My June 2011 update

Greetings from the midwest! It’s been a little bit since I have connected with you all! I pray you are healthy, happy and full in the Spirit! So much has happened in the past few months I barely know where to start! God is so good, I am so blessed to be His! I have so much to be thankful for.
I finished my first semester of the Forerunner School of Ministry and jumped immediately into my second semester via e-school. This allows me to soar right in as a 2nd year student in the fall. The course load is super intense as I have to jam an entire semester into two and a half months but despite working two jobs and moving twice, I’m two weeks ahead of schedule. Just to give you an idea about what my class schedule looks like... I have about 14-hour long lectures, a report, a comprehensive test, an assigned book to read, a journal assignment and 10+ prayer room hours to fulfill per week. I’m keeping very busy, but I am enjoying every minute of what the Lord is doing in my life. Right now in my practicum my journal assignment is a verse by verse hand written commentary of Psalm 119. Unexpectedly my commentary has turned into an outpouring of my heart in prayer, the Lord has been speaking so much to my heart through it.
I just finished reading the book “Why Revival Tarries” by Leonard Ravenhill. I would highly recommend everyone read it, this book convicted my heart in so many ways and has inspired me even more to pursue the Lord with everything that I am. Ravenhill’s thoughts on prayer were especially powerful, “Who can tell the measure of God’s power? One might estimate the weight of the world, tell the size of the Celestial city, count the stars of heaven, measure the speed of lightning, and tell the time of the rising and setting of the sun--but you cannot estimate prayer power. Prayer is as vast as God because He is behind it. Prayer is as mighty as God because He has committed Himself to answer it. God pity us that in this noblest of all employments for the tongue and for the spirit, we stammer so. If God does not illuminate us in the closet, we walk in darkness. At the judgement seat the most embarrassing thing the believer will face will be the smallness of his praying.” p.156
I must say, the measure of my faith in prayer must increase, the passion that drives my prayer life must increase, the brevity of my prayers must cease, Father give me the burden for intercession! This has been the cry of my heart lately, the burden of prayer I have carried in my heart up until now has been so miniscule compared to the burden the Lord wants to give me.
I started a new job serving at Bluestem a few weeks ago, it is an ultra-fine-dining restaurant that offers two options, a 5 course tasting menu and a 10 course tasting menu. Although the food is unmatched in the midwest and the pay will be a huge step up from NoRTH, I have never worked in such a spiritually dark place before. I have to constantly ask the Lord to keep my heart in check and to give me grace to be salt and light to my co-workers. Due to my school schedule in the fall I will only be available to work on Saturday nights which might pose an issue but I’m trusting the Lord to guide me and to provide for me, so all in all I have peace that whatever direction He leads it will be good.
Regardless of where I am working I have requested time off during the 2nd week of August to come home! I have been missing everyone so badly that I have been bursting into tears every time I see someone who reminds me of someone back home. I’ll keep you posted on when that will be, I have yet to make travel arrangements.
Somehow I have managed to encounter nearly all of the hazards of the midwest in the short time I have been here, from tarantula’s (no joke) and cottonmouth snakes to getting vampired by deer ticks, why do I have to be such an adventurer!!?!? I had a rude awakening when 12 tornado’s swept the streets of my neighborhood one morning. My roommates and I piled into the bathtub under a mattress for two hours to wait until the coast was clear. The Lord had His mighty hand on us as it was three days after the Joplin tragedy and no serious damage was done. Speaking of Joplin, it is only 2 hours south of me and IHOPU is sending teams to aid the families involved as well as raise up prayer furnaces in the city. Some of my friends have gone to help and they say that it is surreal walking through the devastated streets. Every house is leveled to it’s foundation minus a couch or a shower or a closet that remained untouched. It is amazing to see the mercy of the Lord for the people because 9 times out of ten the untouched place is where the people were hiding. A classmate who was there told me that out of about 7,000 homes that were destroyed only 162 people were killed. As a result, I have heard several testimonies of people giving their lives to the Lord. Praise God! The people there are still in an incredible state of shock and need a ton of prayer, love and support. Please pray for Joplin!
Well, I have much more to tell but it will have to wait until another day!
I love you all and think of you often! Please let me know how to pray for you! I love hearing from you!
Bless you!
Korynne Van Riper

I was in a music video...

Aaron Leatherdale, an IHOP-KC rap artist recently made a music video and I was one of the extras... Here it is...

Alone...

What does it look like in this day and age to be alone with the Lord? I settle down with some tea, with my bedroom door closed, crank up Kim Walker's spontaneous songs, open my favorite bible passage and go for it. But am I really alone? I was reading today about the life of St. Anthony and how as a young man the Lord called him away to be alone with Him for 20 years. You want to know what he did? He went away to the desert with just the clothes on his back, no friends, no family, it was just him and the Lord. Doesn't it sound glorious? Not really. But he came out of that season so near to the heart of the Father, with such a deep communal relationship that the Lord used his life to minister to others in a powerful way.

This makes me think about how I get alone with God, the scenario I described above is missing one major element. Along with my bible and my tea and the music, I also drag this huge mass into my room, I try to stuff it in my closet so it can't distract me, but in all reality my closet is way to small to even close the door on it. The mass is a pile of thoughts, needs, desires and obligations: my friends, my family, the status of all my relationships both good and bad, my cell phone is right on top, along with all the phone calls I have to return and the text messages that I can't help but peek at, somewhere in there I have some unpaid bills, my work schedule, the guest that forgot to tip me last week, those nasty things the lady said to me at the grocery store, the guy I think is the bees knees and the wondering of what he thinks of me, the wrong things I said to my co-worker, what I'm going to eat for lunch, and every other little thing that is buried in my mind at the moment.

How can I really be alone with the Lord when the world makes such a demanding presence? How can I seek the Lord fully with everything around me screaming at me for attention? The other problem I run into is that I find it uncomfortable to be alone. It seems like anytime I have a free moment I'm trying to fill it with something, I have this deep, hidden fear of having nothing to do. So I pacify myself with phone calls, books, movies, work, food and so on. I think the value of St. Anthony's season alone with God lies in the unavoidable face time,the total dependence on the Lord for relationship and provision because in all reality there is nothing else and no one else to depend on. I can only imagine the level of vulnerability with the Lord he had that was borne out of the pain of loneliness, and despair at the vanilla of life. It is so easy for me to fill my schedule and call a friend when I need to connect with someone, but how often is it that the desire for relationship is actually the Lord seeking time with me and I fill my time with lesser pleasures. I've been seeking the Lord about what those things are that I've allowed to become a distraction, the little things in life that pacify me and keep me from pursuing the Lord with my whole heart.
Father, help me, teach me, lead me, I want so much more of You, increase my hunger for your presence, show me how to cut out the lesser pleasures in life in Jesus name.

Shiloh, a peaceful lake behind the prayer room...

Twister... not a fun game.

I spent an hour and a half today in the bathtub under the mattress from our futon with my roommate and a co-worker praying in tongues and reciting scripture as we waited for a twister to pass through our neighborhood. It is an eerie feeling when you first hear a tornado warning siren, it's almost like the world stops moving for a moment before you have to snap into action. Thank you Lord for your mercy on Kansas City! There were twelve tornado's that touched down in our area, but there was no serious damage and no one was hurt. Praise God!
Pray for Joplin, MO...

New work!

One of the fine dining restaurants that I had originally hoped to work at finally has an open server position! They hired me yesterday and I start in 2 weeks! Praise the Lord! Check out their website and menu.... www.bluestemkc.com

A Diary of New Orleans...

Strolling through the French Quarter of New Orleans! My friend Cynthia was a fantastic tour guide, we spent Tuesday evening discovering all the must see places in New Orleans!

We stopped to take lots of pictures...

This may have been one of the funniest sights...

And this one takes a close second....

I had Beignet's at Cafe Du Monde... ummm.... Three times. :)

We topped off the southern food experience with shrimp Po'Boys, gumbo and bread puddin' at Mother's which was also a pit stop on Man vs. Food.

I took this picture for you Daddy!

The architecture in the French Quarter was adorable...

With the occasional grand cathedral!

I also walked down bourbon street for memories sake.

I pretended to be an indian just because. :)

There were little boats and BIG boats...

And quaint little cubbies!

You can't go to Louisiana without seeing a gator!

There was a family of pink flamingo's!

I even made friends with a wee little elephant...

I went on a river cruise with the Soto's...

Guided by Captain Luis.

I spent a day relaxing at Ruah and even was treated with a facial!
It was a glorious time, I was so blessed by the Soto Family!

Goodbye New Orleans! Until next time!