Why am I here in Gainesville, GA, at CGA, or even more generalized, why am I here on this earth?
Well that got too real too quick…
I’ll start with Gainesville and CGA, since the other will naturally unravel as I talk about CGA.
CGA, what is it? Good questions! I’m gonna start with giving you someone else’s words before my own, straight from the CGA Adventures in Missions page! Here’s the why, what, and how of CGA, then I’ll explain my why, what, and how.
What we’re here to do: Know Yourself. Lead yourself. Lead others.
Mission statement:“The Center for Global Action exists to mobilize a generation to be passionate followers of Jesus who live out their faith whether at home, professionally, or church planting overseas.”
Leadership Curriculum: “Our curriculum is based on “know yourself, lead yourself, lead others”. We develop character and the ability to lead others emotionally and spiritually while understanding one’s true identity in Christ. We believe in hands on training, activation, and experiential learning.”
When I look at those statements its very easy for me too see how CGA does exactly that. We meet in class Monday through Friday, and the things we have learned so far have led me to greater awareness of who I am as Madalyn Rose Riedlinger, as a follower of Jesus, as a human that has emotions, feelings, a body, dreams, possessions, and desires, and how to steward all these things well.
Steward/stewardship has definitely been words we’ve learned a ton about. To us that’s meant using all the things in our life and caring for them in a way that glorifies God.
We have learned about stewardship with topics like, emotional, spiritual, and physical health, enneagram, possessions and money, Meyers and Briggs personality test, decision making, vulnerability, and most recently spiritual gifts!
I want to share a few things, 3 for now, that I learned that have lead me into greater levels of self-awareness and intimacy with God the Father:
1. I completely wear my emotions on my whole body, but that’s okay because I’m learning how to show up with complete integrity, letting the outside of me match what’s going on inside. And what I’ve learned is that I’m not super great at communicating my heart and emotions behind things I suggest, say, some of my actions, or things I believe strongly. I’m definitely learning how to share, and talk in a way that communicates my emotions and heart behind everything, but I’m learning and failing, and failure is actually really good for growth. Failure when it comes to relating to people can create conflict, but conflict can be a beautiful platform for reconciliation.
2. I have been put on this earth for the purpose of walking out healing, walking others through healing, and learning about wholistic/holistic health for the purpose of teaching others all about it too! (see there it is that’s why I’m here on this earth!) And they totally go hand in hand! I have a deep, deep passion for healing & holistic health and I realized its completely linked to some of the spiritual gifts I know the Lord has anointed me with; healings, discernment of spirits, and prophecy. God gave me these passions and these gifts for a great and wonderful reason I’m so excited to continue to walk out & learn how to steward well.
3. When we looked at something called car models for Meyers & Briggs personality tests, I realized that I unconsciously do everything through the lens of creating and/or keeping harmony. I unknowingly am hyper aware of how the things I do effect the people around me, or the harmony of a group. I unconsciously make pretty much all of my decisions with the question, “will this create harmony?” guiding me.
I mainly share these things in attempt to share that I am learning a lot here, and all of these things are things I feel with all of my heart I needed to learn at this very specific moment in my life. I need this self-awareness, these lessons, in order to prepare me for the rest of my life. Were these lessons I may have learned later in life? Maybe, but I had the opportunity to say yes to CGA and learn these things now and I felt in my spirit that this was an invitation I wanted & needed to say yes to. This is my preparation for what I desire the rest of my life to look like; continually learning how to be lead towards greater awareness of myself for the purpose of being lead into greater intimacy with Jesus so that I can lead others in the same way. I desire those realizations to completely infiltrate into my work, my school, volunteer opportunities, family, relationships, etc. Everything! Its been already such a great gift to be able to understand who I am, how I function, who God says I am, and how to be on a growth path towards where I want to be, my dreams, and what I know God has for me.
The things I have learned so far at CGA where things I somewhat knew about, but didn’t even know I didn’t know the depth or the value of. I knew of them but I didn’t know how to steward them well, what they meant for me, and how they could transform my life. I keep saying I didn’t even know what I didn’t know until CGA, and I know these continual new revelation will be the preparation I need for what comes after CGA at the end of May.
So in summary, I am learning about myself, how to lead myself, and how to lead others in the many ways God has specifically designed me to. I am learning, working, failing, and am being lead to even deeper intimacy with God.And what an absolute gift this has been.
ALSO likewise for most people, things have looked a little different for us with everything going on with the coronavirus. I am still in Gainesville, GA, and yes still doing CGA. Classes for us have been modified a bit, they’re all done via video chat. So each house (there’s 4) connect to google hangout with our leaders Ben, Averi, Abby, and Kaylaynn and they teach us what was planned for the week or day and then we discuss topics via video chat and then as a house. We are still learning, but yes some class days have been canceled due to the need to fill immediate needs in the Adventures in Missions community. The CGA class is getting involved and helping in whatever needs necessary. That’s looked liked volunteering to watch AIM staff kids when they need to go grocery shopping or working, intentionally praying for racers that come off the field, buying supplies for global missionaries that need warmer clothes that come home, or deep cleaning AIM facilities.
We’re trying our very best, as I’m sure you all are doing, to keep things as “normal” as possible. And God has for real blessed us cabin girls with acres of land to explore and run on so we don’t go stir crazy!
Thankfully for me, all of my school work is online, and my job is online, so I’ve kept a fairly normal schedule. But I definitely have loved having a little more free time to rest, catch up with friends and family, and hangout & get to know my housemates more!
Also I am still fundraising! Here’s a little update with that:
Seeking monthly partners in prayer and financially!!
Specifically 17 people willing to donate $100 for the next 3 months!
Immediate deadlines coming up:
$240 by March 28th – seeking 6 supporters to donate $50!
Best avenues of donation at the moment are through PayPal ([email protected]) or Venmo (@mrieds)
Here’s how to support me in prayer:
Prayers & Praises:
Prayers for financial provision with upcoming deadlines. I could definitely use prayer for time management with continuing online school, work, and investing in relationships in this community! Please continually pray for courage to speak up when I feel the Lord pressing it on my heart to do so, and to communicate with peace, love, and grace! Learning to navigate new friendships is not exactly easy, but I absolutely love the learning!
Praises for this place we live, the cabin, and the land we have to roam around, and good running trails. I thank Jesus for this time to connect with friends, family, and supporters! Praise the Lord for health, my house and I are all healthy!
Here’s also a couple of lovely photos of what class looks like, and my new pals and I taking advantage of this beautiful land.
Thank you all for your support & prayers. Please feel free to reach out to me if you want to catch up soon! I’d love to chat & having a little more free time is great for that! 🙂
Love,
Mady
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