As I sit and type this, I can't help but think just how crazy life can be. On September 3rd, the intent was to come home after spending a couple days in Switzerland with my cousin and one of my good friends. But as September 3rd came around, I was indeed in Switzerland, which was amazing, but I found myself flying back to London, getting on the Tube, and heading right back to the Arts House instead of making my connecting flight to Vancouver.
Needless to say, this summer has been a time of growth, of change, and a time that God has used to refine me. He has broken down barriers, healed me of hurts I didn't even know existed and begun to show me how live out a greater sense of his calling for me. Before I came to London, I had every intention of going back home after the internship. I did know that the Arts Ministry here was going to be running a Discipleship Training School that would start just as internship was finishing. A DTS is the main school that YWAM runs that involves a certain amount of teaching and then an outreach portion to the school. The DTS here would be five months. But the idea of actually doing a DTS was the furthest thing from my mind. I actually told one of the staff, Elin, that I really didn't ever want to do a DTS. But as time went on, God kept brining the DTS to mind and I continued to fight it. I had my plan, three months and then I was going to be back to the States. Besides, the idea of doing a DTS, just didn't sound appealing to me despite hearing where the DTS outreach was going to be going be (around the UK) and what they were going to be doing (loads more theatre). But as time went on, the idea of DTS continued to come into my mind. When one of my best friends who was in a similar boat with me said that she was going to be stay, I thought that was brave of her but I was certain God was going to take me on a different path. Yet, it was in Edinburgh while singing "Breakaway" by Kelly Clarkson that for the first time I thought that maybe I would in fact stay. Finally, after a lot of prayers, some tears, some angry words towards God and even packing my bag to go home, God finally broke through the walls of conventionality and told me to do the DTS. Instead of coming home in September, I will be coming home in January, staying in London through the Holidays. It really was one of the hardest decisions I've made. Everything in me said I should go back and work but God has continued to confirm my decision. He's given me grace and blessings with my employer, he's given my parents peace about the decision, and already God has begun to do more work in my heart to stretch me and grow me closer to him.
I came to the internship knowing that I was going to grow closer to God but also with the focus of being able to do theatre. I ended up doing more music than theatre but God worked in my heart and gave me so many blessing with seeing Paris, Glasgow, and Scotland. We performed in the streets and talked to some amazing people about God. However, for the DTS, both of the leaders of the theatre track have returned which means we'll have a chance to work in that area more which I'm very excited about. But I also know that God has a lot more he wants to do in my heart to break down walls of insecurity and bring me in to a greater freedom with him.
But before the internship finished, we had one final phase: The Notting Hill Carnival. It was one of the craziest experiences I've ever had. There was stilt walking in which I was over seven feet tall with the stilts, a giant angel, people dancing on walls, a parade, and crazy drunk people all around us. We had some awesome opportunities to talk and pray with people as we lived in Notting Hill in a church for two weeks and practiced our stilts around the neighborhood which definitely got some reactions from people. One night we were talking with a couple for a while but then we ended up going back to the church, taking off our stilts and going back and talking with them for longer. They were not Christians and her dad has cancer. We had the opportunity just to pray with her and try to encourage her. It was amazing moment to connect with someone who really opened up to us. I also had the chance to talk with two guys during Carnival and we had awesome converstation about God although they were not believers. Just as they were walking away, I felt I needed to pray for them. As I finished, one of the set pieces fell over right where they would have been walking. It was in that moment that I really think he saw the power and protection of God in his life and I just continue to pray that God continues to work in his heart to show him truth.
The past three months were awesome. As I left the church on August 30th, saying goodbye to my friends from the internship, I couldn't help but think how blessed I had been to be a part of this internship. The friendships and connections have been awesome being able to meet people from so many different countries and cultures. There's a song that's quite popular right now by Hillsong called Oceans. The bridge says, "Take me deeper than my feet has ever wandered, then my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my Savior." I'll admit that I would sing that song with all I had . . but to be honest, I never thought that God would actually continue to lead me into deeper waters and test me in trusting in him. But as I step out in faith, I know God has blessings for me. To obey him means that he will bring blessings when we step out in faith and trust God to work. He works all things together for good for those who love him. I want to grow closer, I want to grow in my calling, and learn how to reach people in Christ in a greater way through both relationship and the arts. I'm excited to see what these next five months hold.
Please continue to pray for me as I walk through this crazy journey. The DTS will be set up that we'll have two weeks of teaching and then a week of outreach. Next week we head off to Manchester and Liverpool for our first outreach week!
