Hello everyone!!! I apologize for the lack of blog posts the
last few weeks. I was away on the Go Pass-It-On Tour. What is that you might
ask? Oh, well let me tell you!!! The tour is actually a 3 year commitment from
YWAM to bring the Word of God BACK to the Western world. It originated from my
base here in Brisbane, when the churches of Australia and my base director
wanted a change. We are physically running 16,000km across the Western world
from east to west. This physical act of intercession is showing that God is
taking back the land as His own.
We go
to small, rural towns and set up a huge tent! We start in Australia, then move
to Western Europe, then to Canada and the United States. Throughout the week we
do service projects, prayer walks, have nightly events in the tent with various
speakers, and a completely free after school program for elementary school
kids. We spend a week in each town and true to form; God always has something
new for us in each town. Our purpose on this tour is not to start our own thing
then leave, but to come alongside the pastors and churches that have devoted
their lives to that town. We meet with them at the beginning of the week;
hearing what God has placed on their hearts for the town and praying with them.
Another
aspect of the tour is the running. We run from town to town carrying a gold
baton (bat-ton as they pronounce it here) to signify “passing on the wisdom of
God to the next generation. We run anywhere from 4-8km. Each school does a
different three week leg of the tour; so there are always news groups and fresh
ideas to keep this tour passionate, intentional, and alive! For me, even the
fact that God has healed me enough to be able to run was a fantastic testimony
to His power and love!
I had
been anticipating this tour before I even knew it existed. Before going to
YWAM, God gave me a reoccurring dream of a huge white tent in the center of a
small town. The tent was overflowing with people! These people weren’t there
for the free cookies or tea, or even the live music coming from within the
tent; they were there because they couldn’t resist the Holy Spirit! The tent
would move on, but what God had done inside it stayed within their hearts.
The
tour was everything I loved to do! It was challenging; we were constantly
going/doing, meeting new people every day – getting a glimpse of their lives,
tons of childrens ministries, tough work-projects that pushed us to the point
of having no other choice but to rely on Gods strength to keep going, and so
much more! Every day we saw or heard of how God was moving in our own hearts
and especially the town. It was one giant YAY GOD moment!
My
biggest YAY GOD moment happened on our Friday night youth night in the second
town we were in, Boonah. The topic that night was “identity” and we were
challenged to go to the people next to us and pray for them. I approached three
young girls and a random boy that ended up tagging along. The first part of the
conversation was about what we saw in the mirror and our insecurities with
that. As I was spouting about telling myself I am beautiful, the Holy Spirit
floored my heart with the realization that I was talking to them just assuming
that they knew Christ. God being a God of second chances, gave me the boldness
to ask them if they had ever given their lives to Christ. I will never forget
the look of uncertainty that was shared between them until one of them spoke up
and said “we have no idea what that means”. At that moment, I realized what God
was going to do in our conversation that night. We went to the back of the tent
and just started talking about it. I was blown away by the fact that they had
never been to church or knew anything of God and yet, were brimming with
questions! We talked about who Jesus was and what He did on the cross, I
explained heaven and hell, encouraged them that they can are were hearing Gods
voice, how to hear his voice/ how to talk to Him, and what it meant when they
did ask Him into their hearts.
That
night we prayed and ALL 4 OF THEM ACCEPTED JESUS INTO THEIR HEARTS! After that,
God continued to move outrageously! Two girls to my left were sobbing and not
understanding their tears of joy. The little one next to me was laughing uncontrollably
(as was I) out of excitement for what God did, and the boy guy in the middle
was looking around trying to figure out what the heck happened! It didn’t stop
there… they started getting revelation after revelation of a different
characteristic of God! One girl turned to me and asked me if I realized that
God just doesn’t forgive us once, but every day! The other asked me who Matthew
was before I even opened their new bibles to teach them how to use it. She said
that God had told her “Matthew is important”. WOW! YAY GOD!!!! I still get
giddy talking about it J
I wonder how much more then angels are still celebrating!
I also
had my 20th birthday while I was away on the tour. My birthday went
as such;
Waking up – Me: “good morning God!!!”
God: “Good Paige, Happy Birthday! Hey, what’s that by your
arm?”
I love how humorous our God can be; especially when He
reminds me that all His creation is beautiful as I frantically try and remove
the giant beetle from my sleeping bag at 4am. Hahahaha it still cracks me up!
The
rest of the day was spent surrounded by extraordinarily loving people and Gods
gifts! I asked God for 2 things for my birthday; the opportunity to work with
children and a new challenge! That afternoon was spent in an elementary running
around playing “hunter” with a group of 4th grade boys. And that
night I was asked to be one of the main speakers in our youth night and to lead
the alter call. Ask and you shall receive! Our God is so good J
As God
promised in my dream, what He did in the tent has and will definitely live on
in my heart. I jump for joy in the fact that it will in hundreds of others as
well! To anyone reading this, please pray for the tour; the people running
it, the towns we are going into, and the beautiful children of God that are
receiving the message.
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