healing waters

*washing the feet of mallory, my "one-on-one" student that i met with weekly*


*praying for jenna after washing her feet*

if there IS a downfall in having God moving so boldly and frequently in your life, i suppose it would be that it leaves little time to update everyone on all that is happening! every time i thought i'd have a chance to sit down and write about all of the incredible things happening in australia, God would keep doing more and more incredible things - and i wasn't about to stop it so i could update my blog!

SO, now that i am back home in chicago, i'm going to rewind back in time to march 4 (which is about where i left off) and go from there. it's not the easiest (or shortest) task, but too much has happened in and through me in these past several months to not share it with you! plus, if you're reading this, it means you have given me indescribable amounts of support (financially, prayerfully and otherwise) and so you deserve to hear what your effort produced.
this was the most difficult, challenging, amazing, rewarding experience i have ever had. the week of march 8 was definitely one of my favorites...

"relationships" week is always one of my favorite weeks throughout a DTS. i love learning about how we relate to each other and to God and it's something that i've become really passionate about in the past few years. for this week, i asked our DTS directors, Ryan & Christen Kirk, to speak. they spoke on this topic during my DTS as a student and i grew so much from the insight they provided. i love having a husband and wife couple for this topic because i have found it so valuable to hear from both a male and a female. although this week is about more than just romantic relationships, dating and marriage is a huge part of it.

the kirk's did not disappoint! they did an incredible job of speaking about our relationship with God, our friendships, our romantic relationships, conflict resolution, marriage, forgiveness, etc. it was such a fun time, beginning with playing a week-long game of "angels and mortals." if you were ever part of POWER Co, it's basically a secret pal. we put all of the student and staff names into a hat and each draw one. each day, you are to do something special for the person you drew - whether it's baking them something or writing an encouraging letter or getting them a coffee. at the end of the week, we guess who had our name. let me tell you, some of these students went ALL OUT! lucky for me, i was blessed with an AWESOME "angel." peter, one of the students, sent me on an awesome scavenger hunt one night, ending up at starbucks' with a card waiting for me at the counter and a gift card to buy my favorite drink. he really knew the key to my heart. :)
it was a very love-filled week, though. every day there were students singing songs they wrote for others, buying coffee and treats for each other, giving hugs, cards, scriptures...even a backstreet boys performance given by some of the guys (that was kind of questionable, but mostly entertaining!). such an incredible week to love on each other...secretly, of course!


on tuesday night, all eleven of us that are staffing the DTS, along with ryan and christen, put on a "love feast" for all 31 students. we kept it a surprise, only telling them to dress up before we picked them up at their houses. we cooked a special meal for them and decorated a room at the church with candles, lights, and flowers. as we escorted them into the room, they were so excited to have a nice meal in a beautifully decorated room just for them. the staff served each of them their meals individually. we had a paper for each student that had a note of encouragement, scriptures and/or words from the Lord that the staff wrote for the students. then, after dinner and dessert, each of us staff took the 3 or so students that we disciple individually each week and, one by one, we washed their feet.

it was an incredible time where we were given a beautiful opportunity to be disciples of Jesus and follow His lead. as we are the "leaders" of these students, it was awesome to follow in His footsteps, get down on our knees and wash the feet of our students.

as the school leader, i only had one girl that i met with each week to disciple. however, i was given the opportunity to wash the feet of my good friend, jenna, who was also a student on the school. although i wasn't her personal "one on one" throughout the school, it worked out that i could wash her feet. if you remember, jenna and i have a very messy past - we went to junior high and high school together but didn't get along at all...and that's putting it lightly. God has really restored our relationship and He brought her onto this DTS that i have lead, which has been such a gift. i approached jenna that night with the basin of water and washcloth as staff all around us were on their knees washing the feet of other students. the tears flowed instantly as jenna realized that i was the one that would be washing her feet. before i even began, we both embraced each other, crying uncontrollably, as we soaked in this moment that seemed so impossible just months earlier. it was such an honest picture of how God restores relationships, heals wounds and mends broken ties. after several minutes of tears, i got on my knees and washed the feet of my beautiful and dear friend, jenna. it was such a special moment...one of my favorites, actually, maybe overshadowed only by another event that took place three days later...

i think there are moments in life, unpredictable moments, that are imprinted onto our hearts and will never, ever, ever be forgotten. moments that you probably never guessed you'd be blessed enough to experience. for me, one of those moments took place on march 12, 2010. i had the indescribable honor of baptizing four beautiful women in the ocean waters of australia on that morning.


tianna (canada), liz (norway), mallory (california - my one on one disciple throughout the school) and jenna (glen ellyn, my friend) each asked if i would baptize them and i was so grateful for the opportunity. overall, we had 6 girls and 2 boys baptized on this school. the entire day was a great celebration of all that God has done in the lives of these young people. each of those 4 girls means so much to me and it was such a special time to be able to walk into the waters with them, pray for them and then baptize them in the name of Jesus Christ. it was amazing to see them coming up out of the water - i felt like i could physically see a change in them...i could see and feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and the joy of the Lord in their eyes.
with tianna, it was a joyful time of celebrating her recommitment to following the Lord.


*baptizing tianna*

with liz, it was a joyful and tear-filled time of recognizing the realness of God and His presence in Her life.


*tricia (the ywam base director) and i baptizing liz*

with jenna....we cried. we just cried a lot. holding her hand as we walked into the water was a feeling i will never forget. it was one of the most precious moments i've had, walking into the ocean hand-in-hand with my sister in Christ to baptize her. as she went beneath the surface, i saw the jenna i used to know wash away in the water...she came back up looking even more beautiful than before, clearly filled with more of God's love than imaginable...it was just incredible. i'd had dreams of baptizing jenna one day and the fact that God worked in both of our lives and made it possible for us to be in australia to share this experience together was just unbelievable. i am so blessed to have been able to baptize her and to share our walks with God together.


*baptizing jenna with tiffany (staff)*


with mallory...it was just the most joy-filled experience i've ever had! as i baptized her, she LITERALLY came out of the water laughing!!! we jumped and danced and laughed and cried. mallory has changed SO much in such a short amount of time...it is evident that God is doing a number on her and she is completely surrendered to Him, allowing Him to take full control over her life. i've seen her break free from pain and sin of her past and baptizing her was an incredible experience because it was so symbolic of the huge changes she's making in her life with God.

the sunday before her baptism, mallory was struggling a lot with various questions, doubts, fears, etc. she was questioning whether she should even get baptized, so i told her, quite pointedly, to drop everything and get into my car. and so, barefoot, she sat in my car and i drove down to the beach. we sat on the dock looking out onto the ocean and i told her to just yell. whatever her frustrations were, whatever she was scared of, whatever she was questioning....tell Him! we did a lot of yelling, a lot of crying and a lot of praying that night on the dock. after a couple of hours, mallory got to the point where, through tears, she so badly wanted to recommit her life to Christ - every aspect of it. i will never forget that night on the beach...we looked out over the ocean as she screamed, at the top of her lungs, that she WILL NOT live a mediocre life and gives her life to God, wanting to "live a crazy, adventurous life for YOU!" oftentimes, mallory and i will meet for 8 hours at a time - hanging out, discussing the topic of the week, laughing, having fun and sharing how she's doing. but in the last 30 minutes we were on the beach that night, i saw more breakthrough in her than i could have ever dreamed. it was incredible to watch her fully surrender her entire LIFE to God!!! her whole LIFE!!! all of it...for the rest of it!!! i'll be honest - it was late on that sunday evening when i took her to the beach. i didn't want to do it. i didn't want to talk about it or deal with it that night. i was tired. but, i knew she was struggling and i knew God wanted to use me and speak through me in her life. that's why i assigned myself to be her one-on-one before i had even met her. i had a feeling that God was going to connect us in a special way, and i couldn't back out of that now just because i was tired. so i did drive her to that beach and God did use me to speak to her and it ended up being a scene that i was so blessed to be a part of as she loudly declared her re-dedication to God that night! and then, five days later, i was able to baptize her and it was nothing short of an all-out celebration. we had so much fun in that water!



*praying for mallory before baptizing her*


*baptized!*


*all smiles!*