*** I somehow ended up with two sites! This is the web address for the one with all of my posts.. I'll only be updating that from now on! Sorry!www.elebrisbanbound.blogspot.com
Well, it's friday morning here in Australia. This week has gone by so incredibly fast. Last night I was laying in my bed thinking about it and I couldn't believe that it was going to be friday already! Even though it's been fast, this week I think I've grown and learned the most.
Our speaker for the week was Ken Helser. He is such an amazing speaker. Before we had lectures on Tuesday, I had the opportunity to have a small conversation with him. I told him that I had heard he does really good lectures on "The Father heart of God." He looked at me and said, "I don't teach the father heart of God." And my heart kind of dropped a bit because I had been looking forward to this week since we got here and heard about it. But he continued... "People always say that I teach that... and to be honest, I haven't taught a specific thing all my life. God shows me what I need to say... and I guess it just comes out that way."
Ken has a huge heart for God. You can practically see his joy spilling out of him... I just love to watch :) He mixes laughter and fun into his teachings and they're so interesting... I just want to stay and listen all day. Sometimes I'm a little disappointed that it's lunch. Throughout his teaching, he throws in words for people. For the past few months, he's been praying for us each individually and then he writes down things that God speaks to us. It's been so awesome to hear what he has to say to people because he has totally nailed some people. We've all heard each other's testimonies but he hasn't. A lot of what he says are things that people struggle with. There was one cool story... There's a girl on our DTS, her name is Jo. When it came time for Ken to give her words, he said... "Jo, I want you to read this book (I forget the name of it.) and I want you to read for these two specific days..." Jo looked at him... kind of teary eyed and said... "that book is in my bag right now. And those two days have really important meaning in my life." I was blown away. And then it came time for him to say mine... and this is what he said...
""no one can paint into a picture that which is not in oneself. Nor is there any use in painting a picture if one is not filled with the inner beauty of life. Those who paint merely in order to express their own turmoil and confusion commit an outrage against art and against life.. the determination to do what God wants one to do, insofar as possible, is the most important value of all..." This is my heart for you, that you find during your DTS what you were created for and what makes you come alive and you do that! Are you going to make art your career? that's not the right question to ask, but rather, are you going to let the Lord direct your every path? This is His heart for you: Pslam 16:11
-don't be afraid to allow art to be your career.
At first I was a little bummed about what he said because I wanted him to call me out on something like he did for the ones who were before me. But I felt something in me saying, "go back and read it again... really read it." My roommate wrote everything down for me (which I am grateful for) and so I read it again. And it really hit me. I really felt like God was saying these things to me.
Each student has a one on one- someone who is on staff is "assigned" to a student and you have a weekly meeting with them and just discuss and process what you're learning. My one on one is Hannah and when I was talking to her, she challenged me to do something different to spend time with God. She said to go on walks with Him or just sit and talk or just sit and let my mind wander. Because it's just like hanging out with your best friend. Spending time with God doesn't mean trying to read your Bible for a hour. That part comes with time. But making a conscious effort to just sit with God is what we need to be doing. So this morning, I got up and got my breakfast. I went to sit down with some friends to eat... but then I thought of what Hannah said. So I picked up my bowl and walked out to the swing and sat and ate my breakfast with my Daddy. And what a good time I had :)
Time for intercession.. I want to share some stories that Ken has told us because they've been so impacting for me. But I'll put them all up at another time. There's just so much that God is doing and not enough time to type it all out!
Thanks for your prayers :)
Erica
