FRIENDS! I did not realize it had been nearly 3 months since I wrote a blog. I know I have started a couple but never finished them. To say I should write an update on all the Lord is doing is a massive understatement! I can say without hesitation that the past 3 months have been some of the best yet or maybe even ever. I will hopefully be writing more about that all soon, however, This blog post is being with a very specific purpose in mind. The Lord has completely shifted my plans for the next several months and it is my joy to share what I will be doing...
As many of you all know, I came to Kona with the plan to stay at Least 3 months and probably more. This was the first time in my life that I took a leap of faith and the Lord has so blessed that leap I took. It has now been almost 5 months since I moved to Kona and I am so, so thankful that I was brought here during this season. The community I had during my DTS has only grow in size and depth. My love and devotion to Jesus has radically increased as I spent these months going deep in the place of prayer, worship, and scripture. I came here to build an unbreakable foundation and I believe the Lord has begun to do that. Though I have my off moment, days, weeks... I am absolutely sold out and stoked for the life of missions God has called me to!
As I began to seek the Lord as to what this fall held, an opportunity arouse from an unlikely source. I had been feeling for a while that I would be leaving Kona for the September Quarter but I didn't know exactly how it would look.. and I honestly still have plenty of questions about the details of the last few months of this year. While I was in this time of wondering what was to come next, my parents dropped the idea in my head of possibly moving back home. Though at first this seemed random and not a serious possibility, I decided to take it to prayer anyways.
Here comes the exciting news...
I am SO stoked that Jesus has opened the door and confirmed that the remaining months of this year will be spent in Jacksonville!! This is by no means a permanent move home, nor is this a move out of missions! It is on my heart to give a little explanation as to what I will be doing and the main reasons I feel like the Lord is leading me home.
FAMILY. One value that has always been on my heart and has continued to grow is family. I know Jesus loves family. In fact, I know that for me the Lord wants a specific season set aside to solely focus on serving and loving the family He has given me. That is why I feel like it is such a privilege that He would give me time to be at home where I will get to be both working in missions and seeing my first nephew born. What a GOOD Father I have! He actually cares about the smallest desires on my heart and on the heart of my family. Missing Kathleen's first pregnancy has been rough on both her and I, so to be able to be there for a couple months before she is actually due is going to be an Amazing blessing. I believe Family is the main reason I am to be in Jax for the next several months. I feel this especially strong as I begin to think about what my future is going to look like and the years I plan on spending in the nations. I have spent 6 months in Kona going deep in the Lord and now I get to spend a time specifically set aside for family... both are the perfect way to prepare for a life spent traveling. I feel so BLESSED!
CONTINUED GROWTH. I had a friend tell me a few days ago that they have started to chose future plans off of what will challenge them the most and I must say that moving back to Jacksonville will be a beautiful, stretching challenge. As amazing as Kona is, I tend to get a bit comfortable. I am now going to be in a place of stripping away all of the fluff and seeing what my foundation is Really made of! The disciplines that I have put so much time into here are now going to be tested against the familiarities of home that lean themselves towards apathy, laziness, and loss of hunger. Kona has been the perfect to learn the disciplines of prayer, worship, community, and knowing scripture and begin to walk them out. It is now time for me to test out what I have really learned and cultivated in an environment that will allow for failures and mistakes as I continue to grow. I would rather have the chance to work out the kinks in my character and recognize the weak spots in my life in Jacksonville, then to get to the nations and realize there are still major areas of growth that were left untouched.
YES, I AM STILL A MISSIONARY. YES, I STILL NEED SUPPORT. I have been so blessed to be supported by a hand full of amazing people! The foundation in financial support that I have right now is a main reason I have been able to stay in Kona, pay the bills, and thrive as I chase after Jesus. I wanted to clarify specifically for those financially supporting me and to those who have committed to praying for me, that I will still be living off of the monthly support donated each month! I will still be working in missions as I serve YWAM Jax and work as staff on that base. I hope my heart is clear in this that I am not going home for a vacation, nor to get back into my normal routine but I am going with specific vision from God and I will be working day in and day out to continue my preparation for the nations.
DESIRES ON MY HEART. I have begun to pray for the Lord to download the exact things He wants me to be working in while on the base at Youth with a Mission Jacksonville. There are a few major desires on my heart that I have for the base and that Jesus has cultivated inside of me. A main desire of mine is to see a prayer room established at YWAM Jax. I have seen first hand how important it is to have a missions movement that is rooted and grounded in prayer. The base here in Kona saw an obvious shift in the effectiveness and power of the missions work they did when they chose to prioritize prayer as a base. The value of prayer has been growing in my heart over the past several months and I would love to see YWAM Jax carry a heart of prayer and missions in an increased way! I again feel so privileged that the Lord would allow me to be a part of the shift coming to the Jacksonville base as a prayer room is established and we as the body received deeper revelation on the power and importance of prayer in missions. It is also a desire of mine to serve in the cafe currently running at the Jax base. From the first time I heard they were getting a cafe I had dreamed of what it could look like to be doing ministry out of that place. I am stoked to see what the Lord is going to do in the cafe and how it is going to be used to reach those specifically in the Jax Beach area who so desperately need to find freedom and life! Lastly, no matter how many great ideas I have my primary desire is to serve my parents and serve YWAM Jax in whatever way they need.
I hope my heart has been clearly expressed through this blog. If anyone has questions or comments please please let me know! I am more than willing to discuss each detail I wrote about an so much more. There is definitely the fears I have in my heart about returning home but I know Jesus has this time planned out perfectly and I know it His desire so I am just along for the ride! I am look at coming home the 2nd week of September so to all of my Jax friends: I will see you soon and to all of my Kona friends: this is just the beginning of life together.
Thanks to everyone who read this for taking the time and caring about my future plans!
ALSO! I will be writing another blog in the next few days to let everyone know of a trip I will be taking in October so be looking out for that!
<3
As many of you all know, I came to Kona with the plan to stay at Least 3 months and probably more. This was the first time in my life that I took a leap of faith and the Lord has so blessed that leap I took. It has now been almost 5 months since I moved to Kona and I am so, so thankful that I was brought here during this season. The community I had during my DTS has only grow in size and depth. My love and devotion to Jesus has radically increased as I spent these months going deep in the place of prayer, worship, and scripture. I came here to build an unbreakable foundation and I believe the Lord has begun to do that. Though I have my off moment, days, weeks... I am absolutely sold out and stoked for the life of missions God has called me to!
As I began to seek the Lord as to what this fall held, an opportunity arouse from an unlikely source. I had been feeling for a while that I would be leaving Kona for the September Quarter but I didn't know exactly how it would look.. and I honestly still have plenty of questions about the details of the last few months of this year. While I was in this time of wondering what was to come next, my parents dropped the idea in my head of possibly moving back home. Though at first this seemed random and not a serious possibility, I decided to take it to prayer anyways.
Here comes the exciting news...
I am SO stoked that Jesus has opened the door and confirmed that the remaining months of this year will be spent in Jacksonville!! This is by no means a permanent move home, nor is this a move out of missions! It is on my heart to give a little explanation as to what I will be doing and the main reasons I feel like the Lord is leading me home.
FAMILY. One value that has always been on my heart and has continued to grow is family. I know Jesus loves family. In fact, I know that for me the Lord wants a specific season set aside to solely focus on serving and loving the family He has given me. That is why I feel like it is such a privilege that He would give me time to be at home where I will get to be both working in missions and seeing my first nephew born. What a GOOD Father I have! He actually cares about the smallest desires on my heart and on the heart of my family. Missing Kathleen's first pregnancy has been rough on both her and I, so to be able to be there for a couple months before she is actually due is going to be an Amazing blessing. I believe Family is the main reason I am to be in Jax for the next several months. I feel this especially strong as I begin to think about what my future is going to look like and the years I plan on spending in the nations. I have spent 6 months in Kona going deep in the Lord and now I get to spend a time specifically set aside for family... both are the perfect way to prepare for a life spent traveling. I feel so BLESSED!
CONTINUED GROWTH. I had a friend tell me a few days ago that they have started to chose future plans off of what will challenge them the most and I must say that moving back to Jacksonville will be a beautiful, stretching challenge. As amazing as Kona is, I tend to get a bit comfortable. I am now going to be in a place of stripping away all of the fluff and seeing what my foundation is Really made of! The disciplines that I have put so much time into here are now going to be tested against the familiarities of home that lean themselves towards apathy, laziness, and loss of hunger. Kona has been the perfect to learn the disciplines of prayer, worship, community, and knowing scripture and begin to walk them out. It is now time for me to test out what I have really learned and cultivated in an environment that will allow for failures and mistakes as I continue to grow. I would rather have the chance to work out the kinks in my character and recognize the weak spots in my life in Jacksonville, then to get to the nations and realize there are still major areas of growth that were left untouched.
YES, I AM STILL A MISSIONARY. YES, I STILL NEED SUPPORT. I have been so blessed to be supported by a hand full of amazing people! The foundation in financial support that I have right now is a main reason I have been able to stay in Kona, pay the bills, and thrive as I chase after Jesus. I wanted to clarify specifically for those financially supporting me and to those who have committed to praying for me, that I will still be living off of the monthly support donated each month! I will still be working in missions as I serve YWAM Jax and work as staff on that base. I hope my heart is clear in this that I am not going home for a vacation, nor to get back into my normal routine but I am going with specific vision from God and I will be working day in and day out to continue my preparation for the nations.
DESIRES ON MY HEART. I have begun to pray for the Lord to download the exact things He wants me to be working in while on the base at Youth with a Mission Jacksonville. There are a few major desires on my heart that I have for the base and that Jesus has cultivated inside of me. A main desire of mine is to see a prayer room established at YWAM Jax. I have seen first hand how important it is to have a missions movement that is rooted and grounded in prayer. The base here in Kona saw an obvious shift in the effectiveness and power of the missions work they did when they chose to prioritize prayer as a base. The value of prayer has been growing in my heart over the past several months and I would love to see YWAM Jax carry a heart of prayer and missions in an increased way! I again feel so privileged that the Lord would allow me to be a part of the shift coming to the Jacksonville base as a prayer room is established and we as the body received deeper revelation on the power and importance of prayer in missions. It is also a desire of mine to serve in the cafe currently running at the Jax base. From the first time I heard they were getting a cafe I had dreamed of what it could look like to be doing ministry out of that place. I am stoked to see what the Lord is going to do in the cafe and how it is going to be used to reach those specifically in the Jax Beach area who so desperately need to find freedom and life! Lastly, no matter how many great ideas I have my primary desire is to serve my parents and serve YWAM Jax in whatever way they need.
I hope my heart has been clearly expressed through this blog. If anyone has questions or comments please please let me know! I am more than willing to discuss each detail I wrote about an so much more. There is definitely the fears I have in my heart about returning home but I know Jesus has this time planned out perfectly and I know it His desire so I am just along for the ride! I am look at coming home the 2nd week of September so to all of my Jax friends: I will see you soon and to all of my Kona friends: this is just the beginning of life together.
Thanks to everyone who read this for taking the time and caring about my future plans!
ALSO! I will be writing another blog in the next few days to let everyone know of a trip I will be taking in October so be looking out for that!
<3
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