Graceful Warrior

New things

2009-10-05T10:57:00.001-07:00

It's amazing to look back at the past and see all the puzzle pieces fit together. To see the things that I once prayed and silently wished for, now in the future are coming true. Oh to look and see how much The Lord loves and cares for me. How can you not love and praise him? It is so funny to see how fast God can change my mind about something. When I left on my trip to pik. I was in a state of " No, never " towards Clayton, but God sure knows how to get me to change my mind. and now I am getting married. I often find it embarrassing to look back to the past and see my behavior, all that I did that was so naive and stupid. but those things are what shape our character. they make us who we are. that is how we experience the grace of God, and His forgiveness. So we keep going, with the hope that he will catch us again, and put us right back where he wants us.

At The End

2009-06-08T09:13:00.000-07:00

I feel as though I am at the end of Military training camp. I have had all the teaching's, lessons, and now I am on the obsticle course. I am getting exausted but full of spiritual growth. I am expariencing many new and vital things. I feel like petter, who said "Jesus I would die for you right now", and then when he comes to a simple test fails because he wasn't spiritualy strong enough. I don't think I have faild, but am realizing that I shoulden't swear so strongly about something I have never exparienced. "Boast not of tomorrow, for you know not of what the day may bring forth." To trust in him is the most important thing to do, especially when you come to trials. I will be home on Sunday the 14th. probably late evening,, see you all then

2009-06-04T22:42:00.000-07:00

I need to update my bog.............

Growing up

2009-05-15T16:24:00.000-07:00

I am now 18 and am thinking about that familiar question, " What are you going to do ?" I don't like that question, because I feel compeled to answer. and I know that it it just a conversation starter, but I can't help but dislike it. I don't know what I am going to do, every time I ask God all I get is " Wait and See " so I am waiting. it's hard but not impossible, all I know is that I am to be a light, a fire starter, an encourager, an example. to everyone......everyone I come in contact with. So as to what I 'm going to do, I am going to live......live for Jesus because I am a bond- servant of Christ. I like growing up, I feel older, responsible, and I now have no excuse to live with the full maturity that I have. I am not going to hide behind my age anymore, I am gong to step out and be free, walk in the boldness that has been given to me.
So to all of you who are gettingot that age, don't hide, don't be afraid of your age, or the unknown. Step out, jump off the clif, get out the door. be free......as it says in 1 Timothy 4:12 " Don't let anyone look down on you bacause you are young, but set an example." that is one of my favorite verses, but if you look throughout the Bible it is all over... in Jeremiah Joshua, and Titus and I don't know exactly where else but it is all over. So........what are you going to do?.... If God says you are to do this.. DO IT!!!!! don't put it off untile it is to late. belive me I've done that, it's terrible. don't wait untile you are at asertain point, do it know. and "Fear not for I am with you" he will never leave us nor forsake us. Go walk in the fulness that I have shown you.

Quite a funny vision

2009-05-05T11:25:00.000-07:00

Imagine; a dark room , with dark beings living inside. then you standing there in the middle of the room pointing to the door commanding the beings to leave. next a painter walks in with a bucket and roller of white paint. he starts to paint the room white, and as he gets to one wall with a dark being standing there. The being starts to protest about what the painter is doing. The painter, ignoring the beings protesting, paints right over the top of the dark being and when the being wipes the paint off he is then permanently white.

This vision came to me when I was praying about purity in my mind. I interpreted it as, this is what Jesus does to our heart when we open the door for him to do so. The part where he paints over the being was so funny to me as if Jesus is saying " Well if you won't leave then you must be clean as well " . it was so funny to me the humor of God.

Complete Joy

2009-04-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

"Have you ever had complete joy?" before I left Sheridan I had several people tell me that I was going to grow and mature and so on.. So, as my weeks grew on I began to ask God when this would come to pass? and all he told me was that "not till the end" and this frustrated me because I wanted to change daily. So I was feeling down one night and called Levi, knowing that he would convict me and give me a new perspective. as I told him my frustration he told me that he never saw this time as anything great. he saw it as a time of getting to know God, of spending time with just him, of every night getting down on your knees and crying out to him to speak and to examine your heart. to just simply get to know him. He told me " God doesn't need to know you, he already does, and he's not going with you, your going with him, he was already in the care before you. " and this greatly humbled me ( as i knew it would ) and so back to my question " have you ever had complete joy ? , complete peace? " well I do , gong through out my day with complete joy is the most amazing thing that I have ever felt. and how you might ask, how do I get this great joy? well I will tell you..... through getting down on my knees every night and praying to God, Praying for mercy, praying that he would examine my heart and search me for any fault that might be in me. or just sitting with my head down and eyes shut, I listen and soak in the peace that brings all understanding. and when I wake before I start my day I do the same. I get on my knees and pray. the effect that I have is complete satisfied joy and peace. so dear friends i challenge you " do it " !!!! try get down on your knees tonight or morning, pray , pray for blessing, for joy, for forgiveness, for peace ,guidance, and most of all the wisdom to make the choices he wants you to make to day. and our father who is in heaven will hear the prayers of his people and will answer them.

thoughts

2009-04-20T10:06:00.000-07:00

hope all is well with you all, God is good, we started teaching on tuesday and have been learning how each class room needs difrent attention. I am finding that I have alot more compassion than I thought I did. I am also finding that I am growing and being more confident and bold. God is working on my heart and I am doing my best to listen to the holy spirit when he speaks. I personally am praying for a miracle conserning a little fourth grader named Chandler, he has got alot of behaviour isues and nobody wants him in their class. so my prayr is that God will take a hold of his life and he will be changed and become a great example to his generation. even at his age. feel free to join me in that as you feel led. God bless you all, keep us in your prayrs, the spirit up here is so deciving that you could go throughout the entire day without being aware of it.

I was praying last night asking God what things have changed and ha said "not until the end" so I guess I have to wait to see the out come. you know it is almost harder to grow and change when you have had people tell you what is going to happen. because then I am looking out for that to com to pass. I guess I just put things in a box to much, somthing I am working on. sometimes I feel ad thiugh I am never going to change and I am alwayse going to stay the same insecure girl who longs for attention, kinda hopless if you look at it that way aye, but God is good and what he says will happen it will happen, we just need to keep our eyes open to the things of him. and keep our hearts open to his work in out lives. he will never fail to complete the good work he has started. love you all - Danielle-A bond servant of Christ

hmmmmm..........

2009-04-14T20:35:00.000-07:00

I have had a few people ask me if there are people up here walking around depresssed. and the answer would be no, because the atmosefere is diferent. it is more suttle, it's mostelikely to creep up on you than to let you know it's there. So I don't mean to be needy, but if you guys could pray that I would be able to keep my mind above the atmosefere and not fall into the devils trap. to keep my mind clear, and be aware of my suroundings.

well our first day of teachng was verry dificult and we are learning how each class room needs things diferent. so we will keep changing things around as the Lord guides. as we get to know the kids, they will gain our trust and we will be able to do more with more participation and coperation.

thank you for your prayrs and support, it is encouraging to me to find out how much people really care for me . thank you I love you all

the sixth day in pik. he he he

2009-04-13T21:26:00.000-07:00

wow what to write.....I am not quite sure what to say, I had a dream last night that we went home and I was the same as I am now and I woke up saying "no " because I want to grow and learn and be a completely diferent person. so as I go through out each day I am constantly looking and keeping in mind that God is doing something in my heart to be diferent. so for those of you who are prayng for me you can keep in mind that I am praying for a hunger and a passion for the word, an ability to disifer it and to learn more and more. and that I would be more in tune with the holy spirit to say exactly what god wants me to say and have it mean something to someone or just to have him show ne how to pray better. and I would like to be able to conect with some of the people here and the kids. something that I need is a breakthrough to get down to the kids level and not be afraid to be goofy or of what the teacher might thnk. so keep these thing in your prayrs and I will do my best to keep posting updates and let you all know whats going on. thanks love ya all

My first day in Pik.

2009-04-09T10:26:00.000-07:00

Well we got to Red lake Ontario,Canada on Tuesday at about 8:30 p.m. (central time, 6:30 pacific ) we stayed at the Living Hope Native Ministries guest house. Next morning we both woke up very early, ( not on purpose mind you ) ate breakfast had some quiet time. During my quiet time, I was feeling a bit anxious going in to Pik. and all not quite knowing what to expect. And as I was reading my bib le I just began to ask god for strength and peace. Then suddenly I heard in my head “ Fear not, For I am with you “, those words ran over and over in my head. All morning, we boarded the plane for our 15 min. flight; SHORTEST I’VE EVER BEEN ON, AND WAS HOPING FOR A LITTLE LONGER OF A FLIGHT. Colleen met us there at the airport, we went home and had bacon and egg’s, it was about 11a.m. she kind of gave us the run down about culture and just random stuff. Then we went to see the school, met some of the teachers and kids, (don’t remember any of their name’s), sat in on the Bible class, ran some errands to the store came home. Then my favorite part of my day was when we had a Lasagna supper with some ladies of the community. My first impression of them was that they were new believers, baby Christians. But that all changed about two hours into it. When colleen had a study, they all listened well made comments in ajibwe ( sp ) with occasional laughter. Then at the end of it she said let’s all pray for Linda and Danielle, all the lady’s looking quite un shure , got around us being careful not to touch us to close. They started to pray, in there own language and tongues. then histarical laughter ended the prayer, it wasn’t a long prayer. but the seriousness of there prayers just blew me away. and of course I didn’t know what they were saying. then coleen said “ pray for me “ so we did and those prayers were more heart felt than the first. next we had cake and ice cream . as well as lots and lots and lots of laughing all evening , well for about an hour more when they left after cleaning up a bit . so as im thinking back to my day , I feel so welcomed and at peace and at home that it seems like we have been here for more than a day but it has only been that first day !

Painting Pictures

2009-02-07T20:57:00.000-08:00

When an artist starts to paint, he first gets the canvas, then puts it on the easel. now he is ready to start painting, so he chooses the right color it is usually blue on the top with green on the bottom ( sky and grass ) so this is the foundation. he then starts to go further and more detailed. and as you watch in the beginning it may not look like the picture it should be, but as you watch it slowly comes in to focus and looks more and more like a beautiful masterpiece. now don't forget that if you look at this masterpiece with a magnifying glass, it doesn't look like much, but if you look at it from a distance it makes so much more sense. Now this analogy can be used in the same sense as God is painting the picture of your life and sometimes it doesn't always make sense at first, but as we wait and watch the master work it all comes into place. Only then it makes so much more sense. so look at the whole picture and not just these present circumstances.

God's provision

2009-01-11T16:05:00.000-08:00

I was reading "God's Smuggler" the ther night and I was at a point where Andrew was looking into buying small pocket Bibles for the Russian pastors. the whole purchase would be around 1500 dollars and they only had 200 so he talkes to his wife about selling there house (they happen to have a baby on the way )so they pray for willingness and they continue to pray. to the point of "God GIVE us willingness " and finally they get to the point of being so happy that they didn't care if they had a house, as long as they had each other they would be happy. so they put theire house on the market and he put in an order for the Bibles. well after that, he gets a call from a Bible distributer and they said that they would pay half. So they got to keep their house.

that reminded me of Gods provision as long as were willing to do even the most heart wrenchong things, he will work it out and it's going to be OK .

MY latest

2009-01-02T21:11:00.000-08:00

So, If one so much says that she would absolutely not do this one thing, what do you think will happen in the future ? well if you don't know I will tell you, sometimes it just so happens that God is sitting up there and says " so you don't want to do this huh, well lets see how soon I can change your heart". This situation I went through very much recently, you see I for so long said that I was going to do Mandate when I got older (this was when I was about seven ). then when I was older and among the finishing school age I decided to not go to Mandate. Now I am going to finish school and then.........GO TO MANDATE!!!!! yeah, I know what are the odds right ? so that in the future I think I'm going to be careful about what I say I'm not doing.

About Me and My Home Town (Sheridan)

2008-12-18T12:52:00.000-08:00

The town that I grew up in is only about as big as about 5'000 people. It has one stop light, one grocery store (at the moment), a couple banks, one gas station and a whole lot of hicks. It has the Yamhill flowing through the middle of the town with a bridge. I moved here from Salem when I had just turned three. when I was eight we adopted my four sisters. so our family went from eight to ten and I went from being the baby to the middle child. I have three older brothers and an older sister ( by four months ) and four younger sisters. the youngest is two and we are guardians. That's a long story within itself. so here I am ,almost ready to graduate, a good job at Figaro's in town, with a passion and a desire to go over seas...... someday.

My Puddle Jumping

2008-12-07T20:23:00.000-08:00

One of my new hobbies is puddle jumping, This is the first year I have actually been excited about the rain and so I have started to puddle jump. there was this one time I went on a walk with some people and it happen to be raining so hard to that I was wet all down the front so I thought " If I'm already wet why not puddle jump" and so I began to. witch being the oanry one I am, I pland it just right so that when the other people got close I would jump rilght near them. then wern't to happy ,but it was fun. then I got really cold because I was wet on the front and the back so I went home.

The first time I went puddle jumping, my cousins were over and I said, " I'm going to go puddle jumping, any one want to go? So my cousin Stephani said she would come and so off we went out side and there was a big puddle right in our driveway I went for it and started jumping, witch startled my cousin. So she and I went all over town finding the biggest puddles to jump in. It was great fun!

Trveling the World!

2008-12-06T00:33:00.000-08:00

I have yet to wander the world, witch is one of my hearts desires. I would love to go and see the middle East, as well as Europe. Maybe someday I will be able to see South America. I have never really wanted to go to canada but who knows maybe God will change my mind. I wnt to go to Europe, (but not England I have never had a desire to) to see ll the sites that are not usuelly seen. Asia, I don't know where I want to go in Asia, but I think I would love to go someday. know Africa has alwayse been on my heart since I was at least thirteen, I went for the first time in 2006 with the Mandate studants (well some of them ). It was quite an experience for me at fourteen, and I learned alot. I have yet to lern more as my adventures continue.

Dars house

2008-12-01T20:26:00.000-08:00

my wanderings have lately come to pass at my lovely friend Darlene's house (also known as Dar). Witch are always joyous times with laughing and occasionally some dancing. Not many people know we go there, but we have secret feasts of cookie dough, pie and gum drops. So after the kids go to bed we sit around and talk of cleaning lists, parties we never have, secret fantasies, and blogs.