Ahhh! Deep Breath!

It has been a great month out here so far :) Although, I am definitely missing my family and friends back home.  I think about you guys everyday :) I've really been praying for some of my close friends back home lately.

Since being here some people have prophesied to me that I am a prophetic intercessor.  It's not exactly the most exciting thing I've wanted to hear.  To be honest, anything with the word intercessor is kind of a turn off for me.  I just picture people who talk a lot and blab to God and anyone who knows me, knows that not my style :)

So I asked God to give me more of a heart for prophetic intercession.  He showed me my view of intercessors is confined.  Not EVERY intercessor needs to be a chatty kathy.  You can still intercede without saying a word sometimes.  When I go running at night I like to just ask God questions in my head about how people are doing, he'll tell me and I just begin to agree in my spirit with His plan for each person's life. Its been so good and is kind of cool how you can be THAT close to someone where you don't even HAVE to say a word! That's intimacy! ;) Ddefinitely already becoming more at peace with who He created me to be!

Some pics of the past couple of weeks..since I'm a slow blogger ;)...pictures worth a thousand words right?? 

The Love Lounge is where Bethel students come to sing, play instruments, and show off their talents!  Very entertaining and talented people!! 

Holly, Brittny, and me on the top of a mountain! Quick! Who just thought of Anchorman?! haha. Oh man I crack myself up...

Spoon Me. Yep! That is the name of my new ALL time favorite frozen yogurt place!  I think a college dude definitely had to come up with the name haha.  It's SOOO GOOD!!!  You just walk in, grab your own cup, pick your own flavor of yogurt, pick your own toppings and make everything yourself!!  At the end of the line they have a scale where you place your cup and depending on the weight, determines your price! Ingenious!  As you can see I was not shy with the toppings...

Holly and I made Crepes and Bacon for breakfast! Yum Yum! :)  

Notice the Ohio mug ;)

Whiskeytown Lake. I live here after work.

Evening run at the GORGEOUS McConnell Foundation

We took a trip up to Burney Falls where there's a small trail to hike. It was the first time I've seen a waterfall in person!!

Lord's been speaking Philippians 4 a lot to me lately, so I'll leave you with this verse that's been stirring in my head

"I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.  In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."  Philippians 4:12.

Lately...

So a lot has happened since my last post! Hopefully I can get it all down and not bore anyone to death!

THANK GOD the sun has finally started shinning here!! I was seriously starting to wonder if it was ever gonna stop raining.  The weather has been absolutely perfect.  I'm not used to looking at a 10 day forecast with a sunshine and no rain every single day!  I am still in awe everytime I see the mountains too.  Driving to work is just beautiful. Every morning so far it has put my soul at ease before entering work.

My roommate Holly and I have connected with some other first year students that are starting at Bethel in the fall.  They invited us to go rafting down the Sacramento River.  I wish I could've taken a picture of how beautiful it was!!

We started out by this waterfall near the rocks, as we climbed down the rocks and jumped onto our rafts, we held each other's rafts and began to just float and relax down the river.  Since it has been raining so much here, there were rapids!!  It was SO EXCITING and FUN!! At one point my raft flipped over and I LOVED IT!!! haha.  We floated about 5 miles down the river, just talking, getting to know each other, laughing and feeling free!  At one point in the trip I looked back down from where we came, and saw a HUGE mountain.  With the mountains, sparkling river, green trees surrounding us, and the bright warm sunshine I felt the same freedom I used to feel as a kid.  A two-fold revelation came to me.  I realized I haven't felt this free since I was a really little kid, and wow...WHY haven't I felt this free since being a child?

I am also becoming more aware of what my body feels when Holy Spirit is thick in a room.  I think it's definitely a building block in my relationship with Him. It's been pretty cool.  When I enter into a room where Holy Spirit is already thick, my body automatically just starts to feel like jelly haha, or really relaxed.  Then, my breathing slows down, and all the thoughts that seemed to have been racing through my mind before slowly start to fade.  I think I'm getting addicted to His presence.

I tried the Healing Rooms at Bethel this morning, before you go to get any kind of healing prayer whether it be emotional or physical, they ask you to worship or pray beforehand in the Encounter room.  They call this "soaking".  While in this room, they have people who will draw prophetically for you.  How it works is, the person drawing pictures will ask the Lord for a prophetic and encouraging picture, then they will draw this picture and talk to you about the inclination they felt in their spirit to put meaning toward the picture.  I received a picture from a girl and definitely willing to share more about what was drawn for me if you're interested in hearing about it, drop me a line!

I have received prophetic and healing prayer here and am definitely learning more about these two things and where they are in the Bible.  What Prophetic ministry means is simply what is taught by the Apostle Paul in the Bible.  To edify and encourage the body.  People know their own junk and don't need to be reminded of it all the time.  To prophesy over someone is simply to call out the good you see in that person.  It is nothing strange.  The point is to let that person know God SEES you. He knows who you are.  He knows what He made when He created you.  No matter what you've done in your life, or how far you've veered off the path, He stands firm to believe He has created a GOOD thing. To prophesy is to remind ourselves of the good within us. To call out the "gold" in us.  I am definitely open and willing to share my experience with any of these things, as well as talk about any questions popping up in your mind! :)

Just soakin' up some rays in the pool and raft we bought for our backyard!!! :)

So good

I am sitting in Starbucks by my house right now reflecting on the church service this morning and waiting for the one tonight.  It seems like church is an all day event on Sundays here- which has been good so far!  I love the talks here, they are so much to process.

That's a lot of what I've been doing lately...there's an intense level of revelation here.  The majority of my time seems to be chewing on what I'm learning. As a result, I've remained even more quiet and reserved than usual.  I feel kind of out of it everyday here and for the first time I've really missed my support system back home.

If I'm honest, it's actually been really hard going from a strong support system to a place where I don't know anyone :/  I'm definitely learning what to look for in choosing friends and to draw even more closer to the Lord during this time.  I know its hard adjusting to any new environment, I know Jesus has great things for me to learn here and great people for me to meet and I am sooo excited to be here!!

If you can and want to please pray I can meet some new good friends and that I could snap out of the daze :/