Just a quick little update. Life is GREAT! I’m at the 3 month point and am starting to pray and think upon what comes next. So you can be praying for clarity, wisdom, and direction for this process.

I am on one of the IHOP dance teams. I will be dancing with them at the Prayer and Prophetic conference this weekend (10/15 at 6pm and 10/16 at 6pm). I will also possibly be dancing with the team at this year’s Onething Conference (12/28-12/31). I may also start dancing on Sundays at 6pm at the FCF service.

Our small group is listening to a teaching called the Mystical Life of Communion right now. It’s ruining us all. And we’ve only gotten through the first session! It is taught by Stephen Venable, one of the teachers at the school of ministry. So far he’s talked about the incarnate thirst that resides in all of humanity, how it is an inescapable reality, and how our only hope of satisfaction is a place of continual communion with Christ.

My mom just recently sent me something with a similar message…really good recommended, FREE reading. Frank Laubach’s Lettters by a Modern Mystic: http://www.cfointernational.org/pdf/Letters%20By%20A%20Modern%20Mystic.pdf

I will be emailing another newsletter soon so more news will be coming.

Psalm 45:10-11
I’ve been meditating on this Psalm quite a bit this week.  I’ve struggled with a little bit of homesickness and mostly just missing my family …especially missing my dad’s 50th birthday and my brothers 13th birthday this week.  Oh and a couple nights ago I sat next to a lady that smelled just like Nanny…and I remembered how much I miss you!  But I have been called into a Psalm 45:10-11 season right now and I love the LORD’s words of promise in Mark 10:

28 Peter began to say to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, 30 but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.

Plus I got to Skype into Gabriel’s family birthday party this morning…so that was SUPER fun!  I love my family so much!

Recent Breakthrough and Dance Opportunities
I can’t go into detail due to many reasons, but the past three weeks I’ve received a lot of personal breakthrough and inner healing and it culminated last night during Misty’s 6-8pm set.  All the puzzle pieces that I’ve been getting ever since I got here seemed to come together all at once!  I love it when God does that!  It was fantastic!

Additionally both last night and the night before the LORD confirmed that I am supposed to plug in and explore the dance community here at IHOP…something I’d been waiting on His timing to be released to do.  I will be going to dance auditions on Sunday at 1pm and am super excited just to network and connect and learn more about what God is doing with dance here at IHOP.

Schedule Change
The One Thing Intern schedule changed last week and we no longer are off on Mondays.  We are now off Thur 5pm to Fri 5pm.  Our new schedule is going to be a little more intense so pray for grace…I can already feel Him meeting me, though, so I am expectant that this new schedule will ultimately be even better.

Finger Nails
Ok, I know this is super silly but I just realized the other day that after 25 years (or however long) I have finally overcome my nail biting/picking habit.  In fact I wasn’t even trying (though I had been previously desiring it) but it has been at least 3 months now that I haven’t bit or picked!  It’s the little things that often bring me the most joy, so I just thought I’d share…plus Nanny, hopefully you are reading this and can be super proud of me!  Haha!

Running
I hate running for exercise…or have.  But the last couple weeks I have this frequent DESIRE to go running!  I think the LORD is giving me grace to pursue strengthening myself aerobically since I’ve been dancing more and need to be stronger in this area…its always been one of my weak areas.  So that’s fun that He’s been initiating that!  Like I said…it’s the little things that bring joy!

Finances
I have some areas that I am still contending for breakthrough in the area of my finances but God continues to teach me and provide extravagantly for me in this area.  I have recently had some breakthroughs, one of which is my health insurance reduction!  I was praying it would be reduced and my monthly rate has now gone down by $40 per month!  I am hoping to reapply in a few months and see if it can get even lower!  Praise God!

Teachings
8/23 and 8/30 the messages at the FCF services, were really really good and important for the times we live in.  Especially Allen Hood’s talk, on 8/30, was excellent.  I’d highly encourage those who are not faint of heart and have a desire to study and hear ALL of scripture (including the uncomfortable parts) to listen to this message and be open to what the LORD is saying right now in history.  It was his message about the Joel 2 trumpet that he actually gave at Awaken the Dawn in Fredericksburg this past April.  But an even more urgent, possibly more strategic version.  Link: http://ihop.org/Group/Group.aspx?ID=1000036187.

So that’s what’s up with me most currently.  Don’t forget to email me if you have prayer requests I can be praying for.  Love to all!

Two new exciting updates from the base:

Mark Anderson, a senior leader with Youth With a Mission (YWAM), the president of the Call2All movement, is now a member of IHOP–KC’s senior leadership team and in charge of global missions at IHOP.

Even more exciting as that IHOP-KC officially has its own adoption agency!!!!!!  It’s called Hannah’s Dream and allows families to adopt for $5000-$7000 per child instead of the usual $35,000!  This is HUGE!  And so exciting!  I can’t wait to see all that the LORD does through this!  There are many IHOP families getting training for and wanting to adopt children.  And now it is financially a much more reasonable option!

So, what’s new with me?

 Well, one of my prayer requests over the last few weeks has been that the LORD would open my eyes with greater heart revelation and understanding of the cross so that I can be His friend in one of the most significant events during His second coming.  I have been crying out for increased revelation to have that experiential, relational knowledge – that at even the slightest thought of what He did and went through would make me weep with love.  I’m on my way, but not there yet.  Feel free to pray for me in this as you feel led!

Ok, I have to go eat to go to EGS now so I’m signing out.  Last night’s message was on how to discern cults!  Really good stuff!

since it has been over 2 weeks since i posted, i decided to do 3 posts all at once! haha! whew!

Ok, so, I have decided to post my top 10 favorite things about IHOP currently. I’ve not spent a lot of time on this but here it goes.

(Just as a little side note, I have experienced some of these other places I’ve been before as well, so I’m not saying they are IHOP specific or the body of Christ in other places does not have them as well. And I’m not saying that IHOP is perfect.)

This is just a little window into my life and a few of the things I love right now…

10. The really good (and healthy!) food they serve to interns!

9. The fact that a community of 1000+ young adults are reaching with such intensity for purity in a culture that has been sabotaged with a flood immorality.

8. When you go into someone’s home, you experience the same peace as when you go into the prayer room…that people’s homes are just as much houses of prayer as the missions base. (And actually, technically, it’s the people who are the house of prayer…because we are the Temple).

7. That all the musicians are theologians, that creativity is coupled with wisdom, and that freedom of expression is so wisely (and practically) coupled with restraint so that everyone can most easily encounter Jesus.

6. All the children everywhere and their intense boldness.

5. All the different kinds of people and languages that you daily run into.

4. That you leave a service/teaching hungrier than when you came because the speaker’s main goal is to awaken a deeper hunger so you go eat the Word for yourself rather than them try to give you a little nibble of the Word in a short time period.

3. The humility of leadership and their concern with people’s hearts rather than numbers.

2. The violin and piano selahs (times of instrumental interludes – no words).

1. Jesus and the way He leads and everything about Him.

I’ve been here over a month and have 4 more months left in the internship. I am so in love with life and Jesus right now and beyond grateful for the LORD’s perfect leadership in allowing me to be here at this time.

I frequently have people asking me if I know what my future plans for after the internship are yet. The answer is no. I am purposely not pursuing to know and have an answer to this question at this time. I want to live in this moment that God has for me right now, and am fighting the urge to look forward to future moments when He’s asking me to focus just on this moment right here, right now. My goal (at a friends suggestion) is to not even think about this for the first 3 months of the internship.

I will say, however, that God is definitely “setting me on the wall” right now. I just don’t know what this actually looks like practically yet. I am starting to have some inclinations. But for now, my goal is to enjoy the gift God has given me of being in this current 6 month season and not looking towards the next thing until it is time.

Beholding God’s Glory…
Tonight’s EGS (Encounter God Service) message was fabulous, as usual! Mike spoke on beholding God’s glory. Specifically, I was struck when he began to speak about the passage in 2 Cor 3 where Paul talks of how the glory of the new covenant is so much better than that of the old. I’ve actually been struggling with this passage for a while now. And finally tonight it all came together! I can’t summarize the message (or I just don’t want to!) …you will just have to go hear it yourself. Click here to check out this teaching from tonight (8.21.09).

Finding His Rest in the Low Places

Last Sunday’s message on loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength has had me gripped all week. I was most struck by the section on loving God with all our soul:

We establish our identity in our relationship with God instead of in our accomplishments and in the recognition we receive from people. Our identity is determined by the way we define our success and value and thus, how we see ourselves. Jesus is the premier example of loving God with all of His soul by living with a right identity.

Jesus emptied Himself of His reputation in the eyes of man. He embraced a lifestyle where everyone underestimated Him and His abilities. People never knew how superior His abilities were. When they saw Him, they saw nothing to distinguish Him. He was happy to be seen as an ordinary man without any special form (status) or comeliness (attractiveness).

He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. 3 He is despised and rejected by men…and we did not esteem Him. (Isa. 53:2-3)

In denying Himself of His rightful privileges by being a servant, He did not deny His true identity, but was being true to Himself.

I’ve also been going hard after entering more deeply into His easy yoke and light burden over the past few months. Two nights ago I heard God say that it was in this place of hiddenness and lowliness where the most rest is found. Being hidden and lowly is not just about self denial, but it is actually a gift and a doorway to entering into deeper rest.

Then, last night when I was ushering in the prayer room I had a light bulb go off. Duh Ariel! The passage in Matt 11 about the easy yoke and light burden says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and LOWLY in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

As we find identity for our souls in the humility of Christ, that is where we find rest for our souls!

To download the notes and/or audio for this message from 8.16.09 click here.

I only have a few minutes, but just wanted to post a quick update.

Tomorrow’s the 3 week mark.

The low of my week has been getting attacked by chiggers.  I woke up yesterday morning covered in 47 or more bug bites.  At first I thought BED BUGS!  But that’s crazy because I’d been sleeping in that bed for over 2 weeks.  Then I realized I had been laying in the grass while I was talking to my family on the phone the day before.  Anyway they were swollen and intensely itchy by last night but I was able to get some cream which has helped immensely.  In between the itching and discomfort yesterday I just kept laughing to myself!  What on earth!

The high of my week has yet to take place.  We are starting our two day intensive course on relational wholeness.  Matthew 5 says, “blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.”  The goal of this course is to enter a deeper place of purity in our hearts for the sake of seeing God!

The longer I am here the more my hunger for God increases.  It is an interesting thing.  I’ve already had so much hunger coming here and on some level in the back of my mind I was not anticipating the primary recurring feeling in the environment of night and day prayer to be that of increased hunger, even though it actually does make perfect sense.  After all, blessed are the poor in spirit…those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.  But it’s always funny to me what kind of subconscious expectations we so often have in the back of our minds.  Anyway, it is an amazing place of hunger to be in.  I would be devastated if I ever reached a place where I did not feel hungry for more of God in this life.  After all, He’s GOD!  Completely unsearchable, unexplainable, unfathomable, infinite, and uncreated!  We can never get enough of Him.  He’s a holy addiction…THE ONLY insatiable, addicting pursuit that doesn’t leave you emptier than it finds you!

So I’ve been here in Kansas City doing the One Thing Internship for a little over two weeks now and it’s going great! The LORD is already doing so much in my heart even in these first two weeks and I know it will only increase from here!

Our schedule usually starts around 10am with house devotions or work/cleaning assignments until lunchtime. We then have our Core and Burn Classes 1-4pm, a short break before dinner, and then prayer room time 7-12. Sundays we do outreach all afternoon and Mondays are our day off (for the most part except for some evening meetings). It’s a very busy schedule, however it’s not a bad busy since it all revolves around Jesus! It’s a GREAT busy!

Just FYI – I am not finding much time to stay on top of emails, facebook, and blogging since we don’t have internet in the apartments and the amount of free time is so limited. Just wanted to give that heads up.

One fun story is last Wednesday we were supposed to do something active (since we spend so much time sitting) and we got to pick what we wanted to do. I have been wanting to go for a walk for awhile (some of my most profound times with God are when I go on walks). I was walking around the neighborhoods right behind the prayer room, asking for the LORD’s perfect leadership to rule over my day and then in a half joking sense started telling Him that I wouldn’t mind if He wanted to lead me to a park. I’ve been wanting to find parks around town since I love the outdoors. I asked one of the leaders the other day but she didn’t have many ideas. I say I was joking because I was just in the middle of neighborhoods and did not really think He would do it. Literally within minutes or maybe even seconds, I am walking past houses and suddenly look over and am at a park with a beautiful lake!

Another fun story is that last weekend in the prayer room a girl came up and prayed for me. I noticed she had an accent but I couldn’t place it. Afterwards I asked where she was from. England. I went back to praying but then it hit me: I wonder if she’s from southern England, where Zoe is going to graduate school in the fall. I went back to her and asked where in England…she said south! I asked if she was near Exeter and she said yes! I just thought this was sort of fun. What are the chances that I’d move to Kansas City, have some random person come pray for me and then of everywhere she could be from, she is not just from England, but southern England, near Exeter! I have no idea if she and Zoe will be able to connect, but I sure thought that was a neat encounter!

The thing that has been hitting me the hardest over the last few days is just the massive goodness of God in His perfect leadership over my life. A few nights ago in the prayer room I was just hit with this inexpressible gratitude, to the point of weeping over just how PERFECTLY He has always led me year after year. I was hit with example after example after example after example of how perfectly He leads my heart with a love that is unlike any person could ever even come close to having. He knows us SO much better than we know ourselves. And He knows how to perfectly romance our hearts time and time again in ways that I would have never even been able to dream up in my wildest imagination! His leadership truly is perfect. His banner over me (and you) is love!

Just finished 9 hours of driving from Richmond to Louisville, KY.  Have about 9 more to go tomorrow before I get to Kansas City.  The first half of the trip was more stressful and emotional than the second – just dealing with some of the “letting go” in addition to driving through the mountains of West VA which can be very intense with a manual transmission – going up and down and around all the mountains.  But by the second half everything started to ease up.  And it’s a straight shot tomorrow.  I’ll be spending the night with the Pulvers and then moving in to the intern apartment the next morning.  Thanks for all your prayers!  I can definitely feel them!  God is SO good!