LovEmotion

I have been on quite the journey the past week of really trying to understand what it means to love. It has been one of the most spiritually frustrating, emotionally draining, and most humbling journey so far, and I am still on it. But it is oh so good, because I get to learn from the Master, whose name is Love.

Instead of writing a long blog about the journey, I decided to express my revelation through a poem. The poem type is called a Rondeau. I wrote the first stanza is from the viewpoint of Satan. The next stanza is from my viewpoint. Then the last stanza is from Jesus' point of view. Let me know what you think! Thanks.

LovEmotion

[Satan]

Come follow me, where you are king

Of everything you ever dreamed. 

Love is submitted to your rule

Where all other thoughts come from fools

And from your lips, everyone sings. 

Where all wisdom from you can ring;

Do not worry about one thing. 

Everyone's hearts are your own tool.

Come follow me...

You do not have one single need. 

Lost lovers and childrens hearts bleed.

But do not let them take your jewel. 

There is no emotion to bring.

Come follow me.

[Me]

I don't understand how I lose

Everytime that I light the fuse

In my own heart and my own mind. 

Love is patient and it is kind,

My thoughts of love I have abused. 

My own perception gets confused

And He who is Love I accuse,

When really I have just been blind.

I don't understand...

When I overthink, I excuse

All of the truth that I should choose.

No longer will the enemy bind

Truth, because I realize it's fine

I don't understand. 

[Jesus]

Come follow me, where I am king

Of everything you ever dreamed. 

Love is submitted to my rule

Where I welcome all, even fools

To lift their voices and to sing.

Where all wisdom from me can ring;

Do not worry about a thing. 

Use your burdens as your own stool.

Come follow me...

I care to every single need.

Lost lovers and childrens hearts bleed. 

And yet, they are my very jewel.

Emotions of love are not cruel. 

Come follow me. 

The End.

Disguises

It blows my mind how faithful the Lord is to His children, especially when His children are wrapped up in their own flesh and insecurities. The Lord never gives up. For me, this past week has been a battle of hearing the Lord, but believing the enemy and his lies over me. Yet, the thing that amazes me is that the Lord continues to war over me in His pursuit for me to believe truth and love over lies and deceit. I act out in my flesh and my own worldy thinking, yet the Lord never gives up, even when it seems like I create for myself a lost cause.

The Lord delights in giving mercy. He loves to do His job. He created us as humans, knowing that we would be wrapped up in flesh and warred over spiritually all of our lives. But I personally believe that it just makes the Lord that much more impacted and excited when we truly do choose to look to Him...because it requires a choice for us to make, and when we choose the Lord, He is notbaly held in higher significance than any rival over our heart. And when the Lord is chosen over any other lie or attack disguised as momentary satisfaction, it becomes more natural for us to place Him on the throne of our hearts where He belongs.

We are called to be children of God; ones who walk out in radical authority, unhindered joy, undeniable love, and a capturing hope. If we go about our days and let the enemy get to us with his lies, we end up giving him too much credit, and then we naturally let our joy sink with our confidence. When we are depressed, something is wrong, because being a child of the Lord should cause us to be overwhelmed with a joy and love unspeakable...but it is our choice if we want to receive it or not.

I am not saying that our lives should be a joyous explosion of laughter and a constant goody-two-shoe type of feeling, but our lives should hold eternal perspective; that even in the midst of hardship and trial, we realize who we are in the Lord's eyes, and we begin to believe it enough to gain the confidence and strength for every moment. With the joy set before Him, He endured excrutiating suffering. With the joy set before us, we can live our lives as He intended us to.

Just to Feel Alive

When I First came to Kona to do my DTS, the Lord notably did a great deal of work on my heart as He was in the process of transforming me. I underwent incredible change as I began to realize not only who I am in the Lord's eyes, but began to realize who others were in the Lord's eyes as well.

I have never really been in a serious relationship with anyone. I know it was partially because the Lord had immense protection over my life. It was hard for me to trust and to be real vulnerable with any girl. After the third week of my DTS, I prayed and committed to a year of consecration (being set apart only for the Lord) before Jesus. No girls, just Jesus. I had such a fear of the Lord that after my year of consecration, the next girl I begin to pursue was going to be the one I would commit to. This wasn't what the Lord exactly said, but I just remembered that I wanted to take relationships seriously from here on out. I wasn't going to allow something shallow; I wanted the Lord's hand in it all.

January of 2011 came around, and I began to staff the Fire and Fragrance DTS. On February 14th of that year, I met a girl. This was so scary for me because I remembered that the next girl I fall for, I wanted to truly have the fear of the Lord over it and walk it out with complete integrity and honor to myself, the Lord, and the girl. I remember that night, on the 14th, I started to realize I had feelings for this girl. I went to the prayer room and prayed what I felt was a dangerous prayer, but it might have not been. Either way, I said to Jesus, "If this is the girl for me, I commit myself to Your timing and I commit myself to pursue her with all that I have, but You have to open the doors."

Long story short, on March 28th, I embarked on my adventure to Iceland and she went to Mozambique for the next two and a half months. We both agreed to not talk during this time so that we can truly give this whole thing up to the Lord and we believed if this was from Him, He would give it back to us.

Needless to say, on July 5th, 2011, I began to pursue and date my best friend. It was so surreal and amazing! And I continued to have the fear of the Lord over my first ever relationship because I knew that I needed the Lord to be in the center and I knew I needed to cherish this and honor it. We went on many adventures in Kona and Ireland, and the Lord continued to knit our hearts together.

Last sunday, Februay 19th, 2012, I took my best friend out to hang in Portland all day. We shopped, had lunch, and just enjoyed each other's company. After our filled day in Portland, I wanted to surprise her by going to a place neither of us have ever been to. It was the Hoyt Arbetorum (a giant wonderland forest). After walking for a long time and getting lost, I finally saw in the distance a red balloon. I then knew our destination. Below a giant fig tree, there was a blanket with candles, food, roses, a teddy bear (that my best friend and I made together) holding a poem. We walked over and my best friend started to cry. She grabbed the poem and read it. The last line of the poem said, "...just answer one question." I then went on my knee and asked my best friend to marry me. She said, "Yes!"

Our journey has contained a lot more than what is written, but I hope this gives an idea of how ridiculously faithful the Lord has been in this all and how exciting of a time this is!
I am so blessed that later this year, I will be marrying my best friend,
Anna
Katherine
Seistrup!

Thank you Jesus, I am the most blessed man in the world!

[Thanks to Anna's parents, they helped set up the picnic for us, it was awesome!]

Opportune

It is snowing today...the fire is on and I have a coffee sitting next to me. What a perfect day to kick start my blog once again. It has been a while. I guess you could say I have just been having writer's block. Either way, I am back and ready to write all about the new adventures this year holds for me.

As most of you know, I got back from Ireland a few months ago and have been planting myself at home. It has been a sweet time of reuniting with family and friends, but for some reason, this time at home has felt much different from the other times. Since everything with the timing of Ireland sort of fell through, I thought that maybe this were to be a season of being at home. But as of a few days ago, I realized that wasn't the case.

On saturday, I felt the Lord prompt me to watch the Jesus Culutre: Encounter LIve Stream all day...so I did. It is crazy how the Lord uses technology to reach out to people, because I can say that in watching the live stream, I was deeply impacted. The Lord reminded me of a Thursday Night Meeting back in February in Kona, Hawaii, when He softly spoke to me that my time at home was finished. It was a hard reality to be hit by, but my life of missions was truly unfolding.

Since being home, I have loved being with family and friends, but I haven't felt the heavenly peace or any rest since being here. I have felt withdrawn, isolated, and confused. I wanted so desperately for the Lord to speak something...but I got nothing. I cried out that the Lord would make this time clear every day. Then last saturday...He finally did. He is a faithful God that works all things according to our good. In the midst of all of this...the Lord continued to tug on my heart strings of Social Injustice. I have always had a heart for the broken, but this time, the Lord made it clear that most of my ministry will be involved in this sphere. Praise Him!

With that said, next tuesday, I am heading out. There are many open doors leading to opportunity in Oregon, where I will be living for the next few months, praying and planning for what the Lord has for me. If you could, please partner with me in prayer as I seek the Lord in everything He has. Please pray for favor with a job, a place to stay, and all that good stuff. I still feel Ireland is on the horizon, so please pray with me in timing with that as well!

Thank you all for your support and prayer...it means so much to me!

-Daniel
--York