Amazing that you have be enlightened to the of study people. Amazing that you know why people act the way they do. Just by the way they act or respond, you may even know the root of their actions. For it really has helped others to come to conclusion why they do what they do. It helps you know people better as well as help them if needed. That is what you desire: to help people come to a place of wholeness. There are definitely patterns that can be identified that lead to conclusions that leads to a solution. At the end of the day, you have insight not many have…and that can be used as a gift or just another subject to study. It is quite powerful how it is used. It can be relatable or distant. It can bring healing or a temporary fix. Either way, you know it is something to not play with or treat as a game or an experiment. For these are people. Uniquely created by God to bring about HIS PURPOSE.
I realized something recently about people, actually myself. I never was taught this in psychology class or the million personality test I have taken ( I am an ENFP if you wonder). It was the fact that I am completely accepted right where I am…on this place in my journey. I have heard of the concept before, but have been taught to identify my problem and then get rid of it. There is truth to binding up the mess, but this time I just stepped into light. I am completely accepted now…not totally understand every part of God, still with questions and wonder, with so much hope, love and eagerness to grow. It is in this place I don’ t look around and compare or even look to my past to find the answer. I just stepped into this refulgent light and all falls off. I believe that I accepted and I find my acceptance with the words spoken over me from my LORD. I learned this
last year on my first race but it seems to effect the majority of the body. In the light, I find myself the way the Lord finds me. I don’t have to default to anything. I can be in many circumstances and feel comfortable in my skin. The way HE made me. Whether I am just still or dancing up a storm, and am one with Him. I AM ONE! I didn’t have to focus on my issue, but Christ.
So doctor, allow me to encourage you. You might not have the answer. Do we really have people all figured out? You have helped so many. Continue to see each person as God does and not sometimes a scale to measure. God does give you resources to help you understand people better but at the end of the day there is no formula or cookie cutter way to lead people into wholeness and righteousness. The Lord will take care of that. Healing will come. You are to help. I pray that God will give you His eyes that you might see the treasure in all things. And think of them for the treasure they are. I believe through His eyes you will walk into a new enlightenment. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. I thank God for you. Thank you for caring and helping setting the captives FREE. I walk with you.
Love someone who just loves OUR CREATOR and His creation,
I am on my 13th day in New Zealand. I am currently in Tauranga. A city quite beautiful. We are working with International House of Prayer, Youth With a Mission, and a variety of churches and bible colleges to bring about a huge conference that will be taking place next week.
First conference is called JUBILEE: Celebrating 50 years of YWAM
Second conference is called Call2All: This is designed to ignite the fire in people to go to the nations. We are currently setting up the world’s largest map imported from China. It takes up over two basketball courts! This is expected to be a start of a movement (a wave) to go to the rest of the world. Big time for NZ Christians.
The conferences start this Sunday until next Friday.
Pray:
That people would come to a NEW NEW awareness of God’s purpose.
That dreams and visions would just come to people about His Kingdom.
People would be called specifically and stop questioning.
That this would start something like a revival in New Zealand.
Pray for the 4 teams for the World Race would experience God like they never have and REVELATION WOULD COME OVER US ALL! Revelation about the future the now and how God wants to use us.
God’s supernatural would rain down. I feel healings and amazing things are going to happen…
Pray big prayers here and right now in your life. GOD IS ALIVE AND WITH US NOW! Same spirit that raised God from the dead is in us. This is what we get the chance to worship.
LOVE YOU ALL and thank you thank you for your prayers and support. I am so grateful… beyond grateful for you.
Today I walk to Terminal 2 at LAX to meet the team leaders from the January Squad I will be co leading with Robby Riggs (Jan 08 World Racer). We will be leading a squad of 57 made up of 9 small teams. Each team has a leader.
Launch date: January 3rd
Location: Auckland, New Zealand (North Island)
Time: When we wake up.
What to bring: 1 backpack, 1 day pack, 1 purse, and my passport.
What to expect: training for leaders, logistics, finances-adventure day, team building, teaching, crazy worship, reality check of what we are doing, excitement, overjoyed.
This marks the beginning of the squads 11 month journey I had the opportunity to embark in July 08. I am so blessed to be in this position and already feel the responsibility and eagerness to walk into this calling. God has equipped me for what He has called me to do.
Pray for:
Safe travels
Preparation for the squad as they leave their families and venture out on this pilgrimage.
For Robby and I to walk in the boldness God has called us to.
Protection-spiritual armor all around.
Open hearts and a transforming launch
The other staff members at launch as we prepare to go to the nations.
January 9th. We head to our ministries. We dive in and get to have the opportunity to serve God and build His Kingdom to every tongue, tribe and nation. Thank you so much for your prayers and support during this journey. More to come!!!!!
If I find Frodo and the ring from Lord of the Rings, I will let you know. I think he might still have it.
I stare through a rectangle window down upon America, which seems to be mostly covered in snow. I am sitting in the middle row with my powdered creamer coffee surrounded by two drooling sleepers. The sun is quickly setting and for many, it will be a cold American winter night.
Flying gives me time. It is a time with not many distractions. I sat here thinking about perspective. To many on the ground I am yet a bird in the sky... when look down I see a big crossword puzzle with blobs of water. But then I imagine in my head a zoom button. I narrow in on a city then a neighborhood. Then one block. Then one house. And there I am. It almost feel like I am with scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas present. I see people enjoying this season. Loving each other.
And I am reminded of Emmanuel. God with us.
I quickly zoom back from the house. I see the block and then the neighborhood and now back up in my little seat where my legs usually press against the magazines in front of me. And right now in this present, Emmanuel is with me.
I was walking through Chicago airport. I had this smile on my face. Just watching people and seeing the diversity, hustle and bustle, laughter, people darting by me like the airport scene in "Home Alone." I saw God. I felt Him. He was right with me. But not just me. He was everywhere.
Just like the wind. You see the effects and motion. You feel it.
I will soon land and find myself looking up to the clouds and my perspective changes yet Emmanuel doesn't. Where I am, there He is. How cool is our God that He wanted to be with us so bad, he limited himself in human form. The most anticipated birth ever. And since that birth He has never left. I thank God for His Spirit.
Not only is he with us in Christmas present, but past and future. When I look forward I see Him. When I look back I see Him. He covers it all...there is no place our God hasn't gone. Christ was in existence before the foundations of the earth. Fulfilled all prophecy and now we get to live in the new covenant wherever we are.
I pray that you sense Him where you are now reading this. He is with you right now. Right where you are. He wants to love you more. Wants to show you a hope for the future and the blood that has covered our past. And now I will sip the rest of my coffee and if you look up I might just waving or at least flying. Lets pray to see angles this year. Love to you and Merry Christmas and Happy NEW NEW YEAR! It is NEW!
Dear Family and Friends, ( I know this is a little bit of a longer update, but I would love for you to hear my heart and see where God is leading me next...)
From Arkansas to Central America, Southeast Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and now Spain! I will graduate from Generation 42 Leadership Academy in two weeks! ( www.g42leadershipacademy.org) I have now been here since June and know my purpose.
I have been away from America for a year and a half. First the World Race www.theworldrace.org for 11 months and now G42 Leadership Academy. I have seen over 20 different cultures and am in awe of GOD. A simple discovery yet.... My heart has expanded and I find myself believing in the simple truths that I have always known and have discovered. Once I started to truly believe who God says He is and who He says that I am, a new authority came, dreams and visions were revealed deeper and the mystery of God opened up a new understanding of His PURPOSE with us.
I recently had a woman prophecy into my life. She was right on. I went forward after a service last Sunday. The message that day was about expanding vision. I know God has been expanding my way of thinking for a long time now. Ever since the Race started in July 2008, I started to see the overwhelming about of LOVE God has for people. I obviously saw needs everywhere and questioned what I was to do. He expanded my capacity to love, to envision HOPE, and to freely be who He created me to be. It is freedom at its finest. I found His Spirit. I found it within me. This changes everything. When the woman started to prophecy, she saw a vision of a boat leaving a harbor. Going to the open sea. God was my rudder. I didn't have my hands on the wheel because I knew I could trust God to guide the boat.
She said many times we wait in the harbor until God has given us the full picture. I knew that I must move. That God had given me key pieces and it was time that I leave the harbor. I have been moving for a while but still hoping for the full picture or understanding of where I am heading fully. I have some clarity, but God is calling me to the open sea before it is all revealed. He can do so much more out there. So I am leaving the Harbor and PLUNGING into my purpose. I am leading the World Race January squad! I leave January 1st to meet my team of 60 where we start in Auckland, New Zealand . We are partnering with God and His people all over the world to bring His Kingdom where it doesn't exist.
This is not just another program but my commitment to the long term call God has placed in my heart. I want to see people come ALIVE. To live the life they are designed for. To speak truth over the lies and raise up leaders to lead generations into their purpose, their inheritance. To see a CHURCH OF PEOPLE ALIVE! I will be leading 60 other individuals with one of my good friends Robby Riggs http://robbyriggs.theworldrace.org . My commitment is for 11 months which includes me walking with them four to five months and then going back out to two debriefs. My squad will start in January and end in November. I am going to be raising up leaders within the squad to take over the squad in the fourth month. I am also excited to see God possibly have me back in Spain for sometime to serve in the coming future.
I have not been walking alone in this process. You have been a support to me. Whether through prayers, encouragement, financially---I CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH. When that lady prophecied over me, the lady next to me said that she saw a cruise ship. That I was not alone. There were so many people. I know that I am not in this alone. The sea also symbolizes people. It is people that His Kingdom is made of. Will you pray about partnering with me? I need prayer. I know much has been given to me, and that means much is required. I NEED PRAYER. INTERCESSION. There are 60 others that need me to be full of the Spirit everyday. Ready to go! I also NEED HELP FINANCIALLY. I am raising $10,000. I need half of that by the 1st of the year. Please pray about becoming a one time or monthly donor. You can support me at http://tarastephenson.theworldrace.org and click on "Support me for Spain and WR". All donations are tax-deductible.
I trust God. I trust that He has equipped me and called me. I don't have all the resources but I AM believing for them. I am hitting the open sea and I know God is directing me. I have got wind in my sails and ready to dive into the promise. Thank you for your support and trust that God is speaking to you about your purpose and stirring in you crazy passions and dreams for His Kingdom. I prophecy your dreams to come to pass in fullness! Email me with any questions.
It was February 2009. I am stationed out in a little country in Africa called Swaziland. Life expectancy is currently age 31. Due to the AIDS epidemic, Swaziland is made up of mostly grandmothers (called Go Go's) and orphaned children.
I knew that I would fall in love with this culture. Despite the conditions they are born into, JOY and strength remains. It is truly FROM THE LORD.
One person that impacted me was a woman named Du Du, age 26. She suffered from TB and AIDS and was in very bad health conditions. She also had a little baby named Snethemb born with TB.
Two weeks ago Du Du past away. I got the news and didn't know quite how to process. Over the last couple of weeks, memories have popped up in my mind. I only had a few with her, but one stood out the most.
I spent the day with her in the hospital with my two good friends Krystle and Jessi. It was a ‘good day‘ for Du Du. She could walk a little and drink her favorite banana smoothie. My friend Krystle had brought her a dress that we helped her slip on over her gown.
She GLOWED!
Here is a woman two years older that I am, SUFFERING, yet had one of the most peaceful spirits. The three of us sang to her while she laid there. She kept motioning for more. She loved the sound of worship. She has a strength to hold on to life for the sake of her baby and knew that smiling was one of the only ways to enjoy the moment. She did not worry for herself but for her child.
She loved her baby.
And now Du Du is with our Father.
PRAY for the family of Du Du. Pray for her baby and his health. And pray for Swaziland: that the JOY of the LORD would consume them. Pray for the AIDS epidemic and that all could be educated on this issue to help prevent it spreading. Du Du is a face that won't be forgotten. She has a spirit that signifies strength. Her legacy lives on in the life that has been replicated through her. Pray this baby, now orphaned, would grow to be the very thing that brings the sound of HOPE to a nation that is in need of that HOPE. He has a FATHER that will never let him go.
It was in the movie Dead Poets Society that John Keating, an inspirational professor (played by Robin Williams) said to his class of young "hungry for life" boys:
[talking about people in old awards ceremony photographs]
They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined for great things, just like many of you. Their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. [the students lean in] Listen, you hear it? [whispers in a raspy voice] Carpe - hear it? - Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.
I can remember many times I was in a similar scene. The kind of scene you "cheers" to the spirit of inspiration. I have sat through hundreds of half time speeches where the coaches truly rattle your spirit to play with EVERYTHING you‘ve got "All we need is twenty minutes." Or the time when I heard my Dad speak at my uncles funeral and displayed one of the most inspirational eulogies. I do have to admit, I cried once after a NIKE commercial. It was that song "Bitter Sweet Symphony." There's even been times where I have heard someone's LIFE story and just felt that tug to AWAKEN that part in me that screams and imagines "EXTRAORDINARY" words and dreams.
Whether it be some song, movie, memory, speech, book or even pictures...there is something that can trigger a longing to LIVE extraordinary. It doesn't go away. The scary thing is that is can be suppressed. But that doesn't mean it goes away. IT is time to rediscover. Open that room in our hearts. Clean up and dust some things off if needed and discover what it is that makes us individually extraordinary.
Because where ever we are, there is someone who is waiting for us to show up living full. Someone needs us full. Right where we are. No need to go somewhere far to see that people need extraordinary living in extraordinary creations. No need to go anywhere to see people not living fully ALIVE. It can be the person you sit next to at work or even ourselves. I say it is time that we LIVE EXTRAORDINARY. We may not know how. All we have to do is ask the SPIRIT within us. He is QUITE EXTRAORDINARY and is there very thing that revived us when we living just ordinary. This time is now, Carpe Diem. We need each other to live full. God desires that we live Full of Him. At the very least, extraordinary. "An ordinary day lived extraordinary has enternal purpose," Charles Stock (pastor at Life Center Church Harrisburg, PA-one of our guest teachers).
Living your life to the FULLEST is not just an idea or a naive comment but a reality.
I am trying to find words so I will just type out what I wrote to God yesterday: Here is some of my heart.
10.15.09
Lord I know that the abundance comes from feasting in you. SO bring the jubilee. People have consumed so much of the wrong food. They are hungry and have been found in false satisfaction for years. I am HUNGRY, age 24, and by your grace am feasting in pure satisfaction that last for an eternity. Those with false satisfaction sustains but DOES NOT bring life. I desire they feast at the Tree of Life.
New Life has come upon me today. New freedom that breaks the slavery so that I can be fully yours--full of you--in abundance--to give away.--living in this freedom, authority, wisdom, with much discernment and revelation. Ask, seek, knock-- Lord I will see the utter amazement of the knowledge of the glory of you covering the earth as the waters cover the sea (Hab. 2:14)
(~pic taken in Durban, South Africa.)
As I come to know you, may your character truly remain in my soul, spirit, mind, body and heart. I pray for refreshment as I read your WORD to see it in a new enlightenment that only points to you. Glory to you. Your wonderful personality. Honor. Newness. Deeper anointing that breaks the yoke. Integrity. I want to live in your presence no matter where I am. Fully Alive~fully myself. No need to please man but you. Come to that place where I wake up and know and believe I AM a beloved daughter (period).
I believe that the supernatural meets the natural and leads people to the fullness of you. Not existing but LIFE here on earth. Trusting you more, during all circumstances with no fear but of power, love and a sound mind. Could heaven possibly be coming here? Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
I want to consider others better than myself, serve and look back and see thousands following, even nations, because Christ in me, the hope of Glory.
Protect me Oh Lord. This is just the beginning. Your hedge of protection around me. Only your will in my life. The Abundant Will, your blessing following me all the days of my life. Wisdom My LORD. I ask because I know you freely give.
Thank you so much. Thank you. More FIRE...Spirit so much more. Have I only tasted? Oh may I feast even more in your presence at your table that you prepare. I will never leave your table. Covenant Spirit is upon me.
Help me, equip me, for the seasons to come...Isa 61. So much to say but you alone are worthy. Take my life and ring out every last drop and fill it with the Christ in ME, soaking up the living waters...SO I can give even more LIFE to those who are thirty. May I come to a place where I just INDULGE in your presence. CHEERS to the New Covenant....the covenant of indulgence. More than conquerors.
I am now home in Spain back from a lovely visit to Moldova...went to a prophetic conference with the World Race in Romania...visited some people in Hungry but wanted to share a blog my friend Steph Fisk (pictured in bottom right) wrote. This was our visit in Romania with a Gypsy family that we served with in April of this year. Oh the Joy of seeing new friends and starting massive food fights. ( more pics below)
Two weeks ago, while in Romania, my travel companions (Dre and Tara) and I made it back to Ville Tecii - a tiny, gypsy village that we lived in last spring. When we were there previously, some of the men were building an outdoor pizza oven. This time we capitalized on that incredible oven and baked around 50 personal pan pizza's - sausage, bacon, ham, cheese, onion, pepper, mushrooms - all topped with ketchup or gypsy sauce. No tomato sauce here.
I have eaten a lot of amazing pizza all over the world, but I dare say that this takes top honors. My belly was beyond satisfied. When I didn't think that I could possibly eat any more - cinnamon, nutella, and blueberry jam was smeared on top of the remaining dough to create scrumptious dessert pizzas!
Then, the first fist of flour was thrown...
...then the first BOWL of flour was released...
...hand-fulls of nutella, butter and blueberry jam added an artistic touch...
...followed by buckets full of water and eggs smashed in the hair...
...We soon BECAME the pizza...
No life-changing message here, but I can testify that food fights need no cross-cultural translation:)
From Tara: I have just started class in Spain and will be blogging more about what God is doing right here in my heart. All I can say for now is, He never stops loving us. Thank you Jesus. Miss you all and please watch some Razorback football for me.
conclusion why they do what they do. It helps you know people better as well as help them if needed. That is what you desire: to help people come to a place of wholeness. There are definitely patterns that can be identified that lead to conclusions that leads to a solution. At the end of the day, you have insight not many have…and that can be used as a gift or just another subject to study. It is quite powerful how it is used. It can be relatable or distant. It can bring healing or a temporary fix. Either way, you know it is something to not play with or treat as a game or an experiment. For these are people. Uniquely created by God to bring about HIS PURPOSE. 
understand every part of God, still with questions and wonder, with so much hope, love and eagerness to grow. It is in this place I don’ t look around and compare or even look to my past to find the answer. I just stepped into this refulgent light and all falls off. I believe that I accepted and I find my acceptance with the words spoken over me from my LORD. I learned this
One person that impacted me was a woman named Du Du, age 26. She suffered from TB and AIDS and was in very bad health conditions. She also had a little baby named Snethemb born with TB. 
that has been replicated through her. Pray this baby, now orphaned, would grow to be the very thing that brings the sound of HOPE to a nation that is in need of that HOPE. He has a FATHER that will never let him go.
Robin Williams) said to his class of young "hungry for life" boys:
inspirational eulogies. I do have to admit, I cried once after a NIKE commercial. It was that song "Bitter Sweet Symphony." There's even been times where I have heard someone's LIFE story and just felt that tug to AWAKEN that part in me that screams and imagines 
abundance--to give away.--living in this freedom, authority, wisdom, with much discernment and revelation. Ask, seek, knock-- Lord I will see the utter amazement of the knowledge of the glory of you covering the earth as the 
