a team of young people learning what it means to have gifts from God to use for His glory…and how powerful they are when we step back and let Him use them…

Sunday, January 24, 2010

a time for thanks...

all right, so in the past week or so God has just been pouring new things into me. its been a little overwhelming, but in such a great way.
with this whole project in the making...its just so big and so crazy - that sarah and i were sure that every time we would bring it up to someone when asking for their help with it in one way or another that they would just look at us and say no. thats crazy and there is no time for that.
but so far...and we have met with QUITE a few ppl...no one has done that. no one has said no. and that in and of itself is a God move. God is just paving the way, preparing hearts and gifts and resources for it and its absolutley incredible.
and something that God has been revealing to me is that i dont ever take the time to stop, and look at what He has just done and just appreciate it, let the reality of what He's just done really sink in and just thank Him and rejoice in Him that He is providing in ways only He can. i dont do that...i just let out a sigh of relief that another obstacle has been cleared and then keep fighting for the next one.
but God has got it under control. He really does. and He has been showing me and helping me see what He has been doing.
its like He's doing all these things all the time and i dont even notice, and He's sitting there going - Jillian, look! im doing all this so that you can see it and smile and know im here and feel peace knowing that i am doing it!!! and you are not even looking! - and i know that i do that all the time. i get so focused on the big picture...but that is His job. i just need to follow Him step by step and rejoice and be excited with Him all along the way.
God is so good...it truly just floors me when i really stop to think about all that He has done.
this morning in church we sang "tis so sweet to trust in Jesus" and there is a line in there that says -
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er;
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

and that just hit me. how true! how many times have i SEEN Jesus work and answer prayer???
just in the last day or so, looking at the God that i have come to know.
He has blessed me with incredible people in my life, He called me to Argentina - then provided every single penny and resource i needed for that AND to go to Belize. He provided a great job, brought to the surface what His gifts in me are and then put them to use in providing an incredible team of artists who just love Him and want to see Him work, and He has consistently revealed to me step by step everything i need to know when i need to know it. i have not been idle with nothing or no signs or hope for even one second. its TRULY amazing. and its so Him.
He has proved Himself real and faithful more times that i can count in big ways and small ways...and i just pray for strength to keep trusting.
how beautiful that we can trust Him? that He wants to make sure we see that He is moving and paying attention to our prayers!!!
i am SO thankful for Him and for the team He has put together, for dreams coming together and for being able to know that He will never fail. Never.
how amazing that that is the God we know. the one true holy God. He loves us. wow.

Friday, January 22, 2010

the new project...

wow...ok, so God has been in the process of putting this next huge project together for a few months now. It started when God started putting it on a couple different people's hearts to bring up putting a show together with the team and taking it somewhere, using it on a mission trip.
and then God sitting me down one day and just bringing me to this place of peace and just sheer drive to do it and make the idea happen. so in talking with sarah and mark thurston (youth pastor) it is becoming a reality!!!
we are SOOOO excited to really get going on this...its been "potentially in the making" for like EVER now and we can finally just go forward full force with it.
and we were FINALLY able to tell the team about our plans...we have had to keep it on the DL for awhile...just because there was so much up in the air...but we are finally getting started.
Sarah and I sat down a couple times and started laying out the story God was putting on our hearts.
and what has come out is a picture of God's love for us.
and just like in the previous post - how we can affect God's heart, and how much He loves us...even when we hurt Him over and over again.
and it is turning into a really beautiful story.
one passage that i LOVE and that really puts things in perspective is Hosea 11:1-8

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
The more they were called, the more they went away;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols.
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;
I took them up by their arms,
but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love,
and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them.
They shall not return to the land of Egypt, but Assyria shall be their king,
because they have refused to return to me.
The sword shall rage against their cities, consume the bars of their gates, and devour them because of their own counsels.
My people are bent on turning away from me, and though they call out to the Most High,
he shall not raise them up at all.
How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart recoils within me;
my compassion grows warm and tender.

God only wants to love us, He wants us to come to Him and just rest in Him, but we just keep running, keep wandering...and it just breaks His heart that we are hurting when He is right there and could fix it all if we would just let Him.
And one of the coolest parts about this project (to be named later on...:)) is that we will be taking it to Mexico in June as part of one of the youth missions trips!
SO fun. and since we will be in a spanish speaking place, the show will be mostly dance and drama to music.
SUCH a powerful way to get a message across. and God is just moving in it and putting it all together. sarah and i have met with a few people, getting help and figuring out all that we need to do and the truth of it all is that it is purely a God thing that we have not been called crazy or been shut down or laughed at. This is a huge thing we are taking on! but God knows what He's doing.
haha...but last week while we were having a worship time in our sunday school class, i just really felt God filling me with peace and this like crazy reassurance that the bigger it gets, the more impossible it gets - the more we will see Him work, the more we will have to depend on Him. and that is EXACTLY what He wants. to take over this project and do HIS thing.
I am SO excited to see the team He assembles and the show He puts together and where it all goes.
another fun aspect of this whole thing is that we are shooting to have ALL original music for the show...:)
so that we dont have to worry about copyrights or anything.
SO thats another fun thing, but luckily God has blessed us with people He has gifted with musical talent and abilities and its so fun that we get to see Him use His gifts for His glory.
this is such a crazy opportunity but SO fun.
tonight we told the team all about this, and just challenged them to read through Hosea and really just pray that God reveals to them the same vision for this as He has shown us.
i love that God not only puts the desires in our hearts...but then He calls us to use them...then gives us the gifts and resources we need...then gives us the opportunity to use them...then fills us with joy when we allow Him to work! its such a blessing.
so please keep us in your prayers! as you can see we have a lot ahead of us but it will be so amazing to see it all happen!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

a powerful love...

In that day I will make a covenant for them
with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air
and the creatures that move along the ground.
Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land,
so that all may lie down in safety.
I will betroth you to me forever;
I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
in love and compassion.
I will betroth you in faithfulness,
and you will acknowledge the LORD.
Hosea 2:18-20

So in keeping with the theme of the post from last week’s meeting…God’s love is most likely the most beautiful powerful thing ever.
Sarah and I have been talking about Hosea and God has been putting the whole theme of HIS LOVE on our hearts…and just even trying to fathom the God who not only has been put through the constant, blatant rejection of the people He loves…but sees every time that we WILL continue to reject Him and choose other things over Him.
In a class I was in once, the teacher said “we are the only beings in existence who have the power to hurt God.”
And I was like, whoa…the animals can’t hurt Him, Satan can’t hurt Him…God knows who Satan is.
But He has given us the choice…He has laid out His heart for us…died for us…He TELLS us in no uncertain terms that He LOVES us…and asks us to love Him back. Asks us to give Him free reign in our lives. He wants to use us and show us how perfect His plan is…He wants to make us fall in love with Him and just show us HIS idea of what our lives should be…
How beautiful is that?????
But we see that, and say, well He’ll still be there after I do this…
Or He’s God…He can take a little pain…
Or we get bored, and want to try something else…
Or we get selfish and do what feels good for the moment – even when we KNOW that its not what He wants.
And all the while, He stays right by our side…waiting, still wanting to show us His love.
Never ONCE does He say – fine, I’m done, don’t come to me ever again, you blew it…
Not once.
And the reality of that is really sinking in…who am I to take advantage of that love???
I have been hurt SO many times…I KNOW what rejection feels like…so who am I to put God through that?
And really – the worst part is… we don’t just flat out reject Him…but we play with Him. We say, ok God, use me, work through me…we play the game…and then choose something else over Him again…then run back when we get sick of that or feel guilty…and then do it all over again.
Whether I like it or not, God loves me. He’s there, just wanting me to go to Him…so what do I do with that?
This is the God who gave EVERYTHING for me.
The least I can do…even if it didn’t benefit me AT ALL…which it DOES in HUGE ways…is love Him back, and give Him my life. To stop playing with His heart.
to decide one way or the other...either RUN towards Him or leave Him alone...but one way or the other He deserves so much more than maybe.
The reality is that we will never be perfect, we will continue to grieve His Spirit…but my prayer is that He gives us strength to live whole heartedly for Him and not waiver…that He continues to reveal His heart to us…remind us of who He is, that we can remember and do all we can to give Him the love He is worthy of…ALWAYS worthy of.
And that we can enjoy a beautiful personal close relationship with our amazing Father who loves us more than we can fathom…and in that become a part of His beautifully perfect plan.

Friday, January 8, 2010

dance

another clip from The Project.
dance choreographed by Austin Eckstrom
performed by Austin, Ashley, Emmanuil, Jordan R, and Adelyn
the scene right after the girl decides to live life her own way on her own terms.

entering the presence of God...

so last night we had ALIVE again...its been 2 weeks since we've met and so we were super excited to get back together. Friends of ours, Erika Sanborn and Nate Tysk came to the meeting and they shared some things that God put on their hearts. they talked about prayer and learning Gods character. They talked about Daniel 10 and John 15. really good, powerful stuff. learning to just sit and listen to God. listen to the things He tells us and then act on them. when names or things pop into our heads while praying, we need to pay attention to it and pray about it. ask for God to reveal His heart to us so we know what He wants, what is on His heart, so that we can get to know Him better and learn who He wants us to be.
it was a really great time...God really spoke through them. Erika shared a passage from Song of Solomon, about how intense God's love is. and how seriously we need to take it. how He deserves our love...He wants to love us like this.
Song of Solomon 8:5-8
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death,
jealousy is fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
the very flame of the LORD.
7Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
all the wealth of his house,
he would be utterly despised.

And after all that - we had a prayer time. we sat for about a half hour and just listened. and prayed according to what the Spirit spoke to us. it was really powerful and we were able to spend time praying over each other and just listening to God. it was a really beautiful time, just getting to know God more.
and we got to pray with more people individually afterward. SUCH a blessing for us to be able to just pray over people and just take that time to spend with God. i love it SO much!!! i love seeing God take the time to speak into the lives of them and just see God work. its so beautiful and i am SO excited to see what God is going to use them for.
and we ended the evening with a little game called ninja...:)
i just am so grateful for friends and for a God who is faithful and personal and who speaks to us so clearly and just wants to reveal Himself to us. God is SO good!
my prayer now is that we continue to pay attention to God's voice when He speaks, that we dont brush it off and move on with our own thoughts, but that we listen and learn how to hear God. that we get to know more and more of His character and His heart and in that just become so close to Him...that we experience Him all the time, in new ways and just FALL IN LOVE with Him.
i love this team...it is SUCH a blessing to me and i could not be more grateful that God allows us to be a part of His plan...

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

The Escalator of Life

so yeah i did a devo today for my church but last night i randomly thought up escalators and everything changed and that is what this devotion came from.....now i know half the people i tagged already dont want to read this.....please do dont worry you will like it if you do....if you dont.....well i guess i cant force you to...so yeah here it is


• Escalator Analogy- escalator is life…. The escalator is moving down towards hell
• People ride the escalator regularly because it is easy and it is what everyone else does
• We as Christians run up the escalator trying to reach the top(heaven)
• People will look at us like we are crazy, point at us and think we are idiots for doing this, some of us Christians will find this to be uncomfortable to go against the norm, some will turn around and go like everyone else is out of fear of being rejected but God calls us to keep on our path and run to him no matter what people think of us
• Running up an escalator that is going down is going to be a lot harder than just going down it. It will be a lot more painful and dangerous and at points we are going to feel like we are going nowhere at all. Sometimes you will become so tired that you just want to give up turn around and do it the easy way, just go down the escalator. God will always be there to pick you up when you get tired he will always hold out a hand for you to pick you up you just need to have the determination to keep going after him and keep giving it your all.
• There will be people who will tell you to quit running up the escalator and do things the “right” way because you look stupid. DON’T LISTEN TO THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are there to distract you from your goals and keep you away from God.
• There are people that will tell you to stop fooling around and tell you to go down the escalator. They are only there to cause you to fall away from God. They will say that running up is wrong and that going down like everyone else is the best way and the most fun. Don’t listen to them either
• Follow God listen to him and run up the escalator put your whole heart into it and you will find that you are having way more fun than those going down it even though you may trip and fall don’t let it discourage you just get up and keep running until you reach the top and join God in glory with the others that chose to run to him

freedom

stuck in Satan's chains and afraid of what comes next - when she sees Jesus, the girl cries out for help...and is freed from the chains...
dance choreographed and danced by ashley hart to the song freedom by runkidrun

face to face

a conversation between satan and Jesus...Satan wants to make sure we feel guilty and full of shame...Jesus wants us to be free of it because Jesus loves us...and always will.
written by jillian, performed by tyler roland, austin eckstrom and ashley hart



7And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
"Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God,and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.
11They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
12Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea,because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his time is short."
-Revelations 12:7-12

crimson stains

this is the end of the show...its a drama with paint we put together to a song that Chelsea Kimball wrote for the Project. Powerful lyrics to beautiful music - she did a GREAT job and the painters did amazing too. its a picture of how we have these things in our lives we try so hard to hide - but we can't. they are always there...and when Jesus comes and tries to help - we try to cover it up, pretend like its ok, but all we manage to do is make it worse...make it messier. and until we stop, and give it up to Him...we will never find rest. He is the only one who can take it all and make us new...
original drama and music
performed by missy parkhurst, austin eckstrom, abbie elliott, jordan cross, david gersetich, emmanuil morari, and tyler roland