Winter 2009 Newsletter
My First Official Tour
This is the first official tour of mine upon joining the New Life Drama Company. I have seen many things, and have helped to be a blessing in other's lives as well. While passing out tracts, I have been able to help out the homeless by giving a few dollars and a lot of the love of God. At youth services, God allowed me to use my testimony to reach out to teenaged youth who have lived in a roof without a father figure present in their lives, or felt as if they were unwanted in life altogether. However, one of the biggest testimonies I have in this tour stems in my own life. Since the beginning of the tour, my team has been doing a group teaching on a book titled Absolute Surrender. As each week progressed, I would see how each chapter applied to my life. Right before going to Shabach in Myrtle Beach, it became even more evident to me because a few chapters tied in together and actually talked about Absolute Surrender and that in order to have absolute surrender, we must die to ourselves daily and tell God "I and all that I that I have is Yours." For a whole two weeks at separate services, we even closed out with a skit called "I surrender." At Shabach, at first I wasn't really able to focus on the praise and worship because I knew that there were still some things that I was holding on to. I tried as hard as I could to push those thoughts aside so I could focus on praise and worship, but it wasn't going well. Then the pastor came up, and he said that he felt that some weren't able to worship, because they felt they had a weakness and that they were holding on to it. I knew I was one of those people he was talking about, because I was too busy holding on to my past thinking about my weaknesses, and was preoccupying my mind with the things that I went through to surrender my all to God. He further went on to say that there was someone in the room that went through things in the past, and that the reason God let us go through this was so I could get to my calling, but that all we have to do is let go and let Him have it all. We must give Him everything, including ourselves. Then I started to pray, and that's when I heard God tell me "I let you go through those things in your past, because I knew it would prepare you for where you are now." He then reminded me of the book and the chapter on Absolute Surrender. Right there, I started to pray to God and I shouted to Him to the top of my lungs that I and everything I have, including my calling, I give to Him, that my life is under his control. When I finished my prayer, I felt a freedom I have never felt before in all my life. I was able to get into a praise and worship of such depths that I felt for me were unattainable because of my past weaknesses. Now my life is in complete control of God and I surrender all to Him everyday of my life. I offer myself to Him as a living sacrifice, offering my time and effort to complete His will for my life and I have a renewed strength. I just want to end my testimony with a sincere gratitude for all the trials and tribulations that I have went through in all my life, because whatever has not killed me has only made me stronger in the Lord that I serve.
In 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 it says, “Brothers, consider your calling: not many are wise from human perspective, not many strong, nor of noble birth. Instead, God has chosen the world's foolish things to shame the wise, the weak to shame the strong, and the world's insignificant and despised things-things viewed as nothing-to bring to nothing the things that are viewed as something, so that no one can boast in His presence. But from Him you are in Christ Jesus, who for us became wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, in order that, as it is written: the one who boasts must boast in the Lord." This scripture is very close to me as it relates to my personal testimony. As we read the bible, we find this in every great man that God has chosen to use to perfect His will for us. Every man or woman of faith that God had chosen had some weaknesses in their life, and God used them anyway because He knew that by using them instead of someone in power, he would receive the glory. He chose Moses who had a severe stuttering problem to bring His people out of captivity from Egypt. He chose David to lead his nation for a point, who at one time was a small boy and with the faith of God, killed a giant and took over as king of Israel. Peter, one of the greatest of the 12 disciples, denied Christ three times after saying he would always stay by his side. Paul, previously Saul, an apostle responsible for writing two-thirds of the New Testament, was notorious for persecuting Christians before he came to know Jesus. The list goes on and could go on forever, because we all have weaknesses in our lives, but the wonderful thing about it is that God wants to use us anyway. We just have to be a willing vessel to be used to complete His will for our life, whatever that may be. We can't focus on the weaknesses that hold us back, because there are too many to count. We just have to rely on God that He will use us despite our weaknesses, because it says that He promised us that He will not give us more than we can bear. If we do find ourselves in a situation in which we cannot bear all that we have been given, it's only because either we have chosen to take on additional things that God had not intended for us, or we are not relying on God's strength, but on our own power. In order to be used properly by God, we must first surrender our all to Him. Then we must realize that it is not by our power but his power, that His will for our lives is made possible, for in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 it says "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness, Therefore I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me, So because of Christ, I am pleased in weaknesses, in insults, in catastrophes, in persecutions, and in pressures. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
First and foremost I would like to thank those who made it possible for me to travel with the New Life Drama Company for the year 2009. I know it has just begun, and it is a long time away, but if you feel called to support me financially for the upcoming months, next year's tuition is $600 which goes toward helping me go on a mission’s trip with NLDC and I can only fulfill that cost with your help. So if God lays it upon your heart to support me, please follow your heart. Once again, I want to thank those who made it possible for me to be able to do this, and hopefully those who continue to support me through this incredible journey in my life will allow me to see and be a blessing in someone else's through Christ Jesus.
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