What the Derriere?

This makes me laugh every time I see it, here's why: A kiwi is a fruit, a flightless bird, and a nationality (New Zealand) and the sign doesn't differentiate which kiwi the dog will eat. Ergo, be on guard all of the above.

Traveling across New Zealand, I came across the cleanest country ever. It's the first airport I've flown into and not had a slap of pollution hit me on the way out. Hostel's were another exciting adventure, especially when two of four toilets get cut from the equation and of the two showers, one's connected to the media room. Haha! An extreme favorite by far is how I can speak the same language as the locals and still have no idea what they're saying. 

One morning my friend started chatting about going to buy something necessary like a toothbrush. I mean, I packed everything in my bag, so I basically ignore this conversation. I ignore it until she says, "Yea, I'm going to have to go the dairy and buy one." Uh....... follow my inner dialog, "Dairy = cow. A farm? Toothbrush?" So I get over my confusion. "A what?" "A dairy, like 7/11," she says. "A convenience store?! Hold up, how do you know about 7/11?" (I hadn't seen one in New Zealand, my guess was she saw it in a movie) "Oh, I saw one in India."

Yes, we did just cross three continents to conclude that a dairy is in fact what I like to call a convenience store. The best part about this? None of the other Kiwi's know what 7/11 is.
 

to write

This entire year in Bethel, has been a constant season of putting stakes in the ground. (Did I almost say steak instead of stake? Yes.) I've gotten some pretty sweet downloads from God on his abundance; literally experiencing the reality that there is no lack in his kingdom. I can't outspend him! I can also have good things, not just cheap things! The other revelation is on his goodness; that no matter what, God always has a good result. Given any risk, given any trial, his result is always good.

K, I need to pause and lay out what a revelation is. To me, in my experience, a revelation is literally experiencing God's reality of a certain thing. Revelation on his goodness. Revelation on his abundance. Wow.

Onward: My entire time here has been spent continuing to pursue my dreams. Coming back into a school environment after spending a year doing my dream (to travel the world!), I wasn't looking forward to jumping back in to a part-time job. Moving here, I applied for jobs, specifically at one place I felt God highlighting. Nothing happened. Then I moved into a "meh" period where I knew God would provide and I didn't want to look. Result: stressful. Did God provide? Every month. In a different way every time. But it was hard.

I would hear whispers in the mornings of Him asking me to write for Him, especially during worship. My response? "Uh, ok." I'd scribble something down and then, "What do I do next?" Finally one morning during our revival group, I had enough. My friend walked past, asking how I was, and I told her, "I need a job." She prayed for me, I remember specifically her saying, "God, give her the right connections." I knew she was on to something, but I didn't know what. Fast forward near 11pm. My thoughts align with God's, and the epiphany moment; "God. You're telling me to write. As a job."

He started telling me a story when I was in Nepal, during one of our down times. I was bored, asked Him for a story, and He delivered! I expanded on it in South Africa, and hadn't touched it since. Talking with my pastor the following morning, I'm now setting aside time to write my book. It's a process, but every month, God is beyond faithful. Bills are paid, rent too. I haven't been perfect with my money, but He's teaching me a lot through it. One month, someone anonymously paid my rent for me. Conclusion? God is good, and He's got an abundance for me!

unmerited favor

I am not in a works based relationship. I am in a loved based relationship. I am loved. Therefore I receive. Blah! That totally blows my mind! And I absolutely love it. Every second of it.

Being in South Africa has been one of the most fun times of my life. I mean, it's one of the most consistantly beautful place's I've been to, and everything about it is easy and just goes with the flow. Walking into townships, sharing my faith, having so much fun. I've almost felt shame or guilt for how easy it is and how beautiful it is here. But as I went for a drive with my friend this morning, I get hit with this revelation: I'm not in a works based relationship. What this means: I don't have to work for the good things of God to happen. I am loved, and out of his overflow of love, I am free, and saved, and can enjoy.

My MacBook dictionary defines grace like this: "the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings" Holy snikies!!!! (also defined unmerited-not deserved or merited). Oh. My. Gosh. I am free to receive the undeserved favor of God. It's mine. I don't have to work for it. And his blessings? They're mine. Mine.

The cross took care of all the works to get somewhere/earn the favor of God. Jesus took care of it, so I'm free to enjoy his blessings. So later as we're driving around, we pass by this closed gated community overlooking the ocean, and we can tell that there is such a beautiful place back there. What do we do? We go up and ask to get in. This was of course, after having a day of checking out a shipwreck, driving along the coast, finding a secluded beach, and checking out a lighthouse. I had a thought of "I've had enough good things, I shouldn't push it".

What happened? We got in.

my ramblings

God. "Yes, Nikki?" Why am I writing this? "Because I asked you to" Simple enough. "Truth"

"Trust. Tell 'em about trust" Trust is something new for me. Ok, not really, but my relationship with you and trust it just goes deeper. "I'm taking you to new levels of intimacy" Yea. And I'm flippin out about 'em. "Notice how unconcerned I am" That's pretty nice. "People need to know that they can hear my voice and trust it" And my writing is going to help change that? "Most definitely. It's really simple. I talk, you listen. You talk, I listen. It changes things" Like what kind of things? "Like happy things"

This is me, not trekking with you. "I delight in you, so I change things for you so you'll be happy" Seems pretty one-sided. "It isn't. It goes back to the basics of trust. You trust me, I change things for you. It's really simple, really easy. Really simple, really easy. Really simple, really easy. Always"

"What have I told you before?" That if it's complicated, it's not from you. "How 'bout that!" It's like you set me up for success. "Indeed. I do"

another random adventure

Nepal. I kept getting confused about where it was. Not to mention the fact that we were so close to China, and by close, I mean we saw the red line that if crossed would lead us into Tibet. How long did it take me to realize Tibet was China? Too long. What if I just write and don't really edit? Could be fun. And random.

I learned that God stays exceptionally close to me. He's also so much fun. I got to trek the freaking Himalayas with some of my closest friends, share really awkward cultural moments together, see Jesus come face to face with His creation. Namely, me.

I love going overseas, I love traveling, I love being in new cultures, but so many times in sharing Jesus with people I get stuff in return. Or every time. I go to Haiti to help with a housing project, and I walk away with deep friendship with God, where He stays up watching movies with me, reading with me, talking with me.

He's hilarious.

One day in Nepal, we're in town sharing Jesus with people. We get in this funny situation where we are in conversation with these people 2 stories up (we're on ground level). They come down, a rain storm starts, so they invite us up til the storm passes. We share Jesus with them, and our translator (a believer) gets in a huge discussion with them, which was great but complicated, because he would pause to explain what he was saying, and then they'd all jump back into asking questions, leaving us somewhat listening as he led them to Christ.

While this is going on, Twilight is playing in the background, full English version. My first thought was "Oh man, look away, don't watch that!" And I heard God say, "Why? Can't I put it on for your enjoyment?" I mean, crap. I was offended.

My thoughts went something like "Uh.....Um. Uhh. Yea. I guess you can. I can enjoy this? Is this wrong? What's happening?" I felt like my mind was like Morse Code, just bouncing everywhere piecing together yet again the fact that God's not religious.

I'd been so boxed up in what I felt like God expected of me, that I missed just enjoying things. Nothing like being slapped in the face with something fun to re-awaken that. That's what's so fun about Him. Everything!!!

In sharing God with people, He always brings deep revelations for me. I go to share with someone, and I always get another insight into how much He cares for me. Personally. Or into how much He knows me, loves being around me, and sharing experiences with me. Like He wants to hang out with me, do things I love to do, and then share with people about this fun God. Haha! God is fun. Really fun. Did you know that?

World Mandate

Every year, Antioch Community Church puts on this annual missions conference called World Mandate. You get great speakers, fun worship, incredible testimonies, I mean, God just moves. So what was it about this years conference that I had to blog about it? Well, Norman had this thing called snow. And not just any snow, record breaking snow!

OK, I do have to admit that people from Oklahoma really like to freak out about weather. Like they truly enjoy sitting around, watching the weather channel, and freaking out about it. Naturally, the weekend we left for this conference a state of emergency was declared.

Just watch as my wonderful car mates and I were driving southbound I-35. The windshield wipers froze, but there wasn't any place to turn off and shake them off, which meant that someone had to climb through the sun roof and change them.

HOLD UP!!

So, I'm trying to upload this enlightening video, and this lovely window comes up:

I click on the "Upload Terms and Conditions" and this comes up:


And I've tried this on 3 separate occasions, spanning quite a few months with the same response. What does this tell me? I may not be uploading that video after all. Does anyone else find this SUPER BIZARRE and SHADY?!

Stitches

Proverbs 12:18 Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Can I just pause and emphasize the power of words? Here goes:

I was at work, doing the usual, mixing up some waffle cone batter with a machine grade blender that looks like this. It's at least a foot long. So, as I'm mixing the batter in a container a little less than half the size of the blender (Yes. I know. Bad idea), I turn it on low, turn around behind me, and scoop some more powder into the mix. I did this a couple of times til I heard my co-worker gasp, "Oh my gosh!"

Naturally I spin around thinking, "Oh crap, the batter! Watch out for the blades!"

Too late. It got me.

Aside from the pain in my finger, I noticed red stuff on the floor and all over my hand. Praise the name of Jesus that I was working with someone who is competent on handling this red stuff, because I am not!

Aside from almost passing out due to blood loss, praying the Holy Spirit to stop the bleeding, my sister came to the rescue, and a whopping 12 stitches later: my finger's fine!


Back to the power of words: I was wondering why this happened. I went through these declarations by Steve Backlund in the morning, one of which says:

Any adversity, attack, accidents and tragedies that were headed my way are diverted right now in Jesus' name (Psalm 91).

I was like, "What's the deal? I mean, I declared that, and believed that, so...." About that time, I got a text from another co-worker that I worked with the day before. It said something like, "Weird how yesterday we were joking around about cutting our fingers."

Wow. I forgot about that. We totally opened a curse on ourselves. What I then realized is as followed:
1. The co-worker that saved my life switched shifts with someone else that day. That other co-worker cannot handle red stuff.
2. The bleeding stopped.
3. My sister answered her phone on the first call. That never EVER happens.
4. My finger's still attached. No tendons, bone, or anything got damaged. Aside from it being deep, it was fine.