A Bit of a Recap

Once again it has been a while since I've sat down to write and, once again, it is mostly because there is so much going on inside of me that I have no idea where to start.  Even now and I am staring at these few lines and the cursor on the page wondering how I am going to distill and condense all these thoughts into something understandable and cohesive.

This past year has been a whirlwind of crazy! As usual, I found myself moving multiple times on very short notice but always going where I was sure God was leading me. January of 2011 found me packing up and moving to Kona Hawaii to attend the first ever Church Pioneering School with Youth With a Mission. Those three months were some of the most rewarding, challenging, informative months of my life! When the lecture phase of the school wrapped up, I found myself not going on outreach and not having a clue as to what my  next step would be. At the prompting of some of my friends and leaders I applied to join the cafe staff there. I did not understand why God was leading me to do this because not only did I have no desire to remain in Hawaii for a second longer, I also did not see much value in staying to work in a coffee shop whose customers were all believers and YWAMers. Thankfully God knows more than what we do!

Focused Obedience

Over the past few months I have been slowly working my way through a book by Floyd McClung titled "You See Bones, I See an Army: Changing the way we do church." I purchased the book during my DTS and for some reason it had been shelved for later reading. I don't think I have ever in my life taken so much time to read a book but this is not one for me to just breeze through. There is so much good stuff in here and I've been really taking the time to digest it and reflect upon it.

Just the other day I started part three: Focused Obedience. The first chapter in this section is titled Watch out for the Camels and oh my! God has been speaking to me through this chapter so much.  A lot of it is stuff that I already knew about myself but it's put in such a way that I feel like for the first time instead of just seeing that I have problem in this area, I actually feel like I see ways to make a change.

It is for freedom He set us free

Galatians 5
vs 1. For freedom Christ has set us free, stand firm therefore, and don't submit again to the yoke of slavery.
13. For you were called to freedom, brothers.
16. But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

In the card Steve gave me at DTS graduation he included Galatians 5:1 and talked about how he felt that God was saying thta freedom in an area that God has blessed me in and I exemplify freedom (after writing this I went home and found the card and his exact words were: One of the great things God has put in you is freedom. This is not to say you will always feel that way, but it is in you more than most.) I found it very interesting because I don't feel free most of the time. I feel bound in insecurity and lies. I feel bound and enslaved to the fear of man and to sin.
I was struck by verse 16. We are constantly asking how to be free from sin and the answer is found here: walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. That is what most sin is, especially sexual sin: a gratification of the desires of the flesh. Verse 17 says, "for the desired of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh."
But how does one "walk by the Spirit'? When I think of this I am reminded of Ephesians and the "five walks" in chapters 4 and 5. "Walk in a manner worthy of the calling", "walk in truth", "walk in love", "walk as children of light", and "walk as wise."
I don't know if this is the best theological answer to the question of how to walk in the Spirit, but it's a good place to start, I suppose. So, in light of the topic of walking in the Spirit so as not to gratify desires of the flesh, what do each of these look like and why might they help? 

A Journey Like No Other

I am a traveler. I feel the most content when I am moving around from place to place, always  busy, always something new. I begin to feel restless if I'm in one place for too long and the restlessness, if not dealt with, will turn into an urgency, a driving need to do somthing different, to explore new streets and alley ways. A desperate desire to meet new people and hear new stories.

What a Crazy Life!

These past weeks few weeks have been nothing short of eventful! I would love to tell you the long story, but for the sake of time (mine and yours) I'm simply going to share with you all the changes that have happened and where this is taking me.

Tomorrow at 12:45 pm I will leave Kona Hawaii and fly to Honolulu. I will be there for four days, spending time with my aunt and uncle, resting, relaxing and being spoiled (oh how I'm looking forward to that)! :)  When I leave  Honolulu I will head to Great Falls, MT aka Home. I will be spending close to a week in MT. One crazy, busy, hectic week full of family, friends, coffee and general merry-making.

Hawaii Sun and random musings

I find myself being struck with the face that I actually LIVE in Hawaii at random, odd moments. This morning I was sitting a low rock wall, drinking coffee and looking at the ocean with sweat running down my back (at 10 in the morning!!!!) and it just hit me. This thought that surfaces every once in a while. "I can believe I actually live here." For me, though, unlike most people I know here, it's not a though that brings with it the crazy feelings of  "Wow! I can't believe I live in this paradise where people with lots of money honey-moon and vacation," but rather, "Wow, I can't believe that I live in this foreign place where summer never ends and people I've never understood or related to dream of living."

Transitions

The past three months I have been in Kona Hawaii taking the Church Pioneering School at Youth With a Mission's University of the Nations. It's been challenging, affirming and just all around wonderful. Now it has come to a close. Classes are over and my classmates will all be leaving in the next week to various locations around the world.

I had planned on going to the Philippines with a few of my classmates and staff to put into practice everything we've been learning and then go from there but as often happens, God had other plans for me. After lots of prayer and counsel, I have decided to stay here in Kona staffing in the coffee shop on campus. This was not at all what I planned or thought of when I came out here. To be perfectly honest, I don't like Hawaii that much. It would be great to vacation here, but living here is not so great, especially for a Montana girl who loves seasons and mountains and long road trips. But, I am going to be obedient and stay here for as long as God calls me.