2011 – stepping out in FAITH
Currently I am mid-air on a plane from Paris to Kuala Lumpur, where I will be visiting friends and relatives, as well as sharing at a church there. I didn’t realise it at the time, but myself and a friend spent our 1 year anniversary of graduation from Mozambique releasing the Love and purposes of Jesus over the city from the Eiffel Tower! What an awesome, God-organised place to be to remember such a significant event in our lives!
It is now just over a year since graduation from the Iris Harvest School of Missions, and just over nine months since leaving Australia in March 2011.
In that time, the Lord has led me to:
- 5 Continents: Australia, Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Europe
- 18 Countries
- I have slept in 48 different beds, not counting planes, trains, buses and cars… These were of various levels of comfort, from a hard wooden bench covered with a blanket in the Buddhist prayer room of refugees in the Himalayas, to sleeping on the roof of an RV and waking with dew all around me, to sleeping in a comfortable big bed with a hot water bottle in England with the room all to myself!! (I realised that that was just the third night in 9 months where I was in a room all to myself… thank you Jesus!).
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| Border crossing Craziness |
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| Zoe knows how to spend border crossing time... |
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| Cross-roads in Honduras |
Jesus is so good and I have had the privilege of serving with the most amazing people: In Asia with many men and women of God, some of whom have left absolutely everything behind to start new works in different countries; In Africa at the Pemba base of Iris Ministries, where again there are numerous men and woman who are living laid down lives!; North America was a time of consecration on the Night Watch at the International House of Prayer – 6 hours a night in the prayer room, some of the people who were over me there have lived 8 years serving and interceding in the Night; Central America – with the most amazing, adventurous, giving, beautiful team of Iris revivalists who I am proud to call family; and in Great Britain and Europe, seeing fellow Harvest School graduates living out a life of LOVE in a western context, however Jesus leads them…
I have had the honour of witnessing the power of the gospel in action: healed hearts, ears opened, eyes seeing, and many encountering their Saviour and the ultimate pursuer of their hearts, Jesus Christ. Thank you so much for all of your prayers, emails of encouragement, and financial support. YOU are just as much a part of this harvest as I am!
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| Fire Tunnel!!! Hearts healed, JOY poured out! |
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| Beautiful Guatemalan family who encountered the love of Jesus |
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| The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these... |
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| Worship in an El Salvador church |
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| 4 hours after the beginning of the service..! |
2012 – Jumping off the cliff AGAIN…
Earlier this year in Maputo, Mozambique I had to attend an interview with the US embassy to get a student visa for the United States. The form which the school had given them stated that I needed 6 months to complete my studies there (2 x three month internships, of which I completed the first one). However miraculously they gave me a 5 year visa for the States, which later made sense as soon after arriving in Kansas City, the Lord spoke the words “North America” to me and set my heart on fire for this particular country… the first “Western” country apart from Australia which He has spoken to me significantly! He also mentioned that Kansas City was to be my base to go out from for the next period of time.
I decided that I would spend the next year partly in Latin America with the Iris team, and partly in Europe and Australia depending on the Lord’s leading. I would aim to get back to Kansas City by September 2012 for track 2 of the internship.
I had a job interview (for 3 months minimum, perfect!) all lined up for Melbourne when I was planning to return late this month. I have to admit I was looking forward to living a “normal” life again, spending a few months working hard and saving up, and being completely involved in my local church again. However God had other plans…
A few weeks ago I found out that if I don’t return to study in the States within 5 months of leaving, I will lose my student visa. This means that I have to return for the January intake of school. I prayed about it and felt the Lord’s confirmation in my heart to return early. I actually felt His presence stronger than I had felt it for months, impressing on me to return to Kansas City sooner rather than later.
Not going back to Australia to work and having to jump into this next season with no income, completely by faith that the Lord will provide feels SO scary, like jumping off a cliff!! However He reminded me that this is what I’ve been doing anyway for the past nine months! I am trusting Him completely to provide, and believing for friends and partners to stand with me in fulfilling His purposes through my life.
What 2012 will look like:
Internship starts on the 5th January, where I will plunge back into the Night Schedule. This means waking up at 11pm, going into the prayer room from 12am and then being in classes before midday. My bedtime will be 3pm each day. I will be in passionate pursuit of learning more and more of this Man called Jesus, who is also God! I will also again be a part of a company of people who have chosen to stand watch during the hours of the night, interceding for the church, the lost, the government, the Nations, the ending of Human Trafficking and anything else the Holy Spirit leads us to pray for. Check out http://www.ihop.org and http://www.ihop.org/nightwatch/ for more information! You can also watch live streaming and archived prayer room sets from here.
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| Sunrise outside the Prayer Room after the Night Watch |
Internship finishes on March 30th, and then it's whatever Jesus leads me to next! It could be rejoining the Iris team in South America, or working for a period of time, or returning to the 3rd world in other ways. I say returning to the 3rd world, as my time in the United States is also just as much the mission field! All of the over 1000 staff at IHOP are considered “intercessory missionaries”. They are part of outreach and justice works 25 hours a week, and are in the prayer room another 25 hours a week. We all depend on support from the body of Christ, although some find part time work where they can. I am not allowed to work for income in the United States on my student visa. I want to do ONLY what my Lord JESUS wants me to do, and nothing else… Even as I type this I am feeling a bit out of depth in moving back to Kansas City, as the way I’ve been living life is not stable in any sense of the word according to the way the world thinks! Yet I KNOW that the Lord leads me rightly. My life feels so rocky and confusing sometimes, yet JESUS is the rock of ages and I stand firmly on Him and His WORD! ALL the promises of God are YES and AMEN! I am looking forward with joy to this next season and rejoining my Kansas City Family J
Please email me if you feel to be involved in this journey in any way! Or if you want to be added to my email list! Or if you have any prayer requests! I would love to pray for you!
Love and More of Jesus!
Serena
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