Kansas City Kiwi

He opens his heart up time and time again

2009-03-30T14:34:00.000-07:00

One of my new favourite things about Jesus is that he keeps his heart open to people. Even when he was on this earth he fully loved people and told them the truth and there was no contradiction in that. He knew that he was going to be despised and rejected and yet over and over again he would chose to love and serve.

In this day and age we find it hard to keep our hearts open to people especially if there is an indication of difficulty or pain involved. If we think there could be rejection or separation on the horizon we would rather get out before we get hurt. How opposite to Jesus.

Jesus died for people who hated him (like us). He washed the feet of men who were going to deny even knowing him.

I have a feeling it's because firstly, he is love, and secondly he was so confident in the love of the Father and the Father was the one he lived to please, so even if people rejected his love he knew his Father delighted in him.

I really want to be like Jesus!

God, our creator

2009-03-12T04:09:00.000-07:00

This week I have had two worship with the Word sets that have awakened my heart again to the wonder of God as creator.

When you read Job 37-38 you see God talking about storehouses of snow, boundary lines for the sea and him telling the lightening where to go. He is the God over all creation, this is to be a comfort to us. In Isaiah 40 Israel are called to remember the Lord God, the creator of the ends of the earth and to wait upon this one who is all knowing and all powerful. It's not just that God has wisdom but he has the power to act according to his wisdom.

When we look at the events of Revelation and we see the natural disasters that will be occurring we can know this: The safest place to be is to make the One who commands the lightning and thunder to be our refuge and to put our trust in him alone.

One year left

2009-02-28T16:55:00.000-08:00

I'm back in Kansas City after a wonderful time at home. I love New Zealand, I think it's a marvelous place to be able to call home. I enjoyed spending time with my friends and family, especially my niece Caitlin, 13 months is a really fun (and loud) age.

Now I'm back in Kansas City I am looking at this year and asking myself and the Lord what is the best way for me to spend this last year at IHOP? I try to live in state of heart that is always thankful wherever I am and making the most of the season the Lord has me in and well as the opportunities that arise. Hopefully this year will be the same.

I'm excited about what the Lord has planned for me post KC but am determined to not let that rob me of the joy of living in the present now.

Why the night watch?

2009-01-14T16:22:00.001-08:00

I was talking with my friend and flatmate last night about the night watch. We were basically talking about how amazing it is to live in a community of young adults who have all switched their body clocks and their lives in order to pray in the night

Personally I think this is an unusual phenomenon. Many people stay up late, many people pray at night, many people have the graveyard shift but not many people order their entire lives around keeping a prayer room going from 12-6am and do it in the midst of a community.

I've always said, and this will remain true that I love the night watch because I love telling Jesus I love him and I love his leadership in the midnight hours when the rest of the country are sleeping or doing things you don't want to know about, but the Lord knows.

I also love this community of believers, I think the night watch are some of the weakest people here. We do the night watch because it hedges us in even more to pray and fast. But when I look around the room as I prayer lead sometimes my heart overflows with love for these people I see almost every day. Even those we don't know intimately, we know each others journey, we see one another continue in the place of prayer through difficult seasons and through times of promotion.

I joined the night watch because I wanted to love Jesus in the night, and I can truly say I also love his people in the night.

I don't believe in New Years resolutions but...

2009-01-11T05:52:00.000-08:00

Maybe this will be the year I will get better at blogging regularly.

So I will give a brief update and recap of my life in bullet points because they are my favourite.

1) My Fall interns left just before Christmas. My new ones arrived 4 days ago, though this time they are track 2 (our internship has two three month tracks) and I'm leading with a wonderful women Eileen.

2) Christmas and New Years were spent with good friends and very enjoyable, though I intended to take photos, I forgot and so I don't really have any evidence of any fun that was had!

3) The onething conference, which is the young adult conference IHOP run at the end of the year was amazing, and I have enjoyed listening to the archives that have been made available for free! Since I was sick for the conference I probably saw more than I would otherwise because I watched it at home instead of working for it

4) I'm going to be with my family in New Zealand for 4 weeks in 2 1/2 weeks and I am pretty excited. I've borrowed dresses for the two weddings I'm attending and can't wait to play with Daniel and Caitlin.

5) I am also looking forward to my sister Jo, her husband Devan and their little boy Jame visiting me in July, the last time I actually saw my whole family in the same year was 2006.

6) I really do want to write more on my blog, probably on topics relating to holiness and the pursuit of the Holy One, so we'll see how we go with that.

7) I think that's a good recap of my life, and maybe I'll actually write more this year. You never know.

Winter coming fast - Summer here I come!

2008-11-18T04:50:00.000-08:00

It's becoming very cold here in KC, it's already been below 0 a couple of times, the leaves have fallen and even some snow!

It warms my little heart to know that I will be in NZ summer during the coldest month of the KC year.

In other news, the Lord totally provided for my ticket home - from a person I don't even know! My mum meet someone at her retreat who wanted to give me money after hearing about what I do here. The Lord is my Provider!

Events of recent weeks has caused my to be sober once again in the times that we are living in and I want to give myself to the knowledge of God, not just to know information but to know his heart.

My interns are wonderful, and just thinking about them makes me smile, I don't think I've ever had to answer so many questions but they all have such hungry hearts for truth.

that's me

Another attempt at consistancy

2008-10-05T05:21:00.000-07:00

I would like to think for the most part that I am consistent. With this blog I am consistent in not writing very much, so I guess that's better than nothing.

Fire in the night started it's Fall track 10 days ago, 80 interns, 5 young women who I am responsible for for the next three months. One thing I like about working with people is it means the same job is never the same. I find that I led so differently track to track depending on the women in my apartment and where think people are at. You don't led an 18 year old and a 30 year old the same way.

Fall is here, and I do like fall, but when I think about it I actually like all the seasons for different reasons.

My sister Jo had her first baby, James and I am so excited, I think it's amazing that in a moment a women becomes a mother, I think it's so cool.

Speaking of cool, I'm going home for a visit in late January. I'm looking forward to it and it makes living in another country easier when you know you get to go home sometimes.

That's all

Sustained by the Word

2008-08-01T05:36:00.000-07:00

one of my favourite passages to prayer lead is "Kiss me with the kisses of your Word". I like it because it's simple, I'm asking God to speak to me, and because he's given the Word it's as simple as asking for his Word become alive to me.

I truly believe that we are sustained in our spiritual walk with the Word of God, the written Word and that which the Lord speaks to our hearts. I believe it because it says in Hebrews 1 that he sustains all things by the power of his Word and I'm pretty sure that I am included in the all things.

Tonight I experienced what I know to be true. I went into a 2am worship with the Word set very tired, it's been a long week for me with spending 23 hours with an intern who was sick in hospital, and then have a relational wholeness seminar with fire in the night; that makes for a long week, add in the fasting element I have felt my weakness and human frailty the last few days.

Then we started to sing, about delighting in his Word, about him drawing us to himself by giving us a revelation of his love (which for me personally means giving me a revelation of the cross). I left the platform at 4am feeling renewed, feeling like I wanted to live righteously, feeling like I really could fast another 8 days. And why? The simplicity of singing and speaking the Word back to God. Truly the Word is living and active, it truly is our daily bread. I am so thankful that I get to prayer lead worship with the Word sets because it means I get to meditate with a bunch of other people on the Word and get my heart cleansed and my mind renewed. Plus I get to bring joy to the Lord because he loves my voice, plus I get to stand in the gap for a generation that do not know him.

All that to say, I like my job and I love the Word.

Where do the months go?

2008-07-27T01:56:00.000-07:00

Yes that's right it's been another month since I last wrote. While I have two room mates who are very faithful in their blogging I am not, and I'm only writing now because I'm waiting for my sister to be on skype.

Speaking of Skype, it really is a gift to all people who live overseas from their families and friends. It's so great to be able to chat, call and see one another over the web, I think everyone should get it!

I've been thinking about holiness recently. I was reading Galations when it talks about how if we walk in the spirit then we wont fulfill the lusts of our flesh. Holiness is simple, we simply fellowship with the Holy Spirit. When we know what we are saying yes to then it's easier to say no. For example when we have a vision for holiness and gazing upon the throne of God then it's easier for us to say no to the inappropriate movie or the course joking. I think so much of the time we can focus on what we "can't" do anymore instead of the fruit that is produced by walking in the spirit - love, joy, peace and patience. Are you kidding me? That's amazing!!!

Some of our problem is that we don't really believe that God is more pleasurable, but holiness is more enjoyable because in God's presence there is fullness of joy. I want to be holy as he is holy and I want to be one who is pure in heart that I would see him.

That's my thought, probably till next month!

Another month gone by

2008-06-24T04:40:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been a month since I last wrote. I don't want to be another person who started a blog but did not continue, so here I am typing away, when I know I need to get to bed soon.

The Spring interns left today, the new interns arrive the day after tomorrow, which means I have one day of not being a core leader. I'm finding I have reached the stage that core leading is just a way of life for me, it's strange to think of doing the night watch and not being involved in fire in the night because I have been since I got here and I have no plans to move on.

Speaking of moving on, I am now officially prayer leading seven worship with the Word sets a week, and I'm excited, a little nervous, but excited. I just agreed to do another two which is what brings me up to seven a week. I love Worship with the Word because it requires team work, humility, listening to others and the Holy Spirit and a commitment to go deep on the Word for it to work. I've found my heart become so alive in some of the scriptures we have been singing. I am excited for this season, I know it wont be for too long as other prayer leaders are being trained, but I think it will be fun however long it lasts. I love seeing where we go with the scripture and that I can prayer led the same verse three times in a week and we go to different places with each team.

I also love the Summer, it makes me happy, I was totally made for the day when the Lamb will be the light, I just wonder what the temperature will be

The beauty of silence

2008-05-24T23:07:00.000-07:00

We live in the world that is full of noise and activity; at least we do in the west, and especially here in America.

Henri Nouman is his book "The way of the heart" talks about solitude and silence. He says we need to be silent before we can have anything to say(or something like that, it's not a direct quote). And I think he's right.

In a world of constant words how many of us have words that speak life into another person? We are so quick to speak that the fire the Lord puts within becomes a smoldering wick because we feel this unusual pressure to speak of things before their time, unlike Mary, the mother of Jesus, who pondered in her heart, we are quick to ponder out loud.

Perhaps one of the problems we face is not that we don't have the words or the communication skills but that the Word is not burning on the inside, we don't give it a chance. If I live as the Word says "slow to speak, quick to listen" I wonder if I will have something to say one day that pierces hearts.

That's when silence becomes our friend, to quieten not only the external noise but to quieten our souls within us, sometimes the loudest voices are the ones that go on in our heads and that is the joy of silence we become aware of the voices we are listening to that eventually we will be tuned to the one Voice.

His sheep do know his voice, I just wonder if we struggle hearing it because of the noise we surround ourselves with drowns it out.

That's my thought for the day, rather abstract and mystical for me, but a thought none the less

There is a time for everything

2008-05-19T04:22:00.000-07:00

Which means it's time for me to write a blog, I think it's pretty obvious that I'm not a very faithful blogger, I guess I need to get into the habit of it.

Anyway, the middle of May and finally the sun is coming out to play, if only it would stay in the 70's! But I'm thankful that it's warming up, it seems to have taken a while.

Well, my Daniel class is over, but I didn't study Daniel today, I normally do that Tuesday so I don't really have much to say presently, what I did do tonight was prayer lead the 10pm and 2am worship with the Word sets. Sunday is my prayer leading day as I do both sets so I'm pretty tired by 4am. One thing I'm constantly being reminded of as I prayer lead is there is nothing more powerful than the Word of God. I mean we can say cool things, and give context or whatever but there is nothing as powerful than the Word of God hitting the heart of a person, I mean it converts the soul, it gives light into darkness, it's a sword that divides soul and spirit. And his Words are Words of life and I want them written on my heart, which is why I enjoy prayer leading because it actually causes me to go deeper into the Word.

I think that's all I have for now

About my class

2008-04-23T19:42:00.000-07:00

I mentioned to a few people that I would write about my Daniel class I am currently taking. I will soon I promise! The problem with doing the class is that I don't have much time for anything else! Because it's 3-6pm Monday through Thursday, which is time that I can usually spend doing "life". With my "life" time cut short I'm afraid that I don't get around to doing such things as write in my blog, but I will, soon.

what I will say is that Daniel lived the life of prayer and fasting and I want to be like him when I grow up.

Another bulllet point blog

2008-04-12T16:33:00.000-07:00

I love blogging in bullet point form, which is probably not the way you are supposed to blog, but sometimes words are so overrated! So here are some interesting thoughts or facts of the week

I have started drinking coffee, just in Mocha form, but still coffee, and it's a habit now. I'm trying to work out how I feel about this, but I'm going to wait until I've finished my 3pm class.

I start a new class on Monday, I have doing Daniel with Allen Hood and I am super excited.

Speaking of Daniel, I'm also starting to tackle Jeremiah again.

I got to talk with Angela and Joanne (or Ange and Jo) my older sisters last week, but what is amazing is that we all talked at the same time on skype. It was the first time in over three years.

Jesus is kind

that's it!
Wendy

Happy Birthday me

2008-04-01T05:30:00.000-07:00

I really like being 26, I'm no longer in the 25 and under age bracket! I had a really nice day, it was pretty normal, classes, meeting, sets in the prayer room but it was happy and I felt loved.

I'm thankful to be spending another year in Kansas City, it's so strange to think this is the third birthday I have celebrated in the states.

In other news, our new interns have arrived, and they are wonderful, really sweet and kind, I think I'm going to really enjoy this track.

Sweet dreams
Wendy

Pure simple devotion to Christ

2008-03-23T04:33:00.000-07:00

Well, the title really does say it all but I think Paul has a really good point in 2 Corinthians 11:2-3 when he encourages the believers to not stray from the simplicity that is in Christ.

It seems to me that we are prone to stray from the simplicity of love God, love people, loving God can become this to do list of things that mean we really love him or can prove to him (or to others) that we do love him. And then because of that loving people because this stressful task as opposed to an overflow of a loving heart.

When you come face to face with love you will give up everything for it, and I'm not talking about fake romantic comedy love I mean the love that is proven by the man with scars in his hands.

We love because he first loved us and gave himself for us, when we gaze upon this man, the one who gave everything, how can we not but love him? Love is a choice, not an emotion and it's easy to chose love when it's right in front of you.

My point? Let's give ourselves to thinking upon the cross, the demonstration of God's love that we might love him, because there is joy and peace found in this place of simple devotion. I don't expect to do much in my life that will be news worthy in this age but for all eternity I want to be known as one who loved well. It's what Jesus died for anyway

Wendy

I did say I would post photos so here they are

2008-03-16T18:33:00.001-07:00

Daniel, the cutest 2 1/2 year old ever!

Sarah and myself at Maritai, one of my favourite swimming beaches

The power of being there

2008-03-11T06:59:00.000-07:00

There is something I think we easily forget, that we are human BEINGS not human doings. In a world where people run around all day doing things, and what you do defines who you are, how important you are it's so easy to think that the Lord's primary object is to have us do things.

Now I do believe faith without actions is dead, well I have to, it's in the bible and I believe that work is important, but when our primary focus is what we do we miss out in simply being with the Lord.

Becoming all that the Lord has made us to be means that we need to BE before the one who created us, that he can continue to conform us into his likeness.

The great prayer of Jesus is that we would BE with him where he is and see him in his glory, so I'm going with Jesus' prayer. Maybe it's true and Jesus, the Son of God, wants to be with us, even in our mundane little lives, maybe being his is enough.

Back in Kansas City

2008-03-07T03:29:00.000-08:00

It's true, I'm back in Kansas City, wearing winter coats and now keeping doors and windows closed.

My time in New Zealand was wonderful, as I don't like super long blog entries I will say a few highlights, and post some pictures in the near future. Then I will attempt to start writing concerning things that I am studying and learning as well as general life updates.

But for now, a few of my highlights
1) My family, are just awesome, I loved being with them, hard to put into words how great it was to see them
2) NZ Summer, though it did rain quite a bit, that's okay, it's New Zealand, you never know what the weather is going to do but I have still come back with a tan
3) Hanging out with Sarah, I just had so much fun with her, going to the beach, driving around and laughing a lot
4) Bungy Jumping, has to be one of the funnest things I've ever done in my life and I hope to do it again.

It's been real
W

when counting down is almost over

2008-01-29T05:25:00.000-08:00

The time is drawing nigh, I'm going home. When I tell people in KC it is quickly proceeded with for four weeks, other wise people get a little concerned.

I bought a swimsuit today, very exciting, I haven't done that for about 3 or 4 years!

I'm now in Zephaniah and Habakkuk who i have to confess I'm struggling a little to understand except that God judges wickedness and he restores all things at the end of the age and he keeps his promises with Israel. All of which I am thankful for.

Because I like lists I will say five reasons why I am looking forward to going home
1) Caitlin Grace Dorothy blundell - my new little niece, I can't wait to meet her and hang out with her older brother, and her mum and dad for the matter. Especially up at my holiday house

2) The holiday house, the place of refuge and quiet.

3) ROAD TRIPS - the fun thing about having someone not from your country come with you somewhere is that you really appreciate your country so much more, and it will be good to spend some quality time with my little civic.

4) Mum and dad, this list isn't in order but it'll be nice to hang out with my parents and be a daughter for a while

5) SUN and SUMMER,I am a pale night watch girl and it'll be so great to get outside in fresh air and sunshine, good for the heart, good for the soul.

I'm becoming too excited to sleep sometimes
Wendy

I like Micah, and Amos, and other prophets

2008-01-22T17:10:00.002-08:00

I really like the prophetic books in the bible.

When I was younger I never read them because they were so confusing, and God seemed kinda mean and angry, now I love them and I see the jealous heart of a bridegroom everywhere.

And their message is so important, all of humanities problems come down to one thing - forsaking the Lord and his ways. Man's way always leads to the exaltation of self which leads to the oppression of others. God's way leads to life.

One of my friends talks about having dead friends, I think I've found some in these men who heard the Word of the Lord and spoke it even though it was always unpopular and rarely listened to.

And yes, I think Jeremiah is my best dead friend

When you preach to yourself

2008-01-18T07:04:00.001-08:00

Yes, I read my own blog on the Lord's faithfulness and it was good for my heart.

Because I'm right (I love being right, I still need to work on that one!)

When you are hit with the reality that you really do have to leave the United States because you are not a citizen and leaving the US means leaving IHOP-KC, leaving the night watch and the people that you pray with every night it's helpful to remember the Lord is faithful.

And no, this doesn't mean I plan to leave soon, Lord willing I have two more years here.

What it does mean is I have a choice once again to trust in the Lord's leadership of my life.

Because he is faithful

New Year's and Faithfulness

2008-01-14T04:59:00.001-08:00

I don't do New Year's resolutions anymore, but if I did I would make resolution to write in my blog more and write deeper content.

It is 23 days until I arrive in New Zealand and I can't wait, the Lord is so faithful to me letting me go home for a bit, and in an effort to write substantial content I will share some thoughts on his faithfulness.

He is the one who is faithful, always, not because of anything I have done. God cannot be any more faithful or less faithful than he already is because one of his names is faithful. When I think of faithfulness I think of follow through. Jesus always follows through, on everything, always.

We can look to Israel's history as a picture of the Lord's faithfulness. He decides that he will rule from Jerusalem, and he will. Despite Judah being totally unfaithful and in rebellion against him God made a promise to a man called David, and he will follow through on that promise - David's seed Jesus will sit on a throne, as a man forever.

Though Israel was unfaithful most of their history the Lord was still faithful in that if he said he would do something, he would. But note, he's not "just" faithful on the "nice" things but the "negative" things also. In other words read Deuteronomy 28 and the Lord is faithful to all of it, the blessings and the curses. Because he loves justice and he follows through. He is the God who acts.

Bringing that down to my little life and my every day living, it means God's faithfulness is not based on anything I do, I cannot affect the Lord's faithfulness. If I confess my sin he is faithful to forgive, end of story. If he begins a good work in my life he's faithful to complete it, end of story.

But how I experience his faithfulness is up to me!

Interesting thought
Wendy

The Christmas update

2007-12-27T14:17:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas came and went, I think I had the best Christmas since living in Kansas City, it was relaxing, very much so, in fact we seemed to go back and forth from the table to eat back to the couches to nap. I think it's also easier because I don't have an expectation for things to "feel like Christmas" as I knew it growing up, because considering back home it's Summer and I spend it with my family that's not going to happen but close friends is a great alternative!!!!

By far the best thing about Christmas this year is my niece Caitlin Grace Dorothy Blundell was born, just over 7 pounds and in a little over 2 hours, I can't wait to meet her!

The "family picture" from Christmas day at Sarah's, it was definitly a family picture because when I announced it people complained, which is what we do in my family, then TJ couldn't find his timer on his camera, so many Christmas memories relived!!!

Christine, Amanda and Gabrielle as we open our stockings together and have hot chocolate with tim tams, for a taste of home for me :)

On another note, right now I'm studying the minor prophets a little and I really like them, but today my little job is to try and finish my knowledge of the holy outline, which was one of my goals to do this year, and now it's like 5 days left to go!!

Of counting and winter

2007-12-13T04:36:00.000-08:00

I found counter that will tell me how many days until I come to New Zealand, now I don't have to try and work it out while I"m in the prayer room because it does it for me.

Winter is here, it's funny how you get used to something. The high can be 2 degrees (I'm talking NZ temp here) yes, that is the high, sometimes the high is less than that and this is the crazy thing, I'm used to it. My walking on ice ability is slowly improving with time and though I enjoy snow it's not as excited as it was when I was here for my first winter. I think Kansas City is starting to feel like home.......a little bit.

It's been a whole month

2007-12-06T06:05:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's been a month, time flies really fast sometimes. So I'm going to do a month in review and then try to be a little better at writing. Emphasis on the try part. So this month............

the weather got cold - the coat, scarves and hats are out and I have to confess I enjoy this aspect of the weather, I found out I love wearing hats, who knew? In Nz I only wore woolen hats skiing.

We had thanksgiving - I made pumpkin gooey butter cake ,didn't overcook it this time and it was pretty much amazing, I will make it next year,

I found out why everyone makes cakes and cookies from box and ready made stuff - it's so much cheaper! I needed a yellow cake mix for my recipe - it was one dollar, add butter and eggs and you have a cake! BUT homemade is always better and I will not yield (though I will eat things other people make from boxes)

Relational wholeness seminar - with our interns, this is a really great 2 day seminar that a couple from ihop do, but pretty intense, usually a need for a few more one on ones than normal

I GOT A NEW BIBLE - NASB Thompson Chain, a friend offered to buy me a new one when the other one he bought me last year broke in half. I think Thompson chain should give me a commission because I am telling lots of people about how great it is!

We got a Christmas tree, and stockings, Amanda and I decorated our tree with red and gold and it looks pretty, it's one of those plastic ones that comes with lights in it already so we can use it again, I'm happy to finally have a Christmas tree (now I need my family to send me presents to go under it!!!!)

I got my taxes done - I know really late and that's bad but I got them done and I don't owe the American government anything, praise the Lord, in fact they are giving me money back which is nice of them, I am totally having my tax done by some place like as soon as I can in January.

I think that's about it but I will leave with some thoughts after some conversations I've had with people recently

- Jesus did the Father's will perfectly, always obeyed and ended up on a cross - so when we pursue obedience can we expect anything less?

- Why talk to your friends about something but not to God, Jesus cares more about us than our friends do, and he has scars in his hands to prove it (note that doesn't mean don't talk to your friends, but I've noticed many people don't believe that he really is kind

He is always good

Happy pumpkin day

2007-11-03T18:28:00.000-07:00

Really it was Andrea's birthday, but the theme of pumpkin ran all through my day last week.

This is a pumpkin patch (go state the obvious Wendy) and they are all orange, unlike New Zealand pumpkins which are kinda pale green. In the states pumpkin is primarily used for sweet thing, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffin, pumpkin spice chai. etc.

This is the Chocolate harvest cake that Lacey and I made that night, which is chocolate cake with cream cheese and pumpkin filling, it was amazing, we also made pumpkin butter cake, pumpkin apple cake and a smores easter, we then invited come friends around and feed them all our sugary goodness!

autumn/fall

2007-10-14T05:00:00.001-07:00

Well it's here, it's fall, in NZ we say Autumn, but until writing this blog that didn't even cross my mind. It is strange the longer I'm here the less I use NZ termanology.

the beginning of Fall in KC is a lot like an NZ Summer, the sun is still warm and just cooler temperutures. I know it's really fall because tonight I switched my winter/summer wadrobe, which doesn't take very long as I don't have that many clothes, it's just getting out my super warm clothes from a bag and replacing them with summer tank tops and dresses that I wont wear 'till I VISIT NEW ZEALAND. I'm already super excited and it's still 4 months away but it'll go fast I know it. And my friends here will get the countdown too, I think I will start at 30 days.

My friend Sarah will probably come for 2 1/2 weeks which is so exciting to actually travel with someone else. I have done this trip quite a few times now so the idea of having someone in line with me is nice and being able to show her my country.

The end and the beginning

2007-10-05T04:56:00.000-07:00

Well, Orientation with our interns is over. Which means I will no longer spend most of my day in the multipurpose room though I have to say I have really enjoyed orientation. Stuart spoke a lot about fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit it was so helpful and simple. Talk to God. all the time. About the Word.

I'm alone in my room for the first time since last Friday as one of my interns from last track stayed in my room until her apartment was done. I loved having her stay with me and staying up a little late talking about Jesus, we had a wonderful conversation last night about the cross that brought us both to silence, just wanting to think about the Lord's goodness.

Now Orientation is over FITN really begins, I'm starting to work on connecting with my eight interns, taking classes, doing what we do. I love it. And love Jesus through it all.

That's all for now
W

Sometimes I forget.......

2007-09-25T19:59:00.000-07:00

I kinda forgot that I had a blog, it's true, I guess because my days have been filled with other thoughts.

The Summer interns left Monday, I really loved this track and I'm glad that all my interns are sticking around, for at least another 3 months. We have 120 interns arriving on Friday, basically double what we had this time. I know this is going to be a big growing curve for a lot of us, I'm excited and also feeling the weight of 120 young adults who the night watch are entrusted with for 3 months.

If I could sum up what I hope for these interns it would be that I want to win them over to the wisdom of going deep in prayer, the Word and fasting and I want them to become friends of Jesus. Really that is what is important, that they love the Lord with all their hearts, and Jesus the bridegroom, king and judge would find friends in these ones.

On a completely different note I meet Adi, Sommer's little girl for the first time today, I had been praying with Sommer throughout her pregnancy so it's amazing to meet the little one that I felt kick inside Sommer! She is the sweetest thing and I look forward to seeing this little girl grow into being a woman of grace and beauty

Why I am thankful for IHOP-KC

2007-09-09T04:28:00.001-07:00

I can live out my dream to be before the Lord for hours at a time

My life is very simple and uncomplicated

I have teachers and leaders who care about me pursuing righteousness

I have friends who don't get offended if, when they ask me to hang out, I say no because I want to be in the place of prayer

I get to sing as much as I want

People care more about the Word of God then being "right"

We never stop worshiping Jesus

I'm reminded of the importance of living the Sermon on the Mount

Personal days

2007-09-02T01:04:00.000-07:00

Well I did it, I have taken 5 personal days and including my Sabbath I have six "days off". That is pretty good for me because I do have a tendency to just keep going and going but I know the benefit of taking time out to reflect on the Lord's goodness, on where I am heading and how I think I need to get there.

People do lots of things when they are on vacation. I have to say it's strange for me this time because either I ski or I am by water, but there is no ocean in the background as I sleep. Oh well, I'm still getting outside and chilling out around rivers and lakes.

There is one thing that I think is important for us to do, actually two things. One, is to treat our vacation times as extended Sabbaths, as times to trust in the Lord for provisions and thank him for all that he has done. Secondly to take stock of where we are. Am I doing what I think God is calling me to, if not why? Am I fulfilling the goals I have made for this year or was I unrealistic? I think it's important to look at how we live our lives WITH THE LORD, not naval gazing but being honest in where we are in our walk of obedience. Look at our schedules what is working, what isn't and taking responsibility if change is needed.

So really look at what the vision is that the Lord has given us and am I being faithful with what I think he is saying. Because otherwise we can find ourselves just going and doing life and then realize we have no idea what we are doing because we never took the time out to think about, life just kinda happened.

I hope that makes sense.
Me

Hooray for me

2007-08-29T03:31:00.000-07:00

Another little milestone in my year.

I have just finished outlining the New Testament, I have been doing this by re writing each verse in my own words, then summarizing the paragraph. And I've finished, I'm very excited especially since I'm about to go on a little break and it's nice to have things finished I can spend some time deciding what the next project is, though Jeremiah is going to get a lot of attention from me as I decided to focus on outlining the New Testament after I finished phase two of Jeremiah, so here I come Phase Three.

Yeah for me

Singing Theologians

2007-08-21T04:58:00.001-07:00

One of the values of our "harp and bowl" model is that we want to be a "singing seminary" (seminary is bible school). I've been thinking more than usual about this. How do we become singing theologians? How do we go from people who get together and sing around a verse to people who go deep in the Word? the answer is obvious. We go deep in the Word ourselves. Spending "long and loving hours meditating on the Word of God". Because at the end of the day, it's the Word that transforms our hearts, it's the Word that is eternal, it is the Word of God hidden in our hearts that keeps us from sinning.

I want the Word written on my heart, and it costs something - time! But the fruit is so worth it, I know I feel the most alive when I am in the Word and the Holy Spirit is teaching me things.

I want every person on our team to be able to preach on whatever Psalm we are studying. I want us to have the Word rooted in our hearts and cleansing our minds, being washed with the water of His Word.

I really want the Word written on my heart.
Amen, let's stand.

It's been a while....

2007-08-18T19:01:00.000-07:00

Two weeks in fact. Mainly because I have to confess that I do not schedule blogging so it only happens on my Sabbath or before I go to bed. Another contributing factor has been wondering if I have terribly much to say at this point in time, but I will do my best.

1) It is very hot in Kansas City (NZers I'm talking 35-40 degrees)
2) It will be hot when I go home in February, I don't have dates yet but I will probably be there for about a month
3) Loving people takes time, lots of time, an abundance of time and I'm thankful that God loves it and enjoys it when we love people.
4) I am getting better at learning where all the states are in the US thanks to a quiz site I found online.
5) Only 12 chapters left on the New Testament outline
6) I am taking a class "Preparing the Way of the Lord" which is about counseling and prayer ministry, I'm excited about it
7)The Lord is good and his mercy endures forever.

Wendy

Of maggots, chiggers and couches

2007-08-02T20:21:00.000-07:00

I know how can these three things be in one entry? Answer: I have encountered adventures with all these three in the past week.

Maggots - well, this really isn't me, so much as my wonderful, kind, servant hearted flatmate Amanda. It was her turn to do the trash this week. And the trash had maggots. Yuk yuk yuk. I came home and saw the trash out a day early, then I came into the house with the kitchen smelling rather clorox like. Yes, Amanda cleaned all the maggots out. But then we had another problem. Earlier in the week I had cleaned up a bag of trash left outside that animals had gotten into (note: in New Zealand there are not any animals that would get into our trash, except sometimes my cat) it smelled real bad. So we decided the only solution was to go to wall mart and get a trash can at 7am. So we did and we got to see a whole set of people who get up at that time to go to work. Interesting crowd.

Chiggers - for my New Zealand readers. Chiggers are insects that bite you, but their bite itch WAY MORE than your average mozzie bite. I got about 28 chigger bites on my legs. Self control takes a whole meaning

Couches - today four wonderful male fitn interns came with their core leader to do the couch swap. Because our landlord is moving into our old house she wanted the couches from the house we live in now (she bought all the furniture for our house), so I asked Alan (the core leader) how he would feel about some male bonding over moving my couches, he said yes and the guys came round and did it in like 15 minutes with great attitudes. One of them seemed keen to do yard work too. I made cookies for them as payment, which they were going to have with their manly lots of meat bbq.

That's my story.
I like the people I live with
Wendy

Luke 23

2007-08-02T20:06:00.000-07:00

In an earlier post I mentioned Luke 23, so here is the blog concerning this scripture. I was reading this scripture before we had communion with our interns and was struck by two things.

Firstly, everyone knew that Jesus didn't deserve to die, the Pharisees knew it, they had to pay people to give false testimony. Pilate knew it, he says it like 3 times that Jesus has done nothing to deserve death. Even the thieves on the crosses next to him knew he was not guilty. The Judge of the whole earth who is going to judge everyone in righteousness was condemned guilty and deserving of death, and he didn't deserve it. I did. I'm the one who deserves to die, not Jesus, but he died the death that I deserved that I may live eternally with him. Selah.

Secondly, it says in 1 Corinthians 13 that love does not seek it's own, that was a temptation that Jesus faced at the cross. People saying "If you really are the Son of God save yourself" "He can save others but he cannot save himself" Jesus could of saved himself, no one took his life from him HE LAID IT DOWN, and it's because he is God that he didn't because love does not seek it's own. How often do we have the temptation to save ourselves, to look after ourselves first but Jesus has the ultimate expression of love in the cross. He did not save himself, he knew what he was doing for the sake of love.

Luke is cool
Wendy

Phase Two complete

2007-07-30T00:26:00.000-07:00

Hooray for me!!

Today I finished what I am calling "Phase Two" of my Jeremiah study which means I have now outlined verse by verse the whole book (I then summarize the verses in a paragraph) and made comments, added bible verses and my own thoughts to every paragraph, well I think. Now I will be going over all of it. But needless to say I am very excited that I have finished outlining and my initial personal study. Bring on the commentaries!

same colour same country?

2007-07-29T02:11:00.000-07:00

Here's another great quote

Aren't Australia and New Zealand the same place, they are both purple on the risk board?

getting relationally whole again

2007-07-29T01:58:00.000-07:00

Every track of fire in the night we have a two day seminar on "relational wholeness" or some might say "inner healing". This week was the week we had the seminar which was really good, it is the eighth time I have gone as I missed one of the seminars because I was in NZ. Speaking with my interns the teaching and ministry times have really helped them and has led to some great conversations about our skewed views of God. It's wonderful seeing the Lord break in on people's hearts and people being free on the inside.

It's wonderful but also very tiring and my introverted little self is thankfully alone tonight curling up on the couch reading "He who wept" a novel about Jeremiah. This scene will seem very similar to my family. I really like being alone and I like being okay with being an introvert, there is a lot of freedom when you understand that you want to be by yourself not because you don't like people but that you get energy by being by yourself, so to function best alone time is needed.

Which explains why I spend my Sabbath by myself, lately the only exception is my other introverted friend who I sometimes go for a walk with. I guess I just like being with myself!

Change is in air.....

2007-07-21T04:38:00.000-07:00

I'm sure I would have mentioned that IHOP is going through a time where change is becoming a very common thing. In my own little life I have yet another change to inform people of.

I am now a Ministry Assistant for fire in the night. I am still core leading but am now also serving as an "MA". Basically I, with 2 other women help out the female core leaders with situations when they are not sure what to do, or just regular living as an intercessory missionary stuff. Because as core leaders we do pour ourselves out for our interns we also need people pouring into us and helping us keep perspective.

I'm excited about this change, what I like the most is when I looked around the room at my first MA meeting I was looking at a small group of 5 people who I really like and look forward to spending more time with in this context

Of summer and Luke

2007-07-18T22:40:00.000-07:00

I have two thoughts right now that are totally unrelated!

As I was walking today and outside at various times of the day I have to confess I was very very hot. Here's the thing, in the middle of summer it's hard to remember that 6 months ago I was having to carefully walk in snow, in fact it's hard to almost remember what that's like. I am very thankful to the Lord for revealing air conditioning to someone, he's pretty smart like that, of course as we approach very last days I have a feeling air conditioning is not going to be a top priority!

Secondly. I really like Luke, as I've been plugging along with my outlining (34 chapters to go!) as first I was not looking forward to Luke because it's really long but now I love it It's such a wonderful gospel because Luke has all these little details, like about Jesus' prayer life and just little comments that are amusing. Today Leah (my fitn co leader) and I had our apartment hang out time watching the gospel of John. I like it because Jesus smiled a lot and was happy, because I think Jesus was joyful while he was on the earth, because he likes himself, and he loves to reveal the Father to people, so I think that Jesus liked being with us, if he didn't then why would he die so he can be with us forever. In saying that I know that there is also the great mystery that the creator would bow so low to become part of creation - become a man forever. But it was the Father's pleasure to have his fullness dwell in bodily form.

those are my random thoughts for the day, soon I will write about Luke 23 - I'll keep you posted!!

"I've gotten up early for lesser reasons"

2007-07-11T02:47:00.000-07:00

This is what I said to Sada when she asked me to prayer lead for the 2pm last week, this little phrase came in handy this weekend. Firstly the solemn assembly, the aim was to get there at noon with my room mate Amanda, neither of our alarms went off which meant I knocked on her door at 12:15pm and we were there by 12:45, not bad I think. The Solemn assembly was wonderful, it was great praying in a focussed way with a bunch of people.

I think one of our problems in getting up was that though we planned a hang out time we proceeded to talk until 8am, I will take responsibility for that because I started it with asking Amanda about a verse in James and what she thought. Amanda is one of my favorite people to talk to about the bible because she cares about the truth more than being "right".

Anyway, that was early day number one, after going to bed at 5:30am I got up again at 8:45am to go to the FCF service. The leader of the night watch was giving a message on the night watch and asked those who were willing to come, so we did. IT was a lot of fun and I cried (at both services) after this Amanda and I went and had lunch then a nice 3 hour nap before the second service, which was a little groundhog day like because I was going to the same building in the same clothes, with the same person to hear the same message. BUT it was so good remembering the importance of the night watch in the hour that we live in. What impacted me the most was actually Shelly's short exhortation that Jesus, the judge wants friends in the night, those that would weep with him, I think the other highlight was Stuart declaring Psalm 134 over us, pretty intense.

As I said I had not much sleep for lesser reasons than supporting my leadership and listening to a message about the night watch.

And a practical note - a short nap is better than nothing and drink lots of water!!!!
Wendy

The national holiday that came and went

2007-07-06T04:22:00.000-07:00

Most people know that the 4th of July is a day the United States celebrate independence. I have to confess that this year all it meant for me was a I saw a few fireworks on the way to a class and that they collect the trash a day late.

This week and been very full with orientation for fire in the night, but more than that I've been working a lot on making the most of every hour of the day, which I've found is very tiring but it feels so good! I did two out of the ordinary things this week, one being I sung for a 6am team, they only had two singers, it was fun to "just sing" as usually I'm playing as well, they are fortunate that when I was asked my heart was feeling alive and I was having a "thank you Jesus that I am here" moment! Secondly I prayer led for a 2pm team which I enjoyed greatly. But do not fear! Though some of my actions could indicate otherwise I am not planning on moving onto days. I want to do the night watch until the end, by the grace of God.

Another cool little thing of the week, my interns and I were talking about bible stuff, just talking about verses, they were asking questions and that night when the leader of the night watch spoke he mentioned so many of the verses we had talked about there is no way you could call it a coincidence! It was really fun.

that's my week in a nutshell!

It's been a while

2007-07-01T03:05:00.000-07:00

This week has been very full so writing for my blog has not been on my priority list so much! But it's my Sabbath so I have a little time to catch up.

Our new interns arrived yesterday, I get to lead with my friend Leah which I am excited about. We have five women in our apartment and I am looking forward to getting to know them. Orientation is always a little overwhelming because we give A LOT of information in a short amount of time.

Today I have been thinking again about how thankful I am to be here. I remember when I would be cleaning my house back home and day dream about a place where there would be 24/7 prayer and worship, now I belong to one! Now I'm on memory lane. I also remember when our church did a all night prayer meeting, by the time we got to the end of the night there were maybe 6-8 people left, the leader said he felt there was something significant about that, maybe that was where I first got a glimpse of being able to minister before the Lord in a continual manner.

I am also becoming thankful for the focus that is coming to the night watch, with the global prayer teams. These teams sit in the first four rows. It's amazing sitting close to your friends and praying together, I really do like it.

So I'm thankful to the Lord for his kindness - the boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places!

Another bend in the road

2007-06-24T02:42:00.000-07:00

There may be some who recognize this quote, if you do well done! In two days the spring track of fire in the night will end, today we had our last apartment time at cold stone creamery(an amazing ice cream place) where we sat and talked about what we appreciated about each other, and tonight we had our last burn team. They will check out at 2:30pm on Monday and then fire in the night Summer starts on Friday. This will mark the beginning of my third year as a core leader, though the outworking of that role has changed a lot in these past two years, the values have not. We want interns to leave being found leaning into Jesus. We want them to be men and women of prayer and the Word and those that radically pursue sermon on the Mount lifestyle. I have great confidence that the young women who have been in my apartment this track will do that. They are amazing, and I feel privileged to have worked with them.

A certain young man who has stolen my heart!

2007-06-20T01:42:00.001-07:00

This is Daniel John Blundell, he is 21 months old and my first nephew and everyone agrees he is a very good looking young man, which makes sense because his parents are so good looking how could he not be?

Since being here, and especially since I have been praying for the pregnant women in the night watch I do believe that children are a gift from God. And motherhood is one of the noblest roles a woman can have in this life, because among other things it involves so much laying down of oneself for the sake of another who for a long time can't "give" much back except maybe a cuddle. So go mums! (or moms). What a beautiful way to live out Jesus' love.

A wonderful miscalculation!

2007-06-18T21:12:00.000-07:00

Today I was looking at my outlining list of what books I had to go, and noticed though my total said that I had 73 chapters left of the New Testament I only have 53 left! When I recounted, I was so excited! This means I should be done with my New Testament outlining in 2 months at the most, perhaps one month - I'm excited!

Psalm 45

2007-06-14T03:43:00.000-07:00

Every Wednesday I get to prayer lead the 2am worship with the Word set, right now we are doing Psalm 45 the "Song of Songs" of the Psalms. I have two favourite cycles. Today I will talk about one of them Psalm 45:3-5 (Gird up your sword O mighty one....) What I love is what it says in verse 4 "on behalf of truth, humility and righteousness ride on". Basically these verses are telling Jesus we want him to come back and judge the earth and we agree with his judgments, he is true, he is meek and he is right and he will fight lies, pride and wickedness (everything that opposes who he is). And he will win. There is a day hidden in his heart, the day when he will make all the wrong things right, a day when his enemies will be killed, when he will vindicate his Bride and avenge her blood. And this is GOOD NEWS, I don't know if anyone has noticed, but there is much wickedness on this earth and there is only One who is worthy, only one who is pure enough to Judge - the lamb that was slain, the one who died to set us free to love him without shame.

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to open the seals! (release God's judgment upon the earth)

What I like about Kansas City/the US

2007-06-13T03:44:00.000-07:00

Squirrels - are one of the cutest animals and make me happy when I see them, which is a lot, today one was in a bird house
24 hour supermarkets - Hivee and Walmart, being on night watch they are very helpful
Cheery blossoms -they just pretty
Amazing sun rises - because KC is flat we see some great ones
Natural peanut butter - I never ate PB before I came here.
IHOP - I like IHOP, it's why I'm here but it's an amazing place with amazing people if it wasn't I would have gone home a while ago!
Snow - it is really pretty, though a little annoying after the pretty stage!
Doughnuts -I'm ruined, I can never eat dunkin donuts again (not that I did much anyway!)
Bagels - America has an amazing gift in yummy breakfast foods
My flatmates - I have had great flatmates, though still mourning the loss of two when I moved house I live with really great people

I think that's it for now!

What do you miss?

2007-06-13T03:33:00.000-07:00

Today I was hanging out with my interns and one of them asked me what food I missed from New Zealand, it then became what I miss about home period, so for the viewers back home I thought I would list a few (this is by no means exclusive)

THE BEACH - so many decisions have been made walking along the beach praying!
FAMILY - I miss being a part of family events, birthdays, Christmas, thanksgiving (kidding, we don't have thanksgiving in NZ!)
MEAT - lamb roast, real sausages in tip top fresh bread with Wattie's sauce
THE CHEMIST - this is strange but I miss not knowing what all the brands are and the chemist lady up the road who would always tell me what to buy!
THE BATCH - I miss my little weekends away in the quiet with the stars and lots of books!
CADBURY - black forest
ICE CREAM - fruju's trumpets, goody goody gum drops
MY HOUSE - being a 10 minute walk from everything you would need
MUM - I know I already said family but I miss chatting with my mum and gleaning from her wisdom whenever I needed it
RUGBY - though violent, I do like it, especially when we are winning
MANUKA HONEY - on weet bix, I know it's strange but mum would give it to us when we were not feeling well
CULTURE - I miss easy going Kiwis! And subtle humour

So that's my list for today, there are many more things but that will do for now, maybe my next post I will write what I like about Kansas City :)

Wendy

My new room

2007-06-09T18:24:00.000-07:00

As promised, here are some pictures of my new room, I don't think it's too difficult to guess what country I am from :)

My bed, and my cool lamp that kind of broke a little, the red part fell and the plastic melting, still haven't worked out how to fix it!

This is the best picture shows the colours the best, if you opened the door on the left of my drawers then you will actually find my bookcase and all my folders and papers

sorry it's not straight, this is my photo wall with my keyboard.

And that's it, the only thing you don't see is my other window that has two black sheets serving as curtains on both sides and my All black flag as the real curtain.

A funny question

2007-06-08T16:27:00.000-07:00

I thought some people may be amused by the question that one of the interns asked me today

"Can you see Australia from New Zealand"

Just another day in America, it's almost as good as "Do you use the Euro"

A bad habit

2007-06-08T06:46:00.000-07:00

One of the many beaches back home

I tend to make up for my lack of posts by writing two at a time! This is to say you will notice the colors for my blog have changed, because it's hard to read on a black background, my new colors reflect my new room colors, bright and cheerful and remind you of summer, and I love summer in New Zealand, in Kansas City fall is my favorite but nothing beats a kiwi summer with beaches and bbq's and lots of good fruit. The sun shining and the cool breeze that makes you forget that you are getting burnt, the moisturiser you put on after you get burnt, and the tan line that hopefully follows. And yes, I do plan to have a kiwi summer next year!

Just another day

2007-06-08T06:34:00.001-07:00

Today was "just another day" in my simple little life. I'm thankful that my life is simple, because it's just easier. I have officially outlined 180 chapters of the New Testament now which means I have 80 to go, I'm pretty excited at the recent progress I have been making.

Today I prayed three times on the microphone, that doesn't happen everyday but at the 4pm there was only one other person sitting in the chairs, at the midnight I was associate prayer leading and then at 4am I prayer led (I was asked about 15 minutes before the set). Which is something I actually like (being asked last minute) I like being someone who can fill in last minute, who you know will probably be in the prayer room and be there until 6am. And I like that I have boundaries so if I really don't want to I'll say no, but then usually I'm far more likely to be focused in leading the meeting in some way than I am sitting in my chair thinking about how I am tired. Because the thing is, I actually did come here to pray. I came here so I could pray in the night and go deep in the Word, and I actually am. Not perfectly and it's not like every night is amazingly profound, many nights aren't. But I'm here and I'm doing it, and I'm thankful because the One who called me is faithful and he who began a good work will bring it to completion and all said and done I think the Lord did a good job with me!!

Wendy

A forty day fast

2007-06-02T18:43:00.001-07:00

IHOP is joining many around the nation and the world to fast for 40 days. (for more into about this visit www.thecall.com). At IHOP we have a "don't ask don't tell" policy which means we don't ask other people what they are doing, or compare our fast to someone else. I like this policy though it is somewhat amusing because in 40 days it can become pretty clear for the most part what people are doing.

The people who seem to be losing a lot of weight in a short amount of time, probably on a water fast. The people who have lost a little weight and seem to be eating carrots and other veges a lot are probably doing a Daniel fast, those who are drinking more naked juice than normal probably a juice fast, those who still have coffee, a liquid fast. Those who haven't' talked to you for a week probably a speech fast. Those who eat the chocolate cake that is made for someones birthday are perhaps fasting something specific or not at all.

All that to say that because Fasting is about voluntary weakness and positioning ourselves to encounter the Lord is doesn't matter what type of fast we do, as long we make the most of the grace we have in this community to fast in the way we feel led. And knowing God doesn't love us any more or any less if we fast, but fasting tends to put us in a position where we become aware of our need for love and when we cry out we find the One who is love

Happy Fasting
Wendy

the God who cares

2007-05-28T01:08:00.000-07:00

"casting all your anxiety on Him, because he cares for you"

I was talking with one of my interns, we've been talking about two particular issues, today as we talked she said she didn't like talking to the Lord about these things, because she felt shame, because he already knows, because I'm not sure if God cares so much. In a moment of clarity I asked her "Why do you talk to your friends about something and not the Lord, do you think they care more than he does? Did your friends die so that you could speak with them? The reality is God is Holy, high and lofty, He is the maker of heaven and earth and he knows when a sparrow falls to the ground, he cares, he dwells with the meek and the lowly.

Jesus died that we might be with him, he died so we could be his bride, holy and blameless, I am so thankful and I want to give him my heart, I want the Lord to be the one who I talk to, who I share my feelings and thoughts with, yes he knows them already, but it's about trust. It's funny how scary it can be to speak to the God who knows everything about something he already knows!

I want to be a friend of God, friends trust one another, if we want to know the secrets of God's heart, maybe we should share ours as well, maybe God cares about our day, maybe he cares about the days I miss my family, maybe he cares that I am grumpy and need his help, maybe he cares that I really like my new room. I think he does.

The assignment she gets this week? Talk to the Lord about the two things you are scared of talking to him and write me an essay "Why God wants to hear about who I have a crush on". I know kind of strange, but I know he is after our hearts.

Wendy

Change is here to stay

2007-05-26T12:32:00.000-07:00

I was speaking to someone a few days ago, and told them I decided this about 3 or 4 months ago. As creatures of habit we tend not to like change that much. I remember when the stage at IHOP was extended and they changed the lighting, it was so weird, now that God TV will start filming soon they've changed it again, and no one really made a big deal about, we now have grey chairs instead of blue (and the blue chairs are in FSM instead of the orange ones - hooray!) Prayer leaders can no longer have pens on stage or anything besides bible and outline, just because it does look like the Prayer leaders not really paying attention.

This week I have a new co leader for FITN, the previous two having stepped down to focus on other areas of leadership within the night watch, I am now the overseer of the fasting teams in the night, and as I have been saying I am moving rooms.

Here's the good news. the Lord doesn't change, ever, no matter the circumstances, he is always faithful, always good, always king, always loving.

A little catch up

2007-05-15T17:11:00.000-07:00

Despite my good intentions I have to confess I am not a faithful blogger like others I know. The excitement of Tuesday is my friend Sarah Edwards gave birth to the first IHOP-KC "night watch baby". Today (Thursday) I helped my interns move apartments, and we moved everything (well the men moved the heavy stuff) needless to say it has been a rather tiring day as we started at 2pm. As for me moving, I'm trying to find time to pack, which hasn't been easy lately.

Currently I've been a little distracted from Jeremiah looking at all the verses on anger in the bible. Looking at what arouses the Lord's anger, because God is love, and that's who he is and he feels love as an emotion, but God is not anger, though he feels angry, but he is just and righteous and he hates wickedness, so I'm thinking about these things. Last night as I was prayer leading our Psalm 45 set I was thinking about how he loves righteousness and hates wickedness and how part of our problem is that we don't. Most of us still struggle with the idea of God hating the wicked, but I have a feeling that's because we don't love righteousness like he does, so we don't hate wickedness like he does.

There's a thought for you! Of course then tonight I got my interns to meditate for 10 minutes of love is kind and God is kind. There's so much more to God then meets the eye!

Another fun thing

2007-05-06T04:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got to lead worship at a 24/7 solemn assembly as Haskill University (A native Indian college). My friend Sarah came with me and sang. It was so wonderful singing to Jesus, about him, and our love for him and his love for us. There are moments when you remember what you were made for and this is one of them, I was made to enjoy God.

My room

2007-05-06T04:09:00.000-07:00

Since living in the states I have done things I've never done before, and I did it again today. With the help of my friend Becca I painted my new room, I will post pictures once I've moved in bit it's really fun and I'm excited about how it will look once all my stuff is moved in.

Yeah me

Latest reading.....

2007-05-04T02:11:00.000-07:00

Actually I'm reading through an old book of mine "Foundations of Christian Doctrine" by Kevin Conner. I read this the first time when I was about 18 and I'm thankful I brought it with me to KC. I am currently reading the chapter "Doctrine of Christ". Talking about Jesus being fully God and fully Man, it's so good for my heart to remember who Jesus is. Jesus is everything God is personified (image of the invisible God) he really does show us God, because he is God in human form.

God became a man! I was thinking about how much Jesus has changed the world even in the natural . I mean a carpenter from a little town in Israel who claimed to be God literally changed the world ( he also created the world and is sustaining it by his great power, but that's another topic!). And why? Because HE IS GOD. He rose from the dead and he conquered the grave, he conquered death so we have nothing to fear but God alone!

I know, slight rambling, but I've decided I like this sort of theology, that makes God bigger and me want to worship him more. We all have to know what we believe about Jesus, salvation depends on it, he's not just a good man or a prophet, he is the very Son of God because of love sent to die to save us from eternal torment. And not have it just be something we can intellectually explain but something that arises from the inside so when we are asked "What is your beloved more than any other" we answer, our hearts "overflowing with a GOOD THEME".

I think that's all for now especially since many of my thoughts are at the "This is so cool my mind is going a hundred miles an hour" stage!
" Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless and with great joy, to the only God and Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time and now and forever"
AMEN!

When the Word of the Lord is spoken..........

2007-04-30T01:20:00.000-07:00

I have been outlining what would be referred to by my commentaries as the "Baruch document" Chapters 34-45. It's the story part of Jeremiah when you hear about this life. And it's scary, really scary. So here's Jeremiah, he's been speaking the Word of the Lord and has a pretty good "track record" people, kings even come to him and ask him to inquire of the Lord, that's pretty cool, but here's the thing, no one ever listens to him, occasionally some officials do and when they let the king know the king burns Jeremiah's scrolls (chapter 36). Seriously read it, not only do people not listen (so they continue in rebellion against the Lord) but Jeremiah has to experience the judgment that comes to Judah as a result of them rebelling against that Lord.

I think a lot about the Jeremiah 23:22 Word of the Lord, the Word of the Lord that causes people to turn from their wickedness. Here is where it hurts, it appears that the Word of the Lord either softens or hardens the heart, no one can be neutral when the Word of the Lord is spoken. People in Jeremiah's time, ask him for the Word of the Lord, say they will do it whether they like it or not and even call God as their witness, and then when they hear the Word of the Lord refuse to follow and decide to worship false gods (Chapter 42).

Hebrews 4:12 says the Word of God is living and active....and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Though people came and asked Jeremiah for the Word of the Lord they wanted him to say what they wanted to hear. The Word revealed that their hearts were still in rebellion against the Lord.

So I don't have any conclusion for you, but this is what I think about ALOT.
I guess to be continued

The license continued

2007-04-24T01:04:00.000-07:00

I know that my last 3 posts have been about my license but I'm going to continue. Today I went into the city hall, it was a short line, I had all my documents and I got that's right...........a temporary license, my real one will come in the mail, but they have to send all my documents to someplace. But now I have a cool piece of paper with my picture on it that says I can drive!

Next post will be something about the Word, hopefully Jeremiah, I'm really enjoying it at the moment

Me

I got my license! (well almost)

2007-04-21T01:34:00.000-07:00

The good news is I passed the written and skills test. According the the Missouri License people I am safe to drive in the states. Amazing! I was happy, after doing the test I then had to go to the city hall and get the actual license (you are given a piece of paper that says you have passed but it's not a license). After waiting in line for about 1/2 an hour I got to the counter, and found out the letter to say that I work for IHOP-KC must have a date 30 days or less, mine wasn't as I just used the one I had for customs.

So the saga continues, but soon I will have a Missouri License, a real American one with my photo and weight and height and address.

One of my motivations in getting my license, is not only does my international license expire in May but I am going on my first real road trip in July and I want to be able to share the driving. My friend Jen and are going to Nashville for a one day prayer and worship event called "The Call" we are then going to Virginia (her home state). So there will be a lot of driving and I'm glad that Jen now wont have to do all of it!

Another international incident

2007-04-11T15:25:00.000-07:00

You would think after living here for almost 2 years I would have learnt by now! Today I went to do a written and driving test that I could get my Missouri license (I have been driving on my international license this past year). I brought everything the lady told me, my passport, my social security, my letter to show my address. And then the women at the desk asks "Do you have the letter". Yes it's true, I need a letter from IHOP to show that I am at IHOP. Despite the fact you can't even get into the country without this letter! The moral of this story is if you are international take ALL your documents to anything that involved getting more documents!!!!

Honey or soup?

2007-04-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

When we have a "bad day" do we find comfort from the Word of God aka honey (Psalm 19:7-10) or "chicken soup for the soul." Nice stories but words that lack the power to transform us on the inside. So much of the time we run to things that make us feel comfortable, but maybe sometimes the Lord wants us to feel uncomfortable. Maybe he wants us to deal with the sin in our lives and the areas of compromise or maybe he wants to comfort us in times of affliction with true comfort (2 Cor 1:3-4) Either way the Word of God is alive (Heb 4) and it is eternal (heaven and earth will pass away but my words will remain" and it is powerful.
The moral of this blog? We need to read and pray the Word, we need it written on our hearts and we need it to transform our lives. How do we do that? Everyday actually reading the Bible, making time, turning off the television and opening our bibles. Letting God speak to us through his Word because he really likes doing that!

Easter

2007-04-08T21:45:00.000-07:00

It seems appropriate during Easter to talk about Jesus, and that he rose again. I've been going over Allen Hood's message on the resurrection (notes can be found at www.ihop.org). Remembering the importance of the resurrection to our Christian Theology. If Jesus didn't rise again and conquer death once and for all then what hope to we have? The Good News is that there was an empty tomb! Jesus fulfilled his prophecy concerning himself and we are going to live forever with him, we no longer have to fear death because Jesus is ALIVE!!

I've been outlining Acts and so I've been looking at the messages of the Apostles, much of which concerns that Jesus, who was crucified is alive! He is the firstborn from the dead. No one has ever raised themselves from the dead! So we die with Christ and we are raised with him. This is such a mystery and something I want to spend a decent amount of time studying and meditating over!

So happy easter everyone!!
Note to New Zealanders - it was 2 degrees today and the weirdest thing, it didn't feel that cold!
Wendy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

2007-03-31T02:14:00.000-07:00

It's 4:15am which makes it my birthday, so to celebrate another year of the Lord's faithfulness I am going to share what I am thankful for in this moment
I get to do the night watch. I can't believe I get to do such an honourable and holy thing as stand in the night. That the Lord would call one so weak and so fickle to stand in his house is beyond words for me, that at 25 I know exactly what I want to do with my life and I'm doing it, without regrets and without reservation, I was made for this!

As we were having bonding time with our interns we were all telling our stories a little, as I shared how I got here it's like I took a step back and went this has to be the Lord!

So I'm thankful, for many other things, but I was struck again today with how much I love what I do.

Seasons come and go.....

2007-03-28T03:52:00.000-07:00

Summer, fall, winter and spring have a new meaning to me now, mainly because that's how we divide fire in the night tracks. This Spring 07 will be my 9th time core leading, which sounds like a lot, and it is, I've been doing this for almost 2 years, and then there's the time I core lead while doing track 2. So I think I will say why I like core leading. These are in no particular order, and this is not exhaustive
1) I get to encourage young women to pursue the Lord for the rest of their lives, and put a vision in front of them for holiness
2) I get to talk about the Word
3) It doesn't take too much time out of the prayer room
4) The people I work with are amazing and many are my closest friends here
5) Stuart is an amazing leader and I get to learn stuff from him
6) It forces me to continue to pursue the Lord myself - I want to be in the prayer room more than any of my interns!
7) I get to go to an inner healing seminar every three months
8) I get to eat peanut butter and pretzels
9) I get to meet amazing people and be a part of their lives
10) I get asked questions and find out I know that answers

I think 10 is a good number so I'll stop there! This Friday we have about 60 interns arriving, track 1 and 2 combined. I am looking forward to meeting new faces that will become people that I know and love by the end of the three months. I really do have the coolest job!

Wendy

Two in one night

2007-03-24T05:55:00.000-07:00

I was thinking tonight about my interns, they are leaving on Monday, two left yesterday, one thing I do have to say is that these ones have loved one another well, though that's not the point of this blog.

I had my last burn team with them tonight and I talked about the Love of God, and how when we believe God loves us, nothing can touch us - what can man do to me? And told stories of time when the Lord broke in when I needed him to with the reality of his love for me, and that he knows Iove him back.

It is right to remember His love, and His faithfulness. It's good to call to mind what he has done, we can start with the fact that we deserve hell and get to spend eternity with pleasures evermore and if there was nothing else he ever did that would be enough to know he loved me, that he died for me. But he does more than that, he gives us food, and clothes, and friends, and fun stuff to do and __________ (fill in the blank)

He is good, and he loves us, I wonder how differently I would live if everyday I just spoke that over myself. Maybe I'll try for a few weeks and let y'all know - anyone up for an experiment in remembering his goodness?

I will remember your love more than wine............
Wendy

Jeremiah

2007-03-24T05:37:00.000-07:00

Some of you have probably being wondering why haven't written about Jeremiah yet (I can think of one person in particular) and I figured it's about time I started. For those of you who don't know I have actually been studying Jeremiah on and off for over a year, and this year have decided to be more intentional about it, so on average I spend 10-12ish hours on it a week, outlining, reading commentaries, connecting dots! So I will probably be devoting quite a few blogs to this subject matter.

To begin with I just want to explain why I have chosen Jeremiah as a book of the bible that I want to study. The main reason, to be honest, is because Jeremiah was a prophet to a nation who were experiencing the judgment of the Lord and he felt the Lord's heart, which is why many refer to him as the weeping prophet. And despite his own weakness the Word of God was so alive in him even when he didn't want to he had to speak it. He knew the heart of the Judge who is a Bridegroom and coming back as King I want to know God like that. I want to pray and feel God's heart for those I'm praying for, I want to stand in the council of the Lord and when a nation is going through a time of judgment I want to have the Word of the Lord. That's about it, it's funny choosing a book to go deep in that is really long and no the easiest book to read at the surface level but I'm finding myself reading a lot of Old Testament scripture to help me make sense of what is happening. Some days I get a little overwhelmed with how long the book is but also how serious the message is. But I'm excited to have something to sink my teeth into, and now I've said on my blog I'm studying it I better!

Photos

2007-03-20T22:33:00.000-07:00

This post is just going to be photos of my life here in KC for those of you back in NZ
Photo 1 - One of our interns Kristian had a birthday so Gabrielle and I made her a carrot cake - the type her mum would make
Photo 2 - My flatmates and I Easter 06, we all made what we would normally have back home for Easter, Christine (centre) made the most amazing pineapple stuffing for the ham!
Photo 3 - This is our backyard in Spring, when it's beautiful and sunny and still cool enough to be outside
Photo 4 - This is a picture of me with my friends Micah (left) and Shawna (right) at our friend's Sarah and Clay's wedding, the reception was at one of the prettiest places I've seen in Kansas City
Photo 5 - This is our backyard in winter - a slightly different look!

Love does not take into account wrong suffered....

2007-03-13T23:06:00.000-07:00

This is amazing, NIV says "keeps no record of wrong". when we approach the Lord he doesn't have a little list in the back of his mind of all the times we failed or broke our promises, he doesn't relate to us thinking of the disappointment we "brought him in the past". OUR ACCOUNTS AGAINST HIM ARE CLEARED because this is how we know what love is WHILE WE WERE SINNERS Chirst died! I love this, great is his mercy towards!

that's all!

GBF/conference week

2007-03-08T19:07:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my last blog I am going to attempt to explain GBF/conference week dynamics for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about.

Firstly the GBF, this stands for Global Bridegroom Fast, a 3 day fast (7 days in december) when basically a whole bunch of people fast, not just at IHOP, but all around the world (aka "Global") without going into great detail, because we want Revival, Israel to be saved and Jesus to come back! As IHOP staff we are asked to go to at least 2 intercession meetings a day the 10am, 4pm, 8pm or 12am, I don't quite understand why the 4am doesn't count, but I'm sure there is a reason!

During the GBF we are encouraged to pick a book of the bible and read it through, I always chose Jeremiah and I never get through it, I think I did once and that could of been the seven day one. I look forward to the GBF because most other meetings are cancelled and it just nice to spend time getting re-focused.

After the GBF we have a conference, this month it's Passion for Jesus, to be honest I don't attend much mainly because my sacred trust involves being in the prayer room a lot on Thursday and Saturday is my Sabbath, and I don't really like big groups of people. But we have I guess 1000-2000 people? God TV also broadcasts them. I am looking forward to tomorrow as John Bevere is talking.

So, needless to say the GBf/conference week is pretty packed out and you pretty much can't do much else during that week. Interesting aspects of the week is that Misty's set at 10pm is PACKED out, at our midnight sets we have a few extra people who can't get enough of the prayer room (I can understand if I was here for 3 days I would stay up as late as I could too!) the interns get exhausted from having to get up and be at sessions at 2pm, a time when most of them are still sleeping on other days. Also the 4th of July has been over the GBF both years I've been here for it and sure enough it's on Wednesday this year!

I think that's all, except that I have a little cold so I'm feeling very sorry for myself and finding it very difficult to concentrate on anything that's actually important!

FYI - a happy day

2007-03-06T03:46:00.000-08:00

FYI - these posts will be bits of information for the people back home just to know what's going on in my little life. So if you just want a regular catch up you can go straight to these posts.

Today was a happy day because I finished my Fire Within outline, a few weeks ago I decided I was just going to get it done, so I did! It's nice going into this week (which is GBF/conference week, I'll explain another time) without really having to think about my Fire Within outline until next week when I work on it more.

A little note that the main reason I got it done is because I woke up at 12:30 again, (an hour earlier than I want to be up!) and thought I'd just use my time effectivly!

That's all

To love and obey

2007-03-03T17:20:00.000-08:00

As a somewhat famous lyric goes " I want to know what love is" they must have never got around to reading 1 John or Romans for that matter because in first John we are told not only that "we know love by this, that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" but that "God is love" if we flip over to Romans 5 we are told in verse eight "But God demonstrated His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" And just because we all like the Chapter we can throw in 1 Corinthians 13 "Love is patient, love is kind......". So from these verses we can say that we know God loves us because he sent his Son to die for us (John 3:16) and that Jesus on the cross is a manifestation of "God is love". He makes in invisible visible by displaying the love of God in such a deep way we will spend many years singing "Worthy is the lamb because he was slain" So if it is Jesus death that shows us the love of God what does this mean for us showing our love to God and to others?

Jesus, in his "final message" in John 14 tells us that those who keep his commandments are the ones who love him. So, to love God is to obey God. People may ask what does it mean to obey God. It means do everything He tells you to do, and I'm not talking about which job to take, or car to buy but actually do what the Bible says. For example, take Matthew 5-7 and do it. Ouch. When there are policies in place for your work, follow them. Say what you mean, forgive people, don't complain, all those things that are quite frankly really hard and in fact impossible to do without God, so we go back to 1 John, we love because he first loved us, and having a revelation of God is what enpowers us to obey him.

I have been reading and outlining Fire Within by Thomas Dubuy, which is a great book on the contemplative life that we are all invited into, if I was to summarise the book I would say one of the main points is that our obedience to the Lord, and to those over us has a direct co relation to our prayer life, it's hard to pray if we are not obedient and it's hard to obey if we don't pray. Amazing.

I think I'll leave it there, but this will be a subject matter that you will find me pondering on a lot. How can I love Jesus to the fullest right now? Not tomorrow and not yesterday, because really all I can do is love Jesus in the present!

Grace and Peace
Wendy

Okay, I'm actually going to do this

2007-03-01T17:41:00.000-08:00

So, I'm going to become a blogger and actually write in it and actually tell people that I have a blog, amazing. Someone once told me that the person who gets the most out of a book is the author, the person who gets the most out of a sermon or message is the speaker, so the person who will benefit that most from this blog is me. Nothing like selfish motivations. Hopefully I will learn to better communicate thoughts and ideas that sporadically turn up into my head and have them become something concrete. As I go along I will try and include photos and make this blog look interesting, because as we know we live in a visual generation.

Next post I'll try to say something moderately interesting

The Explanation

2007-02-02T21:12:00.000-08:00

I have decided to start a blog, for a number of reasons, the main one being that I like people who live far away from me and this is a great way to keep people up to date with my many and various thoughts and life events. Secondly, my nephew, who is 17 months ( I think that's right) has a blog and he is way younger than me, so I'm going to take the plunge.

I would like to explain my blog site name "for real kiwi". I'm talking about the bird, which is a native of New Zealand, as I am, and is nocternal, as I am, though I am in Kansas City (thus the title of this site).

For those who need a little update, I'm in Kansas City as an Intercessory Missionary (with a 5 year visa with 3 1/2 years left). I serve at IHOP-KC, the international house of prayer in Kansas City, we pray 24/7 and I have the privilege of being in a section called "the night watch" the midnight-six am section. Which means I go to bed around 6:30 and get up around 1:45 (that's the aim anyway. I am also a core leader for fire in the night our internship in the night watch.