Home Sweet Cyprus

I thought you all might like to see a little bit of where my life

happens here in Cyprus. I love it so much and definitely feel "home" here.

This is our new base! It was previously a restaurant and we still get Cypriot visitors every now and then wanting a table, but all in all, we love it! We are much more in the open than ever before, but feel that this is God's will for us in this season.

This is the intersection that our base sits on. To the left leads to our base and to the right is our offices. This intersection is the crossroads to the 4 main villages in our area.

This is the road that I make my 15 minute walk on to the base everyday...

This is my house! For the past two years, I have lived in the townhouse on the left, but this year, the middle one is our abode. The room I share with my Scottish friend, Gwen, is the second floor balcony, behind the tree. I live there along with the other 5 intern girls pictured below:)

Valentines Day

Valentines Day - a holiday that many might assume to be discouraged at a discipleship school with a strict commitment to pure consecrated living during these six set apart months, was celebrated with the most brotherly of affection this year. The intern ladies enjoyed a roof-top Valentines Day celebration from the one and only male intern, Tony. This annual gesture of phileo love was much appreciated by hearts and taste buds alike! Can I just say that I love being able to celebrate and have fun without all the drama of relationships and romantic attachment?! It was so fun to laugh and share in phileo love for one another. Enjoy the photos!

I like to believe that this says "Happy Valentine's Day!" in Greek:)

Our entertainment was a video of our Gigue (talent show) from 2008 - so funny!

You're good. The end.

I tend to over-analyze just about everything. This is something that I am getting much better at, especially in the practice of worship. Sometimes I get so caught up in meanings of the exact words I’m singing that I lose focus of Who I’m singing them to.

Then, a few days ago in morning worship, the Holy Spirit gave me a spontaneous song that made me laugh out loud. The words flowed out of me.

I’m not going to use my mind - to over think this.

I won’t analyze - for this is Spirit to spirit.

You’re good.

That’s it. He’s good. The end. No analyzing His goodness - no trying to understand the impossible greatness of it. Just simple belief and praise. Thank you Lord Jesus that You are beyond what I can understand and are teaching me to accept that fact.

Sisters of the Common Life

Last week in our VVC (Vision, Values, & Convictions) class, we were challenged to look at rules of life. These are often monastic rules, orders, and resolutions. We were encouraged to seek inspiration from those who have gone before as we began forming and drafting our own rules of life that we want to be held accountable for. I was immediately drawn to my hero, Amy Carmichael. She formed an order of young women in India that gave up everything to champion the Gospel. These valiant young women were called the Sisters of the Common Life. May you be as challenged by their commitments as I was and inspired to write your own.

My Vow.

Whatsoever Thou sayest unto me, by Thy grace I will do it.

My Constraint.

Thy love, O Christ, my Lord.

My Confidence.

Thou art able to keep that which I have committed unto Thee.

My Joy.

To do Thy will, O God.

My Discipline.

That which I would not choose, but which Thy love appoints.

My Prayer.

Conform my will to Thine.

My Motto.

Love to live, live to love.

My Portion.

The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance.

Teach us, good Lord, to serve Thee as Thou deservedst, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for any reward save that of knowing that we do Thy will, O Lord our God.

The Ever Fixed Mark

Have you ever witnessed a couple who shared a mature love for each other? I'm not speaking of a weak and indecisive attachment, but a love that has been tenderly chosen at the beginning of everyday. A love that has become sweeter and more valuable with time, like a rich bottle of aged wine. It is not a flimsy love that you are likely to fall out of as fast as you fell into it, but a consistent devotion. Or as Shakespeare put it, "an ever fixed mark." Those who participate in such a love develop a transparency that bonds them together as one being. They are not the couple whose co-dependant infatuation not only makes you feel uncomfortable and isolated, but annoying nauseated as well. No, they are the couple that you admire, that you want to emulate. There is something holy in their love, in the way they've given themselves to one another in complete selflessness. The sincerity of their love makes their pet names of affection and habit of finishing each other's sentences beautiful, rather than annoying. It is a testimony to the years they have spent together on their journey to oneness.

I want this enduring love to summarize my relationship with Yeshua. That I would know Him as intimately as He knows me. Oh that I would be acquainted with His heart! That I would come to Him in vulnerable transparency, resting under his wings of love and riding on His waves of grace. I do not want a spiritual experience, quick to come and soon to fade. No, I want the testimony of a consistent life of love. I want the daily encounter with God's face that not only changes me for today, but for eternity. Not a quick fix or fast high, but the character that comes through the cycle of repentance and redemption, rooted and grounded in love. His dreams would become my own and His heartbeat my life's cadence. And through day after day of intentional and devoted affection, I would come to the place that I am finishing God's sentences.

Tears, Truth and E-mails

I like doing a good job. Things like perfect records and 4.0's are important to me. When viewing this part of me from the perspective of doing things with a spirit of excellence, this is a great thing. But when it stems from the perfectionist side of me - with its striving and insecurities - it's deadly.

I've been given many responsibilities since starting my internship with Gateways Beyond. I love the work, despite the fact that I can't remember my brain being this tired since final exams in college. Friday was the climax of my first week. My assignment? Send two emails promoting a worship event we're having on the island and complete some research projects. Sounds simple, even elementary... or so I thought. To make a 4 and a half hour saga short enough for this blog, the task proved more difficult than I had originally anticipated. Due to new programs, computer freezes, formatting errors and internet failures, it took me four and a half hours to send those two emails. And in my mind, the worst part of it all was having to ask for help. I loathed having to make one phone call after the other to leaders and supervisors at home with their families because I could not find the answers to my technical problems on my own. After about 4 hours, I was exhausted. Although I had not done much physical activity apart from running from my desk to the phone, I felt like my mind had run a marathon and I was no closer to getting out of this predicament. The light at the end of the tunnel seemed non-existent. These two emails were time sensitive and needed to go out that night. While my room mates were at home get dressed and beautified for that night's shabbat dinner, I was sitting the office, in my jeans - unshowered and disheartened. I wanted to be the girl that always has it together. That the leaders would say, "Oh we know Chelsea can do it - we trust her." I wanted to report back that I had finished every task I'd been given and then some. I wanted to do everything perfectly. And here I was, glaring at my computer screen - my brain bursting with frustration and my eyes welling up with tears.

And then there was that still small voice, "Chelsea, your worth is not found in your work. It's not about how good of a job you do. Your worth is found in My love." How had I missed it? How had I been so foolish? How had I forgotten love? I had allowed stress to not only enter in, but completely take control - to the point that I was CRYING about two emails! I stopped, took a deep breath, repented and allowed the love of the Father to wash over me. I listened as He spoke truth to my soul. I am good enough without my work because I have Him. My leadership loves me - not for the job I do - but for who I am in Christ. I have a measure of grace each day to accomplish my tasks, I need only to rest in that truth and rely on Jesus in every part of my day. At that point, something shifted in the room. Despair and insecurity no longer resided - hope and confidence in Christ had moved in. Within 30 minutes, I had finished my work and was on my way to shabbat dinner. My room mates graciously brought me some dress clothes and I made a quick change in the bathroom, which made me feel a bit like Superman, minus the super part. I sat down at the table just in time to see the them light the candles - signifying the beginning of shabbat. I was able to exhale. Peace... and more tears, only this time they came from a different place - not from discouragement, but from a knowledge that I am found in the love of God. He provides for me in every situation, from finances to healing - salvation to emails.

Stewarding Your Sphere

This morning in our staff meeting we were exhorted to be good stewards of our sphere. We all have the ability to chose the state of the atmosphere that we carry with us. We can choose to make it a sphere of life, or one of death - and when people come into contact with us, they are affected by our choice. Do you know those people that after you've spent time with them, you just feel better? They carry life, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. It's like you not only spent time with them, but with the jesus in them. And I'm sure that you also know those people who leave you feeling just as depressed and pessimistic as they are. As staff and interns in the Gateways ministry, we want to carry life in our atmospheres that will overflow into the lives of the students here, but this is not applicable in our context alone. What if your boss, spouse, teacher or checker at the grocery store had an encounter with the loving life of Jesus, simply by coming into contact with the atmosphere that you have fostered through worship and prayer? What if we started taking the Bible seriously and God at His Word? What if the world really was transformed by the unchanging love of a Beatitude styled life? What if all of our "what if's" started today?