Why YWAM?

Everything that has happened this past year in my life, I never would have predicted myself. It was probably one of the worst years of my life at work, but definitely one of the best of my life when it comes to my relationship with God. And what I'm about to do, I never would have guessed that God would call me to live this life.

On December 14, 2018, I said goodbye to a job that I had interned and worked for, for three and a half years. Leaving this job was hard to do, but I knew that my time was coming to an end when I started praying, back in April, and asking Him what He wanted me to do in my life after opera (did I mention I worked in opera?). For some reason, I felt as though I was going to leave my job in December, but I had no idea what I was going to do.

Friends, reading your Bible is so crucial to your walk with the Lord and hearing Him speak to you! Even if He doesn't speak audibly, He speaks through His Word, and if you're anything like me, the way I respond to reading His word is by journaling my prayer back to Him. The reason why I knew the passions laid in my heart and why I am about to embark on this 6 month long mission trip, is because every book I read over the course of the year, was teaching me how to love on others and God showed me how much of a heart I have for people who don't know the Lord. If you read my journal, you would see a string of similar prayers asking God to use me in whatever capacity He wanted me, to share His love with people, wherever He wanted me. I even said at one point in my prayers that if He wanted me to be a missionary, I would say yes and follow Him.

All of these prayers of my response to my reading His Word, through Him speaking to me, came to a point in July where God spoke "Hawaii" to me. He spoke it to me during church, as one of our guest speakers was talking about God's calling for all of us in our lives. I couldn't believe I actually heard this word and so I asked Him to confirm that for me. Throughout the course of the next few weeks, Hawaii showed up everywhere! In conversation, on the radio, on house hold decor, on mugs - everywhere I turned, Hawaii popped up. So, I took that as a sign to think about what was actually IN Hawaii and what God wanted me to do there. I had absolutely no idea what I should do, but through my friend, Olivia's first thought of sharing what was there that I could pursue, Youth With a Mission (YWAM) was brought up. It made a lot of sense to me the more I thought about it, but, again, I prayed for God to confirm it, and through another friend a week later who shared a link to YWAM with me, whom I shared nothing about my thinking about this, I took that as another confirmation.

So I applied in August, got accepted within a week, and I have never been so excited for my next step in my life as I am about being a part of Youth With a Mission. The journey I am about to embark on seems to fit my passions and talents, and the fact that I am using them for God's glory, makes me all the more excited! I will be in Hawaii for three months, entering into Fire and Fragrance Music's Discipleship Training School program, where I will learn how to use my talents to glorify God and use them to make His Name known amongst the nations. The following three months, they will place me in another part of the world to apply what we have learned to do just that.

Thank you for wanting to be a part of this journey with me! With this as my first newsletter/blog post about my YWAM adventure, I'd like to update you on where I'm at financially and what y'all can be praying for me about!

Entering into praise, I want to thank God for being so good and gracious to give me supporters that have donated $3,840 out of the total $8,095 I need to fund for the Discipleship Training School and Outreach. $4,095 needs to be raised for the schooling portion by the time I arrive in Kona, Hawaii, but the rest of that money I have until two months into my time in Kona to raise the rest for Outreach. I gave a Fundraising Concert on December 15th, and I am blessed with the fundraising outcome, but I was even more blessed that I was able to share my heart with those who attended, and where I know singing for the Lord is something I want to do for the rest of my life.

Right now, my biggest prayers are that God will fully fund my Discipleship Training School program before the holidays end and that I will find someone to sublease my apartment. Pray that my trust will be unwavering and pray for my other team members that they will continue to lean in towards God and trust Him to provide as well. This calling is one that not everyone will say yes to in the end, nor is it one that comes easily when you do. The past few months have been a time of spiritual warfare for all of my team and I would love for you to pray alongside me that God wins each battle of all of our hearts, so we can continue to go after His calling for our lives.

Thank you, again, for being a part of my prayer team! I am so thankful for each and every one of you in joining me on this journey! I am sure that this will be an amazing adventure, where I will continue seeking after God's own heart.

On the walk with you, Lydia Benedict