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
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Monday, December 17, 2012
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
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
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
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