When Life Gives You Lemons...

Okay, so this post has nothing to do with me going to Cambridge, but I was thinking about this last night, so I wrote this and now here it is...

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.  Right?  Is it really possible for us as humans to make something good out of something sour?  Because if all you were given were the lemons, isn’t it just lemon juice you are making?  So you’re taking something sour and making it into something else sour.  All you are doing is changing the form of the sour item.  In order to make lemonade, even if you are just making it in the simplest form, you need to add sugar and water in order to make it something you would like to drink.  So in life, if all we do to try to fix a not good or “sour” situation is use our own abilities, we will just change the shape or the consistency of the situation.  Where am I going with this?  Well, that is a good question.  I really honestly do not know.  I am just writing down my thoughts right now and my thoughts are focused on sucky, sour situations.  The obvious destination I will eventually end up is that as humans, when we are given situations, or lemons, we are not capable of doing anything to make something good out of it without being given extra ingredients.  That is obviously where God comes in.  He provides the necessary ingredients to make anything in this world filled with sin any good.  He gave us Jesus, (the sugar) who counteracts the acidity of the lemons or of our sin, and He gave us the Holy Spirit, or the Living Water (in our case of lemonade, the water).  So, next time someone tells you when life gives you lemons, make lemonade, remember, it is not up to you to change that situation because you really cannot do it alone.  Instead, turn to God, because He is really the only One who can turn lemons into delicious lemonade. 

Moving To Cambridge....

Hey Friends!

God has given me an awesome opportunity to move to Cambridge, England this September 21, for six months to attend a Discipleship Training School through Youth With A Mission (YWAM).  A Discipleship Training School (DTS) is the first step to become a missionary with YWAM.  Every missionary with YWAM has to attend and complete a DTS.  It is a program to train and build up future missionaries in order to send them out into the nations.  YWAM believes it is important to spend time becoming educated and focused on what you will be doing once you are sent into the field on outreach. 

For example, a person who is going into medical missions would spend a few months learning the procedures they will carry out during their time in outreach.  They will also be taught how to integrate the Gospel into their interactions with the people they will be serving.  The Discipleship Training Schools focus on five key features:

1.     “To GATHER and CHALLENGE people to worship, listen to and obey God, releasing them (in the context of the DTS) to serve through evangelism, intercession, acts of compassion and other expressions of God’s heart for the world, possibly even pioneering new ministries.

2.     To INSPIRE and CULTIVATE growth in one’s relationship with God resulting in Christ like character, which is based on a solid Biblical foundation, the work of the Holy Spirit and the personal application of Biblical truth, especially concerning God’s Character, the Cross and empowering Grace.

3.     To SHARPEN one’s ability to relate to, learn from and work with people, including those of different cultures, personalities and perspectives.

4.     To further EQUIP each one to serve God’s purposes either in or outside of YWAM Family of Ministries, strengthening a commitment to reach the lost, especially the unreached, to care for the poor, and to influence all areas of society.

5.     To IMPART the vision and foundational values of Youth With A Mission International as well as that of the host operating location and to provide information regarding a variety of opportunities for service.”                                                                                                                         (http://ywamcambridge.com/#revival)

In addition to being in “class” and while in Cambridge, I will be spending the majority of my time spreading the Gospel through serving the community in the immediate area.  At the end of my six months in Cambridge, I will be sent out to put into practice all that I learned while attending the “lecture” part of the DTS. 

The location that I will be sent to has not yet been disclosed, and will probably not be disclosed until around December.  However, I was told that the YWAM base I am going to focuses on India, Africa, and China.  I will then live in one of those locations for three additional months, serving the Lord and His people there.  While in my assigned location, I will be living among and serving the community in a variety of different ways.  On previous outreaches, this has included hosting church camps (similar to a Vacation Bible School), assisting on building and repair projects, leading worship, and simply loving on and building relationships with people.

I will be living as a training missionary and will not have an income to pay for my living expenses.  And since living life costs money, here is where you all come in!

I am asking that you prayerfully consider supporting me through this next phase in my life.  I am in need of both financial and/or prayer support.  Any support you are able to give is much appreciated!  My financial needs will include airfare to get to England, my outreach location, and back home to the United States; the cost of housing and food while both in England and my outreach; my visa to live to live overseas; and finally, the vaccinations that I will need for going on outreach.  The total cost I am fundraising is around $10,000-$12,000. 

With that being said, any little bit helps!  If you are not able to give financially, your gift of time in prayer is also greatly appreciated. I ask that you may specifically be praying for: the funds to be provided; good health for myself and my team; and my relationship with God, that I will continue to turn to and trust in Him through this amazing, scary, crazy, stretching experience I have coming up.  Finally, and most importantly, for the people we will be reaching both in Cambridge and in the outreach. 

If you desire to give financially, donations may be sent to Grace Community Church, 327 E. Broad Street, Souderton, PA 18964.  In order for your donation to be tax deductible, checks should be written out to Grace Community Church with Cambridge, England in the memo line.  Grace will know that the donation is for my YWAM account.  (If my name is written on the memo line, the donation will not be tax deductible.)  If you feel more comfortable having my name associated with the donation, add a separate note with my name on it in the envelope.  Grace will keep my donations together until they are sent in to YWAM.  Thank you in advance for your consideration and prayers.

P.S. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me!  I would love to discuss the details with you!

http://ywamcambridge.com/

Well Here It Goes...

Hi Everyone!

     I guess I just need to start writing, otherwise I am just going to continue to stare at this curser blinking on the screen.  To tell you the truth, I really never understood the purpose of blogs because who really thinks that other people actually want to read all about their day or what they have to say.  However, I have been told by many people that I need to start a blog so that people can keep up with what I am doing and where I am going over the next nine months.  Before I go into what it is I am doing, I should rewind and introduce myself to anyone who would potentially be reading this who does not know me.
     My name is Becca Thompson.  I am 23 years old and am just rounding out the year of my quarter life crisis.  Last year at this time (well kind of this time, more like a year and two months ago) I had just called off my wedding.  I did not exactly know what to do with myself, so I quickly applied to and started grad school at Marywood University.  I was so excited to start because I am a nerd and I actually like school.  I would like to say that if I could make a career of going to school, I would just keep getting degrees.  Unfortunately, that is not the case in the real world, so I settled on going to grad school to get my Master's in Social Work.  Luckily for me, since my bachelor's is in Social Work, I was able to cut off half of the program, so I already had twenty-one credits completed before I even stepped foot onto the campus. 
     Everything was going great with my classes!  I loved my classes, and I LOVED my professors!  However, the end of the semester came quickly and it was time to declare our concentrations.  I had NO IDEA what I wanted to concentrate in.  I started evaluating my life and realized that I did not know if I really wanted to have a career in social work.  I started to realize that I loved the idea of being a social worker, but I did not actually love the reality of being a social worker.  So, instead of throwing more money into school, I decided to take a semester off and try out accounting.  Well, I tried it.  That's about it.  The material was easy enough, but lets just say it was BORING!  I am SO not cut out for a job that sits and stares at numbers all day!  So, on my birthday, March 3, I started classes for Real Estate.  For anyone who knows me, that is the ideal job for me!  I have been obsessed with real estate since I was well, I do not even know when I started loving it.  It was before I can remember though.  I took both the required classes, passed the classes and was just about to take the State and National exams, which are required to be passed in order to get your license, when God intervened.  (Do not worry, I did take and pass the exams)
     He woke me up and showed me that for my entire life, I had been living for the glory of Becca Thompson, not for the Glory of the Lord.  Things that once made sense to me, did not make sense anymore.  And things that did not make sense to me, started making sense.  Selling houses just seemed like a waste of time for me at this time when there was so much that God wanted to show me and to teach me.  The funny thing is, He was trying to tell me that all year, but I just refused to listen.  I even remember talking to my mom back in late October about how I really felt like I did not fit in any typical career and that all I wanted to do was to pick up my life and go into missions.  However, it was a good thing I did not do that then because God still had so much to teach me about Himself, about life, and about myself.  Don't get me wrong, I still have so much to learn! 
     Anyway, after a series of events, which I will get into another time, I ended up applying to Youth With a Mission (YWAM) to attend one of their Discipleship Training Schools (DTS).  A DTS is kind of like a training ground to build up and send out future missionaries.  Not everyone who attends and completes a DTS will continue in missions when they finish, which is why the Discipleship Training Schools teach people how to be a Disciple right where you are; whether that is going back to school, back to your career, or back into the mission field.
     YWAM has bases that hold Discipleship Training Schools all over the world.  The base that I ended up applying to is in Cambridge, England.  Each school has the same basic curriculum, however, each is unique in that it will have its own theme or focus.  The DTS I am attending is called, Revival and Reformation.  I do not have any cool God story as to how I selected this particular location.  All I have is the fact that the title Revival and Reformation sounded fascinating to me, so I contacted the leader to get more information.
     With all that being said, I am leaving in (God willing) 19 short days!  Yikes!  I still have so much to do to get ready.  However, I know that God has all of this under control and will take my hand and walk me through it all.  Just in the last week, He has provided left and right by providing a Church willing to help maintain my funds, my job allowing me the day off to run to Philly to attempt to get my Visa in order, having a family friend go through the drive through at work and ask me to send her a fundraising letter, and so much more!  Alright, I guess that is enough to start with.  I will have to add more to fill in the many blanks spaces I left in my story later.