Your Story Isn't Over

Right now I'm staring at a water color painting that my roommate has hanging on the wall. The painting is of an assortment of exactly 21 glasses of water, each with a different amount of liquid. Though the art in of itself is aesthetically pleasing to look at, it's the small phrase on the bottom of the painting that hits me: "hope is essential".

Everyone and their sister has written about hope before. In some shape or form. I definitely have. Yet it's a subject I continually want to revisit because I'm constantly in desperate need of hope. 

We are all in desperate need of hope.

Hope is, in fact, essential. 

2012-2015 were highlight years for me. I was constantly around faith driven believers during this time who had a heart to see the nations transformed by a radical Love named Jesus Christ. I lived in both California and Hawaii and traveled to do various missions work overseas.

Flash forward to February 2017, and I am now working as a printing technician for a copy services company in a small town in Maryland. 

Each day feels like a new area of growth for me. In the places I felt I couldn't confront, or the issues that I tried to ignore about myself before, I'm finally facing it. It's painful.

Oh and being in a relationship doesn't fix your problems. Just as a heads up. It actually brings out those issues you have in your heart even more and makes you realize what a broken and imperfect person you are. If you're looking for a humility check, a relationship may be right for you!

Yet in the midst of all this pain and brokenness, I cling to hope. I cling because I know my story's not done yet. It doesn't end here with me working at a copy services company in Fulton, Maryland. But yet, this season is still part of my story. This time of (seemingly) insignificant day after day is truly a time in which, if I look hard enough, I find magic and wonder. In both people and life around me. Mainly people though.

I read somewhere recently that pain puts us in good Company. I can't think of something I agree with more. My broken heartedness has made me into a better and more real person. I feel closer to my Creator in the times of pain. I'm glad life sucks sometimes, for that very reason!

I love that cliche graphic that's been going around from the book, the Valveteen Rabbit. I'm just gonna go ahead and show you:

And that, my friends, is why hope is essential. 

Because through those really hard days when you don't want to get out of bed because it just hurts too much to face the day, and though you might not want to do anything with your Saturday other than
watch movies to numb your pain, and maybe you spent your lunch break crying in your car and not wanting to go back to work, rest assured knowing that those days aren't the end of your story. Those days aren't the end of your hope. 

Those days are forming you into a more real version of yourself.

A Needy Cactus

Much of my Christian existence I have pictured myself as this pretty tree that is full of branches and greenery. 

Growing and being watered in this wonderful and vast field.

Only recently I've discovered that I'm actually more of a cactus than a tree.

A cactus in the middle of a valley, withered and needy.

Many would say this is this the tearing down of my value and worth, when actually it is a release of pressure.

For once in my life I no longer have to live up to the perfect tree with the beautiful outward appearance of having it all together, so that others might be drawn to me.

I'm living now for an audience of One, and He isn't put off by my appearance.

In fact, He embraces it.

Though I am prickly and hard to come near, He reaches out to me.

He is unafraid to be though pierced through like a thorny crown. Bleeding out my redemptive destiny.

He wishes to be close to me. To love on this sharp, gruesome, exterior to get to my heart.

His love surpasses all our disgraces from our past to our future.

He'll never be intimidated.

And because of this, I am in need of Him more than ever. 

 

Bright Pink Walls

It's amazing to see where life will take you, even if life looks so much less "cool" than it did last year at this time.

I've only opened up briefly about this through Instagram, but I want vulnerability and realness to be my mantra of sorts. So 'briefly' won't do.

The past 3 years of my life have been full of travel, adventure and hype. So much hype. Being a part of YWAM has given me the opportunity to "go places". I don't feel the need to list all that off because that's not important. I will say that I've had the opportunity to live in California this past year. Which is not too shabby.

But not everyone is called to be "living off of support missionaries".

Especially if you're me.

I felt the call to the business world last year when I accidentally started up a "fund raising project" that I called "Molly Pockets". I was just trying to get back into the mission field and needed the money. Little did I know it was the gateway into my actual calling.

From last September till this September, I have been experiencing the ups and downs of trying to build a brand while also living in a new state (Califreakingfornia), with two minimum wage jobs, trying to make rent each month. There was actually no possible way for me to do it. I didn't have the time, because I was also balancing doing college ministry. 

Perhaps my biggest issue was that I had community. I know that doesn't sound like an issue. Community is amazing and one of my favorite things.

Only that I began to put all my worth and value into the community. Not so amazing.

I didn't know how to be my own person anymore. I didn't even pay mind to who I was because I distracted myself with relationships.

I was subconsciously defining myself as "Molly with friends". And when I wasn't with those friends for a month last April, I felt more lost than I had ever been.

I didn't know how to be on my own. 

Things started improving after that month because I realized that being my own person, doing different things than everyone else, was actually okay. 

The problem with me is that I am really attracted to musicians. Not just romantically. Just in general, all my friends are musicians for some reason. Especially this year. 

The good thing is that I know how to song write now. I got the process down to a T!

The bad news is that I can't sing for crap and music isn't even what I'm meant to do with my life. 

I somehow found myself in a Hollywood recording studio this past summer with a bunch of industry people. It sounds like such an awesome experience for some but for me it was brutal. We all had to go around the room and say what we do, and all I knew to say was "uh, I like business".

Lots of curtesy smiles were given, as my insecurities flared like mad.

Over the summer I knew that I needed to get some momentum going if I wanted to actually pursue my passion for business. That's when everything changed for me.

Instead of starting a business in my beloved California, I felt the push from Jesus to "go home to Florida".

"The colorful lawless swamp", as Michael Scott puts it.

But in the midst of feeling like I was taking a step backwards (moving home with my family), I also felt the excitement of my time actually coming to live out everything that's been burning on my heart to do.

I've been home for 4 weeks now and spending a majority of my time alone. It's by far been the most needed seasons for me this year. I mean, it's also the most humorous season, seeing as I came home to my sister claiming my old room, and me having  no choice but to take her old  bright pink 4 walls as my own. 

I've realized so much about myself and my life these 4 weeks. I'm remembering the things that make Molly, well, Molly. 

We need to stop trying to be other people and give ourselves the opportunity to be ourselves. That's diversity. It's needed.

I'm remembering my heart for the world and social justice. 

I'm remembering my dream to see marginalized and broken people restored and taken care of.

I'm also discovering new dreams and passions in me to ideate practical solutions for societal impact. 

Also on a less inspiring note, I'm discovering a love for snapchat (Myoungstrom, add me).

I have no idea what it looks like from here on out. I'm taking business courses and studying my buttocks off. I'm researching impact strategies. All these sophisticated terms that make it sound like I know what I'm doing, but really I have no idea.

I'm just taking steps right now and I'm seeing where it goes. It's okay that I'm not constantly traveling right now. I believe that will come again later. 

I know who I am now. That's what matters. I haven't lost myself. I haven't lost Jesus. In fact, I feel as though I've gained more of Him.

I'm done writing my own story. I'm letting Him just do that from now on. 

I don't know if my words have helped you at all. I hope they have. I mean, the whole point of this post was to encourage people reading this.

But if my words haven't impacted you, here's someone else's that might:

"Those who take refuge in community while fleeing from themselves are misusing it to indulge in empty talk and distraction" - Dietrich Bonhoeffer 

We can't run and hide from ourselves anymore. 

There's a world out there waiting to see genuine lives being lived.

You do you boo.

The Mundane

I feel like I'm on the verge of tears right now.

It's been forever since I've written anything.

I'm overwhelmed.

Oop, yep here come my tears. I'm crying now, just so everyone knows.

I can't quite pinpoint why, but I feel like I should give everyone an update of my last 7 months.

I've been apart of a missional organization for 3 years now. That's a long time, but it doesn't feel like it's been.

In January of this year, I felt called to work instead of raise support. While everyone got to tour with university ministries and travel around the country during the spring, I had to make acai bowls at a coffee shop.

On the weekends I worked at a restaurant right by that coffee shop.

In my missional community I became known as the "working girl".

It was lonely sometimes, and I faced so many breakdowns. I faced fear of missing out. It was hard.

But looking back, I would not change a thing. Not only have I come out victorious, but these past 7 months have shaped and molded me into more of who I'm meant to be.

God is so alive in the mundane and ordinary.

Even now as I've left the coffee shop and started working more days at the restaurant, I become encountered in the simple task of cleaning menus and bussing tables.

Do you know how sweet it is to feel God say "I love you" while you are doing what seems like the most unnoticeable and small job?

Why does he care that I swept up that one crumb off the floor??

Because "whoever can be trusted with very little can also be entrusted with very much".

Humility is a gift. Being put in humbling situations is the kindest thing that God could ever do for us because pride is deadly. We are saved by humility.

I guess I'm writing this because I want to encourage you that in your seemingly lowest moments in life, there is a beautiful inheritance/reward awaiting you at the end of the road. But you don't have to sit and dwell on that roads end, you get to enjoy the moment, if you choose to.

I don't know if I have anything tangible to report to you as fas as rewards go right now, but someone told me a few weeks ago that our inheritance is in people, and I've met the loveliest people throughout my time in these jobs. I've had inspiring conversations and lots of laughs. I've been able to sit and listen to lonely people who come into the bar and just want to talk about their dog.

I get to love people in the mundane and ordinary.

There is so much beauty in everyone. Even the customers that were rude to me. I believe they are beautiful too, they were just having a bad day.

I want to inspire everyone to go out of their way to simply love someone in the mundane and ordinary every day. Maybe that means flowers. Maybe that means a conversation. Maybe that means listening.

People are out there waiting to be loved. We can't overlook them just because they aren't children in Africa.

My tears have dried up a bit. I'm still overwhelmed though.

V I D E O U P D A T E

                      

                                      California Update from Molly Youngstrom on Vimeo.

If anyone would like to give, donate below!

                                                              

So Here I Am

Remember a few entries ago when I discussed the reality of how my plans seem to always have a way of failing, only to find that Jesus has something so much better for me?

Well. That happened again.

I was in the process of getting out of the US and moving to Europe. Believing this was my calling. 

Only I was limiting myself. I feel like I'm a totally new person from who I was just a few months ago. I had this thing in my mind that I needed to go somewhere "hard" and "suffer" and "be alone" to do ministry. I brushed off my honest and real dreams, because I didn't believe in my mind that Jesus was good enough to make them happen. But I was proved wrong.

I didn't receive the finances to go to Amsterdam and Norway this summer. It was the first time I didn't receive my finances in something I believed so strongly for. 

However, I did receive the finances to go to California to participate in the 21 Project. A collaborative leadership program that lasted 3 weeks. I was in the business training track for aspiring entrepreneurs. In these 3 weeks, I was rocked. Like the kind of rocked that makes you rethink your whole life, in the best way possible. I pretty much got a brain transplant. And a heart transplant thrown in there too.

Jesus' goodness was made known to me. In new and exciting ways. Have you ever had a stirring dream on your heart that was always there, but you decided it was too far fetched to ever happen and you just came to a conclusion that it was dumb? Well I've pretty much been doing that my whole life up until recently. What if I told you that those dreams are so real, and so possible? The world needs more passion. More dreamers/doers. More people who come alive. So I've decided to become one of those people. And I hope to bring plenty of others along with me. I heard a wise man recently say, "Life is too short to live without passion", and isn't that so true. We spend our whole lives building up empires of dirt, and the soil is money and security. 

The American dream is dying. People aren't satisfied with it anymore. We were made for something so much more. Or should I say, Someone. 

So what is the latest crazy faith step I've made in my life? I've moved into a community house with 24 other crazy dreamers in California. In this household we have amazing musicians, artisans, etc. , and our sole mission is to creatively make Jesus' name the most famous in all of America, and then the world. We will be touring this fall around the nation and gathering young people, spreading the gospel of love and grace. The great awakening is coming and I'm so excited! 

I want to update so much more but I realize many people become a little weary after long blog posts, so if you would like to hear more you can email me at "myoungstrom@yahoo.com". I will send out a more in depth newsletter soon too! And I will update more of the testimonies and awesome happenings.

Just as a preview, there have been a lot of amazing opportunities for me to connect with people in the fashion industry and different ministries that go on within it! I will tell you more next time I can update. But here is a video to get a glimpse into life as of late, that my lovely friend Madison made:

A Glimpse Into My Spirit

(Photo by Emily Gross)

I'm an orphan. I'm a prostitute.

I'm a widow. I'm homeless.

I'm a criminal. A thief. 

I'm an outcast. A wandering vagabond.

I am broken. I'm an adulterer. I'm a murderer.

I am poor.

This is but a small glimpse into my spirit.

I look into my self, and this is what I see. 

Blackness&Oppression.

Some might call this: a sinner.

This is not the end of the story.

"...while we were yet sinners...."

Indeed, Love has made a way

By coming down into the darkness of my heart, 

and not only killing it, but being killed with it.

Defeating it forever.

By rising from the grave, Love has overcome it all.

Love has made this orphan a daughter.

Love has made this prostitute pure.

Love has wedded this widow and kept her for His own.

Love has given this homeless one an eternal Home.

Love cleared this criminals record.

Love justified this thief.

For this outcast, Love has made her belong.

For this wandering vagabond, Love has laid out a planned journey.

For this broken one, Love has bound up the wounds.

For this adulterer, Love has washed her clean. 

For this murderer, Love has paid the debt.

For this poor sinner,

Love has crowned her in royalty.

Truly, I am nothing without this Love.

Along Came 2013

Okay, to start off, the phrase "Let Go and Let God" is overkill and we all need to stop using it. However, let's all be attuned to it's meaning.

A few weeks ago I found a piece of paper in my journal. Written on this paper was a "5 Year Plan" I had made at the end of 2012 and totally expected to complete. However, when I look at this 5 year plan now, all I can do is laugh at how closed minded and ignorant I really was about what would happen during 2013.

Going into a year, I never really think about how much will change, and even more so, how much I myself will change. 

These plans on this piece of paper consisted of goals, in which I obviously didn't put into perspective the things that I would experience in 2013, and the things the Lord would reveal to me. 

For example, according to this piece of paper, I'm getting married in 2017. Yep. As if I have control over that, let's be real.

And the more I thought about the ridiculousness of this list, the more I thought about the ridiculousness of trying to take control of our lives. Trying to control our lives is about as pointless as screwing in a burnt out light bulb to several different lamps, hoping one of the lamps might hold some kind of power over the bulb coming back to life. But none of them do. It's burnt out. Throw it away for goodness sake. 

I feel as though we put so much effort into "10 year plans", "5 year plans", etc., and we invest our heart and souls into making these things happen, and if they don't happen, we feel like we've failed. I can tell you one thing, every single thing I try to plan that is outside of God's will, fails. 

I tried going to college. Tried a lot actually: failed.

I tried planning on NOT EVER going back to Kona, Hawaii to be on staff with YWAM: failed.

I tried being the single, independent missionary, who didn't need a man in her life to complete the Lord's call: failed (praise).

I honestly can look back at all of these failed attempts and thank Jesus a million times over. I'm so freaking happy that my plans failed in all these areas. Because here's the reality: all of these plans I had were not in God's will. And that's just it. I was focusing more on the dreams of my heart and not even thinking to ask the Lord what the dreams of His heart were for my life. 

And trust me, He has them!

Sometimes when my heart gets weary, and I'm at a weak point of wanting to please people, I will think up all these different options and plans for my life; without God. 

I start loosing focus of Jesus and kind of veer to the left or the right and think I know what's best for me and I will just suddenly plan something out of His will. And what happens? The plan fails. Praise God, it flat out fails.

And it almost brings me joy, oddly, when it fails in the biggest way possible. When the door I'm trying to open literally slams right in my face because of how wrong that path was for me. It's quite funny actually. 

Sometimes plans will fail in smaller ways that you don't really realize, because of the subtly of it. 

I guess all I'm trying to conclude here is the beauty of letting go, and finally letting the Lord take control. Because ever since I have planned things in His will, it has obviously come to pass. And it has been far more outstanding than any life I could have ever dreamed up for myself. 

Instead of getting caught up in the plans and the future, let's focus on the now and how we can love those around us. How we can thrive where we are at and take things day by day, rather than every 5 years. 

Strategy and plan is nice, don't get me wrong, as long as it's lined up with the purpose that we were meant to live out.

I thought I had the next 5 years planned out for me, then along came 2013. For 2014 I'm approaching it a little differently. I'm open and ready for what ever it holds. Even if it isn't completely clear yet, I trust that it will pan out exactly how it's supposed to, as long as I'm relying on His will.

I Say Yes Again

One week has flown. It's insane that the first phase of our strike outreach is almost complete!

Our last 7 days have consisted of prayer and worship every morning as well as serving this base with whatever need is to be filled. Our purpose was to come and be Aaron's and Hur's for this base:




Exodus 17:11-13
As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

We came to encourage them to press on. Because Jesus loves them and wants them to know they're running the race well.

Not only have we gotten to serve the base, but we were asked to go sing Christmas carols at a nursing home.

I talked with a woman who was an advocate for "The rights of the disabled" and I shared with her my heart for anti-human trafficking. She explained how she is becoming more open to Jesus, even though she came from a hindu and muslim background.

On Sunday our team is going to take the floor at a church in Ede, Holland. We'll do worship and I'm also going to be giving a word from the Lord to the congregation. Please, please pray for me in this. I'm going to be speaking to about 900 to 1000 people! I want it to be totally Holy Spirit lead and not my own words!

Next week we will be doing the Christmas of Service. I will be updating you all on how this goes :)


As we encourage this base to run the race well, I'm beginning to feel the Lord press upon my heart to do so too. To run the race well in Amsterdam.

Sometimes in these final stretches of outreach, we get so tempted to loose the vision, or the purpose. We check out early.We start moving through the motions of just going and not stopping to realize why we're doing it.

I have decided to say yes again.

To put the yes in my heart of doing it all from a place of love and devotion to the Lord.

A choice to go up from here and not downhill.

To agree that the last part of this journey will be even better than the beginning.

More photos!

the girls

christmas decorating

                                                             kitchen serving duty

                  me speaking about our teams heart for our time in Amsterdam at the corporate gathering.

Back to Amsterdam

Friend on Facebook Follow on Twitter Forward to a Friend Do Justice. Love Mercy. Walk Humbly With Your God.  YWAMsterdam "The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do." - Apple's "Think Different" commercial, 1997 I used to be that person that would look at a problem in the world and think to myself "I hate that this is going on. I can't wait till something it done about it". Never once did I stop and think that I should be the one to do something about it. Where did this whole "someone else will do it" mindset come from? (I bet I can take a wild guess on where it comes from, and I know his main purpose is to steal, kill and destroy) For a while now I've been burdened and heavily pressed with this whole issue of human trafficking. Females and males both, of all ages, tricked into an industry that forces them to be violated and stripped of their dignity. They are enslaved not only by trade, but by mentality as well. So I've started dreaming. Dreaming of a day that my grandchildren can live in a world where the sex trade doesn't exist. A day when every person who's currently being trafficked know's the love of Jesus and the freedom that He brings. A day when Amsterdam's Red Light District (and all red light districts) is shut down. As I was dreaming, I began to wonder how this would even happen. Why would I ever think that I could pull it off? And then revelation hit: why NOT me? If  God used the unlikely in the Bible, then why would He stop doing so now? Isn't being crazy and thinking crazy basically how most of the stories in the bible played out? Abraham started a journey to a land by faith and his own family thought he was nuts. Young, ruddy David volunteered to kill a giant, with a stone at that, and succeeded. The list goes on. When I got back to Kona in September I began talking to my leader Shay about Amsterdam and how I wanted to go back. She presented the opportunity for me to lead a missions team over to Amsterdam in December with the Awakening Leadership Track. When I asked the Lord whether I should do it or not, He specifically told me to read Jonah 1. When I read it I was hit with the revelation that this man was running away from his calling. Running away from the task the Lord has presented to him. Then through the still, quiet presence of the God, I heard Him softly tell me: "Don't be like Jonah". So here I am, not being like Jonah, and leading a team of 30 or so people to Amsterdam to pray, intercede and worship over the city. Not only that, but we have also been asked to be a part of a ministry that will happen from the 20th to the 23rd of December in the Red Light District. We are going to be able to go from window to window caroling and bringing the real-time, Jesus style Christmas to the prostitutes. We're not talking Jingle Bell carols. We're talking Silent Night and Away In A Manger style carols. The leaders in Amsterdam informed us that this is a big deal. Due to the vulnerability of the Christmas season, this is going to enable us to have one-on-one conversation and relationship with the prostitutes, that we would not have had if we were to have gone any other time of the year! With all of this to say, I told Jesus "Yes" and I know He will handle the big details. However, living by faith is not easy, considering I live on next to nothing each day! I know I cannot just sit back and do nothing about getting there. This trip will cost be $2000.00 all together. The multi-city plane ticket cost's about $1000.00 and is going up. Room, board, food, transportation and extra costs will be the extra $1000.00. Because the Bible says to ask, and we will receive, I am going to ask you for your partnership in this mission. That you would please join with me in seeing freedom released in Amsterdam through worship and prayer. I can't do it alone. I need your help. Through both prayer and finance. If any of this creates a stirring in your heart to give, let me know! I am more than happy to answer anyone's questions as well if you would like to contact me via phone (772-631-3045) or via email at: myoungstrom@yahoo.com! I will leave you with this, if this letter was nothing but to encourage you who are reading, then for that I am so grateful, because The Lord used me that He might be glorified. And just so you know,  I am so thankful for all of you reading this. I am way too blessed. God is so generous to His children. Keep dreaming, friends. -Molly Youngstrom  How to Give There's this really efficient and easy way to give money now days called paypal! This is an online donating system that sends money over cyberspace directly into my personalized account. If you're interested in giving to my cause, you can simply click on the "DONATE LINK!" below that will send you to a page that enables you to type in an amount and send! It's that easy! However, if you are super adamant and want to give by that good old fashioned check, we can set that up too. Just ask me where to send it to :) DONATE LINK!

So Maybe I'm Crazy

I've come to the conclusion that I'm okay with being called crazy. Or even being thought of as crazy. 

I could so easily drop it all. I could go to University and then maybe end up with a "stable" job somewhere. And believe me, the thought has come to my mind.

But then I think about Him. I think about His promises to me. I think about all He's done so that I could live out the destiny He designed just for me. Then suddenly I can no longer see my life any other way than how it is right now, and where it's going.

I begin to realize, it just doesn't matter to me anymore, the life that the world expects of me. The life that would categorize me as "normal". 

(I will be adding my photo's in here to "grip" you)

And the best part is that as soon as I said yes to Him, so many wonderful things have happened.

Because of my yes, I've been to Hawaii, The UK, France and Amsterdam, all in less than a year. 

Because of my yes, I have met such an amazing community of people from all across the globe that I hardly believe I have the pleasure of knowing. 

Because of my yes, the Lord has given me uncontainable joy in all circumstances. Even the crappy one's. 

Especially the crappy ones.

I was reading the story in Mark 14 recently about the woman with the alabaster jar. Just to refresh all of us, this woman basically dumped a bunch of expensive perfume, which was pretty much everything she had, on Jesus' feet and the disciples got all mad. Typical.

Then it dawned on me: I'm the woman with the alabaster jar. I mean, not literally, but dude, I've poured out a lot. My time, my energy, my money. Lots. All for Him. And though the world calls it wasteful, He calls it beautiful.

All He had to say to me was, "Hey, I got something in store for you. Give up your job, sell your clothes (true story), and move to Hawaii (As paradisal as that last part sounds, you gotta know me. I don't even like heat or the beach)". And like that, I was sold. Without even having the clarity of what He had in store. All I knew was that I wanted to be a part of His story.

Then Jesus was all like:

"She has done a beautiful thing to Me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can have them any time you want. But you will not always have Me." (Mark 14:6-7)

And as much as I have poured out to Him, I still desire to pour out even more. Every last drop of obedience. 

Who knows, the Lord could so easily call me back to college. Back to a job. But I think He really enjoy's having me here in this place of total dependency on Him, because it causes me to have no other option but to lean into Him. To spend extra time thinking about Him and what He does. To focus on how big He is.

I heard someone say: "it's far safer to be out on the water with Jesus than to be in the boat without Him".

And how true that is.

But the point of all this isn't that there's only one right lifestyle, and missions is that way. Not at all. The point is that His way is the right way, and that's what ever He decides for our lives to be. Wherever He's called us, that's where we should be heading. Not sacrifice, but obedience. That's what He desires. Whether it's being called to love on gypsies in Romania, or to love on students at your university.

So, I've let go of any "plan B" that I might have had coming into this. I've burned every bridge that would help me to fall back into stability. Because it's so much more rewarding to know I'm living for eternity and not putting my hope into this earth, which will eventually fade away with everything else.

 

He is the only thing that remains. He is the one whom I choose to live for daily. He's all I've got left.

I would truly do anything, if at the end of this life I could hear God say "Well done, my good and faithful servant".

Even if that labels me as "crazy" for the rest of this life. 

He's so worth it. So incredibly worth it.

Summer Ministry Plans

Hello my friends! Summer draws near, as well as the end of the quarter. Can someone please call up father time and tell him to slow down a bit?


Unless he looks like this guy. He's someone I wouldn't want to upset.

Well (judging you can all wipe that horrific image out of your mind), it's hard to believe I've already been through two quarters of the Leadership Track so far. The year is half-way over!

I have been praying and asking the Lord about my next step and what to do this summer. I felt it was important to steward my gifting's and figure out how the heck I was to use them!

So without further ado, it is my privilege to tell you all my jumbled summer plans!

I have joined in staffing a ministry called "Infusion Youth Camp" for the summer! Which is great because I love youth and I love camps. I'm not really sure how I feel about "infusion", but science is pretty cool I suppose....  (that's a joke guys).

So, if I haven't lost you yet with creepy pictures and bad jokes, this youth camp will take place in Kona, LA and Virginia Beach. However I will not be staffing LA because I plan on going to Circuit Riders in Pennsylvania!

Here's more information about Infusion Youth Camp!: http://www.uofnkona.edu/training/infusion

Here's more info about Circuit Riders Pennsylvania: http://thecircuitrider.com/school-of-the-circuit-rider/lancaster/

It's crazy exciting to be a part of this youth ministry because it gives me the opportunity to apply what I've been learning in leadership and getting to pour out all the love that's been poured into me these past few months.

The funds are somewhat discouraging considering I will be needing to raise $2,000 for plane tickets and ground fees. But I know that's pocket change for the Lord. Not even pocket change. It's mere dimes and nickels. No wait, pennies! (no one likes keeping pennies anyway so I'm sure the Lord is happy to give away 200,000 of them).

I would love if you anyone reading this could please partner in praying for me in this journey as well as all the young men and women that I get to serve. I desire to go into this with humility and servant leadership and cannot do that without God's grace.

If you are interested in partnering with me financially on my missions endeavors, I would be more than grateful for that as well!

I have a missons account set up here at YWAM that offers a tax deduction (can someone say BONUS?!!). You can find my missions account and donate online here!: http://www.uofnkona.edu/support/missionaries/5919

For more info or answers to questions, please contact me via email: myoungstrom@yahoo.com

Also, if you want to keep updated on everything I'm doing, please comment with your email address, OR email me with your email address and I'll add you on my monthly newsletter list!

Thanks so much for taking the the time to read this, I hope you're all having an amazing start to your summer, and I pray you'll go the whole season without experiencing this:

I'm going for cheap laughs now I guess. Sorry guys.

Amsterdam Recap

Faith. Intimacy. Love.

That's how I would describe my time in Amsterdam.

There's really no way that you to plan for these things, can you? These appointed journey's that you trek on by simple obedience.

You begin it and you automatically assume that you need to be constantly doing something ministry wise. Evangelizing in the Red Light District, worshiping in the Dam Square, helping at a soup kitchen, etc..

But then we recognized our task at hand: to pray over the city of Amsterdam.

Now people would probably call us crazy, why would we fly all the way to the other side of the world simply to pray in a little prayer tower each day?

Maybe we do seem crazy by a worldly standard, but I kid you not, from this place of intimacy with Jesus (praying, worshiping and partnering with Him in secret), we were presented with opportunities to meet with the base leaders as well as other YWAM leaders working with some amazing ministries in Amsterdam.

Our first meeting was with a beautiful woman named Carolyn Ros. She invited the whole team over to her cozy apartment to have tea and desserts. She began telling us her testimony. It was hardly five minutes in and already every heart was drawn in and invested into the tales that came from this woman's mouth. It was astounding. After she finished, there were hardly any dry faces left in the room due to tears. "Beautiful" is the best way to sum up her story. The Lord used her so intricately according to His purpose. And the love she had for Jesus as well as the love that He had for her was absolutely undeniable. Lucky for you, she wrote a whole book about it and it's selling on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Dreams-Fulfilled-Promises-Carolyn/dp/1576584577/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365103334&sr=8-1&keywords=broken+dreams%2C+fulfilled+promises

Carolyn's table of assorted goodies. Photo by Sarah Gehman.

All of us left feeling the deep love of the Father, as well as total encouragement for the "tough times".

The next opportunity presented to us was meeting with the leaders of "The Tabernacle", a prayer house located within the Red-Light District. Since this prayer house has started, women have walked out of their windows and away from the life of prostitution forever. A specific testimony includes a sex show house that was right down the road from the house of prayer. A man who worked there came up to the leaders of The Tabernacle one day asking if they had been doing a lot of prayer lately. They responded yes and the man said: "Thought so. We're getting shut down". The building is now being used as a sandwich shop. Prayer works, friends. It really works. And it makes sense, doesn't it? Ephesians 6:12 states: "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, and against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms". Since this is the case, our greatest weapon is prayer.

So what did we do after hearing this?

We prayed.

(Photo by Ekkerhart Hoenen)

And Prayed. 

(Photo by Lizzie Stien) 

And prayed. 

(Photo by Sarah Gehman)

And prayed some more.

(Photo by Mocha Brown)

We prayed till it came to the point that we just decided to do it for 24 hours straight one weekend. That's right. A prayer and worship burn over the city of Amsterdam. We thought of everything possible to pray for.

The Red Light District.
The people of Amsterdam.
Hope for the city.
Life for the city.
Encouragement for the city,
you name it!

After it was over with, none of us doubted that everything we had prayed had actually shifted something. We all knew that what we prayed for was not only heard, but it was also going to be answered.

The next meeting was with a ministry called "The Lighthouse". A more hands-on approach to the Red Light District where woman actually go up to the windows and try to talk with the girls. Whether it be serving them tea or serving them soup, they are becoming more and more successful with just being there and talking with the woman. The beautiful thing is that it's all about relationship and just hanging out with the women. They need that. We all do. Women need other women to talk with. Whether it's about what they're going through emotionally, or something as mundane as their hair. That's how we were made! This simple gesture of relationship building gives the women more normalcy than they've experienced in years. From this, they've seen woman dedicate their lives to Jesus, come out of prostitution and brought into jobs at cafes. The point is that it works. It takes time, patience and grace, but it works. God uses the simple to confound the wise.

Our last meetings were with the leaders of the YWAM Amsterdam base, Reinier and Rianne. They shared with us their heart for the city and how God brought them so specifically to this location. What really blew me away most about this power couple was not just their obedience, but their pure heart posture of joy. Though they had expected God to take them to a bunch of different nations, He ended up calling them both back to their hometown, inviting them to be His light for the city. Instead of complaining and wishing they were some place else, they accepted the invitation and have diligently served it.

Amsterdam is one of those things that I will most likely not see all the fruit from until I enter eternity. That's living by faith though. "Being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see". And I'm so at rest in that. I'm so at peace knowing that God knows even if I don't know.

But God being as kind as He is, allowed me to see some of His goodness in the land of the living. One day while in Amsterdam we all helped out with an Organization called "Serve The City". A lot of us split up to do various serving within the city of Amsterdam. I went with a group of three others to help paint an office space in an Autism Center. The journey there was perhaps a story in itself, one which will need to be saved for another time, but when we finally got there it was about two hours later than when we were supposed to show up. We were just in time to meet with a lovely woman named Peggy whom was in charge. She bought us all lunch and talked to us for a good while about faith. After we finished painting, we all wanted to pray a blessing over her. Once we said amen, tears rolled down her face. "I have lost a lot of family members in the past few years and it has been really rough. So, this was much needed. Thank you.". Simple as that, Jesus encountered her through a group of four, goofy, twenty-somethings. Not even by the help we gave her by painting the office spaces, but by a prayer. Funny how He works. I love it.

Here are some more photo's of my time in Amsterdam.

 At the Corrie Ten Boom museum; Jews were hidden in this wall during WWII.

 "Jesus is Victorious"

 Stitched by Corrie Ten Boom herself!

Thank you to all who supported me financially or by prayer! It means the world to me that you all care that much. Your investments were so important and I'm just in awe of how much love I have received. Blessings and peace be with you.