A Change of Plans; A Change in Directions; In God I Trust!

Hi all,

How is everyone going? Life here in Newcastle has so far been an interesting journey. One, not quite yet over, but taking a completely different directional turn of events.

Whilst my school, the Compassion DTS, of 18 people, are going on outreach (9 of them being my team that is heading to Byron Bay, Toowoomba and Cambodia); I will not be joining them on this adventure. Nor will I be staying at the YWAM Newcastle base for debrief and commissioning, as is what usually happens after outreach. Instead I will be taking a different path. I don’t know yet what that path is exactly, nor am I writing this update to seek pity or sympathy, or any other emotion, but I am letting you know, as you have supported me currently, and in the past, for several reasons.

One, is to let you know that my plans have changed.

Two, is for those of you who have supported me in the lecture phase, thank you! Your money did not go to waste… do not feel like it did. Whilst part of me is struggling with the thought that this was a complete waste of time, I KNOW God is doing something, and it started here at YWAM Newcastle. I have learnt so much here, and it is somewhere in my head (and hopefully making its way down to my heart), and I have you to thank, for giving me this opportunity to get to know God more; to know Him more on a personal level and not just on a theological level (that we often slip into).

Three, is for those of you who gave me money specifically for outreach. I have already contacted you if your money did go towards outreach fees, and it should be in your email inbox now. Please let me know what your decision is. I am happy if you want your money back, but I will also be blessed and will accept it, if you want your money to go into the account I’ve set up for when I do complete a DTS or do some other God-called mission trip. I will not spend any of this money, unless God leads me into doing something for Him again (it is set aside for God-called work), which I am trusting and believing He will, as I have no reason to be alive, except by His grace and glory. This is not me giving up something because it’s hard. I am not giving up. This is me, changing direction, to seek further help, with the advice, encouragement, and support of YWAM Newcastle, on being restored more physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, where YWAM is not equipped to do so.

And fourthly, I am telling you this, because I would really appreciate your prayer and support. I don’t need any discouragement, as my mind is creating enough of that already, nor do I want you feeling sorry for me, as it’s another “incomplete” thing… but your prayers would be greatly appreciated. I have no idea what God has in store for me. All I know is that right now it’s not YWAM outreach, and it’s probably trying to get some holistic help so that I can be who God originally created me to be. Whether that is in NSW, or WA, or Vic, or outside of Australia, I don’t know. All I know is that who I am right now, how I feel (incomplete and broken) is not how God wants me to feel or what He’s made me to be.

Part of this update is also for my YWAM school mates (Compassion DTS). You guys are absolute legends. Whilst I struggled to connect with you at first, and was delegated as the tour guide (which I did enjoy), I can never replace the time I’ve had with you guys, with anything better. I know I was here for a reason. I know that each of you have taught or inspired me. I also know that you guys will do amazing things on outreach (and after). You are so God-focused, it’s AMAZING! Keep letting Him be your guide, your fore-runner. Let Him be the scout in front of your army. Follow in His footsteps.

I know I should have told you guys (Compassion DTS) this on Wednesday, when I told you that I wouldn’t be joining you on outreach, but I also have a tendency to push people away, and I have been doing it a little bit the last few (4) weeks, more this week, and will probably also do it next week too. I am not pushing you away because I don’t want you, or have been hurt by you, but because I don’t do well with leaving people, with saying goodbye (remember ‘rejection’ coming up in Father’s Heart of God week?). It’s more a subconscious thing… which ends up hurting me more in the long run (as I sometimes think I am the one being pushed away) and it’s something I am trying to work on (ask some of my best friends – I did it before I came to DTS). So I am letting you know now, so if you think I’m behaving a certain way because of something you have or haven’t done, it’s not because of you, it’s because I’m hurting and trying to put up security walls of protection out of insecurity… But remember that you have significantly and positively impacted me, and God will do amazing things with, for and through you – LET HIM!!!




I also want to say thanks to all of you who have supported me through this. Thank you to my prayer and financial supporters, for all the support you have given me in getting me here and staying here. I wish I could show you more gratitude than just a mention in this blog post… you guys have played a huge role in the changing of my life.






To the Compassion DTS leaders, thanks heaps (akun) for having the patience to put up with my struggles, and for trying to guide me onto the right path; for not letting me quit; for letting God speak through you to me, even when it seemed weird or I didn’t seem to accept the word that He had for me and hurt you through the process. Thank you for taking the time out of your life (even though it’s what God has called you to do) to minister to all of us and for obeying God – even when you were in a new phase of life and wanted a chance to settle into that new step of life.





Wanda nalu (thanks) to my team mates, for coming alongside the solo-Aussie and letting her into your groups of friendship; for dealing (and coping) with me when I was upset or isolating myself, and praying for me when I was unwell. Thanks for caring, when I didn’t deserve it.



And last but not least, thank you to all my friends and family back home. I know that you, of all people, would probably find this hardest to hear (and I haven’t told a lot of you – nor really anyone, even here in Newie, until now, because I don’t want to hurt you), but know that God has a reason for it – whilst I don’t know what it is, I am relying on Romans 8:28 and what I know of the character of God, that He will use this to bring His name glory, and it will all work out for good. I love you guys, with as much love as I understand, and am so thankful that God has placed you in my life throughout the years. You have each moulded me into the woman I am becoming today. Thank you so much!

Now back to the more 'formal' stuff...

As I have said above, I’ve learnt heaps, and when I’ve had a chance to process, know clearly what I have learnt (and it’s in my heart) I am hoping to post some of it here, to share with you what your support has helped me in. Two things that have surfaced a lot and have been slowly becoming clear in the last two months are that I cannot place God in a box and expect Him only to show up in a certain way, for if I do that then I might as well be like a horse with blinkers on… unable to see fully, and potentially missing out on what God actually wants to show me. The other thing is that Jesus is a rescuer… I don’t know how He is a rescuer yet… but I am believing that He will rescue me. I do know that He’s rescued us all from our sins and we have authority, under His name, to step out from that bondage… we don’t need to live in our sin; we are not held down by our past or our family’s past… we are a new creation; we are FREE in JESUS’ name!

Whilst I don’t know what the next few months entail; whilst I came here in hope that God would show Himself to me and give me steps to take for the future… a guide of what He has in store for me; whilst everything is up in the air, and I at this moment, I am angry and hurt with God (and trying to deal with it), I am also trusting in Him, as there is no one else in this World who knows what all of us should be doing AND still loves us, even when we’ve walked away from Him and His path for our lives. So at the moment all I know is that I am trusting God, and whilst I’m looking at different options, the only definite option I have and know at the moment is to trust in God!

Again, thank you for all your support in getting me and keeping me here, and for the love you have shown me (whether you’ve known me for only a couple of months, or for my whole life), it’s meant a lot!

I hope to hear how your lives are going and what you’ve been up to while I’m been away. Have a very merry Christmas and a blessed New Years and GBUG (God Bless U Good).

Kara

Eight Weeks in Compact-Mode

Hey guys,


It’s been awhile since I’ve given you a lengthy update. How are you all?
How’s life?

Life for me, down in YWAM Newy is going great. There’s a lot of things happening, some great, and some not so great, but when you know that God is in control of everything, do you really need to worry about the things that aren’t going as initially planned?

I’m about to start my Week 9 down here, which is ‘Lordship’. Already I have attended the following weeks and topics:

Week 1: Hearing God’s Voice (taught by Sarah McCutcheon – YWAM Newy staff)
Week 2: Father’s Heart of God (David Stevenson – YWAM Newcastle Base Director)
Week 3: Fear of God (Mark Brokenshire – Education Dean of YWAM University of the Nations, Australia)
Week 4: God’s Character (Natalie Neubauer – YWAM Newy Staff)
Week 5: Bible Study (Jonathon Spainhour – YWAM Townsville Staff)
Week 6: Spiritual Warfare (Peter Warren – YWAM Denver, Colorado, Staff)
Week 7: Holy Spirit (Keven Norris – YWAM Uni of the Nations - Kona, Hawaii)
Week 8: Evangelism (Stevie Lujan – YWAM Newcastle Staff)

There has been so much taught, and so much to take in (and apply to life) that I am amazed my brain hasn’t exploded. I can’t really explain what we’ve learnt, as I think my brain started to have the retention span of a sponge, and so whilst I know it’s in there, I can’t pull it out of the millions of neurons that are located within my skull… but I will endeavour to list the highlight I’ve learnt from each week.

Week 1 (Hearing God’s Voice)
It’s a relationship NOT a formula. It does not happen instantly; like friendship, it takes time… The more you hang with God, the closer that friendship will form. Each person hears God differently (hence there is no clear formula). We need to share the relationship with God (taking time to listen to Him, when we talk to Him, and let Him feed into us) and not just stalk God (like we do on facebook)!

Week 2 (Father’s Heart of God)
God made Himself vulnerable, by wanting us to call Him Father. There is two types of pride – big wheel pride (the one we often think of) and little wheel pride (‘I’m nothing’, ‘worthless’, etc. – saying that you’re less value than the value God has given you) (Numbers 13:32: If you see yourself less than God sees you; then eventually others will see you, the same way that you see yourself!).

Ask God what His opinion of you is…

Mine was:
“God loves me like a newborn child is first loved by their Father. God sees me as His blood daughter – unable to lose the identity, the value, the worth!” (Wednesday 12th of October, 2011)

Don’t reject the blessings (or compliments) God has given you!

Week 3: Fear of God (FOG)
• Society has changed its standards over time; signified by pre-modernism, modernism and post-modernism.
• Satisfaction comes through fear of God.
• Every society has 7 spheres of influence.
• Knowing God through the Bible, Jesus, creation and revelation!
• When we fear God (out of respect), our desire for sin lessens.
• Get your needs met by God, not by man!

Summary: Recognise God as all powerful! But a fear out of reverence, with His love and care for us; resulting in our dislike/hate of evil doings.

Week 4: God’s Character
How we view God depends on the lens that we decide to look through (e.g. history of a rough life – we can look through that lens, as if God is mean and harsh).
We can see God’s character by looking at nature. This was really cool because it was and is probably one of the loudest ways God speaks to me!

For example, sitting on a cliff edge ledge, jutting out from Fort Scratchley, overlooking Newcastle, taught me the following about God:

1. Ocean waves – God is releasing, refreshing, renewing… each wave brings new life, like each breath of God we inhale.
2. Watching a big coal ship being guided into port by 3 tug boats – seeing where God has been after, but not necessarily during – God is guiding.
   
   
   
   
3. Seeing lizards fossicking in and out of the ledge, even though there’s a 10-20 metre drop below, they’re secure and just gliding in and out of the crevices, knowing they’re okay. God is cheeky/adventureful-adventurous!
4. Butterflies flying around flittingly and fully (only being alive for 3 days), just enjoying life and living it to the fullest joyfully. Living for the moment!
5. God is strong, powerful, thick, undefinable… Looking towards the horizon, and seeing thick storm clouds coming in, making the horizon’s line between the clouds and ocean indistinguishable. God cannot be defined!
   

God wants our full attention and focus! He is a jealous God! He wants our full love and affection!

Self-summary: God cannot be put into a box; however we can try to put Him in a box, based on our history/past. It is only through realising this point and being more open minded and changing our attitude, that we realise that God is so much bigger than we can ever describe. We need to become childlike, trusting without questioning!

Week 5: Bible Study
Basically this week was different ways to interpret the Bible; from doing a basic grammar lesson to using different Internet sources. A lot of the information can only be presented in context of the full week, so I can’t really allocate specific points to this area, except that we went through Philemon, as a class, and the whole week’s lecture was over skype. An interesting week of lectures, that’s for sure.

Week 6: Spiritual Warfare
I really appreciated this week’s lectures - The structure, the information, and the amount of references. It was taught at Tahlee (An old Christian Bible College, near Port Stephens), with great views, in amongst nature. We joined two other DTSs (Discipleship Training Schools), one being from the Cook Islands, and the other from Island Breeze (Woollongong). All of us were serving YWAM staff and leaders from all over the South Pacific and Australia, in YWAM’s National Leaders Meeting. It was AMAZING!!! I made some great friends in the few days I got to share the experience with. I also experienced my first vision (from God) here, in one of our weekly intercession meetings we have… which I may share in a later post.

Some of the points I learnt from this week are as follows:

Westerners have a harder time grasping the concept of spiritual warfare, because we generally believe in only what we can see and touch. Satan’s power is real, but God is in control overall. The devil is not at fault, for everything that happens. God gave us a choice to choose a lifestyle, as well as tools we can use. If we don’t guard our own mind, spirit, and body, than we can’t blame God for not protecting us.

God is not limited by anyone or anything, but He does limit Himself!

There IS power in prayer!

God has given us authority to speak against Satan, but we have to know AND believe that we have that authority!

God values love, over control. His mind can change! He did not create any of us to be evil. Nothing limits God!

Everything God created is sanctified (I Corinthians 10:25-26). We pray over meals to sanctify it (originating from Paul’s time, where it may have been offered to idols, etc. – sort of like halal I guess) (I Timothy 4:5).

Week 7: Holy Spirit

• Our Worldview affects how we handle God.
  
• The Holy Spirit may have a harder time getting through to us, because of our worldviews.
• We have emotions and physical pain for a reason, they’re both good!
• It is okay, and should actually be encouraged, to express how you’re feeling in church and in life. If you don’t feel like worshipping, say so! Tell God how you feel… God, I don’t feel like worshipping… God I am angry at You, but follow it through with a BUT (like David did)… God I feel alone, everyone has abandoned me, but I know that You are always with me and I will praise You for it! Stuffing the emotions, is not giving it to God, nor are you dealing with it.
• If you’re not actively seeking out a deeper relationship with God – Your love is growing cold – this is relevant to our relationships in marriage and with God! You need commitment AND desire in anything that lasts!
• We need to go to God first, as our root source of help!
• Our relationship with the Holy Spirit, is the same as our relationship with God, it takes time!!! DON’T GIVE UP!!!!!
  

Week 8: Evangelism
God dwells where there is tension! Do you see a need or a problem, and you want someone to fix it? Why don’t you fix it? Why don’t you do something to change it? Do you not feel qualified enough, or that it’s not where your gifts are meant to be used? God works best when we’re out of our comfort zone!

If you can’t share the love of God out of your own experience, don’t share it. What point is there to us evangelising, if we can’t say how God’s changed our lives and show it? It’s like trying to sell a cake to someone who needs to know all the ingredients and what the flavour is, and we have no idea what to tell them, because we didn’t make the cake, or try it, before selling it…

God’s biggest expression of love is not that He’s forgiven us, but that He’s made us. We were created for bigger reasons than to just be forgiven. Everything in creation is based on relationships! We were created in the image of the trinity; chemical elements are relational particles, and humans need relationships! Nothing exists that does not have some relationship component in its structure.

Jesus needs to be at the centre of the relationship, and evangelising! We do not want something like Jones Town to occur again, where the focus of Jesus was lost.


(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S_d1eVv0E8)


So that was what I’ve been learning these past 8 weeks. There is so much content that could be further explained in what I’ve written, and even more that has not been written.

This last Friday I also had the chance to experience the American holiday ‘Thanksgiving’, it was definitely a very thankful time. We had so much food – including American tasting pumpkin pie, apple pie, jelly, bread rolls, brownies, etc. The main thing I found interesting though was the easiness of slipping into an attitude of frustration or negativity. We had some guests over, and so with table places only created, decorated, and set for the All Generation DTS and the Compassion DTS, there were not enough seats for about 10 of us, including myself.

I had been looking forward to the night’s celebrations all day, and to not be a part of the central celebration hurt – I wanted to experience the full flavour! This opened a can of worms where I felt frustrations at the pace of some of the activities that had occurred in the afternoon and the fact that there were guests there too… I really had to examine my heart deeply and realign my attitude.

It was my choice to help some friends with their errands at the pharmacy and shops, and it was my choice to decide to change out of wet clothes, into something dry; and thanksgiving is a time that is meant to be shared… so if I wanted it to be, I could be thankful we could share an essence of YWAM with people that weren’t originally from YWAM (which I did decide to do) and was also able to make our own special thanksgiving celebration, between the 4 of us (all from Compassion and none of us having experienced Thanksgiving before). It was a great night!




There have also been a few more things that have changed, and I will let you know what they are, but for now, I think I need to end this post, blog it, and allow you guys to read it, before you fall asleep from how long it has become.

Let me know how you’re going, and until next time, God Bless U Good (GBUG).

Eight Weeks in Compact-Mode (photos to come)

Hey guys,

It’s been awhile since I’ve given you a lengthy update. How are you all?
How’s life?

Life for me, down in YWAM Newy is going great. There’s a lot of things happening, some great, and some not so great, but when you know that God is in control of everything, do you really need to worry about the things that aren’t going as initially planned?

I’m about to start my Week 9 down here, which is ‘Lordship’. Already I have attended the following weeks and topics:

Week 1: Hearing God’s Voice (taught by Sarah McCutcheon – YWAM Newy staff)
Week 2: Father’s Heart of God (David Stevenson – YWAM Newcastle Base Director)
Week 3: Fear of God (Mark Brokenshire – Education Dean YWAM University of Nations, Aus)
Week 4: God’s Character (Natalie Neubauer – YWAM Newy Staff)
Week 5: Bible Study (Jonathon Spainhour – YWAM Townsville Staff)
Week 6: Spiritual Warfare (Peter Warren – YWAM Denver, Colorado, Staff)
Week 7: Holy Spirit (Keven Norris – YWAM Uni of the Nations - Kona, Hawaii)
Week 8: Evangelism (Stevie Lujan – YWAM Newcastle Staff)

There have been so much taught, and so much to take in (and apply to life) that I am amazed my brain hasn’t exploded. I can’t really explain what we’ve learnt, as I think my brain started to have the retention span of a sponge, and so whilst I know it’s in there, I can’t pull it out of the millions of neurons that are located within my skull… but I will endeavour to list the highlight I’ve learnt from each week.

Week 1 (Hearing God’s Voice)
It’s a relationship NOT a formula. It does not happen instantly; like friendship, it takes time… The more you hang with God, the closer that friendship will form. Each person hears God differently (hence there is no clear formula). We need to share the relationship with God (taking time to listen to Him, when we talk to Him, and let Him feed into us) and not just stalk God (like we do on facebook)!

Week 2 (Father’s Heart of God)
God made Himself vulnerable, by wanting us to call Him Father. There is two types of pride – big wheel pride (the one we often think of) and little wheel pride (‘I’m nothing’, ‘worthless’, etc. – saying that you’re less value than the value God has given you) (Numbers 13:32: If you see yourself less than God sees you; then eventually others will see you, the same way that you see yourself!).

Ask God what His opinion of you is…

Mine was:
“God loves me like a newborn child is first loved by their Father. God sees me as His blood daughter – unable to lose the identity, the value, the worth!” (Wednesday 12th of October, 2011)

Don’t reject the blessings (or compliments) God has given you!

Week 3: Fear of God (FOG)
• Society has changed its standards over time; signified by pre-modernism, modernism and post-modernism.
• Satisfaction comes through fear of God.
• Every society has 7 spheres of influence.
• Knowing God through the Bible, Jesus, creation and revelation!
• When we fear God (out of respect), our desire for sin lessens.
• Get your needs met by God, not by man!

Summary: Recognise God as all powerful! But a fear out of reverence, with His love and care for us; resulting in our dislike/hate of evil doings.

Week 4: God’s Character
How we view God depends on the lens that we decide to look through (e.g. history of a rough life – we can look through that lens, as if God is mean and harsh).
We can see God’s character by looking at nature. This was really cool because it was and is probably one of the loudest ways God speaks to me!

For example, sitting on a cliff edge ledge, jutting out from Fort Scratchley, overlooking Newcastle, taught me the following about God:

1. Ocean waves – God is releasing, refreshing, renewing… each wave brings new life, like each breath of God we inhale.
2. Watching a big coal ship being guided into port by 3 tug boats – seeing where God has been after, but not necessarily during – God is guiding.
3. Seeing lizards fossicking in and out of the ledge, even though there’s a 10-20 metre drop below, they’re secure and just gliding in and out of the crevices, knowing they’re okay. God is cheeky/adventureful-adventurous!
4. Butterflies flying around flittingly and fully (only being alive for 3 days), just enjoying life and living it to the fullest joyfully. Living for the moment!
5. God is strong, powerful, thick, undefinable… Looking towards the horizon, and seeing thick storm clouds coming in, making the horizon’s line between the clouds and ocean indistinguishable. God cannot be defined!

God wants our full attention and focus! He is a jealous God! He wants our full love and affection!

Self-summary: God cannot be put into a box; however we can try to put Him in a box, based on our history/past. It is only through realising this point and being more open minded and changing our attitude, that we realise that God is so much bigger than we can ever describe. We need to become childlike, trusting without questioning!

Week 5: Bible Study
Basically this week was different ways to interpret the Bible; from doing a basic grammar lesson to using different Internet sources. A lot of the information can only be presented in context of the full week, so I can’t really allocate specific points to this area, except that we went through Philemon, as a class, and the whole week’s lecture was over skype. An interesting week of lectures, that’s for sure.

Week 6: Spiritual Warfare
I really appreciated this week’s lectures - The structure, the information, and the amount of references. It was taught at Tahlee (An old Christian Bible College, near Port Stephens), with great views, in amongst nature. We joined two other DTSs (Discipleship Training Schools), one being from the Cook Islands, and the other from Island Breeze (Woollongong). All of us were serving YWAM staff and leaders from all over the South Pacific and Australia, in YWAM’s National Leaders Meeting. It was AMAZING!!! I made some great friends in the few days I got to share the experience with. I also experienced my first vision (from God) here, in one of our weekly intercession meetings we have… which I may share in a later post.

Some of the points I learnt from this week are as follows:

Westerners have a harder time grasping the concept of spiritual warfare, because we generally believe in only what we can see and touch. Satan’s power is real, but God is in control overall. The devil is not at fault, for everything that happens. God gave us a choice to choose a lifestyle, as well as tools we can use. If we don’t guard our own mind, spirit, and body, than we can’t blame God for not protecting us.

God is not limited by anyone or anything, but He does limit Himself!

There IS power in prayer!

God has given us authority to speak against Satan, but we have to know AND believe that we have that authority!

God values love, over control. His mind can change! He did not create any of us to be evil. Nothing limits God!

Everything God created is sanctified (I Corinthians 10:25-26). We pray over meals to sanctify it (originating from Paul’s time, where it may have been offered to idols, etc. – sort of like halal I guess) (I Timothy 4:5).

Week 7: Holy Spirit
• Our Worldview affects how we handle God.
• The Holy Spirit may have a harder time getting through to us, because of our worldviews.
• We have emotions and physical pain for a reason, they’re both good!
• It is okay, and should actually be encouraged, to express how you’re feeling in church and in life. If you don’t feel like worshipping, say so! Tell God how you feel… God, I don’t feel like worshipping… God I am angry at You, but follow it through with a BUT (like David did)… God I feel alone, everyone has abandoned me, but I know that You are always with me and I will praise You for it! Stuffing the emotions, is not giving it to God, nor are you dealing with it.
• If you’re not actively seeking out a deeper relationship with God – Your love is growing cold – this is relevant to our relationships in marriage and with God! You need commitment AND desire in anything that lasts!
• We need to go to God first, as our root source of help!
• Our relationship with the Holy Spirit, is the same as our relationship with God, it takes time!!! DON’T GIVE UP!!!!!
•
Week 8: Evangelism
God dwells where there is tension! Do you see a need or a problem, and you want someone to fix it? Why don’t you fix it? Why don’t you do something to change it? Do you not feel qualified enough, or that it’s not where your gifts are meant to be used? God works best when we’re out of our comfort zone!

If you can’t share the love of God out of your own experience, don’t share it. What point is there to us evangelising, if we can’t say how God’s changed our lives and show it? It’s like trying to sell a cake to someone who needs to know all the ingredients and what the flavour is, and we have no idea what to tell them, because we didn’t make the cake, or try it, before selling it…

God’s biggest expression of love is not that He’s forgiven us, but that He’s made us. We were created for bigger reasons than to just be forgiven. Everything in creation is based on relationships! We were created in the image of the trinity; chemical elements are relational particles, and humans need relationships! Nothing exists that does not have some relationship component in its structure.

Jesus needs to be at the centre of the relationship, and evangelising! We do not want something like Jones Town to occur again, where the focus of Jesus was lost.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S_d1eVv0E8)


So that was what I’ve been learning these past 8 weeks. There is so much content that could be further explained in what I’ve written, and even more that has not been written.

This last Friday I also had the chance to experience the American holiday ‘Thanksgiving’, it was definitely a very thankful time. We had so much food – including American tasting pumpkin pie, apple pie, jelly, bread rolls, brownies, etc. The main thing I found interesting though was the easiness of slipping into an attitude of frustration or negativity. We had some guests over, and so with table places only created, decorated, and set for the All Generation DTS and the Compassion DTS, there were not enough seats for about 10 of us, including myself. I had been looking forward to the night’s celebrations all day, and to not be a part of the central celebration hurt – I wanted to experience the full flavour! This opened a can of worms where I felt frustrations at the pace of some of the activities that had occurred in the afternoon and the fact that there were guests there too… I really had to examine my heart deeply and realign my attitude. It was my choice to help some friends with their errands at the pharmacy and shops, and it was my choice to decide to change out of wet clothes, into something dry; and thanksgiving is a time that is meant to be shared… so if I wanted it to be, I could be thankful we could share an essence of YWAM with people that weren’t originally from YWAM (which I did decide to do) and was also able to make our own special thanksgiving celebration, between the 4 of us (all from Compassion and none of us having experienced Thanksgiving before). It was a great night!

There has also been a few more things that have changed, and I will let you know what they are, but for now, I think I need to end this post, blog it, and allow you guys to read it, before you fall asleep from how long it has become.

Let me know how you’re going, and until next time, God Bless U Good (GBUG).

A Ten Minute Catch Up!

Hey guys,

Right now I am sitting at Gloria Jeans, on Darby Street, in Newcastle, where there is actually great Internet, super hip atmosphere and just a calm feeling about the area, and I have ten minutes free, before I have to leave to catch a train home... but I thought I would use this ten minutes to let you know quickly what has been happening. It will only be short, and I will try and elaborate a lot more when I come back here, on my weekend, on Monday, but in the past month, the following has happened:

Health problems.
God's healing hand.
Doctor's appointments.
Medical Expenses.
Unknown/undiagnosable health problems.
Growing in God.
Confusion.
Trust Lessons.
Friendships.
Serving YWAM leaders from all over the South Pacific and Australia, at Tahlee.
All nighters.
Homework.
Life Lessons.
Random Moments.
Trusting in God when nothing makes sense.
Support Fundraising (still about another $1500 to go)
Some financial support coming in (thanks Owen, Kay, Andy, Sam and Laura!)
Sign Designing for Youth Street, AND painting it!
Video documentary to show you guys what I've been up to (this is still in the process of being made, as I've only got my camera, and limited video editing facilities, unlike what I have at home - but it's still totally achievable).

So this is just some of what's been happening in this last month. I'm also looking into MailChimp, so hopefully that will also be another tool I will utilise in keeping you guys informed... and maybe (joining my Mum on) twitter (shock horror, I know!). I will endeavour to give you a full picture on Monday, when I make the trip back here again, but until, God bless and have the best weekend!
GBUG
Kara

Children at Risk (Battambang - Cambodia) Video

As most of you know, Cambodia has left an imprint on my heart, and will always tug my heart strings. This video was created by the Battambang (North East Cambodia) University of Nations (YWAM's tertiary study facility, similar to our TAFE, University, etc.), where it represents just a snipit of what Cambodia is like and the need that has not yet been filled in Cambodia, as well as other parts of the world!

This is something I know I am on this planet to do. What I cannot do physically, monetarily, or spiritually; I can do with the gifts God has given me. I want to genuinely care for those who are looking for love and a purpose in life. Whilst I still have not worked out what my purpose in life is yet, I am using what I have, and hoping God fills in the rest.

If we each do what we can, who knows what the world would look like!


Map of Cambodia, with Battambang in red.

Children at risk from uofnbattambang on Vimeo.

What is Compassion? ~ A Jeremy Randall Video Response ~

Are you wanting to make a difference?!?!

This is one of the videos that has been created, promoting the Newcastle YWAM Compassion DTS...

ARE YOU WILLING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

TO HELP MAKE A CHANGE?

TO FIGHT THE INJUSTICE?

EVEN IF IT'S ONE STEP AT A TIME?

JOIN ME!

Compassion Oct DTS 2011 from YWAM Newcastle Media on Vimeo.