I am fearfully and wonderfully made

Who knew one week could contain so much. Wow. I'm speechless as I reflect back on this week and all that has happened and in the ways God has moved. WOW!!!! 

On the same topic of the lies that us girls and guys believe about ourselves, we all got to participate in something amazing. We broke up into separate groups of girls and guys and decided to make a commitment to them to honor them. The girls got up in front of the guys and promised to honor them by the way we speak to them, act around them and dress. We asked for their forgiveness on behalf of all the girls that have ever hurt them before. Then the guys did the same for us. They all knelt down on their knees, humbling themselves before us. It was incredible to see. They promised to honor us as women of God and really see us, not just look at or to us for what we can offer them. They committed to laying down their lives for us and asked for our forgiveness on behalf of all the men that have ever hurt us in our lives. I can’t even tell you how amazing it was to see. I’m so glad to have all these guys as my brothers; they’re the best ones you could ever ask for. (besides you, Ryan Murphy :) )

On Thursday, we talked about being free from the things that hold us back from the potential that God has for us. The woman who was teaching us spoke straight to my heart and I knew there were things I needed to be free from.  That night, we all gathered together and she invited anyone to come forward to give our burdens to God. So I did. I prayed and gave it to Him and I let it go. I let go of the things that have burdened my heart for years now. I let go of all the lies that I have believed about myself. I embraced my true identity as a beautiful, valuable daughter of God who is fearfully and wonderfully made. I AM A PRINCESS!!! And I am free :) The girls gathered around me and we blasted ‘Just the Way You Are’ by Bruno Mars and screamed it at the top of our lungs. A dear friend of mine stepped forward after me and was freed as well. It was a beautiful thing to see. A fantastic man of God stepped up and asked her to dance. Ahhhhh!! I can’t even tell you how beautiful and touching it was. Another great friend of mine approached me and asked me to dance with him and I swear I was dancing with Jesus as His precious princess. It was just incredible. He sat down and I just continued to dance with my King. Man oh man. God is good. Pretty much all the next day, people got the opportunity to come forward and get prayed for. I saw so much healing in so many people that day. It was truly incredible and I saw firsthand how deeply and individually God loves us all. YAY!

All in all, God has revealed Himself to me so much in the past week. So many laughs, so many tears, so much joy and happiness! I just love it here. I know this is where I’m supposed to be. 

Woooowwww

Wow. Wow wow wow. It’s been a crazy two days. This week, the unit we’re focusing on is identity. This morning, we did an exercise where we were split into two groups, guys and girls. The girls listed off attributes and traits that they believe society sees as valuable or accepted in women. Then the guys filled in the rest of that list. We did the same kind of list for the men. It was really sad to see how we view each other and ourselves and how wrong that view is. From that, we got into three pairs of lines and faced each other, girls on one side and mostly guys on the other. The purpose of doing this was to see each other. Not just glance at each other or give them a 2 second look. But to really look into their eyes and see them. See them in the way that God sees them. For like 45 seconds. It was uncomfortable for sure. But at the same time it was so intimate and beautiful and pure. I feel like I was truly being seen and seeing others for the first time in my life. Even those who I have barely spoken to, we just saw each other and there was just such a connection. It was incredible.

Yesterday, our Not For Sale group had dinner together and watched the movie “Human Trafficking.” Man, it was brutal. Ahhh. Afterwards, we got into groups to pray about it and it was just super emotional. It’s crazy how incredibly blessed we are to have the lives we do. We have families who love us and we live in a safe place. We have opportunities to make our lives better and make our own decisions. Victims of human trafficking have none of these rights. They are dehumanized in the most vile of ways. We have no excuse to sit on the sidelines and let this happen, telling ourselves that someone else can take a stand. No. We have to take a stand. We have the time, resources, and power to do it. We just have to take that first step of faith. This is our 1850s African American slave trade; this is our Nazi Germany. Have you ever wondered what you would do if you were alive at that time? Would you have taken a stand against that injustice? Now is our time. I think I’m going to dedicate my life to this.

“Hope is not blind optimism. It's not ignoring the enormity of the task ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path. It's not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it. Hope is the belief that destiny will not be written for us, but by us, by the men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is, who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.” 
-Barack Obama

A weeeek already??

I can't believe I've been here for just barely over a week. It seems like it's been forever!! This place is just amazing gaaaah. Where do I even begin?

We had a few days of orientation stuff, which was pretty rough, we just went over rules and history and blah blah. But the past few days we've been talking about hearing God's voice and it's been cooool. It's definitely been challenging but rewarding. It's so fun having lectures with our group, they are so awesome!

Wednesday nights we have what we call a family barbeque. Everyone on the base has dinner together and people from the community come and join us! This past week, I got to play soccer with some kids, until one of them kicked the ball on the roof. Oh well. It was my friend's birthday so we got to enjoy some delicious carmel cheesecake brownie thing. We were on clean up crew so we got to scrub the barbeque without a scraper. It was quite an experience.

Saturdays on the base we do this thing called Youth Street. Kids from the community come in and get to hang out all day. They get broken into groups such as music, art, sports, cooking, skate, dance, etc. and get to do fun activities all day. I'm helping out with the music team and get to sing with a bunch of kids! It's really fun :)

I looooovvvveeee alll these people they are seriously awesome. We jam, sing, play cards, walk around, talk, grocery shop, just hang out all day everyday. I love living in community. It still kind of blows my mind that I'm here right now with all these people. As I look around right now there are people from so many different countries with so many different stories, yet we are all here, united for the same reason. It fills me with joy :) I feel like I still have so much to say, but there's just too much!!! Ahhh! I guess just talk to you later :)

TOWNSVILLE!!!!!

I haven't been at the YWAM base for 24 hours yet, and I'm LOVING it!!!! I flew into Townsville yesterday afternoon and got a tour of the base. I'm staying in a building with all the girls from both DTS's, with about 10 girls per room. It's like camp for 6 months straight hoooray!! A little less than half the girls from our group are here, and they are fantastic. We get along great and they are hilarious!! I can't wait for the rest of the group to come in today and tomorrow. The downside is that it's SO HOT HERE. I was outside at 7 this morning and it was probably close 80 degrees and super humid. Some of the girls in our group are from Australia and we are all having a great time with each other's accents and the different words that they use for different things, it's really funny. This morning, they made us some toast with vegemite...it was weird. There's just so much going on all the time and so many people, there is always stuff to do. I can't believe I'm really here, it's so awesome, I'm so amped!!! Woohoooooo!!!!

G'Day Mates

Today is the beginning of my second full day in Australia!! My mom and I arrived in Sydney early yesterday morning after a very long airplane ride. Thankfully, I slept most of it haha. We went to the Taronga Zoo and got to see the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge! It's cool to actually be seeing them in real life. Tomorrow, we head up to the Gold Coast to stay with some family and then on Friday we fly to Townsville which is where I'll be staying!!! I can hardly wait :)
Thank you to everyone who has been supporting me, not only these past few months, but just my whole life in general! You have no idea how much I appreciate you. You guys will always be in my prayers :)