The Process to Your Purpose: Spending Time in the Wilderness

Photo: Courtesy of Creative Commons

Process stinks

Can I be totally honest with you guys?

The process stinks. It really does at times. It can be hard, disappointing, discouraging. 

Here's another word for it. Are you ready? 

Its being in the Wilderness.

How's about those apples, huh? What do you think of when you hear the word 'wilderness'? 

I looked it up on my dictionary app and this is what it says:

wilderness

-noun

1. a wild and uncultivated region, as of forest or desert, uninhabited or inhabited only by wild animals; a tract of wasteland

Synonyms: badland, barrens, boondocks, desert, middle of nowhere, waste, wasteland

Sounds fun, huh?

The phrase 'uncultivated region' stood out to me just now when I typed the definition. So, I looked up 'cultivated'. 

Here's one of the definitions: prepared and used for raising crops, tilled

and another:  educated, refined; cultured. 

Ok...remember that for a minute.

God's all about processes.

God is God. He can do ANYthing. Nothing is too big or too small for Him. If he chose to, He could come in and rectify any given situation/problem/circumstance. He could restore you or place you in the seat of your calling in an instant. But then, what do we learn from that? Do we then expect Him to do that at all times? 

For example: I'm trying to lose weight and get in shape. I've been working at it for a while. I'd be lying if I didn't say that on may occasions, I asked God to just supernaturally take the weight off! And He could...but in doing that, I would go back to eating the wrong things. Stop exercising. It'd skip the process. I would turn around and gain it all back when I failed to maintain the things that I would have done in the process of losing weight. 

Get it? You'll never know what's inside with out a test. Through the process, God is chipping away to reveal the true you. 

Now, I'm not saying that God never comes in and just supernaturally shows off. He does! More than we probably realize. But its in the process, in the wilderness, that He's able to teach us. To whisper to us. 

Its where we find Him. 

Up until recently, I also thought the wilderness was a scary place to be. In my mind, its where we're all alone. That God abandoned us, in a way. However, His Word says that He'll never leave us. Or forsake us. He's always with us.

In the wilderness, its just you and God. There's no better place for the process to happen than in the wilderness with our Beloved. 

As you take one step into the wilderness with Him, in the process, you will begin to see just how you can get from where you are to where you've been called to be. 

We have to search Him in the wilderness. Cling to Him. 

When you walk into the wilderness, you are taking the first step into your destiny!

In the wilderness, there's no water to be found, but God wants to take us into the wilderness with a pick axe and wants to teach us how to dig. How to search for Living Water.

But I've been "called".  

All of us have been called by the Lord to do something for the Kingdom. But even after you become aware of that calling, or have that encounter where God comes to you and tells you, you still have a process before you come into the fullness of your destiny.

Moses was living in the wilderness when he went up to the mountain of God and saw the Lord's glory manifested. Afterwards..he went straight back into the wilderness! 

Remember David? The shepherd boy? When Samuel came to Jesse to anoint the next king, the Lord promptly said no to each one of them. Until they had David come from the fields where he was tending the sheep. This was the one! This was the next King! And Samuel anointed him right there. Surely after that, David was escorted straight to the palace to live until he became king. Right? Nope. He was sent right back to the sheep in the fields. 

And then, Jesus. He hadn't even begun His ministry yet. He was being baptized by John, and as soon as He came up out of the water, heaven opened,  He saw the Spirit of God and a voice from heaven said "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."(Matthew 3:16,17). And afterwards? Jesus was sent into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 

What? This is JESUS we're talking about! He had to wait before stepping into His ministry. I think if Jesus could wait and go through the process, then so can I. 

What do I do while I'm here?

Being in the wilderness is the best place to be! Its not a scary place, like we've believed for so long. Its the place where God can speak and you can hear Him clearly. Its quiet there. So you can hear His voice better. Its the perfect place to hear Him. 

Be still and know that I am God. - Psalm 46:10

If you allow it, the wilderness will become the place where you hear Heaven and sit under its rain. And then....you'll know what it feels like. What it sounds like. And when the process is over and He leads you out of that wilderness, you'll remember. You'll then recognize His voice. When He speaks, you'll know it! 

Like I said earlier, when you're in the process, deep inside the wilderness, is where God can teach you. Refine you. And then lead you right into your destiny. 

Remember when I gave the definition of  'cultivated'?

-educated, refined; cultured

The wilderness is where God educates us, teaches, refines us. So that we will no longer be an uncultivated region. We will be cultivated; prepared and used for raising crops. Where we will bear fruit when we have stepped into our destiny. Into our ministry. 

My prayer for you all, and myself, is that we come to appreciate and love being in the wilderness. That we become so in tune with God's voice. That we allow Him to teach us and refine us. That we come to know His heart for us! That we come closer to Him. 

Worship School: A Dream Come True. Part 2

Pinch Me, I Must Be Dreaming!

My BSW necessities, and extras.

It was time, and it still hadn't fully hit me. I was going to Bethel! I was going to see Jen Johnson, Steffany Frizzel-Gretzinger, Jesus Culture, Jeremy Riddle, Paul Baloche, Martin Smith, Amanda Cook, and so many more amazing worship leaders! All in one place!

The thought alone was surreal. I couldn't wait to get there. I was excited, nervous, and more than a little bit intimidated. 

Upon landing at the San Francisco International airport, I made my way to the gate for my connecting flight into Redding. I quickly was able to spot out other students by the number of guitar cases. Plus, the connecting flight was a smaller plane and pretty much everyone on that plane was going to BSW (Bethel School of Worship). It was amazing at how quick we started to make connections. We all had the same emotions running rampant! 

Friends Forever

As we got ready to head out to Redding, I quickly texted the girls who I'd be living with for the next two weeks to let them know I would be there in less than an hour. There was seven of us, as I stated in Worship School: A Dream Come True. Part 1. I was the last of our house to arrive. I hadn't met any of them, but we were already connected. We'd been talking through Facebook for the past four months. 

I could write an entire post on my awesome housemates. We formed lifelong friendships that will last from here to eternity! We are still texting, touching base with each other. We plan to meet up once a year, taking turns visiting our home towns/states/countries. I can't wait to see them all again! I seriously love these ladies! They are all beautiful and are so full of the Lord. I'm bless to have them in my life!

On our last night together, we spent several hours praying and prophesying over each other. It was amazing. These girls will always be in my heart! 

From L to R: Top row: Therosia, Nicole, Tanisha Bottom Row: Irene, Leonie, Sonja, me

A Little Star-Struck

 One exciting thing, for me anyways, was the first night I was there, we went to Bethel's Sunday night service and I saw Jenn Johnson. I noticed that two of my housemates were talking to her so I just HAD to go! I slid up next to them. Literally. And she totally caught me. We laughed and I thought, "Well, at least I made an impression!" And of course, I had to have a picture with her.

Me and Jenn! Not the best picture of myself, but I'm with Jenn so who cares, right?!

I also got the privilege of sitting in several classes taught by the incredible Amanda (Falk) Cook. She is the one who wrote the song "Closer" sung by Steffany Gretzinger. And also "I Will Exalt". She's extremely talented and I got to sit and listen to her as she spoke about her personal process of becoming the songwriter/singer she is. She sang and prayed over us each class and it just got better and better.

Me and Amanda Cook!

 School Is In Session

There's absolutely no way I could write about my entire experience while at BSW. There's just too much that went on. I took an empty spiral and came home with it just about completely full of notes if that gives you any indication! We were in classes from 10am to 9:30pm daily. 

We started out each day with worship. Ah-maaay-zing worship! So intense at times. So free. No holding back. Completely lost in God's presence. 

The classes I took were nothing short of life-changing. I loved every moment of it. God was there with us. He spoke things over me. I'm going to be writing a blog post talking more in detail about a couple of things that the Lord revealed to me. 

Each class was more and more amazing. I couldn't get enough, I tried to soak up every single second of it, yet at times, I didn't feel like my brain could hold on to any more knowledge or revelation! Ha! How awesome is that?! 

Everyone there, Bethel staff and teachers, all made us feel like we were family. And made us feel genuinely loved by them. Which made us feel more connected with them. I definitely left a big piece of me there when I left. 

Bethel School of Worship changed my life. God changed me. And I can't wait to see where He leads me. I don't regret for one second going there. Would I go back? Um. Yes! In a heart beat! 

Worship School: A Dream Come True. Part 1

Bethel Church, Redding, California

Getting There

A Backstory

First thing you need to know about me is that I felt called to be a worship leader for years now. 

Its not something I wanted. 

I remember standing in my shower years ago and praying. I specifically remember saying "God. I don't want to be a worship leader. I'm ok with leading songs here and there, but I don't want to lead." 

In that moment, I'm sure that God chuckled at me. Because He has, in fact called me to lead. He calls us all to something. Its our choice to say "Yes". Somewhere along the way, along this process, I said, "Yes".

And so it began. The desire, the passion began to deepen. Its been a process. A long one. And its still going, but that's not what this post is about. That's a story for another time. 

I visited Christ For The Nations for a campus days with a friend of mine and found myself wanting to attend. I didn't know how though, because I was a single, working mom at the time and going there would require a move away from family and friends. I just didn't know how that would be possible. 

From that moment on, the desire to go to a worship school was birthed. But I just handed it over to God. And trusted that it would happen. In His time. And if it never happened, I was okay with that too.

And The Story Goes On

Years go by. Literally. The desire for school has never left, but as I stated already, I was okay with where I was and knew God had it under control. 

I'm sitting at my table with my good friend, and fellow worship leader, Jackie, and we're talking about worship. About our hearts for worship. What we wanted the Lord to do through us and in us. To lead His people into His Presence. The subject of worship school comes up and we talked about both of our desires to go. I told her that if I could go anywhere, I'd want to go to Bethel in Redding, California. I didn't know if they even had a worship school. I was just in love with the worship that had been coming out of that church. Powerful, anointed. Amazing. 

I want to say it was within that same week, the same friend texted me and said that Bethel had a worship school that was two weeks long. I was surprised..and that was DO-able!  

I looked it up and sure enough, there it was. Coming up in a matter of months. Now, what do I do with this information? I started praying about it. I mentioned it to my husband, whose initial reaction was what I thought it'd be. He wasn't completely on board at first. But said he would pray about it too. While it was do-able, it still would require a huge sacrifice on my part. Leaving three children and a husband for two weeks. Leaving family who would have to help out with watching my children too. 

And so I prayed that God would make a way. He knew how much I wanted to go. I would cry every time I would think about it. I knew that going would change my life forever. 

I asked my friend, Amie, an amazing prayer warrior, to pray about it with me. And it was like she got an answer right away. And it was a "Yes"! My reaction? You guessed it. I cried. 

I only told a few people about it and I was sitting and chatting with my friend Dayna. She had just come home from a missions trip and we were hanging out at my house. She was actually showing me the ropes on the whole blogging thing. 

You can check out Dayna's blog here. 

I told her about BSW (Bethel School of Worship) and she said, point blank, that it seemed I'd already gotten my answer about going and her only question was when I was going to fill out the application. To which I replied, "Um. Now?" 

A Valentine's Day Surprise

My husband and I headed out for a date the day after Valentine's Day. I checked my email and saw an email my pastor had sent, letting me know he had sent off the pastoral recommendation. I also noticed an email from someone from BSW and my heart did a flip flop. 

I had been accepted to BSW! It was starting the end of June, giving me four months to make arrangements. 

My husband was totally behind me, my family supported me, and my friends and my church were backing me. 

Down to the Details

Within a matter of days, I was connected with girls whom I didn't know. In fact, we were scattered all over the world. From Texas to Germany and Norway, the seven of us connected and made housing arrangements. 

There's a woman in my church, Ginger, who owns a salon. She offered to let me host a bake sale to raise money to cover funds for school. I was a wreck that day. The enemy began to attack me, telling me that I didn't have any business going to BSW. I wasn't good enough...blah blah blah. My best friend, Brittany and I went, with lots of baked goods, and not only sold almost everything, but I received donations. An amazing donation that left me speechless. My tuition was covered.

And I was GOING! 

So that gives you the story, the process, of me getting to Bethel School of Worship. In my next post, I'll talk about being there, the people I met, the experiences, encounters, I had there. 

Until then! 

Blogging and Vlogging and Bears, Oh My!

Photo Credit: Creative Commons

Another Blog?

So, if you've just happened to stumple upon this blog, well...you are in for a treat! Ok, maybe not. 

My first order of business will be me telling you a little about myself. I'm going to keep things fairly simple as not to bore you. My name is Laura (as you probably noticed from the blog title) and I am a 32 yr old wife to my amazing husband, Nathanael. We actually have our 7 year anniversary coming up in January. I'm also a stay at home mom to three beautiful children. Noah, my oldest is 9. Preston will be 4 on Sunday, and the baby of the family is Imogen (pronounced like Emma-gin) and she's a year and a half. The keep me very busy to say the least! 

I'm one of the worship leaders at my church. I sing and play the keyboard. Music is definitely my passion and its what God's called me to do. 

I've been a Scentsy consultant since January of 2010. So...if you need any..look no further! 

Visit my Scentsy site here.

And I've recently signed up as a coach with BeachBody and I'm loving it! 

My websites there are: www.beachbodycoach.com/lauraleigh80

                                         www.myshakeology.com/lauraleigh80

                             and     www.myultimatereset.com/lauraleigh80

Some hobbies that I love are writing, reading, singing, playing keyboard, home decorating, DIY projects, shopping, and Pinteresting (haha!). I love everything about makeup and have an obscene amount! I also love accessorizing and my jewelry collection is expanding far quicker than my husband is comfortable with. I'm a total girl! 

I've entertained thoughts of starting a blog before but my lack of knowledge about the blog world stopped me. Like I mentioned, I love writing, and a goal of mine is to eventually write a book. I've worked on a couple before through out the years. Maybe one day!  What brought me here today was actually my friend (and coach from BeachBody), Marlena. She encouraged me to start this blog to track my fitness progress to help inspire and encourage others. (There will be another post coming that specifically addresses my fitness goals, progress, and so forth). So that's what I'm doing. But I plan to post other things as well, not just fitness. 

So, with that, I invite you to come on this little journey with me as I share with you little pieces of my life! 

Until my next post..... Peace out!