Stepping Out The Boat Into Your Wildest Dreams - Guest Post

Lisa, Katie, Peter & Amy Haynes

My good friend Peter Haynes has just embarked on one of the wildest adventures you could imagine with his family of 4 (including 2 young girls)! I thought it would be perfect for him to share the experience of his journey thus far, as it follows on nicely from last week's Blog about "how to follow your dreams".

As Pete will explain in this story, Peter and Lisa left literally everything to pursue a dream of studying at the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. Lisa Blogs about each step of the adventure at http://heartventure.blogspot.com/ 
Bookmark it and follow it, as the stories are incredible from a gifted writer!
Peter is also on Twitter here, I just wish he tweeted more. Maybe give him a shout and spur him on a bit! :)

And now, over to Pete...

Stepping out the boat of comfort onto the wild seas of your dreams

What a year this has been... my wife and I, along with our 2 daughters, have been on a wild journey of pursuing our dreams and learning some valuable life lessons in the process. It's an absolute privilege to have the opportunity of sharing some of these experiences and lessons with you.

Let me give you a brief summary of the journey we've been on and then I'll get into a bit more detail.

In April, somewhat out of the blue, we decided to investigate the possibility of leaving our family and friends and job and pretty much everything we had in Durban, South Africa, go to Redding, California and study at the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. Doors opened and momentum gathered and before we knew it, on 14th August we were receiving the keys to our leased apartment in the centre of Redding. What an amazing journey its been!

God had been preparing us for this over the past few years, He's been speaking to us and telling us to do certain things and also not do certain things. He kept tellling me to be radically obedient. God even told us to turn down an opportunity that had been our heart's desire for many years. We didn't understand it at the time but we knew that God knew what He was doing. At the beginning of this year, God even told us to leave our church of 15 years – we didn't know why at the time but as God spoke to Abram and told him to leave his father's house and go to a place he did not know, so it was with us. We had no idea where we were going, we just knew where we couldn't stay. It's not easy following God's voice when you don't understand but let me tell you something, this has been the greatest lesson I can take out of this whole experience – follow God's voice no matter what!

I have never felt more alive in my life as I do right now. But the exact opposite was true back in Durban. I felt dead inside. It felt as if God had lifted His grace off every area of my life – everything felt like a struggle and an intense frustration was building inside. But the moment Jesus spoke and called me out of my comfortable cruise liner of a boat, I felt the sinews growing back on my dry bones. And the moment I took that step out of the boat was the moment I felt alive again.

Looking back on it now, it seems like Jesus had left my boat a long time ago and had been waiting for me on the rough stormy waters, and the moment I took the step onto those waters was the moment His energy started pumping through my veins again. That's how it felt... I know He was always with me on those stormy waters.

Sometimes responding to God's voice does require sacrifice. We literally felt like we were leaving a cruise liner to walk on a deep dark stormy unknown sea. We were petrified! This season is costing us everything. Leaving family, friends, a good job, a beautiful home, life-savings etc. was not easy! But what we have gained even in this short amount of time has made it more than worth it. When God speaks, go with it because His plans for you are so much better than you think.

From the moment we decided to study at Bethel and move across the world, God started preparing us in every area of our lives. God is a genius! From our marriage, to the logistics, the finances, friends, family, you name it; God prepared the way for this dream to happen and to happen well. When we take a step of faith, God backs it up!

Something happens when the sons of God make plans and take steps towards great things. As those who have been given dominion; when we take a step, it is as if there is this mad rush behind the scenes to make sure everything lines up well for us. The joys of having such a good and powerful Dad!

We are really excited to be a part of this culture that Bethel have established here. Here there is a genuine culture of honour. It's not just spoken about it, it's practiced! We have been amazed by the help and support we have received from people we had never even met before.

We arrived in Redding at 3pm on Wednesday 14 August. By 8pm, all our furniture was in our apartment. Furniture that had been given to us or people had helped us source it REALLY cheap. There actually isn't space for me to tell how much help we've received since being here.

We've realised that in South Africa there is an arm's length culture, where we help people but only to a certain point or we just talk about helping but don't do any helping. Here it's different. People do! We feel like we are 'doing life' with some people already. There's no arm's length culture, it's an embraced and intimate culture.

Coming to study at Bethel has been a dream of mine for many years now and while I believe the timing of us being here is now perfect, I also believe that it is important to pursue your dreams and take those steps out the boat when you hear the voice of Jesus calling. We could easily have stayed in Durban. I believe God would have still blessed us. But I think this is His best for us.

There are far too many people missing out on their dreams because they are too scared to leave the comfort of what seems to be a cruise-liner of a boat, but once you've stepped out; you realise it was in actual fact a smelly old rickety fishing boat. Do not let fear rob you of your destiny! Choose to live now, and the greatest way you could ever live is in intimacy with the lover of your soul, Jesus Christ. Do what He says when He says it and you will never live another dull day in your life.

When He calls you onto the water, do not hesitate. When He rides with you in the boat, enjoy the ride. Just go with His best for you.

May you be blessed as you live out His best for you.