A Week of Freedom

It's been awhile since I have blogged. Life can get away with me sometimes. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind. We had a speaker come last week names Kenny Peavy. He is the director of the YWAM School of Worship in LA. God has gifted him greatly in the prophetic, and through him God set the stage for our students and DTS staff both to move past old wounds, throw down lies that Satan has made them believe for years, and forgive people that have wounded them. It was an intense week, but so good and so needed. Myself, through a series of events, God brought light to old wounds I had not dealt with, and how much I was operating and reacting out of these old wounds. Late one night I was so grieved by some news I received, I went to our garage,to seek God for wisdom and guidance, and I just ended up crying and crying. And I felt God speak so clearly to me that blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. And I felt and heard Him so much in that moment. His comfort, His words of life, and I was just able to cry over things I had never allowed myself to mourn over, and just feel the comfort and love from my Heavenly Father. It was so incredible! God did so much in our week with Kenny, and I could go on and on. But ultimately, it just really made me see how much our God is a restorer of broken things, and a comforter. I love my Daddy!

A Week In Mexico

Week 8-Dean Serman-Spiritual Warefare
We spent this week in Ensenada, Mexico, which was fabulous!!!! I think it was good for all of us to be in a bigger place where there is more breathing room and new faces. August 2nd and 3rd, we spent building a home for a family in Ensenada. This family was such a lovely family, and many of our students were able to form relationships with them. They were wonderful, and joyful, and so grateful for the home that was built for them. Their family made us delicios empenadas and tamales on one afternoon of the build. We were very blessed. They have one daughter who was 15 years old and she said after hanging out with us and working alongside us for two days that she wanted to be a missionary like us, and she wanted to be doing what we were doing some day, which was so awesome and encouraging to all of us. It is so cool to see how you can make such an impact in such a short amount of time!
We had Dean Sherman as our speaker this week, which was great! He spoke on the topic of spiritual warfare, which sounds really scary and intimidating, but Dean breaks things down so easily and concisely, that it is so easy to grasp and apply. He starts out by breaking things down into Kingdom dynamics and World dynamics, which looks like this:
Kingdom World
love selfishness
serving controlling
submission rebellion
humility pride
generosity greed
justice injustice (bias, prejudice, favoritism)
integrity corruption
Biblical truth the way that seems right to man

Dean just explained how God built HIs Kingdom to be and how sin and Satan brought destruction to that Kingdom. He explained how God is not a controller and that is why He lets us sin. How God does not send people to hell, He is just loving enough to let them go there if they so choose. He is a gentleman and He will fight and fight for our affections and our heart, but we have free will to choose to love Him, or not. It was just awesome to understand God more, and what His desire is...how God's kingdom is built on righteousness and justice.
Another point that Dean really tries to convey is who we are in Christ and the powere we have in His name. Because Jesus Christ lives in us once we have accepted, we have His power in us, and have power against evil and darkness. We have power against Satan and demonic powers in Jesus' name. God gives us weapons to fight against darkness throught the Word od God, and through Jesus' name. Spiritual Warfare is: recognizing the strategies of the enemy, refusing to cooperate with him, resisting aggressively in the name of Jesus.
Dean gave a lot of time for questions and answers, and out students ate that up. It was awesome to see the hunger to want to understand spiritual warfare, and understand the power we have in Jesus name. My prayer for us staff and the students is for all of us to really recognize the power we have within us through Christ, to not be afraif because we have powerful in Jesus name, and step out in that power to push back Satan and his demon powers, to fight for justice, and stand against the schemes of the devil.
On a more personal note, it was just great to be in Mexico for awhile, hang out with my good friends there, and just be right in front of the beach. All of our students really loved being there because the Ensenada base is open and full of people. Sometimes it's just nice to have variety and be around other faces. We all walked away feeling pretty refreshed, I think, and also walked away with their eyes being more opened to other ways of the world, and what other people live with or without.

The Summer San Diego DTS Thus Far...

We are now into our sixth week of lecture phase with this Summer DTS in San Diego, and it has been quite a ride. Only a few days after I returned from the outreach to south Mexico, I moved up to San Diego from Ensenada, Mexico to help pioneer our first DTS here. To be honest, it has been more work than I anticipated, but the Lord has been teaching me a lot! From turning a workshop into a kitchen, to scheduling, to making an office into a classroom, to finding local ministries to work with...it has been tiring, yet beautiful experience. It has really opened my eyes to all that goes into a DTS, and the intricacies of scheduling and figuring out day to day life within a school. For that, I am grateful.
We have 12 DTS students, mostly from the USA, but we have one student from Korea, and another from Mexico. We even have a young married couple from Kansas City like me! WAHOO!! As far as staff goes,we have 4 DTS staff working directly with the students (Mitch, Johally, Felicia and myself), and 2 DTS help staff (Halynn & Sarvia) doing administrative work, cooking, leading worship, etc. We are so grateful to them! They help lighten our load so much, so all thanks to God that He brought them!
Each week, we fly in different YWAM speakers that teach our students on various topics. So far, the speakers have covered the topics of: 'Father, heart of God,' 'The Holy Spirit,' 'Fear of the Lord,' and 'Relationships.' God has been teaching our students so much, and it has been so cool to see them grow in their understanding and relationship with Him. And, I, too have probably learned just as much if not more through the speakers, the students, staffing, and just seeking the Lord. I love my job as a DTS staff and wouldn't trade it for any job in the world!
I'm not going to lie, it has been hard, at points, being away from Mexico, and living back in the USA, but God is good, and I know He has brought me here for this season. Because I love Him more than I love my life, I want to be willing to go where I don't necessarily want to go, do what I don't necessarily want to do, and even be with people I don't necessarily want to be with. God has been teaching showing me how prideful I am in many areas of my life, and challenging me with humility. So, I am not going to tell you that it's all a bowl full of cherries, but it's worth it because He is worth it.
Return again for my weekly update! I look forward to blogging with you! Thanks for taking the time to read!

Welcome to my Blog!!!!

I have been meaning to keep a blog for awhile now, but I am just now getting around to it. I will do my very best to begin keeping a weekly blog just to let you know what the Lord in doing in and through this DTS in San Diego, and also what God is doing in and through me. So, stay posted! I invite you to frequent my blog, laugh at my picture, cry at my stories, and joining me in prayer. Thank you for reading this, and thank you also for your love and support. I couldn't be doing what I am doing without you!