Intercession

Lately I have been reading the book about Rees Howells, "Intercessor", by Norman Grubb. Rees Howells was a man who was dedicated to God and devoted to prayer, so much that his prayers affected the course of World War II (I have yet to come to that part in the book). What has saddened me is that my life used to look like his, giving undivided attention to the Lord and living in prayer. I don't know what happened, but I lost that. My mind has gotten too crowded with everything this world has to offer - even the good things. I have not been abiding in Christ. I realized that I have not had a burden to pray for something specific in a very long time. To be exact, it was last year. I had applied to Life Action Ministries mid-May of 2013 and I waited and waited and waited to hear back from them, but no response. Time kept on going until one day, a huge burden came upon me to cry out to the Lord for a specific request, that they would contact me within a day. For a whole hour I pleaded on my face before the Lord. Within 24 hours, they called and I was accepted to travel with Life Action.

Today I was the reading the book and I asked the Lord that He would give me a burden for which I must specifically intercede. "Where has my faith gone, Lord?" I asked Him. Where has that passion, perseverence, and patience gone that I once had?

He has given me that burden tonight for someone I know. Out of nowhere, this overwhelming burden for them has come upon me and I know I must pray with great persistance until God will answer. I pray that soon I will be able to tell you in detail, for I believe He will answer according to His steadfast love.

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you,

ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

John 15:8.

Bethany

A Day in the Life....

of a Life Action team member at Staff Training camp. Particularly, band member.

You could get up (and should) at around 6:45, but in most cases, it's 8 o'clock. Most of the times you have to skip breakfast because you don't have enough time to get ready. You hurriedly wash your face and put on makeup (if you're a girl) and go to DNA at the Tab at 9 o'clock - this is a meeting of all the teams at the sanctuary building on the camp property. This meeting consists of announcements, devotionals, etc. Usually this lasts for about 30 or so minutes and then you go to practice. You learn new songs for about three hours, with about two breaks lasting for five minutes each. Then you go to lunch in this building, which is called the "Lodge".

 It looks like this inside, except this was a special dinner that the cooking crew made for us one night, so usually there are just bare tables and you grab your own plate and go through the food line.

You have about an hour and a half to two hours of rest time where you can hang out with friends....or you can take a nap, or have your Bible time that you didn't have in the morning. Or, you could practice your instrument or read a book. Or write your support or update letter. Or work on debriefing from your trip to China. If you went on a trip to China. Oh, you can also drink lots of coffee to keep you going. You'll need it.

After break, you go back to practice for another three hour period, with a few breaks in between. You can work on some of your favorite songs, or ones that you've been wanting to do your whole life like this one!

 You goof off with your team members when your worship leader and sound guy work out sound system issues. Or actually, the best thing is to be quiet while they're doing that so they can concentrate. So you can take quiet selfies instead, if you would like. Or you can sit around and wait and stare at eachother and wonder why you have to travel with eachother for a whole year.

Then you have dinner at 5:30 or 6 o'clock. And you wonder why you're eating again, cuz it seems like the only thing you do is practice and eat. And that is literally all you do.

Then you go back to practice at 7 o'clock for about two hours of practice, which is usually just vocal practice. This is the point of the day where you start getting super tired and get super goofy and crazy. After this practice, you can go back to the Lodge and hang out with your team members and play games like spoons, which is very dangerous. Bruises might be made, but memories will be as well so it's worth it. :) Or, you can play a tame game of Hand and Foot.

You aim to go to bed at around eleven o'clock but you never get to bed till 11:45 or 12 o'clock each night. Good ambitions though.

And that is the normal day in the life of a Life Action band member at Staff Training. Of course, things vary from day to day and every day is interesting!!
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Things have been going great here at Life Action camp as we prepare to go on the road in two weeks. We still have a lot of songs to learn, so please pray that God will give us energy to learn them and that we would just dive right in and get it done. :)

Last night, Blue Team (my team) went to a staff member's house and we were challenged to get a selfie with the whole team in it. And we had fifteen minutes to plan this and to get the picture. So we ended up deciding that Jonathan should get on the roof of the house and take a picture of us making a hashtag. For #selfie. Hahaha get it? Ok. So this was the outcome.

And then we got another one of our hosts and us. :D COVER YOUR EYES

This is my team this year. And what a great team they are. They are all incredible and I can't wait to travel with them this year! It is such a blessing to see the level of spiritual maturity in them; I am humbled by them and I pray that God would make me more mature and deep in my walk with Him as they are. I'm expecting God to do amazing things through this team this year in His church. :) 

Keep updated! If you would like to receive my update letter, please message me your email address on Facebook and I'll get that to you as soon as I can. :)

If you would like to join my financial support team, you can partner with me financially by going to https://www.lifeaction.org/donate/support-a-staff-member/ and click my name under “Staff Member” (it should be at the top since my name is at the beginning of the alphabet). Or you can send a care package to P.O. Box 31, Buchanan, MI, 49107. Those are always appreciated. :D

Thank you so much for keeping updated!! It means more than you know! You are in my prayers! God bless.

Bethany

I Had a Dream.

I had a dream.

One of faces. Those at roadside stands. Those ready to learn. Those curious about the Person the foreign strangers speak to before every meal. Those whose religion claims that they can earn the right to heaven. Those who were hospitable to foreigners to make a friend. Those who bartered at night markets. Those who smoked. Those who stared at the rare white faces
coming through their city. Those who had high ranking in the government and with whom the foreigners had banquets. The one who owned a laundromat, and who invited the foreigners to her house because they made the effort to befriend her. The one who stuck by them the whole time to help them with anything they needed. The one who taught Chinese to that one foreigner.The one at the roadside stand who sold the hats of her people. The one who was so excited to speak her little known English to an American who visited her shop quite often.  The one who owned a salon and made unspoken friends with these visitors. The one who had a 1 Corinthians 13 on a plaque in her house without even realizing it's origin.

One of traffic and lights. Defying death in adventurous taxi rides. Breezy and cool night drives in the city. Learning to balance while standing up in a public bus. Driving across a floating bridge across the yellow river.  A bus breaking down mid-route, dumping its passengers to find another one.

One of beauty. Of rugged mountains. Of remnants of one, the Great Wall. Of desert. Of chairlifts to a mountaintop on which hiking commenced. Of fields of corn. Of a valley stretching as far as the eye could see, with the magnificent yellow river winding its way into the mountains beyond. Of magnificent buildings that are replicas of those past.

One of spiritual depravity.  Searching for eternal life in all of the wrong things. Worthless prayers to a nonexistent god. Customs that are dearly held onto because there is an idea that they will be a way to heaven. Dryness of souls. A yearning for something more, but what?

But it was a dream of hope.  That girl is asking questions about the One who saves. Another girl believes in the Father and wants to start a church for her people. The bus driver has put his hope in the Son some time past and continues to grow. The young man and young girls who saw the difference in the foreigners lifestyle have begun to seek why. Most of all, the One who sees
every bit of this despite the sin and guilt and shame interwoven throughout it all, He looks down upon all of this with great love, longingly working in it, that it may come to Him and be a beacon for nations.

And then I realized it was not a dream. It was real, and it was China. And I long to return to this reality, but till that day, I know the One who provides the only possible hope is still there working in every heart, and he will bring the good work that He has started to completion. To him be praise, in China and the world forevermore. Amen.

Beautiful Times

 Owl City's new song "Beautiful Times". I swear Adam Young prays over his songs, because they bless my life every time. I love how he always manages to have a hidden message about or to God.

This life is a journey, filled with pain, joy, disappointment, sadness, excitement, happiness. It's so beautiful. God has been showing me the beauty of pain. The beauty of sacrifice. It's all for Him. He uses it in our lives to teach us, to make us stronger. I've realized how weak I have been, tossing and turning on every wave. It's time to be strong.

When did the sky turn black?
And when will the light come back?

We all suffer
But we recover
Just to discover life where we all are.

I fought all through the night,
Oh oh, but I made it alive.
The sun's startin' to rise
Oh oh, these are beautiful times.

This fight of my life is so hard, so hard, so hard
but I'm gonna survive.
Oh oh, these are beautiful times.

My heart's burning bad,
And it's turning black
But I'm learning how to be stronger,

And, sincerely,I love You dearly
Oh, but I'm clearly destined to wonder.

 We are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith - being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire - may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when His glory is revealed. 1 Peter 1:5-7, 4:12.

I've had to make sacrifices as I look at my potential future in China. There are things I want that I cannot have if I want to follow God's call. But then I realize that this sacrifice of will and desire is sharing in Christ's sufferings, for Jesus sacrificed His will to the Father because of His incredible love for us, and so that He might suffer and die and then rise again for each and every one of us. Mark 14:36 - "Not my will, but yours be done." I can do no other.

Be strong Christian. Soon we will be with Jesus and it will all be SO worth it.

Smile. :)

Bethany

Tired Talking

Hello all, how are you? :)

We're now in Newton, Iowa at Community Heights Baptist Church. We arrived here last Friday and this is the second day of the summit (the night of, that is - I'm going to bed like as soon as I'm done with this :))

Let's talk about the time that I forgot that I was supposed to play a song last night, so I went all the way to help in kid's clubs, only to be tracked down by team members, urgently telling me that I was on to play right then. Yep. Ran into the sanctuary to hear our main revivalist, Steve, stalling by
talking about "replacing the team's violinist if I don't come back from China", etc. ;D Needless to say, a humbling experience, but kind of fun in the sense that it was a way to break the ice with the congregation. :) Anyway, the song went well, and everything turned out fine. :)

Also, I woke up at 9:48 this morning when my roommate and I had to leave the house at 9:45 to get to church on time. For your information. Let's talk about a good wakeup call. #sleepyheadstatus

I just HAVE to share pictures of these adorable pandas that I saw at the Memphis zoo the other day.  They were literally the best animals there, even though you all know I love animals. :) Red pandas are ranked #1 in my world. And then black and white pandas. And then cats. Or horses. But yeah, like all of them, after the pandas.

Well, this is tired talking now so I should probably go and spare you from any more randomness. Just wanted to keep ya'll caught up a little bit on the past week. :)

By the way, preparation for the China trip is going very well. I finished my partnership letter; I sent it to my mentor for him to check it over, and as soon as I hear back from him, I'll send it out. If you haven't given me your email or snail mail address but you want to get the letter, you can still just drop me a comment on this post or send me a Facebook message. :)

Love you all! God bless! Keep Him in your focus always. :)

Bethany


P.S. For your enjoyment, a picture of beautiful Iowa scenery:

P.S.S. It snowed this morning.

Begin in Me

I felt like writing, and hasn't it been a while since I've posted on here. Like, it been forever and a day. :) I don't quite know what happened - on the road, time just flies by and it's busy and though there's a ton of stuff I could post about, I don't make time for it. Forgive me for keeping you, my friends, in the dark. 

I guess I just wanted to share what God has been bringing me through and showing me through various trials, joys, and everyday living. I should never grow weary in doing good. As I have been in Life Action, yes, I've tried to do everything right. Being on a ministry team, your life is defined by ministry to all those who see you. It's your job, and they know you as Christians who have given up a year to serve the Lord. But I have grown weary. I've bent under the pressure that comes with being a Christ-follower, to be a good example to everyone who is watching me and to give Jesus a good name. I am discouraged when nothing goes right when I'm convinced I'm doing everything right; I expect to be rewarded. How selfish of me to think that in the presence of our holy God. In this past week or so, I realized that this weariness and discouragement comes from a lack of being in the presence of God. I have not sought Him fully and have not labored in prayer. It was I who was the one who had lost the power of God in my life and needed revival, and here I am on a revival team that encourages the people of American churches to be revived in The Lord. The Life Action slogan is "Begin in me". I understand that now.

But, this doesn't end negatively at all. :) For the past several days, God has been calling me out of this spiritual desert into a place of springs. He has made me lie down in green pasture (not suggested - made) and He has restored my soul. The valley of the shadow of  death was long but God knows how much I can and can't handle, and He has brought me forth into a land of abundance. He has restored His power and presence in my life by giving me strength to pray, patience to wait in Him in His throne room, and grace to continue on in studying and memorizing His word. I tell you what guys, you NEED to pray, if you feel in the pits. Take TIME to pray, don't just send up a little snippet prayer. Well yes, God hears all prayers and He answers everything asked in His name, but we cannot just rush into the presence of God. I saw a quote on twitter today that said this, by @david_krstevski: "You don't take time to "spend" with God. You take time to "invest" with God. When you spend you have less. When you invest you gain."  This may or may not be fully accurate, but still - you must invest in God. Our treasure is in heaven. Why do we focus on the petty things of this earth when there is a prize to be won in heaven - Jesus. I'm preaching to myself. Abide in His glory. When you say "Amen" and get up from your knees, don't think, "I'm done praying". Live a prayer-filled lifestyle, and Gods power will rest on you. Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. Colossians 4:2. 

My brain runs at a thousand miles per hour, thus this scatter brained paragraph or two. But I hope you understand and I pray that God would use it to speak to you.

Random fact: the sweetest girl ever from the church we just finished a summit at (Bartlett Baptist in Bartlett, Tennessee) gave me such a sweet gift yesterday. It was a lovely fan her mom brought from China and a Chinese/English bilingual Bible. The Lord used her to be such a blessing.

For your information, I have already raised $230 of my support for the teaching English in China trip, and that is not including those who are waiting for info about how to support me! God is so faithful, how can I doubt Him? I will be sending out a support letter within the next few days, so if you would like to receive one, comment with your email address, or if you're facebook friends with me, just drop me a message with the aforementioned item. :) The letter will contain more details about the trip, how you can support me financially and through prayer, etc. Thank you so much for taking the time to be interested in this new adventure God has brought into my life. 

I pray God finds you all well and that He will flood your life with His grace and peace that comes through His presence.

God bless!

贝萨妮