I always feel like I need to come up with something very profound to update my blog with. Or I just tell myself no one really reads this so just update later. But I realized I don't need to write anything intense nor do I need people to read what I write, I just need to get more into the practice of expressing my life and thoughts here in Amsterdam or where I am living at the moment, which is by the way, in a new apartment in the Red Light District with 2 amazing ladies =)
God is definitely doing a lot of work around me, although my incompetent eyes cannot see this most of the time. But I know in my heart and soul that glorious work is being done. There have been a lot of revelations that I've received. The kind that are right there in front of you for a while and when you finally realize them they bring tears to your eyes. One of these big "ah ha" moments was when I finally realized I didn't have to work hard at making what God called me to do here come to pass. I mean; God the one who called me to Amsterdam, He is the one who told me what He had planned for me here, so why was I striving to perfect that plan He already had drawn the blue prints up for? It doesn't make any sense, yet I was working so hard to see this calling through. A few months ago I was having such a sweet Skype talk with my dad and I told him how I felt like I was doing nothing towards my goal here, that I felt I needed to be teaching prostitues how to do hair and because I wasn't doing that I felt so worthless. He just simply stated "Katy maybe teaching the ladies how to do hair is just the cherry on top, maybe it won't be your main ministry there but just a small part." That kind of shook me a bit but lead me to the realization that the one thing God called me to do here was "to pioneer a Tamar Center in Amsterdam." When He told me this (in 2008) the ministry I am now working with wouldn't have even been close to pioneering such a thing, but God knew. These last couple weeks we have been meeting and praying as a Lighthouse Team for vision and how to move forward in that vision. Last week it hit me. The Tamar Center is a place "offering hope, healing and a new life to the bar girls in Pattaya, Thailand." So basically what God called me to do here is pioneer a place that offeres hope, healing and a new life to broken women in Amsterdam. Here I was striving for the last 7 months especially on how to achieve this goal, yet God just showed me that is exactly what we are doing now. Me and my team of 6 others are in the "pioneering-transition" stage of building up The Lighthouse; a place that longs to see these broken women healed and set free. All this time I knew thats what we are doing yet, embarrassingly enough I never compared the two. What a weight that was lifted off of my shoulders. It wasn't that God was telling me that that was what I had to do, it was as if He was prophesying it over my life. Anything else that happens here will just be an added bonus. Which leads me to my next topic.
My wonderful friend Saskia and I met last year during Shine. She pioneered/worked as the director of Not For Sale in South Africa for 3 years prior. When I began talking to her my soul started to leap, I knew we would have a connected future. Last night we cut each other's hair (oh did I mention she is also a hairdresser?) and then went out to dinner. We talk for hours about our hearts and desires for Amsterdam and they are so simultaneous. She is a half YWAM-er half NFS-er which is just perfect. She really longs to just see Jesus transform the lost and broken here and simply wants to be apart of that. We both know that God is doing work and is about to pour out some amazing blessing and restoration here, and we're stoked for it to come to pass. She suggested we get together this week and just pray and ask God what He wants us, as individuals, to do and how He wants us to do it. Then act on that. No holding back anymore, but really just begin to take that step of faith and watch what God will do. As you can probably tell, I am really excited. I know I am a hairdresser, and I know God loves to work in our natural giftings, so I look forward to seeing how He will do the things He longs to do.
Whenever I have been praying about things happening here I keep getting a picture... and maybe it can help you to understand that we (usually as Americans) think "this is what I am going to do, I will move out there and it will all fall into place and everything will be great and everything will start working immediately." Missions is NEVER like that, especially pioneering a ministry. Expect God to do great things but don't expect it to all happen smoothly or quickly, it is a slow and patient-teaching process. The picture I have is of a roller coaster; you start to climb uphill very slowly, bit by bit. Then finally after the ascent, you drop down the slope extremely fast and you can't slow down. I really feel like that will be a image of my time here. Right now I am climbing up, and I truly feel like I am getting very close to the top, then once I am finally there it is a fast ride down. I look forward to it, and I am thankful God is preparing me now as I slowly inch my way to the top.
Prayer:
-There is a true "Spirit of busyness" here and I am feeling it like no other, please pray it calms down some. And when I mean busy, its mostly things not having to do with the ministry but just added on to the everyday life, it just keeps coming in wave after wave.
-My mom comes out to visit in a week, pray for safe travels, and also that her time here would be super slow so it would be like a month and not a short week =)
-For me to continue with a joyful heart, learning patience and balance is not coming very easy to me.
-God has been providing everything I have needed, whether it means having $3 left in my account for the rest of the month, or getting a bill a month or two later than I should or just having to wait longer for things like furniture for my room it all works out. Maybe not in anyway I had planned but He really is taking care of me. I am not sure if its good to be soo dependent on Him and be content with what He has given me or to also ask for people to pray and see if God puts it on your heart to provide for me as I am here in Amsterdam. So I will leave it at both. God is meeting my needs but there is not quite flexibility to soar here yet.
