Lately I have received a lot of encouragement from some of you regarding my blogs and ministry. Thank you for reading and being apart of what God's doing. Here's a little about what I'm learning presently and how I'd like to challenge you.

 

Faith is something learned. For me faith was a word I heard many Christians use but I never understood the deep meaning until recently. Faith isn't something you can "teach" it's something to expereince, something to define on your own. I had always been taught about what faith was and many of us would say that we have faith but I'd like to challenge you. What is faith? Let me tell you what I know faith is not.

 

Faith isn't giving up when your relationship with God gets too rough. Faith isn't taking back control of your life when God does something in your life that you don't understand. In the moments when you're crying, angry and upset because God didn't write your life just the way you thought it should go, faith doesn't take His name in vain, faith doesn't question His goodness.

 

I've learned that faith is praising God in the good AND in the not so good. In the midst of pain, frustration, lack of answers, tears and hurt, faith says, I'll trust you becuase I know you're ALWAYS good and you have a better plan for me, your Beloved, a plan better than anything I could ever dream up on my own.   

 

So, do you REALLY have faith? When life gets too tough do you still praise His name? Do you love Him when things don't your way? Well what if you didn't get the job you've been praying to get for weeks, what if you're 30 and your not married but you've been praying and doing all the "right things", what if someone who was a wonderful, God fearing person suddenly died that was close to you? I'm talking about the tough crap that we get handed in life! He wants to know if you'll still praise Him! The next time your life doesn't go the way you thought it was going to go or you get handed a pile of tough crap and you're ready to throw this "God thing" away, remember Job. Yea, remember Job, he had EVERYTHING taken from him yet he still said, "Naked I came from my Mother's womb and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, may the name of the Lord be praised." Job 1:21

 

As always, thank you for your prayers and support! Looking forward to meeting up with some of you! Keep looking for updates on the adventures to begin again soon.....

 

Friday begins the journey with my car, all of my belongings, my Father and myself making the 682 mile journey to Michigan. Yes, that's correct, I am moving back to Michigan.

Over the past 3 months God has been doing a great work in every single area of my life and that includes changing what He wants me doing with Adventures In Missions. My new roll with AIM is going to be as a full time Project Leader. A Project Leader works in our Short Term Missions (STM) department and leads 1 week youth group or adult trips at our many locations domestically and internationally.

My heart's desire was to return to Haiti full time for the remainder of the year but AIM has redefined what our mission for the Fall and Winter there looks like so we will be re-evaluating for the Spring and Summer. However, I will be leading several STM trips to Haiti over the next few months which sits well with my heart!

Due to finances, I will not be able to afford my apartment in Georgia seeing that I would only physically be there about 1 maybe 2 weeks a month, I have decided to home base in Michigan. I am just in a sweet season of many blessings, thank you Jesus! I am able to return to my family, friends and church community for this season of life while serving Christ all over the world with such a great organization devoted to furthering His Kingdom.

Please be praying for our travels next weekend and for the adjustment of moving back to Michigan and the new chapter of ministry and leadership I am walking into.

I will be updating you all soon on my new support needs and dates of churches I will be speaking at during the month of August.

P.S. If you would like to support me financially or would be willing to have me speak at your church please contact me! KelseyHinkley@adventures.org

 

 

 

I have wasted 2 years searching for satisfaction in anything but the only one who can fully satisfy. While I was in Haiti it was Him who clearly wanted to take hold, grasp my arm and pull me from the pit of loneliness and self seeking desire that I'd been sitting in. Let me reveal truth that I had never allowed to penetrate my heart until very recently. 

Whenever asked what I wanted to be, my response was, "A wife and mother... and of course serving the Lord for the rest of my life too." Guess what, that answer doesn't work anymore. It doesn't work because I was seeking my satisfaction in the hope of becoming a wife and mother someday and I was resigned to the lies that my life doesn't being until after I take someone else's last name. Truth is my life really isn't about me, in fact, it never has been. I've lived far too long making this life about me and searching for things, people, careers, etc. to satisfy a longing when God, the Creator of the universe, is the only water that can completely quench my thirst. 

I had to learn a few tough lessons in Haiti, lessons that I am at a loss of words to describe how grateful I am that my God thought enough of me to teach them to me just to draw me into a special place of intimacy with Him. He wanted me to stand in the authority given to me as His beloved daughter the day He sent His only son to shed blood for me.

 

Being single is not a condition given in response to a lack of something we did or didn't do or something caused by us not being good enough. It's time to wake up! Those of you who are sitting in the same boat I sat in just 2 months ago, hear me out! Listen, being single is a gift! Being single is a time when we should be asking God, "What can I do to serve you? What can I do to serve your beloved around me? How can I grow each day, deeper into the man or woman you have designed for me to be?" I spent way too many nights alone at home crying and bathing in self pity, worthlessness, loneliness and feeding off the lies that the enemy was using to keep me from flourishing for my King during this precious time. This is a time for living in reckless abandonment for the One who created you and called you out of darkness.

There are many of you I know who are struggling with this. Hear this truth...in Jeremiah 29:11 the Lord promises that He has good things for us, He doesn't seek to harm us but to prosper us. Know that the things God has promised to you He's not slow in keeping to those promises as 2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." If that verse doesn't make you go "Wow!" then you need to check your heart. God is waiting for us to realize the truth about this season of singleness, no matter if you're 20, 35 or 58, He's not slow to keeping to His promises, He's waiting for us to get our act together. Also some of you may need to check your heart on the things you think He's promised to you and the things you've promised for yourself or the words you're putting in His mouth. 1 John 3:19-22 This then is how we know that we belong to truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts and He knows everything.

 

I've heard many people talk about being single over the past few years it's been mostly people who are already married. The one thing I hear from them time and time again is, "If only I had used my season of singleness as a time to serve God with reckless abandon rather than searching and dating a million people or sitting at home in self pity, oh what I could have done for Him."

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Something we need to hear that this world and the body of Christ doesn't share too often is this - every relationship on earth will pass away but the one relationship that will never fail us, that will never leave us, that will never fade or end, the one and only one that is for eternity is our relationship with God. Our relationship with Him should come above every other relationship here on this earth.

 

The Word of God is filled with SO much truth that He is faithful, that He loves us unconditionally and that all He asks is true devotion and love from us to Him - if we obey He has great things beyond our imaginations in store for us. I am choosing everyday to hold to the truths that He wrote in His Word for me and I believe that He is faithful and I put my hope and trust that the earthly things He has promised for me will come to pass in His perfect timing. Until then I commit to living a life in total reckless abandonment for the only One who is worthy.

 

What are you running after? Where are you searching to find your satisfaction? I challenge you to look into your lives and fall on your face before the One who created you if you have been looking for the things of this world to make you happy or please you. The time is now, get your act together and live totally sold out for your King. Your life is in play right now, it doesn't being the day you find love here on earth, it's already begun. Make this season of singleness a time without regrets, a time when you can look back on and say that you were committed to the Lord and you were crazy in love with Him. Serve others in His name, find satisfaction in Him and hold to His truth for your life. Hebrews 10:22-23 "Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful."

 

This morning was an ATL (Ask The Lord) morning for ministry.....Oh how I love to ask God what He wants me to do for Him! I'm always so excited to see howHe's going to speak and then show up, I'm usually sitting on the edge of my seat, anxious, ready and waiting for Him. This morning we spent some time in prayer asking God what He wants us to do for Him today and who He wants us to minister to. During prayer I received a vision of an area just down the street from our house, an area where it appears houses use to stand but that's there now are pieces of what used to be. So in my vision I saw that area and some adultsand children with the word 'LOVE' written over the area like a banner. I sensed the Lord telling me to bring the leftover bread, rice and chicken from our meal with our apartment community last night. Our host, Sharon also felt the Lord telling her we needed to give the food away also. God also gave her a vision of a grandmother and a baby. We prayed some more and myself and a few other girls received a vision of the color red and a sense that we were going to do some healing today. So myself, Sharon, Katie and Cora packaged up the rice, bread and chicken along with some candy and began our walk to the area down the street. We had about 10 pieces of candy....I sensed we'd be entertaining a few more children than that so I stopped and purchased about 50 more pieces! When we arrived the first person we met was a sweet, 60 year

old grandmother, Sara. Sara's face was filled with joy at the sight of usa walking to meet her. She welcomed me into her home while Sharon, Katie and Cora entertained a fast growing group of curious children. Inside Sara's home I asked her about her family and if she believed in God, she said she was Roman Catholic but on her door was a sign reading, "God bless this home." She said, "There's one God so it doesn't really matter about a religion." Sara has four children and four grandchildren, she was widowed a few years ago. She told me the place where we were standing was once four seperate homes housing her family and extended family until an electrical fire in 2008 destroyed them. Now herself, her family and extended family live in the skeleton of what a

(PICTURE LEFT:: Oliegh and her 6 children) fire left behind of their homes two years ago. She apologized for the mess and the smell, she told me they have no money to rebuild or to make what they do have nice, all the money they get goes towards food for all of them. At about that time her niece, Oliegh walks in with her 2 year old son, Lee. Lee was coughing and his nose was dripping with snot. I asked Oliegh if he was sick, she said he had a cough and chest pain and then she pointed to his unclothed lower half and said that he has a hernia and his lower area was enlarged. They have no money for medicine and no money to go see a doctor. I lost it. I looked over at Sara and asked her in she would walk to the pharmacy with me to get some medicine. She, with a smile said, "I am blessed you want to help me and my family!"

We purchased medicine for baby Lee, gave all the rice, chicken and bread to Sara for the community for dinner tonight. Sharon, Katie and Cora played games and sang songs with the children and handed out all the candy we had! The Lord spoke to us through visions earlier in the morning and they were confirmed! The color red - Oliegh had a bright red cloth she was using to wipe up Lee's snot. (PICTURE RIGHT:: Sara, Lee and Oliegh with the medicine) The sense of healing - we purchased medicine for Lee's couch and chest....praying for healing for the other parts of his body. 

God used the four of us to show His 'LOVE' to this family through meeting felt needs and putting smiles on their faces. Sara kept saying, "I am so blessed you are doing me and my family such kindness!" I replied, "Do just one thing for me, if anyone asks what those people were doing visiting you today or where you got the food and medicine from, please just reply, 'The Lord God blessed me today' and give Him all the praise."    

(PICTURE LEFT:: Sharon and Katie with the children)

 

(PICTURES BELOW:: Gingin and Yinin, twin girls that weren't sure if they liked me or not!)

Hey everyone! I am still in the Philippines....currently writing to you from an internet cafe in Cebu about 5 min from my house. I just wanted to give you a few stories and pictures...I know you've been waiting to see what God has been up to through my team and I here!

 The girl you see with me in the picture to the left is Sabrina, she is 8 years old and she lives in the Red Light district of Cebu City called Lorega. Lorega is a community of people who have made their home among the dead, literally, their kitchen tables, beds and living areas are on top of graves. It's a place filled with drugs, alcohol, sexual immorality and rap. Sabrina was raped and left alone in a very broken, hurting condition. Since the rap, Sabrina has been adopted by the local church where she has a place to sleep away from harm, food to eat and people to truly love on her in the church community.

The picture to the right is Shirley and her daughter, Pearlie along with some of my girls, Katie, Lorena and Margaret. Last week our team prayed for little Pearlie, she had been suffering from an ear ache that occurred everyday at 3pm....I spotted that as spiritual warfare against this child. At 3pm the next day after visiting Pearlie, myself and my team prayed against the evil upon her and in the house....we went and re-visitied today....the very day we prayed, Pearlie DID NOT have an ear ache that day nor has she had one since! Praise God!

 Our first day in Lorega we assisted with a Feeding from the local church. We taught the children songs, played with them and shared the story of Shadrack, Meshak and Abendago in the furnace. Most of these children may only get one or two meals a day. The majority of these children are the kids of prositutes.....children forgotten, not cared about and not loved by their earthly Mothers and Fathers but loved dearly by their Father above. We were blessed to be used by God to share that love with them.

 

 

Pictures: Above left, teaching the children songs....direct left, feeding the children rice soup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Psalm 62: 11-12

"One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard; that you, O God, are strong, and that you, O Lord are loving..."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Habakkuk 1:5

"Look at the nations and watch - and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told."

2:3 "For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay."  

 

 

 

 

I John 5:14-15 - This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him.

 

What did God do to me in Haiti? On May 20th I boarded a plane in Atlanta with a final destination of Port Au Prince, Haiti. 31 days later I landed in the Miami airport and looked the shock of returning back to the States directly in the eyes. I spent several hours of my layover in Miami in tears. Tears because I missed the community in Haiti and didn't want to be away from the presence of the Lord there, tears because of the great need still left in Haiti and massive tears for the selfishness, greediness and lack of gratitude and praise to the Lord in the States. Everywhere I looked in Haiti, on every Tap Tap (bus/truck) on buildings or every other word in a church service was "Merci Jesus!" "Thank you, Jesus!" The Haitians can say thank you Jesus in the midst of their trouble, how do we respond to trouble? It was then I realized that I left my heart in Haiti. "Why Haiti?" I asked the Lord. He knew exactly what He was doing. Before I left for Haiti I was dry, empty and close to giving everything up to the "easier" road in life. The Lord captured my heart just in time! When I was preparing for Haiti I had the mindset that I work for a missions organization, I've been a Christian all my life and I've got this whole "I'm right with Jesus" thing down...I was so wrong! In fact, I needed Him more than I've ever needed Him before. In the four weeks I spent in Haiti the Lord stripped away the layers of crap I'd been hiding behind exposing the brokenness that He wanted to heal. The brokenness I thought I was doing a good job of masking, maintaining and "fixing" by myself. Thank the Lord for His unconditional love and abundance of grace. I am just bursting at the seams with His joy. I feel like a high school girl who just got a new boyfriend and she wants to tell everyone she meets how dreamy he is and how much he loves her. The cool thing about my Beloved is He loves me unconditionally, nothing I could ever do could make Him love me more or less, I will never lose His love, I'll never get boring to Him, He'll never "change his mind" and He'll never stop pursuing after the depths of my heart. I'm so in love with my Creator!

 

What did God do through me in Haiti?  My main roll all four weeks was support staff for our Short Term Mission teams. Each week I was assigned a new team to support. I figured out the food, water and supplies the teams would need for the offsite ministry locations. My roll in support staffing also required me to serve the Project Leader and minister to the participants. I lead small groups of ministry teams out into the communities to pray, heal, love on and bring Kingdom to the Haitians. God worked through us and we saw people come to Him, we saw people healed from sicknesses and disabilities. Each week we blessed the communities through the pastors by giving them water, rice, beans, Bibles, tents, tarps, whatever was specific to the needs of that community. AIM Haiti is about coming alongside the Haitian Pastors and working with them to meet the spiritual and tangible needs of their communities. We are about discipleship and seeing the glory of the Lord in every life, on every street corner and in every tangible need met in Haiti.

 

Thank you for your prayers while I was in Haiti. I know I am loved by my King, He romanced my heart, I am blessed. Please partner with me and continue to pray for the nation of Haiti and the AIM staff giving up everything for God's glory there.

 

Enjoy some pictures from my trip! (There are lots more on Facebook, check them out!)  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

James 1:27 - Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their disress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Luke 11:34-35 - Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No one has ever passed a law that said I couldn't pray to my God. No one has ever asked me to bow down to an idol. I've been asked, enticed and lied to by the enemy to do things to compromise my soul and to keep me from receiving God's blessings. 

I look at the stories of those men and many other stories in the Bible of people who loved God enough and trusted Him enough to stand up for His name against the worst of trials, threats and persecutions and even death itself. These truths of people who had great love and trust for God cause me think on the many times I've faced the enemy and didn't stand for my King. I'm in awe at how He saved these men from lions and fire and I have trouble trusting God with my finances, my relationships, and my future. Seriously?! My King loves me, He desires my heart and He longs to be trusted with ever intricate detail of my life. The big things and the small things, He wants to be in the driver seat. 

My Beloved, 

Please forgive me for not trusting, for not loving You enough. 

You are the Great Provider and You know the deep longings and desires of my heart. In Your time and by Your will, You will bring all good things promised to pass. 

Thank you for desiring a love with me. Give me a burning passion to love you increasingly deeper everyday. Amen 

Let this encourage you to desire Him as He so desperately desires you. He longs to have a deep relationship with you. He is a good God. Hold to Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." 

  

The sun is hot, the air is heavy with dust and the smells of fried foods, sweat and pollution fill my senses. The sights around me as my plane landed last week were more than what I could ever have imagined. As I traveled, allowing my eyes to connect with my heart, I was filled with hopelessness and despair. I sat wondering how the Lord was really here and how this nation could even survive like this. It didn't take me long to understand that God was more alive to the people of Haiti than He was in my own life.

After 10 days here I've seen things I didn't know existed and I've experienced situations that have broken my heart. I've kissed the face of Jesus in a sweet 7 year old Haitian girl, I've touched His hand in the palm of a woman caring for 6 children not her own with only a few sticks and sheets for shelter, I've seen my Lord in the eyes of the translator who didn't ask for anything as he was in need but instead just kept being a humble servant as we distributed tarps and food to others. There hasn't been a day when I haven't seen God alive, working, moving and shining here. The Haitians know their Lord, they know He's a provider, they trust Him and their faith didn't shake even when this piece of land did.

I am standing in complete awe of my God! I came here to serve and bless the Haitians and I'm getting wrecked and shaken for my King!

James 1:12 "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him."

 

Thank you for your prayers!! May you be blessed in knowing that your prayers and support are a part of the amazing way that God is working here!