What are you going to live for?

We will be starting week 9 of dts this week.  We only have 4 weeks left of our lecture phase and only 2 more weeks until we start our performances here on the island at a school, a prison, and here on campus. This time is so rich with new revelations, challenges, and growth.  I am learning so much about God, myself, and life in general.  The HeartBridge dts has the busiest schedule on campus (8am to about 9pm).  Our days are very long, but our weeks go by so fast.  I know that this time will be over before I know it and I want to savor every minute of it, soaking in as much as I can.  

Our second week of dts, we were challenged with this question: "What are you going to live for?"  We have a limited amount of time on this earth so how can we make the most of our time?  We can't take any material things with us to heaven, but what we can bring with us are people.  Our time on earth isn't about us, its about a bigger picture.  

For me this made a lot of sense.  I can see God's heart for the lost.  I've been asking God to give me more of a heart for the people who don't know Him in my time here.  We serve a God of compassion, mercy, and love, and there are so many people out there that have never experienced this.  This world is so broken with so much pain and suffering.  It can be overwhelming thinking about how or where to start and if my life can really make a difference in this big world.  But if we never take the risk to start somewhere then our world stays the same.  I know that I can't change the world, but with Jesus I can change the world for some people.  

This journey of training to be a missionary has taught all of us so much.  These last few months have been spent learning about God and receiving healing ourselves and building our character so that we can better impact the nations we will be serving on outreach.  

God has been so faithful!  He has provided finances from unexpected places and brought people alongside me to support me at the perfect times.  Even though I have had my days of doubts and fears (more days than I would like to admit), God has given me reminders of His faithfulness and that He is with me every step of the way.  Throughout this journey, many of these reminders have come in the form of rainbows! 

I know it sounds crazy, but it started with when I first was praying about my decisions of whether or not to come to YWAM.  I was flying on an airplane and writing in my prayer journal asking God what I should do, and I was feeling pretty sure that I wanted to do YWAM and then I looked out the window of the plane and there was a rainbow!  By the time I got my phone out to take a picture it was gone, but I was so encouraged and asked God to continue to give me rainbows to let me know I was going in the right direction.  I took a picture anyways, just to remember the moment. 

The next time I saw a rainbow, it was a really weird shaped rainbow that was more like a rainbow cloud.  I had never seen something like that before, and I don't think my parents had either because my mom decided it wasn't a rainbow, but for me, I felt it was just more affirmation from the Lord. 

Then the day that I turned in my application for the Heartbridge DTS, I saw a rainbow that afternoon! 

The next time I saw a rainbow was in the fall in Ohio.  I was going through a season of a lot of questions about my future, and again, it was another strange rainbow cloud!  Is that really you God?

And finally, the day that I committed by faith to my dts leader that I was going on outreach with our team, despite not yet being fully funded, God gave me a beautiful double rainbow!

So despite still needing about $2,200 before June 30th, I am confident that I will be going to Chile, Brazil, and the USA with my dts.  My heart is to serve Him and to grow in evangelism as I serve and love on people in these nations.  I look forward to the challenges of sleeping on floors of churches, performing in crazy places, and encountering people that don't like what we have to say because I know that it is all worth the cost for the people's lives that we do get to impact and change.  And hopefully, I will be forever changed myself along the way.  

If you would like to join me and my support team, you can donate here under A+H Partners and it will take you to a page where you can donate specifically to me.  I would love to have you on my team as we together can make an impact on the nations!