Unapologetically and Honestly Loving Others with Reckless Abandon

I want to ask you a question. How close are you to Jesus? Do you hear his very heartbeat? Do you know what comes next? Do you know that even in moments of despair God cries with you, yet in the next moment when joy comes, He will rejoice with you too? There is a woman in the Bible who has desperately caught my attention. She is the one that I believe knew the Lord so intimately that she saw things even before His disciples did. And I am not talking about his mother Mary either. I am talking about the Sister to Martha and Lazarus. I am talking about that Mary. I can say that the relationship she had with Jesus and the choices she made, I want to be more like her. I want to always choose what is better. I want to be humble and close to the heart of Jesus. In Luke 10:38-42 we are introduced to Mary and her sister Martha. I am not sure why she stands out to me so much but I am sure that it is because I am more like her than Martha. I want to clarify something first. I am not saying Jesus d

"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men." Matt 15:8&9 (Isaiah 29:13) This is a very true statement of how a lot of people and churches are here in Tonga. There is more tradition than relationship with God. They have all these rules about Sunday which seems amazing, and the fact that they honor the sabbath like that is great, but when you see everyone all dressed up in their church clothes, you can't tell who the true christians are and who aren't. Its amazing to see that everything is closed on Sundays and I mean everything except the bread shops. and And that ever one is at rest, but that is all it is to some people. Just to give you an idea, the police patrol and if a Tongan is at the Tahi (Beach) swimming on Sunday they get into trouble. The kids can't really go outside and play. They have to stay inside and rest. This is just so strange to me, but I lov

First I want to say that I have been trying all day to upload the audio that goes with this blog but I will figure it out and add it to the page later. I hope you enjoy... Just to give you an idea about what an amazing ministry this radio is here I want to share a couple of stories with you. There is a family on the west side of the Island that heard the Bible teachings on the Radio but their reception wasn't good. Due to their hunger for the word, they built their own antenna around their house and into the trees so they can hear about Jesus. On the day of the International Prayer the radio hosted, a little girl about 6 or 7 years old called in crying and praying for the persecuted around the world. This urged many adults to also call in and pray. They realized that if a young girl can recognize the freedom they have here in the islands, they should pray more as well. These are just a couple stories from phone calls we have received. I hope you can see how important this R

I am coming to the realization that leaving here is going to be one of the hardest things I do. I am really not looking forward to that day. I know that it is necessary in this growing time God has for me, but I am telling you that I have made great friends here. Friends who are honest, love me for just being me, and let me be silly with them. I know that going home I have friends and family that love me there and so I look forward to seeing them, but honestly if I could merge the two worlds together I would. I know God will give me the strength to make it through and I know that He has this all in His plan, but gosh, how does anyone live when there heart is split in two places? I am not sure and I am not sure how that will go, but for now, I am enjoying the Sunshine and warm weather. I am enjoying the new faces that have stolen my heart and made this trip unforgettable. I am honored and blessed that these amazing souls have welcomed me into their hearts and lives. Even if it is for a

God has really been drilling into my brain John chapter 10. He is the Good Shepherd and as His sheep we know His voice. I believe that God has been speaking to me about a lot of things going on and changing in me. There are things that I am confident God has said, and then things that I am not as confident about. I think due to my lack of faith or doubt, I have been needing God to confirm things He has already said. Now in my head I KNOW that I hear the voice of the Lord and I KNOW that He speaks to me, yet in certain things I hesitate to act swiftly because of the lack of faith there. He is training my ear to hear Him and Him alone. I want to make sure that I ONLY hear what He has to say to me and what He wants me to do. I want to make sure that I am doing exactly what He wants, no more and NO LESS! I want to make sure that my ear is being trained here so that when I go back home, I can carry that with me into my next adventure for the rest of my life. I want to make sure that I am co

I think it is so funny that we sing a song about letting it rain at church and then it rains here for two days and should probably stop around Saturday or Sunday. I think it is funny because her know that we need rain here in Tonga and it is so good for it, but just like at home for me, when it rains, I get sick. I am not a fan of rain for that very reason. Maybe that is why I love the wind so much and am drawn to that. I am sitting here in the cafe, being cold for the first time in my time here and coughing like crazy. But I have to say that in some small way, it is amazing to be here even though I may not feel great. I love that God uses these times to show how great and mighty He is. :)

November 13th is a very important day for the Christian community and I hope that you were able to share in it a little bit. It is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. At the radio station we had all day prayer and intercession On-Air for the persecuted across the world. We placed posters up of the people that have been affected by this. It is heart-wrenching to see these people suffer. Here at the station we had a bunch of people come in at different times and just pray together and war in a way that was totally selfless. I believe that as we join together for a cause that is totally selfless and outside of our wants and needs, God can move even more freely because we just desire for God to strengthen those people and to give them more opportunity to share Christ with others. I want to leave you with some pictures that touched my heart. I pray they touch yours too. This is a woman who went to the peaceful protesting in Egypt with her Fiance'. He told her not

Today is the day for me to catch up on all my writing and to be able to have a bit of free time to do anything else that has lingered throughout the day. I am looking forward to this time and catching up on my writing and all. I know that God wants me to be able to enjoy the time I have left here. I am praying to see what direction I need to take once I get back and how everything God has shared with me will work out. I am excited to see what God is going to do. As I sit here in this radio station working I am reminded of God's Grace. He chooses to love me, protect me, give me things, and speak to me when He doesn't have to. I am so humbled that God wants to be apart of everything I do. This morning, I felt His excitement for the day ahead and how much He wanted to share with me. I felt like He had been waiting all night to share the morning with me, to share His heart with me, and to show me in His word the promises that He has given to me. This is going to be a great day beca

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." Hebrews 11:6 God has been speaking to me so clearly here about so many things. About my future, about current challenges, about things going on here, about a variety of subjects. He has been proving Himself as well, as I begin to trust more in Him and rely more on Him, He begins to move. Funny how we tend to think the opposite is true. We tend to think that as we do it ourselves that proves something to God that we are capable of working so that He can come in and help. That isn't what He wants for us at all. He wants for us to earnestly seek Him as we go about our daily lives so that HE and HE ALONE can accomplish what He has set for us to do. I love that He desires to use us as we FULLY RELY ON HIM. He has BIG things if we seek Him. I believe that God is steadily answering my prayers about changing me, comple

I love when God surprises you with what He says in His word. Last night I was battling something in my own head and God VERY clearly spoke a verse to me. Now I have read this verse many times and until yesterday it was just a great verse and was nice to read. NOW it is ALIVE and has brought great peace to my soul, so I wanted to share it with you.  Habakukk 2:1-3:  I will stand at my watch    and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me,    and what answer I am to give to this complaint. [ a ] The LORD’s Answer   2   Then the LORD replied:    “Write down the revelation    and make it plain on tablets    so that a herald [ b ]  may run with it. 3  For the revelation awaits an appointed time;    it speaks of the end    and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it;    it [ c ]  will certainly come    and will not delay. This brought me so much peace yesterday and has stirred a fire in me that I am excited to see how it goes.