Abide. [Musings from Moira at the end of the year]

"Abide in me, and I in you."

~ John 15:4

John 15 is chock full of encouragement and warnings about the importance of abiding in Christ and his love. It is repeated over and over and over.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, it is he that bears much fruit, for apart from you you can do nothing."

~ John 15:5

"If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified."

~ John 15:7-8

" Abide in my love."

~ John 15:9

Abide. Abide. Abide. What does it mean?

According to Dictionary.com, abide means:

• “to remain; continue; stay”
• “to continue in a particular condition, attitude, relationship, etc.”
• “to endure, sustain, or withstand without yielding or submitting”
• “to have one's abode; dwell; reside”
• “to accept without opposition or question”
• “to pay the price or penalty of; suffer for”

That last one really grabbed my attention, but the definitions I want to focus on right now are other ones listed. It's the idea of persistence, perseverance, and bold commitment. A constant communion with. An unswerving, intentional relationship. All directly used in the context of our relationship with God in John 15. This has been resonating in my heart and soul over the last month on outreach.

I want to share with you a portion of a prayer from my journal a few weeks ago:

“God! This is the cry of my heart! I come to you completely satisfied, yet desperately hungry for more of you. You never end. Show me your true face in greater measure than ever before! ... It is that beautiful thought that you are closer than the air I breathe and still you beckon me further into your embrace... Make my eyes to see your face. Let my spirit never slumber. Let my soul never sleep. You are true. Let your presence be my only reality... This is the cry of my heart.” (December 17^th, 2014)

Matthew 11:28-29 says that God's yoke is easy and his burden is light. When we come to him, he promises rest for our souls. Even in the midst of leading a team by myself and all the responsibilities and stresses it presents, I have found myself unexplainably free of the weight of it all because of the goodness and guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Lord is faithful to respond when we earnestly seek him and ask him to strip everything else away. It has been a painful and joy-filled process and it continues to present new obstacles to overcome with the help of my Father.

It can be a frightening prospect, asking the Lord to show you what it means to abide. Because the Lord is holy and perfect. And we are not. But he sees us as a saints and calls us to perfection:

“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

~ Matthew 5:48

The process of purification will undoubtedly be painful at times, because it is a purging of human nature and everything that is not pleasing to the Lord. It will test your limits and challenge your very mindset. But the Lord promises that nothing is impossible with him and that we can do all things through the strength of Christ. The all-powerful Lord is more than able to carry us through anything that presents itself in our lives, especially if it is a result of our pursuit of him. He is faithful. And his desire is to ABIDE with his children.

That's the whole gospel. God loves his kids and because he didn't want us to be robots, mindlessly obeying his every whim. He created us with brains to discover, hearts that long for love, personalities that are creative and unique, and the will and passion to live life to the fullest. He didn't create us because he was lonely. He is in constant and perfect communion with the three parts of himself. The Father, Son and Spirit are consistently and forever in a perfect, selfless union that cannot be broken. God cannot be separated from himself. He created humankind to be a reflection of the his relationship with the glorious trinity. Everything that is, in its original, intended state, is a direct reflection of the beautiful Creator. And the thing that blows my mind is that he absolutely desires my heart. My mind. My thoughts. My concerns. My hopes. My dreams. My talents. My life.

I am discovering what it means to abide with the King of Kings. My Creator. My Saviour. My Father. My Counsellor. My Friend.

He is beckoning you further into his embrace. Will you respond? Will you allow him to take you on a journey of purging and refining that will shake your foundation and rebuild it on the truth of who He is and who you are? Will you ask the Father to show you what it means to be satisfied and desperate at the same time? This is why we are alive. It's ultimately up to you.

These are the musings I have had that hopefully have made it on to paper in words that make sense. It is the last day of 2014. I am STOKED to begin the new year with a revelation of what it means to abide with my God. And I am excited that this journey of discovery never ends. God is way to big for anyone to say they have grasped it all and there is nothing left to learn. I just really love my Lord!!

We have 18 days left in the Philippines and we are looking forward to all that the Lord will continue to do in and through us here and when we go home.

Click HERE to watch a video that will brighten your day!

As always, thank you (Salamat Po!) for your love, prayer and support!

Thank you to the Lord for his grace and faithfulness!

Lots and lots and lots of love!

Moira

xoxo

Consistency & Identity.

"For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves...In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you were also included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession, to the praise of his glory." ~ Ephesians 1:4-6,11-14. 

 "When I look in the mirror I don't silently judge what I see. When I look in the mirror I see a person that God likes to live in! I see God in me and he likes it there!" - Todd White

The DTS just came back from a week in Melbourne where we joined with several other Australian DTS's and listened to Ben Fitzgerald and Todd White tell testimonies and teach on evangelism.

It was so crazy because what they were saying was so challenging but confirmed a lot of what had been rumbling around in my head this past month already.

I realized that so often I come to God and beg him to do something or another. When really, I am royalty! I am a daughter of the King who has been given ALL of the Holy Spirit to do the good works he planned in advance for me to do! I can declare anything and it will happen! As long as it is in line with God's character and plan, nothing is impossible! But all of the impossible things that are made possible through God are just a by product of knowing my identity and being in relationship with my Father.

As Christians, we have lingo that we use but don't necessarily know  where it came from or whether it is even biblical! Let me give you an example: "Feeling led to pray for someone." It is true that God can draw you to certain people or give you a word for a specific person...but we are CALLED to share God's love with ALL people. We are not supposed to be feelings-driven. Because if we only ever talk to the people we 'feel' like talking to, we are gonna miss a thousand people before we ever feel like it! Matthew 28:18-20 is our calling. It doesn't say, "Go into all the world and make disciples when you feel like it." No! It says "Go!" The Holy Spirit is never too tired or too busy for anybody. He's always ready to go. And if I truly believe that God is my strength when I am weak, then nothing should stop me from sharing love even if I am tired or in a rush. I have no excuse. The only time I have an excuse to not share love with someone is if God didn't die for them so they could know him. ...which is never.

MAN! I'm so encouraged! This is the life we get to live guys!! This is the life we, as people who call ourselves followers of Christ, are supposed to live! How radical! How exciting! How absolutely not boring! Yeah, it's intimidating...but if God is the biggest being in the universe, and he lives in me...nothing is scary! God has already won! And his children need to know! I personally need to be better at this. God is so gracious. And faithful.

In other news, I leave for outreach in 2 weeks! My team and I are off to the Philippines for two months to share this amazing love. Here we are:

Much love!
Thank you for all your support.
xoxo

What is your boat?

"...Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him." - Mark 3:9

What's your boat? What is something you can do or somewhere you can go in those moments when you feel overwhelmed? What can you do to either help you process or get your mind off of what you have to do so you can be refreshed?

Being a verbal processor, my usual response would be to hang out with people that I trust so I can talk until I understand my own thoughts. But that isn't always an option when the people around me are as busy as I am. Or because what I need to figure out is something that is between me and God first. So I've been pondering what my boat would be. I think journaling is definitely one of them, playing guitar and going for walks would be on the list too. But I'm still searching for something that I could do semi-regularly that will help me unwind and get me out of the norm.

The days are getting longer and hotter as we head into summer! It's already been a month since the September DTS students arrived and what a crazy month it has been! We have 32 students from USA, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Scotland, Germany, Switzerland, and Australia and they're a great bunch of people. The three lovely ladies that I have the privilege of mentoring one-on-one this school are Cathinka from Norway, Samantha from the USA, and Anni from Finland. The lecture topics we have had so far are The Character and Nature of God, Hearing God's voice, and Father Heart of God. The weeks of lecture have been incredible and everyone has been challenged and grown in so many ways already.

I say these weeks have been crazy because we are a very small staff team (there are seven of us) for such a large school and we have been stretched very thin in pretty much every direction. The business and stress of it all has resulted in a lack of sleep, passing around a head cold because we share everything ;), and more relying on God. Despite how tired we have been, God has been doing awesome things in all the students (and staffs) lives. Things seem to be calming down now that our directors are back in town and as we get into our routine and manage our time more effectively.

Aaaaaand I am leading a team to the Philippines for two months this school! :) I am excited to be going back to the Philippines since it was where I went on my DTS.

Thank you for you prayers and support and love.
Moira xoxo

 

Sushi run with some of the girls in our house!

 

Base worship on Monday morning. DTS, SBS and community. 

 

Showing the girls in the house around the neighborhood.

 

Julie's back for the school of Biblical studies! We've had good times reminiscing our DTS just over a year ago. 

Refreshed!

"...for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength."  ~ Philippians 4:11-13 (NIV)

How inspiring is that?! What a powerful weapon. Contentment is something I hope to always walk in. 

One thing that I have been learning is that not only does God delight in bestowing His love upon us, but He wants us to WANT His love. He desires for us to eagerly chase after all He has to offer. God is so worthy of our efforts to know Him. And when we enter into that place of reciprocated love, there is no room for fear. Because "perfect love casts out fear." That's a promise. And in that is freedom because we no longer care how people perceive us or what we may look like to others. So when we get that little nudge to do something out of our comfort zone, it is a delight rather than a struggle. It's perfect! This is the love that the Father lavishes upon His children.

"What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are. But that’s also why the world doesn’t recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he’s up to." ~ 1 John 3:1 (The Message)

  

 

 

 

 

  Thank you to everyone I saw while I was home for making my trip home absolutely refreshing! I was so blessed by the encouragement and support of you all! You are all very dear to me. All the best for those of you starting school soon!

I had the privilege of taking my sister back to Australia with me for a few weeks. We had a blast exploring the coast together as I showed her the sights!

Since her departure, the September staff team has had training and times of getting to know each other even better before the students arrive this coming Sunday. We are on the brink of the September DTS! How wild.

Prayer Requests:

• That our staff team would consistently return to Jesus as our source of energy and strength as we facilitate the school,
• For the students as they go about their final preparations before coming,
• And for me as I always always always want to point back to God through my actions and words to represent Him well. 

As always,
Thank you, Bless you and much love,
Moira xoxo

Nepal-India Outreach Video.

Click HERE to watch our team's video of our time on outreach.

Always growing.

Man oh my. The last months have been a wild ride!

First of all, I would like to apologize to all my supporters on behalf of the Nepalese post system. The postcards which contained an update and my love that I mailed to you got lost along the way and I have been informed that none of you received them. Know that while I was in Nepal I was thinking of you fondly and did not mean for there to be this long of a gap between informing you of what has been going on.

Secondly, if any of you did not have the chance to read our outreach team blog, you can click HERE to get a glimpse of the adventure we were on. It was eloquently written by one of the guys on my team and includes some sweet pictures.

Thirdly, once I have access to my teams outreach video, I will post a link on my blog so you can all see! It's pretty well done!

The February 2014 DTS is officially over. Thank you to everyone who kept us in your prayers!

We arrived back in Australia roughly a week and a bit ago for debrief week where everyone got the opportunity to share their highlights, favourite ministry moments, things that were hard and, of course, the various poop stories. It was such a fun last week with all the students and staff all together again. 

Friday night was graduation; the conclusion of their time here with us and we celebrated what God did in and through the teams by sharing a few testimonies and the team videos with everyone who came. Absolutely lovely.

Since grad I have been taking time of process, journal and rest. It was a fast turnaround for some of the staff who are staffing the July school. The new students arrived only two days after our students left! Their orientation week is underway and going well! 

My near-future plans: I have a two month break and am going to be home for the month of July to attend a family gathering which is going to be SO FUN! I am SO looking forward to it. If you are in the area I would love to catch up! :) Once August rolls around I will be back on the Sunny Coast to settle in again and prepare for the September school. I seriously love my job.

God has taught me a lot over this school. He has taught me about His peace that passes understanding and the true meaning of grace. He has also corrected me in many areas of my character and how I respond to people. And as challenging as recognizing your flaws can be, it has been so good and I hope I never stop realizing things I need to work on. God is so faithful! 

Hebrews 12:6-7 "'For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.' It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?"

Psalm 103:8+12 "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love...For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, that is how far he has removed our transgressions from us."

How good is our God that he doesn't leave us where we are, but always teaches us to become more like Christ?

Hugs!
Moira

Harp and Bowl

"And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people." -Revelation 5:8

'Harp' represents worship and 'bowl' represents prayers. This concept of "harp and bowl" is what we have been focusing on this week: that praying will stir up worship in you, likewise worshipping the Lord will stir up a prayer in your heart. We need to stop seperating the two!

During the sessions this week we have primarily been doing this very thing! It has been so cool to see everyone get excited for prayer and worship time. We have fallen more in love with Jesus this week by simply spending time in His presence. 

Monday-Thursday when we are not in lecture, we have been having 24 hour prayer broken into 3 hour rotating slots. During these slots we have seen God's healing power, His encouragement, have been praying for our outreach teams, families, friends, each other and have spent time thanking and praising God for who He is. Wooo it's been great!!

Last weekend, the staff ladies threw a surpise bridal shower for one of our lovely friends! It was a laughter-filled and happy time loving and celebrating her. She was definitely surprised! Success! (Thanks Mallory Horton for the lovely photos!)

"The 'what' gives you a task. But the 'why' keeps you doing it."

I am staffing DTS and going on outreach because I have been given the greatest gift known to man. Grace and purpose and love. And authority to top it all off! Authority to bring God's kingdom in everything I do, wherever I go. Why wouldn't I share that?? 

If I believe so strongly that everyone can have a relationship with the only one who loves them perfectly, why would I keep that to myself?!

Why are you doing what you're doing? If your 'why' doesn't satisfy you...find a vision that excites you and gets you stoked about life!

My last prayer slot is tonight from 4am - 7am! 

I am so blessed by you all! 

Much love and gratefulness, 

Moira

18 Hours.

Two days ago I experienced and witnessed lives literally being transformed by the Holy Spirit for the Lord! We just came out of a fantastic two weeks of learning about the Bible as the living word of God and then what it means to actively live a life surrendered to the Lord. 

We ended the last week with an 18 hour day during which we thanked the Lord, praised the Lord, gave things away to other people to bless them, consecrated specific areas of our lives to God, commited our lives to Him, repented publically of sin in our lives, prayed for further annointing from the Holy Spirit, had communion together and then finished at 1am with praying for our outreach locations and praising God for everything He did!

During the time of thanksgiving, people wanted to break free from fear. Mark, our speaker, told them to ask God what He wanted them to do to break free from whatever their fear was. Some people screamed off the balcony as loud as they could. One guy was scared of failure and felt he needed to learn how to do a backflip in front of everyone. Another guy was like, "duude! I felt like i was supposed to TEACH someone how to do a backflip!" Another girl did a trust fall off a big stack of chairs. Another guy prayed outloud for two people who needed encouragement...etc etc. SO cool. 

Then we had a giving time. We had been told the day before about this and came prepared. Laptops and ipads and jewelry and dresses and flowers and surf boards all changed hands. It was super humbling. Being generous with what God has given us is SUCH a blessing. To both parties. 

Thankyou to everyone who has been praying for us! We saw the fruit of your prayers this week! Thankyou again and again for all of your support. 

We book our flights to Nepal and India tomorrow!! Woohoo! This is for real! 

Love you all!

Moira

Glory be!

We are into the second week of lectures and the topic is "Hearing God's voice." I'm looking forward to seeing each of the students come to a greater understanding of how God speaks and tackle some hard questions about why they might feel they can't hear God. 

The last week was fantastic. Our speaker led us through the basics of christianity, who Jesus is and why we trust in the Creator like we do. He backed it with heaps of scripture and broke down verses into the original hebrew meanings. He is fluent in hebrew so that was cool. 

I had the priveledge this week of watching God literally transform one of our students. He came to DTS not even knowing how he had been accepted because he didn't even apply! But he rocked up anyway. The difference in him each day was tangible as he softened and let the walls around him slowly come down and HE ACCEPTED CHRIST LAST NIGHT! Woohoo! One of the other students describes this story very aptly in his own blog: http://rileymurphy.ca/post/76935889937/ywam-week-1

Check it out!

NEWS UPDATE: I will be co-leading a team of 4 guys and 4 girls to Nepal and India this coming May-June! We revealed outreach locations on friday and had each of the students pray and then we, as a staff team, prayed over the teams as well before letting the students know where they will be going. So stoked!! 

This Sunday we drove some of the students out to climb Mt. Coolum (super windy!) in the morning and then gathered in the girls house for a pancake breakfast before going to church that evening. The day finished off well with Canada winning the gold in men's ice hockey! Woop woop! 

My favourite thing and my vision for my two years in YWAM is seeing young people discover who they really are and grab ahold of who God has made them to be. Getting to watch that exact thing happen in just these first two weeks brings me so much joy. I love my job and I love the Lord!

Thankyou so much to everyone who continually prays for me and supports me. You guys make it happen! 

Much love! 

Here we go!

The students are here! The students are here! We kicked off the DTS last night with a welcome party and australian trivia. Who can tell me the tallest bird in australia? Or how many countries are bigger than the land down under? 

This week is orientation week, sharing the heart of our base and our values. How we are always looking to release transformational leaders and come along side people as they step out in obedience to the Lord. As a staff team this DTS, we are focusing in cultivating a culture of honour within our leadership team and we are excited to watch it spill over into the students! 

Something that I have been excited about this week is that God wants us to dream big! He has placed the desires and passions in my heart on purpose and wants me to dream big and aim high! 

They are writing letters to themselves that we will hold on to and give back at the end of DTS. Gonna watch God rock their worlds! Woohoo!

Love and hugs! 

Thanks again for the continual support!!

Moira

Getting Settled.

Hello everyone!


It has been four days since my plane landed in Australia and it's been so good to see a bunch of people from the base and get adjusted to the time difference, the heat and such. The day I arrived the temperature was hanging out around 37 degrees Celsius. And then yesterday we had a thunderstorm and since then it has cooled down noticeably. There are two other brand new staff for this upcoming February DTS and we already know each other because we were on the same DTS last year!


The three of us are currently staying at the Brisbane base while we take a Teaching And Assessment course for two weeks. TAA is a course that all YWAM Australia staff are required to take in order for our DTS's to be accredited with the Australian government. The course so far is actually super interesting and very practical. We have been learning about learning styles, study skills, how to plan a small group assignment that caters to multiple intelligences and how to lead intercession. It is a heavy workload, but the next two weeks should prove to be just as interesting.


The students of the February DTS arrive on the 9th (of Feb) and there are 32 of them. Myself and the other two new staff will be going back up to the Sunshine Coast on the 17th, after we complete the lecture phase of TAA, to help with the September school's debrief week, participate in staff training and a staff retreat!


Prayer Requests:

• Focus and diligence as we are taking part in this high-intensity university course so we can do our best.
• That we would be intentional about praying on behalf of our students even though they haven't even arrived yet. I know that God is going to profoundly touch each of their hearts and draw them deeper into Himself over the next six months of their lives. 

I want to acknowledge and thank everyone who has so generously supported me through dedicating to praying for me, one-time donations and pledging monthly donations.


I know it sounds cliché, but despite how much I saved while at home, I truly wouldn't be here without you. So thankyou! Thankyou! Thankyou!


MUAH! I love you all.