Week 3, the father heart of God!

Instead of head knowledge this week, we got a little personal and deep with our hearts.

Wednesday was when it started for me. One thing that hit me was that my opinion of God as a father was totally shaped by my opinion and view of my earthly father. It's crazy how we can do that and then make it so hard for us to grasp how much his love for us is unconditional, that he's not a distant and angry God, and that he loves me just as much as he loves his son, Jesus. Try and rap your mind around that!
Wednesday was the day that it started for me. Michael Burg, our teacher for the week started of for a really challenging question. "How did you view your father around the age of 12?" and then followed it up with, "How do you think he viewed you?" Pretty difficult questions, right? Lets just say it was difficult for me to go back there, but God gave me strength to be bold and vulnerable.

Later that class, Michael had us read a love letter from God and I went off a little ways to read it. I started to read it and Michael came over to pray for me and as he did, I just lost it! He prayed everything I needed to hear about God being MY daddy... So amazing and after that I just lost it. I have never felt so loved by my creator, it was incredible.

So went from that to two days strait of something I've never done before. We got into our small groups and forgave all the people who have done us wrong, big, small everything that God would bring to our minds and it was so amazing. I don't think I have ever felt so free from stuff that was holding me back. It was really difficult to be vulnerable and open at times, but it was so amazing and the things that my small group experienced were things that I will never forget!

Please pray for me as I go into this next week as we learn about the nature and character of God.

I will have my photo from the week posted as soon as possible.

Love,

Leah.

Week 2, love and relationships!

So this week we learned about love and relationships. We learned what healthy relationships should and should not look like, what love really is; such as sacrificing for another's best, and what God created us for.

In our first day, we picked apart Genesis 1 & 2. I've always known and understood the trinity somewhat, but something cool that I learned is that when God created everything, God was the trinity even back then. So that means that it was the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all working together to create the world. And the coolest part of it all, is that they had US in mind from the very start and God created us from the very beginning to be loving, relational people that have worth and value. So cool!

That's just one snippet of what I learned this week. But God's been showing me, in a loving way, how selfish I am in my relationships and love. But I want to be so much better and work on giving love so much more than just receiving, so if you'd like to pray specifically for me with that, that would be amazing.

One last thing, especially with my relationship with Andrew(since it got brought up a lot this week with the topic and all) I just feel so empowered to be the best I can be, no matter what. And I want to constantly listen, be patient and give out love to him with every part of my being. Just sayin :)

Love you all.

Leah x

Day 3 of lecture!

Dang is all I have to say about this week so far...

God has been doing some amazing and great things in the hearts of everyone here including me.

John Bills has been speaking so much truth this week about hearing God's voice. He's been challenging us on waiting on the Lord and discerning God's voice from our human desire, our human reasoning, others, and the enemy. Let me tell you... When you're in a place where you have to let all other voice fade away and hear from the Lord it can get pretty frustrating, but God is so stinking faithful and He always speaks!

One of the biggest things that has happened is that I came here so confident that God wanted me to go to Thailand and China. Well... God definitely knows better than I do and I kept hearing a different country and since we are focusing on hearing the voice of God, I kept saying no, this isn't you God, please speak to me and make it clear about what country I'm suppose to go to. God made it so clear to me that I am suppose to go to India because he took me back in a "flashback"(I don't even know how to explain it other than that) to about 5 years ago that I didn't even remember until He showed it to me and I was pointing at a map at a church camp and saying out loud that I will be going there someday. And then I went back to reality. (That's the best way I can explain it). And so I am obeying and going to India for my outreach in January! Crazy how God works, but I am so stinking excited!

Be praying for me as the Lord prepares me to continue my journey.

Tons of love,

Leah!

I'm here!

So it's my 4th official day of being here at YWAM Orlando.
I got here safe and woke up the next morning completely shocked(definitely a lack of words) by how different everything was than what I thought it would be like.
For some reason, I knew it would be hot, but I definitely didn't realize how humid Florida is. So that was definitely a shock, but I'm getting a little more prepared for outreach each day.
My classes don't start until tomorrow(Monday) and today I get to rest and talk to my family and friends back home, but I am so excited for classes to start tomorrow.
I can't wait for what the Lord is going to teach me in the next months. He already has a little bit.
Something He brought to my attention yesterday is how much I complain. At little things and the small things. So when you pray for me, I ask that you would pray for me with learning to be so thankful for what I have, and notice when I do complain so that I can work on it. I also ask that you would pray that He continues to reveal more things that He wants to weed out of me so that I can be fresh and ready to bear more fruit in my life!

I'll keep you posted about what happens this week.
Thank you so much for all the prayers you have sent my way!

Lots of love,
Leah.

Less than 2 days.

So tomorrow is my last full day of being in the good golden state of Kansas.
It's so crazy to think about and 2 days ago, it became so real that I'm leaving... I still feel like I have so much more to do, but I'm so thrilled!
I still have a little packing and cleaning to do, but my goal is to get everything done so I can spend time with my wonderful family and friends tomorrow night.

I can't wait for what I'm going to experience in the next months.
Pray that I'll be open to whatever I know the Lord will speak to me. Pray that I will be filled with His spirit daily and learn more about His heart and most of all, seek His face.

Lots of love to you all.

9 Days.

It's crazy how the Lord can weed out the bad, and bring such good through such pain.
That's kind of been my night... I've been overwhelmed lately with all the details about my dts and also financially that that's been all I've really been able to think about.

I'm needing your prayers tonight if you're reading this.

Goodnight.

10 Days.

I have less than 10 days until I head out on my adventure.
The Lord is continuing to bless me through my finances. I have all the money I need for my lecture phase and just got blessed with money for my outreach. I have about $3,500 left to go.
I booked a flight, sending in my app., scheduling appointments for shots, packing and I'll be ready!

Still be praying for me as the days go by. I can't wait to just go, but I know my heart is going to miss everything here, I ask for courage.

Goodnight everyone that's reading.

Leah*