Too Young for the World Race? You Don't Have to Wait!

Some of my greatest mentors.

Posted in General Posts by Ashley Beaudin on 3/25/2012

Some of my greatest mentors have been children under the age of five. I never asked them to lead me or teach me. I never even asked the Lord if I could encounter Him through them. I just have a feeling He did it because He could and there is always something the generation behind us can teach us. It is legacy. It is unity. It is His heart. So grab a seat, pour yourself a cup of coffee and let me tell you about three little girls who the Lord use to wreck me, rock me and set me free.

I met a little girl named Sophie which means wisdom about three years ago. She was two years old and was one of the cutest kids I had ever met. She reminded me a lot of my half sister, Savannah. I met her as I had responded to an ad to come and babysit for her family. On my first night that I ever babysat for that family, we played together and she did crazy things that I told her were not good ideas - like microwaving grapes. ;)

After I had put her to bed for the night, Sophie kept crying. At first I wondered if she was trying to get out of going to bed. But then I noticed that she was getting more sick and more sick. She was having trouble breathing and so she would wake up afraid and start crying. So I got into her bed with her, held her and rubbed her hair until she fell asleep.

I wanted her to feel safe enough to fall asleep. As she was sleeping beside me and I was rubbing her hair, I suddenly heard the Lord speak to me so clearly and say, "You are going to go all over the nations and you're going to lay with children and hold them so that they feel safe enough to fall asleep." Silent tears fell down my face.

Sophie taught me about the Father and the wild destiny God has for me.

The second little one I met was Nora who I began to nanny for part-time. When I met her lovely little self, she was three months and I hung out with her a lot over the next seven months. She was an incredible baby except she hated to sleep.

I spent a lot of time with her praying over her life and into her destiny. I specifically spent a lot of time praying that she would be so filled with the peace of God that she would fall asleep; that He would rock her to rest. It honestly worked every time. Nora had a twin who didn't make it and I know how that type of loss impacts babies more than we really realize. I know Jesus brought a lot of healing into that little life and to this day, Nora has a special place in my heart.

Nora taught me that Jesus longs to heal our hearts.

Most recently, I met the sweetest little girl when we were working in the Dominican Republic. It was hard to really get her name, the closest we got from her was "Lulu." It is hard to say if that was really it, but we ran with it. I met her one of the mornings when we were hanging out in a park and out of nowhere, she bolted through that park and threw herself on my legs. I spent that morning making her giggle.

Later that week, i saw her again and her brother and sister. They followed me everywhere. My team needed my help moving a family and so I told her to wait there in my broken French. While I moved the entire family, they all waited, in fact they did not move an inch.

Lulu taught me that play is powerful and love is relentless.

Their freedom was outrageous.
Their cry was obvious.
Their hope was reckless.

These are the lives I want to lay my own life down for.
To preserve a generation to truly become deliverers.

I won't settle for anything less.

Comments (1) |

Send to a friend |

Update Alerts

For my Squad - 50 random things.

Posted in General Posts by Ashley Beaudin on 3/24/2012

Alright, here it goes my friends.

1. I have moved 14 times in the past four years. My Mama calls me her gypsy child. I am okay with it. Me and transition are good friends.

2. Apparently, when I was really little, I believed I could push walls. I kind of still believe I can.

3. I love bland tasting things. Too much flavour and I just find it overwhelming.

4. I work for a member of Canadian Parliament doing communications. It is one of the best opportunities I have had. In fact, I can talk about Canadian politics for quite awhile, just you wait.

5. I am an introvert turned extrovert. I am not sure when it happened but I am pretty sure the Holy Spirit had something to do with it.

6. I am fascinated as to why people to the things they do and how they have come to believe what they believe. Some may call this psychology.

7. I am vulnerable and I am honest. Ask me anything and I will probably tell you. I am healed and it has made me free.

8. I am a visionary at heart. I love a good idea. I love taking good ideas and turning them into reality.

9. One of my heroes is Heidi Baker. The revelation and model she carries is pure power.

10. I grew up in a small town where we have a chicken festival and everyone knows each other and the longest existing chain store is Tim Hortons - y'all know what that is?

11. Writing is one of my serious passions and outlets. It is something I have thrown myself into for the past ten years and I have seen God do some insane stuff with it.

12. The other day I saw someone's leg grow out and give their heart to Jesus in the mall and I was blown away by His goodness.

13. I am super passionate about encouragement and the voice of the Lord. I believe that the heart of God is FOR you and He has something He wants to say to you and it is GOING to change your life.

14. I love the Holy Spirit. He is ridiculous, He is wild and He is so real. I have encountered Him in ways that have absolutely marked me.

15. I am really into storytelling. Chances are I will tell it dramatically, with big hand motions too.

16. I have recently discovered my love for dance. It is totally out of control when I really go for it but it makes me feel free. It is always a gamble. Sometimes I fall over, sometimes I run into walls and sometimes I punch people. It is all by accident of course.

17. Cooking is not my strength or my love. When I first moved out, I gave myself food poisoning too many times to count.

18. Night time is my time. I also love to pray through the night. Let's do it up.

19. Some of my greatest mentors have been children under the age of 5.

20. I believe that walking with the older generation is VITAL to everything God has put in us.

21. I have walked with spiritual parents and mentors for the past eight years. Their wisdom and truth in my life is a treasure I have valued so deeply.

22. I love to giggle. Man, it is so good. But there is my giggle and there is my laugh and my laugh loud.

23. My voice seems to change when I pray. It used to scare me now I just know it is the Holy Spirit upon me.

24. I have one sister, two stepsisters, two stepbrothers and a half sister. Phew.

25. I cannot believe I am only half way.

26. I thrive more in crisis, than I do in calm situations.

27. One of the biggest lessons I ever learned was that your past and what has happened to you does not determine who you are and what you are called to.

28. I am a big dreamer in the night. In fact, I have already started dreaming about the Race.

29. I have had the absolute honour of serving on the Ontario Prophetic Council.

30. The first time I preached, it was with a translator, and I saw so many people get filled with the Holy Spirit.

31. Preaching is a passion of mine.

32. I believe that revival is inside of me and it was made to impact the atmosphere and lives around me.

33. Sometimes I can be totally impractical. Once I washed my clothes for a few months with fabric softener, not laundry detergent.

34. I like to go out to eat way more than I should.

35. I think one of my biggest fear is that I won't have any friends, in general and on the Race.

36. I love languages, but I lack the courage and trying them out.

37. Creativity is so inspiring to me. Colours and words. I am definitely a words person.

38. Do you know how amazing you are?

39. I am passionate about caring for and speaking destiny into infants.

40. The Gospel is the most powerful story I have ever heard. I intend on repeating it for the rest of my life.

41. Sometimes evangelism scares me. I try and push past it.

42. I love the sound of waves.

43. The corniest jokes will make me laugh. I can swear by it.

44. I am an intense person. Just laying it out there.

45. I am not into things like getting tattoos or bungee jumping or rollar coasters. They all make me want to cry in fear.

46. I love make-up but I do not wear it every day.

47. I do not like my degree in human rights. But I have fought for it because the Lord told me to.

48. I love donuts. Oh man. You have no idea.

49. People tell me my hair is nice.

50. Anything else exciting about me will reveal itself in time.

;)

Comments (6) |

Send to a friend |

Update Alerts

Holy Spirit.

Posted in General Posts by Ashley Beaudin on 3/2/2012

First off, I just want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who has committed to pray and contribute financially to my trip. It is such an encouragement to me and I know you will reap powerfully all that you sow!
______

Tonight I want to write about the one whom I love. He is my biggest mentor, my greatest counsellor and my most dedicated coach; Holy Spirit. I love Holy Spirit. I love how He moves; that when He walks into a room, everything changes. I love how He speaks; in a moment darkness is cast away and truth is revealed. I love how He falls upon people; lambs truly become lions. I love that He can be gentle in one breath and fierce in the next. I love that He knows everything about me and chooses to walk with me.

He reveals the Father and leads me to Jesus.

It was Holy Spirit that revealed to me the reality of God and it was there that caught my heart forever. Sitting as a 14 year old girl in my bunk bed that night in the middle of nowhere, I told myself, "I am not sure how anyone can say God isn't real. I just encountered Him and I will never be the same."

For the past eight years, it hasn't changed, He has continued meeting with me. He is my constant. He is my pillar. He is my great strength.

I love watching Him walk into a room and move on people. I love seeing His fire set hearts for the Father. I love when His presence chases sickness away and sets the people of God free.

We, my friends, were made for an intimate walk with Holy Spirit. It is what brings us to life.

So for a moment, pause with me and let's ask Holy Spirit what He is doing, what He is thinking and where He is going and then let's run with Him. It will be wild and it will be radical but it will be totally worth it.

Comments (2) |

Send to a friend |

Update Alerts

He knows me.

Posted in General Posts by Ashley Beaudin on 1/27/2012

Everything inside of me wants Jesus. I want to swim in the dreams of His heart. I want to get lost in His love. I want to be swept up by His power. I want to dance with His tenderness and I want to encounter His passion. Long ago, I layed my life down for Him and I am convinced that I was made to keep laying it down.

I remember a couple years ago the Lord spoke to my heart and said, "If you feel like an orphan, just lay down, and you will awake as a daughter." Our culture promotes orphan thinking. Day in and day out, we are told lies by our culture, by the media, by educational institutions, by popular thinking that tries to get us to believe that we are not loved, we are unwanted and something is always wrong with us. One moment in His presence tells me otherwise. It tells me I belong with Him.

If I can just get to the place of laying with Him, I am reminded that my heartbeat started with His heartbeat and that my breath started with His breath.

As I have been thinking and praying lately for the World Race, the one thing that burns on my heart: I want to be with Him where He is and I want to pour my life out for the least of these. Sometimes I think that sounds romantic and sometimes it sounds nicer than it really can at times feel in the moment.

But what would it look like if I started to get hungry, like really hungry for His nearness? What if I started to get a deep hunger for heaven coming into earth because that's what Jesus does and it is what His very presence burns to do? What if I threw all my selfish ambition and all my needs and all my comfort and all my security to abandon and with all of my heart said, I don't care about the cost - I am ready to see Him come.

This is the true song of my heart.

I am so reminded that the Lord has given me a story and I believe even now the Lord is breaking through in my life on so many fronts. I know what it feels like to be broken, shaken and violated. But I also know what it feels like to be restored, healed and found. This is why I am passionate about the power of the Gospel. It is GOOD NEWS.

Because when suddenly you thought there was no hope and that darkness was your inheritance, out comes a Man who says "I know all you have ever done. I know all that has ever been done to you. I have never stopped loving you." Suddenly, you see people walking out from the corners of abuse, oppression and hatred. They are throwing their chains of addictions, suicide and sin to the ground. They are coming under this idea that someone SEES them, someone LOVES them, someone is NOT AFRAID of their pain.

It makes the Gospel not just a story. But a powerful exchange.

If I can touch one life with this, Papa, I say yes.

If I can touch crowds with this, Papa, I am Yours.

If I can touch nations with this, Papa, do whatever it takes.

Comments (1) |

Send to a friend |

Update Alerts

He has a story for you to tell.

Posted in General Posts by Ashley Beaudin on 12/23/2011

The other day I was just thinking about the Lord.

Honestly, it is the big focus of my heart right now.

The Lord.

Him.

What do those eyes of fire really look like?

And what does it actually feel like when they fall on....

me.

And the sound of His voice,

Is it raspy?

Or is it gentle?

Does it give me shivers?

Does it bring me to my knees?

Or does it do everything....

all at once.

Him.

Then I thought about my story.

I thought about every dark night.

Every storm we walked.

Every valley we passed through.

Every answered cry.

I thought about the faithfulness of God.

The undying, unfailing love of Jesus.

The love that never runs out and that never gives up.

The mercy that follows me everywhere I go.

The hope that tells me every day, "You are more than this."

And suddenly.

I felt the warrior rise on the inside of me.
Tenacious fire bursting from the inside.

I AM WHO HE SAYS I AM.

He tells me that my testimony has power.

My story is not just for me, it is for them.

Everything I have overcome was for a generation.

He isn't done with me yet.

In fact, He is still building a story.

He wants to build a story that will set people free.

Heal people of disease,

Bring them into the Kingdom,

Love them out of darkness.

A story that will say,

You are not what life handed you.

Your inheritance is not suffering.

No, no, in fact...

There is a King that has commissioned me to tell you a story.

It is a story of you and it's a story of Him.

He walked the earth in pursuit of your heart.

He said, "I have to find the one I love!"

That person is you.

He bled on a Cross thinking of you.

He rose from the grave thinking of you.

He sent the Holy Spirit thinking of you.

He is still thinking of you.

Even now.

Suddenly.

It is not divorce, it is family.

It is not abuse, it is healing.

It is not depression, it is joy.

it is not that same sin, it is victory.

Suddenly.

You know what to say,

To the one who has known no home.

Suddenly.

You know how to hold,

The one whose heart is broken.

Suddenly.

You know how to play with,

The one who has forgotten how.

Suddenly, you remember.

That overcoming is two parts.

It is the blood of the Lamb.

Which you're drenched in head to toe.

And it is the word of testimony on your lips.

Ready to cry out.

Ready to call a generation into destiny.

Yes, Jesus is looking for a voice to possess.

And He has His chosen one.

It is you.

Comments (2) |

Send to a friend |

Update Alerts

He makes my jaw drop.

Posted in General Posts by Ashley Beaudin on 12/9/2011

Today, I want to write about testimony. I pray that these words of testimony will prophesy into your life and release the power and love of God into your heart. You are His kid and man, does He love you.

God is so good. I mean, honestly, He is so good. I need to tell you tonight that this journey of saying YES to God has been changing my life.

It has left me broken. It has left me transformed.

God is breaking the fear of man off of me. Fear of man sucks. Absolutely. It will destroy you and it will get you to submit not to the ways of God, but to any and every other voice. Plus, it is confusing and confusing is never, ever Jesus' way.

I remember one day over these past few weeks when I was having a hard time and specifically having a hard time being confident in my decision that God was INDEED calling me to the World Race. I was prayer walking and I was crying and I just said to Jesus, "What is going on?"

He spoke to me and said, "I am allowing you to grieve the fear of man. You have allowed fearing man to be your safe place because you have thought it would preserve your life."

Jaw dropping stuff.

Subsequently, the Lord used some amazing people and led me through a time where I made an intentional decision that this stuff was no longer for me. Fear will treat you like a slave, it will call you an orphan, and it will use you. I remember once God spoke to me and said, "Fear roams the earth to sow a seed into an orphan that he might receive a portion in a son."

It is so true and listen here, I am tenacious that fear won't sow any seeds in me. He is my reward.

So what has been happening?

I am dancing.
I am singing.
I am laughing my guts out.
I am thinking like a daughter.
I am facing my fears one-by-one.

I think every day we have a choice. We have a choice to submit to Jesus or to submit to fear.

I choose Him. Each and every day, I choose Him.

As for the next thing; He is breaking my heart for the nations of the earth. He is reminding me of what He has put inside of me.

And honestly, you know what my heart aches for?

I want to be fully satisfied in Jesus.

I want to be so overwhelmed by His presence.

I want to be a testimony that the Father provides for His kids.

I want to see nations impacted with the power of God.

Lord Jesus, come and do what only You can do.

Comments (2) |

Send to a friend |

Update Alerts

What led me to do the World Race.

Posted in General Posts by Ashley Beaudin on 11/4/2011

The story of what led me to apply to the World Race didn't happen in an open vision or in the audible voice of God. More so, it was something that was building up inside of me, waiting to get out.

The truth is I am passionate about justice for the nations. It has been something that Jesus built inside of me when I encountered His heart. For years, I have received countless prophetic words about specifically releasing the word of God over nations. It is the same sentiment that has echoed so loudly in my heart.

I could go through the story of how the passion developed many years ago and how God has used me in the areas of activism, politics and ministry. I could tell you the many testimonies that come forth from that place. But I don't think I want to tell all those things because those things are not the point. They aren't the point of what led me here.

Because what led me here is Jesus. Undeniably and honestly Jesus.

It is Jesus who has called me. I heard Him loudly and clearly to take a step and apply. In processing that and further applying, there were so many thoughts running through my mind of whether I was hearing Him or whether I was hearing a wandering and a running heart. In those moments, I felt God speak to my heart and say, "You are not running from Me. You are running to Me. Because you know the place to find Me is among the least of these." I am out to find Jesus. I am out to encounter Him around the world. I am running to the places He is moving because I am in love. And because I am in love, I cannot say anything but yes to Him.

He has provided a story. I feel like God has given me a story. There is so much I have walked through and much that Jesus hand-in-hand has led me to receive the healing, the transformation and the beauty for. I know that these stories, these testimonies are weapons.

Mentors. For quite awhile now, I have been feeling like God has been telling me that He wants the poor to be my mentors. The poor in my city presently and the poor all over the earth. They have things to teach me that are bread from heaven.

I am hungry to see God move. I am hungry to be used of Him. I am hungry to encounter Him. I am hungry to leave it all that I might find more of Him. I am hungry. And it is the hungry who get fed.

I invite you to join in on this journey with me. It will be entirely worth it. I promise.

Comments (1) |

Send to a friend |

Update Alerts