August 2026 Update: The Father's Dream - What Jesus Came to Restore

Preparing for Fall

August has been another month of preparing and getting things in place for what is ahead. There isn't always a lot to see during seasons of preparation, but there is a lot happening behind the scenes. As a team at YWAM Ships Corpus Christi, we have three main areas of focus for this fall, and I am excited about each one.

Learning to Read the Story

On September 1, our Chronological Bible Core Course begins with seven students. I am really excited about this group and about what God is going to do in each of their lives over the coming months.

Please pray for these seven students as they begin this journey. Pray that God would give them a great hunger for His Word and that this would be much more than simply another course they complete. We are praying that it will change the way they understand God, Scripture, themselves and their place in His Kingdom.

Building for What God Has Called Us To

We are also preparing for a couple of fundraisers this fall, with the first one coming up in just a few weeks. There are still plenty of details to work out, so we would appreciate your prayers as we pull everything together and, more importantly, as we trust God to bring the right people.

One part of the September fundraiser will be a silent auction. It will take place in person, but we will also have items available to bid for online so that those who live outside the Corpus Christi area can participate. If you would like information about the online auction, let me know and I would be happy to send you the details.

The funds raised will help YWAM Ships Corpus Christi continue moving forward in our mission to reach the isolated and unreached islands of our planet. One of our current needs is to find and procure a facility that can provide housing, meeting space and offices. Having a facility like this would allow us to be much more efficient in our training and in the many other things God has called us to do here.

Bringing the Great Commission Home

Our third focus this fall is connecting with local churches and other groups throughout this part of Texas. We believe God is asking us to help train and equip Christians to have a greater understanding of the Great Commission, what God is doing around the world, the needs that still exist, and the many ways each of us can take part, both locally and globally.

I have been working on materials and preparing for these opportunities, and I am excited to see where God opens doors. My prayer is that these won't simply be presentations about missions, but opportunities to help people see themselves as participants in God's mission.

Please pray that God would open doors for us to share this message in churches and groups throughout the area, and that He would use us to encourage the Church into a greater understanding and expression of the Great Commission.

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Finding My Place in the Local Church

One of the things I have been intentionally focusing on personally this month is becoming more involved in my church here in Corpus Christi.

Since moving here last November, I found a church fairly quickly, but I knew there would be a process of getting settled and finding where God wanted me to plug in. After several months of getting my home and ministry life established here, I felt like it was time to really begin investing in the local church.

I have attended three of the church’s home groups, and I have finally found the one where I believe God has me for this season. I am really enjoying getting to know the ladies in the group and growing together as we go through our current study.

I have also started serving on the greeters’ team, which has been a great way to begin meeting people and becoming more connected with the church family.

And, perhaps because apparently I didn't have enough to do, I have also started an eight-week course through the church's Ministry School. I am actually taking two classes, and both have been so enriching. God has been speaking to me through what I am learning, and I have really felt Him pouring into me during this season.

That has been one of the sweetest parts of this season for me. After so much emphasis on doing, going, accomplishing and preparing, I am recognizing how much important it is to allow God to pour into me as well.

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The Father's Dream

One of the things God has been growing in my understanding this month is His original plan for humanity and what He intended our relationship with Him to look like from the very beginning. When we think about the Garden of Eden, it is easy to focus on the beauty of creation itself. But I am beginning to see that there was something even more beautiful taking place in the Garden. God wasn't simply creating a beautiful world and putting humanity into it. He was creating a family.

I have always understood that God created us for relationship with Him, and that is certainly true. But I am realizing that it goes much deeper than simply having a relationship with our Creator. God longs for family. Adam and Eve were created to be His children, to know Him as Father and to live with the security, identity and belonging that comes from being part of a family. God walked with them, provided for them, gave them purpose and invited them to participate with Him in what He was doing. They belonged to Him. They were His. There is something much deeper about family than simply being in a relationship with someone. Family speaks of identity and belonging in a way that relationships alone cannot. It is a bond that runs deep.

God also created humanity to be image bearers. We were made in His image to represent Him to the rest of creation. He gave Adam and Eve authority to rule over the earth and entrusted them with the responsibility of caring for what He had made. They were to reflect their Father to the world around them, carrying His character and representing His rule. They weren't simply given a task to accomplish. They were invited, as His family, to participate in His purposes and to represent Him throughout His creation. They were created to live in complete harmony with their Father, with one another and with the creation He had entrusted to them.

That was the Father's dream for humanity from the beginning: a family that knows Him, belongs to Him, reflects His image and lives in the authority He has given them to accomplish His purposes. And then humanity chose something else. Sin didn't simply break a rule. It fractured the family and brought separation, shame, fear and death into a world God had created for life. The image of God in humanity was marred, our understanding of who we were was distorted, and the authority we had been given was affected by the Fall.

The more I understand what God intended from the beginning, the more deeply I appreciate what Jesus accomplished at Calvary. Jesus didn't come simply to make give sinners hope or make a way for us to get into heaven. He came to restore what had been broken. He came to bring us back to the Father, to restore our identity as His children and to make a way for us to once again live as the family God intended us to be. He came to restore the Father's dream.

A deeper understanding of this has given me a much greater appreciation for all that Jesus did at Calvary. It has also renewed my desire to allow the Holy Spirit to continue working in me, teaching me what it means to live completely surrendered to God, to know my identity as His daughter, to reflect His image well and to walk in the authority He has restored to me. If God's dream has always been to have a family that knows Him, represents Him and participates with Him in His purposes, then I want my life to be part of that dream.

The Father's dream wasn't abandoned in the Garden. Jesus came to restore it.

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Please Pray With Me

As we look toward the coming months, I would love for you to join me in praying for several things:

For our students: Pray for the seven students beginning the Chronological Bible Core Course on September 1. Pray that God would meet each one personally and that His Word would come alive to them.

For our fall fundraisers: Pray for wisdom as we prepare for the upcoming events, for all the details to come together, and for God to bring exactly the right people. Pray that these events would provide the resources we need to continue moving forward.

For a facility: Pray with us as we look toward finding a facility that can provide housing, meeting space and offices for YWAM Ships Corpus Christi. We believe this would be a significant step forward in what God is building here.

For open doors: Pray that God would open doors with churches and groups throughout South Texas and give us opportunities to help people see their place in the Great Commission.

For my church community: Pray that God would continue helping me become rooted and connected in my local church and that these new relationships would become a meaningful part of this season of my life.

For my support team: Finally, please pray that God would continue to grow my support team. As I step into all that God is calling me to in this next season, I want to have the financial and prayer support needed to be fully available and effective in the work He has given me.

Thank you for being part of this journey with me. Your prayers, encouragement, and partnership truly make a difference!