Character of God

It’s been over a month since I’ve blogged, I’m so sorry I’m just now writing. How time flies, I have so much to tell y’all!

This past month I’ve learned heaps of stuff that I can’t wait to share (I’m going to go week by week from where I left off over the next few days to hopefully make more sense).

Week 3: Character of God

What do you think God’s like when things are going well in your life, when you’re happy? He’s good, He’s Faithful, He’s kind, etc. What do you think God is like when things aren’t going well, when you’re upset? He left me, He’s punishing me, He doesn’t care, etc. I don’t know what you think in these everyday situations, but often times I tend to base God’s character off of my feelings and my emotions, but that’s not who God is. During this week we were challenged with so much theology, I felt like my mind was running a race, but I loved it! There was one thing that stuck with my more than anything else-Exodus 34:6-7 “The Lord passed before him and proclaimed ‘The Lord, the Lord a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgressions and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.’” This verse is God telling us who He is…can’t argue with that, right! It’s so simple, it’s so true, this is who God is, this is what He calls himself, and this is who He’s proven himself to be. Our God is so merciful, so gracious, so compassionate toward His children, and He’s so patient (seriously though, our God is so patient, think how much we mess up, why doesn’t he just zap us? Cause He’s slow to anger and so stinkin patient). This is who our God is and I need to start living like this is the God I serve. He is constant and He has given us this verse to hold onto and remind us of whom He is (cause as dumb humans we need that, to remember how great our God is even though He created everything). I challenge you to put this verse on your bathroom mirror, your pocket, in your room, around your house, in your fridge, or wherever, put it somewhere so that you will read it everyday to be reminded of the character of our God and how good it is that no matter our circumstances and feelings He is who He says He is (mines currently above my bed so I can wake up with the reminder and go to sleep resting in who He is). Go for it! See how this one verse can change your total view of our God.

Hearing God's Voice and Father Heart of God

Sorry it's been a while since I have had the chance to update everyone!

Life in Newcastle is awesome, I'm absolutely loving it! Spending time in this community of students, leaders, and staff while learning more and more about The Lord is such a blessing. I just want to say thank you again to all of you who have supported me both financially and prayerfully, I wish I could express how thankful I truly am!

To give you a little run down of what has happened so far:

Tuesday Oct. 8- Sunday Oct.13 was orientation as well as lectures with the topic of Hearing God's Voice. We had an incredible speaker come to teach us on how to Hear our Father. I'd love to share with y'all a few things I learned about His voice and other random bits of challenges from this week.

• Step into obedience the rest will follow.
• If God speaks to you and you don't share what He asks you to share with others you're robbing them of joy, celebration, and confirmations He gives.
• Your testimony is about the one who brought you out of the mess not about the mess.
• We tend to think the space God speaks in is narrow, it's wide.
• He uses all of our human senses to speak to us, make them all available.
• Being burned out an stressed isn't he place of the Father.

Hope that was as encouraging and challenging for you as it was for me!

Tuesday Oct. 15- Friday Oct. 18 the topic was on Father Heart of God, His heart for His sons and daughters and for us individually. Some of you may feel like Spiritual Orphans, believers that don't always feel as though His heart is always for you. The core issue of that is identity, which satan uses as a form of spiritual warfare. The Father tells us who we are, nothing else does. Allow that to sink in, pretty tough but it's truth. And the thing that really took a nail at me was "Trauma you've experienced is not your choice, desolation of spirit is." This means that the mess of things you've been put through may not be your fault, it could be your family's, friends, or anything but the desolation of spirit is, the way you react is your choice. You can chose to let it mess with you, to change the corse of your life for the worse or you can chose life, you can chose that your identity is not found in those things but instead found in Christ and who He says you are. His heart is for each of us, each of you, allow yourself to receive Him, what He says about you, and what His heart looks like for you and all His children. The last thing I really took away from this week was "He doesn't want us to go back to being a child, He wants us to become a child." Most of us have heard of child like faith, to have humility and faith like a child. Sometimes we think this means we need to go back to our child like ways, false. He wants us to become so reliant on Him as our Father that we come into a place of constant communion and conversation with Him, as a child does with their parents.

Lots of things that I'm still processing myself but I want you all to be apart of this journey with me. Please pray about everything I posted. I encourage you to seek out time to spend time with Jesus this week. Listen to Him, allow yourself to be in a position of hearing His Voice and receiving what He says about you. If you don't believe me ask Him to show you, He will.

Until next time, Love you all heaps (aussie lingo)

Outreach

…I'M GOING TO RUSSIA AND LATVIA FOR OUTREACH!

That feels so good to say!

After so much prayer and listening to what God wants, this is where He has led me, and I'm so excited to see what He has in store. 

We welcome your prayers for unity, safety, protection against the enemy, discernment, wisdom, and finances to come in. There are four teams within my DTS- Mexico, Argentina & Brazil, Australia & Nepal, and Russia & Latvia. Each one needs covering in prayer. God has so much in store for each team, Satan doesn't like that and as a team we need to resist his attacks, pray for the armor of God to protect us. Pray against fears, worries, and our families at home who may be worrying as well.

Thank you each who have been praying for me during this time, it's meant so much and has been very impactful!

Heaps of love!

Compassion

Have you ever wondered why there are so many bad things in the world? Why does aids exist? Cancer? Murder? And being a "good Christian" of course God didn't make them happen, but if God didn't, why does He let them happen? 

I wonder this.

This week we had these questions and challenges about the Character of God and today we watched a documentary on a missionary, Mama Heidi. She lives in Mozambique with her husband and kids and felt that God called her to bring the native children "home," to take them in and care for each of them. She has 500 children.

So back to the first couple questions, why does God "let" bad things happen.

To answer simply, He doesn't. There is sin in this world. When Adam and Eve partook in sin they allowed room for satan to do work, they allowed room for brokenness, injustice, pain, and hurt. Then Jesus came-He took on all of this sin and pain and made a way for freedom. Now the question becomes not why does God let these things happen but why don't you do something about them? 

What if He created you to bring justice in this world? 

What if He created you to cure a disease? 

What if He created you to make a home for orphans who are starving, abused, and have nothing? 

What if He has called ALL of us to look at the person in front of us and say "I love you because He loves me?" What if He is asking us to lay down comforts, selfishness, and pride so that He has room to take hold of our hearts to break them for His lost children? 

Our lives were not meant to be "convenient" it wasn't convenient for Him to die on the cross. It wasn't convenient for Him to live with the poor and sick. It wasn't convenient for Him to make Himself human to show us an example of how to live. It was inconvenient, yet He did it, perfectly. He did it with compassion, with a broken heart for His people who were and are still looking for an answer, looking for help. Can you see that there is more to life than what we are taking a hold of? He's offering life and we are taking hold of a life that's full of insatisfaction. 

What are you breaking for? Are you breaking for anyone or anything? There's a world out there that needs us. That needs your gifts, your talents, and most importantly NEEDS Jesus. If your heart isn't breaking cry out to Him and say "Father break my heart for what breaks Yours, I want more!" 

I just did. I need more of His heart, I want my heart to be so broken for people, to crave justice and love for people that everything else in comparison looks like trash. I want Him to love so much through me that it flows out in every single conversation I have. 

I want compassion. Do you?

Newie Life

...and we made it to Newcastle!

School officially started today and it has been great! I've had the opportunity to meet my leaders, the staff, and the rest of the students-all I can say is I am blessed. All these people simply love Jesus, it's beautiful to see all cultures come together to glorify Jesus. The base itself is beautiful, it's actually a little  cold here in Aussie but it's getting into their winter so soon it will be warm, yay!

This morning we started with base worship and the first song was Oceans...I was really excited! Jesus has been moving so much already, through my classmates, my leaders, words that God is giving random people, it's seriously awesome.

I do have a quick prayer request, I'm pretty under the weather, very bad sinus' and it's really distracting, prayer for healing would mean so much!

Thanks y'all!

We made it!

Sorry I have yet to write here, it has been a crazy past few days, but we made it! It was a long plane ride, but 25 hours later of traveling, we are in Sydney.

We (Emma, Sydney, a girl that we met up with at the LA airport and is doing a DTS at our Newcastle base, and I) are currently staying at the Sydney Island Breeze base before heading to Newcastle tomorrow and I am so grateful we could stay here with such kind and welcoming people.

When we arrived on Friday it was early in the morning so we had to stay awake all day to adjust to the time change...we made it to 7pm, good enough! We slept very well.  On Saturday morning we were lucky enough to tag along with the Island Breeze team and go to Featherdale Wildlife Park where we got to pet and feed Kangaroos, see Koalas, and experience the Aussie wildlife! Needless to say, it was awesome! Afterwards, Emma, Sydney, and I got to explore Sydney. We road a train into the City and found out when we got there that 1.5 million other people were there as well to see ships in the harbor, it was quite the adventure! We were able to see the Sydney Harbour and the Opera House, both so beautiful, and we basically got to live the city life, it was an awesome experience. But over these past three days, this morning was my favorite, we were able to go to Hillsong Church. The main Hillsong team is actually in New York right now for a Hillsong conference so it wasn't the typical set up, but was still so cool to be apart of. The service began with worship which was incredible, then the kids came out and gave us a little example of what they do in kids service by putting on the bible story of Noah. Lastly, they had a guest Pastor, Robert Madu, from Texas speak. The message he gave was about Comparison.
He started out with the question "Who are you racing?" As in who do you look at to compare yourself too? What person are you racing and trying to beat? As these questions were asked I immediately thought of a few people i'm trying to "beat" in life and thought why do I do this, why do we as believers try to measure ourselves to each other? When we are running the race for Jesus our eyes are suppose to be fixed on Him, not looking at the person to our left and right. Something Robert said was "Comparison will consistently cloud the work God is doing in your life and the purpose for your life." This is what Satan does to us, one of his biggest tricks is to get us to compare ourselves to others, that's why he fell in the first place, he tried to compare himself to God instead of glorifying God. We need to call him out, we need to say "No, I'm not going to compare myself to her/him because I am a masterpiece, I was made specifically, intricately, and with a purpose by my Creator." When we compare ourselves to others we are looking at God and saying "What you made isn't good enough" and who are we to tell God what He created isn't good? But what He made is good. When He creates He creates with a purpose, for a purpose.
All I can say is, I was challenged, but it was so good to hear and be challenged with, I pray you are as well, that the next time you look to that person do not let envy and pride sneak in, do not let satan get victory over who you are and who your identity is in, it's in Jesus, not in anyone else. Simply, Jesus.

Here we go!

I can't believe the time is finally here, I'm leaving for Australia at 4:30pm today. I feel like I've been preparing for forever and now it's time.

These past few weeks have been crazy; getting everything I need, packing, making sure my phone and bank companies know where I'm going, and so on. But the hardest has been seeing people for the last time for a while. I don't do "goodbyes,", I do "see you laters." But , even the "see you laters" have been tough. Out of all the craziness that has gone on while getting ready, I have never felt so loved. From prayers to notes, to phone calls and encouraging texts, to meet ups and meal dates-I have so much peace leaving because of the supporting community I have at home. I know that these people are next to me even when I'm halfway around the world. So, thank you. Thank you all that have supported me in any way, I truly feel loved and blessed.

A few things that would really help if you prayed for within these next 3 days: First, that everything will go smoothly getting through the airports ( that our bags and all of our stuff will make it there safely), flying, getting to the place we are staying in Sydney and getting to Newcastle. As well as healthiness. Airports aren't the cleanest of places so we definitely need some armor for that. And above all that we will be reminded why we are doing this. As I have been preparing it's been very easy to get caught up in the business an lose sight of why I'm even going. And anything else y'all fell needs to be prayed for is welcome.

Here are some ways of communication if you would like to stay in touch.


POSTAL ADDRESS:Autumn Gwaltney (make sure to put my last name, there is another Autumn on the base, how crazy!?)
C/- YWAM NewcastlePO Box 162The Junction  NSW  2291AUSTRALIA

Email:
autumngwaltney@yahoo.com

And feel free to Facebook inbox me any time!

I don't know how easily I will be able to reply but I will try my best! Thank y'all!

Here we go, our adventure awaits!

Follow Me

     There is a pattern of these two words in the beginning of Mark and throughout all the other gospels, thus it must be important. As I read through these first chapters, for a bible study, I start thinking through what these words, "follow me" mean to the core.

     In Mark 1 Jesus sees Simon and Andrew and says "follow me, and I will make you fishers of men," "immediately they left their nets and followed Him." Jesus then sees James and John with their father and again "immediately he called them and they left their Father." Reading on into chapter 2 of Mark, Jesus calls Levi "sitting at the tax collector booth" and He says to him "follow me." "He rose and followed Him."
     ..."follow me." I'm in awe as I read about these men and their obedience.
     The words, follow me, in greek is akoloutheō, which means "to follow one who precedes, join him as his attendant, accompany him" also "to join one as a disciple, become or be his disciple"-we are called not to just to sit behind him and tag along but we are suppose to assist Him in utter obedience, as the disciples did.
     So what does this mean for us? For myself? What questions arise when we think of these two simple words?
Am I following Him? Am I immediate to follow Him, ready to go at any moment He calls me to?Wherever and whenever He calls me? Am I willing to give up my job like Simon and Andrew? Am I willing to give up my family like James and John?
...where am I called to follow, to assist, right now? 

The beginning of my Junior year I asked Jesus "What do you want me to do after High School?" and expecting a few school names to pop up, His response caught me a little off guard, He said "Follow Me" and that is where the YWAM journey began...

We have been asked to follow Him-we listen, we wait, and we are ready to go.

Setbacks, but our God is faithful

Today after a little but of confusion we figured out that I'm actually in need of about $2,000-$3,000 more, when we thought that amount had been covered. Even though it's a setback it's minor compared to His promises, I know that He will provide!

This isn't the only obstacle that has come up lately, which clearly shows that satan is working really hard to mess things up and get at me. My friend Emma, who's going with me, and I are in major need of prayer against his attacks. It's definitely common, while getting ready to go on any mission trip to start having doubts about what God is doing, and we have both had a few of those. Please joins us in prayer against satan attacks, in prayer for the rest of the finances to come through, and for our thoughts and minds to rest in our all knowing God. He is bigger, He is stronger, and we have faith even when oceans rise.

Why am I surprised?

On the first Sunday of each month my pastor asks for everyone who has a birthday within the next 30 days to stand and say what they want for their birthday. It can be anything! People have asked for things from babies, cars, and good health to legos and puppies. And as crazy as it seems their typically answered.
Today was the first Sunday in September and people did the usual routine, they stood up, said what they wanted, then people gathered around each of the individuals to pray for them. As this was going on I began to remember what I asked for back in May-for all my YWAM funds to be raised...and guess what, He answered it. During this time today it was like this weird epiphany I had, "Oh my goodness, that's what I asked for, and He raised them, not just that amount but an abundant amount, more than I asked for!" I got so excited.
Why am I surprised? Not that I should have this casual attitude about it, but at the same time He asked me to go of course He is going to provide a way.
He did provide away, and that was through you. Ya'll, I can't even begin to explain my gratitude toward each of you. He used all of you, wether you gave directly through finances or through prayer, You are apart of this mission trip as much as I am. My God is abundant, He rejoices in making a way, He delights in it. I am so grateful. Grateful for my King that gives His children abundant blessing, not because He has to but because He wants to, for people like you who say yes to Him, and simply, for this opportunity to go on this trip and to give God glory!

I want to share a song with y'all that I have been obsessed with lately. I listen to it on average 5 times a day! The music is good, but the words are breathtaking. It is so powerful and it reminds me of what He has called each His children to do, to let Him lead them to where their trust is only in Him.

Here it is: Oceans

You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep
My faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand
Will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You've never failed and You won't start now

So I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior

I will call upon Your Name
Keep my eyes above the waves
My soul will rest in Your embrace
I am Yours and You are mine

As we get closer to our departure...

Well, Emma and I are pretty much the only ones left in our grade still home, so our adventure is starting to feel more real! It is definitely weird being home while everyone else is starting their lives in college, and to be completely honest it's been surprisingly a little hard.

Our friends are starting this next step into adulthood that everyone seems to say is "the best years of your life" and we are just here...waiting. I've actually have found myself multiple times scrolling through Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter and thinking, "Wow I wish I was starting college" or "I wish I was decorating crafts for my dorm" or even "Wish I was starting classes and learning new things." But then He reminds me, of His plan or encourages me with a returned support letter, or even brings to me an old friend to tell me about their last mission trip that worked with human trafficking. Random things like those, every time, He reminds me that He has a specific calling for me and that I said "yes" to it.

Something I have been celebrating recently is the people I still get to hang out with at home! They have loved on me during my struggle to be patient and they have encouraged me as I prepare. I don't know what I would do with these people and for that I am so grateful!

Prayer Requests: As we wait, we still have last minute details to figure out and we would really appreciate prayer for all of them as well as prayer for Spiritual protection. Satan is obviously trying to put doubts in out minds before we have even left and in no way do I want to fall into his traps.

Thank you all! Your support means the world! :)

43 more days till we fly out. I can't wait!

Tickets purchased

I couldn't be more excited to say...we are officially going to Australia! The tickets have been bought!

This adventure is beginning to seem more real, I'm actually traveling half way around the world, wow! A couple years ago I couldn't imagine this being His plan for my next step, so crazy! 

So what else is there to do? I'm going to be purchasing a backpack soon, still a few more minor details need to be set in stone, but most importantly there is still money to be raised! Emma and I are close but not quite to our goals! I will be sending supporter letters out soon, please let me know if you would like to receive a letter (text me your address or Facebook me). If you get a letter, by no means will I be expecting support just financially, support in prayer is even more important and very needed. Please please be praying for us. In this time all of our friends are about to leave for college or are going back to high school so it's a little weird having to wait and be patient but I know the Lord is constant even in this time of waiting. Please pray that we will be reminded of that every day!

I also want to take time to say,!thank you to all of you who have been supporting me-you all are such a huge part of this mission, I couldn't go to Australia  without it, so, thank you! thank you! THANK YOU!

Y'all are awesome! Thanks for stickin with me! :)

Autumn

Heaven Come

I've had a specific prayer recently, something that I've been anticipating to experience and see...Heaven.

     "Jesus, help us to experience Heaven      today."

Y'all I'm gonna be real, I want to see Heaven, I'm beyond excited for what awaits in eternity! Some of you who know me know I'm a little obsessed with "eternity" and I'm not ashamed to say "Oh yes I am!", but what would happen if our every day prayer became "Jesus, give us a taste of Heaven today?" Today. I'm  excited for eternity, and yes everything we do on earth can have an eternal impact, but I want a taste of that now. This is not an impatient prayer, it is a prayer that actually Jesus prayed and commanded us to pray “This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:9, 10 NIV) 

So what if we actually prayed "Your kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven?" I feel like our days may turn out a little differently. What would happen? I honestly don't know, but what I do know is that the Holy Spirit would definitely be hangin around with us which means, anything could happen. 

This is something I've been convicted to pray now, not to wait until YWAM but now, to experience the kingdom today.

"Let Heaven come."

http://youtu.be/ln9Ls_fIqe0 -Our Father by Bethel

First Post!

Yay for the first post!
I want to first say thank you to each of you for taking this journey with me, and for those who have donated to my trip-thank you, thank you, thank you! I can't express my gratitude enough.

I will be posting on this blog specifically about the journey from now and all the way till when I get back from YWAM. For now, I will be sharing my story (or the story He is writing for me), simple thoughts, crazy questions, and the random moments the Lord takes me through during the waiting period for Australia. I will also be updating you all on my finances and will share the prayers that I need for my preparation.

I will warn you-I think I got an A in Language Arts only a few times in my life...so bare with my spelling, grammar, and all of that craziness. I will simply write whats on my heart, speak my mind-none of that fancy author stuff.

Thank you again for all of your support!

Autumn