Living the Journey

In September of 2007, I boarded a plane headed for Chicago and a Journey to the Heart. It was there that God did a work in my heart that changed my life. He showed me just how fearful of a heart I had. I had a fear of what other people thought of me that would control my words and actions when I was around them. This became the controlling force of my life, rather than what God thought of me. The Lord helped me to see the severe consequences of having a fearful heart, and what a hindrance it was to being an effective soldier of Jesus Christ

One night, our team experienced intense spiritual warfare and we sensed that Satan was attacking us with fear. I got on my knees with the rest of my group and earnestly cried out to God to take away my fear. The amazing happened. I immediately felt a peace, a freedom, and a joy inside! I was thrilled! I felt so free from that bondage!

I did not at all expect the tremendous results that would come. In the days, months, and years that followed, God opened up so many opportunities to make an eternal impact in the lives of others. I was able to reach out to others and talk to them without fear of what they thought of me. It was incredible! I was free to do God’s will. Free to be used for His service. Free to obey the Holy Spirit’s promptings. It grieved me to see how, for so many years, my fear had hindered me from being used of God; from being an available vessel for Him. How many opportunities I must have missed to reach into the lives of others, all because of my fear of man.

Never would I have dreamed that exactly two years and one day after I attended the Journey, I would board a plane for Oklahoma to spend ten weeks making an impact in the lives of many children there. During our heart preparation at Eagle Springs, God again convicted me of my fear of man. I was challenged to live AUG – Approved Unto God. (See Proverbs 29:25, II Timothy 2:15.)

One day before Bible club, I noticed a girl sitting alone while everyone else was playing. Upon going over to talk to her, I asked what the best thing was that had happened to her that day. Without missing a beat, she said, “When the church people came.” (We would go door-to-door picking up the kids for club. This girl evidently viewed us as ‘church people’.) I was caught by surprise as I was certainly not expecting that as an answer! For some of the kids, we were their only hope of something better. We were the bright spot in their day. We were the ones that cared enough to love and reach out to them with the love of Christ. Had I had a fear of man, I would have pushed away the Holy Spirit’s prompting and would have lost an opportunity to share His love with this girl.

As I further talked with her, I discovered that she was rejected by her friends at school and was very hurt by that. I was able to share with her from personal experience how I had found a true Friend in Jesus. The very next week, this little girl was gloriously saved! Through all the training, the work, the loss of sleep, and inconveniences, nothing can be compared to the rewards of investing in these young lives. I can truly say it was worth it all!

My time in Oklahoma teaching truth in the public schools and doing after-school Bible clubs was a growing time and a stretching experience. When I stop relying on God and fail to look to Him alone for approval, I soon fear man rather than the Maker.

God is continuing to do a work in my heart. What I experienced on my Journey was not a one-time thing. It is an on-going process. My Maker is continuing to mold me and develop in me His perfect love that casts away all fear.

~ Sarah
September 2007 Journey

~

If you are interested in an opportunity to invest in the lives of children, please send a quick note to Chad Christiansen.

12 Comments »

I was so excited when I returned from the Journey to the Heart! I had learned so much about the lies we believe that trap us and keep us from serving God with all our strength. I had a new sense of freedom. With all this excitement, I knew that I had to share it with others. I gave my testimony at church but that wasn’t enough. I knew many girls who had never heard the truths that will set us free from the lies that we have come to believe. God was telling me to share in detail from what I had learned.

With the help of my parents and sister, I was able to invite girls over weekly to discuss the struggles we go through when we believe Satan’s lies. At the first meeting only five girls came, but as the weeks went by the group grew to 25 people. I was so surprised! By the time our weekly meetings ended, I could see how God had already begun to work in the girls’ hearts.

I remember how inadequate I felt when God had laid it on my heart to share with these girls; yet by the end I understood that all God ever wants is a willing heart.

~ Natalia

4 Comments »

I came to Journey to the Heart as an overweight young man in need of a lot of change in my life both physically and spiritually. I really enjoyed the Journey and learned a tremendous amount about aligning under God and my authority and getting rid of the secret sins that had been eating away my life. I learned that the power of sin is in its secrecy.

After the Journey, I went to ALERT to honor my Mom and Dad, not because I wanted to. Though it was hard, I grew both physically in strength and endurance and spiritually in faith and reliance on God for my every need.

While taking law enforcement and property care to complete Phases 2 & 3 of ALERT, I learned so much more. One of the most important lessons I learned and am still applying it in my life is the concept of what really matters in life; all the frills and accessories are nothing when I compare them with my relationship with God and others. I must be willing to do anything to honor and defend these relationships.

~ Jevenn
April 2008 Journey

~

The following video on ALERT and Quest was recently aired on CBN.com:

3 Comments »

I wonder what the next step is for my life.
I have extra time at home but I’m not sure how to use it most wisely.
I came face to face with an emergency but I didn’t know how to respond.
I enjoy learning about medicine, but is it really for me? . . . I wish I could “try” it.

Do any of these ring a bell with you?

As a child, I played with doctor’s kits, nursed my dolls to health, used the toy stethoscope on anyone standing still, was the “medic” when we played house or cowboys and Indians, and dreamed of being a nurse.  The Telos Institute International gave me the opportunity to live my dream and develop my medical knowledge through the Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) training held in Indianapolis, IN.

This month-long program gives those who attend enough information and skills so they leave with well-developed ability and capacity to deal with situations the Lord brings across their path. During the course, we had the chance to work at a nursing home and the seniors loved it when the “angels” show up! The Telos CNA course has a 100% passing rate and many have gone from this course and used their certification to either get a job or begin nurses’ training.

After taking my CNA, the Lord threw me into situations where the training was required. These included:

• A girl flipped over her handlebars and cut open her chin
• Another girl went into something that was similar to a seizure and while we were enroute to the hospital, I lost her heartbeat.  Those of us in the van cried out to the Lord and soon I found it again.
• Several people dealing with sickness and diseases
• A girl cut her thumb to the bone while trying to slice a large watermelon
• A guy cut his hand on glass and nearly fell on me as his body began going into shock
• A guy flew off his bike and was badly scraped up and nearly unconscious
• A person with a broken finger came to see if I thought it needed medical attention
• Sprains
• Back injuries
• Dealing with bad cuts
• Old age difficulties and making the seniors as comfortable as possible
• Caring for a lady two weeks before her death

In today’s day and age, everyone will be faced with a time when medical basics will be an asset: a co-worker has a seizure, your grandfather experiences a heart attack, your best friend accidently eats something she’s allergic to and goes into anaphylactic shock, your little brother goes into shock after a hard fall from a tree, someone gets dizzy and faints, a little child suffers from illness, someone complains of a sore stomach and it turns out to be an inflamed appendix, or your parents or grandparents need help with everyday living as they age.

This training will give you a foundation to rely on and develop from.

~ Kendalyn

The next CNA course is scheduled for May 2-28, 2010 at the Indianapolis Training Center. The registration deadline is March 3. For more information, visit www.ati.iblp.org/cna/

2 Comments »

I arrived in Oklahoma a little scared and uncertain. I had gone on a Journey several months before, and there God had opened my eyes to sin and rebellion that had been in my heart for a long time. I had then become convicted like never before. I told God I would follow Him wherever He wanted me to go. Several months later, someone suggested I go to teach character in the Oklahoma public schools.

I had all kinds of objections. One was, “I’m not qualified; I’ve never even been in a public school.” Another was, “I’m not worthy to teach character. I’m the last one to tell others about self-control and other character qualities.” A third was, “The kids will think I’m stupid.” Having all these fears, you can see why I was scared and uncertain when I came to Oklahoma. But I had decided to follow God’s leading.

While I was there, God did the impossible. He made me into someone who could teach and reach others for Him. He gave me a good relationship with Him. I cannot count the times I had no idea what to say in a situation, but after a short prayer, the words came to me. In Bible club, the Lord gave me two fifth grade boys that were trouble makers. I had no idea what I was going to do. I kept loving and praying for them and tried not to give up, but I was at my wits end with their annoying antics. Yet by the end of the year, they not only were cooperative, but they were listening and learning as well. My relationship with them is proof that I can trust God in any circumstance.

This is the greatest thing I learned there: I can trust God! Every time I had given something to God, I would end up taking it back: music, movies, TV, friends, you name it; I couldn’t seem to let anything go for good. I realized the reality was I didn’t believe God. I didn’t believe He was greater than all these worldly things or that He could make my life fun without them. But God proved to me that I could trust Him with everything in my life, and the end result would be greater then anything I could possibly have imagined.

Do I still make wrong choices and go back to old things? Yes. But my whole outlook has changed! I am learning things from the Bible I never knew, and my walk with God is better than it has ever been before. Going on the Journey was the first stepping stone to a whole new life, a life that was not ruled by my earthly desires, but by the Lord’s guidance and direction.

~ Paul
November 2007 Journey

~

If you are interested in an opportunity to invest in the lives of children, please send a quick note to Chad Christiansen.

3 Comments »

On the morning of August 23rd, 2009, I sat with my dad in the airport parking lot soon to board my flight headed for Indianapolis. A hundred thoughts were swirling through my head as I prepared for this four week trip, and I was glad when we paused to read a few Psalms. As we were reading through Psalm 111, I suddenly stopped dead in my tracks at verse seven. It said, “The works of his hands are verity…” I had read that verse before, but it was just as if I hadn’t. It was as if the words had leapt off the page, straight into my heart, for I was headed to a place called Verity Institute.

To start at the beginning, my parents heard about Verity at the ATI Regional Training Conference in 2007. They were very impressed with the discipleship focus of the school as well as the accelerated learning, saving both time and money. My father told me he strongly desired for me to obtain a college degree. While it wasn’t exactly my own first choice, I knew I had to trust and obey the Lord through the authorities He had placed in my life.

During my last semester of high school, I participated in Verity’s dual-enrollment program. From home, I took a Biblical Worldview class, went through the Life Purpose Planning workbook, and studied and tested for two CLEP exams.

In June of this year, I graduated from high school with plans to apply to Verity for the fall semester as a distance learning student. In August, I attended orientation and the Verity Journey to the Heart (my second Journey). The atmosphere of the Verity campus cannot be accurately described with words. I could tell after spending just a few days there that the staff and students are truly sold out for Christ and desire to please Him in all they do. On the Journey, I enjoyed studying the heart conditions again with my team, seeking deeper insights from the Lord. It was incredible to see the Lord work among our student body and bring us to one accord, allowing us to start the year off on the right foot. I hope to become an on-site student in the future, Lord-willing.

My first semester as a Verity student was stretching both mentally and spiritually. Every two weeks, I was given the opportunity to trust God for the results of my test and experience the joy of being in His will regardless of whether or not I scored well. God taught me to cry out to Him for the grace I needed for each moment and focus on the spiritual insights He was giving me through my studies rather than on just the academic lessons. Colossians 2 tells us that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Jesus Christ. Verity acknowledges this truth by centering all aspects of their program on growing our love for the Lord.

One of my favorite things about Verity is the spiritual accountability provided by the leaders, staff, and fellow students. Each week, we are assigned a command of Christ or character quality and corresponding verses to meditate on. At the end of the week, we must write an essay on what the Lord taught us through the command or quality and its application to our lives. This discipline has proven to be invaluable in deepening my walk with the Lord.

I know Verity is the work of God’s hands in my life. The eternal blessings are what I am most grateful for; the college degree is just the icing on the cake.

~ Kayla
May 2008 Girls’ Journey

2 Comments »