That's My King.

It breaks my heart that you can't see

That I hold you so close to my side

I'm the one in whose hand you abide

Even as my hand holds yours

Whether up or down

I'll be your guide

Come follow Me

Let go of your pride

I AM the one whose love never fails

And beloved

You are mine



     I was inspired to write this poem for Russia, but its a good reminder for everyone, including myself. We will never understand or be able to fathom how good God is. We'll never know how much He loves us because that amount of anything is unthinkable to the human mind. We worry over things that are so small when all we need to do is shift our focus to God. We so quickly forget that He is sovereign (one that exercises supreme, permanent authority; possessing ultimate power). We forget the fact that He has our best interests in mind and that when He tells us to do something, its going to be the best way to go. He means it when He says to delight ourselves in Him and He will give us the desires of our hearts. Do you believe that? He has so much purpose for each individual and there are so many people who either don't know this or choose to ignore it. 'Evangelism is just you being you on purpose.' Now is the time to be you on purpose. Now is the time to stop living an average Christian life and seek more of God every day! Ask Him to reveal more of his character and unchangeable qualities to you and when you ask, you better believe you will receive.  
     He is the One who parted the ocean. The One who heals and raises from death to life. The One who has plans for hope and a future for every person on earth. The One who gave everything just to have you as His own.
     That's the God we serve.
       That's my King.

~Rachel
                                      

God rocks.

     Lordship week was crazy awesome. Something that really stood out to me: "The God you imagine is the God you reflect." If we imagine God to turn us away every time we sin or do anything wrong, expecting us to get our lives in order before we can be with him, we will treat people the same way. If we imagine God to be all loving father and friend, serving, forgiving and filled with joy, we will again treat people the same way. If we can't  except God's love for us, knowing He loves us in spite of our flaws, how can we love other people? Another quote that stuck out: 'When was the last time the world promised satisfaction and actually came through?' Now THAT made me realize how blessed I am to know God. What is life without Him in it? On Friday we had a ministry day. Not like street ministry, but ministering to each other. We started at 10:30 am and went until 1:00 am Saturday morning. It seems like a long time but really the day flew. We worshiped and praised God with everything in us. There was a cross and we all brought things to lay at the foot of the cross and give over to God. My life is in His hands: my time, my need for approval from others, my music, my dreams and plans for the future. Where He wants me, I will go. We had a time of confession and repenting. There was worship all throughout and we ended with communion and more worship. God rocks, guys. He deserves so much more than we could ever give.
     Christmas here was so fun! In the week before Christmas the base had a big Christmas dinner; our school had a Love feast served out of love by our awesome staff team; on the Saturday before, our school had Christmas together with a big breakfast and a Secret Santa gift exchange and the rest of the day at the beach. For Christmas eve and Christmas day, me and 7 other girls went to the Gold Coast. The beach on Christmas day - was a first. :)  Also, having a family who sent the best package ever with Christmas gifts made it feel a little more like home. Thanks, Mom. :)
      Tomorrow morning (Dec. 28 - my birthday!) we leave for impact summer! Half of the MAD school went to Airlee Beach and left this morning and the other half will be leaving tomorrow morning for Byron Bay. We will be doing beach and street evangelism in creative ways i.e. volleyball tournaments, music and dancing on the street, etc. God has been challenging me lately to have more boldness when talking to people about Him. I have this amazing love and I carry the Holy Spirit with me wherever I go. I need to be confident in myself and the joy I have to share with others. HE gives me strength and words, it won't even be me talking. HIS power is made perfect in weakness. We will be gone for eight days; we come back on January 4th.
     I have been blessed with friends and family who send cards and letters and I must thank you! Having mail in the box when I go check brings joy to the day.
     Prayers are always appreciated - for boldness to step out in faith, for unity, for God's heart for others and compassion.
     Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! - Rachel
   

Shorty.

Hello again!
     I just wanted to post a short, little post letting you all know that I have just created a blog for Team Russia! It will be the blog I update while we are there so you should all check it out!
    http://teamvladi.blogspot.com.au/
     Merry Christmas!
           Rachel Meck

Changed.

     Hello Family! Once again, I apologize for the time since my last blog. But now its time for an update!
     I am still loving it here and having a blast. I miss home especially because it's Christmas, but Christmas here on base is fun. We made gingerbread men yesterday during morning tea and we each have a stocking hanging in the community room. We had a Christmas party and we're doing a secret Santa. I'm spending Christmas with my second family this year in the heat and guess what? I have a tan. Yeah, thats cool. :)
     The reason I have a tan is well, the sun, of course, but our school went on a three week missions trip and we were outside sweating buckets for a lot of the time. We were on the Go Pass It On Tour and basically our base director had a vision of carrying the gospel across the western world and passing on the Wisdom of God to the next generation. That means that as an act of intersession we literally run from town to town relay style carrying a baton that says 'Passing on the Wisdom of God to the next generation.' We stayed in each town for a week doing evangelism and work projects. We set up a big tent in a park in each town and held after school activities for kids and had a different event in the tent every night of the week. We went into schools and did lunch time activities and Religious Education classes and generally hung out with the kids. We slept in churches in the first two towns of Beaudesert and Boonah and in the clubhouse of a rugby stadium in the last town of Warwick. It was really cool to see more of the beauty of the Australian countryside and I saw my first kangaroo!
     God taught me a lot while on tour. I learned that even when I'm at my most tired state of mind I can get up and keep going because He gives me strength. I can honestly say that I was the most tired I've ever been during tour BUT it was one of the most rewarding times. When you forget yourself and just hand over whatever you have to Dad, it makes the most difference because thats when you lay down your desires and choose to be His vehicle. He's showing me that when we yield our will to Him, change happens.
      I had multiple opportunities to share my testimony and got to see it make a difference in peoples lives. "...they have conquered him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony." (Rev. 12:11) Its so COOL. I've been learning that my words of have worth and that the things I say either build people up or tear people down. God created with words - we can speak life into other people with the words that we say.
     God is also challenging me to rely on Him for my identity. I realized how much I depended on the people at home to define who I was and then there was something wrong when I came here without all those people. It took me a while to figure it out but I finally let God break down that wall. I was still trying to use people to tell me who I was, but because they were different people than at home, I was a different person. God was just like 'Hey Rachel, whachya doin? I'm all you need, you know.' Its a process, but I'm on my way to being only the person He says I am.
     I also learned that I can get a good nights sleep even when I know there are bugs running around on the floor and I can eat oatmeal every morning for breakfast. Who knew? Although I often got asked the question 'Would you like a little oatmeal with that brown sugar?'
     Outreach is coming up so fast! We leave for Russia on January 27. But before that, we're doing another week in missions here in Australia. It will be right after Christmas break and its called Impact Summer. Half of our DTS will be going to the beach town of Byron Bay and the other half to Airlee Beach. Our focus is evangelism and in Airlee they will set up the YWAM tent and play music and serve tea and share the gospel in that way. I'm not sure where I'm going yet, they're going to tell us this week, but I'm pretty sure we're leaving on my birthday. :)
     This week our lecture topic is Lordship. This morning's lecture was SO GOOD and I've physically felt the Holy Spirit's presence all day today. I can tell that God is going to do a lot of work in me this week and I'm so ready. A life lived for me is worthless and I'm running towards that place of complete surrender to Him. Its so great because when we run towards Him, He sprints toward us. God is good, folks.
     Thanks for your prayers and thanks for reading and caring about whats happening in Aussie Land!
     Merry Christmas!
               Rachel Meck

TITLE.

Hello again! I do apologize for the long periods of time between posts; the days are full!
     I suppose I'll start with lectures. My last post was during the week of lectures on the Father Heart of God, the topics of the weeks in between have been Hearing the Voice of God, Foundational Week, and this past week, the Holy Spirit.
     I've learned so much and God is good! The lecturers are all fantastic and really present the topics in an easy to understand way. They bring everything about God to a place where we can grasp the concept and apply it to every day. Having God talk to you and help you in the every day things isn't something for only the  'Super Christians.' God doesn't choose just some of his children to talk to, He desires that intimate relationship of Father and Son with everyone.
     During that week of lectures, the students were given the outreach location options: Germany and Czech Republic, India, Indonesia and Malaysia, Russia, and Peru. The students were to take the options and ask God where he wanted each to go individually. We didn't talk about it with each other, only God and family at home. We needed to hand in our first and second choices by Friday morning.
     So, just in care you're wondering, God told me to go to Vladivostok, Russia! Originally I didn't want to, but it was mainly because of petty reasons, aka I like warm weather (thanks, DAD). But I knew this is where God was saying to go, therefore, I'm going. My team consists of Heidi, Paige, Emily, and I. Paige and Emily are staff and Heidi and I are students. I know God has big plans for us there and will use us as a small but mighty team of four.
     Foundational Week was a really great week getting back to the basics. The lectures were on quite times, meditation, memorization, fasting, bible reading, etc. I have been learning the importance of having quiet time with God every day. I have actually been getting up to spend some quality time with God in the morning before the day begins. Honestly, it makes the biggest difference. God has been showing me that quiet times don't always have to be reading the bible either. Sometimes He just wants to BE with you and hear how you're doing and talk to you. There was a quote from lectures that goes "I pray everyday that THIS quiet time would be the most intimate time with God I've ever had." This is now my prayer.
    This past week on the Holy Spirit has been a really powerful time for our school. Our lecturer was from Sydney. Aussie accent all week, FOR THE WIN. He spent time talking about each of the gifts of the Spirit and how everyone has all the gifts but each has a few dominant gifts. Christians are supposed to be using their gifts everyday! For encouragement, for evangelism, for decisions, for miracles! God is totally in to talking to his people and totally in to miracles. We need to realize what gifts are most prominent in us and use them for the benefit of everyone. The gifts were not given to us for ourselves, but for others and the advancement of the Kingdom of God. The end of the week He baptized us all with oil and the baptism of the Holy Spirit and prophesied over each person. It was a really powerful time.
     As far as music goes, my band is doing great! Our latest assignment was to write a song together. It was so much easier than I thought. Will had a chorus he thought would be cool to use and than God gave me verses and Ellysa took it to the piano. Yay, team. :) We got another assignment a few days ago; we have to take a popular song and keep the chorus but write our own verses and make it a worship song.
     At this moment we're in the middle of a bible reading weekend! We're trying to get through the whole bible in 60 hours. Our school is split into teams and we've been reading out loud nonstop since Friday morning at 10:30. Hopefully by 8:30 tonight the whole bible will have been read out loud.
     So thats a little of whats going on! As always, thanks for your prayers and thanks for reading!

     Joyfully,
         Rachel Meck

Hello all!
     This post has been a long time in coming. I had actually written a new blog this past Sunday and then my computer shut down and I lost it. But here I am again!
     These past two weeks have been awesome. God is showing me so many new things that I didn't even see coming! Last week the lectures were on the Character and Nature of God and they were taught by our school leader, Hannah Lenz. This week they are on the Father Heart of God, taught by a guest speaker from Florida, Michelle S. I cannot say or spell her Italian last name. :)
     The day usually looks like this: Intersession or worship at 8:30. Lectures usually start around ten. Lunch is at 12:30 and after lunch is work duties. Every student is assigned a 'chore' for the duration of their stay at the base. I work in the kitchen on dinner prep. Go figure. Its actually a really good processing time because I generally work by myself or with Tim, a guy on the Beach to Bush DTS, and we just listen to music and talk while we work. Small groups, Sport in the park with the community, evangelism, etc, happens in the evenings according to the day. Quite times with Jesus and homework happen in the times in between.
     The lectures this week on the Father Heart of God have been intense. Michelle is so passionate about everything she says and you know the holy spirit is in her and speaking through her. It makes you sit up and pay attention. She has so many stories about how good God is and His heart for his children. God has been showing me that he really desires me and pursues me. A relationship is a two way street and I'm not the only one in this. He cares for all of us personally and desires to be with us and spend time with us! How cool is that? He's really rocking my world right now. Its like I always knew this truth but its just now reaching my heart. We had a time of worship last night and God took me deeper than I've ever been before. I was singing  and worshiping, but that just wasn't enough. I went to the back and started dancing. Have you ever danced for Jesus? Its the best feeling when YOU let go and let Him take over and you worship Him with your whole being. Also, have you ever jumped on the trampoline with Jesus? You should try it, its heaps of fun.
     And thats a small update on what God is doing here in Aussie Land! Again, I thank you for the prayers, God is surely using them. Please continue to pray that I would keep my heart open to whatever God is doing. The more I learn, the more I realize I know nothing about things I thought I already knew.

     In His Joy,
          Rachel Meck
     

God is good...all the time.

     This week has been loads of fun.

     Thursday started our orientation. On Friday we started sharing our testimonies. There are thirty two students on the MAD DTS, plus staff, so testimonies took all day Friday and Saturday morning. Its amazing hearing how God brought all of us here and what we're all working through. He is so good. 

     Yesterday (Saturday) after a morning of finishing up the testimonies, we went to a park for the afternoon. We played games on the soccer field and had dinner in the park. I've only know these people for a week but it feels like forever. And lectures haven't even started! Our official schedule starts tomorrow and I cannot wait to get into the swing of things. 

     Today has been a relaxing day. I've been listening to hymns and missing them at Stumptown. :)   

     Sorry its short, but that's all I've got to say at the moment. 

     In His Joy,

          Rachel Meck