I want to live under the influence.....Awaken to His presence.
Wow!! So i must first start off by apologizing for being horrible at writing blogs!! I am going to do my best to be more intentional about getting information to you about what's going on out here. Currently, I am in India but I need to back up two months, and let you in on what happened in Australia. This blog will be dedicated to my time spent in the land down under!
I was able to find Dr. Pepper which made me extremely happy until I noticed it was $3.20 per can. We drove a 27 yr old Subaru Sportwagon for the month as part of our transportation, and the gas pedal liked to stick at all speeds but most interesting when you are going through the mountains at 120km/hr. Yes, i did drive this vehicle, and since everything is backwards in Australia when driving it was most interesting!! Google Coffe Works, amazing experience! The scenery in Australia has by far been the most beautiful!! I ate kangaroo as well as hunted them...kind of, ask me about that later. Saw beautiful waterfalls, gorgeous ocean shores, and Misty Mountains!!! The exchange rate is 1 USD to 1 AUS, however as you can see most things cost 2-3 times as much as they do in the states.
For our ministry this month we stayed in a small town known as Mareeba, and were at the base of a mission organization for indigenous people. We basically helped reorganize the base and the lives of the people in charge of this ministry. We were able to go into Mt. Garnett, an Aboriginal community, for a week. There we slept in tents outside of a small Assemblies of God church, and met up with Pastor Snow. This Man of God was so full of joy it was definitely contagious when he was around. I cherished the time we spent in Mt. Garnett building relationships with local youth and church people. We were able to help kick off a youth program within in the church, and from updates received since that time God is working there. Wevpraise him for what He is going to do in Mt. Garnett, and for the people who stepped up to the call to serve Him in that area.
We returned to Mareeba after a brief stop in Cairns, where some of the team went out to the Great Barrier Reef. One of our last days in Mareeba, Carl Musch, the head of the ministry and the home where the base was stationed took some time to pour into us. He presented to us a message, that i feel burned in me for weeks to come, and possibly is still stirring inside of me. The rest of what I have to leave you with are just my random thoughts on that time, and how God is working it into my life.
Genesis 28:
16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it."
Hummmm....I'm not even sure where I want to begin or if I even know how to collect all my random thoughts on the above statements , but here it goes.
I want to live my life under the influence of the spirit. I want to know that when I go into a place that the presence of God goes with me because his spirit is alive in me. I don't want to have to be awakened to His presence any longer nor do I want to find myself realizing His presence was in a place and I didn't know it. I want to be in tune with him and what He is doing and where he is moving!! I also want to be a part of the movement. Carrying his presence into all the world, as He flows out of my life. I want to be a world changer after all that is what I set out to do on this trip. I believe it is only by the power of the spirit of God that we will see these changes. So as hard as it maybe in whatever settings we find ourselves to live as we know the spirit of the lord is present, I want to be confident that his word says he always with us. Therefore wherever we may roam in our lives we take with us his presence which also means we take with us his power to
Impact. Change. Restore. Encourage. Deliver. Heal. Empower. Love.
And the greatest of these...is love. I long to find myself in a place where I love without abandon. A place where I can not be offended or offend. A place where my every action and reaction comes from the Love of Christ in me and that being my very nature to return to others.
This was Australia!!
I will edit and add pics later the current connection is too slow.
