Baptism Day :)

It has been requested that I share more of my experience in Mozambique. There are so many things to say! So as I asked the Lord, He said to share my journal entry from my baptism day. It is something so special to me that I would not be this vulnerable without the Lord's request. I cried as I read this to my friend last night. Please know that these are not just words, but real life encounters that merged as Jesus met me the morning of my baptism. It meant more to me than just being submerged in water. Words could never describe what Jesus has done for me.

July 31, 2011

Baptism Day

I have been waiting for this day since I was 16 at Bible and Beach. wow, how much has changed since then. I declare this day as the day of no return. I proclaim purity over my life for the rest of my days. I proclaim discernment and wisdom over my life. And I will walk in love, joy, peace, righteousness, and holiness for all of my days. I stand now with all that is within me and I proclaim that the Lord is good ALL the time! I have pursued the world and personally nailed Jesus to the cross and yet, the Ancient of Days never stopped loving me. He picked me up in crumbled pieces out of the dirt, created a new body for me, and through His mouth blew air of life into my lungs.

He called me His daughter.

He wispered to me how He desired to spend eternity with me.

Then, a man appeared. He was dressed in white. He was so Beautiful; I was speechless. He wrapped His arms and body around me and my nakedness and became one with me. Immediately I recognized it was the same person who had been drawing me in since I was a child. I spent days longing to be with Him, but I had never seen His face, felt His arms around me, smelled His intoxicating sweet aroma. It was Jesus. After falling so in love with Him, He presented me with the most beautiful engagement ring that smelled of all the best flowers put together and the colors flowed through me. He placed it over my head and then down around my body.

I was His forever, and He was mine.
He even showed me the dress that I will wear on that glorious day. I will never understand why He picked me, but I will spend eternity lost in love by gazing into the eyes of Jesus, my Beloved, my King. Today, I am cleansed; I am new. I will never be the same.

This is more than a love story.

Can I go back now? (In love with Mozambique)

Can I just say thank you once again to all of those that supported me and encouraged me and prayed for me this summer? THANK YOU!!! It really meant more to me than you will ever know. I am so incredibly thankful and appreciative for having the opportunity of a lifetime. I am forever changed.

Well the last four weeks of school FLEW by! I cannot believe it's over! There are so many things this blog could be about so I'll probably just pick a small portion to talk about. I realized when I got home that the phrase "go lower" or “lower still” hasn’t really been defined in my blogs even though I used the term. Well I'll be honest, even after I had my experience of wanting to be in the lowest place, I found myself a few days later wondering what getting lower even meant. So I will say that it was something the Lord helped me understand. During week nine I had an experience I will never forget. There is a market in the local village about a 10-15 minute walk away from the base. I walked there with 2 friends to get some fruit so we wouldn't have to take a trip all the way to town. Well I was still in quite a bit of pain from my mango worm and had to constantly guard my leg so it wouldn't get bumped in to. It was a hot day that day and I had never been to this market yet. Also the atmosphere was much darker than I had expected. There were lots of people crowding in small isles, children hanging off of me, and guys looking me up and down. I had just had a fever the previous day and my patience level was low. On top of trying to remember why I even went to the market, I became overwhelmed with the smell of rotting fish that were laying out for sale. I was disgusted to be honest. And then...sweet Jesus, once again, spoke to me "get lower". In that moment I understood completely what it meant. I took a deep breath in and embraced that potent smell and had a big sincere smile on my face and just fell in love with every Mozambican that was around me. I no longer felt the pride that had been choking me like weeds. I desired to serve them. This immeasurable amount of compassion flowed through me in waves. I would've even helped pick up all those fish if the table would've fallen over, and I wished that I had soap and water to wash their clothes and warm food to feed them and just to be able to take their place sitting at their booths so that they wouldn’t have to smell that fish all day and gosh the list really continues. There is no possible way that if I tried hard enough that I would have been able to well up those feelings and compassion on my own. Once again I was shown that it is Jesus in me that births life. I am the stranger on the cross next to Jesus whose hands and feet are nailed to the post. There is nothing in my power that I can do to earn my identity as “Daddy’s girl”. The same grace that was poured out for me and the same precious blood that was shed was the same measure poured out for every single person around me that day. On graduation day, the Father said to me “How could you ever have pride in my presence?” It was said in a tone that would stir up possible answers to the question. The truth became known to me that it is impossible to have pride when you come to even a slight understanding of God’s grace. There is no other option but to say “Why me God?”

One last sweet little story. See this boy?

Well, he wrecked me for good haha. August 2 I went up to the prayer hut before class to pray since there was no one in the hut. I then had two boys come up to me, him (Rosado) being one of them, and started asking for my stuff, which was common. But I really just wanted to pray that morning and I wanted to dust them off, but then the thought came to me instead of hiding my ipod to just play worship music outloud. I figured I could handle that. So I told Rosado I was going to pray now and I got on my knees and face on the bed thing in the picture and this awesome kid sits on the edge, puts his head down, and starts praying intensly. I was taken aback. I had not really been able to see the children that sought after the Lord. So I told him he could come up on the mat with me and he smiled and got on his face too and just prayed and worshiped with me for like 45 min! Even though he couldnt speak one word of english, something that day was translated farther than words could go. I could not stop giggling and neither could he. I will cherish that moment forever! This boy was 10 years old and taught me more than any sermon could have. :)

Now that I am already back at school I have been trying to process the things I learned this summer. It’s definitely harder than I thought. I was having those feelings again of not feeling any different than I did before the summer and I know that is not true. I have reached a new level of intimacy with the Father, my beloved Jesus, and the Holy Spirit all individually. I have grown into a deeper desperation for heaven and to live completely out of the Presence and the secret place. I have reached a new level of needing the body of Christ. I am only one very small piece. I have come into a greater awareness of the need to go lower and always grow in humility.  I now also see even more that there is never a time where I cannot boldly approach the throne. I realized even sitting in my little living room today that I am in God’s presence whether I want to be or not haha..I am so thankful that God is not moved based on my feelings, once again.

There is so much more to say. I hope to post again soon with more things that God did this summer. Ill try to post one just about the outreach that I went on to the bush bush.

Love you all. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Bless you so much!

WEEK 6 Update!!

Blog update.
Well the internet has been out for quite awhile which is why there has not been an update since week 2 lol. Well how is everyone?  I want to hear what the Lord is doing back at home J. Im not quite sure what to say. The Lord is doing more than I even know. It is quite tough to put into words. Im learning simple things as well as changing views on entire aspects of God’s heart. Thank you, again, so much to everyone who has been praying for me. I can feel your prayers and break through is happening. I can’t believe school here is already half way over! I don’t want to leave this place. It is like a bubble where you just keep getting filled and filled and then there are so many opportunities to pour it out. And on top of that, its like a break from responsibilities, therefore, I get so much free time to just spend with Jesus and learn and soak it all up and ahhh its wonderful. We have been having some amazing speakers here. And according to our house mom, they are just going to keep getting better! The speaker we had yesterday…wow, there was so much authority in her voice telling testimonies that I was literally trembling. It was like a small amount of Jesus’ glory walking in the room. I've never experienced anything like that. She knew who she was as a daughter and as a result, millions of Moslims have met the Lord through her. Incredible.  I don’t really have too much to say, but know that I am sooo thankful to be here for this experience of a lifetime! Please continue to pray for me, for I desperately need God’s grace over me to stay hungry, continue to learn, survive all the mozi bites, and not have nightmares. Oh and still eat the rice and beans lol. “All fruitfulness flows from intimacy (with God).”
I have never heard a statement so true. No prophesy, no power, no faith, no revelation, no joy, no love is worth anything if it does not come out of intimacy with God. Without this, it turns into things for our glory instead of Gods. We end up being greedy with things instead of staying so desperate for His presence and His face that we are forever grateful for anything the Lord blesses us with. I have noticed here that I have eaten foods gladly here that I would have never touched at home. I am so hungry that any and all food seems like the best meal ever! Well after spending the first few weeks here without really “feeling” the Lord’s presence, I was DESPERATE! Then if I had the smallest vision from the Lord or felt Him in just the wind, I would be completely overwhelmed by His goodness! I was just too full for God before. I only wanted the “good” stuff. Gosh…God is AMAZING. He blesses us even when He shouldn’t haha.
Thank you Papa that you indeed are the best dad in the whole world. Thank you that you are so good to us. Thank you for adopting us as your children. Oh and thank you so much for Jesus. To be His bride is something more than I can comprehend. Help me go lower still and Lord, bless every person that reads this blog. God please speak to them and provide them with daily fresh bread from you. Your love is better than life.
Machinana Jesu. {In Jesus’ name.}
(at least that’s what it sounds like to me lol) 

WEEK TWO!!!

Here is more information! It is really awesome.

So it's been a really wonderful week two. I felt the Lord so much this week. On Wednesday the Lord said to me "the kingdom of heaven is a servants heart." I spent the rest of the week dwelling on it, still am haha..for the first time I really understood the desire to be in the lowest place! As I was laying facedown in the dirt with children stepping all over me I was crying out "oh God take me lower! Take me lower!" what I am realizing is that only the presence of the Lord can give you the desire to be hungrier for Him; only the presence of the Lord can make you want to go lower, to be more humble. This is what we should pray for: more hunger, more thirst, more humility. You see, when you are So hungry, you will eat anything! (and are thankful!) When you are full, you can end up turning down the things of God. 

A few months ago I started praying "Jesus I want to see your eyes!!" and I desired so much to see them. Of course in my mind I thought I would have a visitation or see visions of Jesus' eyes. But when I came here to mozambique, I saw Jesus in the eyes of the children. They are covered in dirt and rags and are the beautiful bride of our Lord. When you see Jesus in someone, how could you not love them with all that you are. Well I now want to see Jesus in every person I look at. Since this lines up with His heart, He has revealed Himself in every person I look at and wow, He is so beautiful!! 

For all who are reading this, thank you. Thank you for your prayers! I still need them more than ever haha just like Gods mercies are new every morning, I need a greater measure of grace every morning! Haha  today to get back from town we took a 'shapa' (van). It's like a 12 passenger van and 27 people were crammed in it! It was crazy. As I looked through a small hole between the limbs and clothing of the people in my row, I saw the most amazing view I've ever seen. We were on top of the city and I could see a whole hillside of villages with the ocean as the backdrop. It was incredible. I'm trying to take full advantage of the bright blue indian ocean. 

I miss you guys back home! Time is seeming to fly by though. I've noticed that me and Garrett are having totally different experiences (he is on the floor every service lol) and I don't really see him much. It's cool though because we will have 2 different experiences to bring back to campbellsville with us!  Next year is going to be awesome. The Lord has big plans. 

Much love! 

First Week of Blessings and Lessons!

It  has been difficult to get updates from Deanna, but we feel very blessed when I do receive any news at all from her. This is an email we just received from her to share with you.


WEEK 1
I have now been here for one whole week! Because the Lord’s ways are higher than our ways, this adventure has been so different than I thought it would be. There have already been ups and downs and miracles and sufferings. The more I press in to the presence of God, the more I realize that I don’t know anything haha not even why I am here and I love it!! Its so great being clueless and knowing that my Daddy God will pull through with Glory! I am learning even more how faithful God is. I am so thankful that He does not move based on our feelings. When I don’t feel the presence in worship, it does not mean that He is not moving. He is doing wonderful things even when I am so unaware.
I am so blessed here..I’ll talk about some of the highlights of the week. I’ve already heard some awesome speakers including Randy Clark about four times, Will Hart (from Furious Love), Mattheus from Holland, and Heidi and Rolland A LOT! I got a hug from Heidi YAY! Haha

Children’s Day:
My 2nd or 3rd day here was Children’s Day. It is a HUGE holiday here in Mozambique. A whole day to celebrate the children! Yay! There was so much Joy in worship that morning. After that we had an Amazing meal of chicken, rice, and cabbage (still has been the best meal ive had). We then celebrated the kids! Over 4,000 children got a meal of chicken and a cold coke (their favorite)! As I hugged on those children, I FELL IN LOVE! The rest of the day all I could say was “I’m so in love I could die right now!” and I meant it! Haha! I really felt like I was wrapping my arms around my true love, Jesus. What a miracle! Haha and you all know my human extent of compassion. I’m thankful for Heaven downloads. 

Weekend Conference in Mieze:

Well that weekend we went about 20 min away to a conference in Mieze with Randy Clark and Heidi and Rolland Baker. Ill keep the complaining short and say..it was the opposite of children’s day for me. I was quite miserable and wanted to leave the whole time I was camping out there. I needed grace so badly for my lack of compassion, will to eat the food, lack of sleep, frustration with the language barrier and the heat! Well Gods just bigger than all that stuff haha..Friday night so many people were healed! A baby was blind in one eye and some of my friends saw it turn from white to brown and it could see! I was with a group praying for an older blind woman. We just had so much compassion for her the longer we prayed. After about 30 min, we brought her on stage to Heidi since that baby could now see. We were asked to soak her in prayer while Heidi prayed for someone else. When she finally came back over, she grabbed the woman by the hand and gave her a deep hug full of love. She then asked her if she could see, and the woman said she could see the bright light and that she had never seen light before!!! She then accepted Jesus! Even though she still couldn’t see, there was such joy released in her salvation! The next night a boy who had never walked before was healed and walked across the stage! Also a baby who was blind and could not stand or walk was totally healed, saw his mom for the first time, and walked to her! Then a torrential downpour of rain fell. In Mozi if rain falls, it is the Ultimate sign of God’s presence! We found out today that it was not scheduled to rain until November, and it ONLY rained on the conference!! Not even a mile away was bone dry dirt!! The whole time we were singing in out flooded tents “You’ll come like the rain! You’ll come like the rain!!” My favorite miracle that happened was on Sunday. For lunch the meal for the people to come was bread rolls.  They had 1,500 rolls and 2,500 people. Every person ate a whole roll! Haha yay!! There were miracles in our mist and we didn’t even know it until today!!
oh i love you all so much. thank you for reading my updates and for all the prayers! feel free to email me at dmulhall13@gmail.com. i really want to hear about your alls lives too and whats going on this summer! 

First Couple of Days!

This is a copy of an email sent to us and I just copied and pasted into Deanna's blog:

Hey family and friends!!
So I am already in LOVE with Mozambique! I don't have long on here,
but know a blog post is coming shortly :)
I miss you all! and to all who sent me texts, THANK YOU! it was so
sweet to hear from you!

It is really hot here haha maybe 90s and humid? and we are outside all
day..after day one i figured out exactly what i shouldve packed and
what i packed that was unnecessary.

I have great house mates! 13 girls cramed into the smallest rooms ive
ever seen with 2 bathrooms. like there isnt even enough room to change
in your room, and the bathrooms are all covered with water. haha and i
love it!!

I have already heard Randy Clark and Heidi Baker speak twice!! This
weekend we have the amazing opportunity to go to a Mozambican
conference in Maize (dont know the spelling). It is about 20 minutes
off base. Heidi and Randy are leading it. We will camp out all weekend
with no showers or bathrooms with about 1000 mozambican pastors who
will have traveled days to get here! It is a one of a kind
opportunity!

Ill probably repeat some of this in my blog, but thats ok lol..

I never knew I could love this children so much. The kids on the iris
base are just amazing. I need so much grace to help remember their
names and faces and to learn the language.

I do have a few prayer requests :)
-grace for the heat of Mozambique! haha im white.
-please pray for increased hunger for the presence of God for me. I NEED IT!!!
-that the Lord would keep revealing my destiny in greater measures
-that I never get tired of rice and beans every meal! yay!!

Oh there is so much joy in communion with God and His people!

I love you all!!

Deanna

P.s. I love hearing from you guys!! please write me :)

The day of travel to Mozambique is finally here!

Deanna would normally update her blogs herself, but while she is away for ten weeks in Africa she asked her mother to do the updates so that you guys, her friends, could keep track of her.

Deanna left Louisville airport around 2:30pm on May 28 along with Garrett Baker, also a student at Campbellsville University.  Friends and family were there to wish them well on their adventure; and let them know they will be lifted up in prayer as they learn more about fulfilling their work in the Lord.

May 30.  Deanna arrived in Pemba at 2:30 EST.  She had a pretty tough flight with many plane changes and layovers.  But when I heard from her she was excited about finally being there.  I have not heard when Garrett is to arrive.  There was a scheduling problem and he could not leave Johannesburg when the others left.

One Month Left!

I leave in one month for Mozambique!

I can't wait! I have paid my tuition and my air fare. My visa has safely come in. All I have left to do is buy the little things Ill need when im there and to keep preparing my heart.
I have been realizing that I am not totally sure how to prepare myself. I have never been to a third world country, and I have never spent a whole summer away from Kentucky either.
This past week, three nights in a row, I had massive spiders in my room! I really freaked out about it more than I should have, but I then realized..woah..I have so much more of myself to die to..im such a chicken lol..As scary as dying can be, I really am so excited. I love Jesus so much and I dont want to be held back in my destiny in any way..

Its so cool. This season of preparation, the Lord has been showing me two things: how to be childlike (all the time) and the good characteristics of my personality that he gave me as a gift. :) It really has been looking alot different than what I thought it would. No grinding prayers, but just being in the presence all the time and seeing that Jesus' burdens are light. How joyful is life!

I do have one prayer request please :)..I am being attacked with fear for my airplane flights. Me and Jesus tried to tackle this last summer when I had 7 flights within a month. I prayed myself to sleep on all of the flights and it was really the only way I made it. well recently ive been getting attacked with it again and its just not fun haha..So that is my prayer request..no fear for anything that comes my way this summer.

Decision..

I am using this blog space to say that I am SO spaced out! haha the past few days/weeks I have had a whole lot of stuff running through my mind and it is starting to catch up with me. I have been trying to get everything prepared before spending my summer in Mozambique. That has been quite the journey so far and I am so excited for the summer to come! On top of that I have homework that is just piling up that I don't want to even think about lol..but unfortunatley I have to. I did realize yesterday though, I really love being a student. It is so fun to learn new things! especially when the alternative is working all the time. College really is fun and I didn't realize it until I looked at the packet to schedule my classes for next semester. It turns out that if I want to, I can live in Louisville next semester and get all the credits I need. I also have the option to take all of my classes online and go wherever I want to. Or..I could stay in good ole Cville. Pretty big decision huh? Well I dont know what I will do yet and I really don't have very much time to think about it either because of being an RA and everything. Someone great recently told me "Options display your character," so I want to be wise about what I end up doing.
No matter what...Jesus has been so good to me and I know that wherever I go, He will be there with his kingdom.

Something new.

So I am on spring break and I had some time to myself today. I was just me, a camera, and wherever I decided to take myself. So I've had some ideas about making photo montages and I did not really know how to make one. So instead of trying out my good ideas with no knowledge of what to do, I thought I would do a practice one today of myself. It is kinda creepy looking actually haha and alot of the parts don't line up but I wanted to reveal it anyways lol...oh yeah and one of the pictures is missing, which is why there are white spots..oops

So here is my first ever montage:

It's a good day. I also wrote part of a new song as well as part of a melody to a whole new song. Yay for productivity and creativity. They are rare but greatly treasured. I needed Jesus alot today. I woke up in His presence and eventually got to spend some quality time worshiping and that was such a treat. As the day went on though I didn't feel Him as much. It's like I let the little things get me busy or steal my attention and I don't even realize it until is 12:20 at night, and I'm writing a blog, and I realize that what I have been missing all afternoon was my best friend Jesus. At least I figure it out at some point. Well..it's time for sleep now, but tomorrow..I'm going off God's agenda and choosing joy. (and getting to spend some time at the beach :)! )
love~

Moments.

Sometimes...
It can be easy to forget that God is perfect.
It can be easy to read scripture as a story, or just words to a general group of people.
It can be easy to think that you care about something more than your Heavenly Father does.
It can be easy to feel like you're time is being wasted, or that sacrifices are in vain.
It can be easy to try to do everything yourself and know all the answers.

Sometimes...
Faith is hard.

Today something obvious made sense to me: Jesus actually meant the words that he spoke.

THATS A BIG DEAL!

That means that when Jesus says 
"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father."that he means it!  (Matthew 10:29).

I believe that God made known to Jesus everything of His heart because He loved Him. If Jesus knew everything of the Father, and Jesus says He shares that with us because we are His friends, then that is true! (John 15:15).  We have access to all of the Lord's heart just by being His friend! By being His loved one!

I know that all those things listed above can be easy to do, (I do them all the time) but in doing those things I am not living an abundant life full of joy. Two things of which Jesus died to provide for me.

Jesus really does have everything in control. He knows every moment of everyday.

A week ago some anointed ladies from home group were praying over me.
Jesus said to me "With me, it's easy"
and He placed in my arms a bundle of wheat and joyfully said "Here's some harvest" :)
It made me laugh.

To enjoying the simple moments,
Deanna

The Sweet Life.

So I havent written a post in almost 2 months..gosh I guess thats how it can be with blogging sometimes.
So Ill share a little of how my life has been recently :)
Im loving being an RA this semester.
3 days ago I quit at McAlisters :( that was a sad day.
But the happy news is that the reason I quit is because...Ill be spending the summer in Mozambique! :D
I have the awesome opportunity to learn about missions from those who have been doing it faithfully in the Lords presence a majority of their life and I get to meet Heidi Baker. No human being has ever inspired me more. (Besides Jesus, but thats a given lol).
So far I have read "There is Always Enough" and "Visions Beyond the Veil." All I can say is wow to both of those books. The first book just brought me into closer awareness of Jesus' intimacy and that every fruitfulness in this earth comes from looking into His beautiful eyes of fiery love! From the second book I was reminded of how with every person we encounter, it is our responsibility and honor to give them the option and awareness of the Gospel, just like it had been given to us. It is our blessing to LOVE on people!!

If there is anyone reading this blog that has never encountered the love of God, a love that is more satisfying that anything on this earth, then please just know that it is for you. A man named Jesus gave his life so that we could have an abundant life full of joy! If you have any questions about this or want prayer or anything at all really, come talk to me and I would love so much to help. God is always listening too. I know that for a fact.

I had a dream the other night and I want to share it.
So in my dream I was back in my childhood and I was playing with my friends. Since it was a dream I could hear the thoughts and conversations of the dads watching as if I was standing right next to them. One of the dads said to the other "Man, it physically hurts me to let him go, I just want to spend more time with him." (talking about his child). And the other said "you know, the more time you spend with him, the more like you he will be." And immediately my thoughts went to Jesus. Jesus was so much like God the Father because He spent 30 years of his life hanging out with Him! From what we see in the scriptures he spent his time studying and memorizing the word and even at the age of 12 was in the temple inquiring about his Father. He had a hunger and burning desire to know all there was to know about the goodness of his dad and all of the inheritance that Jesus had as a human being to show us what we could be! Its so sweet! :)

Blessings