New Adventures!

I just received my new blog that I will be updating on from now until after I get back from my trip! Wow! I can't believe how this is finally becoming a reality. This means for the next year or so, I won't be writing on this blog but you can follow me on my new one!
http://julieking.myadventures.org/

For this next journey I will do my best to update once a week from now until then!
God bless you all. I really hope to hear from you soon!

On Osama, and all the Undeserving.

As a Christian, Easter marks the most stunning act of grace and enemy-love in human history – Jesus’ death and resurrection.  As Jesus was being tortured and executed, he cried out for mercy, even for those terrorists who hurt him.  As his buddy Peter picked up a sword and cut the ear off one of the persecutors, Jesus scolded Peter and picked up the ear and healed the wounded persecutor. Jesus was sending a message about how there is something worth dying for, but nothing in the world worth killing for – not even freedom or democracy.


I found out the death of Osama by facebook, sadly. What i found though, left me with more of a heavy heart than any sense of peace or joy. I saw a multitude of my own Christian brothers and sisters rejoicing at the death of one man. I turned on the tv and saw rallies in Washington DC with people cheering and celebrating, holding signs and shouting saying 'God bless America!' As if God were happy that we murdered this man, even beyond that, we murdered his son.


I promise, I do not hate this country at all, as I'm sure I probably will get confused for by writing this blog. But come one people! There is no doubt that we must mourn those lives lost on September 11th. We must mourn the lives of the soldiers. But with the same passion and outrage, we must mourn the lives of every Iraqi who is lost. They are just as precious, no more, no less. This includes Osama Bin Laden.

What if God said to you, 

"Okay, so if this murderer doesn't deserve grace, neither do you."

If we hate those the entire worlds hates, what does that say about the disarming love of a sinless Savior that laid His life down for ALL the Osama bin Ladens in the world? Isn't the world supposed to know us by the outrageous love we have for one another, especially the ones who don't deserve it?

If we believe that the wages of sin is death, then we all need to realize that none of us deserve the Kingdom. 

useless words!

I really don't know what to say right now. I'm so excited, but every time I try to tell someone why I am all giddy inside I can't articulate it right. But honestly, where would I even begin?!
I encourage you, reader of this blog, to go outside on this perfect day with a piece of paper and a pen and write down everything you are thankful for. I dare you to even go beyond the 'given' blessings. (ex. friends, family, a house..) I mean look around us! Look right now at how many different shades and hues of color you see at this very moment. Go for a run and marvel at how beautifully our body works together. Scream all different octaves and volumes. Go look in your bathroom at all the different scents we have to smell right there. Oh how sweet the blood of jesus!

Rejoice at all we have, all that we overlook because it is so 'routine' to be as abundantly blessed as we are.

On a side note, I can't stop thinking about this next adventure coming up. I get so giddy and joyful when I find another teammate on facebook and get to talk to them! Lord Almighty, thank you. thankyouthankyouthankyou. My words could never express!
Watch this video and share in my joy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9zYSfs8A1A

this is my declaration.

I am the precious daughter of the Most High. I am the treasure in the heart of the Lord.
The Lord sings to me from the heavens, and His words of truth pierce my soul. 
I know who I am because Christ has whispered in my ear.
I have a voice that will not be silenced and I will not back down nor run for cover. 

I will sing at the top of my lungs of the goodness of my God. 

I will not accept the lies of the enemy nor the impossibilities the world tries to plant in my head; for I know that nothing is impossible with God. 

I have counted all the costs and I have made up my mind; all that I am and all that I will be is the Lord's. 

I will not be complacent and I will not settle for mediocrity. 

The Lord is my only truth. Hope found in Him is my reality. 

I will press on, I will lean in; I will jump off the cliff so I can fly on the wings of the wind with my Savior. 

No walls can be put up around me, for I was born to fly, and fly is what I will do to expand the glory of God to the ends of the earth. 

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On another note; I want to thank my friends and family. You've loved and supported me in my journey of obedience to God's call on my life and for that I am truly grateful. There will never, ever be words that I can share that give true meaning to who you've allowed me to become by faithfully contributing to my life. My life is forever changed because of your willingness to support me. And it's with a ton of humility and thanksgiving that I am sure I will be able to be the change in the world we all want to see.

The Lord has abundantly blessed me with support so far, I have now raised about 5,000 of my 11,000 which is amazing, especially for it being so early! Praise the maker, amen?

If you would like to commit to support me monthly in what the Lord is doing around the world, or just a one time donation it would truly be a blessing. You can find the link above ^. No donation is too small!

I love you all so much!

I say it again- REJOICE!

God enthralls me. I am completely captivated by him. The other day I was going to spend time with him, but instead I just basked in his presence and was completely satisfied.

I’m so overwhelmed with this life that God has given me. God’s creation is magnificent. Nothing less. I’m in this place where I just cannot get over how amazingly stunning it is. I feel like a part of me is let loose when I let my mind wonder and meditate on how magnificent God’s creation is. Bah! How he made the earth and the universe and how he made all of it for us, whoa. It’s so romantic. Then there is us, we as people are just astonishing. Our minds, our talents, our dreams, our passions, our love, and our potential-again, it’s astonishing.

God’s creation is such apart of who I am, it’s like it’s a piece of me. I feel that I can express myself when I’m out in creation. I guess it’s because I see God in it so intensely and can connect with him intensely through it. Seeing the clouds, sunsets, sunrises, moon, and stars day in and day out, knowing that they’re always there, I am blown away every time. It never gets old. It gets me every time! Sometimes a 'whooaaa' just slips right out of my mouth. Even people, we are 'creation' as well. I love seeing people’s faces lift and eyes light up by something that they’re passionate about, or seeing their hearts break over it. It’s captivating isn’t it? It’s incredible the differences in us, that we we’re made to be our own person. So many people yet all so different. I love that we’re different. I love the simple fact that we’re living. We are alive. Just the potential that we have to be alive boggles me. I literally can do every stinkin thing because I have Christ as my strength. Come on people! This stuff is amazing!

Another thing that I’m just stuck on is love. I’m realizing what a blessing it is to be able to love, and to be loved. The only reason that I can love is because God loved me first. I have love because I was created in his image. Loving brings me such joy and such life-and that is a gift! Man, my God is awesome. He doesn’t have to be love and he doesn’t have to be kind and gentle, hysterical, creative, caring, compassionate, and wise. He doesn’t have to pay so much attention to detail and know every single thing about me, and love every bit of it-but he does! He could be a jerk and not care about me at all and never forgive me when I mess up and am a jerk to him. He doesn't have to love me. Think about that, he doesn’t have to love us. He doesn’t have to desire good things for me and always be working things out for my good! He could do whatever he wanted and he could give up on me and treat me like I deserve, he could be selfish and boring and lazy. Just for the simple fact that he’s God he could do whatever he wanted, and just because he is God I would still have to submit to him and revere him. That is why I am so in love with God. Not because a book (powerful that it is) told me to, because my parents told me to, or because I’m afraid of going to hell. I love him because he is so good, because he chose me, he desires me, he loves me, and he is captivated by me. I love him because he is perfect love.

I was so overwhelmed by God and life in him that I had to let it out. Thank you for giving me the outlet! :D

brighter day!

I am not the same that I was a year ago, or even a month ago. I can't really say exactly how, but I wake up every morning knowing that the person that I was yesterday is not who I am today. It is as if I am going through spiritual puberty or something. My faith is being stretched in ways I didn't know it could be and I feel joy and love like I have never felt before. 
It is almost as if I am the person I was always meant to be but never knew I wasn't her before. I feel my light growing, not by my own doing but by the spirit. It is so amazing to live out the promises that the bible speaks, of how when I make less of me more of Him can shine and that is when fulfillment will happen. Full, I guess that is how I feel. Spiritually full, but yet still desiring more and more. 
My hope is that during this season you will experience a new freedom in our Father. That you will no longer be happy with a so-so relationship with God and start yearning for a passionate, I need nothing else, kinda relationship. One where you know that you can't but God can, where the laws of the flesh don't apply because you are a new creation. Where everyday is a new opportunity to become closer to your creator and every moment is a chance to pour more of yourself out for the world so that God can in turn pour more into you. Know that you, whoever may be reading this, I am praying for you. That you can grow more and more in love with our Daddy everyday.
Song of the day:
The way you love me- Anthony Evans.

Those of you who haven't, go read Hannah Thomas's blog 'We Build, We Break' because it is awesome and so is she. 

She posted this picture a couple weeks ago and I can't get it out of my head! It is called the flower of Sudan. I just found myself thinking about this picture and praying for her a lot lately. I wonder if she knows the Lord created her to be more beautiful than the stars, or that delicate pink flower she is holding. I wonder if she knows she is wanted, and at this very moment is being relentlessly pursued. I wonder if she knows that she is deeply, passionately, hopelessly loved. I wonder if I will see her in Heaven? The only thing I know for sure is that God loves her infinitely more than I ever could, and in that, I find my peace.

why?

happy is a yuppie word.

Comfort is not something we should strive for, it's something we should run from. With comfort comes apathy and in apathy there is no growth; if there's no growth, what are we doing?

People strive so hard to be comfortable. We want a good job with a good salary so we can buy our comfortable house filled with our comfortable furniture and a comfortably large TV. We want to be married so we don't have to be uncomfortable in loneliness. We want consistency because change is uncomfortable. While I was gone for a measly month this summer it was so hard to not talk about how we miss our favorite foods or our comfortable beds or our relaxing American toilets. We as humans long for comfort.

When we are comfortable, we become apathetic, we don't care enough to grow and we don't realize how much we need God. It's when we become uncomfortable that we become desperate for Him and we have to learn to find our comfort in Him. When we are uncomfortable we realize we can't do it on our own. Then comes dependence.

So go get uncomfortable! Give a little extra to your church, adopt a child, go on a mission trip, lead a small group, pack up your house and move to Africa. Whatever it looks like for you to be uncomfortable, whatever it is that you cling to so tightly that thought of letting it go feels like the end of the world, I challenge you to give it up. Wreck your life a little. Get desperate. Desperation leads to dependency and when you depend on God you give Him room to move in your life.

this video man.

this video could change your life, I know it changed mine.

a wasted life.

Lately, I have been feeling convicted.

Convicted about this luxurious life that I am living. Not that being blessed is bad, by any means; I think you should fully embrace what God has given you. But what I am talking about, is being wasteful.
I don't want to waste anything, but my innate, selfish mindset causes me to take way more than I need so that I will always have enough later. But in reality, most of what I save becomes wasted and this act is a complete lack of faith that God will provide for me all the things He has promised.  But that is a whole different blog.Anyways, as of lately, I have been extremely convicted by my wastefulness.  God has given me all dominion and authority on earth and he calls me to steward it well.  He asks me to be wise with what he has given me.  He says that if I can handle what he has given me wisely, he will bless me with more.  And even along with that; he has also been showing me that it is not all about money.  I am wasteful in so many other areas of my life!  And I think much of it comes from the Western culture and how I was raised in and how so many people in America have no perception or even worry about how much they waste.  I know that I didn't.  But what I realized is that we should be aware of our wastefulness not only because children die every day of starvation, or because most of the world lives in poverty;  but because God hates waste and in his kingdom, there is no waste.  Living a wasteful life is straight up disobedience to the Lord. And so now, I feel as though I am noticing every wasteful act that I do and I am convicted.   

"Why do I live the exact same way as the world?"  
"What is the point of seeing poverty if my heart is left unchanged?"
 

It is sad, because I have fallen back into into being used to living a wasteful life, and I think that it has affected  my desire to change my lifestyle. But now I just keep thinking how ashamed I would be if I acted this way in another country.

Even if I have all the money, materials, or experiences in the world to show for myself, what will I have to show to God?  What will I have to offer him who has given me everything, even my very breath? I have been so wasteful with both money and time and the truth is, there is no time to waste.  I am not promised tomorrow and today is already almost gone. 

Embrace the thought that we could do more to honor God with what we have.  He is so worth it. 

peace in congo.

http://www.fallingwhistles.com/
I wholeheartedly encourage you to get a whistle.

human trafficking awareness day.

Terms:
(In relation to the Red Light district in Bangkok, Thailand)
Human trafficking: moving of persons from one place to the next through force, fraud, and/or coercion for the purpose of servitude, debt payment, and forced sexual acts under coercions.
proxy husband- man who "takes on a prostitute" for an extended period of time as a forced sex slave or domestic slave. **In sex tourism these men will "rent" girls out for extended periods of time to be pseudo girlfriends during their vacation. Girls will act as tour guide, sex slave, domestic slave etc. 
Lady Boy: dresses, acts, takes on the persona of a woman.
"Ugly Girls" (A sign held in front of bars): if the ugly girls are bought and never return home, it's okay. Whatever happens to them happens to them. They are viewed as dispensable and not worth anything.


Victims: women, children, men.
Tactics: false marriage proposals; being sold by parents, neighbor, relative; kidnapped by traffickers.
Health risks: drug and alcohol addiction: introduced by traffickers.
Physical injuries: broken bones, bruises, STDs, AIDS: myths- having sex with a virgin will cure AIDS- (kids sown back up without anesthesia and sold again as virgins the next night), miscarriages, forced abortions
Psychological Harm: suicidal thoughts, suicide, PTSD, depression.

In Thailand:

• 66% of all men that land at Bangkok airport are there for sex tourism.
• 10% of profit from prostitution comes from Western Society. 80-90% comes from Thai men who see a prostitute on a regular basis.
• Guys at younger and younger ages are being introduced to prostitutes; 12-13 year old boys being introduced to sex by their dads who will take them to prostitutes.
• 1/3 of all Thai men and 40% of house wives have HIV/AIDS.
• 86% of male prostitutes are heterosexual men being forced into prostitution by family members.

This is the reality of the broken world we live in. 

"Greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this city" -Christ

weird thoughts.

I'll be honest..I'm struggling.

I have had the hardest time as of lately finding balance between being here at home and focusing on the now, and still being excited about leaving and working hard fund raising. I love where I work, I am madly in love with at church, I love my friends, I love keeping up relationships, and I love the funny little ins and outs of my days. Its so weird to think that by this time next year I won't have those all at my finger tips any more.

I will be surrounded by a whole different group of people, many different languages, doing a different kind of ministry, and encountering injustices that I have never fully understood . I'm having a hard time because I'm so ready for that as well. I want  to be challenged where I haven't been challenged in a while. I want to meet the group of strangers that will become my family. I want to live out of a backpack and sleep on the ground. I want to live in the poorest and dirties parts of the world so that I can love on kids who have not felt love. I want to share the pain of the young girl who has been abused by men. I want to clean the feet of an old widow. I want to bring Christs hope to those who feel like they have no hope. I want to hug those who feel, and are often literally, forgotten. I want to bring the name of Jesus Christ to places that it is not spoken of. I want to worship, and see people worship, where His name is not worshiped. I want to see God move when I can't.

I feel so torn as to how to live...I just feel 'off' I suppose. Its hard living 'normally' when I know that normal will feel like a foreign concept in only 8 months time.

...just a thought for the day!

Thinking biblically.

What is weird?

This sums up and puts into words my feelings at this moment.

my heart.

Where are you right now Mercy? Are you staying warm at night? Are you getting enough to eat? Know that I love you so much, and I am praying that our Daddy is surrounding you and ravishing His love on you. I will see you again my beautiful princess.

I chose to write this blog.

Being a junior/senior this year, inevitably my future has come up a lot; what I will do next year, if I should go ahead and apply to colleges, which ones I should apply to..etc. And whenever a huge decision came up that needed acting upon, I immediately went into prayer and prayed that the Lord would tell me where to go and where he wanted me..but more often than not, I got no answer and was confused. I mean, I was going to Him for this stuff and I was listening with an open heart, so why did he not tell me where I need to go?
Then I realized that I was trying to get God to make my decisions for me. Please don't mistake what I'm saying as 'you shouldn't go to him in prayer and earnestly seek after his will', because I believe with all my heart that you should go to God with every decision; big and small. But one thing that the Lord has really been teaching me lately is that he is completely passionate about our free will.
He doesn't want to make decisions for you, he doesn't want mindless robots or puppets to control that go on auto-pilot. He has wonderfully and fearfully made us with the freedom to be able to choose.
I have gotten that question before, 

"If there is a God (haha) who loves as much as the bible says, why couldn't he just make us love him back if he has that power?"

Well let me ask you this, if you fell in love with somebody, would you want them to be forced to love you back, or would you want them to love you back, simply because they love you? He wants us to choose to love him, just like he wants us to make decisions, that aren't forced, that glorify him.


I can promise you this, no matter what you choose in life, no decision can stop God's glory from shining through. Yes there are most definitely choices that are better than others, and in some decisions you make you will see God's glory in a much bigger way than others, but even if you don't make the 'right' choice, you will still see the hand of God at work. Because frankly, God is a whole heck of a lot bigger than any choice we could ever make.


But don't get me wrong, our sovereign Lord still helps us make decisions too. He still does divine callings and is just as live and active as he was in the old testament (but that is a whole other blog in itself), but even if he were to come right out and say what we need to do, we would still have the choice to act on it.

One thing I hear people say a lot is "Man I wish God called me to do cool stuff like travel the world or go live and be homeless or something radical and crazy, but he's not." But just take a step back and look at you're life. Did God call you to go sit and watch tv for an hour? Did he call you to go to the mall? Did he call you to read this blog? Chances are, he didn't. But you did them anyway didn't you?  Why is it that people only need to be 'called' when it comes to doing things for God?

..conviction!

We are DONE!

Satan,

You have to stop calling me; I told you it’s over. We broke up 2 years ago and I still see you hanging outside my door, disrupting me at school, even following me to family dinners! But we'll never get back together. You and I both know we have become estranged and I’m serious when I say we are through.  I know we used to spend weeks at a time together carefree, just doing whatever we wanted but I told you that was puppy love, back then I had no idea what real love is! 

Aside from that you’re such a liar! You always told me how I 'had' to dress, the 'right' way to look, and you always told me I needed these worthless things when I didn't! We always did what you wanted to do and you promised again and again that we would have the time of our lives but somehow I was always left cleaning up the mess at the end of yet another disappointing day. To be perfectly honest you never did satisfy me and your so not attractive to me anymore. I thought more partying, gossiping, and more time with you would do the trick but it only burned me out. And here you are trying to serenade me again. Did you think I wouldn’t notice that you are trying to get with all my friends?! Even my family! How sick are you?

Anyways I wanted to tell you once and for all, the rumors are true: I’m with Jesus and we are married now and yes He is that guy you always hated and even tried convinced me to hate. You really turned on the waterworks when you noticed me notice him, but that is not going to work anymore.  You told me about his family, how they don’t know how to have a good time, how they aren’t into “free living” like us. But I met them and they aren’t how you said they are, actually quite the opposite. I am almost flattered that you would try so hard to get my attention but no matter what you do or how you try you could never be half the man my Jesus is.  Stop calling me, stop following me; it’s just not going to happen.

Good riddance,

Julie

[dis]content.

The first time I heard 'The Anthem' by Jake Hamilton, I was sitting on my roof looking at the stars, completely awestruck, tears falling down my eyes, as I heard Jake belting. 

I am royalty. I have destiny. I have been set free. I will shake history. 

He's calling, wake up child. It's your turn to shine. You were born for such a time as this.

Fast forward now, a couple weeks later sitting in a field at my church. Screaming these wonderful words over and over again, they echoed through my earbuds and became a declaration over my own life. I had no idea the power or gravity of what I was saying, how I was indeed created with such purpose in mind. My sole purpose of existence is for glory.
Let me tell you, screaming at the top of your lungs, "I am going to change the world" does something to you. And then a couple days later I had one of 'those' moments. The kind where it all just clicks.
I was driving in George (my jeep wrangler) as the song came on my iPod, so naturally I turned up the volume. For those of you who have never heard this song, listen to it and you'll see why. And I heard the words, 'I can hear the footsteps of my king..'
then it got to

Wake up child, it's your turn to shine, you were born for such a time as this.

You may not know this about me, but I am a generally discontented person. All last year the only thought going through my head was Africa, and how excited I was. In Africa, time slowed. I learned a very valuable lesson that I have forgotten every since I've come back to America; to not worry about the future and what is happening next. In Kenya we had NO concept of time or what was coming next. It was so freeing! But ever since I have been back I have been thinking about what is coming next so much. What do I do about this year? Next year? College? Where is my next trip? Even just getting through the week for the weekend, which goes by much to fast. Then going through the whole next week just looking forward to Friday again.


It's robbed me.


It has robbed me of just enjoying where I am right now. This way of thinking has kept me from understanding how I was born for such a time as this. I've spent too much of my life wondering about how I'm going to get to the next thing and glorifying it in my head that I don't know how to enjoy the right now.  The truth is that whether i am in Bolivia, Russia, or Klein Collins High School, I'll never find true contentment as long as I'm searching for it in my circumstances.  When I can look beyond where I am at, who I'm with, and what I'm doing; beyond all of the junk, injustice, poverty, and chaos; when I can look past it all and lock eyes with the king of kings, that's when I'll find contentment and that's when a deep resolve will rest in my heart of hearts to say "it really doesn't matter."  none of it...good, bad, right and wrong, the hell and the happiness.  It all goes away when i can stand solely upon who the Lord is and who I am to him.


I'm choosing to say that i was born for such a time as this. 11 months ago 'this' was in colorado, 5 months it was in goergia, 4 months it was kenya, yesterday it was sitting at starbucks. It's all kingdom.  It's all destiny.  It's all a part of shaking history.  Would i rather be holding aids babies in eburru, kenya or walking in kibera?  yes.  I would rather be doing that.  but i believe the lord will give me all of those things back, in one way or another, in his timing.

but today, i'm choosing to fight for contentment.  

i'm choosing to declare that i was born for such a time as this.  

and i'm battling to make this good enough.

beloved.

So, the last 11 weeks of my life have been spent doing many things... but the biggest of those has been ME discovering who I am... discovering that I am The Beloved. This is what it's been looking like:

there is nothing that I can do that make Him love me more

there is also nothing I can do to make Him love me less

He loves me.. because He loves me... because He loves me... because He loves me...

because THAT is what He is like. it is HIS NATURE to love. I will always be The Beloved.

He loves me 100% as I am right now in this moment.

He loves all the way, all the time.

His love never changes... but what does change is my ability to receive His love.

so He says, "open your heart. give Me whatever is holding you back right now, because I love you as you are right now."  just be loved.

i am The Beloved

it's my JOB to be loved outrageously

He has set His love upon me so that I would live as one that IS outrageously loved

bc that is who He is! this is the I AM that He promised to be.

He says, "just love Me back with the love I give to you"

"love Me back outrageously!"

"you can only love Me as much as you love yourself"

and that is what I've seen... I have been set into a whirlwind of freedom 

His love has set me free from how I see myself

His love has set me free from myself

from the smallness of my own thinking about who I am...

    rejected

        unimportant 

            ashamed 

                guilty

                    in despair 

                        lonely ...

when He looks at me...He sees something that He loves. He sees someone that He can and does love. He sees someone that He can love outrageously.

He says, "I see so much that I want to give you. I see so many places I want to take you, but you can't go there until you let Me love you."

His love for me is doing it... it's breaking down every barrier and bringing every wall crashing down. 

His love has DAMAGED the fear in my life.

His love fights fear.

His love fights the fear inside of me.

His love fights to fear around me. 

He told me, "you are My Beloved and in My love, I want you to feel good about yourself."

I do. I feel good about myself. I am The Beloved. I am beautiful. I have many gifts. I am needed and wanted. I bring God-encounters to everyone I meet. I am a woman of high honor and courage that fears God. I am a woman with a growing ability to receive His love... a woman that is learning more each day about His love for me... so that I can love others more... and love Him back the most. 

I am The Beloved