SoW: Harder Than I Thought

I find it quite funny that you can practically be best friends with a person in some contexts and not be able to stand them in others. It's a position I've found myself in quite often since I've been here, not least of all with my own self, in a sense. It's been a pretty difficult week in that respect; working with people in the proximity that I have been and in the contexts that I have been has really brought a lot more flaws to light that exist in my character than I thought were there. I mean, I know that I'm quite far from perfect, but I thought I was maybe a little closer to it than this... It's really such a humbling thing, which is incredibly difficult, though it's exactly what I asked God to do in me this season of my life. The contrast between this quarter at YWAM and what God is doing in my life is very different from what He did during my DTS. A lot of waiting, a lot of silence, a lot of listening, a lot of biting my tongue when I want to say things. Through it I can already feel God doing something in me, though I can't quite put my finger on, but really I don't need to.

This last week we had a teacher in, by the name of Mary Jean Powers, who taught on the biblical foundation for worship. She did a wonderful job and really incited a lot of passion in all our hearts to get into the Word more. The way she explained what it means that God's name and His word is lifted up above all other things brought a holy fear to the room and made me even more passionate about not elevating anything or anyone but the name(s) and Word of God. Our first of four songs is due at the end of this week and I'm really excited to connect with the worship in heaven and bring it to the earth with this song, by God's grace, and in the future with the other songs I'll write.

Thank you all for lifting me up in prayer and please continue to pray for me: for strength and health, for an open heart, mind, eyes and ears, for humility, and most importantly for passion and drive to pursue God every single day.

SOW: Back in Denver

It has been quite some time since I've blogged last. I lost my passion for writing for a bit but God has brought it back to me and I'm happy to be able to continue to update you all with what is going on in my life.
The YWAM Denver School of Worship just began on this previous Monday and my first week here has been an absolute blast. Already God has pointed out several areas in my life, pride issues and insecurities and the like, that I had no idea were still so strongly immanent in my life. I know God is going to iron out a lot of creases in my character and I just want to stand, or kneel, before Him broken every day and let Him do everything He wants to do.
The dynamics of this quarter are quite different from my DTS, especially because there are far fewer people here than before, about 55 students total as opposed to 100+. The people I'm getting to know here are phenomenal human beings, as were those I went to school with in the Fall. The DTSers are coming into the program noticeably hungry for God and are going to get a ton out of this quarter, and already have out of this first week, which doesn't even have a ton of teaching, just bonding time. It's great hearing them talk about how crazy it is that they've only been here a week, that it feels like they've been there for months already. That's exactly how I felt at the end of week one, It blows my mind how quickly God moves when you really surrender your time and resources to pursue Him.
The director for my school, Will Strickland, is an incredible, passionate teacher and has a grasp on the point of worship like I've honestly never seen or heard of before anywhere else. In short he is of the belief that every aspect of worship has to do not just with your relationship with God but with people as well, 1 John 4 being his primary premise for that belief, or perhaps just the most straightforward. The beautiful thing is that God had just begun to reveal that truth to me, through 1 John 4, at the end of my outreach. So He has given me a teacher who is further down that path than me, who is just following Jesus in this, and I can follow him for that reason. Needless to say, again, I'm very excited for what God is going to do and teach me this quarter.
Please be praying for me in this new season of my life. God wants to do a lot in and through me this quarter and the enemy is going to fight with claws out to hold me back.
These are things that I would really appreciate prayer for:
That'd I'd be broken every day
For vision of where God is leading me, in this quarter, this year, and decade
That I'd be increasingly sensitive to God's voice
For good health
Inspiration
And much much humility