Free

Last week I was accepted to YWAM Denver ATWDTS, which starts June 27. ATWDTS (Around The World Discipleship Training School) is a 6-month program which includes 3 weeks of lecture and 3 months of outreach. The lecture phase, which is in Denver, entails in-depth study of Scripture, evangelism training, small groups, Bible study, and individual mentoring and outreach times. The outreach phase will include travel to   five or six different locations internationally. The destinations will not be announced until  I arrive in Denver in June to begin the lecture phase. It's a true taste of missions-- fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants.

It stills seems surreal, but the time is fast approaching. I am very excited to embark on this new adventure that God has before me, and I want to squeeze everything out of it that I can and absorb as much as I can as well. And as I pray in preparation for DTS, I know that I want my approach to be characterized by one word: FREE.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith."   (Hebrews 12:1-2)

I want to enter DTS with a heart, mind, body, and soul that is free from hindrances, hurts, hang-ups, fears, doubts, self-reliance, guilt, and clutches of the past. I want to be free to embrace absolutely everything that God has for me--everything that he wants to show me, everything that he wants to teach me, how he wants to grow me and mold me and challenge me. I don't want to miss out on a single thing!

I want to enter DTS with open eyes, an open mind, an open heart, and open arms--ready to embrace! I want to feel the sun on my face, the wind at my back, love overflowing my heart, and the world within my arm's grasp.

 I am praying as I allow the freedom of Christ to work within my life, that God will use me as an instrument to bring the light of hope to the dark places around the world. And I am praying that God will transform my heart, that he will break it for what breaks his, and that he will show me how and guide me through his Holy Spirit to be his hands and feet to those who are lost, broken, and weary.

Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours, no feet but yours,
yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion
is to look out to the earth,
yours are the feet by which He is to go about doing good
and yours are the hands by which He is to bless us now.

"But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell the without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, 'How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!'"   (Romans 10:14-15)


"For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." (2 Corinthians 3:17)