Quiet Time Mix

Here's a mix I created for those soak session quiet times with Jesus.
Dive in.
Enjoy. :)


Quiet Time Mix--Grace is an ocean.

To be Childlike

Something God has been graciously reminding me of is the importance of being childlike in my walk with Him, my perfect Father.

"Therefore take no thought, saying, 'What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?' ...for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things."

~Matthew 6:31-32

When I look at a healthy, Godly family, the best cared for in the household are the children. We know that kids have no worries, yet they are taken care of because their parents love and cherish them.

"Let the ways of childish confidence and freedom from care, which so please you and win your heart in your own little ones, teach you what should be your ways with God; and, leaving yourself in His hands, learn to be literally 'careful for nothing'; and you shall find it to be a fact that the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep (as with a garrison) your heart and mind through Christ Jesus." ~Hannah Whitall Smith

Oh, what it would look like if a person fully lived a life of faith in childlike wonder of the Father... I believe this is key to living a life "free of want," as David writes in the beginning of Psalm 23. What does it look like to live a life free of want? It looks like us relying on the Lord to meet our every need and desire--all of it being fulfilled by Jesus.

That is a beautiful relationship.

~Consistency is Key~

Wouldn't it be so cool to have breakfast with Jesus in the flesh? Well, I think the next best thing is to have breakfast with Him knowing His presence is there with me. Just something I've been thinking about. :)

I've been home about 2 months now! The way time flies amazes me. It's definitely had its pros and cons, not going to lie, but it makes me so incredibly thankful for my family and all their love and support. I miss my YWAM family, the worship sessions, the cold Colorado weather, and just all the experiences. I think the hardest part has been staying disciplined and having quiet times every day. And, not beating myself up over the times that I don't have the 1-hour-soak-session-types that I like to envision every day. Something I've learned is that quiet times are great, but I can spend time with Jesus anywhere, doing anything. It doesn't just have to be sitting down reading my Bible, although that is great because we should desire to dig in to the Word. It can be while I'm driving to work, watching the sunset at the beach, or baking cookies. The most important thing is choosing to spend that time with Him; inviting Him to be there and being sensitive to what He's saying to you. Being consistent in spending time with Him on a regular basis is key, just as it is in any other relationship you have.

I'm loving being home and back in ministry with my family. We've done worship 4 weekends at different churches since I've been back. I really missed singing with my parents and watching my studly little brother, who's not so little anymore and almost 14 (what!?), rip on the bass. I'm so blessed by my family.

Also, I applied to the Phase II/School of Ministry Development at YWAM Denver this fall, and I got accepted! It's a three month school that ends just before Christmas, and I'm SOOO excited. :)
Thank you still for all your prayers!
~LC~

¡Pura Vida!

¡Pura Vida!

What a whirlwind these past couple weeks, and even months, have been. I apologize for not posting this earlier! I wish I could have posted more during my outreach in Costa Rica, but our time was extremely busy with ministry and internet was limited. So, I'll give you a large update on all that we did during our time there! :)

As you from the last update, we started by working with Homes of Hope. The three families we built homes for were so extremely blessed and thankful for all that we did for them. Those weeks were filled with a lot of manual labor. We were doing things like leveling ground, digging holes, carrying buckets of dirt up hills, bringing cinder blocks down to the sites, and more. It was hard work, but it was SO rewarding. God worked on our hearts and blessed us through blessing others.

My team plus a few friends, with one

of the families in front of their home

Another picture of me and a little boy who stole my heart.

Isn't he precious? He lived nearby and would always come to be with us.

We also worked with Freedom Streets, the ministry working to help get prostitutes off the streets by giving them jobs in jewelry making. 

Here's a picture from one of our days with those ladies

And another one with more of my team playing with kids

We also went to La Cumbre Christian Adventure Camp. There we built friendships with the kids who came for an "open camp" week, did skits for them, and worked all around the camp. The last night of the open camp, we had a bonfire and were able to go around and pray for all the kids. That was such a special time.

During our time there, I received a phone call that my great grandma, Eva Lathen, passed away. It was hard to be away and miss her memorial service, but I was blessed to know her and am so thankful for the Godly life she lived. My team was so supportive, and I really appreciate how wonderful they were.

Two of the girls who came to La Cumbre,

with my friend Haylee and me

After La Cumbre, we left to be part of something called the Bible project. The goal of the Bible Project is to get the same version of the Bible into every home in Costa Rica in ten years. We went to a beautiful town called Orosi for door-to-door evangelism and Bible distribution. This was a type of ministry that I realized I really love. The people were SO friendly and welcoming to us. They were completely receptive and would often invite us into their homes and share with us about the things they needed prayer for. Overall, we distributed 360 Bibles! It was an amazing time. :)

 Dios Habla Hoy (God speaks today) is the version of the Bible we distributed

My distribution team and translator with one of the

ladies who invited us into her home. She was a sweetheart!

After this, we did something called NIKO. NIKO is a YWAM program that is a five-day, wilderness survival training. Part of NIKO is not knowing what's going to happen, so we aren't supposed to talk about it too much. But what I can say is that it was a really difficult, yet amazing time with God. We had no choice but to rely on Him, and it was SO good. It was a stretching time, but I know that my whole team would agree that it was worth it in the end. :)

We also went to a little beach town called Jaco. During the day, Jaco was absolutely beautiful. The main street has a lot of touristy shops and restaurants, and it's right next to the beach. When the sun would set, you could feel the spiritual atmosphere shift. Jaco is known for it's sex tourism, so human trafficking and prostitution is a huge industry there. While we were there, we did a lot of kids ministry. There were many Nicaraguan squatter families who had been there ten years or so, living in tiny houses made out of sheet metal. We would go into this big field surrounded with trees, and kids, anywhere from infants to about 14 years old, would come to be with us. We told them Bible stories, played games, and one day we washed their feet like Jesus did with the disciples. You could see they were embarassed, but it was so cool to do that service for them.

Our last week of ministry was spent with Freedom Streets again. We helped put together the sets of jewelry and get them ready to sell. We also did a night of prayer on the streets. We took a van to downtown San Jose, where we spent our time in a park. There were girls selling themselves on the corners, and we were right next to them singing and praying. Teresa and Ruth, the girls heading up that ministry night, went to talk to the ladies and continue building their friendships with them and witness to them about Jesus. As we were praying, we could feel the spiritual darkness being pushed back. It has no place in the presence of God!

Most of the girls from my team with Teresa and Ruth,

who taught us about the trafficking in Costa Rica

All in all, outreach was a life-changing experience. God taught me a lot about doing EVERYTHING as unto Him. Whatever it is that I am doing can be done as unto the Lord, which is a life-changing perspective to keep.

I want to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone who supported me, financially and in prayer. THANK YOU for being sensitive to the Holy Spirit and helping send me to Costa Rica and to the entire Discipleship Training School. There are no words to describe how much it changed my life.

I'm keeping all of you in my prayers and praying for revival in your families.

God bless you!!!

~LC~

Beginning of Outreach

Hey everyone!
Sorry for not posting earlier. Our outreach here has been jam-packed all the time, which is a great problem to have!  I'll try to give you a brief overview of the things we have done so far. I can't believe we have been here almost two weeks already.
Our flight arrived the morning of the 15th, and we came straight to the base here in San Jose. We were able to settle and rest that day and went to our first Spanish church service the next morning, which was fun because I could understand quite a bit of it! 
Our first week, we primarily worked with Homes of Hope (Casas de Esperanza), which is a ministry that builds homes for families in the slums and who are well-connected with a local church. We sanded down furniture multiple times and stained it, and then went to the actual sites where we dug holes and laid foundations for three homes. It was an amazing time even though it was several long days of manual labor. I really enjoyed it We also got to love on the kids there, perform some skits and dances, and do other ministry with them. It was so good and so rewarding to be with the kids.
This week we started with working with Freedom Streets, which is a ministry that helps gets prostitutes off the streets and gives them another way to make money, by making jewelry instead. We first sorted out food to give them, ranging from apples and beans to milk and tamales. Then we went and met with about 10 ladies, collected beautiful lanyards they had crafted, and handed out kits for them to make earrings. Later, we went to an orphanage for disabled kids, who are all cared for by nuns. It was a very sobering couple of hours. We just loved those kids in whatever way we could, whether it was feeding a baby or running our fingers through the hair of a paralyzed child. Our contact Steve said a lot of them were probably abused to the point of their severe disability. I can't help but cry at the thought that people do that to children. It breaks my heart. But through it all, seeing the sweet ladies who take care of all the kids was so inspiring. I have a tremendous amount of respect for their dedication to those kids and the Lord. What a ministry!
For Christmas, we were blessed to go to our contact's home, which was incredible. Steve and his family moved into a beautiful, new home one month ago, and they were already willing to host a wonderful Christmas lunch for about 30 people. It was an amazing day with a gorgeous view, light rain, and fellowship with my team. We also watched the extended version of the first Lord of the Rings. Classic YWAM holiday. 
Yesterday and today we have been doing work around the base, and tomorrow we go back to work with Homes of Hope! We are so excited to see the kids again because we spent so much time with them last week.
In everything that we have been doing, I feel so content. I am absolutely loving being here, and I just feel like I'm made for this. It's so awesome, and God has been doing so much in and through me and my team. Something God has been developing in my life is my hunger for the Word. It's crazy how much I want to read every single day. In the past, I'd always rather listen to sermons and whatnot, but I've caught the reading bug.  I love it. 
In closing, I have a request for prayer because after this, I'm pretty set on doing a School of Worship in Denver, which starts April 1st. It would give me enough time to go back to Cali, spend time with my family and friends, and raise some support before going back to Colorado for three months. So prayer and support would be much appreciated! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and lift my team up in prayer. You are the best.
Hope you all had a beautiful Christmas Day celebrating our Savior. In 2013, let's serve God better and more than we did this year!
God bless,
Lynelle

Outreach in 3 Days

Yes, it's real. I can't believe it, but I really do leave in three days.
Every Wednesday night we have "family night," and we talk about what's going on and just take time to fellowship with each other like a family. Last week we did a "giving night" during that time, where people pray and ask God to show them what to give away and who to give it to. I've heard insane stories of people giving away thousands of dollars and other stuff, but I couldn't wait to see what would come out of our own giving night. One girl decided to buy my friend Gabi a roundtrip ticket home so she could be with her family because her cousin had unexpectedly passed away the night before. It was so sweet. Another guy on staff gave his car away to someone else on staff, who had been praying for a car. Just a couple examples of many awesome, serious God moments. Family nights are usually 45 minutes to an hour, but this night took over three hours to complete.
Saturday, we had Lovefeast. We all dressed up fancy, had dinner, received special awards, and each room performed for everyone. My award was, "Most Likely to be a Disney Princess." Haha! :) My room did a boy band mash-up dance to the songs Bye Bye Bye, Quit Playing Games With My Heart, and One Thing. It was super fun :) The staff ended the night doing a dance to "Hot Cheetos and Takis," which is the most ridiculously catchy song I've ever heard. It was amazing! We have the best staff ever :)
So, Thursday we have to clean out our dorms and be completely packed up! My team will head down the mountain Friday afternoon and wait there until leaving for the airport at around 8 pm. We board around 11:30, and will arrive in Costa Rica early in the morning :) SOOO stoked.
Please pray for my team, for unity, health, traveling safety, prepared hearts, and wisdom for whatever we encounter during our time there. I have also completely lost my voice, so please pray for that specifically. Thank you so much!
Hopefully I'll still be able to post once a week or so. Love you all!
~LC

Outreach Prep Week

Last week was solely focused on preparing for outreach. As you can probably imagine, we were all SO excited to get started :)
We were each given a personal schedule so we would know when and where to be to learn the dramas and skits. I'm in six dramas, and they are all so special and unique.
Tuesday, we learned two dramas put to song. The first one is called "All the Poor and Powerless," and it is the product of a vision God gave to a staff member named Mary. It shows Jesus coming alongside broken people and showing them how to live the way He created us to. It's beautiful.
The second is "Facade." It shows the main character putting on different masks to hide who she really is because she is ashamed of what lies underneath. But then Jesus comes, breaks those masks from her face, and loves her for who she is.
That night, we did story time by the fire. Each student had learned two Bible stories by memory and told one in front of the group. It was really cool to see how people portrayed the stories differently even if they were repeated.
Wednesday, we had kids ministry! Mary taught us how to make balloon animals and showed us what else we would be taking with us in the kids ministry bags for outreach. After that, two girls and I learned a little skit also for kids ministry called "Smiles," which shows joy being spread around through smiles. :)
Thursday, we learned a really powerful drama called "Forgiveness." This one is so much fun because my whole team gets to participate, including my outreach leader, Lars. In this one, I play Satan, which is so much fun. Haha! It shows the main character being led by Christ as the beginning, but then he gets caught up in temptation, and I come in and lead him into a bunch of other things that of course don't fulfill him. He ends up getting mad at me and makes the run back for Jesus. But the temptations and I get to throw him to the ground and beat him up until Jesus steps in to take it for him. Then all the evil people fall to the ground at the end. It's so awesome!
After that, the girls on my team learned a dance called "Shackles." It's a lot of fun, really fast-paced, and we got a good two hour cardio workout while learning it. ;)
We learned our last skit on Friday called "Ragman." It's the oldest drama they have which shows the basic Gospel of Jesus taking away our hurts and sins to the cross and conquering death. Mary said this one never fails to be one of the most powerful dramas they have, and people get saved left and right.
The whole week was such a blast. We are continuing to grow as a team and hear from the Lord about outreach.
We leave in NINE days. How did that happen!? I think time speeds up when you join YWAM!
Thanks for keeping me and my team in your prayers!
Blessings,
Lynelle