month two

I can’t believe that I’ve been here for two months already. In some instances the time has flown by, but in other ways it feels like I haven’t been at home in forever! The one thing that I don’t doubt is how good God has been to me. I’m daily being encouraged by people around me and I know that I’m exactly where he wants me. It is an amazing feeling to be right in the center of God’s will for your life, I hope that you feel the same way about where you are at.

He continues to teach me about communication and it has placed a sort of burned on y life to be an excellent communicator. I know that I’m gifted in the area of communication and I want to be some one the constantly shows the character of God through my communication. It is more than the words that I say, it’s the actions that I have and the facial expressions that I use. He has been so gentle with me, walking me through what it looks like to communicate constantly in a way that represents him. To the people on the train, or to the first person that I see at 5:50 am each morning when I don’t want to be awake. If he is living inside of me and I’m obeying him, then my life shouldn’t be a roller coaster, but I should be like him, which is very constant. 

Digging deeper into relationship and intimacy with him is an adventure, not knowing what is around the corner, but also knowing that whatever it is, is the best for me and for my life. This has been a good week of learning and understanding more about unity in the body and knowing that when I go on outreach, our unity will be tested as we spend even more time together in close confines. Will see what comes of it! I’m excited to live in Indonesia for 3 months, it is weird to think about, I’ll be the one that sticks out every day and I’ll get plenty of looks from the locals, I think it’ll be good for me.

I think that is all that I have to share for now, I’ll write again soon! Love you all, thanks for your support!
Natalie 

as promised

A long time ago, but I like to be a woman of my word! I finally got some pictures of the gladiator night… here you go!

project

Well you may have notices my lack of posting this week. There is a very good reason for that, I’ve been working very diligently on a video project of a modern day parable. Becca and I decided to make up out own and do it on rejection. I hope that you enjoy it!

 

The Fear of the Lord

This week we have been looking at the subject of the Fear of the Lord. It has been quite eye opening for me. A couple of things that stuck out to me were Fear of man and communication. If I fear man and what man thinks about me and what they will say, even to the point of not talking to someone that God points out to me when I’m out and about. If I choose not to obey, then I’m saying that I fear what man thinks of me more than what God thinks about me and what he is asking me to do. I know in my life I would much rather fear God than man. Really, what can a man do to me? they can say something that may be hurtful for the moment, but as far as my eternity, that’s what matters.

Then there is the whole area of communication. He has been challenging me to be a person that speaks when it is necessary, i don’t want my voice to be something that people are so used to hearing that they drown it out all of the time. I want my words to have meaning a purpose. I want my attitudes, body language and speech to always glorify God and be a good testimony to him.

I’m not sure how all of this will be played out in my life, but i know that I want to continue to walk into these areas and figure out how to live them out. To step out in faith, become more comfortable with who he has created me to be. I want to be a person that makes a difference, I know that these areas will help me move in the direction that God’s wants me to go. Where ever that may be!

The things I miss…

There are a few things about home that I’m missing. The first few I believe are pretty obvious…

Family
Friends
My Animals
Chips and Salsa – Mexican food in general, I didn’t realize how much we had until I went somewhere that a burrito costs $20!
Dr. Pepper – $3 a can here, if you can find it
Going to the movies with big groups of friends
Options in shoes and clothing – the same shirts are getting pretty boring
not waking up to an alarm clock
my iPhone, I know, sad…
things that are cheap, candy/sweets
Popcorn, oh man!
my dad’s good breakfasts
Starbucks – you don’t know how great something is until you don’t have it…
my sonicare toothbrush
grilled cheese sandwiches – or making anything in the kitchen at anytime
waking up in the morning and being able to just lay in bed and look at the pictures in my room.
my bed
mexican train (it’s a game)

Well that is my list for now. I know, pretty silly, but I’m just being honest. I’m having such a  great time here, there are things that I just didn’t realize before I left that I would be missing.  

Also, I managed to bruise my forehead… The other night I was laying on my bed, my bunk bed, and for some reason Jenna was on the top bunk, she doesn’t sleep there, nobody does. So I felt like pushing on her from below through the slats. One thing I forgot is that I keep my alarm clock above my head in between the same slats on the top bunk. As I pushed on the mattress a couple of times, the alarm clock nailed me right in the middle of my forehead in between my eyebrows. I didn’t even see it coming, the corner hit me pretty hard. You can’t see a bruise, it just hurts to touch. I guess this just confirms that I am accident prone, still…

Until next time,
Natalie 

take two

This week as we continue to look at Lordship and how we can make Jesus Lord of our lives. we were challenged today with things that we may need to lay down in order to give complete Lordship over to God. Here are some areas that we talked about laying down our rights to:

preferences
family/friends
Relationships
Marriage
free time
finances
future
security
my life
culture
talents
comforts
career
image
calling
attitudes

Those are the ones that we covered and what it looks like to lay those things at the foot of the cross telling God that he can take any of those things at any time he so chooses. I know that Jesus dies for me, but I think that sometimes we forget how much pain and suffering he went through before his actual death. While knowing this we still think that we have the right to get angry with God or last out at him with what is going on in our lives. I know that I’ve come to a deeper sense of gratefulness for all that he has done for me, and I want to honor him with everything that I am by giving him back everything that I once thought was mine.

I just wanted to share with you about what I am learning this week and we’ll see how the week concludes tomorrow as we apply everything that we have learned. Without application the knowledge we gain doesn’t cause any transformation. I want to be transformed daily, so daily I will apply what he is teaching me.

Lordship: pt 1

Lordship is the response to the fact that I’m saved – Surrender.

What does it mean to have someone Lord over you? In today’s age that can be a scary thing if someone abuses that authority that they have been given. This is why we so easily associate God as a scary authority figure in our lives. If we have problems with authority then we probably have issues with God being the Lord of our life and until we can completely let Him Lord over us, then we aren’t completely trusting him with our everyday. You never know which day will be your last. I don’t mean to sound morbid or anything, but it’s the truth, do you live each day like it is your last or do you live it “knowing” that you’ll have tomorrow. What would it look like in your life to live each day like it was your last? I don’t really know yet what it looks like for me, but I know that I’m going to walk down that road to figure out how it can be played out in my life. 

These are just a few thought that I’ve had since we started talking about Lordship yesterday, we’ll see what our two lecture sessions bring today! Be challenged, or don’t it’s a decision that only you can make. God won’t be Lord of your life if you don’t let Him. He isn’t pushy.

Blessings,
Natalie 

rights

God is so good with everything that he has been teaching me this last week. We are learning about media evangelism, well, not really. We have an amazing speaker who listens to the voice of the Lord and has been taking us in a totally different direction. He, Richard, has totally felt like we’re something different and very mature as a DTS, so he has been walking us through what it looks like to follow after the calling that the Lord has placed in your life. It is all about serving. Being a servant with wherever and whatever God is talking to you about. It has been a process learning what it means to love Jesus with my whole heart. I have been so blessed to be able to lay down my rights and give God all of my giftings to do with what he wants. When we hold onto things on our hands, we aren’t able to do anything else, our hands are full. We can’t even embrace God if we’re holding onto something so tightly that we won’t give it up. So, I’ve decided to give up everything that I feel like I have the right to hold onto as my own and embrace my Savior. My family, he knows what it is to seperated from his father and now I can share in a little bit of his suffering by being away from my family. In that, I can become more intimate with him and learn more about what he went through for me and in turn become even more aware of things that I can’t even begin to feel like I’m obligated to hold on to. Now, I have some amazing leaders that are speaking into my life here and one thing that Jess said today is that it isn’t that I have to give it up, but it is a choice. I could go home and live a “normal” life and He wouldn’t be hurt by that, but i don’t think that I can go back to ordinary living, not after just tasting this life of living 100% for him. This is where I’m at and this is what I am going through at this moment, I’m sure it’ll all change soon, but i just wanted to share that tid-bit with you.

In other news… I found a Dr. Pepper, it was the first one since I left. It cost $3! crazy, I guess it’ll only be a special treat every once in a while. At least I know where to find it now!

Thanks for all of your prayers,
Natalie

My Brazilian Friend, Daniel

This is my friend Daniel, we do dishes everyday together at lunch. We had some fun taking pictures tonight.

This is a funny one…

This is a real one…

Fun times!

Finger of God

Last night I had the opportunity to go with some other students and staff to see a documentary called “The Finger of God”. It was an amazing journey of a man that was setting out to see how and where God was working and moving. It was amazing to see how the Holy Spirit is working around the world. There were teeth turning to gold, gold dust on Bibles and people, manna from heaven, jewels falling, the deaf hearing, and the blind seeing. There were so many different things that God is doing around the world through ordinary people. Healing is possible, raising the dead is possible. If we just release the Holy Spirit in our lives and the permission to work in and through us. I think that it is amazing the if God so chooses I can set some people free from bondage’s that they have lived with for their entire life, with the help of God. It was a challenge to me to step out in faith and walk in the freedom that i have in Christ and see how he wants to use me around the world. This doesn’t have to be some freaky thing, it can be everyday life! Isn’t that exciting. Last night as I was praying in response to the movie, and I asked God to heal my sinuses completely. As soon as I said it, another girl that came with us that I don’t know very well came up to me and said that God wanted me to know that “it is true.” I Couldn’t believe that as soon as I asked for healing someone would come and confirm it so quickly. It isn’t something that I can tell right away if it is healed or not, but I believe in my heart that i’ll never have the same problems that I have had in the past. Thank you Jesus for your healing power! I know that God is going to continue to birth new things in me and we’ll see what it all looks like. I’ll keep you posted and I embark on yet another new adventure!

Blessings,
Natalie