“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now” Philippians 1:3-5
What an amazing five months it’s been! I’ve seen God do awesome things and He has prepared me for the next leg of my journey with Him. And you, my cloud of witnesses, my ‘partners in the gospel’ have been with me, (at least in spirit) through it all. Without you--without your love, encouragement, prayers and support, NONE of what I’ve learned and experienced in the last five months would have been possible. Thank you SO much! I praise God for each of you.
“So, Beth, you’ve just finished your Discipleship Training School… What Are You Going to Do Next?” Well, I know one thing—I’m NOT going to Disney World! As great of an ad campaign as that question makes, it’s been less than a favorite of mine in the last five months. In fact, during lecture phase, there was a point when I told one of my classmates ‘the next time someone asks me what I’m doing after DTS, I’m going to punch them in the face!’ Rash words I DIDN’T act on, since the next person to ask was one of our staff who also happened to be our base director’s wife (pictured, below, shortly after I didn’t punch her):).
We also half-joked that since our school theme was Psalm 27:14 ‘Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord’ we were all getting a special lesson in waiting on God for the direction of our future ministries. In the end, God was both gracious to give me more direction and faithful to His desire to teach me to wait on Him. After months of prayer and seeking and prophecy (yup, actual prophecy from a woman with that spiritual gift...it was seriously amazing) God has led me to narrow my focus from youth (a pretty wide category, including everyone from 12-18) to troubled teens, specifically urban and/or addicted teens. And I’m still seeking and waiting on Him for the next step as I look into different ways He could use me to minister to that group. Please pray for continued patience and direction as I do that. I’ll keep you posted!
