India: Part 1

Well I’m back from Bihar India and I’ve tried to blog about this for a couple weeks now but have had the hardest time processing everything, but I’ve got to immediately jump back on this blogging train before I forget (not that that will ever ACTUALLY happen, but you know what I mean) about the amazing amazing things the Lord has done. To say that I’m a little overwhelmed would be the understatement of the year. I think that the best way for me to get all of this out without you missing anything of importance and me rambling too much (lets face it, we all know that’s going to happen regardless), is for me to spilt up my whole trip by topics and just blog about each one separately. So I’m going to start today with the conferences that we were apart of.

The first day that we were over there we got to go to a women’s conference. I know that I’d mentioned this before to y’all but let me tell you, the Lord is really working in the lives of those sweet women. First things first though, my flesh hasn’t ever been as tired as it was then though. Somehow the car I rode in to the church was one of the last ones there and the church was packed, so guess who ended up sitting up on the stage? Yep that’s right, this girl. Knowing that everyone in the church could see you and would know if you fell asleep was more then enough incentive to keep me awake (honestly I still struggled though). However after a couple of hours of great speakers and some Hindi worship music, one of the speakers told all of the missionaries to just go out into the crowd of women and begin praying with/for them. At this point every thing in me that was tired was immediately restored and I was energized. I found my way through the crowd stopping to pray whenever I felt led and eventually ended up with this one woman and her daughter. The woman looked no older then 19 and her daughter was 2 and she immediately handed her to my friend Maggie and we began praying for her without really knowing what was going on due to the language barrier. The baby began having seizures while we were holding her and other people began to gather around us and we quickly had a few extra hands reaching out to touch this child as we prayed. As the four of us were praying the seizures started happening less and less frequently until the baby seemed at peace and was close to falling asleep. We then had an interpreter come over and we found out that the baby had been to the doctor many times but they had never been able to diagnose what was going on. Due to the seizures she was still only eating foods in liquid form and had never spoken or walked. The mother was in tears and said that she had prayed to so many different gods but had never seen results like this and wanted to know why. We got to share the gospel with her for the first time! If that had been all that I went to India to do, that would have been fine with me at that point but that funny Jesus had so much more up his sleeve.

The second day over there we got to be apart of a youth conference and it was the largest conference in the states history! So many eager young people just looking for a change from the darkness that is Bihar India. I was on the front row this time instead of on the stage, thankfully. The speakers were great again as usual and after a couple of hours we were released again to go out and pray with the youth. I ended up spending the whole time with this one girl who was a year younger then me. She was already saved and with us both able to speak English we struck up a conversation easily, her name was Gracie and she is the sweetest woman. She told me that because she lives in India she can’t worship freely and her family thinks that her being a Christian is really evil spirits in her, so they abuse her every chance they get. It was heartbreaking to hear that. I’m so so so blessed to call this place home. Even though there are things going on that we don’t all agree on, it’s still a country that was founded on Christian beliefs and we’ve been given freedom through that. Freedom in Christ and freedom in the world we’ve been given as American citizens.  

Like I said earlier, there will be more posts coming your way but this was such a BIG trip for me that I’m still having a hard time processing everything that’s happened and is still happening. But your prayers have meant everything to me so keep them coming! Love you all!!

T-3 days!!

Well here I am on Monday morning, just 3 days until I leave for India! I just can’t believe that it’s all happening now and happening SO fast at that! Gosh it seems like just yesterday I was deciding to go and worrying about how to tell my parents and how they would react. The Lord has seriously done some awesome things to make this trip become a reality.

So many people have told me that they are jealous of me getting to travel over there and serve like I am, and believe me the blessing of that isn’t lost on me. I think at this point though I need India more then India needs me. After everything that’s changed in the past few months this trip has been the one constant, always something to be shooting for and counting down towards. Please keep me in your prayers the rest of this week as I’m preparing my heart for this opportunity, it still doesn’t feel real to me (and I don’t think it will until the traveling commences). We’ll be leaving Boone Thursday morning for RDU and have basically 2 days of traveling so I’m counting on getting some sleep on those long flights. If any of you would like to keep up with what we are doing, our trip itinerary will be posted online at www.missions.me/teamschedule . They will also be updating their Facebook daily so check out their page on there for pictures and updates.

Once again, I’m at a loss for words at each one of your generous support to get me to this point. Without that I wouldn’t be here today, the week OF, on the verge of a life-changing trip. I love you all!

“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you”

James 1:27

“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world-our faith”

1 John 5:4

Come Back Kid

         Well it’s certainly been awhile since I’ve blogged and for that I apologize. To say that things have changed for me in the past month would definitely be an understatement. And the crazy thing is that I know this is just the beginning of all of the changes. Having someone tell you that this is a major breakthrough season for you will definitely slap you across the face (in the best way). I’ve had to say goodbye to some people, things and situations that I didn’t necessarily want to, and they were far from easy to walk away from BUT breakthroughs aren’t meant to be easy, the resistance that I’ve felt and am still feeling is doing nothing but refine me. And refinement is exactly what I wanted/needed in preparation for this trip to India (T-10 days BTW!).

“That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and trouble that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

2 Corinthians 12:10

         Well now that I’ve successfully typed my way into a writer’s block, I’m forced to either ramble or list so just stick with me and we’ll see where this goes.

1.     We talked a lot about Peter in church yesterday and he was THE man.  He was one cool dude that I think a lot of us can really relate to. He tried and got rebuked repeatedly but was so resilient and determined to be “the rock” that Jesus called him to be. He kept coming back! The original come-back kid!

2.    My support for India came through and for much more then I asked for. God certainly knows what he’s doing with surplus and I’m still in awe of everyone’s generosity.

3.     I got the coolest coolest coolest form of support Saturday. A woman from my old church contacted me about a month ago asking for my address. I gave it to her and then forgot all about it. Well Saturday comes around and there in the mail is a card from her (Beth) and in it is a generous check for my trip. Now the check isn’t even the coolest thing. Listen to this! She wrote me the sweetest card and was talking about this journal entry of hers that she wanted to show me about her first Mission trip to the Ukraine back in 1997 and how she prepared for. She wrote about how she had stood in front of our church and the Pastor had said some amazing things to her and prayed for her. Now this is the kicker and totally Jesus, you ready? Then she wrote about how after church she was talking to ME and told me that that would be me one day! She actually sent me a copy of that page in her journal and it was the coolest thing to see that someone was speaking that over my life when I was just 9 and had dreams of playing in the WNBA instead of orphanages in India and Africa. It’s funny how things fall into place when Jesus is behind it from the beginning.

4.    I really really really love my roommate. I definitely thought it would be weird to live with someone new and someone that I wasn’t particularly close with before I moved in but the past 5 months have been SO great. Building a new relationship is really awesome, especially just learning about your new friend. Seeing Becky be so on fire for what she gets to do everyday has lit a fire under me to get out there and follow my own passions. She’s been the biggest inspiration for me and I know that the Lord put us together so strategically for this time in our lives.

5.     “I’ve already outlived everything that the enemy sent to kill me” Let that one sink in for a second. Yeah, it’s so good right? My Pastor said that in his message yesterday and I can’t stop thinking about it. I’m an overcomer, and so are everyone of you, so don’t let the enemy or anyone else tell you otherwise!

Well I think I’m going to have to call it a day on this post and say that I’m going to TRY to blog again before I leave for Bihar India next Thursday (!), because I really do have so much to say about that alone that it should be it’s own blog post. I love you all and I really and sincerely thank you for supporting me through this already incredible journey.

Source: spiritualinspiration.tumblr.com via Brittany on Pinterest

A Hunting We Will Go

Wow. I’m still kind of speechless about what happened last night. But I think that I need to push through this to write because if this is any indication of what I’ll be feeling while I’m in India then I know that you’ll want/need to hear it (regardless of whether it makes you or me a little uncomfortable).

We’ve had some guests at our church for the past couple of days and they’ve helped start a reformation in Boone. Last night we took that and went out into the community, ready to love on the sweet people in this town. We went on this thing called a treasure hunt. Seriously the coolest thing. We started at the church office and just began praying for specific “clues”, now these clues can and did get very specific. I’m talking shirt colors, tattoo placement, hairstyles, names, health issues, locations, you name it really. Already this is blowing my mind and I’m almost starting to doubt if I’m just making this up to make myself look better. But then we split up into teams and we’re sharing our lists and ours are starting to match up. Mind still blown. Our team immediately knows that Wal-Mart is the place to headfirst. We get there and I start walking around looking for things on my list and nothing is really jumping out at me, and oddly I’m not getting frustrated (so take that stupid devil!), I’m too excited seeing other people from my team succeed. Then all of a sudden three clues came back to back to back. Now only four of mine happened last night but this fourth one still gives me chills. Hollie and I were standing up at the front waiting for our team leader to get done so we could leave and this girl walks up to us and asks where we go to church. We were both a little shocked but told her and she said that she heard a man talking about Jesus (pointing to our team leader) and had overheard another girl praying and assumed we were with them. We can barely get out “Is there any way we can pray for you?” before she started telling us about her sister who lives in Boone and had recently had a baby. Now pregnant was one thing on my list so my ears perked up a bit. We asked what her sisters name was and she said her name was Sarah (also a clue on my list!). With shaking hands I show her my list and to my surprise she knows exactly what were doing and she had done one of these with her church a couple weeks before! Well long story short but we prayed for her and for her sister and then exchanged phone numbers and Facebook info to keep in contact. That one clue was totally of the Lord and I still can’t really sit still thinking about good He was last night!

Now if I told you that that was all that happened that would still be a great story but that also wouldn’t be true. I got up at my usually early time today but got ready fast enough so I could go to Wal-Mart and get the new Carrie Underwood album (highly recommend it btw) and as I’m walking back to the back I walk through the meat section (not really sure why because it’s not exactly on the way) BUT hamburger was on my list so why not? Shocker of all shockers but there is a woman over there stocking the hamburger. OK so now I’d like to insert that I also had the name Linda on my list and thought this was for sure the Linda that I’ve talked about in earlier posts, but Jesus had something else up his sleeve. Now back to my early morning trip to Wal-Mart, the lady stocking the hamburger turns to ask me if I need any help and I see that her nametag says Linda. Pretty sure my heart stopped for a second. So I told her about this treasure hunt I was doing and asking if there was anything she needed prayer for. She told me that her daughter is overseas in the Army and she has very little contact with her.

There are so many stories of God’s amazing outpouring of love last night and hearing how the Lord is continuing this treasure hunt into today and who knows how many more days is seriously the most incredible thing. This is something that can be done anywhere and anytime though, so sit down and ask the Lord to give you clues and watch them fall into place right in front of your eyes and then just get out there and love on people. It doesn’t make you weird if you do it. It might feel a little awkward at first but just push through and your mind will be blown at how great God is!

In other news, I’m going to India NEXT MONTH! The time is flying by and my excitement is growing more everyday. This is the last week of fundraising and I have $700 more to raise before I reach my goal of $3,200. I’ve come a long way and I couldn’t do it without everyone of you. If you’d like to support me financially on my trip to India you can do so easily here, if you would like for your donation to be tax deductible then you can also mail a check to our church office:

Cornerstone Summit Church

869 Highway 105 Ext Suite 3

Boone NC 28607

Adversity

“Greater resistance requires greater power to overcome; therefore producing a greater victory.”

Last night I went down the mountain to hear John Bevere speak at Agape Faith Church. If you don’t know who John Bevere is then you should definitely google him or something because he wrote the most life changing book I’ve ever read, The Bait of Satan. When I first found out that he was going to be close enough for me to make the trip down the mountain I was supposed to be babysitting but quickly started praying that that wouldn’t need to happen so that I could go. The next day babysitting got cancelled so all systems were go for this mini road trip. Four of us jumped in a car and took off for a service we all knew would be great but I don’t think we realized how great it was actually going to be. The Lord was all over this trip from the very beginning. We’re listening to some Jesus Culture and then we start to pray together and it was incredible to just be getting stirred up while driving down 421. When we got to the church we found our seats and worship started and there was never an awkward moment where I felt like I had to push through even though for the most part I didn’t know any of the songs. It was really great to be surrounded by strangers and everyone was just praising as one. John Bevere then got up to speak and I had never heard him speak before and I only knew about the one book but he’s done so much work and really has such a great testimony of what it really means to completely trust the Lord with EVERYTHING you have. He spoke a lot about adversity and how we can arm ourselves to better deal with it. John 16:33 says “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Adversity is going to come regardless of what we do but when we accept that, then we can begin fighting back. He talked about how adversity isn’t always a bad thing. There are several benefits: greater battles yield greater victories, your capacity expands and increases and your character is matured. He said something that really stuck with me last night, “God uses your present challenges to strengthen you for future conquests.” As someone that internally complains a lot about how “bad” I have it that one kind of rocked my world. As much as I’d like to change how things have happened for me or how I’d like to have a “normal” life, I can’t and after last night I don’t want to anymore. Every challenge that I’ve encountered in nearly 25 years has brought me to this point and is preparing me for such a great future. Adversity was made to strengthen me and to this point I haven’t really been taking advantage of that. I’m done complaining and I’m moving on to pure thankfulness.

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do it’s work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

James1:2-4 MSG

I’ve read that so many times but it wasn’t until last night that I truly understood how much James meant that when he wrote it. The Holy Spirit would have never allowed him to write those words or for it to be included into such a sacred book if it wasn’t 100% true. Nothing in the Bible can be exaggerated. We all need to start living like that! Facing each challenge head on and being ready to tackle and learn from it.




As always if you’d like to support me financially on my trip to India you can do so easily here, if you would like for your donation to be tax deductible then you can also mail a check to our church office:

Cornerstone Summit Church

869 Highway 105 Ext Suite 3

Boone NC 28607

Freedom!

         I was spending time with a friend today and this song came on.

         I could hardly contain my excitement as we were talking about what will happen when we take this message to the women in India at the Awaken conference. The women that will be attending will be women that were brought up completely different then any of us. Yes we’ve all been through situations that have made us strong men and women but for the most part most of us have some sort of a support system telling us that we can do it, we will beat whatever this is and that we have the ultimate champion on our side. Can you imagine living somewhere where you were taught from a young age that you weren’t worthy of anything? That there are certain animals that are treated better then you? It’s kind of hard for me to process that but the truth is, there will be women and children that I meet in less then 2 months that have been raised like that! I have been given an opportunity to possibly be the first voice in their lives to love on them and tell them about my Father and how He already loves them even though they may not have a clue who He is. They are going to hear that He values them above everything. I mean I grew up hearing that in church but if hearing that even now doesn’t give you chills and bring tears to your eyes then I don’t know what to tell you. Jesus is really so great and I’m in a gushy mood because I’m really so blessed. Yes I’m currently jumping and going crazy in my room but because of where I live I can praise like this anywhere that I choose. I’m so thankful to serve a God that is able to set the captives FREE!

         This post is taking me the longest to write because Jesus just keeps grabbing me and pulling me off my bed. I’m just so excited for what is about to happen in India. Scratch that. I’m excited for everything that is already happening in preparation for India. Jesus is preparing the hearts of the people over there and He’s preparing my heart for things I’ve never seen or thought of. This trip isn’t just a trip for me and it’s not just one opportunity to follow the Lord. It’s the first step through the door that is for those that the Lord has chosen to go and reap the harvest. My mind is blown right now at how awesome it is to know that I don’t just get to do this for 9 days, I get to do this for the rest of my life! How freakin great is that?!

       Just a little while ago our team got an email from a woman that we’ll be working with this summer, and in it she attached some pictures of some of the girls we’ll be giving a home to this summer. I want to share one with you so that you can have a face to put with your prayers.

         As always if you’d like to support me financially on my trip to India you can do so easily here, if you would like for your donation to be tax deductible then you can also mail a check to our church office:

Cornerstone Summit Church

869 Highway 105 Ext Suite 3

Boone NC 28607

What a Monday!

         *I started this blog yesterday so these were all things that happened on Monday morning. Had a busy afternoon and never got to finish it. Please forgive me! *

Ok so I know I already blogged once today but some days God is just so funny that it calls for more then one. Now I’m warning you that I’m a little off the walls right now so if this doesn’t make sense right away just promise me that you’ll continue pushing through to find little nuggies. My day is so so so full of them so far and it’s still technically morning!

        

         So first things first, I got a grand total of 4 hours of sleep by the time by alarm went off at 5:30 this morning. I get to work and I’m jammin out in here while I’m brewing the morning coffee and before I know it it’s a full on praise break in here. Now we open at 7 but I look over while jumping around like a crazy person (because lets face it, I am) at 6:45 and there is a woman at the door so I let her in and she was laughing and told me that I’m very chipper this morning. So I just start telling her about how great my God is. How He’s my healer and my provider and how I’m just so completely in love with Him and we end up praying together and she buys her coffee and leaves. All before we’re technically even open. Gonna be a great day, right?

         Maybe half an hour later another man walks in and tells me that I’m looking awful happy for it to be a Monday and that I have a very Friday attitude to me. I’ll take that man!

         Right after he left another lady came in. This one is a regular. Her names Sarah (large soy chai). Were having our usual morning banter and she stops and I’m thinking “oh shoot. I guess were done for the day?” I look over and she says “dude you’re going to India?” so of course I just start blabbering about our trip and how excited I am about it. And she goes to leave and calls ME a hero for wanting to do something like this. I’m not the hero Sarah, that would be my God. I just follow Him wherever He goes. He needs me to be his hands and feet. She looks at me like I’m slightly crazy and I can’t really blame her at this point. See ya tomorrow Sarah!

         Anyone that’s ever asked me about my day has probably heard me talk about Linda. She’s one of my favorite people. She isn’t a believer (YET) but she’s so great and you will all love her. She drops money in my India jar everyday but never really says much about it because she’s rushing to get to work, but today, today was different. She asked if she could go with me and I jokingly told her that of course she could. She then told me that she’s always wanted to do something like that. And that ever since she was little she’s had such a heart for orphans but because she knew there was no money in it she chose to go into real estate instead. And now she thinks that her time has passed her by and she can never do anything differently. So she said she was just going so support me and then live vicariously through me. Now Linda, don’t get me wrong because I love your support and of course you can live through me BUT you have all the same ability to go out and do this too. Age should never keep you from doing something the Lord has placed on your heart. So she leaves in a hurry as always and I’m left here just thinking and praying for her. Two hours pass and the shop phone rings, I know that it’s going to be one of three people, my boss, a telemarketer calling for my boss or Linda but Linda only calls in the morning and she wouldn’t need to call twice in a day would she? Wrong. Guess who it was? She needed some more coffee and was on her way back up here. This time when she came in I actually told her all of the things that I mentioned earlier and got this funny look on her face and got a little teary eyed. I asked her if I could pray for her, she said no because she was in a hurry but that I could pray for her after she left. Now that may not have been exactly what I wanted to hear but it was definitely a HUGE step. I’ll take it Jesus!

         Ok so in between Linda visits yesterday I had another regular customer come in. He’s a younger guy and he is always very nice so when he asked me how my weekend was as usual I excitingly told him that it was great and I got a lot of much needed rest. He asked if I went to church for Easter and I told him that I did and asked if he did too. He told me that he didn’t and that he doesn’t really ever go because he works so late on Saturday nights and likes to sleep in. I told him that I understood needing to get some rest but that if he ever got a Saturday off then he should come to our church sometime because it’s really great. He said he was shocked that I didn’t look down on him or start preaching about how important going to church was, and said that he’d think about coming sometime. I’ll take it! However it got me thinking, how many times have people been on the verge of coming to church possibly for the first time or maybe the first time in a long time and somebody said something to them that turned them off to the whole idea? We as believers need to remember that we first and foremost need to love them. Just because they aren’t looking the same direction as we are doesn’t mean they aren’t deserving of it. Remember that we were all there once.

         As I mentioned before I had a crazy afternoon and didn’t have time to finish this post yesterday well a big part of that is due to a wreck I witnessed in front of the shop. I was the first to see/hear it so I instinctively grabbed my phone and started calling 911 as I ran out to check on the drivers. One was out and walking around but had a pretty bad cut on his head and the woman in the smaller car was stuck in it and had a lot of blood basically everywhere. I couldn’t get the door open and with all that blood I wasn’t sure if moving her at all would be the best idea, so I just stood there talking to her trying to figure out what was wrong. Unfortunately I didn’t get much more then her name out of her before she lost consciousness but thankfully the paramedics were pulling up to take over. They ended up taking both drivers to the hospital and I don’t know that I’ll ever hear from anyone to know how things turned out but if you can join me in praying for Rachel and the man in the truck (didn’t catch his name) that would be fantastic!

         Well this is officially the longest blog post of mine to date. I’m sorry that I ramble a lot but really I’m not sorry at all because it was all things that I wanted to share with you. I hope you found at least one little nuggie in there somewhere and I hope that you make your Tuesday a great one!

As always if you’d like to support me financially on my trip to India you can do so easily here, if you would like for your donation to be tax deductible then you can also mail a check to our church office:

Cornerstone Summit Church

869 Highway 105 Ext Suite 3

Boone NC 28607