france…

- Evangelical Christian believers account for only .8% of the population. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia (1.5% and .9%) have more Evangelicals per capita.

- Church attendance is one of the lowest in Europe (6-8%, compare that to the USA’s 44%).

- 80% of French people have never owned or even seen a Bible.

- There are approximately 50,000 full-time practitioners of occult arts (tarot, fortune telling, psychic healing, etc) who easily outnumber the 35,000 full-time Christian workers in France.

- Muslims make up approximately 10% of France’s population (compared to 1.5% in the USA). This is the highest percentage in any European country.

is poised for revival.

You wake up in the morning, lay in bed and look around.  You ask yourself if you even want to engage with this world today.   The alarm is going off and you can’t stand the sound.  It reminds you of the day of work ahead of you, or maybe your head feels like a brick because you were so drunk the night before.  You finally get up and go.  You go to the job that is “temporary” before you really get somewhere.  You drive home in the car you are still paying for, and sleep in the house you are never at so that you can afford to live there.  Do you ever stop in life to ask, “What is my purpose?”

If you think your life is awesome, and that’s all you want it to be, then you won’t like the challenge of what I’m about to lay out for you.

I asked myself this question a couple years ago.  I didn’t like the answer, so I ignored that the question even came up.  I continued doing what I wanted, what I thought made me happy.  But I couldn’t walk ignorantly anymore because another question came up. 

“What is going to come of what you’re doing now?”

Well that’s scary, to actually think about the future and how your life now affects that.  And to dare think about what comes after that? 

Or do you think you are just here on this earth to endure what comes your way and by chance find happiness? Constantly in the search of things like a job, someone to hook up with, new clothes, a better image.  So you work, you raise a nice family who will then raise another nice family.  Things work out, hopefully, how they are supposed to.  Then what?  You die and…nothing?

That is the most depressing thing to me, and I hope it is to you too.

But here’s the thing.  When God is offering you eternal life with Him, your Father (what, you think your parents created you? Come on, they aren’t THAT powerful) and you don’t even acknowledge it, this is like living as a bum with a million dollars in your bank account.  Or starving with chocolate cake on the counter.  Why do you keep searching for something that leaves you empty over and over again? 

Stop doing things that you think you’re supposed to do in order to achieve something, that will then lead you to doing something else in the search of achieving more.  It’s a constant cycle that is grueling and leads you to a dead end.

But death doesn’t have to be the end.  The one who created you did not do this just for kicks.  He created you with love so that you would love Him in return (regardless of what you see in this world, that is how a relationship works).  And He wants you to live with Him forever.  You think your boyfriend wants to live with you? That’ll fade. 

He doesn’t fade. 

Stop giving your body and time to a life that will leave you empty until death, and start giving your heart to Him who has eternal life waiting for you.

He went to the Mount of Olives.

Coming again to the temple, He sat down.

People came, they sat down, and listened to Him teach.

A woman, an adulterous woman, was brought to Him. She stood in their midst.

“Teacher, this woman has been caught. By Law we should stone her. What do you say?”

They ask with provocation.

He stood up.

“He who is without sin. He may be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Silenced. They went away.

Jesus is left alone with the woman.

“Where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, Lord.”

“Neither do I, go and sin no more.”

in keeping me on my toes, so I’ve found myself in Tennessee.

A few weeks ago one door closed, and that very day God opened another. As fickle as this world is, He proves to be constant and faithful. His promises are always fulfilled, even when we can’t pinpoint what they are. So He’s brought me down here to Adams Tennessee with the opportunity to study for life change in the BCC (Bible Core Course.) 

So I’m here in the south with a whole new YWAM family, looking at beautiful cliffs in my backyard and endless amounts of things to learn and encounter (really, they’re one in the same) before me.  

Please pray for endurance and revelation as I dive into His word daily, and this for yourselves as well.

Much love,

Shalyn

“My people are bent on turning away from me, and though they call out to the Most High, he shall not raise them up at all.”  Hosea 11:7 ESV

We must cease to be bent on backsliding and lift ourselves upward.  We cannot remain in the same place - creating no distance between ourselves and sin- and pursue righteousness.  By making uncomfortable sacrifices and move our hearts towards Him, they will be stretched in capacity and their substance will be love.  

As I read this verse I asked, “Why would God not raise them up?” So I checked out this verse in the KJV.

“…and though they call out to the Most High, none at all would exalt him.”

It is the difference between selfish hunger and spiritual hunger that either mocks or glorifies God.  It was the selfish hunger of the Israelites that led them to do works with their hands and not their hearts.  This being a result of viewing the law as something to accomplish in order to attain a comfortable promise, rather than willingly loving and serving Him with spiritual hunger in a heart that sought to be ruined.  

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter into the kingdom of Heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name, and cast out demons in your name and do many might works in your name?’  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’  Matt 7:21-23 ESV

He wants us to pursue him, because he has pursued us from the beginning.  When we were young and weak in our faith and helpless like a child, our Father loved and nourished us, and extended grace upon our bad manners.  He was spoon-feeding us so that we would grow in strength, in which we would need to separate ourselves from this world and consecrate ourselves to Him.  When we are grown, we should reflect the goodness of God to us in our youth.  It is our love and gratitude that create a right relationship.  

“Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.” Luke 12:48 ESV

Thank you for patiently waiting on any word from me here!  I hope you received my letter well with love, and as I mentioned in it about posting links to helpful sources…I’ve just done that for you.  So please check them out at the “My Pages” section towards the bottom right of this page.  I hope to continue posting more as I find them to be interesting, informative and encouraging to you.  

After three months in New Zealand and two months in the Philippines, it is now time to leave. This is not to say this journey is over, rather this is just the beginning.

I came here only knowing that God had told me to, but I didn’t know why he was telling me to. I just dropped my hula-hoop with little knowledge of what I was taking up. But God doesn’t do anything half-heartedly so in answering his call, I have to meet him at that place. That very uncomfortable place of being a little Christ. And this is what he said to me (he says it to you too.)

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

I was watching The Help on the plane the other day. Set in the 60’s, there is a conversation between a young white writer and a black maid. She is asking the black woman for her perspective on life. The maid answers, “What if you don’t like what I have to say?” and the girl replies, “It’s not about me.”

I paused the movie and had to absorb this. The girl is taking interest in a person who is a persecuted outsider in society, an action in which she could get legal punishment for. And even when it means her life she continues. She endures each trial, she publishes that book and truth is heard. This is when a revolution began.

*I apologize if I gave anything away to those who have not seen this movie. You should watch it!

With the desire to share Jesus, He told me and showed me He has a desire for even more than that. And I must give myself to Him before I give Him to others. “You can’t be involved and not committed and still be effective.”

So I am re-entering the states, a different living world. Some call it the “real world.” I will miss my new brothers and sisters, but Christmas with my family will be a kiss from heaven.

I cannot express how grateful I am to those who have supported me in the past 5 months. Really, support that has uplifted me throughout my whole life, impacting me in a way that encouraged love, faith, and purpose. Through prayer and financial support you have given me so much that I want to give back to Jesus. Thank you for joining me on this journey.

For a thorough outline of what outreach looked like, you can read our team blog

Much love,

Shalyn