Crystal UPDATE from YWAM orlando

Greetings all!
I am shocked to realize that it is the middle of may! In exactly one month I will be returning home to see many of you! This past month has been a great one. I have been doing many things here In Youth With A Mission Orlando. First though I would like to thank you all for your prayers. In my last newsletter I mentioned to you many of my needs and prayer requests. One of which was a financial need. Thanks to your prayers and a miracle from God I received the amount needed for me to remain here in Orlando to finish my School of Ministry and Development.
    Over the past month or so I have been here working as a staff member with YWAM as a part of my Ministry Development outreach. I spend time working in their offices doing data entry, working with the new School Of Ministry and Development that arrived here last month, working in child care, being a dorm supervisor and also playing keys and singing on the worship team. This is all really awesome stuff. However a few times a week I am able to set aside focused time on specifically developing the calling / ministry that God has given me. I GREATLY look forward to these times. It is in these times that I am able to " fuel my passion" for the 24/7 prayer ministry, by researching what is going on in the nation wide prayer movement. Reading books and listening to Pod casts by Pete Grieg (founder of 24/7 prayer) and Trent Sheppard. Checking out the International House of Prayer Live stream from Kansas city, and also goal planning and vision casting for the next few years up the road. I am so excited to be coming home to you all next month. I am praying and have a feeling that God is going to birth something awesome and exciting through the " 24/7 ENCOUNTER"  prayer ministry that was developed last November at Road To Life Church.  
   God has really been showing me a lot this past month about personal Insecurities and just how much they affect your ability to lead a team of people. There are many days where I look at the world around me and begin to worry what people are thinking about me. I am over conscious of my every action desperately trying so hard not to make a mistake, or say something stupid. A task that I frequently fail in. Or I think that because I am not a certain way that God won't be able to use me, or I am not a strong enough in leadership to accomplish that. These thoughts constantly keep me from stepping out and doing what I feel God is leading me to do.
Lately I have begun to realize that most of these thoughts all just, thoughts. Something that is completely and totally in my head. Partially I know that these insecurities come from a desire to please the world around me. A personality trait that I have developed over the years due to that fact that confrontation intimidates the heck out of me. A second thing that I have taken into consideration is the fact that: in our society today, and especially in the christian subculture, there has been laid a HEAVY emphasis on being a certain type of leader. I know I am not " that type of leader" but this does not mean God cannot use me to lead! Through out scripture God constantly used the underdog to carry out his plan. Though I am not particularly pleased with being the underdog who is by definition, socially awkward. I think that I am pleased to know that God will be greatly glorified through someone like me! I thank God for people like you, who have seen the potential in me and have poured out resources and time into helping me follow God's leading over my life. With that said I would like to once again say THANK YOU SO MUCH, for all you have done!
For those of you who are praying with me I do have a few prayer requests I would like to mention. The first is for the remainder of my time here that God would continue the work He is doing in me and through me. The second is for safe travels when I return home next month. The third is for when I return home that God will provide full time employment for me so that I can find an apartment and continue to develop the "24/7 ENCOUNTER"  ministry! Thanks again for all your prayers and support!

~Crystal Huff~