In the seven weeks that I've been back in the States, two things are still clear: God is still king no matter where we go, and our ability to be a part of His kingdom depends on my choosing it and saying "yes" to what He's doing.
I have been fortunate and blessed to say "yes" to Him, and that is by the gift of His strength and courage in me. It has lead me to travel the country (yup, still a vagabond) to recruit sons and daughters to likewise choose His kingdom through the different mission opportunities that AIM provides.
This has stretched me in new ways and has presented a new set of challenges, different from the Race but falling within similar principles. With a new "team" of people working with me in recruiting I have had to choose to open my heart to them and be vulnerable. This wasn't easy for me. You'd think that after being vulnerable before my team on the Race and being loved by them so well, that it would make it easy to do so with others.
It wasn't.
Mainly because I didn't think there was room in my heart after it was so full of my Race team, Ascend the Hill. But god made space, and He provided all the love for me to give. Because of it, I have two more wonderful sisters that love me well, seek me out, and challenge and encourage me.
The trip has provided a second challenge as well. Remember my blog, "Choosing Faith Over Fear"? Yeah, apparently that wasn't a one time thing. I have been presented with a number of new situations in which I am challenged to choose faith. Again, you'd think it'd be easier by now. It's not. It's still scary and in unexplored areas of my heart. But in His grace, He grows me throughout them. We go through seasons in life. He doesn't intend for us to get it all together at once, so why do we heap things upon ourselves.
God's gentleness is in that He takes His time, and brings up new things in our hearts to refine to a place of glorifying him.
In particular, I have really had to trust God in providing for my upcoming time at CGA (the Center for Global Action) because I don't have the opportunity to support raise like normal, because I'm on the road until mid August.
But this too must be said, that The Lord has blessed me in so many ways the past several weeks. I am blessed to share stories of His greatness and grab at hundreds of people's hearts at music festivals across the nations. I am blessed to empower them to go out and live a kingdom story, to encourage them, challenge them and prophesy over them.
In addition, God has been opening doors like crazy for me to be involved in worship and future doors to be in the music recording industry to support worship artists (more on that later).
This is all to say: when we follow Him, when we make His story the central part of our story, then His story becomes about our story.
He cares about our development. He cares about empowering us and shaping us to better reflect Him. And He is about our joy, that we might have it to the fullest.
Be encouraged brothers and sisters. Challenges will come. But if we choose kingdom, He'll make us look like Him. If we choose kingdom, adventure and blessing comes that we may delight in Him and have Him be the ultimate desire of our heart.
"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you might declare the praises of Him who called you out of dark was into His wonderful light." – 1 Peter 2:9
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Thank you in advance for saying yes to God and to His call. I cannot wait to share more with you, and what I will be learning in the next four months.?
