Staying in the PRC!

                                                                                                                                    

Well our time in China is coming to an end and there is a lot to reflect on. Over the past 11 weeks the four of us have: lead photography classes, small groups, a leadership school, gone to Korea in 2 groups of 2, split up, re-united,made tons of friends and consumed way too much super cheap ice cream. I can already see so much fruit from our time here. One of the students designed some stickers and started a twitter account to encourage people to pray for Korea, raise funds for  aide, and raise awareness( pray4nk@twitter). 

Looking back on our time here i can see Gods faithfulness to us in many challenging situations. There were many times where we had to step out in faith and trust him to lead, guide, and provide. Well, he always came through. We serve a good God! 

Now that this season is coming to an end I found myself praying for guidance for my next step. I realized that it is time for me to make one more huge leap of faith! I realized (through a lot of prayer and council, and lot's of little signs along the way) that the Lord is leading me to stay in China until November! By faith i will stay and continue to be lead by Him daily and trusting Him to provide everything that I need. The plan is to go back into Korea in october and get more pictures and footage. My hope is that my pictures will inspire people to pray for and possibly go to Korea to spread the love.

I'm so thankful to have a super supportive group of family, friends, and leaders in my life!

Needs:

Lots of prayer!

Its costs $700 to go to Korea for 5 days please pray about partnering.

                                                    

                                                                               Yalu River

                                                                                  

Quick Update-Week 4!

      It is already week 4 of D.T.S.! God has already done so much in our school! It's amazing to see lives changing already! I'm overwhelmed at how much God cares for each individual person in our school. It's amazing to hear stories of how God has pursued people up to this point and brought them to Kona Hawaii to this University and specifically to PhotogenX. God truly has a plan for our lives. 

      Some times i feel inadequate and ill-equipped to disciple others,but, God is always faithful to speak to and through me. And i am learning so much in the process. In late June I will be leading a team of 4 into 2 countries in east asia for 3 months! My biggest fear as i joined the staff of this D.T.S. was leading a team alone. After much prayer and conversation with leadership I feel at peace about it. I know that because God is with me, I am not alone, and He is  ultimately the leader of our outreach. And my team is so amazing and supportive! I know that He is using this experience to help me grow as a leader. I have so much excitement in my spirit for what the Lord will use our little team to do. We may be small,but, we are strong and we love Jesus. 

      I don't have many details yet because we're still in the praying/planning phase. One thing our team shares is a heart for justice. Right now as a team we are praying for vision for our outreach and for the Lords heart for injustice issues in the area. I do know that this trip will be expensive. I need $500.00 by Thursday May 5th and at least $2,000 more before we leave in the end of June. So far the Lord has provided everything i needed when i needed it so i trust that He will continue to be faithful. 

If you feel led to partner with me in everything that God is doing you can donate through paypal or send checks to my parents house.

167 Seaborn Dr.

 Willowick, oh 44095

Prayer Requests: specific vision for our outreach, open doors, open hearts, finances

I can, because He can.

So i arrived at UofN Kona, blinked, and here I am 3 weeks later blown away yet again by how good God is! Just when i think i have Him figured out He reveals more of himself to me. I say Lord, keep it coming! 

The past few weeks my fellow staff and I have been busy training and preparing for the arrival of over 50 students. Staff training consisted of listening to many of the  experienced people on campus imparting wisdom from their own experiences, struggles, and words from the Lord to all of the new staff on base. One thing that was spoken to us over and over again was the importance of seeking the Lord first in everything we do every day. To find our strength in Him. To seek the Lord and have faith in the things that He speaks to our hearts. To fully believe and rejoice in his promises to us. Even to take it a step further and thank Him in advance for the things he will do. Today, Andy Byrd (one of the leaders on campus) said "the Lord sees us prophetically". He knows what he has created us to be and will put us in position to walk in our calling and give us grace to accomplish all that he has called us to do. 

I am always one to say "why me?" and "who am i?" and "how on earth will i..?". But lately God is highlighting to me that it really is not about me. It is God in me.By saying I can't what I am really saying is that He can't. I believe that God can do anything, therefore, with Him I can do anything, I still have so much to learn and so much growing to do but I have this overwhelming excitement in me for what God is about to do through me. There is nothing like the joy that comes when you surrender all to Him.  

If you are praying please pray for increased faith and vision for the next six months, especially for my 3 month outreach. Thanks to all who are out there praying faithfully for me. I know your prayers are making a difference.  My prayer for all of you back home is that the Lord will speak to you about the plans He has for you and for a spirit of faith to fall in C-town. 

Sincerely yours but forever wrecked,

Jessica 

Faith Blog

A couple of weeks ago i started to get nervous. In two weeks to i was gonna move to Kona, Hawaii for 7 months to be on staff at the Y.W.A.M. base. And I was quite broke. Not for lack of trying. I just didn't make a whole lot of money at my job. This made it hard for me to thrive, i was merely surviving. I had to put my money situation in Gods hands. After all I believe that if we are being obedient to His will, He will provide everything that we need. Well 2 weeks later i have about half the money I need . All I had to do was sell a few photos and let God do the rest. Everyone was so unbelievably generous..giving far more than my photo's are worth. I truly believe that this is even more confirmation from the Lord that being on staff  at ywam kona is his will for my life right now. There were plenty of years when I lived for myself  against the will of God and struggled greatly. Whats amazing is how easy life can be when you are in His favor. Sometimes its as simple as an amazing photo opportunity like a family of goats sitting in a stair case. One way or another God provides.  I don't know if it will always be this easy but either way I will praise Him because His plan for my life is so much better than anything I could have dreamed of and so worth any struggle that I might face. Even if it means being completely poor in this life I will praise Him. I feel so blessed to have my amazing family and ever growing circle of friends thank you all for your support! You all make me feel like the richest woman alive!

Rejoice Through the Struggles

Often as followers of Christ we find ourselves in situations where it is not so easy to be Christlike. Since we live in a fallen world it is not often normal to act like Christ in this day and age. 

Coming home from my D.T.S. was a huge challenge for me. I myself was a changed woman but the life I left behind was exactly the same. I was pumped up and on fire for God ready to give it all up and follow Him, and I was inpatient. What i did not realize is that in order for God to use me He first needed to refine me. I experienced so much healing in D.T.S. But there were still and i'm sure will always be, areas in my life that i needed to work on. 

 I wasn't sure what the next step in life was so i decided to get a job temporarily to save until the Lord revealed to me the next step. I could have had my dream job at Starbucks (i am extremely passionate about coffee) but, they wanted me to commit to working there for a year. I would have committed, but, there was such uneasiness in my spirit. I knew I wasn't gonna be around that long. So, I had to call the manager and turn her down. Sad day.

The very next day I got hired at Panera bread. I hated, loathed this job at first. The customers were rude to me all day long and I knew I was way overqualified. But, as much as I prayed about leaving the Lord kept telling me to stay. I had asked Him to help me be a better person and this was the answer to my prayers. This job forced me to see areas in my heart that  needed change. I learned how powerful our words are and what an effect life-giving words have on people. I learned how to love people that are not easy to love with God's heart and sometimes that just means being kind to someone who u think doesn't deserve kindness. Speaking life when death was being spoken to me. I believe these small things can be big steps to changing the world. I will tell you i know first hand that it is really easy to talk about things like this, but, absolutely impossible to live  without God's grace. It pretty much took me up until the last day I was there to learn these lessons. 

So, the lesson in all of this was that I needed to trust God even when I didn't understand what he was doing, even when I thought I knew what was best for me. He is so faithful and always comes through when we trust Him. I am so thankful for that experience and so thankful that it is over! : )

Praise God For The Struggles

God Loves India

India is  a country that will overwhelm your every sense! The color's the flavor's the smells : /. One thing that stuck out to me during the 2 months i spent there last year is the extreme poverty and broad sense of hopelessness.  

One day in a small red light district in the outskirts of Mumbai I had a chance to get out of the day care center we were working in and walk around. I ended up in the home of Uma and Julie, two women who worked in the district.  It was extremely difficult to communicate with these women as I was without a translator, But, i found a kid on the street who spoke a little English and recruited him to help me. A few other women entered the room  asking for prayer for themselves and one women wanted prayer for her sick baby. As i was praying for the child he peed on me (diapers are not often worn by babies in India). 

I felt led to share with these women that i am not the one who brings healing and freedom. That anyone who believes in Him can pray in Jesus name and have healing. I was touched as they all got in a circle and began to pray for one another.

After our time of prayer as i sat on the prostitutes bed, covered in urine, enjoying a samosa that was graciously offered to me by my new friends, I was filled with the joy of the Lord. He sent me to this place, this specific room, these specific women because He loves them and wants them to know the freedom that comes from knowing Him!

 I was completely overwhelmed by the poverty, suffering and disease that i saw in India. However, the most overwhelming sense i got was the sense God's love for the broken and suffering people in this poor and oppressed nation. It was truly and amazingly beautiful. 

A match made in Heaven

Since I was a little girl I dreamed of getting married in Hawaii. I never gave much thought to dresses or cakes, guests or little trinkets. Just me, the perfect him, and our loved ones celebrating  a lifelong commitment in paradise. 

When i was 23 on the verge of 24 my dream came true. I was in hawaii. I stumbled onto the Youth With a Mission campus in Kona, Hawaii on april 8th 2010. I was hungover from years of partying. My spirit was dry, my soul an ocean of emotions ranging from extreme fear to overwhelming excitement. I was not here to get married, in fact, i would have preferred if there were no men on campus at all. I was here to seek God, and wanted no distractions.

Up to this point i had tried to steer my life and failed miserably time after time. I knew there was a God. I felt His presence in my life several times before. However, a strongly mistaken view on religion had kept me from pursuing any kind of personal relationship with God. Being, by nature, a strong willed individual it only took 23 years for me to finally give up. To lay it all down and give God a chance to run the life that ,try as I might, I couldn't seem to get together. 

It did not take long for God to prove himself worthy of the task. Within one day of being on the Y.W.A.M. Kona campus. the Lord started speaking to my heart. Showing up in miraculous and undeniable ways. He started to highlight areas in my life that held me back from being the person that he created me to be. He brought light into the darkest most hidden and fearful places in my heart and with it brought much healing. 

I started to realize the truth of the gospel and the revelation that God sent His son Jesus to die for our sins. For freedom! Not so that we can spend our lives trying to work to get into Heaven. Not so that we will try to be perfect. The truth is that we will never be perfect, we are born sinners. That is why Jesus had to die on the cross. Through His blood we are clean! Our sins are forgiven. This realization was the single most life changing revelation of my life. Because of this message I don't feel like I have to be good. I just want to. I don't feel like I have to follow Jesus to get into Heaven. I just hate the thought of a life not following Him. 

I fell in love with Jesus in Kona Hawaii.  Standing on the amazing shore of the pacific ocean, just me and the perfect Him surrounded by people we loved, I was baptized into the Kingdom. It was the worlds most perfect marriage.