Covered in Feathers

<sup>One of my most common struggles is fear. What do I have to fear? Nothing. But I still struggle and I still need to be reminded of who my Father is. Harmony (a good friend and mentor of mine) told me to read Psalm 91 a couple times a day until I have a better understanding of who God is as my protector, and just reading it a couple times this morning has blown me away.
In every way possible He protects us. He allows us see what happens to the wicked in the world but keeps us from any harm they could do. We have to choose to be protected. I have to choose to trust Him and trust how mighty He is. In verse 1 it says, "Those...will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty," that word "Almighty" is Shaddai in Hebrew. Though Wikipedia is not always reliable, I found a definition of Shaddai on there that I really like.

Shaddai- a form of the grammatical plural of excellence; commonly used in the phrase 'El Shaddai' (omnipotent divinity).

Not only is God a protector He is excellent at what He does. He has every angle covered and He is divine. He is beautiful while He protects. The phrase "omnipotent divinity" opens my eyes to a different view of God, so holy and so beautiful. He chooses to protect me and I choose to love and trust Him. It's quite the Cinderella story. God chooses me, covered in rags, to be His princess because He only sees what He has made me to be, the image of His son (beautiful, perfect, pure, holy, and compassionate). What wonderful revelation to know my Protector protects me because He loves me. I know this revelation seems so obvious to most people but to me it's life changing and I feel like my eyes are being opened to see colors brighter and more clear.</sup>


Psalm 91
¹ Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
² This I declare about the Lord:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
he is my God, and I trust him.
³ For he will rescue you from every trap
and protect you from deadly disease.
⁴ He will cover you with his feathers.
He will shelter you with his wings.
His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
⁵ Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
nor the arrow that flies in the day.
⁶ Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
⁷ Though a thousand fall at your side,
though ten thousand are dying around you,
these evils will not touch you.
⁸ Just open your eyes,
and see how the wicked are punished.

⁹ If you make the Lord your refuge,
if you make the Most High your shelter,
¹⁰ no evil will conquer you;
no plague will come near your home.
¹¹ For he will order his angels
to protect you wherever you go.
¹² They will hold you up with their hands
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.
¹³ You will trample upon lions and cobras;
you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!

¹⁴ The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.
I will protect those who trust in my name.
¹⁵ When they call on me, I will answer;
I will be with them in trouble.
I will rescue and honor them.
¹⁶ I will reward them with a long life
and give them my salvation.”

My Thoughts for the Night

Tonight was a good night. Most of the DTS leaves tomorrow for outreach so we had a commissioning dinner for them. A Brazilian soup and yummy sweet and sour chicken were on the menu. After the long time of setting up, serving, and then cleaning up the dinner 2 of my friends and I went to applebees to just get away for a little bit. We definitely enjoyed our boneless buffalo wings, it's a rare occasion to enjoy such a delicacy here.haha After a mini girls night we went and hung out with a couple of our friends and now I am just relaxing before I go to bed. It's amazing how much I need to wind down after every day, no matter how late it is.

My most recent thoughts have been about relationship. My friends mean the world to me but what am I willing to do for them? What does it mean to really be a good friend? I suppose I've been there for my friends when they need the most and I would jump on a plane in a second if they needed me now, but what about the small things? The small things count the most, at least that's what I've been told, and I rarely do those small things. A little text here and there yeah, but do I keep them updated on my life and where my heart is. Not like I would if I was there with them. I need quality time and I'm realizing it is so selfish of me to define friendship by quality time because I don't have that time to spend with people anymore. True friendship is much deeper than the times we are physically in the same place sharing our hearts. True friendship can surpass the boundaries. I have those friendships because I have amazing friends. No matter what the distance my friends are constantly there for me. I appreciate them more than I could every explain. I am so blessed. And that's just with my friends. I am also blessed with the greatest family. We all have our quirks but I love us so much. They are a treasure that I don't deserve in the least. I'm really mushy right now, I'm not sure why, but I just wanted to share my thoughts.

I've also been seeking after God. That sounds so obvious because of what I've chosen to do with my life right now but I'm finding the real meaning of that. I am determined to understand what it means to seek after God. Seeking is not just a desire, seeking is putting action to the longing in my heart to know God deeper. But what does the action of seeking God look like? What is strategic in seeking God? What part of Him does He want me to seek after right now? I think I am to seek after His character at the moment. Take initiative to study and live through His heart and get some understanding of His love. I really want to take time out of life to study. To dedicate a certain amount of time to really find what it means for us to live like Christ, to understand the Kingdom more clearly. I love learning and I want to be knowledgable about my King.
Well, I am exhausted now. It is entirely too late.
Good night everyone.
In Love,
Tasha

Picture Post!

I just wanted to give you all a visual of what's going on here. Sorry I don't keep up with pictures more often. I hope you enjoy!

Trip Home before Christmas


Grandpa and I in his new room

Autumn Rose and I

Making Christmas candies!

SNL at the cafe

Masquerade!
New Years Eve Party at the Madsen House

Everyone made their own mask

Engagement Party-
Treasure Island Theme

Night Out at Allegro

Lupis and I eating the best cheesecake! Yum!

Valentine's Day Breakfast

The Jan. DTS guys made breakfast for all of us girls! ...they even dressed in white.

Carnaval Outreach

Preparation for the beauty salon

Carnaval worship

Brenda's Birthday Party

Birthday girl and I

Surprise Bridal Shower for Arey!

Surprise Arey!!!

the winning team :-)

Skate Ministry

Life Right Now

I've sat down to write a post about 4 times since the last post and just can't muster up the right words for what has been going on the last while. Today I am going to succeed in my attempt, I have to because I hate that I haven't been communicating very well. So here it goes.

My positions at base have been growing considerably and it's been a stretching experience. With my role as WISE school staff I've had the chance to lead the school and stand in for the leader quite a few times when his other jobs have called him to duty. It's been amazing to see the students grow. Though all of them are older than I am it's been such an evident process that God is taking them through and I am so proud of them for embracing what God has for them no matter how hard it can be. One of the highlights is that we got to work with a skate team that came down from Canada. These kids were awesome and even though they didn't all believe in God they still wanted to serve. We got to go to an orphanage with them and went out with them to work with Remnant (our skate ministry on base). Working with the development department has been interesting as well. Though the database that I am supposed to be working on is not up yet, I have found myself busy with other details of the group. We get to help turn this base into the full potential it has. We are planning promotional tours and dinners on the base to raise the support that we need and bring more students in. It's a really exciting department to be a part of because we get to be creative and visionary and see the fruit of our work. WISE school ends in 1 week and I'm not sure what else I will be asked to do.

The last month or so I have been going in and out of being really sick. Then last week I finally had enough and decided I needed to go to the doctor. I got tested and they found a couple different bacteria in my blood. It's normal for this area but I'm not used to it and I possibly let it go for too long because I have been out for a week now. I'm on an antibiotic, doxycyclin, to kill the bacteria but it is very strong and causing some exhaustion. I should be back to normal soon. I'm hoping at least because I am sick of laying in bed.

God is moving so much in Mazatlan right now. We have about 25 youth from the city staying at our base right now because they want to reach their city. During Semana Santa (Holy Week), this week, we are training the youth for a couple days and going with them to reach their city. I haven't been able to make it to the activities this week but I did make it to a worship session the other night and these kids are really excited about God! They really want to seek after Him and what He has for their city. It's such a huge praise to see them stand up like this. One of our main visions is to see the Mexicans leading Mexicans to reach Mexico. It gets me so excited to see it happen.

There are some things that I want to ask you to pray with me about.
1. Next year. My commitment to YWAM Maz is up in August and I need to decide whether I will be committing to another year or if I will be moving on to another project. I just want hear God on this because He knows what's best, sometimes it is just hard to hear Him on my own because my own desires can be so strong.
2. Health. For me and my friends, and for Mazatlan. There seems to be an outbreak in the city right now and lots of people are getting sick.
3. Finances. I'm still behind in some of my finances due to a school that I did when I first got here.
4. Homesickness. I have been really homesick the last while. I think it mostly has to do with being sick and wanting to be comfortable. But I also really miss my family right now, I can't wait until I come home to visit!

Thank you all for your prayers and being interested in what God's doing in my life.
Love you all,
Tasha