My hunger for God's word began when I was 12 or 13 years old and has never been satisfied since. I remember going to youth Bible studies and wanting to know and understand what the Bible says. I learned very quickly that a close and exciting relationship with God was dependant on regular time in God's word. Spiritual highs and lows in my life always corresponded to the time I spent in God's word. One significant event that really drove me to study God's word was an encounter with a friend in high school who began asking me serious questions about what the Bible says. Some of the questions I really didn't know how to answer and so I turned to the Bible to try and find some answers. It was at that point I really felt my relationship with God deepened. Shortly after that, I was baptized and committed my life to following Christ.
After high school I went to Bible College for one year because I wanted to get a firm grounding and understanding of the Bible and Christian belief. During the two years of college in The Pas, following Bible College I was involved with youth group, Sunday school and College and Careers at my church. In teaching Sunday school and helping out at youth group, I had many opportunities to study and teach the Bible. I learned a lot from personal study in preparing for these and answering questions that the youth had. Around this time, I was first introduced to Youth With A Mission(YWAM). A YWAM team from Kona, Hawaii came to The Pas and ministered to people throughout the community. In getting to know them and working with them, I was drawn to their passion for God and how they communicated God's love to people. It was at that time that I first began thinking of doing a Discipleship Training School(DTS) with YWAM. The idea was temporarily laid aside as I finished college and looked to finding a job.
When I moved to Kelowna, BC, I was not so much involved in teaching but I still had a hunger for studying scripture. The first couple of months that I was there I had some time to really sit down and dig deeper into scripture but I found myself struggling with how to approach the Bible and go to a deeper level of understanding. By this time, regular devotion time was a well-established habit but over the three years that I was in Kelowna, I found that my quiet times were not enough. I wasn't satisfied with the small bits of inspiration I received each day. My quiet times became dry and I became more and more hungry for something greater.
The idea of doing a DTS began to resurface and I felt God urging me to pursue it. He led me to YWAM Okanagan, 10 minutes from where I was living in Westbank, BC. In April 2004 I began the Discipleship Training School there. It was a time of renewal, refocusing and renewed commitment to serving God. The third week of DTS, Andre and Jessica Braun spoke about Bible Study Method. They used the book of Galatians to demonstrate effective, life-changing Bible study. That week was eye opening for me. It showed me that scripture is understandable and there was so much more that I could learn from it. It put in me an even greater hunger for God's word. That week birthed in me the desire to do the YWAM School of Biblical Studies.
Four weeks after completing DTS, I was in Turner Valley, AB to do the School of Biblical Studies(SBS). SBS is 9 months of intense study of the Bible. It takes the student through the Bible book by book. It introduces the student to the historical background of each book and helps them to understand the main idea and big picture. Much of the 9 months is spent in personal study, digging deeper into the truths of scripture. My goal in doing SBS was to grow in intimacy with the Father and be equipped to live out and share God's truth with others. My prayer was from Psalm 119:18 – "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law." I can say that God answered that prayer.
Now, at the end of 9 months I am amazed at what I've learned about God, who he is, what he's done for me and how he wants me to live. SBS has just wet my appetite for God's word. One evening as I was studying with the radio on in the background, something that the preacher said really stuck out to me. He said, "Spiritual hunger is different than physical hunger. Physical hunger increases if we don't feed our bodies but spiritual hunger increases when we are fed spiritually. If we are not fed spiritually then our spiritual hunger decreases." I saw how this was true in my own life. The more I studied scripture and applied it to my life the more hungry I became for more. That has not stopped. I've come to the end of 9 months of SBS and all I want is more.
About six months ago I began praying about the future and where God was leading me after SBS. He gave me the desire to help others to be hungry for God's word and be able to increase that hunger by digging deeper into scripture. God seemed to be leading me to become staff for the September 2005 SBS at YWAM Turner Valley. Through much prayer and deliberation I decided to follow that leading and have committed to serve at YWAM Turner Valley for 2 years. God has confirmed that call and decision and given me an excitement for what the next 2 years will bring.
