Welcome to Aussieland

What an incredible journey it has been! When I look back on all of the things the Lord has brought us through up until this point, it is truly amazing. We arrived well in Sydney, Australia! Full of vision, hope, expectation and a hunger to pursue God like we have never experienced before. After 31 hours of flight, we were received by our housemates, Yannick and his wife Damaris. They have a daughter that is three years old and a newborn little girl as well. Before coming to Australia, we assumed that this country would just be like the US, nothing different, only people with an accent would be the only difference between Americans and Aussies. Not the case! It is a completely different culture! A wonderful one, but definitely nothing similar to America! Our hearts are truly overwhelmed. There aren't enough words to described how blessed and privileged we feel about being here, in this country, and being able to experience God's goodness on this level. This has been a dream come true, but we now realize that this is more so the beginning of our dreams becoming true. God is so faithful. We just concluded our first week of intensives at Hillsong College! Ryan began the Worship Leadership program and I began Pastoral Leadership. Evan also began his first week at school at Hillsong Preschool and he absolutely loves it! This week of intensives was a powerful week and God gave us an even more clear vision about our purpose here and the plan is unfolding day by day. I'd first like to start with a story and then share something that happened at college this week to better understand the magnitude of His sovereign Hand over our life. Shortly after Ryan and I married, Evan and I were riding in the car in Houston and I was listening to a Hillsong album and the song, "Yahweh" was about to come on. One of the Senior Pastors of Hillsong, Robert Fergusson began to preach before the song and He was teaching the students of Hillsong about the names of God. It was a powerful message that I heard before and I was listening closely when I heard the Lord say, "This is the school where you will go." I started crying because long before this happened, when Ryan and I first met, he told me that the Lord had called him to attend school at Hillsong, but at the time, I was attending Bible college at CBS in Houston and I didn't believe that there was any need whatsoever to cross oceans and needless to say the other side of the world to go to Bible college. Might I add that God has a way of getting married couples on the same page? After this I called Ryan and told him about what the Lord laid on my heart, we were both crying and thanking God for whatever He had planned next for us. We didn't expect God to move so quickly. That same night, Ryan was working lighting at a young adults service in Houston and a woman in a wheelchair came up to where he was and said, "Young man, I have a word from the Lord for you." She said, "The Lord told me to tell you that this place where you are is temporary, He is going to take you to a far away place, and there, you will go to the next level. Don't give up five minutes before the miracle." That was it. Ryan had no clue who this woman was or where she came from. When he told me about this, I was flabbergasted. I had never had the Lord confirm Himself this way and we were in awe about what had just happened. We ended up finding who she was and her name was Mrs. Pam. That night Ryan was programming lighting for a concert and the young man was who singing had invited her to come to his concert, she was his spiritual mother. We ended up becoming good friends with her, she is a mighty woman of God and He has blessed us with her friendship. Fast forwarding many months ahead, this past Wednesday, Ryan and I walked into class, sat down in the second row, and guess who walks in? Robert Fergusson. This is the man that the Lord used to speak to us about coming to Hillsong that I mentioned. He asks everyone to stand for prayer and then asks everyone that speaks a different language to raise their hands. I raised my hand and he said, "You, what language do you speak?" I said Spanish and he said, "Great, come up here and pray in your language." For those who know me well, I have absolutely no problem praying with people, even in front of people, but I was caught off guard. God is so good!!!!!!! Ryan and I spoke with Mr. Fergusson afterwards and we shared how the Lord had used him and it was truly a blessing to share this with him. Again, I cannot even put into words how GRATEFUL and how overwhelmed our hearts are!!!!! If that wasn't enough, we got some wonderful news yesterday afternoon. For Ryan's first semester, he will be one of the electric guitarist for the Hillsong Chinese Extension services on Sundays morning starting tomorrow! Before starting class, he had a great audition but had no clue that he would be able to start his first semester in one of Hillsong's worship services. The scripture that came to my heart after everything that we have experienced in this week is Ephesians 3:20, which says, "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us." God is able. He always exceeds what we could ever think or desire. I remember one of the first things that I began to discover about the Lord when I first got saved was that He truly cared about everything we cared about. He is our Father. That means that He is concerned about the smallest things that concern us. I love when David said in Psalm 138:8, "The LORD will perfect that which concerns me: your mercy, O LORD, endures for ever: forsake not the works of your own hands." It is amazing to know that our Father in heaven is watching over the smallest details of our life and taking notice to them. We can be satisfied in knowing that even though people may not be concerned about us, God always does, no matter how big or how small. I believe that somewhere in my husband's heart, he desired to be used by God with the gift of music that He has placed in him. God knew this and honored his hearts desire. Ryan was so happy to be at Hillsong College that he did not care if he was cleaning toilets at the church or greeting people at the door, he was just happy to be here and it did not matter where or what he was doing. I believe that this attitude of humility and submission touches the heart of God and He moves in ways we could have never thought or dreamt of. What a wonderful God we serve. Coming to Australia has not been easy, We all know the story about how Peter got out of the boat and walked on water when He saw the Lord Jesus. Have you ever thought about why only ONE disciple got out of the boat? There is always a lot of conversation that goes on when we talk about pursuing the things of God and pursuing what we believe the Lord has called us to, but when you actually begin to walk it out, things are a lot different. Has it been a challenge? Absolutely it has! But an incredibly rewarding one! We have been stretched in ways we never though possible, and in this stretching, we are growing. We are quickly learning that God will put you in uncomfortable, unusual, and unfamiliar places to stretch and grow you. When we become comfortable, our growth can sometimes come to a halt which can result in a dependence in our own selves than in Him. We thank God for every "uncomfortable" situation that we may be placed in and believe that there is purpose in it all. We love our friends and family and thank YOU for all of your prayers and support. In the words of Brian Houston, "The best is yet to come..."