Worship in a New Light

This is a record of my adventures in missions and how God transforms me.

[leahsworshipdts-blog]

Leah's support video!!! (by leah marie stringer)

[leahsworshipdts-blog]

My view of God in a new light

So my view of God has radically change since I have been here in New Zealand. He is more like my best friend than a God I can't reach. I never knew that my relationship with Him could be so easy and intimate. I have never experienced God in this way and it's an amazing experience to feel so close to the one who created me just the way I am and loves me for it. Thank you God for revealing yourself to me. If you want to meet my best friend, I'll be happy to tell you about Him:)

[leahsworshipdts-blog]

My God is an artist. He made such beauty and didn't stop with nature. He made each of us different from the other and took delight in the details that make us unique. He knew you and me before our mothers did and finds no fault in the way we look or our quirky personalities. Abba loves us without limits, without condition and His love is pure and without motive.

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Blessing upon Blessing

It's amazing what God does for each of His children everyday. We are so blessed beyond measure and He just showers us with blessings. In the last two weeks, God has sent 1200$ and I'm not even sure where it came from but I love that He is Jehovah Jireh. I know that He is going to provide and it's exciting knowing that He is going to use this to strengthen mine and others faith. 

I am also blessed that I am here and surrounded by godly men and women who continuously pour into me. Its amazing how close you can be to people you met a month ago but when you spend everyday and all day with them then your bound to get close.

Every week brings something new into sight and He chips away more and more and its being rebuilt and mended. I love all the learning and just experiences that have happened so far and its only just beginning. 

I don't know where God wants me after this but I do know that I'm in for an exciting adventure that will stretch me in ways that I could never imagine:)

[leahsworshipdts-blog]

God likes to give good gifts to his daughter!:)

So for the longest time I thought God only gave gifts once in a while and they were usually not that good. I don’t know why I thought this. 
I guess maybe I just didn’t think I was that important to God. Then someone kinda opened my eyes this beautiful Sunday morning. God is my dad. He wants to dream His dreams through me. 
This hit me like a bomb. God actually knows all of my dreams and desires. He placed those things in my heart and will use them to glorify Him. I can’t even wrap my mind around this:) God is my father and when I ask for something he won’t give me a rock. He will either answer the prayer or say no because He has something better for me. He isn’t a God who disappoints. He is a God of integrity and love

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Opening my ears :)

So I have been in New Zealand for 3 weeks and so much has happened!! Where should I begin?? I have let go of a lot things that have been weighing me down and that happened in the first week. I never realized how much some things controlled me and chained me down. So I found my life in the sweetness of freedom and its amazing!!! Discovering who I am in Christ and what He thinks of me is just icing on the cake.:) This past week has had the most impact on me though. So here's what happened: Monday started and I just felt left out and alone. We were learning about hearing Gods voice and I just couldn't hear anything. As the day went on, I got more and more frustrated and finally after Tapu Night(sacred night- where we dig deeper about the Holy Spirit) I exploded in the chapel. I started crying and just couldn't stop. I begged God to hear his voice and I was desperate. I was probably praying/crying for over an hour. I finally resigned myself to not hearing anything and I walked back into the house. Everyone was asleep except for a few people and I sat down and asked one of the leaders why I couldn't hear. It's so funny to think of it now cause I was the reason I couldn't hear. I thought that my mind needed to be silent and then this huge voice would speak. It turns out that hearing God was simple.. I just was making it difficult lol. The leader told me that God uses the way out mind works to speak to us. Of course I'm skeptical and he tells me to ask God to give me a scripture or a word for him. Truthfully I was scared and a little doubtful that this would be anything but I slowly asked God and immediately I knew what to give the leader. The thing is I had maybe spoken to this leader 5 sentences since I got here. So when I gave him the scripture God pointed me to,he looked at me and asked if I knew what he was called to do. I didn't and he then told me that the scripture confirmed his specific calling to a T. I was so taken aback that what I had just heard was from God. It was so easy and he had been talking for so long and I didn't even realize it was Him.:) I was so excited and wanted to see if He would speak to me again so I prayed for people that needed to hear encouragement or confirmation that He would just point straight to who and what. Names and words started coming and I was so excited and it solidified my faith so much because I knew for sure that I am loved by a God who really hears me and speaks back:) After that, I just grew leaps and bounds throughout the week and a passion that has never been there started to stir:) I know now that I never want to not hear from Him because its the sweetest voice I have ever heard:)

[leahsworshipdts-blog]

The big picture

Life is sometimes harder than we would like. Things happen and we automatically focus on all the negative things and get caught up in the the little things. I'm guilty of this constantly and God has to kind of slap me to get me to step back. The big picture is that God is using everything that happens to grow us and to teach us that we need to look past what's in front of us.

[leahsworshipdts-blog]

My crazy day started at 7 am est and I'm finally headed to San Fransisco. So I'm gonna spend 30+ hours traveling so hopefully I'm not cranky lol

[iwilltrustinyou]

[spiritualinspiration2]

We have to realize our mistakes aren’t that powerful. Our mistakes aren’t too big for God. He’s not up in the heavens shaking His head saying, “I never dreamed they would do that. They’ve ruined My plan.” No, God knew every mistake we would ever make. He knew every wrong turn, and He’s already prepared a new route. He already has your detour figured out.

Scripture says that God knows the end from the beginning. If you’ve made some mistakes, the good news is that He has already planned a way to get you back on track! Just come to Him with an open and humble heart. Let Him wash you clean and make you new. Your mistakes aren’t bigger than God. He loves you and has a good plan in store for you!

[leahsworshipdts-blog]

We must come as we are

So I have learned this lesson over and over. I try to make plans and then they just fall apart. I sit and wonder why they didn't work out and it hits me.... I didn't even factor in God or that this may not even be what He has for me. I totally have a "Duh" moment and bow my head and ask for forgiveness because yet again I try to control everything.

When we plan, God needs to be in the center of it. If we do that, then worry and stress don't consume us. I know from expereince that worry only builds when I decide to not go to God. I'm stubborn so it takes a few times for it to sink in. This is what I have learned after years of making the same mistakes:

We must come to HIM

just as we are....

Barriers down and

our eyes lifted.

It sounds easy right? Well it is easier said then done. I am one of those people that used to think that I had to have everything together and then I could come to God or that I didn't want to bother Him with my little problems. I could handle this....

God doesn't want that. He wants us to come with our barriers down, our arms spread out high and our eyes lifted. He wants to reach us in the places that we hide from everyone and to heal what has been broken.

God isn't going to keep me from worrying. " Let not your heart be troubled." John 14:1. It says "Let not" because He wants us to lay it all down. Worry, stress, anxiety, pain, insecurities... He wants us to give all to Him. When we plan,He wants this because it means we are completely trusting that He will do what He says. That we have faith that He knows what He is doing with this life and that He has given us.

[breezeymama]

[jacobmwilkinson-deactivated2014]

Poems to God

[mikvsv]

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Do not fret- it only causes harm ps37:8

"Resting in the Lord is not dependent on my external circumstances at all, but on my RELATIONSHIP with God Himself." Oswald Chambers In the bible, it says to not fret because it causes harm. Fretting is basically getting ourselves "out of sync" mentally or spiritually. When people tell us to rest in the Lord, it is easy to say but hard to follow through. Especially if we feel our whole world is falling apart. It's hard not to worry and to just have faith that our God has everything in His hands. I'm guilty of doing this quite frequently. I allow worry to grab ahold of me and I focus on it and let it drag me down. I get sucked into this and get myself into a funk of depression and anxiety. When we choose to rely fully on Him, we must do it it during the times of peace and difficulty. Worrying just results in sin because it shows our determination to have our own way. God will be there. We can trust Him. We can hand all of it to Him and just trust that what He has planned is what is best for us. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. -Psalms 91:1 (NASB)

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