Good evening from Perth Australia!
Yes I am alive and well! I cannot believe we are halfway through week three of lecture phase! I had a feeling the time would fly by, but I wasn’t expecting quite so quickly. I wasn’t planning on doing a blog until the last week of the month, however homework calls for an update after the second week of classes. I’m a bit behind on getting this out but, here is this months update!
Australia is amazing! Though I really still don’t feel like I’m here, it is a strange hard to explain feeling. I love being near the city, just having to hop on the bus for a few minutes and then BAM you’ve got so many options! City, shopping, art, food, beaches, parks, wildlife, etc etc. I haven’t done much exploring but it is crazy to think I have the options on my free time. Coming from a small town where the nearest mall is over an hour away, and the most exciting thing around is Walmart and the movies, it’s pretty crazy haha I’ve been keeping in contact with my family, using whatsapp to text my sister daily, which is wonderful to be able to keep in touch and pray for each other and to keep them posted on life. I haven’t been able to chat through Skype though, the Internet hasn’t been the greatest so skype and phone calls are very rare. Please keep them in prayers for healing and financial struggles, and for them to feel Gods love and peace during their difficulties. Life here at the base has been good, getting used to community living! I’ve enjoyed random exploring, bonding with my team, and lectures have been amazing!
God has been confirming so much in my heart over these last 3 weeks of lectures! Our first week of lessons was on Faith! A few things that stood out to me in week one was making my faith ACTIVE! Learning what that means and learning to have my own faith, making it my own, rather then going based on my families faith, or the faith of those around me such as Friends, family, church family members, etc. And learning to declare, and speak out the promises of God, Declaring the truth of who God is and who God says I am. That we are created to bring maximum Glory to God! He wants us to ask questions, he wants to relate, he wants to hear from us. OUR VOICE MATTERs! Which was huge for me, I often felt small and insignificant and as though my small voice in this big world couldn’t possibly be heard. He revealed He hears me, I matter. And He does speak to me, exactly as he knows me heart will hear!
Week 2 of lectures was on the Nature and Character of God! It was soooooo good! Some highlights that stood out to me last week are; We cannot challenge selfishness/sin if we are still walking in it ourselves! We shouldn’t compare ourselves to others, our ONLY comparison should be/is Jesus, He is our perfect example in every way! We are called to reflect our Father, His love, AND His Holiness. We need to be honest with our own stories, God can take our story and fully redeem it. David, for example, was called a man after Gods own heart, though he did some very shameful things! Another thing that stood out was that Gods grace is here for today! In other words, we should live in the moment, not dream or fantasize over the future, live in Gods grace TODAY! Not in the What Ifs of tomorrow! Some other points are; *Fear has NO place in the life of a child of God. *Rule by serving one another. *Our ideas have consequence, the way we think will cause life or death. *Every part of us should reflect the characteristics of God, or we are taking His name in vain. (This one really blew my mind!)
This week, week three of lectures, is on repentance and forgiveness, and so far, all I can really say is, WOW! I won’t go into too much detail, especially since this week isn’t over, but I will say it is amazing! God is really opening my eyes to seeing my identity in Him, he is revealing so much about His heart for me, and how things like having the insecurities that I have, and the fear that I’ve had, is placing myself in condemnation rather then living in His love. I’ve focused so much on the acceptance of others, wanting people to love me, wanting others to see the good I do and receive their acceptance, I’ve lost site of the one who I really want and need to keep my eyes on and please.He is teaching me to draw close to him in intimacy and how to accept his love and declare His truths over my life. I’m learning more about Gods Law and its importance! I’m learning how to train my emotions! Our emotions are good if used to empower the will of God. How we respond is critical! And it’s the thousands of small choices we make, that makes us a better person of faith. When we truly repent, there is no going back to that thing you repented of. And I’m learning to say, to the exclusion of all others, Jesus I choose You!
It has been so amazing thus far, and God is really working in my heart! I can’t wait to share more as the weeks go by! I’d love to hear from you all and get feedback! Answer any questions, prayer requests, etc! Let me know how you are all doing! I greatly apologize if I sound repetitive this go around. I’m not the best at writing and my brain is slowly blurring because it’s pushing me to go to bed haha 😉
If this is all too much to handle let me know what you think! I may end up just doing a weekly or bi weekly blog so it’s not too overwhelming to read. What do you all think? Comment or message below! I will also try to get some photos into the next blog, I’m trying to figure out a way to get the photos sent to my email, and I just didn’t have the time to work on it tonight. But they are coming 🙂
I want to thank you all for the love and support over this time, and for the coming months! it means so so much to me! We have also heard that our outreach location is in Manila Phillipines for the entire outreach! I am so excited to see how God works through our teams! We are in the process of raising funds now and I would greatly appreciate any and all prayer and financial support! I’m trusting God to provide $2000 by December 2016! Nothing is impossible with God! Please pray with me for these funds to come in for outreach, as well as prayers for the other students and staff for their financial needs! If you would like to partner with me financially and help me reach this goal, You can make a secure online donation directly to YWAM for my outreach fees, go to YWAM Perth homepage, >Donate/Pay, >Enter the info in the boxes,(Student, Outreach Fees, in other write; donation for Tiffany Vaughn Outreach Fees)
Thank you all again so much! I hope you have a blessed rest of your October!
God Bless!
Tiffany
If you’d like to send care packages/mail/letters/encouraging cards, you can send me mail at;
Tiffany Vaughn PO Box 8501, Perth Business Centre, Perth, Western Australia 6849 Australia
Willing To Walk On Water 