traditions, dedicated to serving Jesus throughout the world. Also known as YWAM (pronounced “WHY-wham”), we unite in a common purpose to know God and to make Him known. Back when we began in 1960, our main focus was to get youth involved in missions. Today, we still focus on youth, and we also involve people aged 9 to 90. We currently work in more than 1,100 locations in over 180 countries, with a staff of over 18,000. One of the joys of participating in YWAM is to work with people from many nations. YWAM’s staff (known as “YWAMers”) come from over 130 countries, including places like Indonesia, Nepal, Mozambique, and Colombia." There 196 nations in the world, and YWAM has mission bases in 180 of those. Cool, right?!
Many people come to YWAM to do a Discipleship Training School (DTS). A DTS is designed to bring people into an intimate relationship with God, and through seeking to know Him, it also becomes a time of self-discovery. Students discover their identity as a child of God, their desires and passions, and how their unique giftings fit into God’s purposes for the world. Some DTS's can have special focuses such as compassion, justice, reconciliation, and business. They even have DTS's with focuses on activities like skateboarding, snowboarding, and the performing arts. These focuses are then used on their outreach to share the gospel.
The course is a full-time program that lasts five or six months. It consists of two parts: a lecture phase and an outreach phase. In the lecture phase, students learn more about God and His world. During this time students learn not only from lectures, but they also learn from community living and practical training. The outreach phase focuses on applying what they have learned in the classroom out in the world, through an intense time of serving, often in other countries.
Eventually, I felt lead to make the decision to leave Ad Deum and move home to spend some time with family, letting go of my desire to work with YWAM. But, of course as soon as I decided not to pursue YWAM, Randy invited me to go to Hawaii with him to help him teach for a week at YWAM Kona. I knew God was up to something!
I will share more about my experience in Hawaii in another post, but through this whole experience, God has been teaching me how to trust Him as the Good Shepherd. Sometimes we can be so afraid to make a decision because we are afraid of falling away from His will for our life by making a decision that doesn't align with His will for us, especially when we don't have clear direction or answers from the Lord. But, one thing that I have learned is that we serve a big God with big plans for us. If your heart is first seeking relationship with Him, He as the Good Shepherd will light our path and keep us on track. I decided to not pursue YWAM anymore and He brought it back into my path.
Wherever you are in your journey, remember to "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Matthew 6:33 ESV). If your desire is Him, He won't let you fall away from Him because His desire is for you to be with Him! He will always be there to steer us back to His path if we start going the wrong direction so we don't have to walk in fear of getting off track. Trust Him as your Shepherd as you take each leap of faith.
I first learned about YWAM through Ad Deum. The history of Ad Deum actually traces back to a YWAM base in Switzerland. Here's a little information about YWAM I copied from their website: "Youth With A Mission is a global movement of Christians from many cultures, age groups, and Christian traditions, dedicated to serving Jesus throughout the world. Also known as YWAM (pronounced “WHY-wham”), we unite in a common purpose to know God and to make Him known. Back when we began in 1960, our main focus was to get youth involved in missions. Today, we still focus on youth, and we also involve people aged 9 to 90. We currently work in more than 1,100 locations in over 180 countries, with a staff of over 18,000. One of the joys of participating in YWAM is to work with people from many nations. YWAM’s staff (known as “YWAMers”) come from over 130 countries, including places like Indonesia, Nepal, Mozambique, and Colombia." There 196 nations in the world, and YWAM has mission bases in 180 of those. Cool, right?!
The course is a full-time program that lasts five or six months. It consists of two parts: a lecture phase and an outreach phase. In the lecture phase, students learn more about God and His world. During this time students learn not only from lectures, but they also learn from community living and practical training. The outreach phase focuses on applying what they have learned in the classroom out in the world, through an intense time of serving, often in other countries.
Eventually, I felt lead to make the decision to leave Ad Deum and move home to spend some time with family, letting go of my desire to work with YWAM. But, of course as soon as I decided not to pursue YWAM, Randy invited me to go to Hawaii with him to help him teach for a week at YWAM Kona. I knew God was up to something!
I will share more about my experience in Hawaii in another post, but through this whole experience, God has been teaching me how to trust Him as the Good Shepherd. Sometimes we can be so afraid to make a decision because we are afraid of falling away from His will for our life by making a decision that doesn't align with His will for us, especially when we don't have clear direction or answers from the Lord. But, one thing that I have learned is that we serve a big God with big plans for us. If your heart is first seeking relationship with Him, He as the Good Shepherd will light our path and keep us on track. I decided to not pursue YWAM anymore and He brought it back into my path.
Wherever you are in your journey, remember to "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Matthew 6:33 ESV). If your desire is Him, He won't let you fall away from Him because His desire is for you to be with Him! He will always be there to steer us back to His path if we start going the wrong direction so we don't have to walk in fear of getting off track. Trust Him as your Shepherd as you take each leap of faith.
"Flags of the Nations" on the YWAM base in Kona.
You are Awesome, God is awesome , listen to your story helps me to fell better about everthing that is happend in my life now! God bless you!
ReplyDeleteThank you Maria for your encouragement! Amen. God is faithful to carry out the plans He has for you! God bless you!
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