YWAM DTS: For Those Who Want To Make a Difference

We are told everyday that we were made for a greater purpose than anything we can imagine. We sit in high school for four years and they tell us that when we graduate and walk out those doors that the world is open to us. Then we go to college and they tell us the same thing. Or we get a job. Then we sit in that for a while and we battle on whether or not we're making a difference because along the way somewhere no one ever told us how to do that. So you want to make a difference? Here's what my YWAM DTS taught me. 

Understand who you are. 

DTS is a time where you discover who you are outside of yourself. God has a purpose far beyond that of anything we could have for ourselves. Sound cheesy? Let me back it up with scripture. Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Everything that the Lord has for you is to make you the best that you can be. He even wants to set up your path to have HOPE. Your identity is much safer in God than in things that are temporary.  

Understanding your gifts. 

Okay cool. Now we know who we are in Christ! What gifts and talents has He created you with to impact the world? Some are painters. Some dance. Some play sports. Some write. Some play the guitar. Get the picture? We were all created with the ability to co-create something beautiful with God! When you find that gift, master it. Fall in love with it and live it with God. He delights in you using your gifts for him. A DTS is perfect for finding those gifts and developing them for the kingdom. 

Understand others. 

If you want to make a difference you have to focus on the individual. On a DTS you learn how to live in community, how to be valued as an individual and how to value others as individuals. You live with them in the hardest times of their life and you live with them in the greatest moments of victory.

1 Peter 1:22 "Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart." 

Understand freedom. 

At home we have freedom. Freedom to go out and do what we want. To spend our time the way we want. To be comfortable. Cause comfort is freedom... or that's what we think. The way I see freedom is that when we walk in the will of God we have the freedom that He is in control. That we can run around as children, laughing with Him, creating with Him, being held by Him when we fall down, but the whole time be following him as we grow. Not to be controlled, but to freefall in the will of the Father, knowing that his loving arms are waiting to catch us. To me, that's freedom, and without freedom, how can we make a difference? 

That's only a fraction of what my DTS taught me about making a difference. It's the most satisfying thing to see things change for the better and to know that the Lord used you as an instrument for his work. If you would like more information on how to come do a YWAM DTS and make a difference in the world check out our link below and start your adventure! 

For more blogs like this one check out the links below! 

4 Lessons Aspiring Missionaries Can Learn by Traveling 

3 Lessons Learned From Living In the YWAM DTS Community