Julia LaRen Shatswell

I can’t believe that it has been two weeks since I arrived at the YWAM base in Kona. My goal is to challenge myself and send out updates every two weeks or so. Please pray for me because writing does not come easy to me. 

These past two weeks have been a blast! The first week I was trying to move in and get the items I needed to be comfortable while integrating into the new routines and using every spare minute to finish my last week of summer school classes. Now that that’s over, I can focus on being present and what God is teaching me. There is so much going on all the time and we are crazy busy, but here is a glimpse into “A Day in the Life” here in Leadership Track.

Generally, I am up by 5:30 am to read my bible and get ready for the day. We have prayer and intercession every day, and sometimes even twice a day. We contend on behalf of Nations, our future DTS students, and the students that will be attending Commission Camp. We have class every morning which is always challenging us to be better leaders. My evenings are spent doing work duty in the cafeteria dish pit. Although I could stay up late every night, I try to be in bed by 10pm. 🙂

Leadership track is where we are broken down and built back up to become better leaders. It is a season of major personal growth and total surrender. The Lord is already working on my heart and revealing the areas of pride, fear, and striving in my own strength that I find in my life.

While I was on the plane out here, I asked the Lord what this next season was going to look like for me. He told me it was going to be a season of being uncomfortable. Oh boy! I experienced that in the first day! There’s nothing like moving in with 9 other girls that you just met, actually, make that 20. (We have two bunk rooms on either side of a shared kitchen! Praise God!) I felt like a kid at summer camp and thought “What am I getting myself into?” That first weekend was hard for me because it was such a big adjustment (climate, never ending sweat and heat rash, no air conditioning, carnivore diet related food prep, etc.), but I know God has led me here and is preparing me for such a time as this! (Esther 4:14)

God is moving in this generation like never before. He is going after what seems to be the hardest and darkest. I believe that we will see revival in the identity-confused, porn-addicted, social media-dependent, luke-warm, homeless, mentally ill, etc. There is hope. I have a new faith like never before that God will move. God loves his creation and wants to have a relationship with each and every one of us. It may sound like this is coming across strong, but the Church needs to stop turning a blind eye to these hopeless but seeking people. They are searching and have turned to things that they think will fix the empty and broken places. Jesus was moved with compassion when he saw the lowest of the lows and was led to ACTION (Matthew 25:45, Luke 10:33, Mark 3:5, Matthew 14:14). He didn’t just leave them to starve or die of sickness without meeting them right where they were at. He took the first step toward us and he loves us so much that we don’t need to change anything for Him, but he also loves us so much that he doesn’t leave us where we are at!!

I am training myself to remember to be listening to my heavenly Father and to be in tune with His heart and obedient to do whatever He leads. Jesus did nothing apart from the Father. It is easy to fall into rhythms of doing what is easy or what feels good. But when we actually move against our flesh and out of our comfort zone is where we really grow. Talking to people and showing them that they are loved and valuable is way out of my comfort zone, but in the end it is not about me and my comfort doesn’t really matter. 

I know that when I wholeheartedly seek after him – I will find him (Jeremiah 29:13). What does that look like for me? It means taking everything to the Lord and asking Him if it is beneficial and if it is something that God has told me to do. Everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial (1 Corinthians 10:23-24). He tells me to think about such things that are excellent and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8-9). 

God taught me while I was on outreach to “walk in love.” It is not only walking in love with Jesus, but it is out of that intimacy with him, that I can walk out that love for others. When we ask in faith we will receive it. I pray that God would give me His Heart for people so that I may walk in the kind of compassion that leads to action. 

When we are radical lovers of Jesus – we are radical lovers of people. When we walk as doers of the word, which is the opposite spirit of what our flesh wants to do or say, we become and extension of radical Godly love! We need to speak life where there is death, freedom where there is oppression, hope in the midst of despair, identity in the confusion, peace instead of anxiety, and strength in our weakness. Don’t worry about the mechanics of what and who and how, because the Holy Spirit will always give us the words to say at just the right moment!

All this to say is that God is teaching me compassion. As I am stepping into this new season of leadership, would you pray with me that I will fully surrender to whatever he wants to change in me and that He will get all the Glory, even through the hard things. Rejoice! Because the Lord is coming soon! (Philippians 4:4).

Prayer Requests: 

• God would give me His heart (Psalm 24:3-6)
• For unity throughout our track (1 Corinthians 1:10)
• Wisdom through fear of the Lord so we can lead well (Proverbs 9:10)
• That God would give us energy, joy, and strength (Nehemiah 8:10)
• That we would recognize and throw off anything that hinders us and run the race set before us (Hebrews 12:1-3)
• We would speak words of life and encouragement (Ephesians 4:29)
• Divine discernment: wise as serpents and innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16)
• That God would give us His strategy to reach this generation (1 Corinthians 10:3-5)
• That love would be our highest goal (1 Corinthians 13)
• Commission Camp: Garrison will be there alongside some of my sweet cousins! It is July 15-22. Pray that God will move on their hearts, that they will be compelled with such a hunger and thirst that they would seek after him with their whole being and be forever ruined for the ordinary. As a Leadership Track we will be staffing and leading this camp and we are ready for God to move! We will see students healed and reborn! 
• Support: I am still in need of $1,400 a month and monthly partners. Would you kindly and prayerfully consider supporting this work? Any contribution, no matter the amount, would be greatly appreciated. Your support is crucial in helping us continue our mission and make a positive impact. Thank you for considering being a part of our journey to make a difference.

“Who may climb the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies. They will receive the Lord’s blessing and have a right relationship with God their Savior. Such people may seek you and worship in your presence, O God of Jacob”

Psalm 24:3-6