Freyja's internet edited testimony

I was born and raised in Sydney Australia with Canadian parents who always loved, supported, disciplined and encouraged me. However, it was my Gramma on my Mum's side who first planted the seeds of God's word in my heart. That word was watered when I was 10 and went to Camp Kedron. Between the ages of 10 and 15 I found myself switching off and on in my relationship with God depending on how long it had been since I was at camp. When I was 15 a guy came and spoke about being a "Camp Christian", I realized that’s what I was and not what I wanted to be. At this point I was truly growing in my faith and learning to live it out in my daily life. Then my family decided to pack up and move to Haliburton Ontario for 8 months. Haliburton is where my Mum grew up and where her parents live. I was enrolled to start year (grade) 10 in January and experience my first Canadian winter with new peers. Attending school in Canada opened my eyes to the reality of  “clicks” I had only been exposed to when watching the movie “Mean Girls”. I made a lot of "friends" really quickly but I put my faith, friendships and life in Australia on hold.

Even though I was having a lot of fun and there were many amazing experiences I was having in Canada, I became extremely frustrated with the little physically activity offered in winter for a girl who grew up playing outdoor competitive sports with no snow. So, I was extremely looking forward to summer! However, God decided to mess up my plans a bit. The first day of summer I had an ATV accident where the doctors thought they would have to amputate my foot. While they put me in for an x-ray my Gramma took my mum in the waiting room and prayed. When the doctors came back with the x-ray all they could really say was "we don’t know how to explain this because we can visually see your foot hanging by threads, but the x-ray shows you missed all your bones and tendons so we are just going to sew you together with 40 something stitches." The following Sunday my Dad said I had to come to church. I kept saying “No”, Partly because usually I was the one telling my parents to come to church, but also because I was in too much pain, I couldn’t shower and I was angry with God. My Dad said, "Come, there is someone you need to thank." I didn’t know who he was talking about. He said, "You need to thank the man up stairs". That’s when I realized, my Dad saw the blessing in the fact that I still had a foot rather than the fact I was injured and couldn’t do anything, and as angry as I was, this finally caused Dad to cling to my faith more strongly than I was.

After summer my family and I traveled for another month before we returned to my home, Australia. When we got home it hit me pretty quickly that things hadn't paused like I pictured in my head. People had grown and changed from innocent 15 year olds to party head 16 year olds. Desiring to follow Christ and be a witness in my family and among friends I was still wobbly in my faith. Emotional and finical stress levels rose for everyone in our house and we all wanted to come back to the “simple life” in Haliburton. My first few weeks of being home I ended up in another relationship and went back to camp were I re-met my best friend Jeannice and her family who began teaching me about purity and bringing ALL areas of my life under God authority. I went home that weekend and broke up with my boyfriend and knew that it was part of the ‘No Turning Back’ point in my relationship with Christ. Since then I have continued to deepen my dependency and relationship with God as my family has been through excruciating pains and great joys! I have found amazing comfort in Romans 5:1-5 “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” My family is still going through great trials right now but I rejoice knowing that through it all, many have come to Christ, including my parents.

When I finished my last two years at high school in Australia  I thought I would go to hungry for two years attending Calvery Chaple Bible College. However, again God threw a spanner in the works last minute and I ended up in Kelowna BC, Canada working as a nanny for a family with 6 kids, all under the age of 6, two sets of twins (the last set I was present for the birth). My first two months I began learning a lot about how to take loneliness in the right spirit, I learnt to step out even more boldly and fight for justice and I spend a lot of time climbing up and down a mountain to get any where. Eventually I got sick of that and I started hitch hiking. My third month I took a few days off after being over worked and I traveled North where I met another Australian girl who lived in the Kelowna International Hostel down town. I ended up making many fellow traveling friends who are all on a search for something in their life, so most conversations lead to Christ when ever they asked me about my life and I got the honor of hearing about theirs also. One of my most encouraging moments there was when a group of people and I was talking to, began telling me that in the past they have been greatly hurt by bible bashing, hypocritical and judgmental Christians but I wasn’t a bible basher, hypocrite or judgmental and that was proven to them by the fact that I was just there hanging out with them all the time and I didn’t relent in just loving on them. A number of people heard, saw and received the love of Christ in that following 7 months and all I can do when I reflect on that year is say it was all Jesus because I had no idea what I was doing!

During all of my work and traveling I had applied and been accepted to Redeemer University College where I started studying social work and missions/ministry in September 2009. In my first year God partnered me with a dear friend who was lead with me to start a small group, while also placing me on the Church in the Box worship team as a vocalist, and got me plugged into the development of a new ministry on campus (Intimate) that set out to love God and love people by singing praise, learning how to hear his voice and speak words of encouragement over people and pray with them where ever when ever! I was placed in a history class with Dr David Zeitsma who God used to continue breaking my heart for what breaks his and left me in tears every day as I realized more and more why God had placed certain convictions on my heart that have directed simple things I do in my life as well as constantly reminding me never to grow numb to the groanings and injustices in the world. With this knowledge and Jesus’ love and grace I am compelled to do something! I can’t sit comfortably ever again!

That summer I went to Nicaragua with a team from uni and then hesitantly returned to Haliburton where I re-met up with my family who over my journeying time, had made their own journey in moving back to town. The first two months where a very difficult time for us all as we were all dealing with different transition adjustments, broken hearts and in need of deep healing and forgiveness. After the first two months I took a few days to visit some friends in the city in search of my joy that I had lost somewhere. After some good talks and many tears with close friends we took some time to randomly go swimming in lake Ontario with all our cloths on. Laughing hysterically for the first time in months I remembered that one of my greatest joys is jumping in random bodies of water. So when I went back to Haliburton I began baby sitting kids and taking them to the bridge and rope swing in town to share my joy with them. after hanging out there for a while I became quite close with a few of the local kids who began really opening up to me about their home lives and the reality of drugs and abuse behind closed doors. My heart would break as I watched them be innocent kids for a few hours each day, swimming and playing soccer or doing what ever we were doing, knowing that at the end of that day they where going back into their lives where being innocent doesn’t exists.

When I returned to Redeemer for my second year I began as a Resident Advisor with a dorm of 7 amazing first year girls, whose parents where brave to leave them in my hands J God moved in so many ways that year as we all grew in faith going through a plethora of spiritual warfare. We consistently learnt to live out a life of love and unity by practicing our theme passage Colossians 3:12-14 that we returned to frequently. During March God lead me to Amsterdam with a group of peers for a service learning trip. I have posted an article I wrote about that trip on this page you can take a peek at if you like. But in summary, I was reminded of the importance of being present so that God could use me. Through a lot of prayer and digging through Gods word while in Amsterdam I wrestled with him to the conclusion that I ought to go to Haliburton. Kevin Makins from Eucharist Church in down town Hamilton also gave a sermon “Setting the Table: I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” that was instrumental in me being here I hope you will take a listen to and join me and so many others in applying it to your life in a very practical way. http://mediafirm.ca/eucharist//podcast/settingthetable/2011.01.30.mp3 (if that doesn’t work go to http://eucharistsermons.tumblr.com/page/3 and search the title of the sermon)

I hope you have been blessed by this testimony and understand that there is lost more that God has done that I wish I could share here, but I cant. If you ever have any questions or would like to talk to me more in person about any chapter of my life please feel free and confident to ask me! I would love to meet with you! If you are from a church and would like me to come speak about something specific to your Church or youth group or anyone please get in contact with me and we can arrange a date for me to come visit.

Thank you for your interest in what God has done in my life and hope that you will take to heart some of the things he has taught me and learn from them your selves. Further more apply them practically in your life.

If you would like to help support me go to http://www.youthunlimitedkaw.com/donate/ and click on the “Donate” button. Fill in the information and write in the “message” section instructions to be sent to Freyja MacDonald”. Then, be blessed my friends! And Thank you so much !