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First Blog of the Year

We only just started Joshua and it’s already crazy what God is doing in my life up here.

Although chaotic, move-in day was a ton of fun and I got to meet so many amazing people that I’m lucky to call my Joshua brothers and sisters. We went over to Wildwood, pretty much immediately, and it was very hard, but a ton of fun. The first night was very rough for me because I was still dealing with a lot of unsolved trauma that came from my grandpa’s death. Although it was hard, I talked to Dallas about everything going on, so he gave me the advice to write an angry letter to God and drop the F-Bomb if necessary. That night, everything about my feelings changed for the better and I was finally able to enjoy being in this beautiful place. We had a few activities that helped to bond the whole community together and challenge what we could do when placed in a situation. During our 4 hours of quiet time, God was telling me that he is proud of me and what I am doing here. When we got back to Joshua, it was interesting how different we all were from just a few days in the woods.

As we got back to the usual rhythm of things, I still had to sort a few things out in my heart which led to a few nights of crying out to God and questioning if being here was worth it. The next day during devo time God reminded me that he has a plan for me, that I don’t have to worry about my future, and that in his time, He will use it for the good of my family. I had just one more question for Yahweh which was “ What should I do about my idol that is my home church”. He responded very simply “Go to church”. This week is the first week that I know what I have to do and want to worship El Roi, The God Who Sees Me. It’s been great doing that through song as one of the vocalists on the worship team.

-Daniel Timothy McKinley (Current Student)

Hey y’all! 

This was our class’ first full week in the building and it has been a blast! Each week we have a new speaker come and stay with us and speak to us every night of the week, and our speaker this week is  Dr. Sam Meier! We are so blessed to have him for two weeks instead of the usual one week! One of the things Sam has been teaching us that I thought was super interesting, is how the different names used for God in the Bible have way deeper meanings when they are translated into Hebrew. For example,  “God” translates to Elohim which is like an occupational title like creator, “Lord” translates to Adonai in Hebrew, and it means Master, and “God Almighty” translates to El Shaddai, which is only used when God is giving or taking away children. There are so many more, but those are just some of my favorites. 

It’s crazy to me that this is only our first full week in the building, our whole class is already so close, that it almost feels like family. This week has been filled with card games, spikeball tournaments, spontaneous worship sessions and so much more! Our class is so musically gifted and I am so grateful for that.

On Thursday we got to meet our pause families for the first time! Pause families are different families who live at Hume full time and welcome 6-7 Joshua students to have dinner, play games, play with their kids, and really just join the family. I really love how we are able to break away from the giant group and have some quieter family time.

It has been super chilly this week and it even rained on Thursday for the whole afternoon. I’m super exited for winter to come, but sadly we’ll have to wait a little bit longer because its supposed to get back into the high 70s next week.

Have a great weekend and remember, Jesus loves you! 🙂

<3 – Aspen Adams (Current Student)

Hey guys!

I am super excited to be a part of the first blog of the 24/25 JWI class! This week is the first week that we are actually in the building since coming back from Wildwood. I can’t even express how fast everyone got so close. We are practically all best friends at this point. These past few days, we have been mainly adjusting to the normal day-to-day routine. Here are some highlights that have been my favorite so far.

  1. Jess makes the best food.
  2. I found a gorilla costume in my loft that was left from the previous class.
  3. We all went down to main camp on Monday as our free time.
  4. The weather is perfect
  5. Our speaker of the week Sam, came up and he might be the wisest person I have met.
  6. We started classes and a brief overview of what to expect.

That’s just a few of the many great things that have happened so far. I can’t wait for y’all to hear from more of my fellow students and that it brings you joy. Jesus loves you!

-Sam Dodd (Current Student)

Hey, well this is my first time writing a blog, if you are reading this I hope that this message brings you life!

To give a general overview, this was our first official week of JWI, with all the classes, a guest speaker, and chores. So far I’ve been nothing but grateful to the Lord. While I grew up in a stable home, and haven’t faced a lot of hardships, there was a lot of unrest that stirred in me before I entered this program. Now that I’m here and seeing the routine there is a deep sense of peace. Thanks to the fast and, more importantly, the Holy Spirit, I’ve been able to be more intentional with the Lord, and give Him more and more of my time and attention. It’s been an amazing experience, seeing Him move not only in me but in those He’s put around me.

An amazing example of this could be seen this last Saturday when we had a worship night at the building. What was cool about that night wasn’t necessarily the worship itself, but the miraculous situation that occurred afterwards. To set the scene we were all upstairs relaxed and suddenly we heard a loud crack. The noise was the sound of a guitar being smashed (on accident) by a brother of mine.
There was a silence that filled the room, it was incredibly awkward. For the brother who fell on the instrument you could see sadness and guilt eat him alive, and for the owner of the guitar a mixture of shock, anger, and distraught was written upon his face.

A minute later I see them all praying, hugging, shedding tears, and apologizing. Love.

Many people think miracles have to look like a healing or some crazy type of deliverance, but the Lord was present in that very moment and the ability for all my siblings to love one another was truly a miracle. And this has been a recurring theme here, just seeing His abounding, unmeasurable, incomprehensible love in everything. Regardless if I’m reading Genesis, talking to staff, getting instruction from the Guest speaker, working in a dish pit, in class, listening to my roommate, or sitting in silent prayer, I see His love.

My prayer as of recently has been that I want to know and see God. I haven’t been satisfied with where God and I are relationally, and I was hoping and longing to know him in a deeper way. Not only that but I deeply long for the opportunity to better worship, serve, understand, obey, and most importantly love Him. While I was expecting to see Him mostly in my prayer or worship He has been revealing Himself to me in others.

So maybe what He’s called me to do in this season is to better know, understand, serve, and love those whom He loves.

In summary, it’s been a long week, and there has been a lot of good! God is moving, He’s been very present, and He’s beyond good. To all who read this God bless you!

Sincerely,
Asher Beck Reese 

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