Being the hands and feet of Jesus

I got asked today by my World Vision youth leader if I could write a blog about my experience being a youth ambassador aswell as my relationship with God so thank you for asking me!

In March I had the opportunity to do the 30hr famine at my church with the youth and I had the World Vision table set up and I gave all the teens sunglasses. Breanne spoke about what World Vision does and I got to speak about my trips to Uganda and how they have affected me.   I prayed that the kids would understand and would realize how much poverty there is in the world.
My experience being a youth ambassador has been an eye opener as I haven’t done much but just watching all of the other youth ambassador make memorable events and help change the world with their actions and their love that they have poured out to others.  I feel like I play a different role in being a youth ambassador by encouraging them and by praying for them and by watching them grow.

God has given me gifts of encouraging others and the gift of prayer. I am glad for Facebook and Instagram….yes I do post pictures of food or talk about the weather but that is also how I witness to others and I am also glad that we have a newspaper! I post my Africa trips in the newspaper. I write bible verses and encouraging notes on Facebook and on Instagram. I also let everyone know how amazing God is and the amazing blessings he has given me. He has given me an opportunity to reach to others through being a youth ambassador and he has given me an amazing opportunity to be a light to others all around the world. I have made some Christian friends through Instagram that live hours and hours and hours away. He has also given me the amazing blessing of going to Uganda twice!

My church built an orphanage in a little community called “Ogooma” which is in Uganda and in 2011 we had a fundraiser and the money went towards building a church in Ogooma and I raised over $15,000 in a few months. The fundraiser was whoever raised the most money won a free trip to the orphanage and I was the winner.  I used that free trip and went in January of 2013 and my life was changed. I got to meet all of the kids and I also had the amazing opportunity to meet my sponsor girl. Once I went, I had to go again and I had another blessing from God. I got to again this past January (2014). Uganda is my home!
Being a Christian is an amazing thing! Matthew 5:14 says “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”
As Christians we have to live out God’s word and be his hands and feet.  When we have God in us we will shine with God’s amazing love and God will shine through us to reach to people who don’t believe and to people who do believe. We are the body of Christ, God has given us different spiritual gifts to help further his Kingdom.


 You are a light, That is why you are here!

Mikayla

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is an amazing and powerful thing! I have felt the Holy Sprit and God's love just surround me. During worship or during a sermon or even prayer, I will get chills and I'll start shaking. It feels so amazing to be surrounded by God's presence. If God is speaking to me, my heart will start racing and I can't keep quite, I'll just start talking to people about God and just his amazing Grace and Love!

Joel 2:28 says "And afterward, I will pour out my spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. "

This past summer of 2013 at camp, we learned to pray and ask God to give us a face or a name that he wants us to talk to and pray for. Wow! That was so amazing and powerful. 

1 Corinthians 14:1 says "Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy! 

1 Corinthians 14:5 says "I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified." 

I have never spoken in tongues but if it's God's will, I will speak in tongues. I really believe in prophesy and just how powerfully it is. 

I hope that this week, you will feel the Holy Spirit or God's love! 

Hope: YC AB 2014

19 more days till YC Alberta 2014!!!!! The theme this year is hope, I will be talking about hope as we set our minds and heart towards this event as we see what God has in store.

Everyday we use the word hope multiple times. As an example we say "I hope you have a good day" or "I hope the weather is nice." It is an overused word in today's language but do we exactly know what hope means?

God has a plan for each and everyone of us, he has hope for us and he wants us to have hope in him and God is our hope. There are many great verses about hope in the bible:


Psalm 65:5 says "You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds, God our savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth."

Romans 15:13 "Overflow with hope by the power of the spirit."

The greatest gift we can give to the orphans and the widows who are in poverty is the gift of hope that God has given us!

Lamentations 3:24-25 "God is good to those who hope in him."

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Romans 12:12 "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer

Jesus loves the little children: Adoption

Earlier today I was sitting on the couch and scrolling through my phone looking at pictures from the past two years in Uganda and how I miss it so much and it's so exciting to see the amazing work that God is doing. 

I have been back since February and I honesty miss the culture, the people, the food and everything about it. I miss the red dirt between my toes, the smell of food cooking over a fire, the glorious and amazing hugs from the kids. I think the most amazing noise is hearing the kids laugh! They don't have much but they have Jesus!

 They are so happy all of the time and they praise God for what they have. 

I have only been to Uganda but they need love as well as all of the other countries in this world. We need to give them love as well as hope! 

I want to talk about another topic about Adoption. Children are truly a gift from God. There are so many kids that live in orphanages or are getting abused and hurt. As Christians we should stand up and show love to these kids and if God is laying it on your heart to Adopt, that is an amazing blessing! Kids are looking for a home filled with love and are looking for parents who will love them:) 

 Genesis 12:1-3 says "  The Lord said to Abram, "leave your native country, your relatives, and your father's family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you."

"Children are a gift from The Lord; they are a reward from him." Psalm 127:3  

"All of God's children are equal in God's eyes." Galatians 3:28

God's amazing plan

Hey everyone! Hope you guys had an awesome and blessed Easter! Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I have been busy. God is doing some amazing things in my life right now!

I recently quit my job at Shoppers Drug Mart and my last shift was April 20th, I had mixed emotions about leaving because I made some pretty cool relationships with customers as well as some of my co-workers but I just pray that I blessed them in some way. I also will be volunteering at camp for two weeks this July and I am so stoked for that! I can't wait to see all of the opportunities that God is going to open up this summer! God is going to provide!!!

I am going back to my home across the world soon! I am so excited to go back. It will probably be the last time for a while due to events that will take place that year! 

I will hopefully post something again next week:) 


God has an amazing plan for each and everyone of you! Never give up!

Joy!

I've got the joy joy joy joy down in my heart to stay! 

This is the second week of the fruits of the spirit and this week I'll be focusing on joy! 

James 1:2-3

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,  because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

When you are going through things, you'll find joy if you praise God through the hard times. 

1 Peter 4:12-13 says "Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed."

Joy is an amazing thing to have:) We are happy and happiness can be contagious. God loves when we all have joy but he loves it more when we have joy towards him!!! 

As Christians we should have joy and joy towards God. When we have joy towards God he will continue to give us joy! 

Love

This week I am starting off with Love, the first fruit of the spirit. Love is an amazing thing especially when you love God. 1 John 4:7-12 says this "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." 

There are so many verses in the bible about love and his word is love because God is love! He loves us so much that he died on the cross for us and for our sins. He sent his son to this earth. 

Love is one of the hardest commandments, even if people have hurt us and it's hard to forgive them but we still have to love them. It's so hard. I've been hurt  and trying to love them is very hard to do but with God's love we can love them. 

Loving people can be so hard yet it is the most amazing thing! 

1 John 3:16 says "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." 

1 Corinthians 13:4-8,13says "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love NEVER fails! And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 

LOVE NEVER FAILS! Isn't that amazing?!? God's love for YOU will never fail! He will always love you no matter what!! I thought I should end off this week with the love chapter:) 

 

Next week I will be speaking on Joy! I hope that you can apply this lesson to your life. You are loved! God loves you so much. He died on the cross for you. 

Love one another! Speaking of love....I will show you a few pictures of my boyfriend and I:)