Hello faithful blog followers, this is Dayna! Now that we are in a New Year, I thought I would share some thoughts about my own journey here at Bethel thus far. Our past blogs have been filled with much of what we have been learning here at Bethel but I wanted to include some of the things that the Lord is personally revealing to me and working out in me.

  Even before coming to Redding, Dave and I read Bill Johnson’s book called When Heaven Invades Earth. It was also one of the first books we were required to read and write a book report on when we came here. It is a wonderful book and one that I would recommend. Basically, reading this book helped me to understand the importance of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and how the Holy Spirit transforms our minds and by His transformation comes revelation and with revelation comes greater intimacy and relationship. It is in this supernatural realm that God can do the work on this earth that He has longed for His children to step up to the plate and do. Believe me, here at Bethel, we have seen the impossible become possible!

  For example, Dave and I have laid hands on a young lady and through prayer and commanding illness to leave, have seen an infection inside her mouth vanish! This is common place here and has boosted my faith a million percent! How amazing, how powerful and how humbling is that! We serve an awesome God and although He doesn’t need to me to work out His plan, He’s thrilled when I am a willing vessel.

  I have also had a renewed set of eyes when it comes to reading and studying scripture. We have an awesome Bible teacher who has been with Bethel for the last 20 years. He is very knowledgable and very funny, which makes learning that much more enjoyable.

  From September to November I took a class on the Prophetic. I didn’t know a whole lot about this gift, but had such a desire to learn what it means, how to develop my gift of Prophecy and the purpose behind Prophetic Ministry. The gift of prophecy is one of the gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor.12), it is available to ALL believers, and the main idea behind this ministry is to ‘call out the gold’. Basically, prophecy is tuning in to hear the voice of God. It is a tool that God uses for exhortation, edification and comfort. It should never be used to state the problem but rather always used to provide the answer. God has grown me in this gift and it is wonderful to hear His voice (although He doesn’t always use words), speak with Him about what He’s prompting me to do (if anything) and then follow through with it. When the ‘message’ is delivered to the person to whom He wants you to deliver it to, the reaction (especially when I have been ‘bang-on’ accurate in hearing His voice) is amazing. It is easy to be fearful about these things and I have asked myself and the Holy Spirit “what if I’m wrong?” but in this process of learning, the Lord has been faithful to my desire to learn and grow and I’m trusting that what I have been asked to ‘deliver’ on His behalf, will come to fruition in the lives of the individuals that have been the recipients. Here at Bethel, they spell faith…R-I-S-K !

 Since starting school I have also had the opportunity to work with woman in a Drug Rehabilitation Program called Visions. This is a Christian based organization and Bethel has been sending students to help out with the woman for the last 5 years. I have learned a lot from these woman who are hurting, broken and who have lost custody of their children due to drug and alcohol addictions. They are beautiful people that Christ died for too and we have been able to share the gospel, share our testimonies, speak His love into their broken hearts and pray with them. Often times we see them come into the meeting withdrawn and downcast, but we see them leave filled with hope and a smile. 

  I’m also taking a class called International Transformation. There are 40 other students in this class but we have been divided into groups of 5 or 6. Each group has been given a project and the one that my group is developing is the provision of Restoration packages to children in Thailand/Burma who have been injured themselves (loss of limbs) or who have lost family members to landmines.  My group (I was nominated to be the leader) has been blessed to have a contact there that we have been able to email to get ideas as to what to put in these ‘packs’. She is a past Bethel student and now works as a Missionary in Thailand.

  I feel very fortunate that I have a great team of students to work alongside and that our contact in Thailand is available via email! Jackie has provided us with a great deal of help and suggestions as to what we could provide (art supplies, exercise equipment like balls and jump ropes, bibles, puzzles, and the Jesus movie in their language). These are items that are not easily available there and will provide the children ‘restoration’; physically, mentally and spiritually. I’m excited to see what we’ll be able to procure and finally send over to Thailand!

  Dave and I have decided to take a program called Love after Marriage. We take this class on Sunday afternoon and we have 3 other couples in our group, 1 of which are Bethel students from Australia. So far we have only taken 3 classes, but it’s really good material! It has added some extra homework to our week but it’s worth it J

  God has also used me to be a ‘spiritual Mom’ to many young ladies in our Revival Group (our RG meets every Wednesday). Some of these young gals (and guys) are in there early 20’s and sometimes really need a hug, encouraging word or prayer. They call us ‘mom and dad’ J We love it and feel blessed by their openness and energy.

  If there is one thing that I have really begun to understand it’s that God loves us so much! We serve a God of love and He is always good and always in a good mood. If we choose to hang on to the ‘old wineskins’ or old ways of thinking and ‘doing’, we will never see true revival or fruit that is lasting. God wants to use new wineskins that walk in consistency to His Kingdom. He wants His sons and daughters to understand who we are and what we have because of our Royal inheritance. We are missing the very heart of Father God if we don’t love and give of ourselves as Jesus did. Wow!

   As the next few months unfold, I am eager to see how the Lord is going to continue to use me (us). There is a conference at the end of February and we have our Mission trip in March to New Zealand, which will be totally exciting. Before we know it, we’ll be graduating in May! In our time here, I have never questioned why we came to Bethel. It has been such an incredible and sometimes challenging journey and I’m so glad I got to do this with Dave. We have grown together and as individuals. God has been more than faithful and I wouldn’t trade this time for anything. That said, if we leave here and don’t do anything with the tools we have learned and the gifts we have grown in, then what was the point? There is no doubt that God will honor our time here and place us where He wants us. We are both open to whatever and wherever that might look like. I know in my heart I will never be satisfied again with the ‘status quo’. 

  Thanks for tuning in!

  Dayna

It was a semester of so many ups and downs.  A roller coaster of thoughts (memories good and bad), and uncovering our desires for today and the future.  It was time of great joy as I actually met the saviour who I learned for the first time that He really cares about me and I learned that He is always in a good mood!  We have had a first half full of learning about our identity in Christ and making many declarations against the Spirit of Religion that we have grown up in.  It was also a time of tears as many of those trials, tribulations and hurts came to the surface. It was painful to learn that we have lived in the Spirit of Religion and the law for so long!!  We realized that if we intend to be all that God has in store for us we need to get rid of those hurts, the un-forgiveness and bitterness’s that life can bring to all of us.  We are not unique in that area, as most of us carry these weights around.  It is a tool of the enemy to rob, kill and steal your future that Jesus died for!  What a slap for Him who came from the throne, endeared birth and life and took mocking, a spitting in the face and severe beating all for us, that, we only give Him half of what He died for. 

There were many days that we came home with total exhaustion as we dealt with the melting pot of thoughts and feelings.  In the end, God has begun to make a more new creation – the one that He actually died for.  We see Him so much differently now than when we arrived and we see the task at hand much more differently as well.  We have learned that it really is all about just loving Jesus and allowing His presence (love) to completely smother us.  It’s all about living in His presence everyday and allowing Him to direct us to our divine appointments each day.  He really does have a plan for us.   We have had so many prophetic messages given over both of us mostly around pastoring, leadership and mentoring people that we have been blown away.  People who have never met us, prophesying the same mail pretty much each and every time.  We know that God is increasing our tent pegs and filling our hearts deeply to love every person we meet.  We now look at each person regardless of there life as being made in the image of the creator – how powerful is that!!  God has such a plan even for those who live on the streets or who struggle with mental and deep health issues.  He wants all of us to walk in any area declaring health free zones and declaring goodness over everyone we meet. 

God has been so good to us – an area that we really struggled was asking for support on our mission’s trip.  It is very expensive ($7,000.00) and we did not budget for it.  He truly is pushing and teaching us to rely on him.  We did send out support letters and within one day $1800.00 came into our account!!!  It brought both of us to tears as we rejoiced about another area that God is teaching us deeply about.   We were so blown away by our friends who sent money that it was hard for us to even communicate with them.  We love them all and to understand that people care and see a value in what you are doing is so rewarding to us – but again, it is part of what God is showing us and how He is actually re-teaching us about Him and His love for us. 

Bill, Kris and the other senior leaders who teach have turned our idea of what God intended for us upside down.  We have had to relearn what it means to serve Him with all our heart and how we see the world and the people around us.  We are so thankful that God sent us here and we know that we will never be the same.  We are done playing religion and want to see revival come to wherever we serve.  Revival just isn’t for Bethel but it is for the world.  We are called to return home and begin to change the world – one person at a time.  Revival is coming to Vancouver Island and we will see a day when people will fall on their knees in repentance and experience the goodness of the Creator!!  We have seen how God’s love changes lives completely.  We have seen many signs, wonders and miracles here and we know that this just isn’t for Bethel – this is how God expects everyone of us to live everyday – wherever we live!!  Cool eh…..

We are so excited about the second half of this year and know that God will continue to do the good work He has started in us.  We are so excited as this semester we will see several Generals arrive to teach us starting with Randy Clark in early January. We love all of you who are reading this blog – we hope that it touches all of you in a unique way as you walk our journey with us.  God’s blessings to you all!!!!