The Blessing of Being Stretched

Firstly: I'M REALLY SORRY THAT IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I'VE POSTED. Forgive me?

Wow. Where to begin...
      Week six is upon us of my second DTS. That means that I have official been in Perth, Australia for nineteen weeks. That's four months and thirteen days. I am just about half way done with lecture phase, and just about at the half way point of the 9 months I will be spending away from home. Crazy! In one sense, I feel like it was just yesterday that I boarded the plane in Charlotte. In another sense, it feels like I have lived here my whole life.
      Well, in the last five weeks, I can say that I have learned more, experienced more, and been stretched more than probably ever before. God has totally revealed Himself to me in a way that I have never experienced things. I am learning things not only about God, but about myself too. He has totally been faithful to me during this process, and has been so gracious to me. And I'm so excited to share about that!
       Things this go around for DTS are so different. Not in a bad way, not in a good way... just different. But through that, God is growing me. For instance... I am in a sports DTS. Enough said.
      If you know anything about me, you know how important relationships are to me. Friends... I LOVE my friends. And I love them well. I have always been someone more worried about friendships than other things. With that said, I have to admit that I don't have the intimacy in relationships this DTS as I did during my music DTS. But I believe that is because God is teaching me to TOTALLY and COMPLETELY rely on Him for everything. Not just for the things that I need, but also for friendship, intimacy, and identity. He has been teaching me to not look for others to affirm me, but to find my affirmation in Him. I don't need worldly acceptance, when this world is only temporary. That gives me such a sense of security. 
      Along with that, I have been a bit more "grandma"-ish in the sense that I am not letting myself burn at both ends. God has been teaching me to rest, not just rest in him, but to physically rest as well. That way I am more alert to the things He has to share with me. That way I can tune into Him. Amazing!
      With doing a DTS again, essentially I am doing the same exact thing that I did before as far as lecture go, however, I feel like I am learning more this go around than the first time. My heart is in a better place. We have had lectures on Repentance & Forgiveness [again], and God really dealt with me there. I did not initially plan on re-applying the lectures and getting up infront of my class, but I knew I had to. This time, it was not about events, and things of my past, but instead about character issues that God is working on me.
      He is stretching me to say the least. He has taken me out of my comfort zone. Out of my one-tracked mind of "july quarter" with my music DTS, my july quarter friends, the house I was living in, and out of music. Now I am learning what it means to walk in humility. To re-do things, even though I do not want to, to be a quiet leader, to play sport all the time, to lay down my music, and to live in a new room with new roommates. But God is good, He is using me, and that is encouraging to even ME! I am being stretched to be a blessing... to further the kingdom in the long run, and to live for His glory!
      I am learning what it means to walk with the Lord. I thought I was passionate about Jesus last quarter, well he has quadrupled that passion! I am SO hungry for more of the Lord. I find myself talking to God not just in my quiet times or in worship times, but all day during everything! I love having a two-way relationship with my savior! He is so cool! 

      So that is just a bit of what has been going on. Tomorrow, we have to decide where we feel God is calling us on outreach. Here are our choices:

Team 1:

Mozambique, Africa [6 weeks]

& Southwest Australia [4 weeks]

Team 2:

Cambodia [6 weeks]

Thailand [1 week]

China [4 weeks]

      I will announce soon where I will be going to! But for now you can pray that God would begin to bring unity to the teams even before they are officially announced! You guys are amazing and I thank each of you for your prayers! 

Until next time...