Today was an interesting day. A lot of crying today (good tears) and seeing some pretty interesting stuff. This week the topic was 'Plumbline', which is a term that comes from a scripture in Amos, and to try to explain it... it's about how we build up walls, around our heart, that come from all sorts of things.... past hurts, things people go through that have an effect on their life, dsyfunctional upbringings, all sorts of lies and rubbish that make us develop a wrong perception about God's true nature and character... as well as our own identity. Those walls are not built on the truth, they are crooked, and we can never be set free until they come down and we let God build a wall that is based on His truth, in line with God's 'plumbline' and the cornerstone is Jesus. :)

I don't have my notebook with me, or I would be more specific, but hopefully the idea got across. Anyway, after 3 days of lecture, yesterday and today we all had a chance to basically get all that 'junk' or baggage that we have been carrying around throughout our lives, out, and dealt with but only what God led us to share, nothing more or less, so it was really, really good for a lot of people, because everyone has stuff that they need to be released from, and that's what happened, which was awesome.

For me, I had prayed about this last night and the night before, and a few things came to me. When I prayed on Wednesday night, to ask God what I needed to deal with, that night I had a dream about my older sister. (It's a long story, and kind of personal, but to make it short, basically I don't have a good relationship with her, and me and my younger sister were mean and harsh with her, growing up, for reasons that I can't get into here...but the bottom line is, I know that was wrong and knowing the effect I must've had on her with those words really breaks my heart, because I know we must've hurt her) Anyway, I knew that that was one of the things God brought to my mind that I needed to deal with, and that was one of the things I brought up. The other thing that I feel that God brought to my mind had to do with something else entirely, and I'm not gonna get into specifics, it's too personal, but anyway, it was actually a few things, including an experience I went through a long time ago (when I was 18), and some other stuff that I still needed to deal with. What we did today was really good, but (unlike some other people), I don't feel that I am completely done, or fully released from some of it, so, I will be dealing with it more later. What they told us though was that this isn't just a one-day thing, and 'tada, you're healed', it can be something we do on our own, Plumbline is a lifestyle, we always should make sure that we're in line with God, so that we are 'clean', so to speak. It's actually very very cool, and I'm really happy and I feel blessed that I'm here, and able to do this.

Shoot, I gotta go, I'm expecting a phone call soon, but for some reason I just wanted to write about today. Oh, and I didn't even talk about something so sweet that happened this morning that brought (good) tears to my eyes. Maybe I'll bring that up later, when I have more time. :)

Until then,

Peace!

cindy

Sounds like some good soul work. Don't worry, there isn't one person among us who doesn't carry things from the past with us that seem to need absolvement and honesty.

oh my sweet buttercup

h2g2, get a new line bud.
that one got real tired a month or so ago.

h2g2, get a new line bud.
that one got real tired a month or so ago.


You can still see his posts? I thought the entire member list had him on ignore...


BC- keep us updated. Glad things are moving for ya!

Sounds like some good soul work. Don't worry, there isn't one person among us who doesn't carry things from the past with us that seem to need absolvement and honesty.

Hola Gabe! good to see you as usual. :) Man, we have to talk/catch up, but I haven't been online much at all lately, except to check my emails every few days! Anyway I hope we talk soon, there's a lot to say!
<3

h2g2, get a new line bud.
that one got real tired a month or so ago.

thank you. nice to see you in my journal, mr! :D

You can still see his posts? I thought the entire member list had him on ignore...


BC- keep us updated. Glad things are moving for ya!

Hey Frog! :hi: I'll do that... like I said to Gabe, there's so much to say, I wouldn't know where to begin. For now I'll just say that this place is fantastic, it's hard to put into words how good things have been... but it's been awesome, and God has been blessing me so much lately.

Good news: I didn't have my money for the outreach trip, and it was starting to look incredibly unrealistic that I would come up with almost 3 grand in less than a month. (I raised the money to get here, but planned on raising the funds for the 2nd half while here... and that didn't get started sooner for a few reasons)

But I really felt the whole thing (not just the lecture phase but the missions trip as well) was God's will, and a few people I know also told me the same thing, so I was going through a bit of a struggle between on the one hand, having faith and trusting that God would provide, and on the other hand being 'realistic' and having doubts that something as crazy as that money being raised in less than a month was gonna happen. But at the end of the day, I just had faith that it would, as unlikely (from a wordly perspective) that it may be. And guess what? God gave me that miracle.

A good friend of mine asked me how much I needed for the outreach trip, and then wrote out a check for that amount, over 2800 dollars, to my amazement.

So God is so good.. and faithful, and I'm super grateful to my friend who for now I'll refrain from giving out their name, but anyway, the glory goes to God!

So I'm for sure going to Malaysia, and I'm getting super excited, it's only a month away! :cool: :nice: :w00t:

I'll be back when I have more time, for a more in-depth update, but I had to share that good news now!

See ya all.

Much Love,
cindy

I'm glad you wrote out your 'Plumbline' experience... made me reflect a lot about my own life since you first told me about it.

I'm happy everything is working out for you. Malaysia will be blessed to have you and your friends. :nice:

God Bless,

Alan

Hola Gabe! good to see you as usual. :) Man, we have to talk/catch up, but I haven't been online much at all lately, except to check my emails every few days! Anyway I hope we talk soon, there's a lot to say!
<3

Yeah, I 'memer back in the days we used to talk more. One time I was supposed to even beat you in pool over there in Bourgeois Hills 90210!!! J.K
Now, your off to Malaysia. *sniff* Nah, I'm glad. Well, I'll be around whenever you have the time to divulge in all the details.



A good friend of mine asked me how much I needed for the outreach trip, and then wrote out a check for that amount, over 2800 dollars, to my amazement.

Holy.!

So God is so good.. and faithful, and I'm super grateful to my friend who for now I'll refrain from giving out their name, but anyway, the glory goes to God!

I want names! :mad:

:P

Yeah, and you never did come up to Sacto when I asked you to, remember? hehe... jk, it's all good. :b

We're doing a lot of getting ready for our outreach, and in our groups we have to do a skit based on a message from a scripture or passage in the Bible.... as practice because we'll be doing stuff like that on our trip. So today we decided on what it was going to be, and we're doing a skit on the parable of the Great banquet (Luke 14:15-24) which if you've read it is a really good message for reaching people. It's gonna be great, we're gonna do a modern version of it and instead have a wealthy busines man, lawyer and moviestar who are too 'busy' to accept the invitation to the banquet... and it was fun today casting it and trying to agree as a team on how we're gonna do it. My part is one of the people who accept the invitation, a crippled person... so, we'll see how it goes when we perform it in front of the class next Wednesday. :D

Yeah, and you never did come up to Sacto when I asked you to, remember? hehe... jk, it's all good. :b


I was going to go with a friend to Sacto, but he didn't go through with it. :hmm:

Yes, it's all good, CMC ;)

I knew it would work out for you Cindy :) Continue to keep us posted & know you're always in our thoughts :)

Awesome Cindy. Great to hear God is taking care of you. You always have friends here, so keep us posted so that we can live vicariously through you.:)

So today we decided on what it was going to be, and we're doing a skit on the parable of the Great banquet (Luke 14:15-24) which if you've read it is a really good message for reaching people. It's gonna be great, we're gonna do a modern version of it and instead have a wealthy busines man, lawyer and moviestar who are too 'busy' to accept the invitation to the banquet...

And because of this description, I have the Daniel Amos song 'Banquet at the World's End' going round and round in my head.

aaugh, I'm sorry this is such a late reply! :(

I knew it would work out for you Cindy :) Continue to keep us posted & know you're always in our thoughts :)


Awesome Cindy. Great to hear God is taking care of you. You always have friends here, so keep us posted so that we can live vicariously through you.:)


I luv you guys... beatle - you're right, you did have faith in me from the start and that means a lot to me. thank you for your support and kindness, you are a blessing and you rock. :) :D

Shelter - yay, i'm always happy to see you... :p I'm sorry, I haven't been online much at all in a while! Things here have been incredible.... other than me getting the flu and having to miss Thanksgiving.. it's ok though, everyday here feels special and so many good things have been happening, so it makes up for the few days I was sick...

I'm getting excited about the trip... I'm going to be going to Penang, an island in Malaysia, for a little over 2 months. First we'll be flying in to Tokyo for one night, and then we'll stop in Kuala Lumpur, where one of the other teams will be staying, but our team will be going out to Penang... which is great, because there were 3 possibilities for where we'd be, and pretty much everyone wanted Penang, and prayed for that. I actually would've liked KL, but I was fine with any of the places.

It's going to be super hot there, and humid, but we can't wear shorts or sleeveless tops... the country is mostly Muslim, and it's looked down on to show skin, and we want to respect them by being modest. There will definitely be some challenging things, but you get used to that stuff... overall it should be amazing, I've heard so many good things from YWAMers and others who have gone to Malaysia... plus, I lived in Indonesia when I was 9, which is nearby, so I'm kinda familiar with that part of the world (although it has been a loong time)

Anyway... I should go, I'm supposed to be working on a book report that is due tomorrow. :o

I'll be back later!

<3
cindy



And because of this description, I have the Daniel Amos song 'Banquet at the World's End' going round and round in my head.

never heard of it! But I wanted to say hi :hi: and (((hug)))