Encourage one another

"Therefore, having put way falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another." Ephesians 4:25
One thing I love about my YWAM community here at Oxford is that we make it a regular practice to speak truth to each other. The world has been telling us all lies about who God is and who we are, so to counteract those lies it is important to verbalize the truth and this is how we build one another up in the Lord. My brothers here have been really good at encouraging me with the truth, they don't hold back even though I am a girl. One night during worship I was asking God to reveal anything in my heart that was not true. A moment later, my German brother Manuel turned to me and said "Amy, I feel like God wants me to tell you that He made you beautiful and you have bright eyes and a joyful smile and that He is proud of you." Bam! That cut me to the core and I started crying. At some point in my life I was told that I wasn't pretty and I have been working to make God proud of me. I repented in that moment and thanked God for speaking to me through my brother. I asked the Lord to speak to me and felt like I should pray for one of my sisters. So, I knelt down and prayed with Sarah and she started crying. After saying "amen" she told me that she was just telling God what her fears were and when I prayed it was exactly about that issue (which I had no idea of while I prayed). That same night another brother spoke more truths to me about who I am in Christ. Over the weekend we took a trip to Kaikoura and more brothers seemed to be on some secret mission to encourage me and were pointing out my strengths and abilities throughout the trip "Amy, you're really good at influencing people/leadership, encouraging others, serving, being positive, making dinner for the team...etc." Wow, I was so built up by their words, this is how the body of Christ works! I asked the Lord to give me more quality conversations with my sisters here and for one specific prayer partner. This week He has been answering those prayers and every meal I end up talking with one of the other ladies for a good long while about what God has done in our lives. One of those times, after talking with my Swiss friend Tabea, she asked me if she could pray for me and we prayed and then she shared something she wanted prayer for, so we prayed again. I said "Tabi, do you want to be prayer partners?" She enthusiastically said "YES! I have been wanting someone special to pray with." I love it that we both individually asked our Father for something and He led us together. Also last weekend during a worship night I heard one of my sisters weeping, so I knelt by her and prayed for her in the Spirit, not sure what to say. My thoughts turned to a battle scenario so, in faith, I told her that she doesn't have to fight anymore and Jesus has won the victory for her and His banner over her is love. Then I began to rub her back and head. While I was giving her a head message, I had the impression that I was the hands of her heavenly Father in that moment comforting His child. The next day she shared with me that she was crying because she was telling God that she was tired of fighting and was pulling at her hair. When the Lord responded to her through me, it was exactly what she needed. We were both overjoyed at how the Spirit heard her and spoke to/through me.
I have so many more stories I could tell of how God uses us to comfort and build each other up, but I think you get my point. This foundation of love and unity in the family of Jesus is so important because the world will know we are His disciples by our love. I have this sense that my fellow students and I are being prepared to be sent out into the world to share this amazing love that our Father has for all people!

We took a weekend trip to Kaikoura and it rained on our night of beach camping, so I cooked dinner in the trunk of the van. In the photo L to R is Samuel (Swiss), Ben (Canadian), Matt (Canadian), Logan (American), Lukas (Swiss), and Katie (American).

It was so cold and rainy, but some of our men managed to start a fire.

This is the view looking back from standing on the beach. We prayed for sunshine on Saturday and God gave it to us! Can you imagine snowboarding down that mountain with a view of the beach and ocean in front of you?

At the base of this waterfall are baby seal pups playing in the water. The river flows into the ocean where their moms are lying on the beach.

This is gorgeous New Zealand! Welcome to Kaikoura, where the beach and mountains are in one panarama view.

Ya, I could have pet him, but I didnt.

This is my wonderful roommate Donna. She is 30 and in the Justice DTS (not backpacker). They made us roommates because we are the oldest girls. All the other ladies are in 2 rooms full of bunkbeds. 

My brothers Ben and Manuel (German) on twin day (my trin is not in the photo).

Playing Snake Oil on our free night. L to R is Liz, Tabea, Rachel, Kimmie, Donna, Jason, Cloe, Sarah, and Gabe.