Blessed.

staff/students of FCM 2011

So again I must apologize for being so slack in the update area. I really am trying, but between morning chores, worship, class, 1 on 1’s, work duty, small groups, community outreach, counseling workshops, book reports, weekly assignments, trying to have some sort of social life, not to mention sleep, it’s kind of hard to get a solid chunk of time for updating.. (However I know I’m not nearly as busy as my sister who has almost 4 kids and a new puppy and still manages to update her blog like twice a week…how do you do it Nik?!) But I am trying I promise and will try harder. So for all those who have been wanting to be updated, here’s a quick update, and will write more next week.

Things are great here in Perth. I love what I’m learning, like LOVE. Like as in I will be immersed in my huge Christian counseling book and realize I’m smiling (I know it’s a bit warped to be smiling while reading about really sad things like depression, anxiety etc, but ya know..). I’m smiling a lot these days- I feel like so many years have been leading up to this, finally getting a chance to study counseling, my dream for so many years. As long as I can remember I’ve wanted to be able to help people, and I feel like I’m finally getting equipped to do that!

So far, in my FCM (foundations in counseling ministries school), we have studied:

Foundations in Counseling

Nature and character of God

Evangelism

Transforming communities

The Divine Plumbline

Currently we are on Plumbline, which is a method of counseling developed by a New Zealand doctor named Bruce Thomas. If you guys have not heard of a plumbline or are wondering what it is like I was at first, the first mention of it is in the Bible. In Amos 7:7-9, it reads, “ This is what he showed me; the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, which a plumb line in his hand.  And the Lord said to me, ‘Amos, what do you see? And I said, “A plumb line.  Then the Lord said, “See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass them by…”

Any of you who are in the business of building houses would likely know what a plumb line is but just by a different name. By definition, a plumb line is a string with a metal weight at one end that, when suspended, points directly towards the earth's centre of gravity and so is used to determine verticality, the depth of water, etc.

So, basically, it’s used to measure whether or not a wall is straight. In this case, “the Divine Plumbline” ensures that the walls of our lives are straight and solid. So, basically, it is accepting God’s truth and re aligning ourselves with it so that our walls can be straight and strong, and not susceptible to tumbling down. Sorry, I know this sounds boring but in real life it really is fascinating. The last 2 days have been application of what we’ve learned.  It was intense but so good as we saw God move in such a strong way. Because my heart is so soft, I almost always cry when other people cry, so I was a bit of a mess for 2 days. J   I am really excited to be able to walk people through their hurts using this method, now that I’ve been able to experience it first hand. So ya, the learning aspect has been amazing.

Also, I love my friends here. Every time I move somewhere new, I pray like crazy that God will give me just 1 friend that I can be real with. Every single time, he outdoes himself and gives me  many amazing friends that I can be myself with.  So ya I feel blessed like crazy.

In other news, we are starting to plan our outreach to London, England, which will begin December 25 for about 7 weeks! And, we just found out our 2^nd outreach location for the final 4 weeks, which will be to Cambodia!!! I am SOOO excited to have 2 such completely different outreach experiences in the same month.

I was reflecting on this last year of life and realized by the end of the year I will have lived in 6 different countries by the end of 2011. What the heck?!! When did life get to be so much fun? I guess it was about 2 years ago when I decided to follow God fully for the first time. Never a dull moment when you are walking with the Lord. So cool that He knows and cares about each of the things that we are passionate about, and wants to let us experience those things. I feel like I could go on forever about this, as I am SOOOO overwhelmed lately by everything God is doing in my life.

But I’ll stop here as I have to be in the class room in 7 minutes.

Next week I will update with more details about our outreach plans….coming up so soon!

Much love