Declaring Freedom from Freedom

            Training camp….where oh where to begin. I came to camp three days ago not expecting too much; you know, a few cultural classes, learning some language and growing closer to the girls. One out of three isn’t that bad right?                God has been moving in amazing ways. From night one he began meeting me in an intimate and personal place in a way that I never expected. All of this was epitomized last night in our service. When were worshipping I was met by the Holy...

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Beauty for Ashes

“Do you trust me?”That is the question God has asked me over and over throughout my journey to Thailand. One of the speakers talked about surrender yesterday. She told us that surrendering with the Lord is not about Him taking something from us, but it’s about Him asking us to give up something in order for Him to give us something so much more! Even before I got to training camp, I knew that there were things God wanted me to let go of in order for Him to work through me this summer. Again, I could hear Him asking me, “Do you trust me?” One word that keeps...

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Fingernail Fellowship

Sometimes trying to be a reflection of Christ takes sacrifices. Case in point: right now I have pink nails. Bright pink. As in almost glow-in-the-dark. Maybe that isn't what sacrifice looks like to you, but I hate pink. And I paint my nails about once every year or two. But today our friends Noi and Deuan came over to SHE to teach us how to make som tam (papaya salad), and afterward we painted nails on the floor in the kitchen. So now my fingernails are florescent pink. All of them. But just to have that time to hang out with our friends was worth it.   So the cook here is named...

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Confessions of a Hypocrite

Preparing for this trip, I shared what I was going to be doing with a lot of people. Upon arriving here, I have found a cool ministry engaging with tourists to which I am able to share why we are here as well. Usually the response that I receive has some shred of this attitude:   “Wow… Good for you.”   I sometimes get the impression that, based on their words, body language, and tone, a lot of people think I must be someone especially moral or talented to be doing what I’m doing—befriending prostitutes in Thailand. My explanation usually elicits a few...

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Daring to Declare

Last week was a hard week for me.  At the beginning I didn’t feel like I could feel God. I didn’t feel like I could see what He was doing through me. At Monday worship, I broke down in tears. I wanted more than anything to feel God. Satan began to attack my mind. I started believing what He was telling me.   Amber felt like we needed to start praying for the impossible.   The next day, I went out with my teammate, Mrriah, to prayer walk. I didn’t really want to do ministry that day.  As we walked down the road, we decided that we were going to make...

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Moments

Life is made up of moments. Most people have heard of the concept of “living like you’re dying” or “carpe diem–seize the day.” The truth is though, that most people functionally don’t live this way. We take people, places, and things for granted   all the time.   We don’t stop to “smell the roses.” We spend more time formulating what we are going to say next than really listening. We are comfortable not to confront issues until they become a cancerous bitter root inside of us because we want to avoid conflict at all...

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