The theme of Faithwalkers this year was: The Disciple: Are you willing to pay the price? It was such a convicting time but also really encouraging at the same time. I wish I had a ton of free time so I could tell you all, everything that I learned and got out of Faithwalkers but I will do my best in this post to share with you those nuggets of Truth that I got out of Faithwalkers this year.
As I mentioned in my previous post the beginning of Faithwalkers was really hard for me because I had a hard heart, but as I have gone through my notes and listened to the teachings again, I learned so much truth and I so want to share these truths with you.
Matthew 16:24-25:this verse was a common theme through out the conference. If you are going to follow Jesus there is a price to pay, you have to die to yourself a thousand times a day. Something that Brent Knox said really was very encouraging, he said that it is a privilege to give things up for Christ and the glory that will be shown to us and then Brent shared something that really hit close to my heart he said: "it's an honor and a privilege to be a missionary", this is so true to how I feel, when people ask me or try and say "oh Alyssa your giving up a lot to go and be a missionary in El Salvador", but in the depth of my heart I am humble and honored that God has decided to use me to help reach the people of El Salvador, there is a fiery passion in my soul for not only those people to know Christ but to all to know Christ!!!
There is another thing that really hit me at Faithwalkers and it was during Tim Rude's message on the cost of discipleship. He talked about how you can not be lukewarm and be an effective disciple of Jesus Christ. He had a great story about his friend from Pakistan, He had asked his friend what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus and his friend said to follow Jesus and Martyrdom and this is so true, following Jesus does have a cost, but there is also a price for not becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ.
The biggest thing that I got out of Faithwalkers this year was I convicted by my prayer life and my lack of a devoted prayer life. If you would have asked me if I was faithful in my prayers for others and such I would have had said yes for sure, but Faithwalkers really was kind of a reality check for me. A couple things that Mark Darling said first he said "your prayer is a demonstration of your faith. If God where to show up on your phone bill, how many minutes would you use on Him?" This was really convicting to me, and really made me think am I talking my friends, family, etc more than I am talking to God. I should always be spending more time talking with God in my day, in my week, in my year than to anyone else. Another great bit of truth that I learned was a couple of things that Rory Whitney said, First he said that you should pray that you would love God more today than you did yesterday, that you would love your roommates more today than yesterday, etc. The Second, was that Rory said: "You have not because you ask not" God wants to bless us, God wants to hear what is on our hearts but we have to ask Him! Finally, Rory was talking about how a disciple prays for the lost, He gave the examples of Acts 4:23-31 and Luke 11:1. He said that our prayers need to be...1. Desperate in our pleadings. 2. Dependant on Him only 3. Disciplined in our practice. Prayer is hard work, so work hard. Then Rory said this " A sinning man will stop praying but a praying man will stop sinning" This quote hit me like a ton of bricks and convicted my spirit so much in the area of prayer, not in just the little things but also in praying for the lost. Rory's message really touched my heart and both encouraged and convicted me. The cry of my heart is to see all to come to know Christ and Rory's message was such a good reminder and encouragement to pray, pray and pray so more for those who are dying in this world because they don't know Christ!! Let's go out and make Christ know to this dying world!!
I just wanted to share with you a little bit about what God has been teaching me since Faithwalkers, there are still many things that I have to share with you about what I have learned. I just ask you to pray and think about your life, are you willing to pay that price to become a disciple of Jesus? Praying for all of you and for you to know God more and more each day!!
So I leave you with this video that was shown by one of the speaker called the fellowship of the unashamed.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
"Break my heart for the things that break Yours!"
I had the opportunity to go to Faithwalkers last week, it's an amazing time where as an association of churches we gather together to hear teachings and to worship together. It's one of the most amazing times because it's so good to worship with two thousand other believers.
My prayer at the beginning of the conference was that God would break my heart for the things that break His heart. As usual God come through in this! From the drive to Omaha for Faithwalkers till the drive back to Ames, God broke my heart of stone and gave me a heart of flesh, I was drawn closer to Him! I'm still processing what I learned at Faithwalkers, so stay tuned for more updates, but for now here a piece of what God did in my heart during Faithwalkers.
As I mentioned my prayer at the beginning of Faithwalkes was that God would break my heart for the things that break His. He for sure did that. From the time when I started to drive to Omaha for the conference, I was for sure being spiritually attacked, I was being feed tons of lies (I'm not good enough to be a missionary, that I don't have what it takes,etc...). I was feeling really discouraged and my heart was hard. However, something struck me that first full day we met, Brent Knox talked a little bit about pouring your heart out to God and Mark Darling talked about it even more and I was just really convicted by that and that's exactly what I did, because it seemed like the only thing that I could do because I know that even though I was really discouraged and had a hard heart I knew and know that the only way to get out of the funk and become encouraged is to go to the one who gives encouragement, life and everything, which is God who is my Lord and Savior! It was Tuesday afternoon was when God really started to break through to my heart. I went to a seminar by Joy Whitney called "more than Enough" and everything in that seminar pierced parts of my heart and really encouraged me quite a bit. However, my heart was still a bit hard, but I continued to just seek Him and His face and then Wednesday God totally just broke my heart and softened my heart.
I also went to a seminar which was called "God in the storm" by Charlie Meyer and His father in law. This seminar also really pierced my heart, it was an amazing story of God, This man lost everything that he owned, his own wife was even ripped from his hands and still the first thing that he said when he recovered was he thanked God and just wanted to share Christ with people that just blew me away and convicted me so much. Then that night Rory Whitney gave a message that was probably my favorite of all of Faithwalkers because it not only pierced my heart and convicted me but it's also something is very close to my heart. His message was on loving the lost. This is an area where we can always grow in. One thing that Rory said was that "we have not because you ask not" and that struck me so much, and convicted me so much in the area of prayer. Are we asking God for opportunities to share the Gospel and to love the lost? I was convicted so much. Another thing Rory said was that you should pray "God I hope that I love you more today than I did yesterday, God I hope that I love lost more than yesterday, etc and that was again so convicting. The true cry of my heart is to see the whole world come to know Christ!!!
I also got to see God answer prayer and work in a miraculous way which only He can do. A friend of mine, Hui Zhou, came to Faithwalkers, even though he didn't know the Lord, but he was seeking. My prayer was that he would come to know the Lord. Slowly through out the conference I saw God working in his life and changing his heart. About half way through the conference he began to realize that he cannot live his life with out God, but wasn't yet ready to make that decision to give his life to Christ.I was blessed to have the opportunity to talk with him a lot about God and what it takes to be a Christian. Then God as he usually does worked in His awesome ways and while driving home from Faithwalkers on Thursday night Tim and I were talking with Zhou about what would happen if he were to die today and after talking with him, he prayed to receive Christ!!! Praise God!!
Hope you enjoyed and were encouraged by what I have learned and experienced in the past week. Let's go an reach this world for Christ!!! God is so amazing and He is so good!!! :) Praise Him!!!
My prayer at the beginning of the conference was that God would break my heart for the things that break His heart. As usual God come through in this! From the drive to Omaha for Faithwalkers till the drive back to Ames, God broke my heart of stone and gave me a heart of flesh, I was drawn closer to Him! I'm still processing what I learned at Faithwalkers, so stay tuned for more updates, but for now here a piece of what God did in my heart during Faithwalkers.
As I mentioned my prayer at the beginning of Faithwalkes was that God would break my heart for the things that break His. He for sure did that. From the time when I started to drive to Omaha for the conference, I was for sure being spiritually attacked, I was being feed tons of lies (I'm not good enough to be a missionary, that I don't have what it takes,etc...). I was feeling really discouraged and my heart was hard. However, something struck me that first full day we met, Brent Knox talked a little bit about pouring your heart out to God and Mark Darling talked about it even more and I was just really convicted by that and that's exactly what I did, because it seemed like the only thing that I could do because I know that even though I was really discouraged and had a hard heart I knew and know that the only way to get out of the funk and become encouraged is to go to the one who gives encouragement, life and everything, which is God who is my Lord and Savior! It was Tuesday afternoon was when God really started to break through to my heart. I went to a seminar by Joy Whitney called "more than Enough" and everything in that seminar pierced parts of my heart and really encouraged me quite a bit. However, my heart was still a bit hard, but I continued to just seek Him and His face and then Wednesday God totally just broke my heart and softened my heart.
I also went to a seminar which was called "God in the storm" by Charlie Meyer and His father in law. This seminar also really pierced my heart, it was an amazing story of God, This man lost everything that he owned, his own wife was even ripped from his hands and still the first thing that he said when he recovered was he thanked God and just wanted to share Christ with people that just blew me away and convicted me so much. Then that night Rory Whitney gave a message that was probably my favorite of all of Faithwalkers because it not only pierced my heart and convicted me but it's also something is very close to my heart. His message was on loving the lost. This is an area where we can always grow in. One thing that Rory said was that "we have not because you ask not" and that struck me so much, and convicted me so much in the area of prayer. Are we asking God for opportunities to share the Gospel and to love the lost? I was convicted so much. Another thing Rory said was that you should pray "God I hope that I love you more today than I did yesterday, God I hope that I love lost more than yesterday, etc and that was again so convicting. The true cry of my heart is to see the whole world come to know Christ!!!
I also got to see God answer prayer and work in a miraculous way which only He can do. A friend of mine, Hui Zhou, came to Faithwalkers, even though he didn't know the Lord, but he was seeking. My prayer was that he would come to know the Lord. Slowly through out the conference I saw God working in his life and changing his heart. About half way through the conference he began to realize that he cannot live his life with out God, but wasn't yet ready to make that decision to give his life to Christ.I was blessed to have the opportunity to talk with him a lot about God and what it takes to be a Christian. Then God as he usually does worked in His awesome ways and while driving home from Faithwalkers on Thursday night Tim and I were talking with Zhou about what would happen if he were to die today and after talking with him, he prayed to receive Christ!!! Praise God!!
Hope you enjoyed and were encouraged by what I have learned and experienced in the past week. Let's go an reach this world for Christ!!! God is so amazing and He is so good!!! :) Praise Him!!!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
I celebrate the day!
I've been having some good thoughts and have a lot to share with you about but I have to quick finish up some work before Christmas, so I leave you with one of my favorite songs during Christmas, I celebrate the day! I pray that you all have a very Merry Christmas and remember the true meaning of Christmas!!
"And the first time That You opened Your eyes did You realize that You would be my Savior And the first breath that left Your lips Did You know that it would change this world forever”
"And the first time That You opened Your eyes did You realize that You would be my Savior And the first breath that left Your lips Did You know that it would change this world forever”
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Our God is the God who Provides
Hey everyone!
Sorry, It's been awhile since I last updated you. This will just be a quick update as I have a lot of work to still do tonight but this is a nice break. Life has been very busy but I thank God for that because I been busy with a lot of support raising efforts and such. This past month or so has been both hard and good and God has been teaching me a lot!
Our God is a God who provides!!! This is SO true and God has for sure been showing me this in my life! Oh where to start...first, overall God has been providing me with people to meet with and share my ministry with, He has provided me enough funds to be able to stay in Ames until May (which is hopefully when I will go to training,Praise Him!!), He has blessed the support raising process not only financially but also abundantly in other ways also! I just can't say it enough...Praise God!!!
Another amazing example of God's providence, was today, my roommates Rebekah Hanson and Beth Boal organized a taco feed to help raise money for my initial start up costs in going to El Salvador, specifically my plane ticket to El Salvador (which is about $800), and wow it was a complete success! We managed to raise through the generous gifts of my Stonebrook family, $1246 dollars towards my start up costs, Praise God!!! I'm in awe of God's providence today and so thankful for the generous giving of my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm just SO incredibly thankful...words can not describe!
There is SO much more to share but I ought to get back to my work ;)
Thank you all for your prayers, support, love and encouragement through out this process! I praise God for all of you.
Sorry, It's been awhile since I last updated you. This will just be a quick update as I have a lot of work to still do tonight but this is a nice break. Life has been very busy but I thank God for that because I been busy with a lot of support raising efforts and such. This past month or so has been both hard and good and God has been teaching me a lot!
Our God is a God who provides!!! This is SO true and God has for sure been showing me this in my life! Oh where to start...first, overall God has been providing me with people to meet with and share my ministry with, He has provided me enough funds to be able to stay in Ames until May (which is hopefully when I will go to training,Praise Him!!), He has blessed the support raising process not only financially but also abundantly in other ways also! I just can't say it enough...Praise God!!!
Another amazing example of God's providence, was today, my roommates Rebekah Hanson and Beth Boal organized a taco feed to help raise money for my initial start up costs in going to El Salvador, specifically my plane ticket to El Salvador (which is about $800), and wow it was a complete success! We managed to raise through the generous gifts of my Stonebrook family, $1246 dollars towards my start up costs, Praise God!!! I'm in awe of God's providence today and so thankful for the generous giving of my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm just SO incredibly thankful...words can not describe!
There is SO much more to share but I ought to get back to my work ;)
Thank you all for your prayers, support, love and encouragement through out this process! I praise God for all of you.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Trust God Period!
Hey all!
I hope that you are all doing well! I know its been awhile since I have blogged, life has been crazy busy. Since I returned from New Staff Training with GCM, I have been working a lot both with my job at McFarland Clinic as well as for GCM. However, last Friday the 5th was my last day of work at McFarland Clinic, so I could devote all my time to doing work for GCM and doing MTD (aka support raising). I'm really excited about being able to devote all my time, but it is going to be a trying process with not having an income, but I'm learning that I just have to trust God period! He will provide for my needs as I trust in Him and learn about what He is trying to teach me through this process.
This week I have been back in MN to do some support raising. This is both exciting but a bit stressful at times. I am excited that I get to meet up with some friends that I haven't had a huge chance to connect with for a couple of years, so its always great to catch up and see what God is doing in the lives of others.
So far support raising is going alright, but not the best. I am at about 8% of my month goal of support that I need to raise for GCM. The first couple of weeks were going well but its now starting to get a little bit harder. This week especially has been really difficult, but I keep getting the "trust me" from Him, so we'll see how he works things out. God has been blessing me in many other ways also and I'm just trusting Him period in all things. I do have to say I'm so incredibly thankful for the people God has put around me during this phase of life in support raising, you are all amazing and thanks for sticking by me and encouraging me through this process!
Some prayer requests: For time management (as I will have to be very digigent in making calls to people and setting up appointments and such), that I would be listening to the things God is trying to teach me during this process, for encouragement through this process!
Love to you all!
Alyssa
PS: Also if you are interested in helping support me in my work in El Salvador and want to know how you can help please call me at763-742-5519 or email me at alyssaraecorbett@gmail.com.
I hope that you are all doing well! I know its been awhile since I have blogged, life has been crazy busy. Since I returned from New Staff Training with GCM, I have been working a lot both with my job at McFarland Clinic as well as for GCM. However, last Friday the 5th was my last day of work at McFarland Clinic, so I could devote all my time to doing work for GCM and doing MTD (aka support raising). I'm really excited about being able to devote all my time, but it is going to be a trying process with not having an income, but I'm learning that I just have to trust God period! He will provide for my needs as I trust in Him and learn about what He is trying to teach me through this process.
This week I have been back in MN to do some support raising. This is both exciting but a bit stressful at times. I am excited that I get to meet up with some friends that I haven't had a huge chance to connect with for a couple of years, so its always great to catch up and see what God is doing in the lives of others.
So far support raising is going alright, but not the best. I am at about 8% of my month goal of support that I need to raise for GCM. The first couple of weeks were going well but its now starting to get a little bit harder. This week especially has been really difficult, but I keep getting the "trust me" from Him, so we'll see how he works things out. God has been blessing me in many other ways also and I'm just trusting Him period in all things. I do have to say I'm so incredibly thankful for the people God has put around me during this phase of life in support raising, you are all amazing and thanks for sticking by me and encouraging me through this process!
Some prayer requests: For time management (as I will have to be very digigent in making calls to people and setting up appointments and such), that I would be listening to the things God is trying to teach me during this process, for encouragement through this process!
Love to you all!
Alyssa
PS: Also if you are interested in helping support me in my work in El Salvador and want to know how you can help please call me at763-742-5519 or email me at alyssaraecorbett@gmail.com.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Update
Hey All!
Wow sorry it has been so long since I've blogged.I don't have too much time right now but I thought that I would give you all a quick update.
Things in my life have been crazy busy but really good. The biggest news in my life is that I have now gone on Staff with Great Commission Ministries(GCM)!!! I'm SO excited for this opportunity!I love that I am going to devote all of my time to full time ministry. I am going to be a full time missionary in Guayabo in El Salvador! God is doing and is going to do some awesome things!! Praise Him!
I just returned from New Staff Training in Orlando,FL. I went there to learn more about developing ministry team to help learn how to support raise the funds needed to get me back to El Salvador. I was there with 13 other new staff. It was great to see the heart and passion that they had for reaching people for Christ! It was a great time or community and fellowship. We had a great group and we had some awesome trainers!
So I am super excited to get this process started! I ask for your prayers through this time. I pray for time management as I will have to be really organized during this process, peace and encouragement.
Also if you are interested in helping support me in my work in El Salvador financially please call me at 763-742-5519 or email me at alyssaraecorbett@gmail.com.
God Bless!
Wow sorry it has been so long since I've blogged.I don't have too much time right now but I thought that I would give you all a quick update.
Things in my life have been crazy busy but really good. The biggest news in my life is that I have now gone on Staff with Great Commission Ministries(GCM)!!! I'm SO excited for this opportunity!I love that I am going to devote all of my time to full time ministry. I am going to be a full time missionary in Guayabo in El Salvador! God is doing and is going to do some awesome things!! Praise Him!
I just returned from New Staff Training in Orlando,FL. I went there to learn more about developing ministry team to help learn how to support raise the funds needed to get me back to El Salvador. I was there with 13 other new staff. It was great to see the heart and passion that they had for reaching people for Christ! It was a great time or community and fellowship. We had a great group and we had some awesome trainers!
So I am super excited to get this process started! I ask for your prayers through this time. I pray for time management as I will have to be really organized during this process, peace and encouragement.
Also if you are interested in helping support me in my work in El Salvador financially please call me at 763-742-5519 or email me at alyssaraecorbett@gmail.com.
God Bless!
Friday, July 30, 2010
Hey all! :)
I hope that you are all doing well. Life has been good lately and God has been awesome but HE is always awesome! :) I just wanted to give you guys a little update on whats going on in my life.
Well, of course I have been working lots. I also have been continuing my running, which I love to do...I'm running about 5 miles everyday and I'm hoping to maybe run a half marathon in like October. Last week on the 23rd I had to move out of my old apartment, which was a little crazy because I can't move into my new apartment until August 1st, but God totally provided and I have been able to stay at my friend Alexa's apt. because she is gone for the summer. I'm SO stoked though to move into my new apt. I'm SO excited to be roommates with Rebek and Beth and to be across the hall from Sarah, Ruth and Jess (who is a sweet awesome girl I met this past sunday who is transferring from UNI :) It's also my birthday on Monday the second and I'm actually pretty excited!! I'm going to spend half the day up in MN and then I'm going to be back in ames and go out with some of the girls to Carlos O'Kelly's!! :)
In other news, I'm still going through the process with GCM in my application to the one year missionary program to return to ES! I've submited all the paperwork needed and I did the international testing packet which took like 4.5hrs in total. I'm excited to where God is leading me and I'm praying God's will in this process of returnnig to ES for a year! I do miss El Salvador a lot, especially all my friends and the people that I've met down there!
Another thing is one passage that I’ve really been meditation on the past couple of
days is Psalm 145. This is turning into one of my favorite psalms!
It’s so encouraging for me. It really just reminds me of how awesome
our God is!!!
Also another sweet random little tidbit that has been encouraging for
me has been Spanish worship music. I absolutely love Spanish worship
music. When I was in El Salvador one night at La Red we sang from the
inside out (desde mi interior in Spanish) in Spanish and I loved it!
That song as well as Hosanna by Hillsong in Spanish have become my two
favorite songs as of late.
Anyways, I hope you are all doing well! Have a great day!
Peace out!
I hope that you are all doing well. Life has been good lately and God has been awesome but HE is always awesome! :) I just wanted to give you guys a little update on whats going on in my life.
Well, of course I have been working lots. I also have been continuing my running, which I love to do...I'm running about 5 miles everyday and I'm hoping to maybe run a half marathon in like October. Last week on the 23rd I had to move out of my old apartment, which was a little crazy because I can't move into my new apartment until August 1st, but God totally provided and I have been able to stay at my friend Alexa's apt. because she is gone for the summer. I'm SO stoked though to move into my new apt. I'm SO excited to be roommates with Rebek and Beth and to be across the hall from Sarah, Ruth and Jess (who is a sweet awesome girl I met this past sunday who is transferring from UNI :) It's also my birthday on Monday the second and I'm actually pretty excited!! I'm going to spend half the day up in MN and then I'm going to be back in ames and go out with some of the girls to Carlos O'Kelly's!! :)
In other news, I'm still going through the process with GCM in my application to the one year missionary program to return to ES! I've submited all the paperwork needed and I did the international testing packet which took like 4.5hrs in total. I'm excited to where God is leading me and I'm praying God's will in this process of returnnig to ES for a year! I do miss El Salvador a lot, especially all my friends and the people that I've met down there!
Another thing is one passage that I’ve really been meditation on the past couple of
days is Psalm 145. This is turning into one of my favorite psalms!
It’s so encouraging for me. It really just reminds me of how awesome
our God is!!!
Also another sweet random little tidbit that has been encouraging for
me has been Spanish worship music. I absolutely love Spanish worship
music. When I was in El Salvador one night at La Red we sang from the
inside out (desde mi interior in Spanish) in Spanish and I loved it!
That song as well as Hosanna by Hillsong in Spanish have become my two
favorite songs as of late.
Anyways, I hope you are all doing well! Have a great day!
Peace out!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)