Touching the Heart of God

This week has been incredible! I've been able to relax and meet God in many different ways! We have also gotten to dance a lot. =) We got to dance down in the park on Sunday night. It was so much fun! After we finished dancing they asked us if we could do it again. =) Before we had gone to the park, we had a worship time and HG and I were able to do some worship dance there too. Later, Hannah Grace and I also went to dance in the park in the afternoon on Thursday. It was pretty hot so we didn't stay too long, but we were able to bring God glory in the short 30 min we were there. We have done worship dance sessions inside and outside as well.

I was thinking about worship dance and it's spiritual significance. There are many ways to touch the heart of God. Everyone has a different gifting that they can use to touch his heart and lead others into touching the heart of God. One of those gifts is dance, more specifically worship dance. Here in China, the people love to dance. Especially the different minority groups. Dance is the heartbeat of their culture. Some dances are made to worship other gods and some are just for pleasure because dancing is fun! I was thinking about how when they dance to worship gods, they are bringing in spirits....evil spirits. So what better way to make Jesus known that to worship him through dance and bring in His Spirit! =) Dance is something that goes beyond language barriers, beyond stubborn hearts, beyond the unwillingness to listen to the gospel and strikes the person deep in their heart without them even knowing what has happened. Through music and movement we are able to usher in a passageway for the Holy Spirit to encounter their heart. And its fun and touches our heart in the meantime! =)

I love dancing because I'm able to express my heart in a way words can't. I'm able to connect with God on a deeper level than anything I've experienced. I encourage you to find that place. Whether it's in a room by yourself with worship music on, whether it's worshiping with lots of other people, whether it's singing as loud as you can, whether it's journaling/drawing/painting, whether it's dancing, or whatever it may be....it is crucial that you find that place where you experience the touching the heart of God for you, the people around you, and the nations. And it's fun! I always learn something about who I am, who God is, and what is on God's heart when I encounter Him. The only way to survive living in this present age is to daily meet with God! Seek Him and His face. I can promise you that you won't be disappointed!

Fun story: Hannah Grace told me the other day that she remembers me worship dancing waaayyy back at RiverStone during a Facedown service. She said since then, she wanted to be a dancer and worship Jesus through dance. When you encounter and meet with God, it impacts others!!!

Update! Merav and Nitzan, one of the Israeli couples, are coming on Tuesday! We are excited to get to meet with them! =)

Blessings!
Ashton

Dancing in the square on Sunday night

Respect

Our trip to Tibet was awesome! =) God is sooooo cool! The first couple of days the whole family went up to Dali for a 3 day, mini-vacation. =) Then Jason, Amanda, and I set out for the border with no set plans and not even knowing where we were going to sleep each night. It was lots of fun!

We first drove up to Shangrila (10hr bus ride) and spent the night there. We were able to skype Felicia one last time for the week and talk about our expectations for the week. The next day we drove to De Qin (11hr bus ride-the road was really rough; dirt road with large pot holes!) We stayed in Felasi and met 4 Israeli non-believing Jews who we got to minister to and encourage all week. (Matan & Mor, and Nitzan & Merav) They were going hiking over Yubeng Mountain to the remote village of Yubeng, so we decided to join them. It was the hardest hike of my entire life!!!! It took us 3 1/2 hrs of vertical climbing at 12,000ft to get to the top. And 1 1/2 hrs to go down. The view was incredible! Especially because we were staring at the 24,000ft mountains covered in glaciers that border Tibet.

Since the village is just a place to stay for tourists who go to see the natural wonders (10hr hike to the ice lake and 5hr hike to the waterfall), not many people get to know the Tibetans who live in Yubeng. But that was what we came for! So we spent three days in Yubeng hanging out with Ading and his wife Gesang (23yrs and 22yrs old), ShuShu (Gesang's uncle), NaiNai (grandmother), and Gesang's little brother. We mostly spent time in their kitchen; encouraging them, loving on them, praying for them, and teaching them English. We told Asing and Gesang that most people came to see the natural land marks because they thought that they were beautiful, but we came to see the people. We think that they are beautiful because they are made in the image of God. I'm not sure they understood completely, but God will continue the work we were able to help start in their hearts. They were very sad when we had to leave and wanted us to stay forever. =) One morning we even got to eat breakfast with them because we wanted to honor them. We had Tibetan bread, pickled spicy veggies, chunks of pig fat, and yak butter tea. It was quite an experience!

We hiked down to the river one afternoon and had a worship time on a huge rock in the middle of the roaring river. It was the best moment of my entire life! Who all can say they got to worship the creator of the universe on a rock in the middle of a powerful river in the middle of the Himalayas? =) Amanda got to talk to Merav a lot and was able to talk about spiritual things with her. It was a great time of encouragement for Merav as well as planting seeds in her heart! Amanda and Jason also got to play basketball with Tibetans. And I got to hold a little Tibetan 5mo old baby! He was so precious! A grandmother even was cracking up as she passed us one afternoon, pointing to our legs, expanding her hands, grinning from ear to ear, saying something in Chinese over and over again. Jason busted out laughing......the lady was saying, "You're so fat! You're so fat!" Haha....it was the first time being called fat was a good thing!

One thing that really stuck out to me was the temples and shrines to the different gods as well as Buddha. The temples and shrines are covered in valuable objects, glittering gold, fabrics of every color, artifacts, wealth, beauty, gems, precious objects, beautiful architecture, colors, lights, smells, sounds, food, and utter silence and reverence from the people who come to worship. I'm still sobered by the fact that humans have that much respect for a god made of wood and metal, and yet we don't outwardly show any respect for the I AM. They decorate the inside so ornately and yet we are so easily able to disrespect the Creator of the Universe, the creator of the mountains I was surrounded by 14,000ft above sea level. Why do we as humans respect a demon and disrespect the Eternal One? Why do we offer our best to an idol, and yet half-way give ourselves to God? What happened to our respect and honor? What happened to our devotion? Why have we downplayed Jesus so much? Are we any different humans than these? And the true God is so much more worthy of all our honor, respect, and worship!!!! We should be even more radical than these! God help us! Have mercy on us and cause us to be a shining lamp to people all over China and all over the world!

 Buddha

 Buddhist prayer wheel

 Buddhist temple

Check out more pictures from our trip on my facebook page! If you don't have a facebook, email me and I'll send you a link. Blessings!

Home Sweet Home

I'm back from my trip to Dali, Shangrila, DeQuin, Feilasi, and Yubeng. I hopefully will blog soon. Check out the pictures posted on facebook!
Love,
Ashton

Bearing Fruit

Fruit.......what do you think of when you hear that word? Physical fruit or spiritual fruit? This morning in our devotion time in class we read out of John 15:5-8. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."

Different types of fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, meekness, faithfulness, and self control. Some of them come more easily than others. But we are supposed to live by the Spirit and not gratify the desires of sinful nature. So bearing fruit is hard, and not much fun 'fleshly-speaking'. But it is sooooo important to God! Do we as Christians think, "Oh, I've mastered this fruit (ex. joy), so I don't really have to work on the others (ex.meekness, self control, kindness)."? I know there have been times when I have definitely thought that. But God wants us to master all of them and live according to His Spirit!

One thing really hit me; "if a man remains in me and I in him, he WILL bear much fruit"......not he MIGHT bear much fruit. The promise is we WILL!!!! =) So.......what does it mean if we don't have fruit? The way I see it is if we don't have fruit, then we aren't remaining in God. Ouch! Plus, fruit is constantly growing, it is not stagnant. So if your fruit is not growing, then it is dying. Jesus says that if you don't remain in him and are not bearing fruit, then you will wither and be thrown away and burned. Wow. This is serious stuff! We must strive after bearing the fruit of the Spirit and be a people who live according to the Spirit!

So my question to you as well to my self: What does your fruit look like??? Is is growing or has it become stagnant? What are you going to do about it?