When our dreams match God's dreams

God is so good. He's a Maker of Dreams Come True, an Equipper, an Inspirer. It's so amazing to walk this journey of life with Him...so exciting and surprising. I'm still reeling from what's taken place this last week.

I've always written. Ever since I was a little girl, I've written stories and kept journals (diaries). I write every chance I get, and feel anxious and uncomfortable when too much time passes without being able to write.

The past couple of years I've been trying to hone my writing skills, and last year I set up this blog which has been a great outlet for me.

But I knew there was something more. I knew God gave me the gift and desire to write for a bigger purpose, but I didn't know what that was exactly.





A few months ago I joined the communications team for our YWAM Arua base and started helping out with that blog. It was great to write stories and post updates about what the base was doing, and I started to see how my writing skills could benefit our ministry in a broader way.



Then I got a short newsletter in the mail by our YWAM AfriCom team in Capetown informing us about a Communication, Research and Information Technology (CRIT) consultation happening in Jinja (Uganda) this month. The first CRIT consultation took place 6 years ago in response to the Word of the Lord to our mission that our communications were very poor and needed some serious strengthening.



As I read the newsletter, I felt God saying, "This is what I've been training you for."


So I went to the consultation and found God opening up opportunities I'd never thought of before. We had YWAMers from all over the world...men and women with a passion for communication in their regions who came to help us see how we could strengthen communications here in East Africa.

Here we are watching a video of Lynn Green talking more about the 'sickness in our central nervous system'...the poor communication structure in YWAM and how it weakens us as a mission.

My roommate, Anne, comes from Nigeria and has started 'Media Village' there. They train people on how to produce videos and do interviews so they can document all the amazing things God is doing in that country.














She shared her testimony of how she got that ministry started, and it was so inspiring to see what God can do with the little we have when we take a big step of faith.

Michelle (Argentina) & Phillip (USA)

Michelle came from Argentina with her husband Javier and small son, and their good friend Christian. Michelle coordinates LatinCom...the communications team for the southern half of South America,










and Christian runs a ministry called Storytellers where they train people to go out and document the stories in their region. They have put together several videos capturing the amazing things God is doing around them.









Sugi is Indonesian and serving with YWAM in Taiwan. He's helping with AspaCom...the Asia Pacific Communications team serving that region, and is looking forward to next year's CRIT consultation which will be in SE Asia somewhere. (...maybe I'll be there???)





Jonathon is British, married to an Indian woman and has lived in Pune, India, for the last 15 years. He works with Arun in SpiceCom...India's communications team. Jonathon was a huge blessing to me during the week with his IT skills and servant heart. He fixed all kinds of things on my computer and has offered to be my IT advisor from Pune whenever I need help (which is often!) What a blessing!!




I got close to these lovely ladies during the week as we all stayed in the same house with a few others. Bec (on the left) is American but part of EuroCom...the Central Europe communications team, and has lots of great team building activities that I was able to glean from her. She's been doing all kinds of amazing things in the Czech Republic, where she lives, and the surrounding region, and was a real inspiration to me. Pam, next to Bec, is from Zimbabwe but living in South Africa and serving AfriCom, the Africa Communications team that has been helping connect all of YWAM Africa. Lydia, next to Pam, is South African and on outreach up here with the School of Journalism that AfriCom ran this past few months.


This woman, though, is the one who got me connected into all this in the first place. Miranda Heathcoate and her husband Tim are British living in South Africa, and they started AfriCom 7 years ago. It's been their passion to see communications on this continent strengthened, and for YWAMers to be able to hear what's happening beyond their borders, and share their own stories.

Miranda contacted me last year to ask if I'd write some articles for ywam.org, which I did, and ever since we've been e-mailing and discussing different communications ideas. They brought their outreach team from the School of Journalism to our base in Arua, and really blessed our base by writing staff biographies and several other things.

But it was at the CRIT in Jinja when I really saw what a vital link Miranda and Tim are to connecting YWAM across the continent and globally. It was a privilege and an honor to be part of the CRIT, and I'm looking forward to seeing all the new initiatives that will come out of it.

I still don't know exactly what my part will be in the communications team, but I do know that God is at work, and He will guide me step by step as I seek Him faithfully and follow where He leads. I'm just so blessed that He is using my passion for writing and my dream to be a writer in a way that brings glory to His name. What greater privilege could there be?