Last Sunday, which seems like so long ago, I was driving
from Gainesville, Georgia to Sophia, North Carolina. I had lunch with some
friends at Moe's before I hit the road to my new home. Even though my car was
completely packed, and I mean stuffed to the rim, for some reason I still
didn't feel like I was leaving yet. I felt like we were having another lunch
and going to see my Gainesville friends again the next day. We said our
good-byes, had long hugs, and then I was off!
Pulled out of the parking lot turned right and I was on my
way. I set the mood with a new cd playing for the journey. I got comfortable
and then it hit me, I'm moving to North Carolina!! It is actually happening!!
I got super excited in that moment, something new, something
I have had a taste of but now I get to live there for 8 months! Then I
realized, I still have 5 more hours until I arrive, completely worth the wait.
I arrived that evening and we were going to have dinner all
together. I came in the door and was hugged and welcomed, then ran upstairs to
see Ella, one of the other interns from South Africa. We caught up on some of the last
six months while we waited for dinner, and what welcoming dinner it was.
We were called down to eat, the whole farm family was there
welcoming us into our new home. It was beautiful. Full of so much love and
goodness. I could tell you about it but it wouldn't to it justice, what a
treat.
Then this past week was packed with goodies. Meeting in the
morning to worship, learning more about photography in the afternoon, reading
books, girls night, family night, feeding the chickens, eating dinner together
EVERY night, so much more, and all SO GOOD.
I am very excited about what these 8 months are going to
look like, how we are going to grow, what we are going to do. The kindness and
gentleness of this family has been consuming me lately. They have invited us, Ella, Camryn, Josh, and I into
their family. They are sharing their lives with us, and I am so very thankful.
This is going to be a beautiful 8 months.
I love having this blog to look at past experiences. I read this one while I was at home my last night... You Give and Take Away
I am finding myself in a season of transition once again, relating to the blog that I wrote before. I feel like what is going to happen isn't really happening, until it happens. If you know what I mean.
"There was a song this hit me hard one night, "You give and take away" were
the lyrics that struck me right to the heart. We have a God that loves
us so much and He gives us so much, in that he also takes away things.
We don't always understand the process or the reasons why we are just
asked to trust, follow, and believe. I feel like so much is going to be
given to me on this journey that I can't even imagine, it just hurts to
know the things that are being taken away during this. He never said
this was going to be easy, he never said that I wouldn't hurt, he said "Come and follow."
I want to change because I know that His plans are better than any plans that I could ever come up with on my own, and I have only seen a slight glimpse. All he says is "Come to me" Lord I say yes and I am going where you may lead."
I don't think that it ever gets any easier...but here I go!
Only a couple weeks until I begin to call North Carolina home. I still have about $500 to raise before I leave on the 15th. Please consider supporting me, for more information about what is next click here... Exciting News!!
“Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or - "worse!" - stolen
by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. It's obvious, isn't
it? The place where your treasure
is, is the place you will mostwant to be, and
end up being.
Your eyes are
windows into your body. If you open
wide in wonder and belief,
your body fills up with light. If you live
squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the
blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!
You can't worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you'll end up hating
the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can't worship God
and Money both.
If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it
follows that you don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes and whether
the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There
is far more to
your life than the food you
put in your stomach, more
to your outer appearancethan the
clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and
unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. Andyou count far more to him
than birds.
Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten
taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion - "do you
think it makes that much difference? Instead of
looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers.
They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like
it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside
them.
If God gives such attention
to the appearance of wildflowers - "most of which are never even seen - "don't you
think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so
preoccupied with getting, so you
can respond to God's giving.
People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things,
God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't
worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concernswill be met.
Give your entire attentionto what God is doing right now,
and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will
help you deal with whatever hard things come when the time comes.” - Matthew 6:19-34 (The message)
Since I have moved to GA I want to share a bit of what daily life for me looks like... I live with two awesome roommates, Bethany Holland(far left) and Hope Mendola(to the right). Bethany was on my World Race squad and Hope was on a squad that left right before ours. They both work at the Adventures in Missions office in the World Race department. They have been a huge blessing in my life. While they have allowed me to stay with them during this time, I couldn't imagine living any other place now. We have so much fun! We cook and eat meals together as much as we can. It is one of my favorite things about this time. The picture to the right was when we made a meal that was a little spicier than we expected it to be, and we could hardly handle it, most things we do end up lots of laughter.
I also nanny one or two days a week and get to hang out with Tori. Right when I walk in the door that morning she is ready to play. I know kids had energy, I mean I love kids, but this girl has a TON of energy. I love that I get to escape into her world of imagination. It is refreshing to play with her and take a break.
While I have been here I have also had a few jobs. I work at a clothing store, Ralph Lauren Polo Children. I must say I am very glad that I am working at a children's clothing store because then I can stare at the cute clothes all day knowing that I won't buy any because I don't fit into them. So then I see the cute clothes and buy them for people who do have children. =) I also worked at a Mexican Restaurant called Pueblos. I loved the people that I worked with, but had to make the choice to leave because I was hired at Cheddars, and well bottom line in is they were getting more business. I enjoy both of them very much, but to be honest I am glad that they are temporary. While I am meeting new people and making money, I am ready to invest into lives again and be doing something that makes me feel alive. Which is why it is also great that I live with the roommates that I do and to be involved in the community that is here. I am greatly honored to know these people and call them my friends. Their hearts are amazing and I have learned so much from them in the time being here. They have made a way to have a job by do something that they love, makes them feel alive, and they are making a difference. For fun I have been taking pictures of my friends, recognizing how much I do still love photography. I have gone on some adventures, as you may have seen skydiving being one. But for the most part just resting and building relationships. I am very thankful for the place that I am at. The people that I have met and the ones I have gotten closer to. There is still a good chunk of time here and I am not going to waste it.
Recently I have been given the opportunity to live at “A
Place for the Heart” for an 8 month internship. “The Farm” in beautiful
North Carolina is where I spent this past summer as a student in the 18”
journey. The internship is a great opportunity for me since I greatly honor and
respect Jonathan and Melissa Helser and the staff who run “A Place for the
Heart”. They dream for students from all over the world to start living from
their heart, one reason why it is called the 18” journey.
“Our
desire at "A Place for the Heart" is to liberate a generation into
the fullness of their destiny. This is a school like no other, designed
to unlock the greatness God has deposited inside you.
The 18 inch Journey Internship is a deeper dive into the
heartbeat and rhythms of "A Place for the Heart." The
internship will consist of 8 months of community, discipleship, creativity,
servant leadership, and an invitation to carry the dream of the farm. “
A piece of the farm is the 18” journey held there every
summer. This school is broken into five core pillars of: Worship, Community,
Creativity, Inspiration, and Release. Since most of the core leaders are
worship leaders there is always the atmosphere of worship on the farm. While
living in community and pursuing new depths of creativity students are inspired
by those around them and by what is inside of them that is being found. Every
moment is an opportunity to walk in the releasing.
Personally for me the 18” journey was a safe place to step
out in new areas creativity. Most of the time we don't want to step out in
things that we create because of the thought of being rejected, looking dumb, or
someone not liking it. Here I was able to step out in singing without being completely
comfortable with my voice, because they have developed a place of
encouragement. We all have a unique sounds that is released and they emphasize
on how important it is for your personal sound to be released. It may not
look or sound like anyone else's sound, it is your sound. They have created a place to make it comfortable for anyone to
step out because you are not being judged, you are being you.
In the internship I will have 6 months of discipleship and
learning the rhythms, then2
months of helping staff the 2012 18” journey. I am very excited to be living at
A Place for the Heart and partnering with them for this season. In this I am
asking for some help.
Please pray and consider supporting me on this invitation
they have offered me. As much as I would love to say that I would be able to
support myself in this venture, I can't. I need a total of $4,000 for the internship and $2,000 before I start in January.
Please send checks to:
Sydnee Mela
13319 E 93rd Street
Kansas City, MO 64138
Or for those of you who would like to stay anonymous make the check out to A Place for the Heart, place
my name in the note, , and send your checks to:
I was going through my videos and found some clips of old goodies that some of you may have forgotten about. So I put some of them together and made this...
I went sky diving!! To some this may seem crazy, others may want to do it,
and then those who have already gone. For me it wasn't completely what I
expected it to be…
So when you think about jumping out
of a plane, your adrenaline is pumping, you have no idea what is going to
happen, and you hope that your parachute is going to open on the way down. Once
you are strapped in and on your way up, you don't really have a choice, you are
jumping out of the plane. There were many stories we heard on the way up of
people peeing, passing out and coming to during the fall, throwing up, you name it it has
probably happened to a few of the instructors. One lady was going with her
daughter for her birthday. The instructor was asked, "Are you ready?" She replied,
"No". In the end you have made the decision to jump, if you want to
go or not the person you are strapped to is going to jump out of the plane and you are going with them. For me that is the easy part, it would be much
harder for me to jump on my own, but this way I was able to just enjoy the ride and not think about it. Which thinking about it there are times in life that we desire to do something and just need
a little extra push to help get us out the door.
So we are out of the door, I thought
I was going to scream the whole way but it was like I was overwhelmed by how
peaceful it was. I wanted to free fall forever, literally that couldn't happen
because I would eventually hit ground, but it didn't feel like the ground was getting closer. My stomach didn't drop and I didn't feel
like I was falling. I would look out and see as far as I could see if I was in a plane, and there were no walls or small windows to block the view. My arms open wide, surrounded by the wind rushing by and
through me. I was seeing and experiencing life in a completely different perspective than I had
ever seen it before. I was feeling something that I had never felt before. I felt free.
Yes, I jumped out of a plane for the
trill that it was going to bring, and I am sure that trill will be there every time, now I want to go back for the peace that I felt while I was up there.
Then I recently after jumping I
watched this video, “More than a feeling”, and I can't stop watching it. What
if I could do this whenever I wanted? Escape and see the beauty that I am
surrounded by. It is seeing the earth from a different perspective
and embrace the place that we live in a whole new way. The way there is a sense
of freedom and they are playing in it. Watching how they fly next the mountains and realizing how small I
really am. This video just brings me a lot of wonder about things that I may overlook everyday and don't things I don't even think about,
maybe it will for you too.
When taking picture you can have a focus on a particular object. When that object is in focus all the other objects around it become blurry. Your eye is set on the one object. When you first look at the picture you see what is in focus. You know the details about the object. If someone asked you about it you could say exactly how it is. Your focus is clear. In life we have many objects we can focus on including: family, God, jobs, finances, health, future, etc. You can try and focus on all of those things and easily become overwhelmed, or you can clearly focus on some and let the other things become a little blurry. In focusing on everything that is going on, it is easy to become overwhelmed. In focusing on certain objects at certain times, you are clearly able to see the objects and focus completely on it. There is no distraction. I believe there are some things that should always be in focus in life, because when those things become blurry everything else seems to fall apart.
We are all yearning for something. We are all searching for something. We want to feel complete, we want to feel whole, and to find this people will go to great lengths and try many things to find out what will fill the empty gap. We search all over, we go wherever we can because where we are,
...it just isn't good enough. Why do we always have to be on the hunt?
We continue hunting and believe that we are never going to be good enough or amount to anything until we find exactly what we are looking for. But how can we search for something in so many places if we don't even realize what we are looking for. Are we looking for love, comfort, responsibility, to be useful, to be needed, to be content? There are countless things that we could be looking for. Can all of these things be placed into one category? Is there one being out there that can make us complete? Do we really need all that we think we need?
During this journey I have seen the searching in many ways. I have seen
this from the people we see everywhere we are going, I see this in the
people that I am traveling with, I see this in myself. They are all
different forms of searching, some searching can lead down dark roads, some leads
to roads of light.
I know that while I have been on this race I have seen dark places, and people searching in roads that don't lead anywhere.
Sometimes we get the feeling that the battle is to hard and we just want
to give in. There are lies out there that can pull us down, but there is truth that stands above those lies. If we seek the truth the darkness will be blown away. We will find what we are looking for but sometimes we need to stop looking for answers and just let life happen. There is something that is calling me to more. You were
made for more than this, you can't stop now there is so much more that
I want to show you. If we are looking to hard for the answers we miss the thing that is right in front of us.
I want to show you who you were created to be. I want to show you how strong you are. I want to show you where you are weak. I am going to take you through times that make you cry out. To make you reach the point where you can't do it on your own. You can't do this alone. You must walk with me. So then you will know that I am with you, always. This month has already been a month of battle, just coming into this month was a battle. During this time I have already been made me stronger. It has made me realize there has always been something greater right beside me, protecting me all along. I overlooked it and didn't realize I ran to it all the time.
How could I not see this before? The times when I sit up on the hills and look out, when I sit on the beach in awe, when I see the clouds in the air and stars at night, or the ground from a plane. This is when I sit in peaceand know.
"Be still and know that I am God."
When in those moments I may not have always realized that I will just sitting and gazing into comfort. A place that was so much deeper than I thought, a place where I knew I was safe. I was protected and being watched over. I now know why I was and am drawn to those places.
They are places of amazement, places of glory, places that can't be explained.
They are places that are..
and when I look at them I just know...
I am in a place of comfort, a place of peace, a place of protection.
When I am there...
...I just am...
...because He is.
I wrote this way back in Thailand on December 19, 2009, over a year ago, but never posted it. I think because I was in such a vulnerable spot it was hard for me to.
reading this blog took me right back to my brokenness - Welcome to Patong.
Now reading back through it and realizing what was happening. It is not just one time that I walk through times like this but multiple times, times when I just want to step out of what is going on and find comfort. When going through times like those, it seems like they go on forever. At the end of those times I find myself more secure, full of joy, and strengthened. I wanted to post this now because it is real. Every time I go through times like that I realize there is less questioning and more trusting.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Don't be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Thenyou will have healing for your body and strength for your bones." -Proverbs 3:5-8
on some of the last
six months while we waited for dinner, and what welcoming dinner it was.
Their hearts are amazing and I have learned so much from them in the time being here. They have made a way to have a job by do something that they love, makes them feel alive, and they are making a difference.
for me since I greatly honor and
respect Jonathan and Melissa Helser and the staff who run “A Place for the
Heart”. They dream for students from all over the world to start living from
their heart, one reason why it is called the 18” journey.
releasing.
answers we miss the thing that is right in front of us.