Could it be that with one glimpse to the Lord makes his heart skip a beat? 

"As a young man marries a maiden, so will your sons will marry you, as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over YOU." Isaiah 62:5

Our guest speaker Kevin Norris has been speaking to us about true, authentic, worship. He started by teaching us that the heart of worship is your relationship with the Lord. Just like we have a vision for our future husband, you and your spouse, your best friends- we must have a vision for our relationship with the Lord. We looked over John 4 where Jesus was traveling from Judea back to Galilee and stopped for a rest by the well and asked the Samaritan woman for some water. Because of the hatred between Samaritans and Jews the woman was surprised. Jesus spoke out her present situation when he said "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is you have five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true." Immediately the woman acknowledges him to be a prophet because of what he knew and said "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." At this point Kevin asked us what we thought she was really saying..why she mentioned worship and different mountains. I had no clue..

This is his conclusion..Is is possible that she's really saying "I've looked for love in all the wrong places, in earthly places and it's been a bummer. I didn't find it in marriage and I would really like to connect with God. Does it matter where I am when I worship?" And this makes sense when we read Jesus answer.. vs. 21 "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem." vs. 23 "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the TRUE worshipers will worship in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks."

To worship in spirit and in truth. What is a true worshiper? Not hidden, authentic, genuine, not fake. Gods not impressed with our voice, how often we lift our hands or don't lift our hands, where we are, or how skilled we are in our dance. He looks at our heart. This hit me hard. I've been challenged, deeply challenged to set out on this journey of transformation in my love for dance. My flesh is so weak. On my own I fall into pride and comparison..I begin to perform for people and this passion becomes all about me. But with the Holy Spirit I dance to bring all glory and honor to Jesus. 

  

So captivated that my heart desires Jesus more than anything on this planet. This is my vision. To be so embraced by his love that no friend, boyfriend, husband (someday), material object could ever come close to my intimacy with the Lord. That I would long for him the way I long for my family after time of separation. Or my favorite food during a time of hunger. To dance in full freedom for my Savior.

Kyle, his mom and grandma came to visit me! We had such a blast together. I was so blessed to spend such sweet time with them..here are a few pictures!:)

Picking them up at the airport!

 luau fun

This is the beautiful dress that Kyle surprised me with! He picked it out all by himself..impressive!

such a sweetie

We had so much fun at this arcade..I beat him in most of the games. hehe

Mom this was at the arcade!!!! It was only about 2000 tickets ha! We had to take a picture and send it to you. I miss those yummy snack master pizzas.

"We has a nobody make the heart of the King beat faster."

The last two weeks of class have been...emotionally wearing, to say the least. But oh so good. Last week we had Christy Kim speaking on transformation. And transformed I am!!! Throughout the week we focussed a lot on 2 types of knowledge:

1. Head knowledge such as information-not much emotion. 

2.Then there is knowledge based off of what you are familiar with or through experience-this is usually emotion filled. 

As Christy said, many of us know in our heads, as information,  that we are beautiful because God has created us, but because of what some of us may hear and experience we may believe something different in our heart. "But when the awesome Holy Spirit brings revelation with the word of God, it is no longer head knowledge, but it is in you and moves you." What would you say moves a person more, a knowledge based off of information or a knowledge based off of experience? Experience of course. The Holy Spirit can be that experience if we allow him to! So the whole week we individually spent time digging deeeeeep into our hearts and asking God what areas we needed some transformation. It wasn't real hard to figure out, before I could even ask God told me. An easy way to figure out if you need that in a certain area of your life is to ask yourself "would Jesus like this about me?" or "does Jesus like when I do this? Now think... Everyone got some ideas? 

I'll share with you the steps she taught to find transformation:

1. Awareness of the problem

2. Ask questions to the Lord. (When did I feel this before? What did I think believe? How did i view it?)

3. My thoughts and beliefs

4. Forgive, and repent for the wrong beliefs or actions. (This is so important. No matter what happened to us or what someone said or did to us we are still responsible for what we believe and for our actions.)

5. Listen for Gods thoughts and words.

 As our 6th week is coming to an end I'm realizing that the on going wrestle of my heart has been full surrender. FULL surrender. What that really means and how to possibly get there, I'm daily figuring it out. It's a freeing yet painful battle. My future, my family, my finances, my dancing, the things I cherish closest to my heart, my everything. The Lord has truly consumed me these past weeks and I love it. Oh He is so good. I ask God a lot of questions, but the one I'm asking daily is what next God? I can't wait to hear what he wants me to do after this DTS, and I can't wait to tell you all about it. It may be awhile though. 

I'll leave you with some great word..

"He was pierced for our transgressions, 

he was crushed for out iniquities, 

the punishment that rough us peace was upon him, 

and by his wounds we are healed. 

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, 

each of us has turned to his own way;

and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of it all."

Isaiah 53:5-6

Hallelujah!

update of photos:)

Below, above and through the island. Here's just a few shots!

a sweet old man gave us two huge grapefruits

beautiful black sand beach

snorkeling

vents from the volcano

love you all!

thoughts for the day

What is a successful life?

During class we discussed what a couple different countries valued most in their culture. Korea-education, what University you get accepted into. South Africa-entrepreneurial skills. 

The day after University acceptances come out in Korea is when they have the highest suicide rate.

Our sweet Jesus, May you transform our hearts and minds. May we truly walk by faith and not by sight. Help us to see past money, status,  material. What we see with our eye is truly passing away, it withers like grass, but as it says in Isaiah "the Word of God shall stand forever." I pray that we may fully grasp hold of you, the Everlasting. 

Taste and see that the Lord is goood

This lovely sunny day was filled with adventure. Beginning with a delicious French toast and cereal breakfast on campus, which brought back small reminders of home (mom yours is a million times better). But it was nice. Driving in a car to the beaches today with Annas friend Amy, who is visiting from California was quit nice as well. She rented a car and took us to a few different beaches for some beautiful snorkeling. It was a great change to hop in with her, apposed to sticking our thumbs out the old fashion way. Or just walking a million hours. Along the way we stopped at a thrift store where we spend way too much time, buy hey we left with some treasures. After a morning of snorkeling and poor girl shopping we met up with our lovely friend Ezra for some free surf lessons. They say girls survive much easier in Hawaii, lots of free stuff. Anyways, It was so much fun! It was mine and Annas first time surfing, but Miss Cape town Lauren was a pro out there. We headed out around 6 so we caught the sun setting while we were out on the boards. Mmmm, so relaxing. I’d like to say we surfed those huge waves that you see on TV, but I can’t. They were tiny. We ended our day with McDonalds. Oh wait did I mention that anna got bit by a fish while snorkeling? And also got hit in the head with her surfboard. Let’s just say it wasn’t her day.

  We had such an inspiring week studying identity in class. While searching for deeper understanding and more intimacy, I was shockingly reminded of how often I put myself in that awful 'box'. As Joseph Avakian (our awesome guest speaker this past week) taught, there are 6 elements that box us. Fear (of man, failure, etc..) comparison, criticism, egoism, and arrogance. Though we often like to put the blame on others, the truth is we each choose for ourselves to be placed in the box. “We live in a world full of makeovers.’”SO TRUE! Home makeover, celebrity makeover, extreme makeover-it's everywhere! He used the analogy of a dancer on stage in front of hundreds and she doesn't know her part, just standing there. We must figure out who we are. Who God the creature of the entire universe created us to be, and who he himself calls us. I’m finding that I must get a better grasp and understanding of the love God has for me to be able to fully escape the awful box. Agape. Unconditional.

 “But thanks be to God! He gives us the VICTORY through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 cor 15:57

“For everyone born to God overcomes the world. This is the victory that overcame the world, even our faith.” 1 john 5:4

Snorkeling!!

cute little shop off the road