Posted in General Posts by Kallie Turner on 12/25/2010
Reading Luke chapter 2 this Christmas morning...seeing twice where Mary, the mother of Jesus, treasured up the things regarding her son, Jesus, and pondered them in her heart. (see versus 19 & 51).
I confessed last night in reflection to my pastors that my heart is often divided, not treasuring up the things of God...but getting caught up in my own desires. There are many things in life that I want/desire, but only one thing that I truly "need", and that is Jesus Himself. I am full aware of this great truth in the midst of a family fued this Christmas, where my brothers and my mom are at odds. I wanted a "nice" Christmas time with the family before I leave to go overseas, but I can be content in Christ apart from that desire. I am more than blessed in Jesus, and while things are rough a lot of the time, I will learn by God's sweet grace to have a heart that is not divided, but truly rests in the LORD no matter what is going on around me. I want a heart like Mary's that treasures up the things of Jesus, and ponders them in her heart. That is my Christmas wish this year...to be satisfied in Jesus alone. May God honor this desire this year and the years ahead...
Love you all. Merry Christmas!!
Kallie
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Posted in General Posts by Kallie Turner on 12/16/2010
IS JESUS REALLY ENOUGH?
As I contemplate our upcoming Christmas celebration, one question arises in my heart and in my mind: "Is Jesus really enough?" I think that this is THE question that God Himself is asking us, especially as we all reflect on what Christmas is truly about. For the Scripture says plainly in Isaiah 7:14, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Immanuel means God is with us. Now, I admit that most of us would quickly say that yes, Jesus is all that we need...that he in fact is really enough for us. Do we live like it though, or does our heart betray our true feelings about the gospel of our great God and King? See, the gospel (in my estimation at least) is "good news" because it brings us together with God. Anything less than this is not enough. Whether or not I have a job or money, a significant other to share my life with, or the greatest friends one could ever ask for is not an indicator of how "good" my life is. For if I do not have God in my life then I am to be greatly pitied. We place a lot of value on various things in our culture, but is there anything worth us not seeing God as all-satisfying? I think not. Habakkuk rightly rejoiced in the Lord when he said: "Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation."He got it! He understood the meaning of the gospel. While the Lord does give us good gifts, when all is lost we can and should still say "God is good". "HE IS enough". My own personal challenge is in believing this great truth every moment that I draw breath. I confess that I forget a lot of the time that neither this life (nor the life to come) is about my personal comfort. Heaven is not to be described in its essence as a place of no more pain or sorrow, but rather as being where we will be in the very presence of a God who loved us - and Himself - enough to bring us back into fellowship with Him, for the display of showing how satisfying He is. That is the message, my friends, this season. Jesus really is more than enough...
At the end of the day I want this to be my battle cry wherever the Lord takes me: "Jesus is enough...He is all that I need. He is my satisfaction, not just the One who gives it." Won't you make this your battle cry, too?!
With His unfailing love, and for the glory due His name~
Kallie K Turner
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Posted in General Posts by Kallie Turner on 12/8/2010
I can't sleep. All I can think about is how much I desire God...and the nations. I feel so awake right now (literally, ha ha)...but seriously, God is what I want in life. I am tired of chasing after anything other than Him. I am so sick at looking at how much stuff I have accumulated over the past several years. I want it all gone. I don't care if I live in America (the land of style) and if I choose to wear the same outfit 3 times in a week. I'm now okay with that. I have way too many clothes. I want them gone. I want the other stuff...the hundreds of books, the pictures hanging on my walls, all of the other stuff...I want it gone. I know I'm crazy, living in a land of materialism and greed, and I outright confess my sin in this area, but I want its grip on my life destroyed. I just want God. I want to feel the experience of needing something...really needing it. I want for the things of this world way too much and I'm tired of it. God help me, please, to decifer between want and need...for all I need to chase is You. Simplify my life. Let me be all about You, and your glory being spread in the nations. I love you, LORD. You are so good.
Kallie
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Posted in General Posts by Kallie Turner on 12/6/2010
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me you heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see
Brandon Heath captures the very longings of my heart in these lyrics above. I feel as though I have just stumbled out of a massive fog in recent days, and that I am beginning to see more clearly the things that God has wanted for me to see. I am loving the ministry that He has led me to be a part of this past week through Him speaking clearly to me during prayer one morning recently. I am now working with inner city teens in Dallas and love them. Some seem as though they are "far beyond my reach", but I want for them to know Jesus. I am trusting in God's ability to love on them through me until His grace reveals Himself to them. Oh, what a glorious day that will be! I stick to the teenaged girls like glue, and they don't seem to mind. Most of them, I would say, don't know the LORD yet...but I am excited to see what God will do in making Himself known to them. This is my longing, and this is my prayer. I am so grateful to be a part of His plan.
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Posted in General Posts by Kallie Turner on 11/30/2010
The LORD placed this song on my heart last week very strongly, and I keep coming back to it...
It really speaks loudly to me and reflects my own heart, mind, and spirit in following Him...
I am reminded this morning again that my journey is not simply to the nations...but my journey is in knowing the LORD above all else and sharing His love with others wherever I am. Even so, I am blessed to be a part of what Adventures in Missions is all about...releasing the Kingdom in other parts of the world. God bless!
Downhere "Here I am" lyrics:
Sometimes Your calling, comes in dream
Sometimes it comes in the Spirit's breeze
You reach for the deepest hope in me
And call out for the things of eternity
But I'm a man of dust and stains
You move in me, so I can say
Here I am, Lord send me
All of my life, I make an offering
Here I am, Lord send me
Somehow my story is a part of Your plan
Here I am
When setbacks and failures, and upset plans
Test my faith and leave me with empty hands
Are You not the closest when it's hardest to stand?
I know that You will finish what You began
And these broken parts You will redeem
Become the song that I can sing
Overwhelmed by the thought of my weakness
And the fear that I'll fail You in the end
In this mess, I'm just one of the pieces
I can't put this together but You can
Here I am, Lord send me
I want to live my life as an offering
Here I am, Lord send me
Somehow my story is a part of Your plan
Here I am
Here I am, all my life an offering to You, to You
Somehow my story is a part of Your plan
Here I am
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Posted in General Posts by Kallie Turner on 11/28/2010
 My sin caused this...very sobering...
November 28th, 2010The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines depravity as: "the quality or state of being depraved" and then depraved as being: "marked by corruption or evil..."
It has really taken a lot for me to realize how far my level of depravity truly ran. It was so deep in me that only the cross of Christ could put an end to it. It was a foul stench in the nostrils of my sweet God until the moment that He saved me...and goes way beyond mere words or illustrations even now. I am reminded today of the glorious truth of being turned from a "sinner" into a "saint" in His eyes. God remains faithful to redeem me from much and the following quote rings more and more true to me every single day that I am given breath here on earth:
"I've come to realize two things... I am the greatest sinner, and He is the greatest Savior."
I am learning also how good my God is...even in accordance with the following Scripture:
"And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him."
My God continues to amaze me with His goodness...mostly in sharing Himself with me. This grows my faith in Him, helping me to draw nearer unto Him, which only reinforces His goodness and kindness towards me!
Every moment that I draw breath I am deeply and utterly blessed by Him, and I am so very thankful for Jesus' sacrifice on my behalf. This is the beauty of the gospel in the face of Jesus Christ...the very message of God sent forth to the nations! For Him to allow me even to be a small part in His great plan is completely dumbfounding to me most of the time and reminds me that:
"God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong".
I serve a magnificently precious Heavenly Father who devised the greatest and most costly plan to eradicate sin from my life in the Person of Jesus Christ and Who reminds me of this blessing in the Person of His sweet Holy Spirit on a daily basis now.
God, help me to walk in truth and in light...for Jesus is Truth and Light to my soul, and to everyone who will believe. Help me to choose You rather than sin, for this is my desperate moment by moment need. I love You because You first loved me. Help me to love You even more...and to share You with the world!
-Kallie
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Posted in General Posts by Kallie Turner on 11/26/2010
Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, China, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania
Woo HOO!!
For more information on the types of ministries we'll be doing in each country, click here.
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Posted in General Posts by Kallie Turner on 11/25/2010
 No. I am definitely not worthy of the calling to go overseas and proclaim freedom to the captives there, to speak truth against the lies in people's lives, to let the poor know that they can be spiritually "rich" in Jesus! But He is worthy of this call on my life, and I will follow Him anywhere...and I mean that. I'm not just talking physically here. I just recently surrendered to God in the area of sharing with Him the pain in my life. I am allowing Him to be my Healer now. I am asking Him to be just that and so much more! See, as I have said before...God does NOT force Himself on anyone. We must surrender in all things to Him in allowing Him to be for us what we need. So, will I follow Him into the hurting places of my heart and my soul so that He can turn my weeping into dancing? Yes I will. And I believe the outcome will be as sweet and as beautiful as He is! If I didn't know such sorrow, I could never know what joy He can bring out of it...and He will do this for me. I believe that He will. He is most worthy...Help me, sweet Jesus. Even tonight, I am desperate for You.
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Posted in General Posts by Kallie Turner on 11/25/2010
Sweet Kallie,
Now that you are awakened after this past weekend at the Stirred Conference in Georgia, and you are beginning your Step Study in Celebrate Recovery, there are many things that I desire for you. The first would be an ever-increasing passionate pursuit of the one true God who has truly set you free...really...not in religious terms but in reality. I hope that you would understand more of His heart for you and His desires for your life with Him. Kallie, He has saved you so that you might display His splendor and so that you can learn to be wholly satisfied in Him alone. Don't let the things of the world, or even people in this world, occupy the place in your heart that God longs for you to invite Him into on a moment to moment daily basis. There is lots of room for others too, but God must be the Number One in your heart or you will not experience the beautiful joy waiting to be had in life. Remember, He is life. He is beautiful, and when he looks at you He sees a beautiful one as well...even you!! He has created you in love and has been with you for all 31 years of your life thus far, and He will always be with you...even into eternity! In those awful times of severe pain, He has cried for you and has prayed for you - that you may be healed. He longs for you with an everlasting love, and waits in hope for you to allow Him to occupy every single part of your life. He is not rude, but is kind and gentle, and waits for you to seek His companionship...though at the same time He pursues you like "the Hound Dog of Heaven".
I write these things to give you hope, knowing that true hope is found only in Him. I want for you to learn to intentionally seek God, even in the midst of inconvenience and pain. He will meet you there. You are meant to be a beacon of hope to many others, so wake up and learn to walk in that great truth! Some of my goals for you in the coming eight months are that you will shout with God so that your walls of self-protection might fall to the ground in complete ruin! Let others in. Trust God with your heart. Know that others are not perfect, and will always let you down in the end, but God desires for you to have intimate communion with bible-believing ladies so that you may encourage one another and spur one another onto good works. Seek God's help in being kind with your mother and patient with her in her pain. Be a source of encouragement in the LORD to her, rather than always being angry and short-tempered. Spend as much time as is possible with your brothers! Try to reach out to your dad. Let love permeate your life, as you learn how vast and deep God's love really is...and that it will never run dry! Don't ever give up hope. The enemy has had a death threat out on your life, but God has won the victory in that area already! He has granted you life, and life more abundantly in Christ, who is victorious! You are a daughter of the risen King Jesus and that means that you always have a living and abiding hope within you. You are precious and loved. Seek to know His love and to share it with the world - even being light in the darkest of places. That is my greatest hope for you. For there are faith, hope, and love...but the greatest of these is always love. May His love light your path and direct your steps.
Grace and peace,
"Your Kallie"
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Posted in General Posts by Kallie Turner on 11/24/2010
 The Love Of God Compels Us Kallie K. Turner 7/19/2009
The love of God compels us
Walking in His love we're free
Our Sins are buried with our Savior
He bore them on that tree
Now He lives and so do we
The love of God compels us
Out of darkness into His light
Shame, fear, and rejection
Must take flight
For we will fight
The love of God compels us
Deeper still in the love of God
Taking the sword of the Spirit
Which is the Word of God
Satan we will trod
The love of God compels us
To love others; that's our gift
We must love them deeply
Nothing can be swift
Their spirits we will lift
The love of God compels us
Show that Jesus is the best
No comparison does it take
To realize they don't pass the test
So leave the rest
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