To give a short update, I ended my time of staffing with YWAM in Washington, D.C. in December 2013, which is when I moved to Kansas City (KC), MO. I lived there until May 2015. During that time, I went to school at the Forerunner Music Academy, which is the music school of the International House of Prayer. As a student at that school, I did one semester online and 3 semesters on the campus. I was able to take music lessons for multiple instruments and spend many hours on worship teams playing drums, bass, singing and leading worship from the piano. It really helped me grow as a worship leader, which I believe will be a significant part of the rest of my life.
In May 2015, I went to Boone, NC to live with my parents and planned on staying for the summer. However, in April of that year, I started experiencing what I now know are called manic symptoms, which is the “upside” of bipolar disorder (though there is nothing good about it!). The symptoms got so bad I was taken to the ER on the night of Saturday, May 23rd. I stayed there until 1 pm Sunday when I was taken to a Behavioral Health Unit (BHU, which are formerly known as psychiatric wards). I was there until 3 pm Monday, June 1st, for a total of 194 hours. I just celebrated my 2nd anniversary of freedom from the BHU!!! My parents graciously let me stay at their house and provided me with food for the duration of my time in Boone. I ended up living in Boone until the end of January 2017, except for 12 weeks last year when I spent the summer on staff with David’s Tent DC in Washington, D.C. In January of this year, I moved back to KC.
While back in KC, I was getting lots of rest and restoration while spending time in the prayer room there. Then on April 30th, the founder and director of David’s Tent texted me, and ended up saying that they really needed help. Since I’ve been a part of this ministry many times in the past (6 months in 2013, 1 week in 2014 and 12 weeks in 2016), it was very appealing to me to come back. I began to pray about coming back on staff on Wednesday May 3rd, and within a few hours received what I would consider a supernatural confirmation from The Lord. I was so excited! Then, 3 days later, I told my parents and they gave me their full blessing. Without me even asking for it or suggesting it, they told me they wanted to financially support me! I arrived back in DC on May 12th and am so glad I’m here!
