Journaling and dreams - Kona Week 2
Dear beautiful friends and co-adventurers,
I love getting to journey with you! Thank you for allowing me that privilege. There is so much that God has revealed to me and challenged me with over this last week or so that I barely even know where to begin. This is a place of exponential growth and change - a place that is safe but not necessarily that comfortable as my Maker refines me, chips away at me and challenges me!
Every day here, God kisses me afresh in such beautiful and profound ways - I see His hand everywhere I look and His face in everyone I speak to. I have been blessed with the most INCREDIBLE roommates - the favour on me personally and on us as a group is almost absurd! I utterly love doing life with them, praying with them, learning with them and running after Jesus with them. Just being in an environment of such love, encouragement, discernment, comfort, joy and passion for God and for adventure to the nations absolutely makes me come alive. I feel like a more alive version of myself here than I have felt anywhere. The freedom, the extravagance and the beauty of this place and these people is beyond anything I can describe to you!
We spent the first half of this week learning about hearing God's voice through 2-way journaling with Mark Virkler. 2-way journaling is basically where you ask God a question (eg how do you see me?), quieten your spirit, fix your eyes on Jesus and write with flow and spontaneity (not over-analysing your thoughts). I have done this before - but not as an everyday thing. It is remarkable how God speaks when we look at Jesus and don't let our minds get in the way. You can then go back over it and test it, etc, ensuring it lines up with Scripture, but it's just such a useful tool. It has already revolutionalised my journaling and the way I communicate with God as well as raising my expectations that He wants to and will reply! Try it - I challenge you! Ask God how He sees you, look at Jesus, wait on Him, write without over-thinking, be amazed by His nearness and His delight over you.
We spent the second half of the week learning about dreams and dream interpretation. Did you know that a third of the Bible is made up of dreams, visions and their interpretations?! And yet we mostly scorn and ignore dreams in our Western world! It's certainly not an avenue I've been open to God speaking to me through. I actually prayed that He would cut off my dreams when I was a child as I had so many nightmares. So I haven't dreamed in about 17 years - until this week! And it's so exciting - I just feel like I'm giving God more permission to speak to me - in the night now as well as in the day. If you're interested to find out more about this - do message me.
It has not been all rosy, the first shock came on Saturday last week with the missile alert (I'm sure you heard about it on the news!). I wasn't afraid but it did really make me stop, think and reevaluate life and what our priorities are. We had about half an hour between the alert and the confirmation it was a false alarm, which is a long time! It certainly incited us to pray for NE Asia and we have had some awesome times of intercession. I believe we will see things shifting very soon.
Another challenge has been illness which has been affecting a number of us in my school - primarily (it seems) through back pain. The spiritual battle is very real. On Wednesday I was fasting and praying and I suddenly developed sciatica which stayed for about 3 days. Today is the first day that I'm feeling better and more free to move around without pain. I've had it before a couple of times over the last 10 years but the timing of it was just so unsubtle! I asked God why (through 2-way journaling!) and He just reminded me of the reality of spiritual warfare, of the frailty of our human bodies and general human selves and to keep my eyes on Him, not allowing myself to be distracted or disheartened.
PRAYER
I am going to try to fast and pray on a Wednesday. If you want to join me in that, please do. Also if you have specific things that I can be praying and interceding for in your lives, drop me a message on a Wednesday.
Please pray for continued protection over me, my roommates and our whole class.
Please intercede for NE Asia at this critical time, along with us.
Thankfulness - I am SO thankful for so many things here. Please pray for and thank God for this beautiful woman called Colleen who is my small group leader and mentor. I am SO excited to get to know her and journey with her. She has a heart of gold and a fire for God which is insanely wonderful.
I pray that your hearts will be stirred and encouraged through hearing what God is doing here. I pray that you will know His goodness, His kindness, His tenderness and His presence as you keep walking each step of the lives He has given you, day by day.
"And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." 2 Corinthians 3:18
