PHOTOS

Fun on the South Padre beach trip

Game nights in Mi Casa

Halloween Fun at Camp Eagle

*Fasting* Part 4 of 4

Fasting… Another discipline we focused on during our trip was a 24 hour food fast. For those who have never fasted from food this experience can be hard. There are hunger pains and desires to just snack that play a huge role throughout your time in the fast. These moments are what should push you to seek Him in scripture and allow Him to feed you!

So why fast from food? What is the point? Well our focus on fasting was a time to really rely on God and to focus our thoughts on Him and the things that He provides for us each day. We don’t actually have to eat 3 meals a day to survive, in fact we don’t even need one meal every single day. But something we do need.. is HIM every day. Without Him what is your purpose?

For me the fast wasn’t hard on me physically because fasting is something I have somewhat scheduled into my relationship with the Lord.. When I lived in Japan, this was a discipline we practiced weekly. Back then; this was a very hard task for me. My biggest struggle in these moments are not hunger pains, but just a desire to snack only because I am bored and want to do something. I found that on the beach fasting wasn’t as hard because I didn’t have the snacks that I could have had if I was somewhere else. One really encouraging moment was during our “lunch” when we chose to worship the Father through songs! What a blessing and joy it is to sing with some of my brothers and sisters praises to our King.

But as we fasted for the most part as a Walkabout family, I found that though I personally wasn’t struggling it was hard to help those who were struggling… to focus not on the pains but on the purpose. I understood why it was a hard task and how it over takes your whole body, so I chose to be uplifting or I desired to remain uplifting to those who were becoming hungry as the day went on. One thing I focused on was scripture and reminding them of the “food” the Lord had given us. It was such a blessing to watch as over half of the 30 people on this trip gave their food desire to the Lord and were connected with Him on a much deeper level!

Fasting of food isn’t for everyone so please don’t hear me wrong.  But we are all called to make a sacrifice of some things in our life in order to grow closer to Him. Maybe it is a fast from social media. Or your cell phone. What about even the TV? Anything that consumes you and keeps your focus tied up in whatever it is. Whatever that may be for your life, consider fasting it. During your fast focus on spending that time that you had previously consumed… use it to focus on the Lord.

Use that hour a day you spend on Facebook to read scripture or be in prayer. Use that nightly run, nightly snack time, or nightly internet search to put everything up and take out a bible study and devote that time to the Lord. It is rough. But the Lord is good and can get your though! Love you dear friends.

 

 

 

 

---PRAYER--- PART 3 of 4

The second discipline we focused on during this trip was prayer. Time spent talking to, crying out to, or singing to the Lord. We focused on what prayer is, how we pray, why we pray, and the different positions of prayer. These few hours, spent alone with the Lord were a time set aside for us to not be distracted by anyone else or the beauty of the beach, but to truly dive into prayer with Him.

I found a spot that I was able to sit and relax in the shade with a little bit of sunlight (to still keep warm), but focus on my time of prayer. I began by reading through the different positions of prayer and why the characters of the bible were praying in this way. Times spent praying on knees, on one’s face, with arms raised high to the Lord- these were just a few examples from the bible.

I chose to spend my time in prayer in several different positions, with several different requests. There were times I was crying out to the Lord about things and there were times I was rejoicing and giving Him praise. During these moments of prayer I was filled with the Holy Spirit and a sense of peace. The previous day was spent struggling in solicitude and not being accepted. BUT the Lord is good all the time and He allowed me to use my time of prayer to cry out in these needs and brokenness.

With the result of The Lord reminding me I am His. He has created me the way He desired to. I am called to love, no matter what. When I turn to Him… He will always be there. He may not give me what I want, but He always supplies me with what I need from my time in solitude the day before… my time of prayer was especially good. He continued to speak to me about some deeper issues that I was having.

Part of the feelings of not being accepted came from younger WA students who don’t know me very well. I am called to love them no matter what, but it had become especially hard during moments of immaturity and pride. So during this time of prayer, I cried out to the Lord and He answered with ways I needed to go about the issues. Deal with it. I can’t change who people are, but I can show them who I am. I must love them no matter how much they hurt me. Stop trying to help them, let them make their own mistakes. I am loved by HIM, no matter who else loves me.

What a blessing it was to stand before Him… arms raised high in prayer. To fall on my face and talk to the One who cares about every part of my life. A moment to be on my knees, bowed down before my Father. What a blessing it is to be able to pray to Him!

Prayer… it’s important… Have you talked to Him today? That is all that it is… A connection of communication as you seek to grow closer to Him. Fall on your face or your knees. He is always ready for us to seek Him in a more deeper way. Love you sweet friends.

 

SOLITUDE – Part 2 of 4

Our first discipline that we focused on at the beach was solitude. A time to literally shut up and stop our thoughts in order to allow the Lord to speak. For those of you who know me very well, I am a very talkative person and it is hard not only to sit without saying anything, but to also sit without allowing my mind to run at 100 mph.

My time of solitude was rough. I had a very hard time allowing my mind to stop. It wasn’t as hard as I thought to actually sit and be quiet. I was off by myself… so really there wasn’t anyone to talk to except the Lord. I knew the purpose of this time was for me to not be talking to the Lord, but instead allowing the Lord to talk to me. Well, that is where I struggled the most… I believe I was waiting for the Lord to speak to me audibly instead of allowing Him to speak to me through my thoughts. I was focused so hard on stopping my thoughts that each time a thought came (which may have been from the Lord) …. I pushed it away and made my mind stop. Needless to say, the Lord didn’t speak to be audibly and because I was so insistent in stopping my thoughts, I may have withheld Him from also speaking to me through my thoughts. I was one frustrated girl after these few hours I spent in solitude and became even more upset with myself when I heard everyone tell of how great their personal time spent in solitude was.

Throughout the day though, I thought through my time and allowed the Lord to actually begin speaking to me. I dropped my negative thoughts of my previous time spent in solitude and just begin to focus on His plan for that time. Through this… I was comforted by the Lord and the encouragement that was provided to me. MY walk with HIM is MY walk… I don’t need to focus or be discouraged by anyone else’s walk with Him. In fact, one of the greatest parts of the day was my time spent thanking the Lord for allowing me to not have a good time of solitude when we were “scheduled” to. It is from the discomfort that I experienced that I was able to step away from everyone else and have more time spent in solitude…BUT actually allowing the Lord to speak to me through my thoughts this time.

It was in this “second chance” of solitude for the day that the Lord began to guide my thoughts toward something I was really struggling with… not being accepted. These feelings had consumed me and were influencing the decisions I was making on this trip. I desired to be alone rather than growing closer to any of my WA brothers and sisters. The Lord reminded me I am His. He has created me the way He desired to. I am called to love, no matter what. When I turn to Him… He will always be there. He may not give me what I want, but He always supplies me with what I need.

Friends I encourage you to spend time in solitude with the Lord. It is hard; let me tell you from experience. But it is also very rewarding when you are able to stop yourself from talking or thinking and just allow Him to be the one speaking to you!

 

SOUTH PADRE BEACH TRIP - PART 1 of 4

In late October the Walkabout family loaded up the two - 15 passenger vans and the trailer full of supplies and headed south! What a blast and a wonderful opportunity to get away from the “camp life” and focus on 3 spiritual disciplines that are vital to our walks with the Lord! We were scheduled for a 4 day and three night trip to the beach, along with loads of great food, fun and fellowship!

Upon arrival we began to unload the trailer and get out all the fun water equipment: Poparazzi, Kayaks, knee boards, skim boards, fishing supplies and the list could go on. We set up our kitchen tent, extra large tent for sun shade, 8 tents for 4 people in each, and our fire pit! As preparation for a few days went on… so did the formation of a storm! I went with a our two female leaders back to the visitor’s center to load up on all the water for the 4 days… well while we were there we found out there had been a tornado warning issued and we needed to get out of there ASAP!

No need to worry though.. as a Walkabout class (this year and apparently all the previous years as well) we just expect things to go wrong and you work with what you got… SO we left the visitor’s center and headed back down the beach to find the rest of the group and tell them the news. Once we got there, our leaders decided we would wait it out and load up the larger things in case we had to leave in a moment’s notice. We also moved all of our tents higher into the sand hills and further away from the waves.

Obviously we survived and the remaining days were amazing. We began focusing on the three disciplines of solitude, prayer, and fasting. I plan to blog about each experience… so be looking for that! While we were on the beach, we were given many opportunities to grow in our friendships with one another. We had team building activities, sand castle challenges and many other fun opportunities! It was a great time for us to get refreshed and take time away from our normal days and focus on ourselves if that is what we needed!

That is something I really wanted to focus on during this trip. My previous week had been a really rough one. Feelings of not being accepted or loved in my community were just a few thoughts I was really struggling with. So, going into the week- I decided this time would be spent focusing on my walk with Him and what truly matters. My purpose in stepping into the wilderness was not for the acceptance of others, nor was it to have a great grand fun time every day. I knew this time would be hard… but I also knew I came to be changed and to GROW in a deeper relationship with HIM! Though friendships are great and important for accountability, I was not called into this type of program to just make friends. Instead, I was called to grow in intentional relationships and to love the unlovable… This is something I am focusing on every day.

Two of the three nights that we were there I slept on the beach and loved every second of that. There is something calming about sleeping on cool sand with a little bit of wind blowing. Also, I was blessed financially with the opportunity to buy an awesome sleeping bag… So that definitively helped those two nights! The first night I slept alone, but on the second night out on the beach, I had several WA family members join me. I was blessed by their love and desire to experience God’s creation with me.

It was a wonderful trip that served as a great reminder to why I chose to come out and be a part of this amazing program. The Lord knew what He was doing when He led me here and he has continued to remind me that a life following Him isn’t always going to be easy. I will struggle, but the greatest moments are found when I seek Him in those trying times. He is enough. He is more than enough.