an adventure and what the heck i'm doing.

 (to whomever took this lovely picture, it's wonderful! but I do not know who took it;) )

I am buried within a very big city. 

Honestly, since the morning I found my eyes opening from sleep here, the only consistent thing that's gone through my mind is, what. am. I. doing.? Where am I? Did I hear the Lord right? Did I do the right thing?!?! :freaks out:

:deep breath: 

Honestly, part of me craves this kind of thing. The "moving without knowing anyone, never having been here, I have no idea how to drive in this place, what's the deal with all this traffic, whoooooa" kind of thing. Yeah, that kind of thing. There is this insatiable hunger deep within me to be fluid, moving, listening, always ready to answer the Call of the One whose voice I'm learning to tune into before all other sounds. It's that whisper that comes in the deep of the night, that clarity that is present in the morning, that deep contentment that only comes from doing what you know you should. It's all of this and more. 

I have no idea what's going to happen on this new adventure. People keep asking me how it's all going. What I'm doing. But no, really, how's it going? Well, since you asked, do you really want to know? Ok, here's the answer: it's going exactly the way it's supposed to. I moved. I left all my friends. Why? Because, I heard His call with absolute clarity. Is it different than what I thought it'd be? Absolutely. Is that a bad thing? No! Why? Because, it is not about the outcome. It's about the journey. 

I have done a lot of things in my life so far. One of those included working for an amazing ministry a few years ago and in order to do that, I had to leave everything, move to a place where I knew no one, and completely step out in faith. It was the most wonderful experience I've ever had…walking without any idea of what would happen next, just knowing that He had called and so I was answering. When the time came to leave, however, I fought it. I fought it with every fiber of my being. I kicked and screamed and told God that His plan was clearly going awry and I could take it from there. Bad idea. Instead of letting go, I clutched everything even tighter to myself and so, He had to pry my hands open. In His wisdom He gently whispered, "If your eyes are focused more on the ministry, if your identity is built on that instead of me, I will remove what I have to in order to have you redirect your eyes to me. And I will teach you who you are in me alone." 

Whew. 

Do you know what happened next? I left in a way that was extremely hard and everyone in my life at the time who had not wanted me to be there in the first place were able to say, see, we told you so. 

And then. And then, and then. Oh my, the pain and hurt were indescribable…but, do you know what I learned? Truly, He is faithful. He is good. He is the master of bringing forth beauty from ashes. I was completely shattered in order to be built back stronger. In order to know who I am. In order to truly see that nothing but being close to Him matters. To learn that this life is not about what we think the outcome should be. It's about the daily steps. The walking forward. The moving and breathing and knowing in whom we trust. So, what looked to be a failure to so many, was in fact, the most amazing, hurtful, beautiful, terrifying, wonderful lesson I have ever learned. And, if I had to go back and do it all over again, I can now say from the inner most part of my soul, I would not even hesitate. For I learned to love deeper, forgive greater, have grace abound, and admit when I am wrong. I learned to let go of false humility and to be transparent.  Tell me, how does that equal failure? I can't help but smile at the goodness of my God allowing all of this to mold me into who I am now. Still far from being who He sees at the end, but slowly, I am being made into what He would have me be. 

So, here I am again. At the beginning of a new adventure:) What are my expectations? I expect that this will look exactly like what He wants it to. I expect that because I am a royal child of the King, He will draw me closer to Him. I expect that I will meet and fall in love with many, many wonderful people on this journey. I expect that I will love more deeply those I already do. I expect that beyond all I could ever imagine, He is doing far greater things than this. This is what I expect. 

Ok, now the fun part!!! For all of my wonderful readers out there, just in case you're wondering what the HECK I'm doing, please click HERE. Yep, go ahead and click there first, then, after you've checked out the website, come back and finish reading:) 

RIGHT?!?! I know! Pretty cool! I'm kinda beyond stoked about it all. If this lights your heart on fire, if you have any questions, if you just wanna know more, please feel free to email me at jade@camp-royal.com. I would love to hear from you. I am currently heading up our prayer team as this amazing ministry begins, so if you feel the Spirit leading you to pray for us as we head into battle for this young generation, email me! Gosh, do you know just HOW MUCH I'd love to have you fighting alongside us? If you feel the Spirit lead to give financially, you can scroll to the bottom of our home page, right below our video and click on the big, red, DONATE button:) 

If you haven't actually made it to the bottom of the page and haven't watched the video yet, you can watch it HERE! I'm pretty dang proud of it, so let me know in the comments section what you think, and please share it! Also, I do some blogging on website blog, so if you want to see a little different writing style from me, check it out HERE:) 

This is it. This is the new adventure. Nope, I don't know how long I'll be in Dallas. Nope I don't know what it will all look like. What do I know? I know I'm called here for such a time as this. I know I will stay as long as He wants me to. I know I am incredibly honored to be a part of what He's doing, no matter what it looks like. AND to borrow directly from our website:

YOU ARE ROYALTY!

...YOU ARE A CHOSEN PEOPLE, SET ASIDE TO BE A ROYAL ORDER OF PRIESTS, A HOLY NATION, GOD'S OWN; SO THAT YOU MAY PROCLAIM THE WONDROUS ACTS OF THE ONE WHO CALLED YOU OUT OF INKY DARKNESS INTO SIMMERING LIGHT. -1 PETER 2:9

IF YOU HAVE ACCEPTED HIS LOVE AND INVITATION,

THEN DARE TO BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE ACCEPTED AT THE THRONE OF GOD.

DARE TO BELIEVE YOU ARE ROYALTY.

PUT ON THE ROYAL ROBES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

THE KING DELIGHTS TO HONOR YOU!