We’ve been here three weeks so far, going into our fourth week. So far the topics we have covered have been Orientation, the Character and Nature of God, and Hearing God’s Voice and Intercession. Our staff as a whole spoke to us on Orientation, we had a speaker from the YWAM base in Scotland (originally from Sierra Leon in Africa) named Olu for the Character and Nature of God, and our very own leader, Cody, from Calgary, Alberta spoke to us on Hearing God’s Voice and Intercession. Our leaders for the Social Justice and the Arts DTS are Stephanie from California, Paulina from Sweden, and Cody from Canada.
From what was relatively a life of isolation, I have burst into a world of living, learning, leaning on, and working with over 30 other people. Being in community is sooooo wonderful, and is truly where God is taking my life, but there are also…adjustments…that I need to make. There are about 12 people living in each house, plus the staff. It’s a lot of people. In my other life as a flight attendant, I have time to draw away, to think, to listen each time I am given something to chew on. I’m really missing that pace. We spend 2-4 hours in lecture every day, surrounded by worship, intercession, and outreach. I begin every day with some time alone with God. I think I need to make a practice of stealing away more often. Will you pray that God will help me find a rhythm and a pace, and also that I will sense Him calling me away from time to time throughout the day? I’d really like that.
One of the most exciting things about this week has been learning more about speaking in tongues and what is called a personal prayer language. I know that many traditions have different beliefs. It has always made sense to me that when God speaks to me in my heart it is not exactly English, because sometimes I cannot come up with an English word to describe what He has said. The idea of me myself speaking in another language never really sat right with me, until these last couple weeks. When I would pray silently, I could feel my tongue and mouth making different shapes. I felt that something within me was stirring, and talked to Stephanie about it. When she prayed for me it felt like someone stuck a nine-volt battery to my tongue. I could taste the electricity and feel it in my whole tongue and like there was a ball of electricity above my sternum. I even ate ice cream and could still taste the electricity! I went down to the beach and spoke to Jesus in a language I did not know. I heard proper names come out of my mouth…like twice I heard myself say Elijah, and when I was praying for Philip I heard a variation of his name. It’s so cool. When I hear Cody speak, every once in a while I hear him say a word I know from Latin. It’s just wild, I tell you. Wild. I feel like God is telling me that He is teaching me to use this gift more accurately, that there is more.
What if? What if there’s more? Natalie Grant’s song has been haunting me the past couple weeks. “What if there’s hope you never dreamed of hoping for?” It makes me think of our memory verse this month from the third chapter of Ephesians. “Now to God who is able to do immeasurably more than you can ask or imagine, through is power which is at work within us, be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all generations…” More than I can imagine…that’s a lot… 🙂
Oh! Dance class was wonderful. We went to a contemporary class on Tuesday and lyrical on Thursday. I’m looking forward to technique on Wednesday. Yay! I am researching exit ministries for human trafficking this week, gathering art supplies, and taking pictures for our photography class. Our lectures will be on World View and Biblical World View.
Thank you all!
Bethy
Raindrops in the Ocean 
Feb 04, 2009 @ 19:24:00
Hi Beth-Good to see you are well. And yay for dance class. 🙂 I have a dance school I go to but a lot of the time I find that I am just so, so exhausted and can’t make it to class. I’m getting ready to go to Captivating tomorrow.-Sharon.