Snow For Christmas

Trent and I are back in Minnesota for Christmas! It feels so good to be home. It feels so good to be around my family and to have Christmas decorations all over the place. Talk about coming to home to a cozy home. So nice!

I can hardly wrap my brain around the fact that the lecture phase of DTS is over. All day I've been reflecting back on the things that have happened in the last 3 months. I've seen so much growing and so much change happen in every one of my classmates and in myself. Its so beautiful. Guys, God has done some crazy awesome things in us! We are such beautiful new people. I'm praying we all get the chance to love on the people in our lives over break. I'm praying that we stay protected in knowing who we have become in Christ. I feel so blessed to see the work He has done in each one of you!

My life has been turned upside down these last months! God has taken the desires of my heart and has made them a reality. How cool is my DADDY?! I look at myself and just feel new. I know that I'm new and I feel that I'm new. Its just good :) God is SO GOOD.

I'm hoping I get to see a lot of people while I'm home. I'm really excited to just be with my family. I'm excited to be in my home. Its just all nice. So nice haha :)

End of DTS

Oh man world. Its been way too long. December has been a crazy crazy month of extreme ups and extreme downs. I feel like I've been sprinting all month. I've literally been working on this post all week. But finally, down time, and this is some of whats been going on:
A couple weeks ago we had one of the coolest teachers ever! His name is Micah and he took us through 1 John: Am I really Saved? Can I know for sure? Wow. The teaching was intense. I stole his powerpoint so if anyone is interested in having it, email me and I'll send it to you bschwantz@hotmail.com
Here is a quick overview:

How To Know if You Are Saved:
1 John

A genuine Christian has a mark of authenticity upon him. There are 8 evidences that John gives us in First John. One of Satan's strategies in hindering the work of God is to reduce the gospel of Jesus into a formula so that people can enter by subscribing to the formula without every truly entering into relationship with God. In other words, just because you said "the prayer" does not necessarily mean you are a Christian.
Evidence #1 WALKING IN LIGHT: "If we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth." (1 John 1:6). A verse before, John tells us that God is light. There is no darkness in Him at all. So we can not be friends with Him if we are walking in darkness. To walk in darkness means to choose to dwell in sinfulness, to be in a state of habitual sin, to continue living like we used to live. I had become a "Christian" when I was 7 years old. But as I entered high school, my life did not reflect that at all. Even in college a little. I had a relationship with God. I prayed and read my Bible and He spoke to me as well. But I was definitely in habitual sin. This began my freak out of last week. I believe what the Bible says is true...so did this mean I was not a Christian?
Evidence #2 OBEYING HIS COMMANDMENTS: "The one who says, 'I have come to know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar; and the truth is not in him." (1 John 2:4) And the freaking out intensified. I had always considered myself as being in a relationship with God. But I knew there were things I was doing that were wrong. Did this mean I was a liar? I knew I wasn't keeping all His commandments. Obedience is the pattern of the Christian; sin in the exception, not the way that a Christian habitually lives. There is no salvation outside of having a relationship with God, truly knowing Him, not just about Him. And a person in relationship with God is obeying what He commands him to do. Romans 2:14 tells us we have no excuse for sin. We cannot claim ignorance for sin, because God has hardwired certain truths within us. A person's heart will race when he or she steals something, whether they are Christian on not. So how do I know if I'm saved? If I intend to keep God's commandments and obey Him no matter what. Before coming to DTS, I was not intending to obey some of God's commandments. I was planning to and expecting to sin in certain areas.
Evidence #3 LOVING THE BROTHERS: "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death." (1 John 3:14) This is not emotional. It is a commitment of the will to want the same rights for your neighbor as you do for yourself. Whatever you want protected for yourself, you must equally be committed to protect that for your neighbor. Love is charitable, benevolent, concerned. Bear one another's burdens. Shut out your neighbor and you also shut yourselves out of heaven. Who is your neighbor? Jesus answers this in Luke 10:25-37. It is the person you see who has the need. The neighbor is the person you see when you look out the window of your house. But now we have TV, and this is the window that opens up the whole world to us. It is the strategy of God. He put that funny little box in your living room, and it made you the neighbor to the entire world. Internet? Even more so. I know I'm saved if I love people.
Evidence #4 NOT LOVING THE WORLD: "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John 2:15) The world is all that attracts you prior to coming to God. You will know the saved by their attitude toward the world. Either you love the world or you love God. (Matt 16:23; John 14:17; John 15:19; Romans 12:2; 1 Cor 1:20; Eph 2:2; Phil 2:15) You can not commit your entire being to pleasing God and pleasing the world at the same time. When you see pictures of the devil, his fork is always represented as having 3 prongs for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. These things are not of the Father, but are of the world. Lust of the eyes is represented by wanting things and possessions. Lust of the flesh is represented by wanting experiences (sexual, social, etc). Pride of life is represented by wanting influence, authority, power, and position. Its not wrong to want these things. Its wrong to want them outside of God's will or above God Himself.
Evidence #5 ABIDING IN CHRIST: "And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming." (1 John 2:28). To abide in Christ means to remain in relationship with Him. The person who refuses to recognize and surrender the throne of his heart to unconditionally obey the Lord Jesus Christ is not of Christ. Abiding in Christ does not mean going to church. People go to church all the time who do not have a relationship with Christ.
Evidence #6 HATING SIN & DESIRING TO PLEASE GOD: "By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother." (1 John 3:10).
"Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who continually is practicing sin is of the devil." (1 John 3:7-8). When I read this, I really had to ask myself, do I believe everything in the Bible or not. Before coming to YWAM, I was continually practicing sin. The devil had a hold on me. Sense being here, the best way I have found to stop sinning, was to ask God to give me the attitude He has toward it: a pure hatred for sin. It didn't happen over night. Its still a work in progress. But when I feel tempted to sin, I look to Jesus and ask Him to show me how He sees it. I want to pleasing to God above all else.
Evidence #7 HAVING THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT: "Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us." (1 John 3:24). The Holy Spirit Himself personally brings the witness within our spirit that we have been born again. Your spirit is who you are. It is your spirit that leaves you at death. It is your spirit that thinks and feels and knows. Your spirit that lives. Without it, we would just be an empty shell. It is also our spirit which is regenerated at salvation. "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children" (Romans 8:16). The testimony of the Holy Spirit is an inward impression on the human spirit, whereby God directly witnesses to your spirit that you are a child of God, that Jesus loves you and that He died for you and that you have been reconciled to Him.
Evidence #8 OVERCOMING THE WORLD: "For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world -- our faith." (1 John 5:4). And this is where my life was about to change. Overcoming the world means putting Jesus in charge. Stepping off the throne and allowing Him to do with me whatever He would like. Micah quoted a teacher he had in earlier years: "If you walk out this door tonight, and your planning on sinning, maybe you are not saved." I literally sank down in my chair after hearing this. I really had thought I had been a Christian all my life. My mind could hardly wrap around that maybe I wasn't. I was constantly planning on sinning and making up excuses for it. Oh this is just something I've always struggled with. Oh I'm a good Christian except for this one thing. etc etc so dumb. I was deceived.

So I ended up either giving my life to Christ for the first time or recommitting myself to Him. I'm honestly still not really sure, but at this point, it just doesn't really matter. Now I know that I know that I know that I am a child of God. I am saved. I dedicated my life in front of my class, along with most of my classmates. The next day, our staff took us to get baptized. Here is a video of mine :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULgpjIXqka4&feature=youtu.be
There's a link also on my facebook. The video is of my baptism and then a bunch of prayers and words people had for me. Its kinda hard to hear, but its all really awesome :)

Yesterday morning we had our very last lecture of DTS. I still can't believe it. On Monday we will be learning how to not be American while on our outreaches and spending time with our outreach teams -- my team gets to eat Korean food -- win :) Tuesday we will be deep cleaning this entire base. And Wed Kelsey, Trent, and I will be on our way back to Minnesota! I can't wait to see my family and go to my church and just see everyone!

The 3 W's and Soul Ties

Yesterday's class was SO GOOD! It really just spoke to me a lot with everything I am learning about and dealing with. It was more on prophecies. A lot of guidelines on how to go about interpreting prophecies, giving or receiving, and what to do with a prophecy you have been given. Good stuff. Good good stuff. Years and years of wisdom handed out in one class. And all of it things I can use to evaluate the prophecies I have been given sense coming here.

The very first thing she said was to record everything! Its hard to remember what God says to you when you are experiencing Him and His anointing. Its also hard to remember what was all said if you are wanting to hear something specific. And, if you are the one giving the prophecy, it helps protect you so that people don't put words in your mouth.

When you are recieving a prophecy, especially if you don't have a lot of experience with it, it is a tendency to jump and say its got to happen today. Man, do I know this is true. This is a huge lesson I am learning with some of the things I have heard about my life. You need to wait for God to line things up.

Determine God's Word on the matter.
Determine God's Will concerning the matter.
Determine God's Way and Timing to fulfill it.

The W's are like three traffic lights which all must be "green" before we can pass on through. When we get a Word from God, that is not the time to act on it. You don't need to manipulate or twist anything to get what God has for you. The way you get to it needs to be legit - HIS WAY! This is where I think I messed up. I started focusing too much on what God said, and didn't pay attention at all to how He wanted me to get there. I wanted to be there now. Everything I did or thought seemed to be about getting to that Word. Constantly, God has been telling me that now is not the time for that. Now is the time to just love Him and feel His love. He finally got that through to me. I'm just sorry how off the path I got without really even realizing it..."The prince of darkness is a gentleman..." (Shakespeare).
So if you get a Word from God, the first thing you need to do is match it up to Scripture. If what was told to you does not match up with what the Bible says, it was not of God. God does not contradict Himself. Once you have the green light on that, you need to seek His Will. And you need to wait until you get a yes. If you are unsure about God's will, stay put and wait. He'll make His will clear to you. Once you know that you know that you know His Will, you need to wait for HIS WAY. You must be faithful to wait until God's way is made clear. Not my way, His way. HIS timing, HIS methods, HIS provision. We need patience to press on and pursue His will until His plan and provision is provided. You need to give God time to divinely control the situations involved. And you need to remember God's timing is not out timing. Jesus said He was coming back soon 2,000 years ago...

To sum up, class was just very good. I learned a lot. I learned that if I get a Word, I don't need to freak out about it. If it was of God, its His job to bring it about, not mine. I don't have to do anything but seek Him.

I'm really excited about something else I learned yesterday, kind of on the side of everything else. I had a rough night of weird dreams the night before that were really bothering me. I told my mentor about them. She said what she saw was that there were a lot of soul ties that needed to be cut. I gave her a questioning look. I have never heard of soul ties before. Her and I talked for a little bit and then I went to do research on my own. What I found lined up with what she said:

SOUL TIES

"But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him."
~1 Corinthians 6:17

soul ties: the knitting together of two souls that can either bring tremendous blessings in Godly relationships or tremendous destruction when made with the wrong persons. A soul tie in the Bible can be described not only by the word knit, but also by the word cleave, which means to bring close together, follow close after, be attached to someone, or adhere to one another as with glue.

In ungodly relationships these soul ties may place us in emotional and mental bondage. These ties can be established if the relationship is not under the Lordship of Christ.

GOD DEMANDS FIRST PLACE IN OUR HEARTS.
When our strongest soul tie is to God, there is a divine covering and protection that will enable us to withstand forming ungodly soul ties.
"For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called." ~Isaiah 54:5

The sexual union of marriage ties two souls as one. God created this gift for marriage, but the result of being knit together is not different if this is abused outside of marriage. Soul ties formed through illicit sexual involvement can be as strong and binding as those formed through the marriage covenant. Just as two souls can be knit or made to cleave together in a covenant relationship, they can also be tied or knit together to form bondage and enslavement. Sexual union was ordained by God to make two marriage partners one flesh before God, but promiscuous premarital and extramarital affairs can mysteriously tie ones soul to many partners. Catherine said there doesn't even have to be the actual act of sex to tie your soul to someone. It can be getting too close physically or emotionally outside of God's will. She said that God is probably trying to tell me that I have ties to people that I need to cut. She said she was attached to her first boyfriend for years and years. She just couldn't get over him. Until she learned about soul ties and prayed for God to release her from those chains. I am just in love with this idea.

After doing my research and reading Scripture to back what I was learning up, I sat and talked with God a little. I want to belong to God fully. I don't want to feel bonded to any guy on this earth until Jesus is ready to share me in a marriage. I told God I am all for this. So I prayed that He give me names of ungodly soul ties that needed to be cut. And He gave me names. So now I have a list of guys that I am so ready to cut all bonds with so that I can finally belong fully to my Redeemer. I haven't prayed with Catherine about them yet, but I'm sure I'll feel the need to write about it once it does happen! Jesus, I'm just beyond excited to give myself fully to you. All of me. Belonging only to You.

If this has touched the heart of anyone reading this, if you realize you have soul ties that need to be cut as well, and you want more information or would like to know how to get rid of them, feel free to email me bschwantz@hotmail.com or facebook me.

Also, Praise God for He is my Provider! $1,000 came in for us yesterday. We are almost half way to going to Korea now. Thank you for those who are supporting us!! You are such a blessing and you will be blessed.

Test All Things

(Sorry, I don't know why my computer has made this all italicized)

Today in class we practiced prophecy. And I learned that I am not very good at it. I know if God ever placed me in a situation where He needed me to give a prophecy to someone, He would give me the words to do it. But in this practice setting... yeah I didn't excel.

Prophecy has really peeked my interest this week. I have had a lot of people tell me things about my future since coming to DTS, but over this past weekend I realized that God Himself had not actually told me some of these things. If there is something big that is going to happen in your life, God will tell you about it. Its your life.

Karen, our teacher this week, said something along the lines that sometime people will give you a word and it will be wrong. This is why we need to "test all things."

"Do not treat prophecies with contempt ²¹ but test them all; hold on to what is good, ²² reject every kind of evil." ~1 Thessalonians 5:20-22

I raised my hand and asked her how exactly to test prophecies that are given to us. The first most important thing to do is look at how it lines up with Scripture. God never contradicts himself, so if the prophecy goes against the Bible, it's false. Then you want to ask "does this appeal to my spirit?" Usually we can get a strong sense of is this for me or not. Again, know that God would tell you if it was something big. If someone came up to you and told you God told them you were going to die tomorrow...if you have a relationship with God that's something He would probably just tell you. And finally, you want to look at motivations the person giving you the word might have. When we were given a 10 minute break, I went up to talk to Karen about this teaching. I told her a lot of the things that have been said over me since coming to DTS. She told me to write them all down and than lay it down at Jesus' feet. Pray about it and wait. If it happens, it was of God. If it doesn't happen, than it wasn't. No matter what prophecy we are given, it doesn't need to tie us down in any way or force us to change anything or live any differently. It's God's responsibility to bring it about, not ours. And as I went back to my seat and prayed about that, I just felt so much peace. I hate when things seem so obvious coming from someone else's mouth. 1 Corinthians 13:12 says we only know in part anyway. So I'm done worrying. What's been said about my future doesn't really matter right now. Right now, the thing that matters is my focus on God. I just need to focus on how much I love my Jesus and everything else will fall into place.

I started going through my journals today. I really want to see where God has spoken clearly to just me. Not based on what people have told me. I want to see where God has told me things. So far, there are three things that I know that I know that I know. But the even cooler thing is that I'm seeing a pattern to how I know that I know that I know. With these three things, I have multiple journal entries where I think this is what God's telling me. Eventually, God backs it up by giving me some Scripture relating to what He has been telling me. And, with each of these three things, at least one person has backed up what God has been telling me without them knowing what God has been telling me. Its all very cool :)

I'm half way through my week of fasting. And God has spoken some pretty cool things to me and given a few good revelations. Still more to come. I'm excited! Rough weeks always seem to turn out to be the best experiences with God.

Fasting, Tongues, and Love

I wish I would have gotten the chance to write this morning. That would have made my next blog so much cooler. So this morning, I was going to write about how I'm struggling a little bit. Usually, I am very good at knowing when God is speaking to me and when my thoughts are coming from somewhere else, but lately I've been having a hard time with that. I have had a lot of doubts in my head. I have a lot of questions that I want God to answer. So Monday at lunch, I talked with my beautiful mentor, Catherine, about it. She mentioned I just take a week to fast and spend some extra time with God. I took her right up on that. God has been slowly teaching me the importance of fasting, and I had already had it in my head that fasting from something was something I should do this week. Before talking with Catherine, I was just going to fast from chocolate...just because I couldn't really think of anything else. Fasting from food isn't usually a good idea for me. But after talking with Catherine and praying about it, God gave me a whole list of things to fast from this week. One of those things is facebook, so I won't be able to post this on facebook. Hopefully...people will still just check to see if I wrote anything. God doesn't need facebook if He wants people to read this. So there is that and a bunch of other things. Its a hard core fasting week. I want answers from God, and I want them now. That afternoon during class, over half my class was prayed over and received the gift of speaking in tongues. When our teacher, Karen, called people to come up who wanted to prayed over to receive this gift, I found myself at the front of the class...but then I noticed the time. It was almost time to go pick Trent up from child care. I don't like messing around with the Holy Spirit when I need to be somewhere soon. It gets way too easy to loose track of time and be late. So I went and sat down and watched God bless my classmates.

So that's what I would have wrote about this morning. NOW, I have a way cooler story. So this morning during class, we got right back into praying over a couple people who weren't able to speak in tongues yesterday. The Holy Spirit took over...I don't know how many of you have been in a room full of people totally overcome by the Spirit...its hard to describe without making it sound creepy. But anyway, I was just not feeling it. I was feeling worse than I had the day before. God had convicted me over a few big things that I was just feeling terrible about. I ended up walking out in the middle of class to go talk with Catherine...or more like cry my eyes out because I was feeling so empty and unsure of so many things. She said some awesome things...I felt a little better...sorta. I went back to class. People were on the floor. Some where out, some where laughing, some were speaking out things God was giving them for our class or for an individual. I sat down in my chair and started journaling to God about what Catherine had said. Like how this isn't a game to God. He doesn't want me to be in the dark. He doesn't want me to be deceived by the devil. He wants to communicate with me more than I want Him to. This is part of what I wrote:

I know You will speak to me.
I believe in who You are. You are my redeeming and loving Forgiver. I know You are here. Whether I can feel You or not. You are here.

Then God spoke to me (but of course I doubted it at first because that's just my thing these days) and told me to go over to Karen, kneel by her, and put her hand on my head. She was at that point on the ground experiencing the Holy Spirit with everyone else. She wasn't out, but He was clearly all over her. Because I was doubting, I didn't go up. But then my heart started pumping, my adrenaline starting rushing. Go! Just go kneel by her. I will take care of the rest. You have felt this before. You know this is Me. Go. So I went. I went to the front of classroom, stepping over bodies as I went. I knelt down by Karen and placed her hand on my head. She immediately started praying over me, and I immediately felt the Holy Spirit. The experience that followed is crazier and more unbelievable than what I have already talked about it, but this is a little of what I got out of today:
I do know God's voice. I know what it feels like when God tells me to do something, and I don't want to do it, but He makes me anyway. The darkness I was feeling was taken away. I once again feel beautiful and full of God's light and glow. Jesus is crazy in love with me. Crazy in love. This week of fasting has already shown me how little time I have given Him, and how much He wants that time. This week of fasting is not about God giving me answers. Its about me loving Him. Its about me just being in love with Jesus and once again giving my all to Him. Because He is so worthy. So worthy.
So I guess tomorrow is another day! I hope this blog didn't freak you out too much. I'm sure there is more to come. Having a week of learning about and receiving spiritual gifts on top of a week of fasting...I really set myself up to be blown away.

On a side note, I know Jesus is my Provider. I know He has called Trent and I to Korea. I know He will bring in the money through supporters. My leaders wanted the money yesterday. Trent and I had some supporters send money in, but we are still about $2700 short. So overwhelming when you just type it out like that. But again, I know God will provide. Please be praying about this with us!

Back to School

Thanksgiving break was so awesome. My family drove all the way down here to spend some time with Trent and I. Kelsey got to be a part of our family, which was awesome cuz I didn't have to miss her so much that way :) I don't know what I'm going to do when we have to split up after Christmas. I've just grown way too fond of seeing her beautiful face everyday.

Trent and I had such a good time hanging out with our family over the break. It was like we hadn't been apart at all. It was really hard to say goodbye again, but it helped knowing I'll be seeing them in just 3 weeks for Christmas :) I'm really excited to come home!

This week our classes are going to be on spiritual gifts...so I'm guessing my blogs this week are going to seem crazy. I'm nervous. I always get nervous when I'm about to be exposed to something I have little experience with. I've heard that our teachers this week sometimes will stop in the middle of class and call on two people to pray and prophecy over each other. I'm hoping God uses this week to reconfirm a lot of the crazy things He has told me in the past couple months. Please about this for me. I just want to know that I know that I know that I am in God's will and doing what He wants and not just picking out things that support my own desires. This is a strong prayer on my heart this week.

So I guess get ready for the craziness! I'm going to try to post on teachings and happenings this week, whether I think you will believe it or not. Just brace yourselves I guess :)

Thanksgiving Break

Well Thanksgiving break has begun! It was a very short week, but of course it was awesome, and I was really impacted by our teachings.

Trent had a pretty interesting experience too...
Yesterday during childcare in the afternoon, Trent stuck his middle finger into a train track piece:
(the second one) After he struggled with it a little, he came over to me because he couldn't get it off. Of course I laughed. Just a couple weeks ago, Trent had stuck his finger into a toy during preschool, and his teachers had to break the toy to get his finger out. So I took him to the bathroom to use soap and water. Nothing happened. I tried pulling the thing off, but I started getting scared I would pull too hard and would end up dislocating his finger. So I walked him back to childcare and called Trent's good buddy, Michael. I thought maybe Michael could figure out a way to break it (which was dumb, these are thick chunks of wood) or would be able to work at getting it off while I stayed in childcare. Once Michael got there, he took Trent into the kitchen. A couple minutes later, Trent's other good buddy Jake, came into childcare to get me. I went into the kitchen with Jake to find Trent crying and some kind of yellow goup all over his hand. Michael said the same thing about not wanting to dislocate Trent's finger. The train piece was now wedged just under Trent's knuckle, and his finger was turned red. Someone suggested we take Trent to the nurse. So we jumped into Michael's truck and drove down to the building the nurse was in. Of course she was gone. Another woman there asked what we needed, and we showed her Trent's finger. She laughed as she examined it and said, "Oh this is no problem. Just a couple weeks ago we were up in the nursery area because a kid had stuck his finger and toy. We had to break it to get it off!" Trent got really quite and buried his face into Michael's shoulder. I started laughing and said that was him. We talked about maybe calling one of the ground's people to get a saw or something. She said in the meantime to get some ice Trent's finger that was no turning slightly purplish. So we drove back up to the kitchen to get ice. The ground guy Michael called was very against using a saw to get it off...for obvious reasons...Michael ran into the kitchen to get ice and soon was back out saying Ms. Debbie (the woman in charge of the kitchen) wanted to see Trent. So Trent and I went into her office, and I set Trent down on her desk. As she examined his finger she said, "Aren't you the kid who had a toy cut off his finger a couple weeks ago?" Again I burst out laughing. Oh the reputation my kid is going to have here. So Ms. Debbie got to work. What tried a couple things, but the thing that ended up working was she doused his finger and the track in olive oil.
The oil like softened the wood, and Ms. Debbie began pealing away the wood sliver by sliver. She used pliers to try to get under it. It was intense! At the end, Trent's finger had started swelling and getting really sensitive. I finally stopped laughing at this whole thing as he really started screaming in pain but then it was done! Ms. Debbie got the train track off, we got Trent's finger in some ice and it was done. I hope he learned his lesson. Michael and I took Trent to Walmart to get him a sucker. As soon as we were on the road Trent was like, "I'm never going to do that again." And then he passed out. Out like a light. He slept all the way to Walmart and stayed sleeping as we were in Walmart and he didn't wake up until he was buckled up again. Emotionally exhausted the poor kid. Oh good times.
...Of course we had to tell everyone in our school :)

The past couple days we had classes on Abortion with Bev Klein. My heart was on fire! She works with a ministry that is a part of YWAM - Fatherheart / Living Alternatives. "Fatherheart is a safe haven where a young mother can decide what will be best for her and her baby. There are no easy answers: single parenting, adoption, marriage, each presents unique challenges. Each too can carry a hope and a future for the mother. At Fatherheart, we walk the young moms through each option in a loving environment, so they can be sure they make the right decision." The more she talked, the more my heart burned. It literally took all I had to stay in my seat and not jump over my table and the table in front of me to get to her and shout, "Sign me up!" I hope God lets me work with her for a season :) That would be so awesome! God, I am so willing!

Anyway, so we talked about abortion. It was very intense. She walked us through what happens in the womb during each trimester, and then she talked about what kind of abortion was done during each trimester...complete with pictures. It was so sad. Beyond words. Sad is not the word. It was horrible and revolting. We talked about the difference humanism and Christianity. We talked about how Pro-Choice should be called Pro-Abortion, because that's really what it is. God is really the one who is Pro-Choice. He is the one who gave us free will and gave us choices. Its up to us to make the right choices. "Pro-Choice" has just become a nice way to say, "I'm ok with a mom choosing to murder her baby if it hasn't been born yet." We talked about how we don't even necessarily want to label ourselves as Pro-Life. People who are Pro-Life are very baby focused. This ministry takes the position of being Pro-Value. Both the baby and the mom have value. Both are taken into consideration. Its not just about saving the baby. Its helping the mom get through the pregnancy, and its helping care for her after the baby is born, whether she keeps the baby or gives it to a family for adoption.

We then went a little into relationships and talked about how if men in our culture would rise up to who God has called them to be, a lot of issues that center around abortion would begin to be eliminated. The best part was when she drew out a triangle. God was at the top. Man was on the bottom left and Woman was on the bottom right. Both are individuals that need to focus on moving closer to God, and the closer they get to God, the closer they get to each other. She talked about how God brought Eve to Adam, and we should expect Him to bring a woman to a man now too. Bev had this awesome quote: "Who you want at 22 is not who you will want at 55, so let God decided who you should be with and let Him bring her to you." So cool :) Takes a lot of pressure off!

We talked about a lot more in just these two days. It was very good. But this is already way too long so I'll stop now. Tonight I am going to my mentor, Catherine's, house with some girls for a movie night. So excited :) and tomorrow my family is going to be here!!! Even more excited :) Its going to be a good Thanksgiving Break. I have so much to be thankful for. I am so incredibly blessed. Thank you, God, for being so crazy awesome in your love for me! Happy Thanksgiving everyone and God bless!