I love that phrase – Reckless Abandonment.  I can just feel the freedom saturating those words.  In order to abandon things, truly abandon them, there is a wild passion behind it.  It is the type of passion that drives crazy people to do the impossible.  It is the type of passion that makes people believe that dreams are possible, and that Kingdom can truly come.  I have been learning this month, that to truly go to the deeper places of God, we must because people of Reckless Abandonment.  There are so many things in this world that are holding us back from the dynamic things of God.  How tightly do I hold on to things, and am I willing to break everything at Jesus’ feet in order to follow him.  As much as I don’t want to admit it, abandonment is the message of the Gospels.  Every person that Jesus called to follow him had to completely abandon their old life.  They didn’t just have to leave their past mistakes behind, they were even called to abandon the good, God-given things.  This is the place that God has been calling me to this month.  A few days ago, I felt God calling me to abandon even more than I already have.  At first I was resistant.  I kept praying, “God I’ve given up my family, my home, my bed, what else do you want me to give up?”  And yet he called me deeper.  I began breaking the things that he was asking me at his feet in a sign of submission and abandonment.  Even though it is hard to break the things that you love, it is also the most freeing thing in the world.

Today I was brought to another level of abandonment.  Our squad leaders have been praying for a while what the next step for our squad was.  They felt like the Lord was calling us all to a level of abandonment.  They heard the Lord asking us to fast all technology as we spend December in Israel.  This means that we will not have any Internet access, and will not use our computers, iPods, or anything else electronic. So this month, I will not be able to communicate with all of you who I love so much.  But please know that you are in my prayers constantly and that I miss you more than I can describe over the internet.   Even though I am very sad that I will not be able to talk to my family on Christmas, I am excited that God loves us enough to challenge us.  I am really looking forward to spending more time with Him and just sitting at the Lord’s feet in worship.  We are leaving for Israel in less than 8 hours and I could not be more excited!!  It is the perfect place for me to get still before the Lord, and show Jesus’ love to those who have not experienced it yet.  That’s the thing about abandonment, God doesn’t just call us to hard places so that we can suffer – it’s because he has so much more good for us!  He wants to shower us with his love, his blessings and his anointing. Sometimes those things can only come when we are at a place of complete brokenness.  And the quickest was to brokenness is through abandonment, reckless abandonment.  Is God calling you to lay some things down at his feet?  Are you ready to respond in reckless abandonment and completely break the jar instead?  You see, I just keep getting this whisper in my ear that abandonment is the key to blessing.   It’s the key to a deeper relationship with Jesus.  It the start of a different kind of life – a world changing kind of life.

So may we have the strength to take our most precious alabaster jar and use it to anoint the precious Lamb of God.

May we have the courage to hear the Lord’s voice as he calls us to deeper places with him.  And may we have the obedience to walk down that path.

May we truly be people of reckless abandonment.

The room was packed with Super Heores.

Capes were flowing.

Powers were flying.

Villains were shaking in their boots.

A fun time was had by all.

Our guys went over and above the call of duty and made this year’s next blockbuster hit, which I now include for your viewing pleasure.

Super Heroes and Villians from Jennifer Mitchell on Vimeo.

The next day we found out that our squad would be changing some.  We found out that our new squad leaders are Mike & Denise Murphy and Tamica Sloan would be our new squad leaders.  This meant that our teams would be switching around a lot.  The move was bitter sweet for me.  Team Petra is no more, but I am still so blessed to still have Martha, Tim and Joel on my team, but I am no longer going to be with three other parts of my heart.

Lauren and Danielle are now part of team Fanatic who is ministering in Istanbul this month.

I will miss laughing with these girls till all hours of the morning

Liz is part of a new team, team Sofia,

which is in Easter Turkey studying a people group that has never seen Americans before.

I am going to miss the constant knowledge and whit that exudes from this wonderful girl.

Team Petra’s last official family picture.

Even though it is hard being away from my 3 other sisters,

I am BEYOND excited about the two AMAZING new girls that I get to be on a team with for the rest of our Race.

Let me introduce you:

Meet Ashley.  This girls is absolutely the most genuine and giving girl I have ever met.  Not to mention she is hilarious.

She also has an unusual love for honey, oreos and Lost.

Needless to say, we were instant friends.

And this is Lindsay.  Lindsay is by far the funniest girl I have ever met (which for me to say is definitely saying something).

She is also the wisest and most discerning woman I have ever been around.

I have so much to learn from her and am so excited to spend a year with her.

Needless to say, I am mildly obsessed with her, and I can’t wait for you to be as well.

So now we are six…and out of the ashes arises….Team Phoenix…

Which we feel is a very appropriate name for all of us.  I mean, we do all have a firey side.

Not to mention, Phoenix tears heal people…

This month has been one of the most trying months for me so far.   It has been wonderful, yet very tough at the same time.  This month our teams were given the assignment of Asking The Lord (ATL) about which country we should go to next.  We were supposed to be in Egypt this month, however, we were not able to get our whole squad to the Middle East until December.  So Petra Asked the Lord and we felt him calling us to Croatia.  We went with Kingdom Unity and arrived in Osijek, Croatia with no place to stay and no contacts.  We were blessed to find a church that was willing to house us for a night, so we all packed into their youth center.  The next day we learned that another church about 3 hours away was in need of a small team for a week.  So Petra and Kingdom Unity decided to merge and then split up again, so I was with Tim, Liz and Lauren from Petra and Matt, Heather and Lauren Williamson from Kingdom Unity.  We worked at a small church for the most wonderful old couple who are so in love with God.  It was wonderful to get to paint, cook and serve them.  It was a great week for us.

We went back to Osijek and joined up with the others who had been doing youth ministry for the week.  We all went to Pula next, a beautiful coastal city on the Adriatic Sea.  Even though our teams were in the same location, the squad leaders felt that we should continue to be separated.  So I ended up the same team, but Liz and Tim were traded for Tamica and Joel.  So we had our new teams, and then set out to find contacts and build relationships with the people of Pula.   This part of the month was hardest for me because I did not have a tangible ministry to work on.  Each day we were not sure about what we were doing until we were actually doing it.

The first expectation I learned to lay down was my expectations of having the same 6 people around me for a year.  Petra had just begun to act like a family, and then we were all separated.  Being apart from them helped me see how much I was relying on them for support and comfort.  I was blessed with so many new and wonderful relationships because of the separation, and I am so thankful that we were able to do that.  I learned a lot about leaning on those around me, whether they are on my official team or not.  I also learned to lay down my expectation of the race in general.  Coming on the race I thought I would either have a clear ministry objective for the day, or would be given an entire day free to ask the Lord what he wanted us to do for the day and then do it.  This month was neither, and it was hard for me to adjust to that.  Instead, I learned to be very flexible and stay in the Spirit at all times.  We had to be ready at a moments notice to give testimonies, pray, or speak life into someone.  There were not many moments that we had “off” (as if Christians ever really have an off day).  Because of this, I learned how to draw my strength from God alone and how to submit my will and all of my desires to him, no matter what.

While this month was a difficult transition for me, I am thankful for it and excited about the next steps!  Right now I am on a train back to Osijek then on to a smaller city.  They split our teams up again and I am with Danielle and Lauren Williamson is our leader.  Our entire objective for the next 5 days is simply Ask the Lord and follow his leading.  I am really looking forward to what he is going to lead us in!  I am so thankful for the hard lessons that I learned this month, and I look forward to our next step of ministry.

May we all continue to lay our expectations down, and in return allow the Lord to move freely in our lives.

~ Jennifer .

Oh, and, speaking of expectations, I guess I should have laid down my expectation of only going to 11 countries a long time ago.  It’s only month 3 and we’ve already been to 6 countries (Ireland, Northern Ireland, Romania, Hungary, Croatia and Serbia for those who are counting).  We had the opportunity to go to Serbia for a day, and here are some highlights from our trip.  You can view the whole album HERE.

~ Jennifer M.