I’ve been trying to post this for over a week!  WiFi has finally worked for two minutes straight!

So our 5-day wilderness adventure was full of crazy surprises!  From the beginning, we were constantly in suspense because we never knew what we were going to do.  God was teaching me to depend on Him for strength minute by minute.  In our teams of five, we hiked over 26 miles on mountainous trails in the dry dessert heat.  My calf muscles have expanded while my stomach has shrunk (at least for a day or two).  I will forever be grateful of toilets, toothpaste, showers, sleep, food, and laundry machines.  The sun sets and stars were AMAZING!  For the first time I saw a shooting star! 

In Tijuana we had the opportunity to hear from a man who has been in prisoned in Iran for sharing the gospel, Dan Bowman.  His whole body and life testimony scream Jesus.  His personal stories make me so excited for my future adventures with Jesus.

Dan’s message was so simple but profound.  The essence of his teaching is this: everything I do for God must come from intimacy with God.  The Christian life is discovering more of His love for me.  Everything else fades with a deeper realization of who Jesus is.  It was never God’s heart that we would do anything out of obligation, but always out of love.     

Dan said that passion isn’t based on our feelings, but on God’s unfading character.  Passion comes from a deep understanding and revelation of His truth.  I needed to hear this so much, because I thought that my passion for God depended upon my feelings.  Now I understand that even though my emotions go up and down, I have not lost my passion for God if it is based on who He is.  Passion doesn’t come from striving but rest in the Lord.      

What keeps us from a lifestyle of passion?  Focusing on our failures.  Walking with God is learning to enjoy a friendship, not about getting everything right.  Instead of focusing on fixing ourselves, we only need to fix our eyes on Jesus.  A legalistic list of things we need to do brings judgment and comparison, but when Jesus is at the center, there is freedom.  I can live the way I was created to live.  We often make Jesus unreal, but He wants to be included in every moment of our lives.

Sometimes I think that growing and being and the process of becoming like Jesus is somehow not good.  I want to “arrive.”  Yet Luke 2:52 says that Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.  So Jesus grew!  God is showing me that there is nothing shameful in growing, but He is with me in the midst of the process.   

I want to be defined by my love towards Jesus.  I want to live in the truth of how He sees me.  I want to be so preoccupied with Him that I don’t have time to sin.  I want to live in faith stepping out on what I believe He’s calling me to do.  If I fail, I know that He’s still proud of me and still loves me! 

As we were handing out cupcakes to prostitutes last night, some of us had the opportunity to talk to Maria again, who introduced us to many of the other girls.  A few days ago Lizbeth, (the Unfading Beauty leader), was able to spend three hours talking with her at Starbucks.  Please pray that God would continue to soften her heart.

Please continue to pray that each person would be able to raise all of the money for the outreach.  One family still needs to raise $10,000.       

I have to preach in Spanish during my outreach!!  It is kind of overwhelming for me to write a sermon, bt I am trusting that He will show me how to prepare now and what to say.  I want to trust Him with each day, and I’m excited for the future plans he has for me!