This week we are having teaching on Worship and being a Worshiper of the most High God. We were challenged to write a psalm like David, declaring our honest feelings to The Lord. Here is what I came up with...

My heart rejoices 

In your faithfulness oh God

Your love for me is more vast

Than all of the stars in the sky 

Like the coolness of a welling spring

You refresh my soul

You drench me with your presence

It is you oh Lord that my heart yearns for,

In the droughts of summer Your rains poor down over all of the land 

When I am alone and lost in the desert 

Your voice is the clear northern star

Guiding me home

In the midst of my darkness you are there 

Your forgiveness reaches to the depths of my despair

Your loving-kindness surrounds me 

Like the warmth of a mothers touch 

During my struggle, You are there

Upholding me in the palm of Your Righteous hand

Your grace for me goes deeper than the ocean,
Your mercy, higher than the mountain peaks

My soul cries out for you,
Lord of my life. Lord, Over All. 

Check out this girls post on singleness, She has so much truth to share. 

http://wp.me/p1EUL8-2pJ 

Take a look at a few of my favorite Organizations working toward Justice! 

www.yobelmarket.com, I have my favorite water bottle from here! These are their dreams!

Our Dreams

To see people genuinely freed from the poverty and slavery of their situation and spirit.
To provide job-skills training for refugees and exploited women through our brick and mortar store.
To continue to develop a line of fashionably relevant ethically traded goods for the western marketplace.
To develop a service learning curriculum for area schools.
To build more schools, gardens, vocational training centers, and houses in the developing world.
To Expose people of the West to justice issues firsthand.
To see artisans running successful autonomous businesses.
To take business training to the rural communities.
To expand into other brick and mortar locations.
To see the American consumer become conscious of the people behind their products.
To develop a project locally working with vulnerable populations.
To begin new projects resulting in fair trade small farmer tea, clothing, and weaving businesses in India, Pakistan, and the Sierra Madres

www.notforsalecampaign.org, This organization is taking a stand against modern day slavery! 

They both have some great merchandise and also options to donate to the cause! <---- Check it out! 

“IT OUGHT TO CONCERN EVERY PERSON, BECAUSE IT IS A DEBASEMENT OF OUR COMMON HUMANITY. IT OUGHT TO CONCERN EVERY COMMUNITY, BECAUSE IT TEARS AT OUR SOCIAL FABRIC. IT OUGHT TO CONCERN EVERY BUSINESS, BECAUSE IT DISTORTS MARKETS. IT OUGHT TO CONCERN EVERY NATION, BECAUSE IT ENDANGERS PUBLIC HEALTH AND FUELS VIOLENCE AND ORGANIZED CRIME. I’M TALKING ABOUT THE INJUSTICE, THE OUTRAGE, OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING, WHICH MUST BE CALLED BY ITS TRUE NAME — MODERN SLAVERY.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

This week we had teaching called Plumb line, You can check out the verses Amos 7:7-9 and Isaiah 28:7. It's a very intense week, for me at least, where the Holy Spirit reveals a lot to you.

I had so much from my past, things I never felt like I would ever be free from. I can't tell you how many times I confessed the same sins over and over again because of the guilt or shame I felt. It was something that was hard for me to grasp, that God still loves me, and that others will still love me after they hear my story. 

As I was having my quiet time this morning, God brought up this song called "Breaking Through" by Jeremy Riddle, the lyrics are this...

"Your love is like a sunrise
Shattering the dark of night
Your presence is a paradise
To our hearts

You're filling all the world with light
You're making every wrong thing right
You're waking up the dead to life with your love

God you're always breaking though the dark
Breaking into lives and healing hearts
Your love has torn the veil
Your love can never fail
Your love is making all things new

Your love is an eternal fire
A jealous and pure desire
Strong enough to be the sacrifice
That set me free

You have taken all our sins away
You have risen and won the day
You have broken every bond and chain in Your love

So we lift up one voice
We lift up a voice
We sing and we shout for joy

For now we are Yours
Yes our hearts are Yours
You're ransomed us with your blood"

And it is so true guys! This week was so intense, and the Holy Spirit revealed so much to me and laid so much on my heart, things in my past that I had never dealt with properly. I had so much fear and so much anxiety that after I revealed these things that no one would look at me in the same way, that no one would love me because of my past. But that is the thing, because of my "past".

Past(adjective): gone or elapsed in time

Our past in GONE because the Blood of Jesus Christ washed us clean. Our chains are gone! We have been set free! God, Our heavenly Father sent His one and only son to earth, so that He may take on all of the pain of the world and die for our sins so that we may be broken out of bondage and have eternal life with Christ! 

How incredible is that? I had such revelation this week, For 6 years I wasn't able to accept Jesus's forgiveness because I wasn't able to forgive myself. But what a change I had! As I shared my story and how broken I was for a time in my life, it was like a switch, I wasn't a bad person, I wasn't unworthy, I wasn't shameful, I was broken. I need the Love of Jesus, For my Heavenly Father to pick up the pieces that were shattered, and put them back together, turning me into something beautiful. A beautiful creation in Christ. Yesterday, I was able to forgive myself, I was able to receive forgiveness from my eternal Father. Do you know how relieving? How refreshing that felt?

Jesus wants to wash you white as snow, he wants to take your brokenness aside and make it beautiful. We are all sinners, we have all done things in our life we wish we could change or take back, but there is nothing, absolutely nothing in the whole universe that you could do that would make Jesus love you any less. His love is the same today, yesterday, and tomorrow. His heart breaks when you are unable to receive it, because that's what he died for, so that you have the opportunity to be forgiven. He wants to set you free. Believe it, Receive it, Live it out. By the unending Love of Jesus Christ, Your Chains are Gone. You. Are. Set. Free. 

I am so super stoked to announce that I will be going to Thailand for 2 months in January along with my whole DTS group! I can hardly contain my excitement and  cannot wait to see the radical ways God works while we are over there! 

Justice One Step at a Time

EXTREME POVERTY

• There are 3 billion people who live on less than US $2 a day. 1.4 billion people live on less than uS $1.25 a day - the definition of those who live under the condition of “extreme global poverty.” 17
• Approximately 9.2 million children under the age of 5 die each year, mostly from preventable diseases. That’s approximately 25,000 children each day. 17

• Approximately 600 million children live in extreme poverty.  tuesday

Donate to “One Day’s Wages” at

www.onedayswages.org/donate

Reading

Rich Christians In A World of Hunger, by ronald J. Snider.

Media

Find out about extreme global poverty at “One Day’s Wages” website.

Prayer

Pray that god will send workers to not only preach to the poor, but to act on behalf of the poor. deuteronomy 15:7 says, “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your god is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother.”

In our society, it is too easy to separate ourselves from the bad things that happen in our world. Often, out of sight means out of mind and we can quickly push aside our motivation to take action once something is no longer directly in front of us. With so much media fighting for our attention, it takes a concentrated effort on our part to stay focused on the things that God cares about.

Throughout the coming days, we will be learning about a few different injustices, all equally brutal. Today’s action is a challenge to intentionally remember and pray for injustice in our world and specifically Cambodia.

We are asking you to set an alarm on your phone, watch or MP3 player that will go off at the same time every day. When you hear the alarm, take a minute to pray about the focus issue that you are reading about that day or another that comes to your mind. After pausing to pray about this issue, take it one step further and share something about the issue with some- one else. You can talk to a friend, a co-worker or a family member about what you are learning. You can post something on Twitter or Facebook to remind others that there are people in our world that need our attention. The goal is to not just be consumers of the information but to participate in the process of spreading awareness and education to others in your circle.

“Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says the Lord. “I will protect them from those who malign them.” Psalm 12:5

Today is a day of rest. Exodus 34:21 in the Bible tells us that, “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest.”  Today on this day of rest, we want to look at Jesus, the ultimate model of doing justice, and the one who commanded us to do justice based on Micah 6:8. We will look at how Jesus spent His sabbath days doing justice through healing the sick, setting the oppressed free and walking out the pure love of God the Father.

John 5:1-17 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.

When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”  Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place.  Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Join us tomorrow as we talk about how not to forget the injustice in the world and live in a way that causes us to do justice and love mercy in the face of injustice. 

**All this information comes from the 30 Day Prayer and Action guide by Steps of Justice. Hard copies of the book are for sale here for only $5 or free downloads are available here.

My new, more personalized website domain 

www.thygreatfaithfulness.blogspot.com 

:) 

I feel very strongly towards this organization and would love to get the word out! Join me in 30 days of prayer starting Monday, October 21st, for specific injustices around the nations! To learn more go to www.stepsofjustice.org 

How Steps
of Justice Began
Steps of Justice began from the injustices that missionaries with youth With a Mission would see while traveling the world sharing the love of Jesus. no matter where we were in the world we would see injustices like slave labor, child prostitution, unclean drinking water, lack of opportunities for education, lack of medical care, overwhelming poverty, corrupt govern- ment... a group of us asked ourselves, “What can we do?” then we prayed asking the same question, “Jesus, what can we do for such overwhelming problems?” out of the cries of our hearts came an answer! It was simple. “take a step, make a difference!” this Steps
of Justice Prayer & action guide is our “first step.” We are asking you to take this first step with us! together we can make a difference in the lives of others who are living in complete hopelessness.

Pray

Prayer is where we have to start when deal- ing with overwhelming areas of injustice. Before Jesus started His ministry on earth, He went away into the desert and spent 40 days praying and fasting. Prayer is the key to seeing change happen, first in ourselves and then throughout the world. this guide will provide you with a daily prayer focus for justice.

Educate

Education is a critical component of our ability to take action. We need to take the responsibility on ourselves to learn about the injustices that exist in our world and God’s response and instruction for us. Each day of this journey will provide you with links, books, websites, movies, magazines and articles to help you get educated.

Encourage

as god stirs your heart to do justice, be aware that there is a real enemy that will try to discourage you. Be confident that god has uniquely gifted each and every per- son to do good works that He prepared in advance for us to do. trust that your obedi- ence to step out in faith and care for those Jesus cared for brings god glory. Make it a practice to encourage others that are also taking steps to impact the world.

Support

one of the most powerful ways that we can participate in God’s plan to bring justice is through giving. James 2 says, “What good is it if someone says he has faith but does not have works? can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed

for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” as you go through the next 30 days, look for ways to engage with god through giving of your time, money or resources. 

Yesterday afternoon I got together with my roommate and two of our staffers to bake pumpkin pie, the American way! We didn't have all of the things we needed so we made up our own recipe! We had such an amazing time talking together and laughing! Here is the recipe, so grab a loved one and start baking:) 

Yields: 2 pies

4 cups mashed pumpkin

1 cup milk 

4 eggs

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp Vanilla 

1/2 tsp Ginger 

1 tsp cinnamon 

Preheat oven to 425°, combine all ingredients, pour in a nonstick pie pan, bake for 15 minutes than without opening the oven turn it down to 350° and bake for 45 minutes! 

Let cool for 30 minutes

Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream and enjoy!:) 

Never The Same: Celebrating 50 Years Since Peace Child

This past week we had some really powerful teaching on hearing God's voice, intercession, & prayer. I was so encouraged by the teaching because it was about things I never really experienced before.

Hearing God's voice isn't something you should do just when you need answers, or are going through a difficult time, His voice is something we should hear on a daily basis. We should be able to recognize His voice & be able to say Hey, I hear you God! I am listening. Before this week, I will be completely honest, I never waited to hear from God and I felt like I wasn't able to hear from him. I thought that hearing God speak, was a gift. But it's not. Don't be offended, it is a very special thing to each individual, but God speaks to all of His children. All 7 billion of them. How mind blowing is this guys? That God is capable of having a personal relationship, with every single human being on the face of this earth. He wants us to pour our hearts out to Him, but He also wants to tell us His heart as well. One analogy that really made sense to me was that it would be like if I called my best friend & talked for hours & hours just pouring out my heart, & then when I was finished talking I just hung up before she could get a word in. Communication is a two way street in relationships, & that goes for our relationship with our Creator. So I challenge you, talk to God, but more importantly, listen.