College Station Ministry Trip

April 19, 2013

Howdy Ya’ll!

Yup that’s right I am back from my ministry trip to College Station. Thank you to everyone who prayed for us and partnered with us financially. It was an awesome trip! We drove down to Texas on Easter Sunday and then we got back to Kansas City late the next Saturday night. A typical daily schedule looked like waking up bright and early to be on the campus of A&M for a morning prayer meeting at 7 am. Then around 10 a group of people would stay behind on campus and do some evangelism/ pray for physical healing. If you didn’t stay on campus, then you either came back to the College Station House of Prayer (CSHOP) and either played or sang on a worship team or did CEC with the kiddos. Then we had a few hours break and that evening there was a teaching, what we called an encounter God service (EGS). A couple of days we even did prophecy rooms. I think the teams prophesied over like 100 people. Crazy!

One of our main focuses on this particular trip was to bless the moms. There are several young couples with small children at CSHOP. Most of the time, the moms do not get to be in the prayer room because they are taking turns serving. So one of our main goals for the week was to take the kids off their hands and give them some time to just be in the prayer room and soak. My main focus was the children’s ministry (CEC). We had between 20-30 kids depending on the day. The oldest one was five and the youngest was 11 weeks old. The majority were like 1 or 2. Everyone else on the team rotated through all the different activities, but I did CEC the whole time. I did it for like 7 hours a day. Man was it exhausting…but so worth it!

The very first day that we were there, we were outside playing with the little ones and Cynthia, the lady who is kind of in charge of the prayer room came out and told us the sweetest thing. She said right now all of the moms are sitting together in the prayer room just praying and worshiping. She said they had just realized that in the whole 3 years the prayer room had been going, they had never once all sat together like that. That was enough for me. Even if nothing else happened that week, I knew that was powerful. But of course there was more. The moms were so blessed and you could just feel their excitement and appreciation. They were also really thankful to sit in the prayer room with their husband. One lady said that normally they have to take turns with the kids so they don’t get to be in there together. That week they did =)

My favorite thing about our time there was not just that we were babysitting, but we were actually getting to teach the kids the Bible. They had already learned about God the Father and Jesus the Son so I got to teach them about Holy Spirit. Man I love Holy Spirit! The first day we talked about Pentecost and how little flames rested on all the people who were in the upper room. Then we made a fun craft where each kid had a headband and they colored a flame and attached it and wore it. I wish I would have taken a picture! 20 kids running around with little Holy Spirit flames…powerful!

The next day I taught them how Holy Spirit is our teacher and how we have to listen very carefully to hear Him. So we made big ears by cutting a paper plate in half. We attached a pipe cleaner and then glued ears on that said something about listening to Holy Spirit. Ya’ll these kids are amazing. I was telling one of the dads that his daughter was coloring fire on her ears. Then he told me a story that was crazy. One of the guys was getting ready to preach at CSHOP and the dad walked over to his daughter who is 2 and another girl who is 4 and said hey let’s pray for him he’s getting ready to preach. The 2 year old looked out the window and saw the guy and was like no he’s already got the fire on him. Then he turned to the 4 year old and asked her if she wanted to pray. And she said the same thing. Who are these kids ya’ll? Sure the crafts were cute but I really believe that week there were seeds sown and the lessons went deep. I got a couple of testimonies from a couple of the moms at the end of the week. The ears really impacted them. One mom said that one night the 4 year old put on her ears and said I have to put on my ears and talk to Holy Spirit because I haven’t talked to Him in a while. Then proceeded to pray Holy Spirit give me ears to hear your voice. I love you. Amen. Precious! Another mom said her daughter put them on and then put them on mommy and daddy and said you need to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying. 

My favorite night of the whole trip was the second to last night and I had not had a chance to eat dinner yet so someone brought me something and I snuck out to eat it real quick. When I came back in, I just felt the pleasure of the Lord over that room. The kids were having so much fun and the adults were full of joy. It was awesome! I thought wow if this is how I feel, how much more the Father? It was a sweet kiss from the Lord.

I was not able to be a part of the other stuff since I was in CEC the whole time, but I did hear testimonies of physical healings and there was even 1 guy at an EGS service who gave his life to the Lord and even got baptized that night. It was such a fun trip! My main take away however is that the Lord really has given me a gift to equip the next generation. Because it comes so naturally to me, I just assume everyone can do it, however when working with the people who are not necessarily gifted in that area, I quickly realized that it is something very precious that the Lord has given me. I feel very confirmed that I am where I am supposed to be and doing what I am supposed to be doing. Which is what I was hoping would happen.

One night while a I was there I had another dream where I was holding a baby and their head fell off. I had purposely not held the 11 week baby at all until then because she was tiny and of course I was afraid. Well the next day after my dream I said forget you stupid devil. I went and held the baby. And guess what? Her head didn’t fall off! Praise the Lamb!

Last story just because it’s really funny! One night a little girl asked me to read her a book. So I pulled her up in my lap and we started reading the book. All of a sudden she starts shaking and I am thinking oh no I wonder if she’s scared. But we were reading Jack and Jill. Nothing scary there. Then she stopped shaking and started crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said her pants were wet. That’s when I realized what happened. I pulled her off me and sure enough my entire left leg from the knee down was covered in pee. Haha what can you do? The best part about it though was the next day during the lesson, we hadn’t even been talking about it and she interrupts the lesson and goes, sorry I went potty on your leg. I appreciated that =)

By Faith Amy...

  

January 20, 2013

Happy New Year! Don’t you just love the start of a new year? A time to reflect on your past year and think about your life? Especially on New Year’s since I am always at the Onething conference I think where was I this time last year? How was my heart? Man 30 was my best year so far! I loved 30!

So as most of you know on Thanksgiving weekend I turned 31 and I actually had the privilege of going to a wedding and celebrating a good friend. It’s funny because I try to not make my birthday a reason to think about the fact that I am not married yet and have not started my family, but seeing as I was going to a wedding on my actual birthday, I was kind of confronted with it. Haha So I was like you know Lord it would be awesome if you could give me some vision for my life. I mean I am turning 31 and don’t get me wrong. Most days I love my life and actually love the fact that I don’t have the responsibility of being a wife and mother, but if I were to meet my husband tomorrow, I mean it’s not like I would complain or anything. But here I am a third year student at IHOPU. Which means I only have like a year and a half left and I am already starting to get the question, so what are you going to do after you graduate? Would you please just show me what You’re doing and why You have me here? So the night before my birthday I went to bed asking for a dream and nothing. The day of I didn’t get anything and then that night I was like ok Lord last chance tonight in a dream? But I woke up and of course nothing. I was a little discouraged, but to be honest it’s not like I really expected Him to answer.  

So anyway that next week I went back to school and on Wednesday in our Romans class, Holy Spirit totally hijacked the class (I love when He does that) and Dave Sliker started talking all about the next generation and how important it was and for maybe like 30 minutes to an hour we talked about families and spouses and then we got into little groups and prayed for eachother’s future spouses and children. One of my friends was so sweet and really felt like she wanted to pray for my kids so she did. When it was done, I really felt like the Lord had done it just for me. I mean sure there were others in the room that I’m sure were touched but I really thought it was just for me. Then that same day in our CEC practicum we had a guy come in a give us a presentation on the 4/14 window. The 4/14 window is part of the 10/40 window, which you may have heard of. The 10/40 Window is the rectangular area of North Africa, the Middle East and Asia approximately between 10 degrees north and 40 degrees north latitude. The 10/40 Window is often called "The Resistant Belt" and includes the majority of the world's Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists. Anyway it’s called the 4/14 window because in the 10/40 window, the greatest population of people in that geographic location are between the ages of 4-14. Which means the majority are children. Now I had heard of this before, but when he gave the presentation, it was like he was simply reiterating what Dave Sliker had said that very morning. I felt like both classes were complete confirmation of eachother. Then on Friday morning in the prayer room, the same girl that prayed for me in Romans class pulled me out of the prayer room and told me she got a word for me and proceeded to give it to me and then pray over me. Ya’ll I have never gotten a word like this before. It was so encouraging to my heart! Here it is:

I read a verse yesterday and felt like it was for you related to what we talked about in Romans class (raising up the next generation). 

"And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;

you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;

you shall be called the repairer of the breach,

the restorer of streets to dwell in." -Isaiah 58:12

You are going to be a spiritual mother to generations long after you die. I feel like you are going to have a multitude of spiritual (as well a natural) children who can trace their spiritual heritage and inheritance back to you.

You are going to be key in turning the generations that follow (specifically your own family line) back to the Lord. You are going to restore the ancient heritage of those in your family line who loved Jesus. It reminds me of the righteous kings of Israel who repaired and restored the temple after it had been shut down for generations by wicked kings. 

You are going to clear a path on the "ancient streets" our spiritual mothers and fathers walked on (Jeremiah 6:16, Song of Songs 1:8) so future generations can walk them. You are doing this just by living the way you do, following Jesus, you are making the way easier for them. This is how you are a Forerunner. Your lifestyle is your message and it prepares the way of the Lord. In the time of John the Baptist preparing the way of the Lord was something a city would do for a king when he came to visit a city. They would clear the street and make them as smooth as possible for his entrance into the city.

I got a picture of you on an overgrown dirt road going through a wilderness. You were on your hands and knees digging up boulders and weeds and throwing them off to the side of the road, clearing the way. It was slow, hard work but you were moving forward and the path was getting clear bit by bit. Then you reached the end of your path and Jesus called you to Himself and you went to be with Him.

Then children came and walked to the end of the path you cleared. It didn't take them long at all because you cleared the way, but they still had to choose to walk it. When they got to the end they saw that it went even further and began to clear the way the same way you did. The road grew longer and longer until they were called to be with Jesus as well. Then more children came and started to clear the road where they ended. It went on like this for generations. The road grew longer and longer because you started clearing it and others followed after you, even after you were gone. 

I got another picture of a street paved with gold bricks in the New Jerusalem. It was called "Amy's Road" and was put there in memory of the time you spent clearing the path. I believe that this either represents the fact that Jesus will reward and honor you publicly for the time you spend clearing the road, or it is actually the real reward He is going to put in the New Jerusalem for you. He sees the time you spend clearing the path and it’s as precious as pure gold to Him.

Your love for generations you will never see is the same love Jesus had for a people who had yet to be born when He poured His life out for them on the cross. You are pouring your life out for generations you will never meet, who may never know the labor of love you did for them. Your love for people you will never meet is precious!

So then the next morning I was in the shower and I had this sudden realization, Oh my gosh. You actually answered my birthday prayer didn’t you? That’s what this entire week was about- You giving me vision for my life. He’s never answered me that quick before. So on Saturdays I have a small accountability group with some girls on nightwatch, who I absolutely adore, and I was sharing my week and everything that had happened. And one of the girls goes, Amy He didn’t give you a dream because you could easily dismiss a dream. He chose to speak in class, and then it went to a smaller context, your CEC practicum, and then He gave a word to friend, and last Holy Spirit confirmed it to you Himself when you were in the shower this morning. Talk about an answered prayer! He’s so just so kind. 

Then to top it all off, I served in CEC at the onething conference. On one of the mornings Dave Sliker came in to talk to the kids. We did worship and then he got up to give his message and he goes, you know I was gonna talk to ya’ll about Jesus but when I came in here and was looking around I was asking the Lord who you guys are and he told me so now I have a completely different message. I love when that happens! Anyway he started by saying you guys are missionaries. You know how when you’re little and people ask you what do you want to be when you grow up and you say doctor, lawyer, teacher? Well the Lord wants to give you a new vision for what you can be when you grow up, a missionary. Now initially I was annoyed and thought great that’s all they seem to be talking about around here. We’re equipping you so you can go out into all the nations and preach the gospel and now they’re trying to convince the kids too (just being honest here). But then he said something that completely shifted how I saw being a missionary. He said did you know that there are people living on the tops of mountains and in the lowest of valleys that don’t know Jesus? God is raising up a generation, your generation, that’s gonna say they’re not singing to Jesus there. They need to be singing to Jesus there. And they will go there and start singing to Jesus and because they are singing to Jesus, others around will start singing too. It was so simple but I thought wow God if it’s really that simple then of course. Why wouldn’t I go somewhere and sing to you so that others can see how beautiful you are and start singing to you too? For the first time in my life I could see how being a missionary made sense. Then Dave asked if there was anyone in the room who felt like this was them to stand and we were going to pray for them. So a good number of kids stood up and I went around and was praying for them and I just had tears streaming down my face as I was praying. It was a really beautiful moment. At the end of that set, one of my friends, my evangelism buddy from the blitz trip first semester, was like Amy you’re awesome. He was like you’re a really good leader, but then you also worship. And the kids are watching you. And I thought huh if that's true, then that’s confirmation of the part of the word that said, “You are doing this just by living the way you do, following Jesus, you are making the way easier for them. This is how you are a Forerunner. Your lifestyle is your message and it prepares the way of the Lord.”  

When I first started going back to church, my pastor gave a message on the by faith chapter, Hebrews 11 I think. At the end of the message for the prayer time, he asked us to ask the Lord to complete this sentence. By faith and then your name… So I was like ok cool let’s see what happens. So I said ok Lord by faith Amy… and He finished it with “Led the next generation into the Lord’s battle.” Now you know I struggle with knowing whether or not I actually hear God, but this was not something I could make up. I mean why on earth would that have ever come out of my own mind? So I’ve known that I am called to the next generation, (whatever that means or looks like) but I feel like I am finally starting to see a glimpse of what that could look like. I don’t know if God will call me to be a missionary. I have a sneaky suspicion He might, and if He does, I know He is in the process of preparing my heart. But whether I go or not, I am called to raise up those who will go. I am called to love Jesus and sing to Him, and as I do, the next generation will see me singing and want to sing too. It’s not about me, it truly is about the ones coming after me. It’s about God getting the glory and the honor that He’s due from every tribe, tongue and nation. Because when that happens, He will come. And oh what a glorious day that will be! The wisdom of sitting in a prayer room night after night singing to Jesus will be justified when I finally see Him face to face and look into His eyes of fire!

Upperclassman...How Did That Happen?

October 15, 2012

I am officially an upperclassman! Man that’s weird to think about. I am now in my third year at IHOPU. I had a restful summer and was super blessed to come home for 2 weeks to see my friends and family…and so many babies!!! Then my mom came back with me for the week before school started. I was actually worried that it was going to be hard to switch back my schedule to nights, but the Lord totally gave me and my mom grace and I had no problem sleeping. My mom is a champ. She switched her schedule and did 2-6 am in the prayer room with me every night. All my friends were impressed. We had a really nice week and I think she left rested and encouraged.

I cannot begin to tell you how the Lord has blessed me in the area of finances. I am still tutoring my sweet little Korean girl over Skype. I do this 3 times a week at various times between 4-6 in the morning depending on the day. We had some technical difficulties at first, but we have worked out all the kinks now. I really enjoy that little girl! I am also officially certified to be a substitute teacher. I had never thought about it because on the old schedule it would have never worked, but on this new schedule my mom brought up the point that I have all day Friday open. Plus we get 2 Sabbaths as students and since one of mine is Saturday, I can always sleep in if I have to stay up a little longer. I had to fill out a bunch of paperwork and get fingerprinted but I officially turned in my application last week. If I do it once a week that will be an extra 400 a month! Since all the paperwork is basically the same anyway, I am also going to go ahead and just get Missouri certified because you never know what I might need in the future. 

There has been much transition in my actual house as well. We had a new chick move in to our house this year and she is a 1st year music academy student from Norway. So far things have been good with her, although because of our different schedules I really only see her on the weekends. But since she is international she does not have a car. It has worked out really well because my car just sits in the driveway after I go to sleep at 4 pm so I told her she can use it any time after that she wants. We had talked about just splitting gas because that’s all I pay, but she has been so blessed by me letting her use it that she is just paying all the gas herself so that’s an extra $100 a month I don’t have to worry about at least for the next 10 months. Man it’s so encouraging to finally see some breakthrough and answered prayer in that area!

On a super sad note, my roommate Dia, who I have lived with since I moved here is officially moving out at the end of this month. =( She got a new job that is farther away and she found a place that was much closer to work. We are going to set a weekly get-together time but it won’t be the same. This is the longest I have ever lived with someone who wasn’t family, and she has basically become like family. Please pray for grace for my heart in this transition.

This first quarter I had 2 classes. Theology of Suffering and Justice with Stuart Greaves and Shelley Hundley and the Pauline Epistles with Wes Adams. So far the justice class has been my favorite. Stuart taught the 1st half and now Shelley taught the 2^nd half. We got to do a video group project and we had the choice of either making our own group or waiting after the groups were made to assign ourselves to an open place. I decided to use it as an opportunity to put myself out there and meet new people so I waited to be assigned. My group was so fun because they were all internationals. They were from Holland, Austria, Bolivia, and Germany so it made for a fun get together. Our assignment was to pick a social justice issue and we had to come up with a list of interview questions and then go around and video tape random people answering the questions and then put together a 5 minute video. We chose the issue of a fatherless generation and the effects it has on the household as well as society in general.

Then Shelley taught us on the heart of Jesus as the Judge. This is the part I was both excited about as well as terrified about. She said that she is taking the class list and praying for each of us by name that God will reveal and bring up an issue of pain on our own lives that He wants to deal with. She says we can’t comfort people with a message we haven’t been comforted by ourselves yet and we can’t give anyone Jesus as Judge until we have encountered Him as our own personal judge in our own circumstances. This is an answer to many of my prayers. I have been telling the Lord I can’t give away what I don’t have. I can’t comfort anyone when I have yet to be comforted myself. So it’s exciting but also terrifying because I don’t know what He might bring up. Our first assignment was a silent day. Class was cancelled and we had to take an entire day away from people and internet and cell phones, basically any distractions and just get silent before the Lord and wait for Him to speak. It was a wonderful day! I decided to spend the day outside in nature. (Now that the Lord has healed my allergies I am discovering that I LOVE to be outdoors…who knew!) I found this place called the Overland Park Arboretum. It was free and open to the public. The day before the weather looked like it was supposed to be terrible- windy, cold and rainy. So I asked the Lord if He would change it for me because I really wanted to spend the day outside, and He totally did. It was the perfect day. It stayed in the 70’s the whole time! I was wearing a tank top and didn’t even need a hoodie and there wasn’t a drop of rain. He was so kind! I spent the day just walking around and enjoying the different gardens. There were like 8 different ones (The picture above was from one) and my favorite was the water garden. There were waterfalls everywhere! I spent the entire day there and alternated between praying, reading my Bible, people watching, reading my book for class and just taking in the beauty. Then I ate my picnic lunch I packed and headed home for bed. 

This was my favorite waterfall!

It was really interesting because Shelley routinely incorporates silent days into her daily life and she has been through a lot of traumatic life circumstances, but she told us that this last time she did the silent day she was surprised by what the Lord actually brought up and wanted to talk about. Out of everything she’s been through He wanted to talk about the time when she was 12 years old and her family told her they were going to be moving where she lived to America. The Lord wanted to talk about her heart in that situation. She was surprised but I was super encouraged because the fact that He remembers that she was upset as a 12 year old because she didn’t want to move shows me that God really does care about our hearts and even the little things that we may have forgotten or just brushed aside, He never has. So I was curious to see if He was going to bring anything up. If He did, I didn’t hear Him. Oh well. It was still a lovely day. We were also supposed to have a 10 on 1 with Shelley this quarter where we meet with her in a smaller group of about 10 people to have more of a personal time where we can ask deeper questions than we could in class. Mine got rescheduled though and it won’t happen until the middle of November. Haha what can you do?

The Pauline Epistles class is kind of a funny story. When we received our class choices and the descriptions the description of the class talked about 1 and 2 Peter and how they are overlooked books. I love Peter’s books and I was super excited about a class about them. Well Pauline Epistles is actually all of the letters of Paul, not Peter. So I thought it was kind of weird but figured they had misnamed the class. Then over the summer when the book list came out, all the books were about Paul. So I emailed and asked about the description talking about Peter and get this, they said they don’t even know where the description came from, they are not offering that class even in another year and don’t have any thought of it being offered anytime soon. So apparently the Lord really wanted me to take this class and He knew the only way I would do it was by signing up thinking I was taking a different one. It wasn’t my favorite class because Paul led a hard life with lots of trial and suffering and I am having to fight offense in my heart towards the Lord for His leadership. I did like the class because we focused more on his life as a person, more like a biography, and everything culturally and contextually that was and would have been going on around the time he wrote each of the letters. That part was really good because I so quickly forget that the people in the Bible were real people who lived real lives so I really enjoyed that part of it. Plus it was kind of a continuation of the Acts class and taught by the same teacher, so it was easier to follow the different journeys Paul took knowing the background I learned in the other class. My favorite thing about the class is that at the beginning of each class our teacher Wes gave a devotional, just basically whatever he felt was on the Lord’s heart for us. Those were always very encouraging.

Last week was the end of the first quarter and definitely the most hectic week so far in terms of assignments. For Shelley’s class I had to write 3 different sermon outlines. One on Jesus as Judge, one on suffering and one on justice. I actually kind of lucked out a little because the sermon I wrote for the teaching/preaching practicum last year was on the suffering and the Judge. So I just combined that into the one sermon and fleshed it out because each had to be 4 pages, so that one since it was combined was 8 pages total. I am pretty proud of that one. Then the justice one is by itself. Then in Wes’ class I had to do a commentary final project. At the beginning of the semester he gave us an outline of each of Paul’s letters. We had to choose one of the books and use 3 commentaries. He said his outline was like the skeleton bones and he wanted us to put flesh on it. I really enjoyed that assignment. I chose 2 Corinthians because he made a comment in class that it was one of the most misunderstood books, so I wanted to understand it. It was a very time consuming project and I practically lived in the library while I did it, but I had never really used a commentary before and I found it really helped me to understand what I was reading in the Bible.

Today I start a new quarter. My classes will be Romans with Dave Sliker and Theology of Israel with Wes Hall. Man I love school!

Grace and Peace!

Halfway There!

June 20, 2012

What a whirlwind! I am officially done with my 2^nd year at IHOPU. I cannot believe how fast it has gone! Next year I will be a junior. Man time really flies the older you get. So it’s been awhile since my last update so I will back up quite a bit. This past quarter I had 2 classes. One was the Book of Acts which was taught by Wes Hall and Wes Adams and Theology of 24/7 Worship with Stephen Venable. I know I’ve said this about almost every quarter but I think this quarter may have been my favorite so far. Our first class for the Book of Acts was kind of an introduction to the course as well as the teachers casting vision for what they thought the class would look like. Wes Hall gave his spiel and then Wes Adams got up and told us a little about his background since we had never had him for a teacher before. He had an accident when he was about 16 and he has now been a quadriplegic for about 50 years. He was telling us that morning when he had woken up and was getting ready for the day, he was praying and asking the Lord what was on His heart for our class and he felt that the Lord drew his attention to the fact that in our class we had about 120 people. At first I didn’t understand what the significance was but then He said that in the book of Acts when the Holy Spirit was poured out in that upper room there was ABOUT 120 gathered. He told us he thought there was something very special about our class. I really enjoyed this class. I didn’t actually know that the book of Acts is a continuation of the book of Luke. The gospel of Luke talks about Jesus’ ministry while He was still on the earth and then the book of Acts chronicles the way that Jesus’ ministry continued after His death and ascension through the work and power of the Holy Spirit in the believers. It is amazing to read of all the amazing signs and wonders and miracles that the Apostles did because Jesus’ said that His people would do works that were even greater in the latter days. I can’t even begin to imagine what that will look like when the apostles were healing people, casting out demons and raising people from the dead. It’s exciting to think about though! Our class as a whole even prayed for Wes Adams 2 times as he felt that the Lord wanted to use our class in a powerful way. Though God did not heal Wes in those times, both times were very unified and powerful times of prayer and I felt honored to get to be a part of it. It was really amazing to witness the faith of this man who has believed the Lord for his healing for over 50 years and truly knows he will be healed in his lifetime before the Lord calls him home. When he gets healed it really will be a true testimony to the power and faithfulness of the Lord.

My other class this quarter was Theology of 24/7 Worship. I was really excited about this class because the teacher was the same man that gave the message on the worth of Jesus and night and day prayer that helped me make my decision to move back to Kansas City, do the nightwatch and start IHOPU. This class did not disappoint. The teacher is very smart and used some big words so I had to really work to follow along but overall it was so good! He spent about half the class sessions talking about heaven and really going deep in Biblical understanding about it. As Americans, and really just humans in general, we tend to have this notion that heaven is some ethereal realm with a bunch of cherubs playing harps on clouds. If we are honest, we don’t really believe heaven is a real city, that God the Father is really there sitting on a real throne with Jesus at His right hand. We don’t really think that much about it at all and that is the major problem. We’re so focused on this world and our 70 maybe 80 years with strength here that we do not set our mind on things above, which in truth is our reality. Our reality is that there is currently a city in the sky. There is a real throne where God the Father sits and Jesus is seated at His right hand. And even this very second there are multitudes of seraphim and angels worshipping and praising and extoling the worth of Jesus day and night without ceasing. This is our reality and when we die and go to heaven, or Jesus comes back and brings heaven to earth, whichever one happens first, we will be a part of it forever! It’s glorious! The class was very meaty and so a group of nightwacth students that stayed here for the summer are planning to go back through the class notes and discuss it. I am looking forward to it. I know that doesn’t even do justice to what I learned this quarter but it was so much if I continued this would go on for pages…I’m already wordy enough!

Then I had my remaining practicum rotations. I told you about CEC and justice, but the other two were preaching and teaching and prophetic healing and deliverance. I of course was terrified of preaching and teaching because I actually had to write a 7 minute sermon and preach it to my peers. We all know that speaking in front of people is my own personal hell. I mean I took public speaking during the summer for a reason. We also had to pray on the microphone in the prayer room 2 times during our 6 week rotation. That part was just as scary. Both times my knees were shaking violently but I did it. I don’t think I will do it again anytime soon, but I did it. My sermon went pretty well all things considered. I was pretty sure I was not a preacher and after the class I definitely know that I am not, but I am totally fine with that. It was a really good experience though because they have a couple of teachers get up after you preach and give you feedback and as it turns out the feedback was actually very positive and edifying. One of the teachers got up and said that he really liked how I just talked to him. He said he hates when preachers get up and just preach at an audience. He compared me to Harry S. Truman and said that he had a gift of leadership where he was able to just talk to people and he was very popular because of it. He said that he thought I had that gift as well and offered to pray for me to receive the mantle of Harry S. Truman. I don’t really know what that means, but I never turn down prayer, especially from someone older who has been walking with Jesus longer than me. They actually recorded our sermon and emailed it to us but I can’t bring myself to watch it yet. Maybe one day…

The last rotation was prophetic, healing and deliverance. This one was probably my least favorite out of all of them but I think it’s just because it was at the end of the year and everything is just so busy with finals and papers and such. There was a really interesting week on dream interpretation though which I thought was really helpful. Then at the end we had to choose our concentration for next year. It was a very hard decision. We all got to listen to each of the concentration leaders give their spiel on their track and then choose which one we wanted to do. I was about 99% sure I was going to choose CEC but was leaving my heart open in case the Lord wanted to direct me elsewhere so I was praying and trying to discern very carefully during the spiels. The thing that made me choose CEC ultimately is that there was going to be a focus on curriculum writing and development. As soon as they said that I knew that the route I was supposed to go. That is the one area that I struggle with the most when I think about leading the next generation into the Lord’s battle. If you give me ready-made lessons I can teach those no problem. But as soon as you tell me you want me to write my own lesson, I will freak out. I already don’t think I hear very well from the Lord. So now you tell me you want me to try to hear for God’s chosen generation what He wants them to hear and learn? I still wonder why God thinks He can trust me with this precious generation but for some reason He does. And I just want to be faithful to the calling. So I know that part of it is going to be challenging and will probably open up all kinds of heart issues that I will not want to deal with, but I know that is where God wants me. So I am super excited for that next year. As far as I know 3^rd year won’t look a whole lot different than this year. Our practicum will be our concentration so that will really only be the area we are split apart. We actually got to choose our classes ourselves this time. Which I hated! All of the classes sounded so good and I had such a hard time making the decision. But ultimately I can’t lose. Any of the classes would be awesome and I am happy with my final choices. I will let you know what they are next year ;) Also, in addition to being in our own discipleship small group, as 3^rd years, we get to lead our own group. So I will be paired with another 3^rd year student and we will have a group of either first or second year girls to disciple which is scary and exciting at the same time. I will find out who my partner will be and who my girls will be once school starts.

As for life outside of school, this has continued to be a season of transition for the nightwatch. I told you in a previous blog post about the new nightwatch schedule. Well as it turns out, the schedule has actually caused many people to leave the nightwatch and switch to days. This includes all the CEC families except for one so there has been quite a lot of shifting going on. I was thinking about it the other day and I realized that it truly was the Lord’s kindness that I had advance notice that my job would be ending. Because as it turns out, now with only 2 kids left on the nightwatch there wouldn’t have been a need for my position anyway. In fact, the girl that was my boss is actually switching to days because there is no need for her position either. So ultimately the Lord in His sovereignty knew what was happening and in His kindness gave me much advance notice, and for that I am very grateful. So now I only do CEC 1 day a week on Thursday. The kids are so fun though!

So I am not going to lie. This new schedule has not been an easy transition. The whole point of doing the nightwatch is that I was always a night owl. I hate getting up early and I hate going to bed early. But on this schedule, it’s basically like I am doing 6 a.ms. The prayer room is now at the beginning of my day which means I have to be very disciplined in what time I go to bed and what time I wake up. That is probably the thing I dislike the most. There have been days where I have toyed around with the idea of switching to days but ultimately the positives just far outweigh the negatives. And I think the 24/7 class really helped me because when it comes down to it, I have so many reasons for loving and doing the nightwatch, but ultimately it comes down to this. Jesus is worthy of worship at 3 in the morning. And He is worthy of me switching my life and my schedule around so I can give it to Him. I pray this season lasts forever. But even if it doesn’t, for however long He allows me to stay here and on the nightwatch, I will give Him all of my love and devotion. He is worthy.

Summer is going to be pretty low key and restful. I am going to be a camp counselor for the signs and wonders children’s camp here at IHOP. I am really looking forward to it. There are also a group of nightwatch students that remained here for the summer as well and we have planned a good mix of social activities as well as Bible study type things to keep our hearts burning and not lose the ground we took this past year. I am looking forward to running with these lovely ladies of the Lord. I plan to come home in August for a couple of weeks so I will let you know when I know for sure when I am coming. Looking forward to seeing ya’ll!