This is the Day...

Greeting From the Desert!
As JT promised we are each going to try to write a little today to share with you what we have been seeing and experiencing personally. We will try to make this less confusing by telling who is writing each paragraph.
Heather- As staff, we have been studying through Experiencing God as a team, as well as reading some other books. I cannot even begin to tell you the many ways this study has been challenging the way I view God. I am finally starting to understand how God reveals Himself and His purposes, but I have been challenged because some of the methods I have used in the past to understand when God was speaking to me were completely unbiblical. For example, I have made many decisions in the past by looking at open and closed doors. I have had the mentality that if a door is open then that must be what God wants and if I am about to do something He does not want, then he will close the door in my face. However, no where in the Bible does it say God will do this for us. We must not only look at our circumstances to discern what His will is, we must spend time in his Word, prayer and seeking counsel from the church. One final quote that has stuck with me from today's study. "Planning is a tool God may lead you to use, but it must never become a substitute for trusting Him." This hit me hard because I am a planner. I feel most comfortable when there is a plan in place and I will make a plan where there is none. Over the past few months God has been showing me that I have a lack of trust in Him. I now see that part of the reason I struggle with this area is because of the fact that I am a planner. So that's just a little from my heart, what God has been teaching me in our time out here. Please Pray that He would continue to reveal Himself to me and stretch me.

Michael -
Well I'm still alive and I refuse to bow to the southern accent. It has been fun though; God is stretching in ways that I thought were impossible. Never underestimate the Father. God is showing me areas in my life that need change; areas that if not corrected will not allow me to have a wonderful relationship with Him. Definitely being pushed out of my comfort zone. Each step that I take God shows me things that need to change, things that I need to do, and people that I should interact with. At the same time God is changing me, I am also becoming increasingly sensitive to the people around me. Yesterday, a little boy named Elijah, came up to one of the groups and they invited him to have some food. He sat there and ate and drank, but the entire time he looked like he was in another world. After the group had finished eating their lunch, I could see some emotional stress from the group about leaving the boy. The entire time they were packing up to head out, Elijah sat there in his spaced out world. It was at that moment that I realized what was wrong; the poor child was high. He lives close to the church in a known drug house. It made me feel so sad, but at the same time happy that I did not grow up it such a condition. We eventually brought him into the kitchen and he became fascinated with Karen washing the dishes. Soon enough he was up to his arms in suds scrubbing away our dirty dishes. It is a shock even though I knew that this type of thing happened frequently. God is defiantly moving and he is speaking to me everyday and I am responding. Is God speaking to you're family and friends? Can you truly hear his call?
Oh, they have a lot of weird sayings in the South.

Holly- God has been working in my life in ways so far this summer that I wouldn't have even imagined. I would have initially thought that He would have shown me something new that I didn't know about the reservation, which I have learned a lot but never would I have thought that He would have spoke this way. We've been going through Experiencing God as a group and sometimes we think that we should wait until we're sure about what God is telling us to do before we do it. I know now that WHEN God speaks is the time that we should respond. Saturday night at dinner I was sitting with Pastor Jay and J.T. and a few others. Pastor Jay was talking with J.T. and he asked Him if he had anybody lined up to lead worship for the Sunday morning worship service. J.T. immediately looked at me and I said, " Why are you looking at me?" He responded in a way that really made me think about what I had just said. He started asking me questions that made my heart just ache. He said, " Now what did you say you passion was and what did you say you wanted to do for the rest of you life?" We just started joking around but deep down my mind was just a turning because I knew that God was the one who was really speaking through Jay and J.T. God had spoke and I should have immediately responded to Him. Jesus said, "consider carefully how you listen. whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him. Luke 8:5-15
I have learned that if I hear God's word and don't apply it to produce fruit in my life, even what I think I have will be taken away. I have learned that I shouldn't keep from sharing my gifts and talents because I don't want to seem to prideful because that's being disobedient to God. Anyways... That Sunday morning and night Autumn and I led worship and it was the best time I have ever had singing. God did so much with my voice that I never even thought I could do. It was a defining moment for me and I know that's what God truly wants me to do. He was just waiting for me to do it.

Brittney- I'm so happy to be here in Arizona again. This week has been wonderful. Right now we are going through Experiencing God. It has shown me things about God that I never thought about. My favorite saying in it is " The moment God speaks to you is the time he wants you to respond to him." That really hit me hard because when God tells me to do something I feel don't comfortable doing I wait to the right time to do it. I really never put that to thought. I have totally gotten out of my comfort zone while I was here and it feels great. I'm opening up to people I don't more. I know God has a plan for me and I can't wait see what God has planned for me. Praise God for his wonderful works. Please keep praying that the kids will see God working through us.

Autumn - I have really enjoyed being in Arizona this past week and am looking forward to the weeks to come. There have been some joyful reunions with friends I haven't seen in a while, but who always remain very dear to my heart, and there have been new friendships being formed everyday. God has really been teaching me more about the way he works and how we are to respond to Him. As a staff we are going through Experiencing God together this Summer and it has really altered my perspective on many things. I have learned that there are things that I need to let go of, and that I need to stop trying to do things myself...I need to just allow God to have control because he is already already doing things and I just need to listen and follow His guidance. Probably the way I have been stretched the most and had to get out of my comfort zone so far is on Sunday when I played guitar while Holly led worship. I had never played in front of more than about 10 people at a time and that was just family and a few close friends. The thought of getting up in front of the church to play terrified me. Then God reminded me that when I first started learning guitar I said I wanted to do so to use it on the mission field. Now He is giving me that opportunity and I need to embrace it. Sheryl sent some words that she had read in her Bible study that morning in Experiencing God (she is farther in the book than I am) that were exactly what I needed to hear that day. God, through Sheryl, told me...When God purposes to do something through you, it will have God sized dimensions...if it is only something you can do then God wouldn't be doing. That really helped me to let go of some of the fear I was holding onto and just allow God to work in and through me, and when I did I found great joy in being able to use a gift God has given me for Him. He is so AMAZING and beyond what our minds could ever fathom! I look forward to seeing how God continues to work through all of us this Summer to accomplish His purposes. :)