Living the Journey

I joined a team of young ladies from all over the country this past week, who had gathered in Oak Brook, Illinois to begin a Journey to the Heart. It was a week of seeking after God and learning to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

On Sunday we enjoyed a day of fasting and prayer as Mr. Gothard shared Biblical principles that would help us prepare our hearts to seek our Savior. Monday morning, everyone packed their bags to take the seven hour trip to the Northwoods of Michigan. Each one of us was filled with joy in anticipation of what God was going to do!

I can testify that the presence of God was experienced throughout the entire week! Despite wide differences in ages and backgrounds, each of the girls came together and felt the rich blessing of a one-accord spirit.

While enjoying the great outdoors and taking in the splendor of God’s beautiful creation, we studied and learned to recognize seven sinful heart conditions (e.g. a fearful heart, a prideful heart, and an adulterous heart). We were amazed and convicted to see the sinfulness of our hearts, but had great rejoicing as we repented and looked to the Lord for His freedom, fullness, and joy. Confession of sin and a desire to make life-changing commitments brought deep rewards in many of the young ladies’ hearts. Times of memorization, prayer, singing, and crying out to God were very special.

Midway through the week, we set aside a special day to delight in the Lord and took time to fast and humble ourselves before Him. As a result we experienced the richness of God’s abundant grace!

We left the Northwoods with a song in our hearts, a perseverance to follow Christ’s commands, a freedom of repentance, and a deeper love for our Heavenly Bridegroom.

Upon returning to Headquarters, we worked through the commands of Christ with Mr. Gothard and learned what it is to become “fishers of men” with Mr. Garvin. There was also an opportunity in the evening for many of the young ladies to receive a verbal blessing from their fathers. God’s presence filled the room during this special time of prayer.

It was a Journey to be remembered for a lifetime! Not only did we come to know God in a more intimate way but special friendships were developed that will never be forgotten.

Praise be to Jesus for His love for us in doing exceeding abundantly above all that we could ask or think!

~ Sara
March 2009 Girls’ Journey

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If you wanted a walking definition of a “good kid” it was me. I grew up in a Christian home, asked Jesus to come into my heart when I was 7, and went to Church twice a week. However, something was missing in my life! Reading my Bible was a struggle and giving in to peer pressure was not something new. The only difference between me and my friends was that they were cold and I was lukewarm. Something needed to change and I knew it.

That is when I decided to go on a Journey to the Heart. This was the best decision I have ever made. It was a “launching pad” and the real beginning of my walk with God. I rededicated my life to Him and gave Him the next 10 years to do whatever He wanted with it. The small coal of my spirit was alive and the next couple months proved this as I encountered major struggles and the devil threw all the fiery darts he could find at me.

At this point, my relationship with God can be summed up in John 14:15 “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” Loving God is the only thing that matters. This is a simple applicable truth that I am and will continue to apply on a day to day basis for the rest my life.

~ Philip
July 2007 Guys’ Journey

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After returning from the Life Focus Journey, Nathaniel joyfully shared how God took the knowledge he had in his head and brought it down to his heart.

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The trip truly was a journey deep into my heart, exposing all of the dark closets to the Light of Christ. As a result, I have never had more joy and passion for serving Christ—with my whole heart. When I cleared my heart of every affection that was competing with Christ and fully surrendered everything to Him, I was overwhelmed with a sense of peace and love as nothing stood in between our relationship.

So many exciting, incredible things happened on the Journey, but the three most important to me were the hours of close fellowship with like-minded believers, the close fellowship I experienced with our awesome God, and the extra power I received through the anointing and laying on of hands.

The anointing for greater works and the laying on of hands has given me an amazing boldness and power to share God’s love with others. Before, I would have been so intimidated to approach strangers and share the love of Jesus, but now I am excited to talk with others.

God is bringing into my life so many to whom I can witness and disciple. I have set my goal of disciples to two million, and I am sure through God’s grace I can reach it! Thank you Mr. Gothard for giving of yourself for me and so many others. You have had a tremendous impact on my life and I pray that God would allow me to do the same!

~ Timothy
June 2008 Guys Journey

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At the beginning of the week I began praying and asking God to give me the two desires of my heart which were to love God with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to ultimately honor my Daddy. In my mind I thought that if I could learn how to truly honor my Daddy, then he would love me more and show more affection to me.

As the week went on, I started to study my pride and selfishness and really ask God to reveal those shortcomings to me. As I searched God’s Word and daily prayed that God would bless my Daddy, I asked Him to give my dad the desire to pursue me and have more open love towards me and better communication. God suddenly turned the light on and I realized that I was asking for these things out of selfishness.

The next night we watched a powerful video called “The Father’s Love Letter.” God really spoke to me through the video and showed me that no matter how much affection my earthly father expresses or doesn’t express to me, my Heavenly Father will always love me more then anyone else in this world. I am now able to humbly bless my Daddy in knowing that if I give all of my love to God, He will give some of it back to my Daddy to love me with.

God has truly used this situation to strengthen my love and personal relationship with Jesus and even with my Daddy. I now have the freedom to love my Daddy without the selfish desires of trying to gaining his love in return, and ultimately focusing on loving the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength.

~ Joanna
June 2008 Girls’ Journey

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So it all began when I moved to a different neighborhood that my life started to go down hill. First, I was made fun of and picked on. I decided to change so that I could “fit-in”. I began hanging out with the wrong friends, using drugs and such.

I found out that I had to go to Journey to the Heart and I got all excited about coming…but it was all for the wrong reasons. I arrived at the headquarters and I met this kid named Charles. I soon found out that we had almost the exact same interests. We both LOVED rock music, and we enjoyed playing it on our guitars. We also had similar struggles in different friendships. We decided that we would go and ignore God and everything and everyone and just play our guitars and listen to music. But God didn’t have that in mind for us. Later that night I had an interview with Mr. Gothard and I told him that I listened to rock music. He sat and thought for a moment and then asked me to pray and dedicate my music to God. I did but really deep down inside, I didn’t mean it.

On the way to Northwoods our leader told us to get out our Bibles and have a quiet time with the Lord. I was trying to think of something to read when I looked in the front of the Bible that my leader had given me and saw a list of references that you could go to during times of struggle with your relationship with God. I read Matthew, chapter five, which was convicting, but I tried to ignore it.

The first day in Northwoods we began talking about other religions and Satanism. It scared me so much that I was shaking with fear. I recognized that there is only ONE true God that can save and give you eternal life or destroy and sentence you to eternal damnation. That night I verbally asked Jesus to come into my heart and that I would know that He was real…and He did. The next day I recognized that I needed to call my parents and confess some of the struggles and failures that I had kept hidden. I confessed my moral failures, pornography, my language, and wrong music, which was the hardest thing to do. After I had confessed these hidden failures and different
struggles to my parents, I felt a WHOLE NEW freedom come over me. Later on in the week, we went on a walk around the lake and it was like I was having a conversation with God.

When we got back Charles and I went straight for our guitars but I was pricked in my conscience and recognized the need to play the right kind of music. As I look back on the Journey, I see God’s love for me and His abundant mercy that is so great. He desires our whole heart to be seeking Him, not just part of it.

~ Jesse
March 2008 Guys’ Journey

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