A Life-changing Weekend.

Our middle school group at WSC ((plus Hannah Hazard and I) took an adventure to Summer Awakening 2 at the Ramp in Hamilton, Alabama. It ended with us singing The Anthem with Jake Hamilton of Jesus Culture, jumping around like crazy and singing praises to God after a busy 3 days of losing our voices, praying, worshiping, listening to testimonies from Chosen and even an evening session with Corey Russell of IHOP, and getting baptized in a river.

From my first trip to the Ramp when I was thirteen up until now, I will always say that this is a place where they welcome the presence of God. And it's amazing. :)

Honestly, I had a concept of water baptism before this trip, but I never really understood the spiritual meaning to it. I just knew that it was an outward representation of "washing away your sins", or so I thought.

I haven't seen water baptism as sketchy, necessarily, because Jesus was baptized and the bible does discuss it. But other than spiritual baptism, I never really saw the point. What does it really mean? To be prayed for, to make the decision, then to go under the water an old person, to leave who you are behind in the water and to come back up a completely new person?

It runs deeper than just being dipped into water. You're leaving your past behind in a spiritual way and in an outward way. And as this is an outward representation, a spiritual transformation is occuring as well. God is looking down on us and saying, "This is my son/daughter, in whom I am well pleased." 

He wants to do big things in us. And although water baptism doesn't save you, I've realized it's value. And it took me the third time to really understand it.

 

 Talk about getting down in the creek.

All I remember is that as we trekked down the path that lead to the river, I could feel the very presence of the holy spirit calling me forward. I could hear the music playing. I could hear the voices of hundreds of people being lifted to God.  I could hear the sound of hearts changing and encounters with God. They were crying out for a transformation.

As I stepped into the cool water, I couldn't help but to just pray in the spirit. It was overwhelming, a spiritual heaviness that I won't forget as the leaders layed hands on us and prayed for a moment in the spirit, then baptized us in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I went under the water with tears streaming down my face and came back up the same. I just prayed in the spirit for the next hour or so and cried wrapped in my towel sitting in the grass. I will never forget the day God touched our heart in this fashion, as he will continue to do for eternity.

I feel like our middle schoolers really had some intense face to face encounters with God, and my sister and I didn't even show up until the end of the Friday night service (unfortunately, we missed Corey Russel... but that's okay, we can always catch him again soon.) On the way back to the Boro, we even had a prayer meeting in the van. We prayed for people we knew were lost and discussed what God had done in us personally and what we're going to do once we get home. We don't want to be on fire for like a week after Ramp and then go back into the same mess again... it's time for consistency and a lasting impact!

So I say this to anyone who asks- STAY CONSISTENT!

Stacey from Chosen told us to get obsessed with the word and to seek his face every single day! It means turning on some worship music, opening the bible and singing to God and praying in our bedrooms at night. It means praying for your friends and family and school. It means taking time away from your video game, TV, computer, cell phone, and friends and going to those boring Monday night prayer meetings at church. It takes work, and it isn't easy, but it's worth every step of the way. So get some accountability partners and some friends that are willing to back you up and pray with you and move! Consistency means diligence, and it means effort. 

So, I end this blog post with prayer. Thank you God for a life-changing summer in our lives. Thank you for On Fire middle schoolers at WSC and your presence filling their lives every single day. Thank you for revealing your beauty and love to them so that they may share it with others. Thank you God for a love that's real and a love that prevails, that we may seek it every day for the rest of our lives and for all eternity. You're worthy, Jesus. You're amazing.

Amen.

What Greater Purpose is There in Life?

What greater purpose is there in life than to sit at the feet of Jesus and worship him? To behold the beauty of in his throne room, in his presence, and to be loved by him for all of eternity. This is the eternal drive, and our eternal purpose- to behold the beauty of Jesus and who he is. To dwell in his presence.

When I was at Awakening Teen Camp, there was this girl on my worship team named Liv. She was one of the 20ish people who was with the Worship and Prayer Intensive group (a seven week summer program for young musicians) and she's a bassist. After one of our smaller seminars, a prayer meeting broke out, and the Lord lead me to pray with her as she prayed with two other girls. When I joined her in prayer, I can't even say exactly what it was, but all that comes to my mind is the anointing, holiness and consecration of God was on her. I felt like I recognized it, almost, and I asked God in my heart "What is that?" Everytime I saw her it was like the anointing of Jesus was on her. After leaving camp, I was texting her and asked if she would share her testimony with me, and I want to share it with others.

"I've lived here [Kansas City] all my life and I have been at IHOP before it even started. I have always loved the Lord. When I was really young, there was this kid that was really mean to me and I'd see him every day. My wise mother told me to pray for him and that's what I did. I spent long hours before the feet of Jesus talking to Him and listening to Him. He became my best friend. I spent a lot of time alone with Him because I didn't have very many friends because I was home-schooled and you can only stand to be with your annoying brothers so much and I'd only see my friends at church on Sundays. So as I grew older, this kid that was mean to me only got worse, But I continued to pray. I prayed for him for ten years before I saw breakthrough. One day I saw him and he was a completely new person. He was so on fire with the love of the Lord, he was so full of light, and he was so sorry for the way he treated me. So that's how my prayer life started. My relationship with Jesus really took on a new depth when my best friend died when I was 14. I ran straight into the arms of Christ. He was my comforter and my stronghold. He was so real and near me during that year and the year after when my dear cousin died. When my friend died, a lot of my other friends turned away from God and I lost touch with them, so I'd spend my time with the Holy Spirit. I've always loved to worship. I don't remember a day when we couldn't worship. Before I could play bass my mom would have us dance and worship to music. When I was about 10 I picked up the bass and loved it ever since. I am a lovesick worshipper of Jesus and I long for his return. He is my Beloved and my Friend. I am living for eternity. He is always on my mind and it's not okay that he's not here. I want him to come back so badly. If he doesn't fill me up every day I'd die. He is the lover of my soul. He is so real to me and I'll give my life up for him. I'll do whatever he wants me to do because I love him so. Life is pointless is he's not at the center...."

After I read this for the second time, I found myself with tears streaming down my face and on my knees asking God for a deeper love for him and just crying out for his presence to fill me.

What other point of life is there than to pursue a love so deep every single day and to reach out to others? How can such a burning love for Jesus become so cold in the time we live in now? How can our love grow cold when it's so readily available for us to receive when we just open up our hearts to him on a daily basis?

The truth of the matter is that it does.

 Some may say "That's too extreme! That's too violent! That's crazy! That's weird!" But have you truly encountered a supernatural love that took your entire past mistakes, failures and screwups and made you a new person? Have you encountered the sincere love of Jesus in his presence through the holy spirit? How real is it to you, and how real could it become?

I want his love to be more real to me than the very ground I stand on!

We so often spend our time worrying and concerned about tomorrow and what our circumstances are and our jobs and school and work and by the end of the day we've pushed the Lord down to the last thing on our list! I'm guilty of it myself, and I'm ready to stop! I'm ready to lay the lesser things aside. I'm 16 and there's so much I could occupy my time with, but I'm done with being like everyone else. I'm ready to lay aside extra-cirricular activities, my electronics, my materials, and entertainment in order to be face to face with the one, true living God, because it's the only thing that matters in the end and it matters today and now in this very hour.

To be fascinated the beauty of the living God and his holiness and love is the greatest pleasure there is now and in the age to come. It's our primary purpose. I will not lose hold of it this year, and I won't lose hold of it again.

It's time to take on a new challenge. So that in the famines of God's presence, in the floods of persecution, and in the comfort of the culture, his love is still real to me.

Awakening Teen Camp Music Academy- A Journey I will never forget.

You can only soak up so much in such a short amount of time, they say. All I can say at this point is that I really miss Kansas City. I miss spending 2 hours in the prayer room every morning. I miss singing and worshiping God pretty much the entire day except when we're in seminars, workshops or eating. I miss the way someone would start to sing a song, then someone else would add a beat, then someone else would add guitar and before you knew it you had your very own worship set going as you waited outside for the bus. I miss singing the word with my counselor group and getting lost in God's presence in the corner of the IHOPU cafe during small group time.

At the same time, I'm glad to be home. It's a very good, different, yet odd feeling being around 200 people that are very similar to you. I didn't know how to react at first, and the first two days were very rough for me. I remember thinking "Someone get me out of here! I want to go home now!" It's scary not really knowing anyone around you and not knowing what's happening or what the schedule is, especially when you're borderline introvert and not used to things being high-energy and haywire. But once you get the hang of it and stick around, faces become more familiar to you. Schedules become easier to follow. Prophetic worship and singing become like walking.

I know in my heart that the Lord put the right counselor and small group in my path, too. I even prayed for them before I got to ATC, and I know we were in eachother's paths by grace. The similarity of our pasts were almost scary, but in the end we were drawn closer. I love my small group so much... and I dearly miss them. :)

I remember first going into the small set room with my worship team and putting my headphones on, adjusting my monitor and just waiting on the lord. I opened my bible and sat it on my music stand, becoming more relaxed and jumping into the flow of worship with the other prophetic singers and musicians on the set. After a few moments of adjusting, it was as if we took off. We sang "Better is One Day" and "Taste and See" and other songs on the three one-hour sets we did that week, then entered into intercession and began singing in the spirit. Honestly, It was as if God took me and poured his heart and his desires into my mouth. I became his instrument of prophecy and worship. And I just sang his heart...

Within the past ten days, I've discovered that I know what I need to do now. I know I'm called to prophetic music, songwriting and singing. How, when, or where? I'm not sure what all the points are right now. But I know that as a lover of God, I have a bedroom with a door and an open bible ontop of my keyboard, and that's where I begin. Devotion is so important. And as the summer continues and comes to a close soon, it's my job (our job as Christians as well) to spend time in that simple devotion and continue with it. Waiting on the Lord and dining in his presence. What else can satisfy our hearts? Nothing.

And so I have new challenges for myself this year. It's time for me to step up in my walk and increase not only in devotion, but in truth and reality in the words that I say and the actions I make. I want what I say and do to be edifying to the people around me and to myself. I want to love people and love God, and I want to show people what love can be. This is my challenge for junior year... to do and say things that really matter.


I'll be posting more pictures on here from camp later. :)