My life is beautiful, full and just a bit on the crazy side.
So sorry for the radio silence (again). I've been trying so hard to become more disciplined again with blogging but anyone who has been finishing up school themselves these last few months can attest to the absolute craziness that ensues as you reach the end of a school year.
At the end of March I had the amazing honor of traveling to the sweet country of Mozambique which is in the South East of Africa along the Indian Ocean. We travelled to visit and help at the Iris Global base in Pemba. To say that I came back changed is a massive understatement as I feel in many ways my eyes were opened or reopened to the passions that lay within my heart. I won't go into a ton of details as I can forward you my newsletter if you haven't received it but some of most precious things I learned there was:
-There is power released when we meet practical needs.
I have always had a heart for meeting practical needs. Something I'm always struck by is that it's probably hard to get people to care about the message of Jesus if their stomachs are empty. More on this later...as the practicality of Jesus' miracles are something I'm diving into more. God loves to see His power move through meeting practical needs. I'm convinced of it.
-Peace, Joy and Hope are powerful forces in the Kingdom...and they are substances that can move, no BOWL over things standing in their way.
In countries where there is no difference between the natural and unseen world (because the people grow up aware of both) you recognize and see just how powerful the forces of the Kingdom are over darkness.
-Latreens are nasty
Speaks for itself
-God loves orphans, the disenfranchised, the hungry and broken.
Of course He loves all of us, but His heart is MASSIVE for these people and I believe it is the highest honor to serve them.
Upon my return I was asked if I would be interested in working here at the church. I saw this as a direct answer to my prayers. Since about February I have been feeling like my time here in Redding is not supposed to be done. I don't really know how to explain but the last 3 years of my life have been full on and intense. Working almost full-time, doing school and having my life completely rewired. Feeling the call to missions and actually what I'm alive to do, starting that journey, beginning to fall in love with a people group and discovering gifts within myself that I've never actually given myself space to discover. I feel like a completely new person and I am, in all honesty, tired.
So to think about running off to the mission field where inevitably I would be dealing with learning a new language, culture shock and trying to build a ministry straight out of that felt unwise. As I processed with the Lord before heading to Mozambique I told the Lord, "Ok, but if you want me to stay here I want a great job and I want it to be easy to get, in fact I don't even want to ask for it." And of course, in true God fashion, I didn't have to.
Last week I graduated from my 3rd and final year at BSSM. It was by far the best year yet as I got to marry a lot of what I've been learning with real, practical work. I also got to see my administrative gifting flourish as I actually gave myself permission to use it for the first time in my life. I now see that my love for details, improving and building is not critical but is actually a really valued gift in the Kingdom. God loves details and He loves to see His children come into the fullness of what they're created for and I see now that I get to partner with this part of His heart.
2 weeks ago I started my position at work. I will be helping with the Administration for the Leadership Development Programs that Global Legacy offers. Global Legacy is a ministry of Bethel Church and is a way for revival leaders from all over the earth to connect and be encouraged. You can check it out/create a profile at globallegacy.com I will also be working for Paul who was my mentor this past year.
My hope and plan in staying here for now is several things:
-Working will help me reach my goal of being debt-free before I go to the missions field.
-I will be able to actually save this year (as the last 4 years in Redding have not enabled me to do this) for future costs which include my on field training with W.I.M. and language school potentially in Jordan.
-Be able to attend several workshops about the specific people I want to work with in the future.
-Attend Disaster Relief seminars as this is something practical I was wanting to get trained in as well.
-Build further connections and strengthen other connections with people from the Middle East who are currently in or come through Redding.
-Become more firmly established in my relationships here. It is really important for me to feel and to be a 'sent one' and that happens through relationship.
-I have heard the Lord saying that I will need what I am going to learn doing this job. I know that I will have an organization in the future and the skills that I will learn will be invaluable.
-I will have time to just be and wait on the Lord. I've known that I'm not supposed to rush into anything and that His timing is perfect and I do not want to run into something and a place that would deflate what He's so meticulously been building within me.
-Potential Ministry trips.
-And lastly and most importantly I will have time to do my pre-field training, and do it well. To actually read the books and get what I need to out of them. I also will have more time to write, do music and connect with people who want to partner with what the Lord is doing in the Middle East and what He wants to do through me there.
I know that taking a job might seem like a contradiction to where I know that the Lord is taking me but I just don't see it like that. I see this as a step just as much and I feel the Lord on it. I haven't had a job where I feel this empowered in who I am. Where I can pursue what I love but that also do my job well and where the 2 come together. I am so very excited for all that will come and for the connections that are going to happen. I have a feeling it's going to be a wild ride and that someday the Middle East will benefit from this as much as I will.
If you have questions, would like to know how you can partner with what the Lord's doing or just want to say hi my email is larahochstetler@gmail.com Thanks for walking this journey with me and for caring about what the Lord is doing. It means a lot! I don't pretend to understand the Lord's timing or what He's piecing together but I do know that it is something beautiful to Him.
Oh, and did I mention that I moving Friday, too?
Why not change everything all at once?
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