merry christmas!

"Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!"
-Lyrics from Oh Holy Night


This is what i love about Christmas: Emmanuel ("God with us") coming to earth as a lowly babe so that the INCREASE of his peace and Kingdom would never cease! SO thankful for the simple message of JESUS...LOVE. lets turn our eyes to Jesus and learn to love each other well all throughout the year, giving our lives to seeing our brothers and sisters freed from chains of oppression!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! PEACE AND JOY TO YOU!

fun video!

fun video about the VC camp from last july. just click the link below and enjoy!

http://vimeo.com/28927515

thankfulness and fullness of JOY.

in this season the Lord is healing my blind eyes. i have been so blind to Him. to his glory. to his goodness in my life. i have missed it a hundred times a day. why? i have been so blind.

in Romans 8 it says the Father is "causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him."

everything is everything.

so why am i not seeing this?

if we open our eyes, not to the world, but to Jesus, looking for what HE is doing and saying. if we begin to call out and name these God-works, these moments that he is so fully using for our good, these simple, day to day happenings. and if we then begin to thank him and revel in who he is and the way he is so present in these moments, filling our lives with his goodness then...

our JOY begins to flow.

as we get totally wrapped up in God's absolute nearness to us, we can't help but be consumed with joy. a joy that runs so much deeper than the passing happiness of a nice moment. its a joy that beams even in the midst of painful circumstances. its a joy that actually carries us through.

if we will open our eyes to God... we will see that his goodness is actually spilling over in our lives...in everything. and by thanking him in these moments, we are filled with a deep joy that comes from acknowledging that our lives are in the hands of the most awesome and good God.

i have found this so wonderfully true in my life in this season. i have been so changed by a grateful heart and eyes FULLY opened to the One who loves me so deeply.

"why would the world need more anger, more outrage? how does it save the world to reject unabashed joy when it is joy that saves us? rejecting joy to stand in solidarity with suffering doesn't rescue the suffering, the converse does. the brave who focus on all things good and all things beautiful and all things true, even in small, who give thanks for it and discover joy even in the here and now, they are the change agents who bring fullest Light to all the world." ann voskamp from 1000 gifts.

happy thanksgiving and happy holidays!

may your lives OVERFLOW with the joy of the Lord!

(pic is my beautiful niece claire layla!)

its official: back to africa!

i have been praying long and hard about the million dollar question...

what is next?!?!

and praise the Lord! He has spoken very clearly to me!

the Lord is leading me back to cape town to make a 3 year commitment with All Nations. in this past year, God has spoken very clearly to me time and time again. He has confirmed to me that he is calling me to seeing church planting movements among unreached people, and to live my life bringing the hope and healing of Jesus to broken and oppressed children and families. i have been asking the Lord, “what is the next step toward continuing these dreams and passions that have been placed in my heart?” The answer:

Plant yourself in a community that is pursuing these dreams and passions! So that is what I am doing!

All Nations is a vibrant family full of people pursuing the lost and the least, with a heart to bring the Kingdom of God in South Africa and beyond into Africa. i feel this is not only an equipping place for me, but also a potential sending place into an unreached nation in the future! i love so much the work I am doing in the Vulnerable Children program. we have been seeing good fruit in this past year and i am so excited to commit more long term and see that long term fruit! in these next years, i will also be pursuing training in counseling, to be better equipped for the work I am called to do.

i will be back in the states december 1st until the end of january. i am in the process of building my financial and prayer support teams. would LOVE to have you be apart of my journey here in south africa! if you would like to receive a letter with more info about my move back to africa contact me! also, if you would like to get together to hear more or if you have a house church, bible study or others who would like to know more contact me as well! my email is: whitneyelise211@gmail.com

Glory from a prison cell!

a story of light breaking forth in the darkness...

rhoda and oliver are a part of the all nations family. they are from malawi, but have been living in masi for a few years. they are a beautiful couple whose hearts overflow with kindness and fierce faith.

a few weeks ago, oliver went into immigration to sort out his papers. the next thing he knows he is being detained because they were expired a week. OH MY. we are told that he will be moved to pollsmoor prison, then to jo'berg and then taken to malawi (who knows how many months this will take.) the story of how oliver was finally released and all that happened this side of the prison cell is SO filled with the Lord's hand. so many testimonies of His goodness and faithfulness. rhoda's response of clinging to Jesus with victorious faith was so beautiful. but the story i am going to tell is what happened inside that prison cell at pollsmoor...

oliver was placed in a cell with 70 or 80 other men...prisoners. not just men who had been detained due to paperwork...but prisoners who were there for murder, drugs, crime, etc. i have heard bits and pieces of the horrific conditions that prisoners have to live under in pollsmoor because of gangs within the prison. especially for foreigners like oliver. the first day, two men came up to oliver, grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him to let him know just where he had arrived...

but oliver did not chose despair or fear. he chose courage, faith and joy in the Holy Spirit. he told us that he just wanted to encourage and strengthen the other prisoners. he began sharing with them about the story in acts where paul and silas are flogged, put in prison and chose to worship the Lord, and how they Lord acted on their behalf. he loved these men, prayed for them, and showed them the loving kindness of God. and hard hearts began to melt. people were touched by the love of God that oliver was pouring into their weary hearts. on the last day, as oliver was being released many of the men came up and hugged oliver goodbye. the two men that shoved him the first day actually came to him and apologized saying, "we are sorry, we didn't know who you were."

"draw near to God and he will draw near to you..." James 4:8 the nearness, favor and protection of the Lord are so real. i will choose to turn my eyes to Jesus in the dark moments...for thats when light breaks forth and His Glory is revealed! amen.

the eyes of Love.

after being prayed for the other day, i was so impacted by a word from the Lord that i was given. the word was: to break the mirrors i look at myself through and to let HIS eyes be my mirror. that i must stop checking to see if i measure up. i will not fail Him. wow. i need this so desperately in my life. i started journalling later and i asked myself the question: who is this that i am to fix my eyes on? this is what flowed from there...

"He is my Jesus. the Most Radiant of all. the best, most kind person to ever grace this earth. He is the One who captures hearts with one touch of His presence. He is Faithful and True. the Mighty Warrior. the Gentle Shepherd. the One who cares for the least and humbles the great. He is my Savior and the Savior of all. He is the Repairer of broken walls and shatterd hearts. He is the One who every heart longs to belong to and the One who has made a way for every heart to be fully satisfied...forever. He is Alpha and Omega. the One who was at the beginning and will be at the end. He is the Great King. the Lover of my soul. the Restorer of my broken heart and the Healer of my life. the One who calls me with a love sweeter than honey. who makes me more secure and safe than any fortress. who guards my life with His mighty arm. and daily invites me into more life, more fullness, more joy, more peace...into oneness."

how is it that he loves ME?

"...because i have been his hearts desire since the beginning. the one he has longed to see freed, consumed in his love and made whole. i am His beloved. my heart is radiant before his eyes. I am altogether lovely. with one glance of my eyes he is filled with love and his heart is consumed. with ONE glance. everytime i turn to him, looking to his face, heaven rejoices. because we are the desire of his heart. because our oneness with Him is the longing of his heart. my oneness is what drew the Radiant King to earth to live as a poor, ordinary carpenter. to give everything he could.

He came not to bring home a nothing ragamuffin, a broken mess, a weak sinful beggar to be His. he came to bring home his Bride. that is always how he has seen us.

in my eyes i am so many unfortunate, flawed things. BUT in the eyes of Love i am His lovely, breathtaking bride who he has moved heaven and earth to bring HOME.

i MUST turn my eyes from the mirrors that reflect the flawed beggar and look into His eyes and see who he has loved since before time."

everyday i am choosing to look into the eyes of Jesus.

spring.

My Beloved spoke and said to me,

“Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me.

See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone.

Flowers appear on the earth;

the season of singing has come,

the cooing of doves is heard in our land.

The fig tree forms its early fruit;

the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.

Arise, come, my darling;

my beautiful one, come with me.”

Song of Songs 2:10-13

it is spring time in south africa. and i am thankful!