A New Season

Hey friends so to catch you all up, Mike and I were in Colorado for the month of July and we are back in LA now and have been for about 3 weeks already. Michael and I are now officially on staff with YWAM LA (Youth With A Mission). We have made a two year commitment with this organization and we will soon find out what ministries we will be working with and what country we will go to next. And I've got really exciting news to share with you all that in 10 days I will be on a flight headed to New York City to work at New York Fashion Week! Which if you don't know, it is a really big deal! I will be doing outreach with Beauty Arise and Models for Christ again, dressing models backstage, encouraging them and sharing the love of Jesus with them and other professionals in the industry. If you read my past post from LA Fashion Week it is the same kind of outreach and it gives a pretty good description of how dark this industry is.

With this particular upcoming outreach I'm really nervous. Doing ministry in an environment that is solely based on material goods, luxury, and beauty is really terrifying especially when those were things I valued so deeply and in my past found my identity in. It's hard not to get wrapped up in feeling insecure and placing your value in things that really don't define who you are as a person. But this past week God has shown me and reminded me that He lives inside me so I have no reason to be scared because He tells my worth and that He also anoints what He appoints. He has appointed my team and I in this mission so now I can rest knowing it's going to be awesome because He has His anointing over us and what we are doing. “Cast all your anxiety on Him because he cares for you.” -1 Peter 5:7

Love always,

Grace xo

If you would like to donate to this outreach please visit www.ywamla.org/donatepay-2

or to become a monthly partner in what we are doing here at YWAM LA please contact me at graciebelle@me.com

This is my ready to take on New York face

Africa Video

Thank you to everyone who came out to our African story-telling night! We had an awesome time sharing our experiences, future and the heart we have for this generation and the nations. Here is the video Mike and I created to give a better visual of our time in Kenya. Disclaimer: this video was shot with iPhones, hopefully by the next mission we go on we will have a real camera!

Enjoy! 

Love, 

Grace

My American Heart

Yet again it's been awhile since I've posted a blog! I've been in the states now for almost a month to the date. It's kind of been hard adjusting back to "normal" life. And it's been interesting to see the change I have gone though internally come to surface, but those are stories for another time. I've felt today it being appropriate to write about 'Merica since it is the 4th of July! In my past I've hated so hard on this free country and I always made it publicly known. When I was in Africa I saw a lot of things that you would never see happen here in the States. Pretty much everyone I met had no dreams and a lot of it has to do with the poverty mentality of it's people, but it was hard for people to dream because they felt hopeless. They didn't have all the resources they needed, money and the list goes on. So people end up doing the same thing their families have done for generations, which is farming or working at 1 of the 4 different businesses in town. I visited hospitals that had no doctors. I saw kids dying of cancer because they couldn't afford chemo. I saw many children not being able to go to school because it was too expensive for them and people didn't always have the accessibility to clean water.

On the tail end of my journey in Africa coming back to America I was seeing a lot of really sad and hatful things that people were saying about others on Facebook. And I was burning inside with so much anger and a part of me was ashamed about how Americans have "first world problems" and people say a lot of things out of ignorance. I see Americas greed and I see the corruption. I see a lot of things that could be better here. But I realized Kenya has it's own greed and it has it's own corruption that is actually out in the open for all to see. I wanted to come back to the States with a thankful heart not a bitter one. It took me traveling half way around the world to see that America is a really beautiful country despite the things I don't always agree with. Right now we still have freedom of speech, freedom to bare arms and freedom to worship our God without being martyred! We have so many rights and we have the freedom to dream big dreams that in places like Kenya were you just don't see that at all!

How are we suppose to bring peace and love to others in our country or go around the world and love other people if we are just bitter about everything we are surrounded by?

I would just like to wish this beautiful nation a Happy Independence Day! And announce for the first time publicly that I am very proud and thankful to be an American! <3

"...put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. " -Colossians 3:14-15

Photography done by my good friend 

Sarah Grunder 

in Los Angeles, CA

www.untiedsail.tumblr.com