Friends

Friends are a funny thing. Some come into your life for a season, some for life, some are fun friends that you just hang with, some are encourager's, others are who you turn to in crisis and on a rare occasion you meet a friend that is all of the above. In my life I have had many different kinds of friends and to be honest I have had some really bad friends. Friends that seem to suck the life out of you rather than give it, but God has used those friendships to teach me how to love deeply, whether of not you are loved in return.
At home I am very blessed with an amazing family, my mom and my sisters are my best friends in the world and I could tell them anything. I also have three great friends, whom I love very much. Chrissy and Maria and my friend Rachel in Brazil, whom I talked to today.... the list goes on and on.... I am blessed. Unfortunately, I could not bring any of them to Missouri with me, so I had no one. On the first day of commission I met a wonderful girl named Ellisa. She and I clicked. In fact we clicked so well people have asked in we are related, if we came together, and how long we've been friends, I have known her less than a week. I believe that God has given her to me and me to her as a gift. It is rare you meet someone that you are so comfortable with that you feel like you've know them forever, but that is what we have. I am so grateful to know her and I hope our friendship continues to grow.
No matter what comes from a friendship, whether it be good or bad, love the way God does, forgive the way HE does, and speak truth the way HE would.
PROVERBS 17:17,PROVERBS 27:6

Killer Bugs

In Missouri I have discovered a whole new world of bugs that I never knew about. They have cicada's, which are loud day and night, tons of crickets and just nasty bugs. Well, the other morning I was getting ready to leave the house and there was a huge bug in my room. I am not talking kinda big here, it was HUGE!!! I have to sneak up on it and kill it with broom...only it did not die at first it lived through the first few blows and tried to escape, but I caught it. Tonight I was on the phone and a bunch of these same bugs were in the garage... I think they was revenge! Yikes!!! So if I get eaten by bugs...Jenn and Steph- you can share my car, because it is the only thing I have that is worth anything....

From the ends of the earth

Today I went out to lunch with a very large group from the Commission program. I sat at a table with a couple from Jamaica, a woman from Hong Kong, a woman from Canada, a woman from California who is moving to Israel, and myself from Oregon. As we sat together sharing our stories of how we ended up in Kansas City, what God had down to bring us there, I was in awe. All of us from different places, in different seasons of life, yet we all had the yerning to set aside a season to prayer and focus on the Lord. I wanted to cry at the wonder of Gods hand. I sat there knowing these are the very people I will spend eternity with and it is such an honor. I am just awe struck by Gods greatness at this moment. Wow. That is all I can say.

Test it out

Well, after I was at the prayer room for awhile today I became very curious about this dancing business. I know that people danced before the Lord, and I know people still do today. I have just always viewed it as strange. Today when I was watching people it did not seem so strange it seemed freeing. That is when I decided to test it out for myself. So I went home (trust me when I say I should never dance in public) to give it a try. I felt so awkward as I turned off the lights in my room and turned on a worship song, but I close my eyes and started to sway. Than I pictured myself holding the hand of God, us dancing together and I finally forgot about it being weird. It was a beautiful personal moment of dancing with God. I felt so free. I am not saying that I want to dance in front of people, or that I don't still find it odd at times, but I do see that when done in the right heart it can be beautiful.

My Thoughts (a more serious side)

I have been a Christian the majority of my life. I would like to say I have some understanding of who God is and what His word teaches. Today I realized how little understanding I do have. I do not say that in a condemning way, I am just beginning to understand how much more He is.
I was in the prayer room (IHOP) today and I had a God moment. I was standing there singing “break the chains the hinder me, the chains of yesteryear” and I realized how bound I was. I heard God so clearly say, “Katie, if you will let me break the chains of who you think I am I will set you free.” I began to cry, because I have never known the true beauty of God in my expression of love to Him. I sat back and watched as people danced (a difficult concept for me), sang, lifted hands, cried out in pain, sat in wonder… All to the same God for the same purpose of expressing there feelings to a God who hears. I even watched as a disabled man danced from his wheel chair in worship. I knew in that moment, that God had given that freedom of expression in singing, I just choose to hold back a lot of the time.
I began to think how beautiful the church of God would be if we embraced the liberty and freedom of God, in our expression to Him, as well as in our understanding of Him. How great would it be if we would simply lay aside our idea’s of who we think He is or how we think He would respond and truly seek Him out?
I am not saying we should have chaos in the church, I am saying we should have freedom in the church. We respect one another, yet we seek true freedom and understanding. My challenge for my own life is to get to know God for who He is… To worship Him, not in the confines of my understanding, but in the liberty of His love. So join me on my search and allow yourself to let go of all you think you know and find out who He is.

Back to School

Today was my first day of the Commission Classes here in KC. I will admit that I was very nervous about going, so I got up early to pray about the day. God was so faithful, because today I had no issue with shyness. I was able to small talk with people and I even made it upstairs in my house. I also made it to the store. All in all today was a day of small victories.
Something I learned today was to take time to meditate on what God is trying to show you in His word. Don't only dwell on the concepts you understand, because you will not get a full picture of who He is. Allow Him to reveal new truths to you in His word and be willing to wrestle your way through them. This may seem basic, but how often do we read the same verses or the same chapters in the bible, because it is what we know? How often do we avoid books because they are hard to understand? Think about it. Are you avoiding a new and great revelation God could be wanting to show you?

Melt Down

Today seemed as though it was going to be uneventful. Woke up and Maria and I headed to the prayer room. Spent some quality time there. Ran to target, went back to the house to get Maria's stuff, back to the prayer room, back to the house to get stuff Maria forgot, and off to the airport. I made sure Maria got checked in said goodbye and headed back to the prayer room. At about 6 I decided it was a good idea to get some grocery's. I plugged in my GPS to get directions to the nearest Wal-Mart and I am on my way. I am thrilled to see it is only found miles from the house... until I pull up to a big empty building. No big deal I can just find another store. GPS gives me another "grocery store" nope this one is closed too. Try to find one that looks decent and realize I don't even know the names of grocery stores down here. So I pick one at random and drive. This one is a mile from my house and...closed... in fact this one has been closed for like a million years because it is a neighborhood and there are no stores to be seen. This is when the melt down occurs. I start to cry. I do not know what to do or where to go and I have no one to ask... I, being the mature adult that I am, turn around head home and decide that today is not a day for grocery's. I will try again another day...maybe.