from Hope in 2012 to Trust in 2013

This year I did something I have never done before (well, I have never had an Apple TV before), but I went through all of my pictures from 2012 and made an album that I call the Best of 2012. These pictures then play on my TV when it is idle and they remind me just what last year was like.

Folks... it was a great year. I really began to live each day to the fullest this last year, I mean it wasn't without it's own trials and growth spurts, but it was amazing. I enjoyed my job, my church, my community and then I also was able to see both of my best friends a few times, travel on ministry trips, see my family, take a short vacation to California and have a host of memorable experiences with my incredible roommate (who just got engaged!).

I also got this tattoo last year.... it is Hope over  an Olive Branch (promise) or the Hope of His Promises for me.  I can't say that I have seen the fullfillment of all of those promises yet... but I honestly believe that 2013 is a year of promises and desires fulfilled. 

Last week we had a day where the sun was out and while it was still cold in January, it was nice enough to go on a hike... so I did. While I hiked I did what I enjoy doing most when running or hiking, I listened to a podcast. In this podcast, I heard Eric Johnson talk about 5 things we need for 2013 and one of them was TRUST.  I trust my really amazing Father to give me better gifts than I could ever imagine.

I believe that He will take my desires and up me in the fullfillment of them.

Is that crazy?

Is that naive?

No... that is child like faith.  Something that I had an abundance of as a child and is now being rebirthed.

Let me explain...

When I was a little girl, I read this book and when Christmas came around I asked Santa for a Horse. The way my family did Christmas was that "Santa" left our presents unwrapped by the tree and up until this point I had always gotten everything I had ever wanted... and MORE. So, when I decided that I wanted a pony I just decided to tell "Santa" about it and fully expected the horse to be standing in my living room by the tree on Christmas morning.  For most kids the end to this story would probably be that the horse was not there and they never did get a horse, but my story is different. Of course, the horse was not in my living room on Christmas morning, but we did go that afternoon to meet my horse at a stable. Yep... my childlike faith was reinforced. If I ask something of my dad, I will get it. So, while I was a kid who did get most everything she ever asked for and to some that might seem like I was spoiled, I have realized that my parents did me a great service in one way. They helped me believe a biblical truth...they were building my faith in God, I bet without even knowing it.

John 14:14 says, "You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

A few years later I was with my family in Houston and my dad took me fishing for the first time. We were fishing in Lake Houston and it was stocked with Catfish. There were so many fish that you could see them swimming around.  So the first time I put the stinky bait on my hook and cast my line I fully expected the fish to jump on my line.  Guess what?  That didn't happen.

Instead of giving up, in my childlike faith, I prayed and asked God to help me catch some fish. And before I realized it, I did. So, I thanked God and asked for MORE... and then I caught another...and another...and another... and... I caught more than tweleve fish that afternoon!

John 14:14 says, "You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

These may seem like small childish examples, but I realize that they built my foundation of faith. I can trust my Heavenly father to provide me with GOOD things because He is a GOOD Father! They don't have to just be things I NEED, because He provides not according to need, but according to His desire to lavish me with HIS love.

He does it just because....just because He said He would.

Seriously... did I need a horse?

No.

Did I need tweleve catfish?

No.

All of this tells me that I can TRUST him with my HOPES because he is TRUSTWORTHY. My Father loves me and no matter what the timing. Even if it isn't there on Christmas morning just like I thought it would be... or if I have to try a second or third time....I KNOW that His intentions are good toward me and HIS word is true.

John 14:14 says, "You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

Sooo, my word for 2013....

is TRUST.

Contemplating Stewardship

I have been thinking about the word stewardship a lot lately.  Most of the time that I have heard that word in the past, it always referred to money however, it is much more indepth than that.

According to the commonly understood definition, a steward is "someone who manages the property, finances or other affairs of another." I want to focus on the "other affiars part" and talk of a few areas that I have been challenged lately to be a good steward....

Favor

I have listened to a few teachings lately on favor.  I realize that I am experiencing a season of great favor in several areas, but there is one that I am so overwhelmed by and have never really seen or understood as favor until now.  This is in the area of  friendships.  I have a friend here in TN that told me that they think I "excel" at making friends. I honestly have always thought that it was an experience that was common, but have found recently that I might be in the minority of people. Not only do I have some very amazing, very close, very old friendships (about 18 years at this point), but I also seem to connect with many people quickly and find new friends whereever I go.  When I was younger I had the goal to have 1 millions friends.... as I grew I began to understand that friendships had to be maintained and I would be unable to maintain that many real (not Facebook) friends.  I do however have friends (close acquiantances) all over the globe so that I would feel fairly comfortable staying with them if I were traveling through their particular town.

Because I have never seen this as a unique gifting, I have missed that this "favor" on friendships could also be for others. That I can actually help others connect to authentic community and make friends, even if I am not one of them. I am still not sure the "how" on this, but I have seen this happen in the last few weeks with a few people I know and it is fun to think that people are getting to be blessed by friendships as much as I am. Truly.

Prophecies

This one is something I have been contemplating for a while. I learned when I was about 21 that if I "earnestly desired" the gift of prophecy I would get it. So, I started my journey with the prophetic... albeit slowly.  A few years later when I lived in Texas, we began to learn more and more about the prophetic and we practiced. It was much like when I was in massage school and got massages everyday from students....some were amazing and some were just okay. :)  The only problem is that I took it for grant it, both the frequent massages and the frequent prophecies.  I realized this year that in order to really see the fullness in my prophetic words I need to steward them, or manage them.  So, I record them, read them, and pray through them.  I can see trends and I have seen an increase in the prophetic in my life and thus I think the two are connected.  To manage or steward these special nuggest of encouragment seems divinely important.

I don't have much of a conclusion except that stewardship seems important...and I hope that I continue to see how I can apply all that I have learned and steward it well.

What do you think?

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2012

Dear Friends and Family,

Merry Christmas! So much has happened since I last wrote a Christmas letter, that I don’t really know where to start, so bear with me.

As you may know I moved back to the US from South Africa just a little over two years ago, in November of 2010. When I moved back, I wasn’t sure where I would land, but after about 6 months of traveling and working as a tour guide for American Christian Tours in DC, I settled in Nashville in June of 2011.

Shortly after my decision to move to Nashville, I was offered a job at my church to help launch a new ministry school called the School of Supernatural Life. Helping start and then run the school has been a fun adventure and in many ways it feels like the perfect place for me to implement all of the random experiences that I have had throughout the years. I am also the personal and pastoral assistant to AJ and Alyn Jones and that has been incredibly life giving. Almost 10 years ago, in 2003, I felt like the Lord told me that my call and destiny was to “Help leaders STAY where they are called, to be like Aaron’s Hands”. It has been during 2012, that I have seen that word really start to take form and meaning for me. This was the year of “marriage” in the Hebrew calendar and while I am still single, I have seen a coming together of who I really am and have begun to experience a joy that I only dreamed of years before.

I have been blessed with an amazing roommate, a group of friends that have become like family, a church that is safe and encourages me to grow, and a job where I get paid to do what I have been doing for years. This has been a year of discovery for me and I don’t believe it is over. There is much, much more on the horizon and I am so excited to live everyday to its fullest.

My prayer for you, is that no matter where you are in your life journey that you find joy, peace, and identity in a Father who loves you and that you are able to live it out in a community who supports you.

I would love to hear more about what is going on with you, so please feel free to Facebook or email me.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Charlene Rae 

Discovering more about Aaron...

I have had some of the most interesting questions concerning my website name... Aaron's Hands and to be honest all I have had to go on for almost 10 years now was a word that I heard from God as I was walking out of a conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  I felt like I heard God say, " Your call is to help leaders stay where they are called. You will be like Aaron's Hands".

Now I can't say that I knew then, what God meant by " You will be like Aaron's Hands" but I started to research and pray into it.

I knew that Aaron was Moses' brother and that he often spoke for Moses when leading the Israelites out of Egypt. The funny thing was at the time that I heard this, I was trying to decide whether to literally move to Egypt....but I didn't make a connection (and still don't). I don't think I really knew details about the story in Exodus 17:8-12...

⁸ Then Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim. ⁹ So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” ¹⁰ Joshua did as Moses^[a]told him, ^[b]and fought against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. ¹¹ So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand ^[c]down, Amalek prevailed. ¹² But Moses’ hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set.

When I found it though, I understood, that I was called to support, to undergird, to encourage and I also felt like it was a promise that it wasn't just me...but there would be a Hur in my life that would do the same thing.

The last 10 years since God told me this have been amazing and yet I think I am just starting to get more of what this all means....and it is exciting.  

I was recently reading in Jeremiah and read a verse where Jeremiah sees  "the rod of an almond tree" and God says that He is watching his word to perform it (or hastening).  I got stuck here and looked up some more information and guess what I found??

Aaron's Rod was an Almond Rod.... and it bloomed to show that God had chosen Aaron and his sons as priests. Almond trees bloom in late winter (January-February) and I have had several words about this being my "season in bloom", which is odd to my left brain because it is FALL and headed into winter.   Very interesting... I can feel it, but I can't yet explain it. It is fun and scary at the same time.  

I love to ponder all the mysteries of the Kingdom and the wonderful way we get to discover more about him, ourselves, and life.  This thing I know, "He who began a good work in me will carry it out until the day of completion" and in the mean time I get to live fully in today while being thankful for yesterday and hoping for tomorrow.

What about you? What does it look like for you to live in this holy tension of time?

In His presence

We have been singing a lot about the Presence of God and I can feel when the presence is thick. I was even in a bit of a trance last week in church ( I know..weird...but true). It was amazing.

I found my old blogs today and was reading about when my dad died and my first month's in Africa...and I found this little gem from January 14, 2007:

"I don't normally remember my dreams, but last night I did. I had a dream that I was talking to my dad. It wasn't a memory or a dream of something that happened in the past. It is hard to explain, but it was so vivid. He told me how proud he was of me and at one point I actually began to pray that God would let him come back, but he stopped me. I asked him if he was happy and he said, "24/7 in the presence of Jesus, now that is happy!". I sure do miss my dad, but I am so thankful for his memory and for this dream. There are so may kids out there who don't have dads...I feel so priveledged to have had one that was so good to me and helped me become the woman that I am today."

I love that I had this dream when I was still mourning the loss of my father. I so honor him. I also am excited that he is in HIS presence....the place I want to be. I can't imagine being with my dad in heaven because it will be too overwhelming.

I was at a wedding the other day and it made me think of all the ways I want to honor both of my dads at my wedding.  Least you get excited.. there isn't one planned, but you know how weddings get you thinking...right? Okay, for us girls it does (help me out here ladies).

Ah... HIS presence. The perfect place to be.