This post has taken a while to put up, not because of procrastination or because I was really busy this week, but because last week was full of stuff and I wasn't quite sure what to share at first.
Last week (not this one) our speaker was a Kiwi named Mark Parker from the North Island. He goes to a lot of bases and speaks on Relationship Week or about the Lordship of Christ (which he spoke on here). The snowboarders had him as well for their week on Lordship and they said we were in for an intense week.
To put it lightly Mark is a dynamic speaker which means that he pumps music at the beginning and end of each lecture and jumps around with us, yells on occasion, and is incredibly passionate about the Lordship of Christ. Instead of trying to explain to you what that means I'll skip ahead to Friday because that was what the whole week culminated in.
Normally on Fridays we have lecture until 1pm and then after lunch we go to Christchurch to do a little ministry and shopping. On this Friday we were working with Mark from 10am until almost midnight (don't worry Dad we did stop to eat!). The whole day was focussed on going through a metaphorical tabernacle to lead to an encounter with God (read the book of Hebrews for a reference point). We started out in thanksgiving, just saying things that we were thankful for over our time in DTS.
After that we went to praise speaking out truth about God's character. Speaking praise releases God to be the truth He is in your life. All the guys linked arms (with all the girls watching) and two at a time had to praise God and then force their way physically through the other guys to get to the cross. It was amazing seeing them step up and be the strong men of God that He has created them to be. By the time they had finished it was lunch time so us girls had a break.
When our turn came around, the guys were asked to lie on the ground and we had to each take a turn walking over their backs while speaking out praise. The idea was that in true relationship a man will lay down his life for a woman and she will support and encourage him (submission). This was so much harder for me than I ever thought it would be....realizing that I had to trust not in my own strength, but on the strength of others especially God was sobering and I was in tears by the time I got to the end.
After that Mark had prepared us to pray about what God wanted us to bring before Him as a Fellowship Offering--a way of asking for God's protection over things we value. I felt like I was supposed to bring my teaching certificate because I had been holding onto my academic successes as my own instead of giving everything (not just the tough moments) to God. To me this means that I am giving my future to God, and if it means that I get to teach again--fantastic, and if not then that's ok too. It's me saying that His plans are better than mine. At this point I'm really not sure where and what I'm doing after DTS, but the idea of coming back here to staff is on my heart as well as going back to Prince George. Not too worried about it now because there is a lot that will happen before I need to decide. Just letting it simmer in the back of my mind and prayers.
After the Fellowship Offering we were asked to bring a Burnt Offering (Sin Offering)...basically something that God had been telling us was holding us back from being in relationship with Him. At first I didn't know what I should do and then it occurred to me that I have struggled for a long time with a huge fear of loneliness. This fear of ending up alone (single) has led me to believe things about myself that aren't true (I'm single because of the way I look, the things I do, who I am) and also to lean on my own strength to get through things instead of on God (Pride in my Independence). Saying these things out loud in front of everyone, especially the guys was really hard and if I thought I'd broken down before, the floodgates were opened wide here. Mark encouraged my DTS team to come pray for me, but he made me reach out to them and ask for the prayer which I don't do well. Anyway having this weight off me has been so amazing and even though I still catch myself doing the same things again I am consciously trying to change my thinking.
After the fellowship offering we were all exhausted we had a time to speak words of truth into each other and to pray together. We broke for lunch and then some people got baptised in the river nearby which was pretty amazing. At dinner I broke a bunch of glasses and without knowing it I cut my foot so I was forced to lean on others and got some amazing piggybacks from some of the guys out to the river. I really felt like God was bringing the lesson home....don't lean on your strength!!
When we got back to the base we had time to worship again and then were annointed with oil representing the Holy Spirit and then had time to prophesy over each other which was amazing...basically we stood in two lines back to back and then stood quietly and listened to see if God had something to tell that person....without knowing who they were! It was amazing to hear the words that people had for each other.
After that we took communion and ate together and then had an amazing time of worship where the veil of the holy of holies was removed.
Anyway I have more to say, but I have to eat breakfast now....
No comments:
Post a Comment