INTENTIONAL.

in·ten·tion·al  

/inˈtenCHənl/

Adjective Done on purpose; deliberate.

Synonyms deliberate - wilful - willful - purposeful - intended

This word has come up so many times in the past few months. Ive always used this word, but never really in depth though about what it means. 

What does it mean to live intentionally? What does that look like?

John 15

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear MORE fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. ABIDE in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it ABIDES in the vine, neither can you, unless you ABIDE in me.... If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my JOY may be in you, and that your joy may be full. 

Holy cow. That passage is blowing my mind. When I asked God what it means to be intentional this is the passage He gave me. When we are walking in obedience to Him, there is fullness of joy. From that comes the word ABIDE. To abide means to continue in a daily, personal relationship with Jesus characterized by trust, prayer, obedience, and joy. I love that word, its such a beautiful way Jesus uses to explain our relationship with Him. When we are abiding in Him, we are being intentional. "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." It seems impossible to love some people in our lives just as Jesus has loved us... but we cant do it on our own. 

The Father gives us an overflow of His love which is INTENDED for us to pour out to others, no matter who it is. 

When I first got to Kyrgyzstan, I was a bit shocked to say the least. I sat down on my mattress on the ground (I was so thankful I even got to have a mattress!) in the little white room I shared with 2 other girls on my team and I just cried out to the Lord. I started to ask myself the questions, "What am I doing here?" and "What have I gotten myself into?" I was in the middle of nowhere, without any of my friends or family, I had no comforts that I had ever known, and I started to feel anger inside me. Then the Lord said to me... "Gracie, My Daughter, have I ever failed you?" and I said in a small voice "....no" and He said, "Do you trust me?" "Well, yes Lord I do..." He said, 

"I didn't bring you here to command you to do something then drop you off and just leave you! I brought you here to be with you wherever you go! I brought you here to continue this love story I am writing, I brought you here to LOVE YOU and for you to love others!" 

What He said moved me, touched my heart in a way ill never forget. It brought me comfort in a time and place where I felt alone. Thinking back on that, meditating on what He said to me makes me realize how intentional He is. It motivates me to want to be so much more like Him. Ive been asking the Lord to strip me of everything that isn't pleasing and glorifying to Him, and He is definitely doing it. When I read in the gospels about Jesus on this earth, He went everywhere with an intention. He was so intentional with asking the Father what He wanted to do, who He wanted to bless, who He wanted to save, or heal, or bring joy. 

What does God want to do today? What does He want to do RIGHT NOW? In Luke 12:25 it says "And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?" I want to BE PRESENT. There is no need to worry about the future because I know my Father has it in control. I want to be intentional because everything that I have, has been given to me by my Father. What if wherever we went during our busy days we took 1 minute to show kindness to someone. What about 5 minutes? 1 hour? Time is so precious to people these days but God has BLESSED us with another day to LIVE!!!! There will NEVER  be a time that Jesus says, "Shame on you for blessing that person..." What if we took every chance we could to be intentional by asking God what He wants to do?

Ephesians 4:2-3

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the band of peace."

We GET to serve the most amazing, gentle, patient, 

loving, indescribable God. He loves us with a love 

that is everlasting. I am so humbled by the 

faithfulness and grace that God has for us. I feel so 

thankful and privileged right now for the freedom 

given to me to serve Him. I stand in awe of how 

incredibly WORTHY He is. 

He is so WORTHY.

I cant believe I'm so privileged, that out of His kindness and His hospitality, He would actually tell me what is on His heart. He invited me into partnership... joy filled, intimacy fueled partnership with Him, 

to see His glory fill this earth.

The past 6 months have been the most challenging, stretching, and busy months of my life! For those of you who don't know, I just graduated from a Discipleship Training School with an organization called YWAM (Youth With A Mission). For 3 months I was in Kona, Hawaii learning so much more about God, about myself and becoming who I was called to be. For the last 3 months I was in Kyrgyzstan which is in Central Asia living in a village with 6 others from my team. I learned so much about God's heart, His faithfulness, and fully trusting Him with everything. I lived with a family that I became so close to... and leaving them literally felt like my heart was getting ripped out of my chest. The love that God gave me for that family was only a tiny glimpse of what God's love truly is.

 I cant even fathom how much love He has for us. 

Being back home has definitely been a different transition. My own bed, a toilet, a shower, free time. [I almost forgot what free time was.] Im so incredibly thankful. Im so blessed to be spending this time with such amazing, supportive family and friends. But there isn't a day that goes by that my amazing friends from Hawaii and my friends and family in Kyrgyzstan don't pop into my head or in my prayers. I am so privileged, blessed, and forever changed by that experience. 

Thankful is an understatement.

           Deuteronomy 33:12 

"Let the BELOVED of the Lord rest secure in Him, 

for He shields him all day long, 

and the one the Lord loves rests between His shoulders."

Ive surrendered, Ive tasted for myself the goodness of the Lord. BUT it is a daily choice! Every single day I have to surrender my own rights and thoughts because I want more of Him and less of me. The old has gone and the new has come. I will CHOOSE to walk in that daily and to walk in who I am as a daughter of the Most High King. 

Walking hand in hand with Him each day.

Joshua 1:9

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. 

Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, 

for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

This is a season of trusting Him. Trusting Him in everything. Trusting that He will show me what is next. Trusting that He will provide. He is so incredibly faithful! 

 "The more I seek Him, 

the more I find Him. 

The more I find Him,

 the more I love Him."

my soul sings.

The Father dreams
                          Jesus speaks
                                          The Holy spirit creates a path for me.

Im just now getting used to living in Hawaii and Im only weeks away from leaving here to live in Central Asia for almost 3 months! I cant say specifically where for safety reasons but you can email me at gecarroll27@gmail.com for more information. God is so amazing. In my frustration, hurt, and sadness the Lord is always faithful! He always seems to calm me down and surround me with His peace. During this time I have fallen so in love with God, my Father who loves me completely and desires an intimate relationship with me. Ive learned so much about God and about myself. I wake up declaring that I will stand firm in the Lord. Walking in obedience to Him and always having a spirit of thankfulness. Im always longing for more of Him, more of His love, more of His presence. 

My life has completely transformed in the last 6 months. I look back on what my life was and all the worldly desires I thought were important... Then I look at my life now, the never-ending joy I have found, the everlasting love getting poured on me everyday... A love story that is being written. There is so much to be thankful for! HE SAVED ME. It is in HIS presence that I find rest. Ive truly been freed from my past, Ive take back all the territory in my life that Satan had a hold of for so long. 

I am a daughter of a loving Father who has been fighting for me all of my life. He has been fighting for me and He hasn't stopped. He's never quit fighting for me. 

God keeps His promises! "THE LORD HIMSELF WILL FIGHT FOR YOU." Exodus 14:14 Whether or not we feel him, we have to trust His promises. He will never fail us. 

Ezekiel 36

I will sprinkle clean water on you,

and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses

and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

And I will give you a NEW heart and a NEW spirit

I will put within you.

And I will remove the heart of stone from your 

flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

And I will put my spirit within you,

and cause you to walk in my statutes 

and be careful to obey all my rules...

I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. 

 hitch hiking in hawaii

 my lovely room mates and i on the other side of the island

 the view from my classroom 

the 24 hour prayer room...JOY.

The Father's Consistency.

Goodness, I am into my third week here in Kona, Hawaii. Its so crazy that I call this place home right now. So much has happened since Ive been here so I wont go into detail about everything. I guess I will start off with how I know this is where Im suppose to be. God has anointed me in THIS season of my life! The journey has just started, and I have so much more time to grow. 3 months will fly by sooner than I thought. The first week I was here we learned about hearing the voice of God, the second week was about the nature and characteristics of God and this week we are learning all about Jesus and being radically obedient.  

God absolutely amazes me. The fact that I am in a school for 6 months with no other plans than to get to fall in love with Him more and more everyday is such a blessing. God is showing me SO much of his faithfulness and His consistency. This past week we had a speaker named David Gava. He is very prophetic and such an awesome man of God. On friday, the last day that he was speaking, our class just had a time of worship and prayer. David was praying and prophetically speaking over us as well as our staff. It was just a time to surrender to God and listen to what he was trying to say to us. So after worshipping for a while I just started talking to God. My leader asked the class to raise your hand if you hadnt been prayed for. So I did. I stood there and told God that I didnt want anyone to come up to me and pray for me just because I hadnt been prayed for yet. I wanted God to speak to me. So I waited for God. I also waited to see if David would pray for me. Nothing happened. I decided to leave because I didnt want to wait in a line to be prayed over and maybe prophetically spoken over. I left and went to the 24 hour prayer room we have on campus and just started praying. I started weeping, and I found myself almost mad at God. I was asking myself all these questions as to why I felt so mad, sad, and stressed. All the emotions just building up. I stopped, started praying, and God gave me just what I needed. 

A revelation of his LOVE. 

A revelation of his FAITHFULNESS. 

A revelation of his CONSISTENCY. 

All of my past relationships have been emotional high and low roller coasters. In this time of learning and growing God doesnt want me to have all these spiritual highs and lows, he just wants me to know and understand that His love and faithfulness is ALWAYS consistent. God is teaching me to praise Him during the struggles. To cry out to HIM. For so long I have depended on other people with my struggles, when something would go wrong I would immediately call a friend. God wants me to trust and depend on HIM. I had asked Him for a revelation of His love, and only did I realize a few hours later, thats what He gave me! Im still learning how God speaks to me. 

So today I get a package in the mail. I had been expecting 2 packages from my mother. So I got this one today with random stuff in it like easy mac, instant coffee, a Jesus Calling book, homemade cookies, and a few other things. So as Im eating one of the cookies, I call my mom to thank her....... My mom didnt send any of those things. I look in the package again and find a letter from someone that says "Dear Gracie, You dont know me personally but my sons have been involved in YWAM which was such a blessing, I want to return that blessing in some way by giving you a package of things you might use while you are there. Please email me another person from engage dts I can send a care package to!" WHAAAAAT??? There was no return address, no name, just an email address. What a blessing from God! His faithfulness is amazing. I found myself weeping today during worship just because I am realizing how beautiful He is. 

How much He loves me. 

How much He cares. 

He has given me such joy. 

This love is so deep, 

Its more than I can stand.

I melt in your peace,

Its overwhelming.

Im all in.

This week has been so crazy. Im sorry for not getting a blog posted earlier but I have been so busy! With Thanksgiving and Christmas and preparing to come to Kona, Ive had my hands full. The Lord is revealing so many things to me. In this time of just getting here, meeting so many new people, living in a new place.... its all amazing. But the Lord is really just telling me to be with Him. To stop worrying about meeting new friends and getting to know everyone, but to just stop and spend time with Him. His presence here amazes me! Truly He is showing me that in this 6 months, its gonna be awesome and fun but the most important part about this time is spending time with God. Just soaking up His presence. Its so easy for me to sit at dinner and complain about the food, or complain about sharing 1 bathroom with 7 girls, but... That is what I should be thanking Him for! Thanking Him for giving me this opportunity, thanking Him because He has this under control. Thanking Him for loving me when I have sinned. Its a privilege to be here. To be in community. Just being here, God has transformed my thoughts. I JUST WANT MORE OF HIM. I long for more and more. There is a 24 hour prayer room here which has been such a blessing. Ive only been here 2 days and it feels like an entire week. Probably because I'm trying to adjust to the time change but wow, Ive had some long days. Im just so thankful to be here. I keep worrying about when to do this and that and Abba is just like, "Daughter, Ive got this...and I love you, come spend time with me." SO GOOD! 

"God, you did everything you promised, 

and I'm thanking you with all my heart,

You pulled me from the brink of death, 

my feet from the cliff-edge of doom. 

Now I stroll at leisure with God

in the sunlit fields of life."

I fall more and more in love with the Lord everyday.