There’s something in simply letting God move, being still and letting Him hold you like no one else can, that allows His presence, His closeness, to be the catalyst for radical change - and here He makes all things new!
winter sunset in Eyjólfsstaðir, Iceland
may these songs pour life into you as you listen
from Michael Gungor’s new record, “Beautiful Things”
Late have I loved You
Beauty so ancient
So new
Late have I loved You
You were within me, but I was outside You
It was there that I searched for You
It was there that I searched for You
Late have I loved You
Beauty so ancient, so new
Late have I loved You
You were here with me
But I was not with You
It was there that You found me
It was there that You found me
You called and You shouted
You broke through my deafness
You flashed and you shone
Dispelled all my blindness
You breathed Your fragrance on me
You breathed Your fragrance on me
Late have I loved You
Late have I loved You
I drew in Your breath
And I keep on breathing
I’ve tasted I’ve seen
And now I want more
You breathed Your fragrance on me
You breathed Your fragrance on me
Late have I loved You
Late have I loved You
Written by Michael Gungor © 2010 WorshipTogether.com Songs (ASCAP)
Greetings from Iceland! And Happy Thanksgiving!
Today before making preparations for our Thanksgiving feast tonight, I just wanted to send my love and appreciation to all of you who have made it possible for me to be living and studying and growing SO much here in Iceland! THANK YOU - Its a dream come true!
City Life
Reykjavik in winter is beautiful!
This is a city rich in the arts and music, bursting with life and beauty, streets filled with people from all edges of the earth. And just outside the city - the Icelandic countryside, wide open and spacious, lava fields, clear water and mountains as far as you can see. (The other night we saw the Northern Lights! Green and dancing across the sky!)
My team is staying at the Salvation Army Guesthouse downtown - we walk everywhere and live within a 2 minute walk of the harbor and snow covered mountains. (Every day I have to remind myself that I actually live here!) The sun rises around 10am and sets early, around 3 or 4pm, so our evenings and meals together are always really cozy inside from the cold.
Discipleship Training School - YWAM Iceland
Discipleship Training School has been absolutely incredible. There are 7 of us students and 4 staff from all around the world - America, The Netherlands, Iceland, Germany and France! We bonded as family right away and our staff has been saying that in years of staffing YWAM bases, they’ve never seen a group become as closely knit as we have! This is truly a divinely appointed group of people God has sent here for such a time as this. We are all so excited to be a part of Iceland’s first YWAM base in years and are already seeing God’s hand through our lives to impact the people in this nation!
We are well into our lecture phase now, and our teachers have been flying in from all over the world to provide a WEALTH of insight that we may be edified, challenged and encouraged each day. So far we’ve covered The Cross and Redemption, The Holy Spirit and Hearing God’s Voice, Discipleship, The Father Heart of God, Destiny By Design (Identity/Giftings), Relationships and this week - Evangelism.
Each week we have base worship, intercession, seminars and process groups. These times combined with simply being in conversation with my team every day, have written God’s Truth my heart and made it possible to really walk out what I’m learning.
Cafe Rót / Teen Center
My YWAM base runs a cafe downtown where tons of teenagers from the community have been coming in. We each have work duties during the week - cooking meals and as a barista, serving and cleaning in the cafe. The majority of the teens are here every single day and we’ve built some amazing relationships just by being here and talking with them and providing a safe place for them to hangout. So many of the teens suffer from depression, alcoholism, sex addiction and hopelessness and its been absolutely amazing to see God at work in their lives so deeply here as they simply come face to face with the love and smiling faces of our team!
Wednesdays and Saturdays we open the basement of the cafe (where we have class) for teen center. During one of these nights, one of our regulars named Smurfy just gave His life to Jesus! He shared with us that He’s never experienced love from people like this before and considers us his family. We are all praying that the Lord continue to move, that the Icelandic youth meet Jesus and experience God’s love while we are here!
Special Update
This month my grandfather PapaMac (on my dad’s side) passed away. Since I wasn’t able to make it home for his funeral, I hosted a memorial service here in Iceland celebrating his life. I was blown away when 10-15 of my teammates and friends here in Iceland came, to this ceremony for a man they had never met - they stood in as my family and God moved in power! I shared stories and photos and we all prayed. By hosting this small gathering here, I saw PapaMac’s life of faith literally impacting the nations!
God is SO amazing! I continue to fall more in love with Him as He reveals new depths of His heart, to me and for others. He’s challenging me to step out with even greater faith, to depend on Him for EVERYthing, and to live each day in vital communion with Him.
If you’d like to send mail, my address here in Iceland is:
Youth With A Mission (YWAM) Iceland
Michelle McEver
Laugarnesvegur 36
105 Reykjavik, Iceland
To make a donation, you can Send A Gift via www.PayPal.com
to MichelleMcEver@gmail.com
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Feel free to pass along this update to others, and please let me know if there’s anything specific you’d like to know more about. God is doing SO much each day, so there’s always more to share than I can fit here ;)
May you be SO blessed! Thank you for being in my life, for sharing in this journey with me!
Much love!
I caught glimpse of three tiny blinking lighthouses on the Keflavik coast as we began our descent towards land. At 6am, the sky was still dark over Iceland and I couldn’t help but laugh in the light of God’s incredible faithfulness and such lavish provision.
Lord, you have sent me nearly $10,000 in the past two months for this journey - a miracle! And the obvious work of your hand. A dream I couldn’t afford to finance and a vision much bigger than me, You’ve now brought into fruition. Here, you have spoken LIFE and DESTINY, HOPE and PURPOSE. You’ve literally opened the floodgates of provision and parted waters where there seemed to be no way. THANK YOU for your faithfulness, even when mine is failing, for your incredible love, poured out through your Body as countless people have blessed me financially and encouraged me along the way. THANK YOU GOD for your Son - your love in action is incredible.
Smiling Kristofer Rodriguez Svonnuson (my amazing host while backpacking around the coast last year) welcomed Nicolaus (fellow Nashvillian and Emanater - on the same flight out of JFK) and I upon our arrival. The three of us took a scenic route through the lava fields to Reykjavik, first stopping atop a hill to see the city just before the sun came up.
Then to the SEA just as the first light of day broke through the clouds.
(The wind was so strong here, I had to use my feet to push open the door to even get out of the car! Nicolaus almost blew away, we seriously couldn’t stop laughing!)
For the next 6 months, I will be living, learning and serving with a team of people from around the world, for the launch of Iceland’s first Youth With A Mission Discipleship Training School in decades.
What began as a dream, now reality - here at last!
THANK YOU to all of you, who have so graciously launched me into this adventure. You have supported me financially, covered me with your love and breathed life into me with your prayers. And this is only the beginning! Thank you for being family. I pray that the Lord blesses you abundantly as you’ve so faithfully sown into His Kingdom!
After months of preparation, today’s the day I head to YWAM for DTS in Iceland! Here’s me at JFK with my parents, being silly before boarding my flight to Reykjavik.
I anticipate you dependence on Me.
My child, give Me your heart, for out of it issues life. My hand is upon you, and I will keep you in all places wherever you go. I am your God, and I am your Father, and I will care for you and provide for you according to all that you need. I will be at your side, ready to help you whenever you call on Me. I am not unmindful of your needs, and My concern is for you.
You do not need to carry your own load, for I will be happy to help you carry it and to bear you up as well. You do not walk alone or meet any situation alone, for I am with you, and I will give you wisdom and strength, and My blessing shall be yours. Keep your heart set on Me and your affections on things above; for I cannot bless you unless you ask Me. And I cannot answer if you do not call. I cannot minister to you unless you come to Me.
Do not wait to feel worthy, for no one is worthy of My blessings. My grace bypasses your shortcomings, and I give to My children because they ask of Me and because I love them. I do not love one more than another. I give most liberally to those who ask the most of Me, for I love to have you depend on Me. This is why the Spirit within you cries, “Abba—Father.” As your Father, I anticipate your dependence on Me. You may mature and outgrow your dependence on your human parents, but as My child, you will never “outgrow” your spiritual sonship, nor will I ever cast you out to rely on your own resources, not even when you become a parent. Indeed, then you will more fully appreciate My feelings toward you. You will then understand the love a father has for his child, and experience the desire to care for and provide; then you will know more fully how much I love you, how ready I am to help you, and how available I am to counsel with you and give you My support.
Heaven’s resources are at your command, and you need never want, so long as I am your Shepherd. Do not think that since I know all about you, you need not bother to tell Me. It is true that I know, but you need to tell Me so that in the telling, you may experience the release of an open heart, and the fellowship of a Friend.
As you open your heart to Me, I will come to you. As you speak to Me, I will speak to you. As you reveal yourself to Me, I will reveal Myself to you. This is a law of life. There must be action to bring reaction. There must be a question to bring an answer. There must be an expression of love and confidence on the part of one person to arouse a corresponding response in another person.
Never presume My presence. Never assume that knowing your need, I will automatically supply Ask, and it shall be given. Call upon Me, and I will answer you. Tell Me that you love Me, and I will make your heart know in a very real way My love for you and My near ness, and you shall never feel alone.
Welcome Me into your heart, and the more you sense My presence within you, the more you will feel at home no matter where you may be. Forget anything else, but never forget this.
From Come Away My Beloved, by Frances Roberts
