Impact Summer

     The week of New Years was spent in Arlie Beach for Impact Summer! My school split up and half of us went to Byron Bay and the other half to the beautiful beach called Arlie. There we sent up a tent and served free chai tea! We had live music from the music students from my school and hung out playing checkers and talking. The week was really relaxed and our ministry consisted of a lot of intercession and evangelism to the back-packers we came in contact with.
     The environment there was not what I consider my cup of tea with bars open all night and drunk people everywhere you turn. But God was not intimidated :) The tea brought people to the tent, but the holy spirit is what radically changed their hearts. The people of Arlie were hungry for the truth of God and soaked up our words and asked many questions.
       I got the privilege of actually making a few friends while I was there. It was those same friends that I ended up at a gypsy tent on the beach. A wonderful woman then taught me how to twirl fire! Only with God would I have ended up on a beautiful beach, twirling fire and worshiping on New Years Eve!
       And only with God could I have gotten the opportunity to meet Tony. He was drunk out of his mind the first night we met, but so funny! My friends and I continued to hang out with him the rest of the week (where he stayed sober!). The second night our conversation went a little like this

Me: "Tony, I just want you to know that Jesus loves you"
Tony: "Of course He does, how could he not? Tell me about your god"

        Our conversation went on for a good 2 hours where we talked about heaven and hell and how great God is compared to what other religions believe as there god. He also allowed for me to pray for his shoulder. I know that it is healed! We wont know until he goes back to work but he promised that "if my shoulder is healed, I will believe in your god" so I may miss him, but I look forward to seeing Tony in heaven :)

        Tony is just one of the MANY testimonies people had that week about the conversations they were able to have! You could feel the ground shaking from the Lords presence.
        Some other opportunities we had consisted of snorkeling at the edge of the Great Barrier Reef and spending a glorious afternoon on the Whitehaven Islands (top 10 prettiest beach in the world!) What a fantastic new perspective on creation and the depths of Gods beauty. I was absolutely blown away! Two of my fellow YWAMers were baptized that week and to see God moving and using their acts of obedience to bring light and beauty into those places was extraordinary!
         After that week, I have a new passion and understanding of the heart of evangelism and how God can move through it. I am excited to take what I learned there and make it a part of every day life both here and back at home.

Can you feel the thunder?

     Sitting here on my porch absolutely blown away by the creativity and beauty of God. From my spot here, I look out and see palm trees and a bright variety of flowers. I hear birds singing their songs and an occasional distant rumble of thunder. It is currently stormy today. I love it when it storms! The rain pours down and the trees bend in the wind. The flowers, which you would think would wilt, instead welcome the rain and seem to stand stronger throughout the downpour.
     The flowers have figure out and embraced what I am still trying to grasp. That when the rain comes... it is a time to rejoice! Rejoice because God is God and He is good! Rejoice because He turns these rains into nourishment and I grow stronger because of them. Rejoice because the thunder means His presence and He will not leave my side.
     I find the notion that so many believers my age have; that when they are older they will have a better relationship with God, just plain silly. And when they are older they will start reading their bibles and really get to know God. All of my peers who say this, have not allowed themselves to fully experience Gods love. Because once you experience that... the things of this world will no longer satisfy you. And anyone who finds satisfaction in this world is merely kidding themselves.
    The idea that "one day" I will cling to God brings me back to the rain just outside the protection of my porch. The rains are here, as is the thunder, the time to cling is now. I guess my question is... can you feel the thunder? Not just hear it, but can you FEEL it? The trees are swaying and the birds are still singing... what are we doing?
     Lets Rejoice!

Sweet Surrender

     This past weeks lectures have been on Lordship: knowing the fear of God. What a week it has been! TO finish off the week, we spent 15 hours in a time of worship. At first I was afraid it was going to be a grueling 15 hours, but quite the opposite! I dont know why I would ever think that... I can easily spend that time with Becky - so how much more so would I want to spend that time with my best friend Jesus?
      We started by praise and then moved into a time of the most interesting worship I had ever been blessed to experience. Going into that night, I had no idea I would be tap dancing in a blue dress to worship my God. But what a great way to get to dance before my Father as His beautiful princess! After that, it was a time of surrender. Surrendering the things we held onto and laying them at the foot of the cross. We brought in items to represent those things that we wanted to surrender and literally laid them at the foot of the cross and spoke out for everyone to hear of what we were laying down. I laid down my family; releasing any responsibility that I felt for them and their well being and picked up faith that God loves them way more than I ever could and is taking care of them. I also laid down my passport. I have always told God to send me anywhere and I will go, but I needed to lay that down and if He calls me to stay and be a missionary in America - I will do it. I laid down the beautiful oragamy bouquet that my boyfriend made me for my birthday. Our relationship is something I lay down every day, but I wanted to do a physical act of that and in front of people. In laying down our relationship; I laid him down, my right to be married, and my future. The next thing was one of the hardest. My bear, Jeffrey, that my best friend had gotten me represented the relationships I hold so dear to my heart. It also represented my comfort. God asked me to not only lay this down, but to give it away to a girl who had let go of so much that night. I am a little embarrassed to admit just how hard it was to do that and sleeping without him will take some time getting used too. The last thing I surrendered was my control. My control of my dreams, identity, and everything else I tried to control. So I cut off my hair with a pair of kid scissors... Even as I was doing this I was trying to control how much I was cutting off. But the Holy Spirit kind of took over at that moment and I lost complete control of the scissors. My hair is currently very short and VERY uneven.At the time of doing this, I did not realize everything I was doing. I felt stripped bare and completely vulnerable to everyone around me and especially God. This was a mutual feelings among my fellow students and staff, but I had to wear mine. A constant reminder of the sweet surrender that opened me up in front of God and everyone. I have become a master at not showing people whats really going on underneath - in turn; I have consistently tried to do the same with God. Walking around with my little stump pony tail reminds me of the nightmares you would used to have of being in the school cafeteria naked. I hoped that after I did it, total peace and freedom would come over me.... but it is going to be a bit more of a process than that. So much came off with those 6 inches of hair... not only my control, what my idea of beauty way, my individuality (since everyone says I look like my big sister who has short hair and I wanted to be different), all the times I had set my goal before Gods, and my striving. But I know that my God is faithful and He will use this constant reminder to teach me what it means to be open and vulnerable in front of Him.
     So Daddy, it is all yours - every bit of it! I want you to have it all; every step I take, every breath I take, every relationship I make. If You arent the center or purpose of it - I dont want it. I am completely yours Father! Speak for Your servant is listening. SPEAK for Your servant is willing. SPEAK for Your servant is ready! Daddy, all I want is You. You are my hope, You are my smile, You are my desire. I will lay it all on the alter, every day, before You because You are all that I need. In your faithful name Jesus, Amen!

Go Pass It On Tour

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 20^th 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 4^th 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.

A Lover of the Unloved

   The other night, I awoke from an unforgettable dream. The dream took place in a very poor hospital in a third world country. There was a young, sickly girl giving labor. When she gave birth, the little girl came out premature, and covered with sores. There was not a chance that this little girl would live especially with the lack of good health care. The mother of the young girl giving birth quickly placed the baby on the other side of the room in fear of getting her daughter sick. As soon as the child was set down on the table, I rushed over and gathered her into my arms. For the only hour of her life, I held her, sang to her, and prayed that this little girl would go straight back to her Fathers arms. I was helpless, but I could love.

   I couldn't shake the reality of that dying baby girl. I began to talk to God about what that dream meant. And I realized that God has called and is preparing me for doing things of that nature. Giving love to the ones who would live their entire lives, no matter the length, without love. I am not a doctor, I am not a politician, I am not a person of great influence, BUT I am a daughter of the King. And being that has taught me what real love is!

    Abba, You are good! We are unworthy of Your love and yet you lavish it on us! Daddy, I just want you. I look at this world and my heart breaks from all the pain and hurt; I cant even imagine how You feel. But I want too. I want to know Your heart. Teach my heart to love like You do and make me strong enough to do it. I cant do this without You and I definitely dont even want to try. Fill me up God, I am desperate for more of You. Amen. 

    

My Savior Sings!

   Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. He took ALL of our sins upon Himself and allowed Himself to be shamed, beaten, and hung up on a cross. Why? Because He loves me!
   I feel like I take this story for granted, because it is spoken about so frequently. I am such a silly person! The fact that Jesus died for us is the greatest act of love our world has ever known and that SHOULD NEVER be taken for granted! But there was apart of this story that never rubbed me the right way. In Matthew 27:46, Jesus is on the cross and cries out saying "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" and it has been taught that God had to look away from His beloved son because of the sin that was on him. But that doesnt sound like my God. My God has taken me as I am, sin and all, He forgave me and took me into His arms. He has NEVER turned His back on me even in my lowest of lows. That's my God!
    So the speaker this week asked us to look at Psalm 22. This Psalm starts off with "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?" sound familiar? Now in that time, a Jewish boy would have had the Torah memorized, but if He showed promise then He would have been given the opportunity to memorize then ENTIRE Old Testament. Jesus displays His knowledge of the written Word many times throughout His life by saying "It is written.." So there is no reason He wouldnt know this Psalm.
    And in this particular Psalm, David prophesied Jesus death! In verses 16-18, David speaks of the piercing in Jesus' hands and feet and even the lots cast for His clothing!!!!! My mind can still not wrap around this! But directly after that, in verse 19, David says "But You, O Lord, be not far off; O my strength come quickly to help me". It is a promise, that God is NEVER far away and He is our strength! So by Jesus crying out "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?!", He isn't crying out because God has turned His back on His son. No, He is reciting a Psalm of David. As my Savior hangs on the cross for my sins, HE SINGS! He praises God!
    So I dont know about anyone reading this, but my God loves me. And my God is not intimidated by the sin in my life. Therefore, my Jesus didnt hang on the cross, asking God why He turned His back on Him. My Jesus sang Him praises because He knew His Father was right there next to Him like He promised! MY SAVIOR HUNG ON A CROSS AND SANG! YAY GOD!
   

How Great Is Our God

       Hello everyone! I am so sorry about the lack of blog posts, for the past few weeks I have been locked out of my blog! I was so annoyed until I realized; mmmhhhh maybe ask God? And low and behold, I try to get on my blog and its up! I dont even have to sign in! YAY GOD!
       I will try to catch up on everything that has been happening, but these last few weeks have been CRAZY! We had our lectures on the Holy Spirit two weeks ago, and wow was that incredible! I was not raised going to church and the first church I have ever called my home was very conservative compared to what I have been experiencing here. So learning about the gifts of the Spirit confirmed the yearning in my heart. I was missing the Holy Spirit! I was going after God in all the wrong places! For me, I couldnt encounter Him in the sunday sermons at church or in my random prayers I would throw up either out of desperation or obligation. My soul needed to pursue Him, but I had no idea how! My relationship with God has changed so drastically since I have been here and I have learned that I am not afraid! I told myself I needed to be afraid of what God could do because every thing I had known taught me to be afraid of the Holy Spirit. But I am not afraid anymore! He is more than the "Holy Spirit", as someone close to me says "He is my old friend". My friend to guide, comfort, and empower me!
   As crazy as some of this might sound to people... oh well, its what happened! Our speaker anointed me in the Holy Spirit and prayed over me, but before that I asked God for the gift of tongues so that I may be able to worship Him when my words and my dance fails. And He gave it to me! He is such a loving God who just wants to lavish His gifts on us! After that, this man prophesied over us all and spoke so much truth it blew us away! God gave him words of knowledge for us and he spoke things over me I had never heard or thought about. Again God blew my expectations of what I would hear out of the water and awakened my heart to more dreams!
     That same week, I received healing!!! For any of those who dont know, I have been suffering from chronic illnesses and pain since I was 8 years old. God promised me healing while I was here and I got it! And as another testament to His GREAT love; He gave me a choice. He told me He could miraculously heal me that moment and I would never struggle again and be blessed. OR the healing could be a process in which He could show me so much more and I would be very blessed. My God is so intriguing, I couldnt resist knowing how much more He had to show me! So as I have been trying to reaffirm in my fellow eager YWAMers, is that I am healed! I may have my bad days, but they are never as bad as they have been because He is there! Because I am healed and He is teaching and molding me and my brothers and sisters here. Since I fully surrendered my body to Him, He has been showing me ways of working out and dancing that are good for me! And actually ease the pain! YAY GOD!
    God is so good! I am not even worthy of this suffering. I am not worthy of being used as an example and yet He uses me any way! As my body crumbles around me, He holds tight every piece and rebuilds me! Thank you God! Thank you Daddy!
   I will post more later about the following weeks. But I hope that my story hasnt freaked you out, but instead given you hope! Because our God is great! He is endlessly amazing in every way, and our praises for Him are not because of what He can do for us, but for WHO HE IS! YAY GOD!