Alyssa comes to family night!

Last night Alyssa came to family night!  It was such a blessing to have her with us! For me, it was especially fun to have 2 worlds colliding.  Alyssa often hears about life in the d-house, and the d-house often hears about my friendship with Alyssa.  So, to have the two sharing life together was really special for me! I loved that the girls got a taste of the incredible woman that Alyssa is! She gave a teaching on Joy in Suffering. It was SO good. So.good.   It was so raw, so genuine, and so practical.  I have found that often, when someone gives a great sermon or teaching, that during it, your emotions are high-- you are feeling stirred, challenged, convicted and eager to bring change to your life.  But the next day,  and weeks to come, the initial emotions wear off...and you have to choose to commit yourself to the word that was taught to you, and really apply it and fight for those truths to become your reality.  So hence this blog post: A commitment to let her teaching mold me and move me forward in Jesus.
One major aspect that I am coming out of Alyssa's teaching with is the importance of sowing.  Specifically, she challenged us that it is the seasons where things are going well and you don't necessarily feel like you are desperately depending on the Lord, that you must sow into your spirit and press into Jesus.  She highlighted 4 specific areas to sow into: thankfulness, community, surrender and truth.  The deeper you sow into these things in joyous seasons, the more you will reap in seasons of trial or suffering.  I feel stirred to really press into Jesus more than ever in this season, knowing that what I sow now, I will reap later.

I am so thankful that Alyssa took the time to come into our house!  She has become such a dear friend to me and it was incredible to receive her impartation of spiritual wisdom and supernatural joy!

Love our church!

A Brand Spanking Not-So-New Semester!

So it's been a while since we've written. But not to worry, there is a lot happening here on 54 Crosby rd!! This semester has brought new levels of friendship between the six of us, and I for one feel so blessed to be walking with these girls. I feel like I can be myself at all times, with people who completely understand me and want to see me grow into who God has destined me to be! We have seen the glory of God in our lives, his faithfulness, his peace, his joy, and his grace this semester, and it just keeps coming. Anyways, lots has happened since Thanksgiving that I could write about, but I'll focus on a few of the many happenings of this semester:

Outreach at the Mods:
One of our faithgroup attenders felt the desire to head a new form of outreach at BC. This was seconded by some other people who felt the same gentle stirring of the Spirit, and so one Sunday a few of us decided to walk down to the Mods--where some seniors live and often host parties--with cleaning supplies with the intent of cleaning their bathrooms. It was amazing how much God used us to bless and love people. In the first Mod, before I joined the crew doing outreach, they met Brian and his roommates. They welcomed us in to clean their bathrooms. The awesome thing about doing this kind of outreach is that we could have some people cleaning the bathrooms while others conversed with the people who lived there. Brian had torn his ACL, and he let us pray for healing. After we prayed, he started moving it and testing it out, and said it felt better; we believe in faith that God moved mightily and healed his leg! The last house we cleaned that day, we found girls who were hungry to hear the truth. They let us pray and ask God to tell us what He loved about them, and a few of them almost started crying as they heard how deeply and uniquely God loved and knew them. One of them even said "it's so cool that you can hear from God like that!" We are trying to make this type of outreach a regular practice; who doesn't want their bathroom cleaned for free by kind strangers?? Jesus washed feet, lowering Himself even unto death for us! Why would we not serve others the same way?

World Mandate:
We had some amazing breakthrough for our house and for our section during this year's World Mandate Conference. World Mandate is our church movement's annual Missions Conference. We met this year at Bentley's Conference Center. There were three amazing speakers who spoke deep truths into deep places of our spirits, there were worship times that brought overflowing joy and life, there were friends from near and far that share the same passion, and of course the Lord of All pierced every heart with his furious love! It was amazing and challenging to see how our church leaders live to love God and serve others. It was incredible to be reawakened to what God is doing here and now. And it was life-changing to see how we are all a part of it! Colby Lehman spoke about his experiences being a church-planter overseas, Joe Ewen shared about his encounter with the Holy Spirit that led him into the gift of prophesy, and Larry Kreider talked about how the local church is central to seeing people's lives changed. The joy of the Lord was so prominent the whole weekend, resulting in a few spontaneous dance parties :) Overall, I think the 6 of us girls all came away with deeper places of SECURITY in who we are called to be. That weekend was pivotal for me, as I am starting to see the faithful hand of God in this season of my life as He fulfills prophetic calls on my life, transforms my perspective, and gives me vision and purpose. One example of this: someone had prayed over me about half a year ago that I would be a person with Christ's eyes of compassion. Well, at this conference, I felt the Lord say that He was giving me His eyes. My eyes started to quiver (yes, it was very strange), and I felt like He was fulfilling this word; I received what He had to give! It was awesome, and, well...supernatural. Others of my roommates encountered the Lord's confirmation in mighty ways as well. We had such a large turnout of BC students, and I think it was definitely unifying for our section as we all begin to carry the vision of changing the world...starting now!

A short little testimony from my day to encourage you guys: In one of my large science classes we use something called an iClicker to answer class participation questions that are interspersed throughout the lecture. Well, I really need to do well in this class, and my iClicker has not been working. I knew the batteries weren't low and I didn't want to buy a new one because they are expensive. So a question came up today and I was bummed because it was not working for the third class in a row. I frustratedly asked God to fix my iClicker, but nothing happened, and I was getting more and more frustrated at this little inconvenience. But then I had a thought; a simple reality that God was showing me how to practically live out. The thought was "why am I begging God? He has already graciously given me authority to see change happen around me, and I am acting as if this is something I have not yet received." As my mindset changed, I watched the light on my iClicker flicker on. It was incredible how such a little thing shows the VASTNESS of the person of the Holy Spirit. Because we have been washed clean by Him, we are "coheirs with Christ" and are already "seated in the heavenly realms" with Him (Romans 8:17, Ephesians 2:6).

Hope you are encouraged!

With so much love!
Beccah