So…I have finally committed to YWAM Louisville this fall! It’s been a year in the making, but I am stepping out and listening to God’s call on my life and I’m very excited to see where He takes me.
YWAM, or Youth With A Mission, is an international organization that consists of people both young, old, and in between going out to fulfill the Great Commission. “…Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15) One of the schools YWAM offers, and the one that I will be attending, is called Discipleship Training School (DTS). This school is approximately 6 months long. During the first 3 months, which are lecture based, I will be learning about things such as: The Character of God, How to Share Your Faith, Hearing the Voice of God, and so much more. We will also be spending time doing local outreach, small groups, worship, and various other activities. We will get a break for Christmas to come home to see our families, but in January the overseas adventure begins. The last months of DTS will be spent in overseas missions where we will share the gospel with people who may have never heard it before!
Through this entire process of digesting my experience in Nica and then making this life altering decision now, I cannot help but be in awe of how truly amazing God is. A little back story into my YWAM decision…
Last year in Nicaragua, I got to work with Libby who is on YWAM staff in Louisville. She was very understanding of ‘me’ without even knowing me a week. As the two weeks in Nica came to a conclusion, Libby talked to me more and more about YWAM and what kind of experience it was and told me to make sure I paid close attention to Andy Landers when he came to speak for us one night. The night Andy spoke about YWAM, I could just feel the butterflies in my stomach, that yearning in my soul that I knew that was where I belonged. That night I was so conflicted with what I should do about my future because I had just started a new job and I was about to start my junior year of college as well. Libby sat and talked with me for a long time about the hard decision I would have to make and how it would change my life forever. She gave me a book to read too, “Is That Really You, God?” which now I know why. Once I returned home, I was still wanting to go to YWAM but in flooded the excuses: school, work, friends, family, etc. So I continued on with life as it used to be.
Fast forward a year. Same Nica trip, different me. This year I got to connect with a few more YWAM staff members…Josh, Molly, and Becca. Molly is my age so it was really easy to talk to her and ask questions. Josh and Becca were great to talk to as well. Becca has been doing missions for a long time, and Josh too, so they both understood how missions can change a persons life forever and how YWAM can be the perfect outlet to learn more about God and sharing the gospel to people all over the world…not just in Nicaragua. They both talked to me about my options and really encouraged me to just listen to God talking to me and let Him lead me. The night Andy was going to speak, Josh gave me some pamphlets and information about DTS to look at on the plane ride home; however, the moment Andy opened his mouth to tell everyone about his story and YWAM I knew this could be the night. At one point, he asked us to just sit still and quiet and listen for what God was saying to us. He asked us to just say ‘yes’ to God and whatever He was telling us or asking of us that we would just say ‘yes’…no matter what. The whole time I am sitting and just simply listening, I hear “Go…Just go” and I knew. I felt the same butterfly feeling and same fire in my soul that I could not ignore. That was it. Whatever it was going to take, that was it. I had said ‘yes’ to Him before he told me anything and it was going to happen.
So here I am…35 days until I leave for Louisville and I couldn’t be more excited. God has just provided so much for me and I cannot be more thankful that He never fails us. God has provided my tuition for DTS and an amazing office to work at that is supportive of my decision to follow this call.
More to come soon about YWAM and some other updates. If you want to know more about YWAM, you can visit ywamlouisville.org and go to the DTS tab at the top!
God Bless xox
Summer Alease 