THIS IS COLLEGE

I am sorry that I haven't posted in forever.  A lot of new things have been happening!  Let's start with my new church.  It is called NewSong.  I found out about it through the President of Intervarsity GWU, Billy, who told me his experiences with IHOP (International House of Prayer), discipling with Lou Engle, and working at JHOP (Justice House of Prayer).  I decided to go with him to his church because I had a good feeling that wherever he was happy, I would probably be happy as well.  And when he told me that Lou Engle and Mike Bickle sometimes spoke there, that was the icing on the cake.  So I go and it is freaking AMAZING!  Five minutes in, and I start to cry because I feel like I've found my home.  The congregation is relatively small, similar to MorningStar.  And the worship is incredible.  I could sing forever in that place.  The worship leaders were all so humble and prophetic and moved with the flow of the Holy Spitit.  The whole freakin church is prophetic.  Everyone is so encouraging and has words of knowledge and visions.  Miracles happen at this church.  People get healed.  One guy shared a testimony of praying for a guy who had been in a cane for 17 years and he suddenly was able to walk normal again.  No more pain.   The congregation is teeming with young adults and college age kids.  It's awesome!  What was more, the message was so good that I think I took more notes then I have ever taken notes on a sermon.  He talked about getting past the miracle and encountering the nature of God, that you can be so trained in what you think God is going to do that you miss it when he shows up.  He reminded me that faith is something we can't see.  Anyway, it was a great sermon and spot on for everyone in the room.  Afterward, they allowed people to come up to be prayed for.  These people prayed with such power and conviction, that prophetic messages were coming down and the Holy Spirit filled the room.  AFTER church, I met the most amazing people - so fun, so honest, so encouraging.  Everyone that was on the "church bus" - that is the bus that shuttles us from GW - ate lunch at my FAVORITE restaurant in DC, Founding Farmers.  I LOVED NEWSONG!  I am going back this Sunday.

On the WAY to church, on the "church bus" that leaves from GW, I met a fellow freshman named Esther.  We had a lot in common and we both love IHOP!  We've hung out and studied and I hope to continue our friendship.

On Tuesday, the really exciting event I had been waiting for finally came.  Campus Outreach put on a mini-lecture called "Are all religions basically the same?"  and I found it very enlightening for Christians and especially non-Christians.  A LOT of people came and the gospel was shared in Thurston Hall!

Speaking of the Gospel in Thurston Hall, I shared the gospel with two girls for 5 or 6 hours in the piano lounge of Thurston a week before the event.  God is moving!

I started my internship with U.S. - Arab Relations.  It wasn't too long of a meeting.  After that, I went to a lecture led by the Israeli Major General speaking on the Peace Process.  I found it very vague and unenlightening.  But I know that there will be more opportunities for me to hear from important people, hopefully better than his superfluous speech.

One thing I personally need to pray and study upon is my take on the Israeli-Palestini conflict.  I want Israel to be a nation, a strong and safe nation, one that hopefully will get to keep Jerusalem.  However, I feel like national security isn't a good enough reason to marginalize and abuse an entire people group.  In international politics, there isn't ever a fully RIGHT side or WRONG side (with the expection of Nazi Germany and the Jews, etc.).  In every situation there are complexities.  There are injustices imposed upon either side.  Israel isn't the sheep and Palestine the wolf.  Israel has to account for stripping many Palestinians of human rights, democracy, places to live, equality, and even life.  However, Palestine needs to shut up and deal with Hammas and other terrorist groups within its own people before they can expect to see any change.  In international politics, there is give and take, not right and wrong.  And so I am trying to reconcile these thoughts with the feelings of the church.  The Church wants Israel to remain its own nation and Palestine to live within its borders.  However, I feel that there are too many polarizing cleavages between the people groups (polarizing cleavages meaning characteristics that pull people toward different parties are so stark in the population that no two people have cross-cutting cleavages, unlike America where you can have a black Republican and a white business owner Democrat) that Israelis and Palestinis will not be able to live together in one nation without stripping one of the other of human rights and democracy.  I hope that somehow Palestine can agree on living in a segment of land so it can be sovereign, have statehood, and engage in free trade (which is a major reason they want statehood) and Israel can be the beautiful nation it is.  Anyway, God is in control and he knows what's best.  It doesn't matter what I think.  It matters what he says.  I learned from JHOP (Justice House of Prayer) tonight that we need to at the very least protect and pray for Israel, because it is a nation of our brothers and sisters and God's children. 

JHOP was freaking awesome.  I love these amazing people.  We prayed for our nation, Israel, each other, the church, and worshipped 99% of the time.  Three people spoke over me so much truth and I am ready to let God take me into a new season.  These are the prophecies spoken over me -

1.  You are in a season of rest
2.  God has so many opportunities and open doors planned for you in the future, but right now is your season of rest and he won't take you into that new and busy season until you learn to rest in him now.
3.  You are in a season of resting in your identity in HIm
4.  You are in a season of identity, learning who you are in Christ.  He loves you and he wants you to come into agreement of his love for you.
5.  Just rest in the awesomeness that God is and abide in Him.
6.  No more man-made humility, you are taking on the humility of CHrist

Tonight after JHOP I struck up conversation with two random kids and asked them to dinner.  We ate at TGIF and talked for hours.  Then I shared the gospel and we chilled some more.  THIS IS COLLEGE.


PRAYER REQUESTS

1. That I learn who I am
2. That I love God more, by knowing how much he loves me
3. That I have more boldness and learn to STAND
4. My stomach - crazy pains that I often face
5. Test on Wednesday for BIO, papers due on Monday, Economics HW due Monday....aagghhhhdsfasdfasdjfalskdjfa;

LOVE!
Katrina Doyle

P.S. I did NOT check for spelling or grammatical errors or incoherencies, but I hope you got the gist of what has been on my heart!