Partners for this journey toward Counseling Ministry

 It was he who “gave gifts to people”; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers. ¹² He did this to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ. ¹³ And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ's full stature. –Eph 4:11-13

Some He calls some to be teachers, some to be preachers, some to be in the law enforcement and some to counsel, some to encourage, some to go, and some to send.

He has chosen me, and blessed me with the gift of counsel.  He has given me the ability to not just speak into people’s lives, but hear their hearts. He has given me a desire to grow and learn and become a person who wants to see healing fill the hearts and souls of every person I meet.  

There are countless people who have stepped into my life and have shared their hearts with me. I desire to help and this is why I have decided to pursue the Foundations for Counseling Ministry School through YWAM.  I cannot help without first getting the help and knowledge myself.

I have no intention of doing this without you! I have asked God to build a team to walk through this season along side me, and now I’m asking you to ask Him.  Please ask him right now if you should be apart of this team.  

I am seeking prayer and financial partners.

The Foundations for Counseling Ministry School cost $3,295 for the 12 week lecture phase and $1,895 + airfare for the 8-12 week outreach phase.

If you would like to join my financial support team, you can send donations directly to me at –

Jodi Noordmans

10434 Legionville Rd

Brainerd, MN 56401

Online by going to-

https://www.ywamsf.org/payment/

or you can send them to the YWAM Colorado Springs office –

Youth With A Mission - Colorado Springs

PO Box 60579

Colorado Springs, CO 80960

Please note my name (Jodi Noordmans) on any donation you make…checks can be written out to YWAM.

I love that God is already preparing the hearts and minds of those He will be putting into my life this next season! I know that He has a lot to teach me and I am so excited to start learning more and more!

Thank you so much for all you are in this world!

Blessings people!

Jodi

PS-If you tried to read my last blog and couldn't see any of the words...it's fixed! :)

The story of the car...

It was my last week of outreach when I got the message that my car had been in an accident. My being in South Africa prevented me from doing much of anything. As I worked with my friend to figure out the logistics of everything I felt the challenge of being a crossed the world.   

Getting back to California I heard the whole story of what had happened and my heart was in my throat. There was no way this car had survived. 

She had somehow driven off the road at a high speed, narrowly missing a telephone pole on one side and a wall of rocks on the other side. As the story was told I knew in my heart that only God could have kept them safe and unharmed in anyway. 

She ended her story telling me that it felt like God was lifting the car off the road and carrying it into the ditch. 

Sometimes we don't know the reason for the small miracles, but we can still be thankful for them. 

Looking at the car for the first time I was in shock. It appeared there was nothing wrong. We opened the hood and looked inside and saw that the front end had been pushed in a little bit. If It had been a quarter of on inch more the air bags would have been deployed. 

My friend was able to pull out the front, and straighten everything. In less then 10 hours of work the car was drivable and ready to go!

A few weeks later there was a flat tire.   Easy fix. No new tire needed. 

The next thing that happened was strange....

My friends returned from taking my car for a week. I went to drive away and unknown to me the car was leaking transmission fluid. A mile away from the base the car stopped. 

We learned as we where sitting on the side of the road awaiting our rescue that there had been a huge accident at the end of the road. God supplied several miracles at that time. The man that had been driving the car should have been dead. God said no, we said no and the man is walking without pain. His family is good, their car is not. 

The fix on my car was a simple 10min job of replacing a hose and refilling the oil. 

The day after that I drove into Chico and suddenly I couldn't shift. I had no gears. I called for another rescue. 

Again it was a simple fix only taking a few hours. 

In the mean time I came to the decision that I was not going to drive home to Minnesota.  My sister was suppose to fly out and drive back with me. She said, "that's not going to happen. I don't trust your car. I'll just take my loss on the ticket, and you fly home."

Monday morning her flight was canceled and she got a full refund. I made arrangements to leave the car here and fly back Minnesota. 

I was praying with a friend the other day and she said. "Jodi, I don't think the devil likes your car very much."  Thinking about that comment has brought a realization of how much of a sanctuary that car has been. It has been the place of many major decisions, many deep conversations, many heart to hearts, many tears, and many spirit filled moments.  God has used that car for many things for many people and I pray that He will continue to do so until it's end. 

Please join me in prayer for...

Please pray that I will have wisdom to know what should be done with the car. 

Pray for the four schools that are starting here in Chico this week!

Pray for safe travels for myself and others coming and going this week.

Thanks everyone! MN we will see you soon. 

I've got the power!

Today was a magical kind of day.  The kind of day where you don’t even want to get out of bed because it just feels so good to lay there.  But as you lay there you begin to think and pretty soon you have to get up because the thoughts in your head drive you to the point of need.  A need that you must do something, that you must accomplish and establish and all in all, become somebody with these next 12 hours of your life.

Well, I got up.  I opened my eyes and I started my day! I drank coffee and I opened my bible.  I shut my bible without reading anything and I opened facebook…I went straight for a message from a friend I had received a few days ago.  I had been thinking about it for a few days and I didn’t realize it was still in my head.

She had quoted a verse…

2 Timothy 1:7

7 For the Spirit that God has given us does not make us timid; instead, his Spirit fills us with power, love, and self-control.

I started looking at this verse a bit deeper and things started jumping out at me…

Did you know that “do not fear” is written in the bible 365 times?  That’s a daily reminder that God is in control and we have nothing to be afraid of.

We have been given a Spirit of power…

Romans 8:11

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

Romans 15:13

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 1:8

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

Luke 4:18-19

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[a]

That’s a lot of Power! Just think if we really started to walk in that power??? We would be walking across the water to raise the dead and heal the blind and deaf. We would be turning the water to wine, and commanding the sun to stand still.

That would be awesome!

Now how about the Spirit of Love???

John 3:16New International Version (NIV)

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

If that doesn’t demonstrate the power of love nothing will! Handing over the person you most value to be beaten and killed…All for LOVE.  ….and, it worked.  For the power of God’s love cannot be overcome by death. Within those 3 days He was back, out of that stage of death and sitting beside God on the throne in heaven.

It’s enough to give you chills.

I still haven’t figured out the whole “sound-mind” bit yet, because with all this going on well, who is going to have a sound mind?!

But as 2 Timothy 2:7 says,

Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.

I’ll keep seeking and I’ll keep finding, because this I know with all my heart that Jesus is the answer to all my questions.  His revelation is coming one step at a time, one day at a time.

I don’t know if I accomplished all that I was intended to do today, but I do believe that Jesus is looking down on me and saying, “well done good and faithful servant! Well done!”

Life Changing News! You don't want to miss this one! :)

As this season comes to what may appear to be a close, I suddenly realize it’s just the beginning. What’s about to happen next is going to blow your minds! Well, it’s kinda blowing my mind, but I’m so excited about it!

The sort of it all – I’m going to my secondary school through YWAM starting April 2. It is a school for the foundations of Christian counseling.  It will be set up similar to the CDTS with a lecture phase and an outreach phase.  The location is in Colorado Springs and it will be about 6 months.  If you would like to be apart of my support team through this next step, please let me know.  I will need endless amounts of prayer, and about $6500.

If you want the long version, please keep reading!!!

During the course of my adult life I have looked at going to school for counseling, and again God has brought it into my life.  The opportunity, and the desire.  The desire is to serve people, to love them beyond my own ability.  To give people the help that can only come from the Lord.

I believe that God is leading me into this season. I believe with all my heart that it is His desire for me to follow this path.  I am excited for this opportunity to step out in faith and follow.

The biggest challenge I am facing right now in my earthly world is finances.  The thought of raising the $6500 for this school is overwhelming.  Or, it was overwhelming until I realized that if this is God’s plan, He will be the one paying for it.  This was something that was presented to me one Sunday while I was in South Africa.  If it is my plan I will have to pay for it, if it’s His plan I simply need to present it to His people and He will bring in the needed support.

I am blessed to know that I have a huge Pray support team on my side! Thank you all!!! I would love to add to that team if you are interested!!!

Please take a moment right now and ask the Lord if this is something He wants you to be apart of!

Please pray for-

            -Travel safety, first to MN then to CO!

            -Finances for this school

            -Team unity for this school

            -an open heart and absorbent mind to take in all that God has for me.

If you have any questions, please let me know!!!

jodinoordmans@yahoo.com

Jodi

Home again, home again...sort of.

Galatians 6:9-10 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believes.

I’ve been back in the states for just over a week.  I would like to say the jet leg hasn’t affected me at all, but unfortunately that would just be a lie.  I seem to hit a wall every afternoon and am struggling beyond hope to keep my eyes open by 9pm, Hoping and praying a few more days and I’ll be as alive as ever! J

The CDTS phase of life has wrapped up neatly and without much struggle.  I will be processing the last 5 months for at least another 5 months!

After arriving back in California I made the decision to spend another month at the Chico YWAM base in Cali.  My decision is due in part to the idea of spending some extra time processing and seeking the next steps in life. 

Please keep me in your prayers as I seek and sort through the ideas in my head.  I believe this mission road of my life is just beginning and I’m excited to see the direction that God leads me.

To sum up the last two months of outreach in South Africa I would have to say that God did amazing things. There where challenges and there where accomplishments. There are hundreds of children’s faces ingrained in my mind and heart. There are people and places that I will always remember and maybe someday I will revisit. There have been friendships made that will last the rest of this earthly life.  There are some things I will wish to forget and some things I will seek to hold onto forever!

If you would like more details on my outreach experience in South Africa, please let me know!!!

To all my MN people, I will see you in MARCH!!! I hope you have snow by then!

To everyone that made this YWAM CDTS experience possible, THANK YOU!!! You have invested in the kingdom of God, and I will continue to do just that! It’s my life and my joy!

A few highlights.

As we finish up our time here in South Africa we are thinking not only about what lays ahead, but also what we are leaving behind. 

Today we are in a time of debrief and that brings in lots of thoughts about the past 5 months. 

I want to share with you a few of my highlights. 

Our first stop, the Drakensberg YWAM. We spent many days working with a soup kitchen in a remote location. The children's programs we shared and the smile from the children are something I can't even begin to describe! 

Our second location was LIV Village. A place where children have been rescued, given a new home and a new family, and learned of a greater love. I seriously miss some of these children so much. 

YWAM Durban has been our final stop on this trip, and I have to say my biggest God sighting of all. 

Walking down the street we ran into a gentleman who was not having a good day. He had been high jacked a few hours before and was trying to get home. This was really the first time being here that I witnessed for myself the anger and hatred so prevalent in this country. 

The amazing thing about this encounter was as we talked the anger faded and as we prayed with him the tears streamed down his face. He prayed for forgiveness for his hatred and the strength to be able to love his enemies. I will not soon forget the change that I saw on his face as he walked away. That smile was the smile of a peace that only Jesus can bring.   

These past five months have in no way been easy, but God never promised an easy road. It's been good. A challenge is the way of growth. 

Thanks again to every one of your prayers and support!!!

I will try to keep you posted on future plans as I discover the path God has for me!  I know He's not done with me yet!!

A walk in the rain!

This is the latest blog I wrote for our YWAM team...

A walk in the rain. 

It's not just your everyday normal night. It's the end of something. The beginning of something else. It's the night we all think, did we accomplish our goals this year? Or, what will next year bring? It's a time to ponder our lives to this point.

It's New Year's Eve!

 Usually my New Year's have a a lot of snow, are very cold and the icy roads are inevitable. This year however is much different. On the other side of the equator, it's summer in South Africa and has been one of the driest summers here in the past 80 years. The water restrictions and the lack of rain are a constant source of conversation and prayer. 

This New Year's Eve we have spent painting faces, dancing around in circles and making a zoo full of balloon animals. Others enjoyed blowing bubbles for the pleasure of children popping them.  Tonight we celebrate New Year's Eve with over 100 orphan children at LIV Village.  Tonight we are putting on a "crazy noise party" to celebrate and thank our Father in heaven for everything we have. 

Tonight I see joy in children's eyes. Children who have lost everything and yet they are so thankful for what they do have. They are thankful for the new families and homes they have found here at LIV. They are thankful for food to eat. They are thankful for people that love them. 

Tonight I  leave the party to the sound of fireworks and cheers, and something else. I hear the sound of rain. The long prayed for rains pour down on me as I walk home. I'm soaking wet, and enjoying every moment. 

Yes, I'm reflective this New Year's Eve, I'm reflective on all in this world I've taken for granted. With a heart full of praise, I start to thank my God for all he has done for me, but most of all I thank him for the children right here and for the rain pouring down on my face!

What are you thankful for this New Year's Eve?