Week 2: Part 1

God has been doing some amazing things over the last week! We have been learning a lot, and bonding as a team. I have spent more time exploring the city and surrounding area and just love seeing all that Perth has to offer! The whole theme behind the last couple of weeks has centered around engaging with God. He invites us to simply reach out and engage in a relationship with Him. We don't have to bring Him anything or have any special gifts or talents, He just wants us to be with Him, to spend time talking with Him. He actually wants to hear our hopes, dreams, worries, and fears. He wants relationship. He wants it so badly He is willing to step into our brokenness just to be with us. He meets us where we are and says, "I choose you, I want you".

This is my amazing small group!! From left to right we have Justice, Kari (one of our leaders), Ben (The other leader), Christi, Kyra, Laura, Yuhan, and Tanaya. We had a time of fellowship and laughter on Tuesday night and just really enjoyed getting to know each other.

This is "The Cactus" it's basically our designated compass for navigating around town. The general rule of thumb is if you can find the big cactus you can get anywhere from there.

So, every morning our team meets on base and we all spend time in prayer and reflection at the same time. It's such a sweet time with with Jesus. The leaders encourage us to spend time just listening for God's voice; I have so enjoyed this time. This picture is a view of the sunrise one morning during quiet time (because we wake up before the sun everyday).

Last weekend we went to Freemantle which is a town by the sea. We visited a market there and got fish and chips at Cicerello's. Then we were privileged to see one of the most amazing rainbows ever!

This is my lovely friend Melissa showing off her traditional Kiwi lolly. They call them pineapple lumps-- imagine hubba bubba bubble gum coated in chocolate, weird, but yet you just can't stop trying them.

And now for what God has been doing in my heart...

So, I’m sitting with my laptop at 6:15 am in the morning trying to figure out how to condense this last week and a half down into one blog post, let’s just say, that’s not going to happen! Last week we had lectures from the base leader’s wife, Shirl. The topic she spoke on was “Hearing God’s Voice”. This is something I’ve had the incredible opportunity of learning about over the past few years at church and conferences, but it’s always wonderful to learn more! The passage Shirl used to talk about how God speaks is Exodus 3 (Moses and the burning bush). For all of you who grew up in church, this is a story you’ve heard too many times to count, as had I, but the amazing thing about the Bible is that no matter how many times you read it, the Holy Spirit is ALWAYS looking to reveal something new to you.

This story comes at a time in Moses’ life when he is living it the shadow of rejection and guilt after killing an Egyptian in his anger and being rejected by his people, the Israelites. So, God needs to do something big to catch Moses’ attention—que the burning bush. God reaches out, and Moses is intrigued and engages with God. This is the first step on our part, we have to seek God. Next, God speaks to Moses, not only that, but He calls Moses by name. Wow, how powerful is that? Has someone ever looked you in the eye and called your name, you feel it deep inside you, a longing to be known (or at least I do). God made us this way, He made us with a desire to know and be known by Him, by others, and even by ourselves.

In this moment with Moses we see that God is a personal God. He sees us each individually and knows each and every one of us by name, He knows the hairs on our head he knows our triumphs, He knows our failures, He knows our hopes, dreams, desires, and fears. But, He still calls us by name. I mean at this point Moses was already a murderer and a quitter. He received a call from God and acted in his own strength and power and then ran from the consequences, but God still wants him. So, He reaches out in a personal way and shows Moses that despite how broken he is God still WANTS to use him. And guess what, He wants to use you too...Do you believe that? I'll be honest, I don't always believe it. Sometimes I think I'm too broken or high maintenance for God to bother with, but that's a lie. God is so much bigger than my failures, mistakes and regrets, but He's also bigger than my blessings, hopes, and dreams. When we realize that God is bigger than our circumstances and that He is always good, despite our current situations, we can start to trust Him, and guys, He is so trustworthy!

More stories are coming soon! I am loving being able to share everything God is doing here with you all! If these stories touch your heart, please let me know, I love hearing about how God is working!! Please continue to pray for me, for my safety, for more freedom and boldness, and for the Holy Spirit to work in mighty ways!!