It will be almost two years exactly between when I left YWAM and will return, I never thought it would happen so quickly, and wow does Gods timing work out better than our own!
I first started praying about what next faithful step God had for me around Thanksgiving because I was finishing up my first semester of my Graduate work, for which for an entire semester I was working on a massive, tedious paper outlining exactly how we were going to use our degree in our specific area of ministry, and as I was finishing up a semesters work of a 26 page paper, God started working on my heart about what next step in my ministry Calling He might have for me... and then everything got crazy
At the time I had been living within a community of Christian Community Developers for a year, being mentored by the Director of the Ministry and his wife (its called Harambee Ministries)! Those that moved into the neighborhood seek to holistically support the marginalized that live in the neighborhood, and through a pre-k through 6th grade school, community garden, and job training and equipping-- Harambee seeks to support kids and families! Because of some unfortunate tragedy facing three children from the neighborhood, with short notice I had to move out-- which faced me with the prospect of moving out of a neighborhood I loved because of circumstances outside of any of our control
I started praying about where I was living and working, and whether God was calling me to continue there, or to move on--
Then two of my dearest friends came to visit, on their way back to YWAM from Finland, they stopped in LA to minister to me for six days. In that time, they offered me a staff position in a school they were running with the missionaries I worked with most closely in South Africa (and who had first connected me to Harambee ministries in the first place!)
I initially dismissed them because I was still so set on staying in my hometown because I love it ever so much-- but God had already been working on my heart...
Within a week or two with divine conversations and seeking wisdom from our Missions Pastor at Lake Avenue because not only does he have a unique insight into missions and YWAM, but also because he completed the Masters degree I am currently pursuing just a few years previously-- I approached that conversation simply wanting prayer, and it was just another confirmation of peace surrounding this next step!
Yet with as much peace as I have experienced, this season of praying about what God has next for me, I have been confronted with my habits and comforts and fears and having to bring them before God to walk through with me-- I have had to play this song "Withholding Nothing" on repeat because just as God gives me peace about the decision of taking this step, I still have desperately needed that peace when I realize more of the reality of traveling around the world, discipling and intentionally walking through life with students from a diversity of backgrounds, planning and co-leading a short term missions trip and being a part-time graduate student-- with peace about every bit of that statement-- thats craziness!
So here it is.. the next faithful step-- and all the little day by day decisions to get there-- and I am experiencing beautiful peace, I am SO excited to share this journey with you, all to His glory!