JESUS IS AWESOME.
YES. I am crazy excited about all
that has happened these past few weeks of school starting, and I am so eager to
share everything! Jesus has provided for
me in some remarkable ways and opened some fantastic doors for me in the art
community here. So many prayers have been
answered that I know I need to testify to my family in Christ! Here we go…
Let me start by simply stating what my needs were. This is my sophomore year at IHOPU in the
Forerunner School of Ministry (FSM), and when last year ended I was busy
wondering how I was going to pay for my sophomore year! Tuition and student expenses this year are
$1,875 per semester, or $3,750 total (compare this to Northwestern College
where I went for a year in Minnesota: $26,740 for tuition each year). I ended my freshman year looking for a job
and wondering where the money would come from.
I had $1,000 provided for me through an education credit after my time
at Northwestern (supposed to help me pay off student loans, but miraculously I have none of those), so I knew the
rest would come! With my $1,000 stowed
away, I started to look for jobs. I
wasn’t sure where I wanted to work or what I wanted to do—I just knew I wanted
to work within IHOP and I didn’t want to do anything involving kids (my mindset
was: been there, done that). Quite a few
people suggested the Awakening Teen Camp (ATC), which was in need of
counselors, but I was adamant, “I don’t want to do babysitting again. I’m done with childcare. I want to do something administrative.” But, oh, the Lord had other plans. About three days before the ATC applications
were due, suddenly my desires completely shifted, “Of course I want to do
ATC! Yes! Make an impact in teens lives! Stay in the IHOP community and meet other
students! Be in a place of leadership
and teach teens! Yes, I want to do
this!” In a moment my mind was changed,
and I rapidly filled out the application, found references in the community,
and prayed that the Lord would somehow make everything work with my hectic
summer schedule.
Needless to say, He did!
I was hired as a camp counselor, had a month off before that began, took
a lot of trips throughout the summer, and was obedient to what the Lord called
me to do. I would be paid just enough to
cover the rest of the tuition for the first semester of school, and then I knew
I could get a job during the school year to enable me to pay for the second
semester. I was overjoyed at how
perfectly everything seemed to work!
But then something a little nerve-wracking did happen—attendance
at ATC was really low. Most of the camps
had an abnormally small amount of campers, which translated to us counselors
needing to be flexible, trust the Lord and take paychecks smaller than what we
had expected. We couldn’t be shaken,
though, because the Lord had told all of us to do this—we knew this was what He
wanted and we knew finances would work out according to His perfect will. Camp was awesome, and one session had a huge
number of campers, which boosted us back into the numbers we needed and,
suddenly, two days before I had to pay my tuition, I saw everything work out
flawlessly. I was able to pay for my
first semester with $50 to spare and I wept at the awesome provision of
God! I knew He was blessing me because
of my obedience to do ATC instead of work somewhere else where I could’ve made
three or four times what I had. The
entire summer really was like a big fast—giving my time and energy (that
could’ve been used at a good paying job) to the Lord instead!
This brings me to the school year. Immediately after paying for my first
semester, my mind was filled with thoughts about getting a job to pay for the
next semester. I was hesitant to apply
to a lot of places—I wanted to work somewhere specific, but I couldn’t put my
finger on where my desires could be met.
The ‘longings of my heart’ for my job were (1) to take a break from
super extroverted work like ATC, (2) to only have to work 10-15 hours a week,
(3) to work somewhere on the IHOP missions base, (4) to do something
administrative, (5) be able to take a long vacation for Christmas, and (6) to
work with books. These seemed like
absolutely unrealistic expectations, but they were in my heart
nonetheless. The only option that made
some sense was the IHOP Forerunner Bookstore, but that was 30 hours a week, so
it didn’t meet the second longing (plus everyone and their grandma seemed to be
applying for that position)! Regardless,
I turned in my application and waited for a few days before school began, but I
heard nothing. I spent my time off before
school meandering the IHOPU library, just enjoying the silence and wandering
the shelves, admiring the books I hoped to read someday. At one point I almost walked up to the librarian
and asked, “How did you get this job? I want
it.” But I didn’t because it seemed absolutely unrealistic to me!
All of this build up is to say that when I received an
e-mail on the first day of class saying I had been awarded a work study position,
I leapt out of my chair and rushed to the office as fast as I could! All I was told was I would be receiving
$1,000 each semester for working 10 hours each week during the school year, and
I would have breaks off! I wasn’t told
where I was assigned, but I knew the numbers made sense (I came in with $1,875
and the Lord provided $2,000, more than doubling my money and securing payment
for tuition in the spring)! Only after I
filled out all the paperwork was I told I would be working in the IHOPU
library! My heart leapt, and I almost
started to cry! The Lord had heard and
answered every single one of my desires!
Let’s be real—these were not necessarily needs; all I needed was a job, but the Lord gave me
exactly what I had been hoping for! Oh,
how I am amazed by His goodness!
Well, that is my crazy work story. Now that I’m working ten hours a week at my
fantastic job, my schedule has been really freed up so that I can be way more
involved with Forerunner Arts, the budding ministry here in the IHOPKC
community focused on the visual arts, drama, writing, dance and all the awesome
arts! Within a week of hearing about my
work-study position, I was e-mailed about joining a prayer room art team, which
is the first exciting opportunity from the Lord! Being on this team means that once a week I
will go to the prayer room with five other artists to paint and sketch in a
sectioned off area. This is an
opportunity to minister to the Lord by worshipping Him through creating art, as
well as minister to the people in the prayer room by spurring them to the Lord
through prophetic imagery. Sometimes I
go in with no plan whatsoever and just let the Lord lead me where He wants me
and it’s fantastic to see what comes out of those times. I know people are touched by what we are
doing—they’ll just come and sit around us and worship alongside us as we
create.
This opportunity is fantastic because I’ve started to take
my art more seriously since coming to IHOPU, and I know the Lord wants me to
start working professionally. I believe
He has told me that now is the time to pursue art: I need to learn, train, hone
my technical skills, study art in the Bible (Exodus 35-36!) and commit to
constant worship. I need to dedicate my
art wholly to Him and set myself apart so that I can prophesy freely when He
gives me an image to paint. I know the
Lord has given me this ability, and it is time that I serve the body of Christ
more intentionally with it.
The second opportunity before me is the chance to be the
assistant for a watercolor and drawing class offered by Forerunner Arts this
autumn. Suddenly I get to be involved
with the Forerunner Arts leadership, practice teaching art, learn more about my
abilities and be obedient to what the Lord has called me to in this season!
The final art opportunity that has arisen is a chance to do
some commissioned work. Keith Collett, one of my amazingly skilled classmates,
will be releasing an EP soon, and has asked my dear friend Sarah Daugherty to
do some typographical art and me to use my Photoshop abilities to work on some
formatting and background art. His debut
single is all about unity in the body of Christ, and dozens of people have
already been brought together simply by producing and preparing the song! I’m eager to work with other artists who are
also diving into professionalism in their fields, and I’m absolutely
flabbergasted by the way the Lord has set up everything flawlessly.
Looking at all the art I get to do and my schedule for
school, I have to say I couldn’t imagine a better schedule for this
semester! I spend 24 hours a week in the
prayer room in addition to my time in the classroom and at work, plus doing
homework, service projects, forerunner arts, extra events and simply juggling
life as an almost-21-year-old adult.
God is doing amazing things in the whole community here in
Kansas City, not just in my own life! A
classmate of mine who had been in a wheelchair for over a year was recently
miraculously healed of terrible nerve damage and can now walk, run and jump
freely, to the glory of God! The
incoming freshman class is on fire for the Lord and eager to see an outpouring
of His Spirit, and the outgoing seniors are desperate to see a move of the Lord
come to IHOPU once again (they were freshmen when the IHOPU Student Awakening
began in November 2009). Seeing all that
the Lord has done has put great expectation within all of us, and I am
remarkably excited to see what is coming in the next few months.
Thank you for all of your prayers and for sticking with me
through these updates for the past year!
I can hardly believe so much time has already gone by and that I’ve been
living here in Kansas City for over 12 months!
Please pray specifically for this next season as the Lord continues to
highlight the arts in my life. I am
wholly committed to go all in wherever he leads me, and I need people agreeing
with me in prayer for this. Contend for
all of us artists—that the Lord would raise us up as messengers who would
boldly proclaim the Word through our various mediums. He has called us forth for such a marvelous
purpose, and your partnership would be greatly appreciated! I see this as an opportunity for you all to
invest in the arts through prayer, and maybe even some of you financially. I have some basic needs as I go into this
intense period of creating art; the simplest is for new supplies, such as a
portable easel for the prayer room, carrying cases for my equipment and new
paint. As of now I’ve only been able to
do small sketches and little paintings in the prayer room, but I am eager to
work on a larger scale so that more people can see what I’m doing—no one will
be touched by my art if they can’t see it!
A large easel would be instrumental in helping me to do this. I am totally confident in the Lord, and I
know what I need will be provided so that I can minister effectively.
The ways you can sow into my artistic ministry are incredibly
simple! You can send money via PayPal to
Rachel_Korhonen@hotmail.com (or through the giving widget on the right side of this page), just please let me know who you are so that I can
thank you properly! Also, sending me a
check (or any encouragement for that matter) in the mail works splendidly,
too! Just message me and I'll get you my address. Any money I
receive beyond what I need for art supplies will be stowed away to help me get
a passport, which will open the doors to the nations for me to travel and
minister all around the world as the Lord leads!
If you have been stirred up by this past year of
IHOPUpdates, please prayerfully consider partnering with my ministry pursuits
here. All that I do is made possible by
the Lord and support from the body of Christ, be it a special gift or monthly
support.
Thank you to everyone who has encouraged me with phone calls
and letters in the past, and thank you to everyone who is praying for me
now! If any of you would like to hear
more specifics of what the Lord is doing here in Kansas City, don’t hesitate to
contact me! I also send out newsletters
in the mail on occasion, so if you want to be on that mailing list, send me
your address.
Thank you again, everyone, for sticking with me this past
year! I’m looking forward to all the
knowledge, revelation, intimacy, relationships and art this year holds. Join me in the journey!
Be blessed!
Rache
