So, as you may imagine with a trip like the World Race, this life is full of lessons. Lessons about yourself, lessons about God, lessons about others, lessons about culture....etc. It seems like no matter the season that you walk into, there is always something new to learn, and I have to say, I quite enjoy it! My mom has always said " I want to die in transition", and I have come to believe that living a life of learning lessons is just the way to accomplish that. 

The purpose of this blog is to share with you one of the more recent lessons that God has been teaching me. This blog is about family!

As some of you may know, for the last 2 months I have been taking a fast from any communication from all family and friends back home.  Although this fast has made these last 2 months some of the hardest since I have been on the race, they have also been some of the most rewarding.... God has shown through in so many different ways. 

One of the ways in which God has been "about" me through this fast is by teaching me the value of family. On the World Race we are placed into smaller teams, which become our family for the duration of the race. We don't choose who we are with, and therefore we are asked to trust the leadership who is earnestly seeking God about "who belongs with whom". After "families" are chosen, you are asked to do life together for the next 11 months... The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, and THE AWESOME. 

This, I began to realize, is very similar to the process in which God places us into our biological families, and even, in some cases, our church families. As I thought of this more and more, and began to look at the people that God has placed in my life, both for this season of the race, and beforehand... I couldn't help but stand in awe. 

I would like you to please take a moment and think of your family, whether near or far, biological or not. Think about these people, and then think of this.... Of all the people that God could place you with, He placed you with those people. 

For me this train of thought has both challenged, humbled, and brought me to tears of thankfulness. I have an amazing family, and as I began to think about the fact that God could have chosen any set of people to place me with, and then ask me to do life with, He chose the people that he has placed in my life. In that light of thankfulness, I began to see that I have been taking for granted the people that God has surrounded me with.

I have become too familiar... in the bad way....the way of not realizing or appreciating exactly who God CHOSE to place you with. 

This challenged me to love them better... not that this means "rainbows and kittens" all the time, or that life with family should never have its' problems. On the contrary I have come to learn that healthy conflict can strengthen a relationship when handled with respect, preference and honor. But it has challenged me to look at my family, both here on the race, and back home in Michigan, with a new kind of respect, thankfulness, and awe... for they truly are amazing... a gift from God, in which I have too often have forgotten to say "thank you". 

So to my family........I LOVE YOU! I'M SO THANKFUL FOR YOU, and I'M PROUD TO CALL YOU MINE!!!!!

While much of Cambodia, for myself, was spent laying sick on the floor or in a bed at a hostel, God did do some amazing things while my team and I were there. 

Upon coming to Cambodia we began ministry with local churches, out in the rural villages. Working alongside of these churches we were asked to walk from home to home praying for people. As you may imagine, in being some of the poorest villages in Cambodia, many people asked for prayer for healing. At first it seemed that God was not going to answer those prayers in the timing that we were asking for. 

Well, every night since coming on the race, my team and I meet to talk about the day and anything that we may be working through / what may be on our hearts. During this time, while in Cambodia, the questions seemed to stir forth....."Does God heal anymore?" "Do our prayers really make a difference in this area?" "What is the point?" 

My team and I began searching and asking God for the answers to these questions... well God answered!

First we were reminded of Pastor Michael Hindes' words at training camp that

He mentioned to us that maybe out of all the people that we would pray for, we may only get to witness only 10 or 15% get healed in that moment (if that). However we will miss 100% of the healings for the people that we don't pray for.  

Second of all... we got to witness this healing first hand. 

In the first village that we went to, my team and I were privileged to pray over a woman who, for most of her life, was never able to walk. Upon becoming a Christian she was able to stand up with the help of another person or stability source. She was prayed for several times and as time went by she was able to walk very slowly and for very short distances with the help of a cane or person. 

Well, we prayed for her, and walked away not thinking that it had really made much difference, except for perhaps encouraging her heart... well a few days later we went to church and a man came up to share a testimony of a woman who struggled all of her life with being able to walk / use her legs. He talked of a team that came recently to pray for her and now she is able to stand and walk without any help... later we found out... THAT TEAM WAS US!!!! YAY JESUS

In the last village that we went to, at the end of our three weeks, we, like many times before, walked through the village stopping from house to house to pray for people. During this time there was a woman with stomach issues who asked for prayer. Immediately upon her asking for prayer for her stomach, I felt Jesus speak to my heart that she struggled with anxiety. I asked her if I could lay my hand on her stomach and she said yes. I began to pray and ask God to heal her, both physically and emotionally.. as we were praying for her... I heard God say to my spirit " it is finished". After we were finished praying, the pastor asked her if she felt any better physically, and she said that all the pain was gone! PRAISE JESUS

Almost directly after praying for the woman with the stomach issue we went to a house where there was a little boy, maybe 8 or 10 years of age. His mother told us that he "had problems with his brain and couldn't control his body from time to time". Almost immediately God spoke to my heart the word "epilepsy". I laid my hand on this little boy's head and began to pray, along with the rest of my team, for him to be healed. As we were praying I heard the words again "it is finished". The pastor then asked the mother of this boy how she felt, and she said I feel "peace, warm all over". Although I will probably never see this little boy again, I have no doubt in my mind that he has been healed from "epilepsy".. PRAISE GOD

GOD STILL HEALS... and I don't have all the answers to the questions about timing and such, but I'm standing on this... GOD STILL HEALS AND LONGS TO HEAL!!!

Hey Everybody, 

First off I want to say Happy Valentines Day!!!!  So much has gone on since I have last written, and I apologize for not keeping up to date with you. I have good intentions, and horrible follow through. 

Well, my team and I are back in Thailand. Cambodia was a good month, however I will say that it was not my favorite. I was sick for 2 out of the 3 weeks of ministry that we were assigned, however God even worked through this. As I was not particularly fond of our ministry, which was teaching English classes and visiting homes in rural villages, my ministry became my team. Whether I was laying on the floor sick, or in a hostel, God continued to speak to me about my team, their gifts, the things that He has planned for them, and etc. Let me tell you, it was amazing! I was able to spend those 3 weeks praying over my team, and speaking life over them.   

He is taking our team to a new level and I can't wait to share it with you as it progresses. 

After Cambodia we had debrief. It was sooo wonderful to see Mike and Patti Paschall and the whole squad. There is a strength that rests when our squad as a whole comes together, and I always pull so much from it. It was truly a week of rest, relaxation, and worship, as well as filling each other up, speaking life over each other, and debrief as a team with Mike and Patti.  Also we were very blessed to be by the beach. As Ms. Laurie once said to me, "It just seems to be easier to hear God by the water", and I couldn't agree more. The 2 times that I have been by the water on this trip, whether lake or ocean, God speaks to me in such a beautiful and comforting way... I think that it reminds me of home!

Like I mentioned above, we are back in Thailand. We are leaving tomorrow to do ministry with a church in the lower part of Thailand, on the Cambodian / Thai border. Here we are supposed to be working in the local prison leading bible studies and encouraging them. Also, we may have an opportunity to work with the local hospital, meeting with patients that have HIV or AIDS. We will also work with the church in other areas of ministry that are in need of help. 

Thank you all for your prayers... I genuinely am seeking to be better at this whole blogging / journaling thing, so I intend for there to be several more blogs to follow up with shortly!!!

Blessings to you all, and remember this Valentines Day, whether single, dating, or married, that you are the Beloved of God!!

These beloved Daughters have greatness on them, and I long to see them walk in it... for their chains to be broken off, and for the forbidden words HOPE and EMOTION to become a life line instead of a death sentence. 

I have fallen in love with these girls.... And my heart breaks for them. This is real... their reality is our nightmare, but with JESUS and your prayers, your REALITY and their Dreams can become their reality too.... 

They need you... they need you to fight for them to war for them, for they do not know the armor that is offered to them, and I am asking you to rise up.... To pray for them with vigor and fire.... To fight for these girls, and for these confused and broken men, the customers and the Ladyboys, because if we don't pray for them and speak life into them, I have learned firsthand that no one else will!!!!