1 week left

11 weeks ago, 85 people who had never meet before gathered here on this island. They packed their bags, said goodbye to home, and headed out to a giant rock in the middle of the ocean for 6 months to seek the Lord. Leaving all they knew behind, they came here looking for something real, something Divine. Loaded with questions, seeking hearts, and eagerly growing faith, the school began.

It is absolutely amazing looking back and seeing how much God moved in our school. I have watched the most broken of hearts encounter the Father's love for the first time. I have witnessed hardened hearts be softened to the presence of the Holy Spirit. Watching 85 strangers become a family is one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. The Lord has been so faithful to each heart, no matter student or staff. We are all His kids, and He has watched out for us, loved us, grown us all this past season. I have had more breakthrough and walking in FREEDOM of being a Daughter than I ever have in my life.

Exactly 1 week from today, I will be heading out with my amaaaaaazing outreach family to Cambodia. We are all quickly gaining His heart for this broken nations and can't wait to get there and share the Love.

Team Fambodia!!!

Our first week there will be spent living in a village, ministering to orphans. After that, we will be staying with the YWAM base in Battambang, the second largest city. We will be partnering with a variety of ministries in the mornings, and focusing on the youth center that the base runs in the afternoon.

Please be praying for

• Protection over travels
• Favor while we travel
• Health while we are there
• Team unity
• That we all gain a bigger heart for Cambodia
• That we stay completely Spirit-led

Thank you so much for all your prayer and support!

A revelation that has been hitting me over and over these past 4 months has been that I am a daughter and nothing more, nothing less. Not only that I am a daughter, but there is absolutely nothing in all of eternity that can strip me of this. It's not a job, it's not a label, it's just what I am. I do not need to earn it, I do not need to strive to keep it, I do not have to worry about losing it. This is something that I have always known, but He keeps taking me deeper into this beautiful place in His heart.

The more He shows me that I am His daughter, the more I want to know Him. The more I want to be with Him. The more I desire to see Him. This supernatural hunger for Him has settled on my heart, and I can't get enough of Him. This burning for Him has driven me to a place of intimacy with the Lord, where my heart connects with His. The world has taken the word "intimacy" and twisted it into something sensual. The correct definition of intimacy is "close familiarity or friendship." The Father is SO GOOD! As much as I want to grow closer to Him more, He wants it a million times more. To rest in this fact will brings so much peace, love, and contentment.

The school has lit on fire and is continually having fuel thrown on it. After a speaker cancelled last week, we had a 50 hour burn of straight worship and prayer, pressing in and seeking Jesus. THe Lord broke so many boxes, it was insane. So much dancing, worship, and laughter. The Lord loves have fun.

Our Cambodia team has been marked with family, they are all amazing!!! We grow closer every week as we gain God's heart for Cambodia. We will be leaving in a month to go to Cambodia and we are getting so excited to see God move there. PLease be keeping us in your prayers as we get ready to leave, thank you so much!

"where you cease, I will begin"

What once began as a simple pluck on my heart strings to grow near Him, has turned into a pull. That pull has drawn me in deep. Deep into Him, deep into intimacy, deep into His presence.

The simple concepts that He wants to show me end up being the very things I complicate the most. Being a daughter to the Father turned into a place of striving and fear of disappointing. It became something organized, my own agenda. Instead of being led by His spirit, I created my own check list that I was sure would take me deeper into His heart. What I thought would bring me closer only lead to a place of being unrestful, unsatisfied, and frustrated.

We were in a time of worship last Friday as a class, and I was going through an internal battle of not being able to tap into the presence that I knew lived in me. I couldn't focus, my mind was scattered, and my heart began to harden a bit. Towards the end, we all laid on the ground to just soak to the music that was being played. I told the Lord that I gave up trying to get closer to Him. I tried everything. I read the right verses, prayed the right words and yet I didn't seem to be where I wanted to be. That was when He spoke. "My Daughter, stop. Only I can take you to those Heavenly places. You can't. So stop, and let me. I want it even more than you, so let me do the work"

It was then that I realized how I had taken my relationship with the Lord into my own hands. I knew where I stood with Him, I knew where I wanted to go deeper, and I thought I knew the best way to achieve that. The desire to be nearer to Him was real, but in striving, I forgot my first and only identity of being His daughter. As I laid on the classroom floor, He showed me a picture of a wall. Not a flimsy drywall, but a thick rock wall held together by concrete. The moment I stopped doing my own thing was when He was able to break a hole into that wall. As the light shone through that broken rock wall, I felt His peace wash over me.

He has spoken so clearly to me a phrase over and over this weekend "Where you cease, I will begin." Where I cease striving, He begins. Where I cease my own agenda, He begins. Where I cease control, He begins.

The students are here and they have hit the ground running! God showed up in amazing ways this first week. We have over 80 students in the school, and none of them are holding back, they are just going for it! It has been so encouraging to see and it boosts me forward in my own faith. Last Saturday we had a party for them just to hang out and get to know each other. It was fun to see them all get to know each other, but the best part was that the Lord just showed up. Day 2, and we ended a party with an amazing worship sessions where you could tangibly feel God's love.

Yesterday, we announce outreach teams, ahhh! Myself and the incredible Chris Little will be leading 10 fabulous, rad, amazing students to Cambodia in september. We feel the joy of the Lord all over our team, and I am SOOOOOOO excited to see how He is going to use us while we are there.

God has been doing such a deep work in me, I can not even fully express it in words, which can be so frustrating. It is so deep that my mind can not even fully understand what is going on. All I know is that it is a good thing, slowly anchoring my faith deeper and deeper in Him. Some day my mind will catchup to what is going on in my soul, but until then, I am just learning to rest and trust in Him.

Please continue to pray for the outpouring of God's love and grace on our class as we head into our first week of lectures. God is going to do so much with this class, and I am so excited to see where we will all be in just 6 months :)

Love you all,

Kristi