Revival

                         I am sickened to my stomach over the bombing at the Boston Marathon on April 15th. Three people losing their lives and over a hundred critically injured.
                         I've been listening and reading interviews people have done on their opinions on the whole situation. Most come up with the same response, "I can't believe someone would do this," or, "Whoever did this deserves to be killed." However, did anyone even begin to wonder the ultimate question? Did this man know Jesus? My guess, and probably the guess of many others is probably not. And whose fault is that? Isn't that our job as Christians? To bring the light to dark situations. Yes, the bombing was a terrible thing; however, did anyone take the time to notice that even though explosions were happening right around them, there are numerous testimonies of people running towards the explosion to help those who couldn't help themselves.
                         Evil tried to come and enter this world, yet the good out weighed it. If you can't see God in that, I don't know what to tell you. The best way to stay encouraged is to focus on what God has done. Not what sin has done.
                         Deuteronomy chapter 31 verse 6 says this, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified of them, for The Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you."
                         I hate to say this, but sometimes, it takes hitting rock bottom before turning to Jesus. Because once you hit rock bottom the only place you have to look is up. And if you have nothing else to look to for hope, more and more people will trust in the one who saved them.
                        Everyone as a whole seems to be stuck in reality. We focus more on facts and stats when the things God can/will do don't even begin to compare!
                        My youth pastor says this phrase all the time, "there is a generation rising up, God has called young people to do his works."
                        And now I get it.
                        If whoever had planted that bomb had heard the good news, I STRONGLY believe that three people wouldn't have lost their lives that tragic Monday morning. I believe that if we weren't so scared to dive into the water and preach His name, that lives would have been saved. I believe that it is time to stop focusing on what God hasn't done, and focus on what He has, and what He is doing.
                        "Then I heard the voice of The Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'" Isaiah 6:8
                         It is our duty, our call, our purpose in this world to bring hope to the hopeless. To bring light to the darkness. To bring joy where there isn't any. And to show this world that we don't have to be slaves to sin because Christ died and rose again paying the price for unrighteousness.

                         Jump in the water.

                        Take the risk.

                        Tell the world.

 

 

                        My prayers go out to Boston.

                        My hope goes to the world.

Encounter

                                The weekend of February 8th-10th I went to Winter Encounter with The Mvmnt (youth group from The Harvest church). Let me just say one thing, they don't call it an "encounter" for no reason. I encountered the father, son, and spirit this weekend in more ways than I could have ever thought of.
                                The first night, Pastor Daniel preached on "the now." He asked us one question that really hit me hard, "What are you waiting for to get serious about your call from God?" Serious about my call...well you see, I have work, and school, clubs, oh and did I forget to mention that I'm only 16?
                               "Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity." -1 Timothy 4:12
                               Excuses, excuses, excuses. Jesus does not say that He will wait to use us till we get a bit older, or a bit taller, no Jesus wants to use us, and He wasn't to use us...NOW! As humans, we are stuck in this thing called time, but Jesus, He is outside of time, He already knows!
                               While some may focus on the things I've done in my past, the gossiping, the alcohol, the cussing, the smoking, the lying...Jesus sees MORE! "You are altogether beautiful my darling, there is no flaw in you." -Songs of Songs 4:7 Will I choose to listen to the voice of my critics, or the voice of my creator?
                                Worship like there is no one around you! It's just you and God! It's all about Him! Don't worry about what your situation may be from day to day because God has the final word. It's easy to praise God for what He has done, and what He is doing. It's not easy to praise Him for what He is going to do. Do it anyways! Praise Him for what he is going to do through faith!

                                I wrote this in my journal during prayer one night at Encounter, "...I've never jumped; I've never prayed; I've never screamed as hard and as loud tonight as I ever have before. Crying out to my Heavenly Father means for much more to me now! I have to get real with my faith! I felt the Holy Spirit tonight. I felt Him holding me tight, telling me its all going to be okay because it ALREADY IS! God is not going to set me free, HE ALREADY HAS! I have to be faithful, NOW! If I'm not faithful NOW, where He has me, how will I be faithful where He has me going! TAKE MY EYES OFF OF MYSELF LORD, PUT THEM ON YOU!!!"

                                They challenged us to go to a deeper place. To move away from being a Christian in the shallow waters & become a disciple in the deep waters. To not just be hearers of God's word but to be doers. Want to do things for God!
                              "You have a false sense of security it you think the edge of the water with God is the safest. No, your at your safest when you are in the deep waters leaning on God's understanding & taking the risk!" -Pastor Daniel

                             

                               Let go,

                               Release,

                               Go deep!

                               

Blonde Move

                    This past summer, my great-grandfather, Clifford Raymond Mittlestadt passed away into the arms of Jesus. 

                    January 31, 2013 would have been his 82nd birthday. To say he wasn't on my mind the entire day would be a understatement because he is on my mind all day every day. No one will ever understand the amount of love and the relationship we had. 
                   My dad is an alcoholic who isn't in my life. His dad wants nothing to do with me and has voiced that openly. I never met my mom's dad, not even seen a picture. And then there was my great-grandpa. My hero. My male role model. The one that I model how a man should treat a girl.

                   I was more than angry with God when he passed away; I was livid! It didn't make sense to me. I didn't understand God's master plan behind it all. My dog died, my dad is arrested for domestic violence, my parents divorce, and my great-grandpa dies all in a 10 month time frame. 
                  Looking back, I was being so silly! I cursed God. Cursed Him for what though? My great-grandpa had been sick for 5 years and was in pain. I cursed Him for taking away the pain and taking Him back home, to His everlasting home. 
                  What a total blonde move! 
                   Sometimes, life is like looking through a fogged up windshield. We focus on what we can't see and don't focus on what we can. We don't see the bigger picture in life. God is the artist and we are the master piece being created brush stroke by brush stroke. 

                   The bigger picture of this all, that I am finally coming to terms to realize is that God didn't take my great-grandpa to Heaven to hurt me. He did it for me to see the bigger picture. To take him out of pain, to take him to his true home, and to show me that there is a male who loves me and cares for me. 
                   I've always known that God loves me and that He is with me 24/7. But did I truly, actually, deeply, & spiritually believe it? I hate to say it, but I'm not so sure I did. 
                  And through this all, all the pain, hurt, and anger I went through the days and months following his death, God brought me to read the book Songs of Songs (or Songs of Solomon, depending on your Bible) in the Bible. 
                  In Songs of Songs it talks about the love the man has for the body. I don't interpret this as if a man were looking lustfully over a woman and her "woman parts." No, I see it as the bride being us, the body of people, and He is Jesus. He refers to us as His beloved and as His love.
                 "Behold, you are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves." -Songs of Songs 1:15
                  From beginning to end it talks nothing more than about the first confessing her love, the bride's dream of a lover, the wedding day, how He admires the bride, how together in love they stand firm, and then at the end it shows the bride longing for this true love.
                 The bride can only imagine a love so amazing, a love so real. And that love that is so amazing and so real can only be received through one thing alone and that is accepting Christ Jesus.

                 I've read this book several times; however, I have yet applied it to my life. And with the loss of my great-grandpa, I now see the purpose behind this love story in the Bible. It's purpose was to show me, on a personal level, that yes in fact the one male I thought ever truly loved me is gone. But God wanted me to see the bigger picture, to not focus on the bad and to realize that He loves me, and that He longs for me. That is my new love story.

               Now, if boys thought it would be hard to live up to my great-grandpa's standard...try living up to the bar the Heavenly Father has set ;) 

Fasting for...

             As of January 13th I began a 21 days fast with The Harvest church. For the past 10 days I have been eating nothing but raw fruits and veggies. 
            I could easily lie to everyone and say that this is really simple and not a hard thing to do at all. But is is not. This fast is one of the hardest things I have probably done in my entire life! I mean me, a teenage girl, is giving up CHOCOLATE for 21 days! (Goodness what was I thinking!) 
           People who partake in a fast all fast for different reasons. For me, I am fasting for a couple things. And God is using this time for His glory and His purpose in my life. 
           For one, I am fasting to prepare my heart for Kenya. I want to spend time dwelling in his word and find out what my purpose in Kenya will be. "...Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." -Matthew 4:4
          And the second thing I am fasting for is my relationship with my dad. As some know, my dad is an alcoholic. Alcohol has taken over his life. I know I can't blame him for his illness, for he is hurting himself. He was in the army for several years. In the front lines, he saw his best friends killed, and him himself killed those who tried to hurt our freedom. He didn't get the help he needed when he was discharged and so he treated himself with alcohol and prescription drugs.
          My mom and him are recently divorced. And although he isn't apart of my life, he is still my dad. I long for a relationship with him. However, I have to forgive him; forgive the things that he did, the things he said, everything. 
         I've been working on the forgiveness process for quite sometime now. Some things have changed though. And it is time for me to finally get this step over with. Things like me becoming a big sister. My dad and his girlfriend had a baby girl on Monday, January 14th. Alexis Ann Lynch, my goodness, I am a big sister. I may be 16 years older than her, but I am a big sister. Something I have dreamed and longed for for as long as I can remember. 
        Alcohol and prescription drugs is still unfortunately apart of my dad's life and his girlfriends too. It is not by chance I am that little girl's big sister. God made me her big sister, so that years from now, when she is questioning her life wondering why things are so hard, why she has alcoholic parents, why she was given the cards she was; I will be there. I will be there as a shoulder for her to cry on, someone to talk to, a listening ear, someone who has been there and done that. Someone who got through it. 
        I got through it with love, support, and a guiding hand from others who went through it as well. 
        That is what our stories are for, that is what they are about. They are testimonies of life. Life that kept on going and kept on moving even when the world seemed to be crashing down around us. Life that truly became life!
        So this fast, isn't just something I am doing just to do. I am doing it to deepen my relationship with God and to get things moving on the right track. 
        I am going to prepare my heart, my mind, and my soul for Kenya. The things I will see and the things I will experience. And I am going to get over my hurt and my pain from my dad and finally let that chapter in my life close so I can hold my baby sister's hand when she thinks no one in the world cares.  

        I'm letting go.
        I'm letting God. 

Kenya Bound Support...

                    These feet of mine have taken me everywhere. To the border of Mexico, to the red dirt road of Arizona. To the villages of Haiti, the streets of the Netherlands, and the lakes of Italy. 
                    This summer, God has put an amazing new opportunity at my feet. God has been working in my life like crazy. He has been reveling His will and His call for me more and more with every passing day. 
                    From July 11th - July 21st of this coming summer God has called myself and a team of nineteen others to Nairobi, Kenya! On this mission trip we will be spreading the gospel to the locals, painting at a local school, loving on and working with the orphaned, and whatever else they may need from us while we are there. 
                   I believe God will watch over me, but I would like to ask for you and your family to pray for my team and I. Of all the things you can do to support me, prayer is the most important! Pray that our hearts will be prepared emotionally, mentally that we will be prepared for what we are going to see and experience, and also that our financial needs will be met.   

                   To go on this mission trip we each need to raise $3,000; this will be a major challenge for each of us. However, I STRONGLY believe that God can and will provide. The cost covers travel to and from, lodging, meals, and supplies for the projects while there.
                   I am overwhelmed with the joy of getting to see how we can make a difference in Kenya. Would you pray about helping me with a small donation? Even a small donation of $10 goes a long way! Whether you feel lead to contribute financially or commit to prayer (or both), I truly appreciate your support. If you feel lead to contribute to God's call for me financially, the best way would be to write a check payable to Chase Oaks Church and slip it into an envelope in the mail to me. I will then turn it into the church so you will receive a tax deduction receipt. 
                  I will communicate before we leave on specific things we need prayer for and also report back with an update on how things went and the amazing things God did on our journey. 
                 My best of wishes and prayers to all!

                 "Jesus said to His disciples, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creation."' -Mark 16:15


Feel free to contact me personally!
booyah_61496@yahoo.com
469-396-8115

Address to Send Checks:
Courtney Lynch
304 Willow Brook Dr. 
Allen, TX 75002

Authentic

Authentic [au-then-tik] adjective: not false or copied, genuine

            Authentic; I have decided that that will be my word for the year 2013. There is many reasons behind this word to me. Probably the main reason would be because I feel like I hide/ not as open with my faith as I feel like I should be. I feel like I hide who I truly am and who I truly want to be with others because I am too worried about fitting in, but that's high school for you. 

            I need to put my faith into action, not only on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays; my faith needs to be in action all day, everyday, 24/7. The only way to make a true connection with God and to see myself how He sees me is to put forth the time and the effort. 

            I have to remember that no matter what chapter of life I am in right now that God is STILL writing. He is not done, and there is more to come. I am thankful beyond belief for the amazing people God has put in my life to remind me of the beautiful master piece God made me; sometimes when life is rocky, it's incredibly hard to remember, but they remind me (even when I am stubborn). 

            Being authentic with my faith may step on some peoples toes and I am completely aware of that. Am I nervous? Beyond! There is a lot of things in my life that are going to have to change if I truly want to be authentic. It sure as heck not going to be easy.  

            I'm just a ordinary girl, with a dysfunctional life, following God's call all at the same time.

            Let go. Let God. Now lets do this :)  

What 2013 Brings...

          Happy New Year!!! I hope and pray that everyone had a wonderful holiday season enjoyed by lots of laughs and giggles from all :) 
          As the new year begins I can't help but to smile with joy for the excitement to come. God has great things planned for everyone! A part of my new year "resolution" (I guess you could call it that) was to start a blog. God is doing great and amazing things in my life, and there is only many more to come. 
        One BIG thing coming up this summer is that I am continuing God's call for me and my life. This summer, July 11th-21st, I will be heading to the beautiful grounds of Kenya. Yes, I am talking about Kenya as in Africa!! I know, I know, I am 16 years old, but God has made His call and His will clear to me more and more with every passing day. Since the 7th grade I have partaken in five full mission trips to eleven different places (Texas, Arizona, Haiti, England, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France, and Louisiana). 
        My purpose become more and more clear to me with every step, every breath, every smile, and every tear. 
        I tend to get a lot of mixed reactions from people when I tell them about my upcoming trip to Kenya. Some are happy for me and thrilled about the adventures that are to come. Others are nervous, and think that I will attract some disease. And some question why I need to leave the country in the first place and think/say it's a little ridiculous. I answer/respond to all those questions and comments with a smile and say, "I'm just following what God has called me to do." Some understand, and some don't. And those who don't, I just see it as God working through them and He is working through me.
         Call me crazy, but I am homesick for places I've never been; I'm craving relationships that have yet to begin, and I'm longing to be the woman God created me to be. I'm in love with places I've never been to and people I've never met. 
          I am NOT just only 16. Age doesn't matter; anyone can be the hope, the joy, and the change someone needs in their life to get them going. 
          I fail God daily, but I am only human and God does NOT define us by our sins. (Thank goodness for that, because if He did, I'd be in deep, deep, deep water!) I've gone done paths I'm not proud of and I've done things that I am ashamed of. But guess what...God keeps pulling me back and saying to me, "Court, this is just one page of your story, I'm not done with you. Amazing things have yet to come, and amazing things are still to be done. Just don't give up." 
         Every time a page is turned in my story, as I grow older, I realize how much more joy and happiness I have in my life when I am following Him, and living my life on His purpose. That those sins, those things that keep me from Him, don't even begin to compare. 
         So that's what I am doing, and that is what I intend to do. To live my life for Him and not hold onto the struggles that could hold me back if I let them. Every single minute you spend regretting something is a minute wasted because that minute could have been spent in love, in passion, and in hope.

           I hope and pray for all those around me that they will see the doors that are open in front of them and not focus on those that are closed. I will continue to update on the progression of our trip and more details to come as well. 

Love & God Bless,
Courtney Gail <3