November 2, 2015
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Another week of Ywam, another week ofawesome!Although I want to try to be up-to-date with this blog despite our super busy schedule, it's cool to have to look back to previous weeks and process/soak in all the golden information that was thrown at me in such a short period of time. The speaker for week three was Dawn Heres, and man did she bring life and truth to our classroom!
Monday, though, we started off the week of class with Uncle Paul and Auntie Doreen(who started Holoholo ministries about 14 years ago)(also fyi- everyone who is older than you in Hawaii is uncle/auntie). They explained their stories and all about Holoholo ministries. Even though our time with them is brief, (health problems have been an issue this year, so prayers would be really appreciated) the time we do get to hear them speak is really incredible.
Uncle Paul talked about how we're not supposed to be "cookie-cutter" Christians- we all aren't going to fit the same mold-God doesn't want us all to be the same. When we try to fit a mold, it makes us not like being a Christian- and not like being ourselves. Yes, there's Biblical truth that cannot be touched or changed, but every people group and every person on earth has a specific fingerprint of God in them. We're not supposed to change people/people groups to fit our mold, but we are to
.
I also learned from Uncle Paul that while God is molding us through this season, we must
what is in us or what we're holding onto that is no longer needed. The stuff that is no longer needed in the place where God wants to take us- a place of complete freedom. It's really made me think about little things in my life that I want to prune off. Whether it be habits, or material things, or just the way my heart is holding on to certain things- I wanna be completely free. We'll never be done refining/ being polished, but we must be aware and alert of the small things that could hinder the freedom in Christ we all desperately long for deep down.
The last huge thing I learned from Uncle Paul was about
as not believing lies.
Which leads me right into Dawn's teaching's during this week's theme of "The
of God" (aka the Bible) and the power it has.
How can we fight against the lies of the enemy and the world? How can we stop believing lies, and start being completely surrounded by Truth? It's all about reading and meditating on
. Every answer we need, every solution, is found in there. Like literally. And finally actually realizing that was the most incredible shift in perspective for me.
What do I run to when something is wrong? Where do I seek answers? Too often I let my "busyness", anxiousness, or pride get in the way of running to the Word of God. And the worst part? Satan is cheering us on as we do that- as we let stuff get in the way of the one thing that will bring us
.
I think that might be what stood out to me most during Dawn's teaching on the Word of God- How Satan is trying so hard to
understand that-that every single day we have a choice.
And there are two ways we can approach God's Word:
We have a
That is the amount of minutes we have in each day. How much time do we give God? He is
As soon as we quote scripture, Satan
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Satan loves secrecy; he loves when people keep things in darkness- but as soon as we go to His Word, Satan cannot stay.
God's word is
to It.
Those are the three things that we can be lead by in life. The thoughts in our mind, the emotions we feel, and the will of God. Thoughts and emotions aren't bad, but when we let them lead our lives... it can be a train wreck.Dawn asked us: "Which one leads you?"- For me personally, emotion is what tends tolead a lot of my day. And when I let it completely lead me... yep, it's always a train wreck.
.
Wednesday morning (the 21st), I got to put that teaching straight into practice after finding out that my granddaddy had passed away. My Holoholo family here is awesome, and they went above and beyond making me feel loved and supported, but everything in me just wanted to be at home spending time/grieveing with family- my introvert self wanted to just run away and be alone (even more than usual). I got time to be alone, then I had to completely rely on God and His will to get me through the rest of the week. I had to remember
was happening.I had to take every emotion and thought and give it to God to take care of and heal me in the process. And He sure supplied my needs. That day during class was filled with so much joy. Dawn's full-of-life personality and teachings, plus my sweet Holoholo family, made for a really special day while I remembered all the incredible things about/memories with my granddaddy.
Dawn is incredible; she is SO full of the Holy Spirit and His guidance. She's so raw real and honest, and I loved that.I loved how freely Dawn let God speak through her- she'd have little messages from God for each of us throughout her speech (and it was freaky for us how accurate/deep-rooted each thing she said was).
I learned thatGod wants to
me.
I learned a lot about patience- and the difference between waiting anxiously and waiting
for the desires God has put in my heart.
God spoke through Dawn a lot about the
much beauty in my future (so at this point I'm definitelycrying and shocked at the strong roots of belief in me that didn't see beauty/worth in myself or my future).
I learned a lot about the giftings I have from God during this week as well. And what stood out to me the most is that
. For example: a person withjoy- Satan would attack with the spirit of depression, and a gifting ofTruth- Satan would attack with the spirit of confusion. Learning that changed my whole outlook on myself and my giftings.
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Thursday we meditated on four awesome truths:
them.
We then read a "love letter" from God (a piece of paper filled withscriptures of God's love/promises on it). We went through and underlined the verses that stood out to us- the ones we had a hard time believing were true. Then we picked the one with the biggest impact on us,and proclaimed in front of everyone that we were choosing to turn our back from that lie. God worked in me so much during the love letter- and that day I turned my back on lies of the enemy, and walked in the truth that
. Why? Because He says so.
Friday was super awesome as well. I learned to
He wants to prepare a table for us. Will we come? Will we sit?
Since then I have picked a spot here on campus to havemy quiet times at- and the benefits (abundant joy and comfort) are so dang nice. Do I miss some days? Yes. Does Jesuslove me any less?
natureof God.
One last main conceptI got, was the realization that the thing I want, (whatever it is at whatever time or season in life)-
.
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I love living life while completely letting God reign/move in my heart. I love letting Him discipline me, because I know He disciplines those He loves. And I cannot wait to see what He has in the weeks to come.
I also just want to thank God for all the awesome blessings of this week. Here are pictures of a few of them:
Thank You Father for answering my little prayer of wanting to dance in the rain after an awesome time of prayer with my roommates on Saturday.
Thank You for the Joy of living in a cramped space with ten other girls (an awesome sleepover every night!). Thank you for the hearts of my roommates; thank you for the closefriendships with them I've been able to receive in such a short amount of time.
Thank You for the glorious FaceTime calls that make my heart oh so happy. (Please supernaturally give me time to call more people I love) lol :) <3
And thank You God for this whole experience- a half year of being able to focus on
YOU. It's really cool and incredible.
And thank you to whoever is reading these posts; I hope God is speaking to you/loving on you through them.
Blessings,
Katie :)
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