Month 1 Update:
[from my email update]
"I am now 1/3 way done with SAFA, and I'll be heading out to Taiwan on Friday, and then Korea! But In somewhat more seriousness, I think the timing for me to update you guys is pretty perfect. I wanted to give you guys more than just "We had class on this" or "we got to meet this person" or "we've prayed about this", though, all those things are true and honestly amazing.
In the intensely full schedule of class after class, worship set after worship set, book after book, (and sometimes same smoothie after smoothie), I have discovered something so beautiful. I have found this treasure, this precious treasure so unattainable by human wisdom and striving. I have found a glimpse of what life could look like with Christ being at the center of it all.
Maybe that sounds somewhat dramatic, and yet I feel that we glaze over our compromise for the extraordinary lives that God has called us to with the comfort of nominal christianity.
You might read this and feel like Maddy is losing her mind a little bit, and honestly you're totally right...I hope to lose more of me, that he might live through me. How can I help it, when God himself has made it his mission to hotly pursue after my heart day after day, and make it known to me that he loves me?
I'm not great at living in the love of Christ as I wish I was, really I suck at it so much. But I want to walk in faith believing that He who brings every good work to completion, will grow me in his love and his heart. Or in simpler words, even though I don’t always feel it, I want to believe it."
Month 2 Update:
My Month 2 was spent mainly in Asia! If you would like to see what happened, read my post on Fall Asia Trip.
Our trip in Asia was intense, tiring, challenging, but undeniably one of the most exciting experiences of my life.
I remember looking at our mission brief before the trip, and my head beginning to spin and calculate the probabilities of my survival. Incredibly dramatic I know, but that agenda felt so intimidating, and coupling it with fasting + the hot humid weather, made me want to run and hide in a corner.
At the same time, I felt a surge of excitement, a desire to rise to the occasion and overcome fear filled my heart. But, more than an invitation to prove my fearlessness, it was actually the opportunity to let faith cost me something, and to see that God truly is who he says he is. To let love cast out all fear. Would the God who gave his word for Asia, be faithful to let every good work come to completion?
"You have said "Seek my face", my heart says to you "Your face, O lord, do I seek.""
[Psalm 27:8]
In short summary, I witnessed the power of intercession come to fruition every single night. Every day we sought the Lord and his heart for each region we went to, and exactly what he spoke to us, he carried out and so much more. Needless to say, the worries I had before became miniscule, and least important part of the whole trip. He increased, and everything else decreased.
There's something so life changing about desperate prayer; prayer filled not with anxiety but truly believing that the one who it is lifted to is able to answer, desires to answer, and will answer. Is it not what our God has always longed for? A people who know his desires and search them out (2 Chronicles 16:9)?
It feels almost risky to have faith, because having back up plans reveals unbelief. But the urgency of the hour and the necessity every day for precise prayers and direction, put us in a position of faith.
And the Lord loves faith.
And the Lord responds to faith
Though I would love to share in more detail the testimonies of how my God truly showed up every single day, going to an undisclosed nation limits what I can write. However, I would love to share in person if you contact me!
Month 3 Update:
To be quite honest, choosing to finish this three month series has been hard for me because I feel that there are not enough, nor the adequate words to summarize what God has done. Not only that, but really all that I have been learning I am still learning. Deeper and deeper still, does the knowledge of Christ go.
The Lord gave me two words over SAFA before I went:
I would receive equipping to pray for my college campus and California
I would experience intimacy with Christ like never before
During this last stretch, I was curious to see, "could it really get better than this?"
While I was in Asia, the Lord burdened me to pray for America, and specifically California. It felt somewhat ironic to me, to be in a whole other country and receive such a burden. But, while witnessing the power of God so mightily in another nation I couldn't help but feel convicted to believe that God could do the same where he had intentionally placed me to live.
”Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.”
[Joshua 1:6]
From the 1906 Azusa Street Revival, to the Jesus Movement of the 70's, to The Call of the 2000's, to Gen Z for Jesus LA 2023, to every hidden intercessor who has cried out for revival, it is clear that the Lord has written a beautiful victorious story over California that has yet to be finished.
In the month of November(while at SAFA), I was given the opportunity to pray alongside my friends in California, for God to come move and bring revival. I felt so strongly in my heart, that the Son would receive the land of California as his inheritance. Joshua 1:6 ”Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.” The giants of the land must fall!
A couple leaders and I took a short trip to California to deliver the word. By the grace of God, we were able to gather 100 college students on Novemebr 13th, into a small auditorium at the University of California, Irvine and cry out in one voice, for the Lord to pour out his spirit on California and America.
And the best part was, he's not done yet!
There's so much on the road ahead that God has in store, especially with us going on tour next semester. But really, it was during this time that I received the greatest gift, the one I feel will be the most important thing for me in the next season: being face to face with Jesus, and beholding him for no other reason but to just simply belong in his presence.
May the Lamb receive the reward of his suffering!
In Christ,
Madison Kim
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