Thursday, December 27, 2012

December '12 Update

Dearest Friends,

As our hearts are filled with joy and our homes with family (whether biological or spiritual) this season, I pray that you have most of all felt Loved and encountered by the One who started it all – the One who holds every living thing together…

I pray that, if you have children and you have felt joy over their excitement at opening gifts and having all the people that they love all together in one place, that you understand: that feeling you are having is just a small taste of the JOY that our Daddy God feels over us as He sees us opening gifts HE has given, and stepping into plans HE has planned for us!! He is the Father of Lights, EVERY good gift comes from HIM and in HIM there is no shadow of turning! He desires only good things for His children – although His children may not always agree with what is good for them ;) Just sayin’!

The Condition of our HEARTS
I want to share this with you… for as I have been travelling and transitioning and loving and being loved and also putting walls up so I won’t HAVE to explain all over again what I’m doing here (wherever here is that I happen to be) or, so I won’t HAVE to explain again what I’ve been doing “there” – wherever “there” has happened to be… (by the way the walls are not a good thing)… I have found that most of all, Daddy God is interested in shepherding my HEART. HE is interested in the condition of my HEART.

30th Oct 2012
“I woke up this morning lots of dreams and things that made sense. One sentence I saw/heard was “Que quiero ti”. I looked it up and it wouldn’t translate Portuguese – on either google translate or my apple translator. So I tried Spanish. On google translate it was: “I want you”
  
“I was struck. And in awe… You [the God that upholds the UNIVERSE!] want me…
Then on my mac translator: “That I love you”.
“Jesus… Daddy… Lord… YOU want me! That YOU love me!

Oh… THIS is what it’s all about…
I will get the answer to my question in just knowing that You love me.”
Now I had been dreaming and fasting and praying about decisions I needed to make, because I just had not been having peace with a certain thing I was scheduled to be doing and it was coming up soon. That morning, I was struck by the realisation that I didn’t have to worry about whether I was hearing the Lord right, about whether I was doing the right thing… I realised that all my worry and stressing and anxiety actually cut me off from hearing rightly. It is as our hearts are AT REST in our daughterhood or
sonship in HIM, that we will be free to hear Him rightly. We will be free to hear what HE wants… Once I had the freedom to rest [didn’t mean I stopped fasting. I just stopped fearing] – I heard from Him real easy and was able to make a big decision and talk to all the people involved with peace and surety in my heart :) He is concerned, friends, with our HEARTS :)

So, going to get rest in England, really turned out to be… such a great time of REST in England!! Honestly. I am blessed with the most amazing friends who are Jesus to me… I got to sleep, rest, sleep, talk through and process some things, sleep, eat, have pet therapy (the pets my friend had), sleep and rest :) I got to spend so much time with one of my God‐given British sisters! Thank you Daddy!

Somehow, This All Fits in Together

The Dream. The Vision. The Calling…

I don’t know if all my travelling around and being involved in different things has ever confused you. Well sometimes it confuses me. Just sayin’. Yet as this 1 year and 8 months has passed by and things have started to become clearer and make more sense, I have come to know for certain that I am called to:

• The Dirt – the poor, the 3rd world.
• The Western local Church.
• Releasing the Prophetic Sound to the Nations
• Adopting large sibling groups/older children. Or any child from any country with any kind of “special need” the Lord specifically leads me to. This could mean I'm having at least 15 children! Or maybe a few hundred. Depending where it is and what it looks like!
• Gazing into the eyes of Jesus and adoring Him. Ministering to Him. Intercession…
• Letting Daddy love me.
• Nations – nations – nations. So far HE has led me to 5 different continents and I have found love swell up in my heart for places and people in all those continents. How that works is only because of the love that JESUS puts there…

“Someone in this generation is gonna make a
Noise that’s gonna shape a Nation”

I was on the plane from Doha, Qatar to London Heathrow on the 6th December, when I decided to listen to some of Jake Hamilton’s latest for the first time… His songs “War Drums” and “New Song” totally caught my heart and helped me spill forth vision onto the pages of my journal.

“This is what it’s about. I believe that part of my call is to release a prophetic sound to the nations. I believe in the power of a SOUND. Just like David’s anointed harp playing cause peace to come to King Saul, so the anointed, heaven released SOUND that the Lord releases through me can shape nations. Can build up. Can tear down.
I believe I am called to release this:
through BEING in nations – physically releasing the sound along with the CHILDREN of the nations – those
who were abandoned but are now found :) adopted into HIS KINGDOM FAMILY

And also spiritually – through what He releases through me in the Global or All Nations Prayer rooms here
in Kansas City.”

So, the reason I am here in Kansas City – only GOD knows the full reason, but I do know that part of it is:

• to be trained up more in my gifts
• to have more of a theologically solid foundation and to have more time to reaalllly go DEEP into the Word!
• to be able to do all this and still be in a place where the nations converge and where they are sent out again back to the nations
• to possibly become involved in a volunteer capacity in the Orphan Justice Center – Rescue, Adopt, Restore ‐ http://orphanjusticecenter.com/

I so appreciate all of your continued love and prayers, and financial support!
Please let me know of any prayer requests – I love to pray for you! And do let me know how you are going. He has made us for relationship. He has made us for family.

Serena xo
Adventurer and Lover of Jesus

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Purple Royal Flip-Flops

Today was one of my best days ever. Well actually, it was just one of those days that had so many special moments...

It started out at 6am as I pressed the snooze alarm many times, finally getting out of bed about 20 mins before I had to leave... As I was pressing the snooze alarm I could hear Christina, our cleaning lady coming in the door and greeting my room mate in makua, the local tribal language 

(side note- my room mate is one of the most incredible women in the world. She truly and genuinely loves the makuan community who we are privileged to live and do life with, and not only does she love them but she is crazy amazing and gifted at picking up the language... Honestly she can have whole conversations in makua when most of us are still trying to improve our Portuguese. She's even starting to write new worship songs in makua (because translating some of the songs that already exist just don't even work with all the syllables that can be in even just one word!) my room mate is amazing. Side note ended).

So, we walked out the door at about quarter past seven along with a couple of other friends on my base. One, an American who did the harvest school in October 2011 and has come to teach preschool and art lessons. The other, a Mozambican friend from Maputo who is a teacher in the bible school and also a worship leader here in Pemba. The 20 min walk by the ocean was interrupted by rain and all the Moz bible students walking near us started running for the other base! We broke out in "let it rain" in Portuguese, then as it started to get heavier changed it to "espera! Espera deis minutos por favor! Espera SeƱor!" (wait! Wait 10 minutes please! Wait lord!" God slowed down the rain enough so that we didn't get soaked and the dirt didn't turn to full on mud, yet. 

I was aiming to get to the prayer house early for our 8am set with the Iris older girls. Someone else had already opened it up as some boys had one of the prayer room guitars and was playing it outside. A couple of older Iris girls were also in the prayer hut early reading their bibles and journaling, along with some mission school students visiting from around the world. It was so precious to see them really wanting to read His word and know His love... I decided that even though it was supposed to be a time for the older girls, I couldn't just close the door to the iris boys who were hanging around! So after hanging out with them for a few minutes, we all went inside the prayer house to worship and seek His face together. I was originally supposed to be teaching on some principles to worship, but we ended up just praying and worshipping, passing the lead to each other... Today was one of the most flowing, amazing prayer times I've been in with the kids yet... The kids would just break out in spontaneous prayer and songs as myself and an iris boy played the guitar. They were passionate, they were genuine, and it blessed my heart so incredibly... It is on my heart to start spending more time with them even outside the prayer house, training them a bit more in music and learning more Portuguese!

All of this was before 9am... I could go on about all the amazing stuff that happened, but will condense it for you. 

Myself and the other missionary who was there then cleaned out the prayers house completely, taking everything out and sweeping, mopping... (this of course drew a small crowd of children- some iris kids and some village kids, who promptly proceeded to grab the guitars and strum chords that aren't in existence, and when they started to get a bit rowdy and we started to ask them to be a bit more careful, one of my village friends (Fogas) proceeded to promptly grab a broom and sweep everything in sight to help us, and the other one grabbed a baby wipe we had used to wipe the whiteboard, and used it to wipe everything in sight! The keyboard, my guitar case, everything! Once all was done and dried and locked away, Fogas asked to try on my flip flops and I would try on his. Then he said that I can borrow his til tomorrow! He insisted that we do this as he leapt in the air and laughed with my (slightly too small) brown $2 Walmart over-a-year-old worn-almost-every-day-in-15-different-countries-moulded-to-fit-even-my-toes-and-worn-almost-all-the-way-through flip flops on his feet... I looked down at his definitely-too-large-purple-flip-flops-with-pretty-flowers-on-them that felt like thick mattresses after wearing mine... And worried about him walking on the road and feeling every bump and getting thorns stuck in his feet... And worried that mine might break while he was borrowing them and then he might feel bad! I asked if he was sure? "Yes!!! Amanya!Amanya! (tomorrow, tomorrow)" well... Okay then!

So for the rest of the day, while working on organising practical missions for the harvest school; tutoring my friends fun, energetic 5year old and attending a baby shower for the base director with most of the female part of our base staff family... I would randomly look down and notice my friends purple flowery too large flip flops adorning my feet... And I would laugh. At the personality of my friend Fogas that he would convince me to swop for a day. At the fact that a teenage boy has purple flowery flip flops (TIA- this is Africa!). And my heart would get slightly melted at the thought that he would wear my almost broken, brown so worn flip flops and God would decide to have me wear purple (color of royalty! and my fav colour) flowery (makes me feel special!) flip flops that belong to a village boy who is from a very poor village family... Our God is so upside down... I love Him so much!

Now it is 1am and I am typing this from the safety of my mosquito net, with the familiar sounds of barraca (streetside shops) music coming through my glass less windows... (which I am so thankful for as it keeps the houses so much cooler!) I can feel each of the slats through my mattress, and frequently sink down in places where the slats have shifted all to one side or the slats themselves are just not flat! But I have a bed and I have a pillow. I have freshly washed sheets and a net and an amazing roommate. I have a family here in Pemba who loves to do life together, not just work. And I have my village friend's purple flowery flip flops to remind me who I am. Loved. Royalty. Trusted (enough to borrow his flip flops!). Most of all they remind me of my God who is the one who loves to give me these precious moments!

Love to you all, and thank you for sharing in some moments from one of the days from my life here in Mozambique!

Saturday, September 22, 2012

A New Season...

Last time I wrote I talked just a little about outreach. We went to a place in South East Asia where a local family in partnership with an Iris graduate from Tennessee has been rescuing children from slavery in the granite mines. We stayed with our friend who is about 26 years old. He lives in and runs one children’s home – the kids there are not from the mines but are from other circumstances. There were meant to be 60 children in the home, but by the time we got there, there were over a hundred and by the time we left it had increased to almost 200! This was in part because while we were there, they had to close down one of their other homes so they had to move those children into the house. Also while we were there a few local Mums came and dropped their children off to the home, as they had AIDS and had only a couple of days left to live… Our friend who runs the home is from a family who has been pastors for a few generations now. His Dad runs another home, his Mum another home for older teenage girls and his sister yet another home!

We were the first team that they had ever had visit, they had only ever had maybe 3 or 4 different westerners come at different times before. So it was very much a spearheading team and we went mainly to love, to go low and to go slow! It was such a privilege to be a part of the very first team they had ever had :) We all immediately fell in love with the kids. Although there are sooo many children living in the home and what seems like only a few adults, they all are full of joy and and laughter! They all mainly sleep on the roof, on blankets on the concrete, two or three children to a blanket so they are literally shoulder to shoulder.

You can find out more at www.mercy29.org and on the mercy29 user channel on youtube.

"Rest Time"
God gave me an awesome gift in getting to visit the family in Nepal that I got to know last year with Jesse and Tanya! Myself and the other team leader arrived there and realised that we only had about 10 days before we arrived back in Pemba and were full on into the middle of a hectic schedule again! So we made sure that we stayed home a lot, just mainly hanging out with the family, going to Jordan (15 yr olds)’s basketball games and watching Step up with their youngest daughters :) We were so blessed by our time in Nepal..!

Passports and Visas
My passport is now completely full!! No blank pages left!! I got to apply for a new one while in Joberg, and now have to juggle how I’m going to get it sent up here, and also get my current one cancelled and back up to me in Pemba. When the courier system isn’t reliable and the postal system even less so, it requires God to do a few miracles to get things like that done! Also the Moz embassy only gives out 30 day renewable visas, so I have to juggle getting that renewed every 30 days (probably by getting someone to take it out of the country to Tanzania a couple of times) as well as sending it down to Joberg or Maputo… My last passport page is taken up by my visa to Zimbabwe which was used for one day while driving through from South Africa to Mozambique... SUCH a fun experience and it felt like a birthday present from God :) We had a flat tyre on the first day and had to get it fixed the next, which took up a lot of time but GOD still happened and we got to Moz in record time! We stayed the first night in Zimbabwe at some lodge, and the second night in the front yard of a couple missionaries who used to live in this house on the main road, and it's still guarded but they have moved to be involved on another base in Moz. So the house was all locked but we got to park and set up camp in their front yard, and use their latrines :) :) They actually had had a couple armed robberies while living there but we were totally fine the whole night and next morning! 

A New Season
Today I moved house - from the Village of Joy - where the student compound is, to the Glory Base!! I have transitioned from being a Harvest School staff member into being Base staff, up until December.
I will still be co-ordinating Practical Missions and am still taking care of the general emails for the school, however my main focus will now be my involvement with the House of Prayer here on the base. I am also going to be involved in training up some of the Iris kids into the House of Prayer. My heart is to see the kids trained up not just in music, but in worship. Today I had my first HOP session with a couple of other missionaries here and two of the older Iris girls who live in the children's home. It was meant to be a set from 8-9am. However we actually started around 20 minutes late and then when I left at about 10:15 they were still going! God really showed up and you could feel his presence so strong...

I am also going to be very involved with helping with some of the missionary kids. Their Mum is due REALLY really soon to have their 4th child. So I'll be helping out with the first 3 children (mostly tutoring, and some hanging out, maybe teaching music) and also tutoring/babysitting another 5yr old daughter of another missionary (who I worked with on my visit in 2011!).

In December I am also still going to be leading the Harvest School outreach team to Uganda and Sudan. So far my team is a group of 9 from the UK, Canada, the USA and New Zealand plus myself (Australia!). It will be Christmas in Sudan with the least of these!! 

PRAYER points:
- Intimacy with Jesus. Knowing who I am as Daddy's girl!! 
- Health and strength for my body - today especially was so hot and hopefully not an indication of the next few months! Sudan I know will be even hotter! Yay! So, my body has to adjust in Jesus' Name!
- Provision - for the rest of my time here, and also for Uganda/Sudan and beyond...
- That I would recognise which Iris kids the Holy Spirit would be highlighting for me to train up a bit more in music/worship/intercession
- Relationships with other missionaries on the base!
- That myself and the kids would bond well and have well established boundaries and relationship.
- Keep my eyes, time and strength focused on HOLY SPIRIT's plan for the HOP times and every bit of my time here!
- Good sleep!
- That the Uganda/Sudan outreach team will be fully prepared and ready in their hearts for this outreach! Unity and honour being key!
- More intercessors for myself to be raised up. We as missionaries are on the frontlines here of a war zone here and I know that you hear us say that, but it is so true and there is a lot - not just physical, that we have to deal with.
- Provision of more instruments for the kids to learn/worship on! Even for after I am gone.

Lots and lots of love to you!!!

Serena xoxoxoxox


Paypal: Go to www.paypal.com and click on "Personal", "Send money internationally". Fill out all your details. My email address registered with paypal is serenaxh @ gmail.com (without the spaces)

Friday, July 27, 2012

Bom Dia!!


Couldn't sleep last night til past midnight... Got woken up just after 6 by someone sweeping?? (sweeping the dirt?!?) outside my window this morning... and now am on my computer trying to get some things sorted... After finding myself stuck in not being able to get a certain situation moving forward, I was sitting in what I call my "office" (an open front porch haha which gets VERY windy at times, next to the big baobab tree with views to the family houses (kids playing!) and the clinic) feeling almost like giving up when I hear: "Bom Dia!! (good morning!) Bom Dia!! Bom dia bom dia!!! One of our Mozambican gardeners comes running up to me and holds out his hands to grab mine - hand shaking is a greeting that happens pretty much every time you see someone here. So I grab his hands, and find something pushed into mine - I look down and it's an orange flavoured "Bobo Pop"! (lollipop/sucker). He bounds off up the dirt pathway chuckling and I find myself immediately beaming and so happy that Daddy God just gave me a lollipop - and from a mozambican brother obviously overflowing with JOY! - haha!! He SO knew how to cheer me up! I love you so much God :) :) :)



Saturday, July 14, 2012

Thoughts


Dear Friends,

Just felt to share some thoughts which have been stirring in me from recent events in the past week... and then were provoked into verbalisation from a question yesterday :)

I just had someone come up to me and ask where I'm from. I said,
"Well, originally Australia." :)
This person said,
"What about now?"
I said,
"Everywhere." :)  I then proceeded to explain in a very small nutshell where I've been in the last year or so. This person then said, "Well, that's nice! I'd love to do that! How did that work practically? I would like to do that. I love to travel!" 

Well. How DOES that happen? (my heart screaming inside of me: it's NOT ABOUT TRAVEL!! IT'S ABOUT THE FATHER'S HEARTBEAT!!!)

You cannot plan this kind of adventure. The best adventures are not planned but are rather, fallen into. Or in this case, the best adventures come out of leaning into the Father's heartbeat. They come from desiring His presence, seeking His face.  

Why are you seeking His face? Because you want Him. No other reason. You want to know Him. To know Who He is. Why He is. You desire His heart. His fire. His glory. None other. 
Then He gives you a dream, or a directive. Whichever it is, or whether it's both. He gives it to you. This might be in a moment. It might be in a year. It might be over a number of years. It might be for -- NOW. It might be for the next season. It might be for a few seasons time... Whichever it is, the adventures comes out of the obedience. We seek His heart and His face, and we get consumed by His Holy Fire. By His radical love. 

The radical love and obedience of the Son to a Holy and All Consuming Fiery Loving Father,
The obedience of this Son to suffering and death resulted in our Freedom and His Joy. 

It resulted in our freedom to become Sons and Daughters to that same, Holy, All Consuming Fiery Loving Father... it resulted in our enablement (grace: the empowerment and enablement of God) to become obedient to that Loving Father who desires that ALL men be saved, not just one. Who desires that ALL of Israel be joined to Him, not just some. Our obedience to His LOVE in this age... (which is a very small, very fleeting age by the way) results in eternal relationship with Him in the next... (which, is a very long, very continual age by the way)... It results in eternal blessings. Eternal favour. Eternal Mercy. Eternal rewards. Would you rather have riches and blessings and favour and comfort in this age or the next?

Let's join in the Son's intimacy with the Father, let's join in His grace and enablement for what we're called to, let's join in the calling of the Heavenly invasion down to earth (seeing His ways and His heart manifest on earth), let's join in the Son's obedience, and the Son's suffering, together with the Son's joy! 
One more thing. Without Holy Spirit, we can't even know the Son and the Father to the fullness of what He is to be known. Do you know the Holy Spirit? Do you know Him as a friend? Do you know Him as a person...? Do you treat Holy Spirit as a person, or as a force? We are sooo blessed because Jesus left earth to go to heaven. If Jesus did not leave us, we would never have the Holy Spirit. Jesus could only be in one place at one time. Holy Spirit is with me at the same time as He is with you! He knows our hearts and our spirits more than we could ever know ourselves! He is with me. He is with you. We are connected through the Holy Spirit. And He is with the Father. He intercedes for us. He is our COUNSELLOR. Our help in time of need. He is a person. He can manifest Himself, His presence as a person and sometimes I can tell when He's standing on one side of me and when we walks into the middle of a group... but, funny... most often when I feel or see Him (with spiritual eyes) He doesn't go in the middle of a group... He tends to be alongside me... or joining in the circle... He really IS the helper, the one who comes alongside! 

I pray you get released into the adventure today... by Leaning into the Father's heartbeat... by joining in the obedience, the suffering and the joy of the Son... by coming to KNOW and fellowship with the person of the Holy Spirit... :) He is always with us, but He makes Himself known when you talk to Him and talk about Him. Just sayin' :)

Major love and blessings to you today. I pray you flow in the Father's Love and the leading of the Holy Spirit. May JESUS be glorified and lifted HIGH!  Email me with how you are :)

"Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to Your name give glory, for Your mercy and loving-kindness and for the sake of Your truth and faithfulness!" - Psalm 115:1 AMP

Serena xo
Adventurer and Lover of Jesus

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Iris Harvest School of Missions, Mozambique

For those of you would like to know more about what exactly the school is about that I am going to volunteer-staff at:

Check out these videos :)






And these links!

http://www.irismin.org/missions/harvest/

http://www.irismin.org/about

http://www.irismin.org/about/mission

http://www.irismin.org/about/history


Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Dear Friends!

Well, it's happening! 2 days 'til I leave the country again for who knows how long (God does I know!)

My passport had a couple of delays but arrived this morning with the courier, Praise Jesus!! Now I can leave the country legally, and not only that but go to Mozambique for 90 days legally!! Once the June school and 10 day bush outreach is over, I will leave Mozambique for approximately 3 weeks, having obtained another 90 day visa in time for the 2nd school from October to December. In December I will have the privilege of co-leading an extended outreach into Sudan! Christmas in Sudan with the least of these who know where their true riches are! It will be a time to remember!

Right now my parent's living room is strewn with all my things, and I'm having to decide what is the most needed out of all the necessary things I'm meant to take. 20kg is the weight limit for my last leg of flights to Pemba, so I have to fit everything down to that. Some of the random items I'm taking: 

- sticky notes and sharpies - it always helps to be organised and to be able to label your waterbottle!
- loong board shorts - so as not to show my knees while in the water! Some men in mozambique have never even seen their mother's knees. So it's quite important I don't show mine!
- Masterfoods mixed herbs - to add some flavour to my rice and beans ;) Or rice and matapa. Or rice and cabbage.
- swim shoes - so I don't get nasty coral cuts or sea urchin spikes
- bed sheets - Take all your own bedding! 


So, Onward and upward! Inward and deepward! I will be spending 5 days in Malaysia visiting my mum, relatives and friends before hopping on a Qatar airways flight to Qatar - 10 hr airport sleepover! Then an overnight in Johannesburg, before arriving in Pemba for the last of house prep and staff meetings before the approx 300 students start to arrive... I'm ready for chaos!! Not to be chaotic for very long!

Please pray:
- Long, long story but basically I don't have a working debit/atm card so had to have one expressed to me by the bank. They said it MAY arrive tomorrow but could also arrive Friday... Friday I am leaving early in the morning!! Basically, I need it to arrive tomorrow.

- Finance. For all staff members in need of it and all students too who are in need of it!! Some families are coming to do the school with up to 5 or more kids... it means plane fares x 7, at least! God is in the business of miracles and I have seen him do it before! He provides where He guides! Also for myself as I am still needing more :) My Daddy is Jehovah Jireh, my provider! 

- Construction of the student houses! Again, this school is bigger than any of the previous ones so again, they are having to construct more moz style student housing for the students to arrive.

- JOY! and favour with luggage, protection over luggage, divine health, anything else you can think of :) :) :) 


I am SO excited to have you be a part of this with me!! Many, many blessings to you and to all your families!! You are the beloved of His heart and therefore favoured and held close, safe and secure :) I pray that you receive everything you need today, whether it be comfort, joy, safety, finance, direction, wisdom, peace...

Lots of love and hugs, in JESUS because He is ALWAYS Worth it ALL!!

Serena x

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Blessed

Just thinking how amazingly blessed I am to have such beautiful friends in so many different countries around the world! Their hearts to bless me have, well, blessed me! So incredibly and my heart is just overwhelmed at this point in time by their generosity, their friendship, their wise words and prayers... So, to all of you who have ever caught up with me for coffee (hot chocolate!), for lunch, to those who I have had the privilege of staying in your houses, your rooms or even your beds! I say thank you, so much from the bottom of my heart. You bless me and I so appreciate you... I love you so much! I ask for more God-ordained Holy Spirit times with you! In Jesus who is WORTH IT ALL!!!

Serena

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Towards the next Season!



Dear amazing, world-changing Beloved ones,

Just the latest quick news this time :) Keeping it short and sweet.

Internship in Kansas City:
It has gone by so fast! We had our last PHD class on Wednesday (Prophecy, Healing and Deliverance) with a time of impartation from all the PHD leaders including a couple who are staff here in KC but are originally Kiwis! (New Zealanders). We officially finish up on Friday 30th March, with graduation and our last 2 hours in the prayer room from 4am-6am – what other school do you know that has graduation in the middle of the night?! I have loved my time here and will be definitely coming back some time!

Whats Next:
I am excited to be staffing the next Harvest School in Pemba, Mozambique with Iris Ministries (Rolland and Heidi Baker). Among other responsibilites I will be a house mum for up to 12 girls (international students), as well as leading a 10-day extended bush outreach in the bush-bush of Mozambique. This is an amazing honour and privilege and I am so excited to be a part of serving, raising up and pouring into the next group of laid-down Jesus lovers who will be going out and impacting the nations with His heart! Already there are students coming in from many different nations!

I am hoping to be back in Australia (Brisbane and Melbourne) by mid-late April in order to catch up with family and friends (first time in over a year now!), as well as get some of my things in order. Then I will be arriving in Pemba mid-May to staff the school!

Thank you all of you who have been on this journey with me so far – whether it has been right from the start of 2011 or more recently, you are each one of you so beautiful and appreciated, and I really value your encouragement, emails, facebook messages, prayers and giving :) You have such a big part in the harvest and in the reward.

Bless you so much as you go about your day/night – you are treasured and dear to the Father’s heart – He wants to hear your voice today and loves when you set your gaze upon Him!

In Jesus – who is worth everything!!!

Love Serena

P.S. For those who have been impacted or moved by the recent Kony2012 campaign, see this link for some thoughts from Michele Perry in Sth Sudan: http://fromtheunpavedroad.com/2012/03/09/live-free/

If you feel stirred to GIVE towards this next season, you can go to www.paypal.com and click on “Personal”, “Send money internationally”. Fill out all your details. My email address registered with paypal is serenaxh@gmail.com

For Direct deposit (Australian) details, please email me

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Living a laid down life in the West!


What does a life laid down for Jesus look like here in the West? When it comes down to it, it really looks like much the same as it does “on the field”.

It is a giving over of your will, your emotions, your every thought, desire and every breath to Jesus. It is laying down… on the concrete or the carpet more than the dirt! Both physically and emotionally. And letting Him love you, day by day. It is a CHOICE, day by day, to choose to LOVE. To love HIM and to love each one in front of you. No matter if they bug you, if they do something that just really annoys you or even seriously hurts you… choose love, and choose life. Choose to speak words of life. To Look Up. To look up to the sky, to look up to heaven, to look up into HIS eyes, be filled with HIS heart and HIS perspective, HIS joy and then to look around and see with HIS eyes! Feel with HIS heart! It is a choice to be with Him every day… to let the ins and outs of everyday life force you even, to NEED Him. And to know that that is okay. Not even just okay, but required

It is those who truly need and who KNOW their need, who will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. We come to Him low and in need only to be lifted up and set in high places. Ephesians 2:6. The poor in Spirit inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. Both in the time to come, and the time that is now.  For after you have looked into His eyes, and looked around… you see what is here on earth and what needs to be changed to be like Heaven… you are filled with the heartbeat of Heaven and He has given you the power to release that! 

So stop what you are doing. Be filled with Him, and then go about your day continuously being filled and overflowing all around you… oops, there’s a bit of Heaven leaking out of me onto you! Didn’t do it on purpose, it just HAPPENED because He’s the kind of God who fills to overflowing!

LOVE the Lord your God with ALL your heart, ALL your soul, ALL your mind, and all you strength, and love your neighbour as yourself.  

Fixing our eyes on that which is unseen...


Hi Friends!

I am sorry that it has taken me so long to update again! Life here feels very full, as life on any missions base always seems to be!

After I finish this internship March 30th, I have 30 days to leave the country otherwise I get deported. We are two thirds of the way through with just 4 weeks to go!

Lately in pretty much all of our classes and also at church, all our teachers and Mike Bickle seem to be talking about the exact same things without even checking with each other. You know how that works when the Lord wants to highlight something? Yes. I even watched a video from Planetshakers church (back in Melbourne, Australia) and it just happened to be Ps Tim Hall speaking on Hebrews 11…

So what everyone is highlighting and what the Lord is really giving me personal revelation on lately is eternity. The importance of fixing our eyes on the coming Kingdom and eternity even when sharing our faith with others. Pointing towards eternity and the coming reign of our literal King Jesus is the only thing that truly gives hope and sets our priorities straight right now in this age.

In the time of the New Testament writings, the Roman ruler Caesar would be constantly overtaking new territory. When a new city or region was won, Caesar would send his “gospel messengers” out to all the people with the message that he has conquered the kingdom, and a new kingdom has come, but he and the Romans will let you live IF you will bow down and worship him. Therefore when Jesus came and started announcing his new kingdom, it stirred up the current rulers to anger as they saw it as a rebellion. The Kingdom we live for now has come, but it is yet to come. It has come in part and we see that through the body of believers in bringing an invasion of Heaven to Earth. Yet the fullness of it is yet to come when Jesus comes back and conquers the armies of the earth to establish His full reign…

Throughout all of the New Testament, and even the Old, we are consistently pointed towards Jesus and to the Kingdom to come.

“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God… All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country – a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” – Hebrews 11:8-10;13-16

The book of Hebrews was written to Jews who had accepted Jesus and were in danger of turning their back on Him to go back to their old faith. This was at a time when the Roman rulers were persecuting the Christians viciously yet Judaism was legal, therefore to be a Jew was easier and safer than proclaiming Jesus as Christ. How did the early Christians survive the persecution they had to go through? How do Christians in persecuted countries today continue to endure? How do lovers of Jesus in the west sincerely and radically follow Jesus without getting our hearts and spirits dulled by the “worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things” – making us distracted and unfruitful? (Mk 4:19). How do we even just get through what may seem to be the mundane-ness of life?

We fix our eyes on Jesus. We fix our eyes on the cross. We fix our eyes on the coming heavenly city. We fix our eyes on the Revelation of Jesus as given to John his disciple (see book of Revelation).

“He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep for what he cannot lose” – Jim Elliot.

Any amount of time compared to eternity is zero. Therefore our whole 70 years (I like to say 120) really IS just a vapour, it is literally absolutely nothing compared to the life we will live in the heavenly city. Yet the life we live now determines what kind of life we will have for eternity.

Our hope (Titus 2:13; Heb 6:13-20) is the promise of Jesus’ return and the age to come – where there will be no pain, no sin, no tears, and not only ourselves but all creation will be restored to it’s former and intended glory. Fixing our eyes on Jesus and eternity will cause us to care more about the things of God. About His heart, about the lost, about His ways…  It will cause us to be more firm with ourselves in matters of honour, holiness, purity, and accountability as well as embolden those who are leaders to “encourage and rebuke with all authority” (2:15) without letting anyone despise them. It is what puts a holy fear and joy into our hearts to encourage each other daily and even more as we see the return of our King approaching.
From my journal:

“Why do you want to see Serena?” (that was God. I want Him to both give me 20/20 vision and also open my eyes to the spiritual realm more).

Because I was made that way. I am both natural and supernatural. I am in this natural world and my body is limited to it, but I am made SPIRITUAL and to experience the Spiritual realm too! And it helps me come alive. To realise the GLORY and MAJESTY of You… even just studying Ezekiel 1 and Revelation fills me with AWE of You… oh LIFE is made to be COLOURFUL!!... You are WORTHY!

I was like, oh, Christ, if you could just stay there and even just looking at You fills me with wonder (I was kinda pushing him away and scared of having Him near me… as He is so HOLY and OVERWHELMING). And I want to be filled with wonder. But no! I DO want you with me! I don’t get – it overwhelms me that you would love me and why you want me with You. But I want You! I DESIRE You! YHWH. I desire fellowship with the three. And the One. Yet the three… You are the only one I worship…

I hope some of this spoke to you.

Ezekiel 1 and Revelation 4 are both visions of the throne room. I encourage you to read them sentence by sentence and IMAGINE it!! Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what He is like!! All of Revelation is good and makes complete sense! (It was my favourite book as a child but then people told me it’s confusing so I stopped reading it). Use the eyes of your imagination to see and use the letters to the 7 churches to encourage you in your faith! He loves to reward us!

That is some of what the Lord has been and is doing in me during my time here. He is also doing a lot of healing in me and character building. Both ESSENTIAL for life as a go-where-you-take-me-laid-down lover!
Blessings and TONS of love to you!

I am praying for you.

Please pray for me that I will sleep easier, longer and deeper, and that my heart would be completely open for all He wants to do in me as well as what He wants to speak to me.

Love Serena J

Friday, January 13, 2012

An Empty Vessel...

2 Timothy 2:20-22...


"In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. 
Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart."


I want to be an empty vessel again! Completely empty. My life is a blank canvas. There is no past, no future, only the NOW. I just want to be with you, NOW... I give up anything and everything that you have ever led me into, now... so that I can do just that. Be with You. Now.

I want to be empty so that only You can fill me. Fill me, fill me, fill me to overflowing so that if there IS anything else in me, it will just be stirred up and overflow out of me...



Here in the Fire in the Night internship at Kansas City, that is my prayer... Lord, fill me up so much that all else will be spilled out... everything else is worthless except this one thing - to KNOW You! to GAZE upon Your beauty!! I want to be completely empty of everything except You!

Now this is a dangerous prayer because as I have well been finding out, when the other stuff gets stirred up... it spills out... and it can be pretty messy. God doesn't just do things behind closed doors. He does things in front of everyone else too. Lucky I have a GREAT family of roommates, interns, leaders and friends here! Also 35 hours in the prayer room every week doesn't hurt!! Plus 14 hours of class and 3 hours of church... Not to mention small groups (which I LOVE!) Thank you Jesus!!  Seriously, when you are in an environment specifically set up for engaging with the Lord that much of the time, it really does help with purging everything else out.

When I was first here back in July '11, I had not much of an idea what IHOP was all about. I came because God spoke to me to come. My church doesn't have any connections with this place and so I would check every single thing that they said and make sure it was in the bible! I have to admit my heart was a bit closed off because I wanted to make sure that they weren't some weird group of people teaching weird things. Yes. So in the prayer room one night, God started showing me the colour yellow. First, I was inside a yellow slide like the ones you find in McDonalds playgrounds! Then he reminded me of the yellow safety house signs that we were taught about in Primary school in Queensland. Ima Safety House was this yellow house-person... We were taught that if we were walking to and from school, and found ourselves in a situation that seemed unsafe (think car pulling up next to school children offering them a ride), all we had to do was look for a house with the yellow safety house sign on the mailbox and we could run in there and be with safe people.




So, God told me that here at IHOP I was as safe as I ever was at Planetshakers. This time round (2nd track of internship) I found that I was coming into it ready to dive deep, not only dive deep but dive headfirst, into everything God had for me. I felt like I was totally ready to trust the leadership that God has put over me here and just go for it - surrender to God completely and to trust and honour His appointed authorities...

Here is a quote from one of my teachers:
"I want your hearts to burn - that's the goal... but I also want you to cognitively get it." (get it in and from scripture and get it with our minds)

Oh that our hearts would burn for You Jesus!!! and oh that you would help us to get it... because we need it :)

From my journal - during an intercession set for Israel (yes, God likes to interrupt us sometimes. We want to be set in our ways and do everything according to a time schedule but sometimes God just wants to do heart surgery...) This was during one of those times where the gunky stuff was being stirred up. By the way I am not sharing this because I don't value the secret place with Jesus. I am not sharing this to show off myself. I am sharing this, because I know through the place of my vulnerability, my friends (and any other randoms who read this) who may be going through similar things are encouraged and helped... so, overabundant blessings to you!

"God. I want you to break me... Even if you need to shatter me completely. I want and I welcome whatever it takes... I want to be remade as a noble vessel. An empty vessel. For YOUR purposes... I need it. I cry out for it. Because I want to contain You... I'm so tired and over change. But I know I need more. My heart is open for whatever you want. Give me grace to be open God... You hem me in... and it is hard to kick against the goads... Give me grace God. Help me Holy Spirit. and give me JOY."

Later, in the soaking chairs, He said "I love you. I delight in you. Why would I shatter you?"
He is holding my heart...
In all gentleness and caring...
But still Lord, I want the breaking, because I KNOW you hold my heart. I want to be made perfect. You will complete what You started!

I love my God.

That is all.


_________________________________________________________________________

The Israelites in the Desert.


Hebrews 3:7

"So, as the Holy Spirit says:
'Today, if you heart His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for 40 years saw what I did.

That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.' So I declared an oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'

See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.


But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called TODAY, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said:

'TODAY, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.'

Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed?


So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief."

Another key:

Disobedience - even in our hearts - hearts are VERY important to the Lord - legally opens ourselves up for the spirit of the air (the enemy) to work in our lives.