I'm MOVING!!! Friday, January 15, 2010

Umm, well, my blog is...hehe...sorry if I alarmed anyone :)

Yes, I am that girl that likes the way things look and easy navigation and, to be honest, wasn't 100% happy with the way my blog was looking and navigating....I know it even looks different now (SORRY!!) but I was toying around with things and thought that I would make it simple here so that when you go to my NEW blog address, you'll be blown away!  Well, not really but...I hope you like it.  (Please, please, please don't get frustrated with me!) 

http://michellesmallinfollowme.wordpress.com/

Annnnnd..I thought I'd also give you a heads up that the "look" of my blog is still "under construction", so you might have to "endure" opening up the link once in a while and being "surprised" at how things look....not sure why I got carried away with the "quotes"... :) hehe.

So, anywho, for those of you who have hooked up their feeder to get updates from this location, hope you wouldn't mind just changing it to the new address...pretty please.

I hope you all find the "new" blog easier to use, or more simple I shall say.

Cheers to my addiction to blog layouts/templates!!  Juuuuust kidding!
Happy Weekend!

application...check! Thursday, January 7, 2010

I just want to say thank you to all of you who have been praying for me..who sent me an email/comment/message...thank you.  I am truly so lucky to have each and everyone of you in my life. 

Well, I wanted to update you and let you know that my application for YWAM New Zealand is complete and in the mail!  Yeehaww!!  Thank you to those of you who helped me through it and contributed....love ya!

So, I have no idea as to how long it's going to take to hear back from them...but knowing me, I'll be sending them an email to confirm that they received it and then ask the big question...when will I find out??? huh? huh? :)

This has been a huge step of faith for me...a little anxiety ;) but I'm mainly humbled in knowing how much you guys are supporting me...I really appreciate you!

If you want to know when I update this thing, you can go to the left side of this page and hit one of the subscribe buttons, or if you have a blog aggregator/RSS feed, just add this link www.michellesmallinfollowme.blogspot.com.

Here's to the new year....believing in taking steps of faith...bringing Him all of the Honor!
Amen!!

the beginning Thursday, December 31, 2009

My first blog….well, it’s been a long time coming, but this isn’t a place where I’ll be writing song lyrics to songs I love or my theories on the goings-ons of the world, but rather a place to update you on my journey…I want to share with you what I feel the Lord is doing in my life and the path that He is leading me on…I want to take you along with me.

So, here’s the deal…my life is a comfortable one. I have a nice job, a wonderful apartment, I can pay my bills…I love my family and have great friendships.

I’m comfortable.

But I’m not ok with that. The last few years God has been stirring in me the desire to do more for His Kingdom. To not settle for what this world says is success, the norm, the status quo. Our life is meant for more than all of this…it’s meant to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth…yes, our little bit of a life is meant to make a huge difference for eternity.

So, I prayed. I asked that God would break my heart with the things that break His heart…that I was ready to be used in whatever way He wanted and that I would go where He wants me. And, of course, He is faithful…so, my heart became burdened for those without, the widow, the orphan…but I had no idea what I needed to do about it. I sponsor a child through Compassion International and I absolutely love what they do, what they stand for, all of it. I thought maybe trying to get a job with that organization was what I should do…advocate for the orphans, so I applied to a bunch of positions, with no luck. Apparently they like to hire people who live in Colorado. So I became CO bound and started to look into another passion of mine, worship leading.

Worship leading school was the next “big idea” that I felt the Lord leading me to. So I started to pursue moving in that direction. Got a second job to save up for the move and just to be as prepared as I could be for leaving. I had to hold on until January, which is when the applications become available to fill out and send in. I was going to take a year of my life and invest in what I felt the gifts are that God has given me. I wasn’t sure where it would lead me…if I would eventually work in a church leading worship or what…I just knew I was feeling called to do just that..invest.

I found myself overwhelmed almost every day. I’d be sitting at my desk at work and I would just start weeping. I would become so overtaken by the Holy Spirit..like the veils were taken from my eyes. He has shown me that my life needs to change, I can’t continue to settle for the life I am living. I need to take a risk for Him…to give up some of the comforts…to give of myself.


So, missions started to become heavy on my heart and I began to see if there could be a way that I could do both of the things that I felt that God has made me for. I stumbled upon YWAM (Youth With A Mission). They have locations all over the world, from Hawaii to Australia to Denver. They exist to know God and make Him known. YWAM locations host short-term outreach teams made up of individuals, youth groups, families and churches who get to participate first-hand in "making God known" through both words and actions. They send out over 25,000 short-term missionaries each year. The first “phase” of their training is called a DTS (Discipleship Training School) which “aims to prepare messengers of the gospel, helping students to know God in depth. The goal is to form Christian character and establish Biblical relationships while developing a daily walk with God. This intensive Christian training course begins with an 11 or 12 week classroom phase followed by a typically 12 week outreach.” The outreach portion is essentially when we would put our training into place and go to another country to serve in various ways: through street evangelism, spending time with those who are sick, orphaned and the least of these…maybe doing some worship, teaching and drama. This is what excites me and is driving me to GO.


I found out about YWAM when I did a search on the internet about worship schools and it just so happens that there are several locations that also offer a second phase of training through a School of Worship. This school offers a lot of the same teaching/training that the school does that I was looking at in CO…but this one also includes an outreach portion at the end. So three months training at the School of Worship then 2 months doing outreach in another country. This got my wheels turning…I could do both! Missions AND Worship!! PERFECT!


With ALL that being said, I feel like all of these different “paths” of thinking and all of the things God has been laying on my heart, have ultimately led me to YWAM. So, I am in the process of filling out the application which is a pretty extensive thing. I’ve sent my passport in to be renewed (got new passport pics, yay!), I’ve gone to the doctors to have a physical and get my immunizations, I’ve sent out my references to be filled out and am now going through all of the questions that they have you answer. Once I have all of this finished, which hopefully will be done in the next week or so, I will send it all in and hope that I would hear back as to whether or not I’m accepted by February or March (I would hope).


I am applying to the YWAM Campaigns DTS in Tauranga, New Zealand. The DTS runs from September 2010 through January 2011 and is conjunction with the Tauranga House of Prayer (THOP). I’ll let you know more information as I get it myself. And of course this blog post is enormous, so I don’t want to keep going on and on…trust me, I’ll keep you updated.


So, if you have successfully made it through this “book” of mine, I want to just end in asking you to pray for me…please. I feel like this is definitely the road I need to be taking, but there is a lot of “change” coming my way. I’d be leaving my job, not renewing my lease, needing to raise support, selling a bunch of my stuff, having to store my things, leaving my country, family, church, friends….a lot. But I 100% believe it’s time. He has prepared me for such a time as this, and I’m ready. So, please partner with me in prayer as I prepare for this life change that He has called me to.


It’s been an interesting road and it will definitely not become boring any time soon…but I am excited to share ALL of this with you. And I thank you, from the bottom of my heart for being in my life.

m