HOLY SMOKES!!!!!!!!! YOU GUYS!!!!!!! I GET TO MARRY TO THE MOST KIND, GRACIOUS, STRONG, AUDACIOUS, MAN MY HEART HAS EVER KNOW!!!!!!!
Listen – I’ve always known God was good, but I didn’t know He was THIS good. People always told me that my expectations for the man I would someday marry were too high. They told me I’d have to compromise. They told me I’d have to settle.. BUT GOD told me to holdfast. HE said to wait and pray – wait and pray.
I wish I could say that I did that perfectly, wait and pray, but I didn’t. I got nervous. I hesitated. I doubted and I settled. BUT – I listened for the Lord and I heard Him. In the chaos of my wanting heart I heard Him whisper, wait and pray, wait and pray. He met my anxious heart with peace and my unbelieving mind with the reality of His kindness. God is kind and let me tell you – this man is LIVING PROOF of that.
I once heard someone say, “God doesn’t give bad gifts..He only gives good gifts. Instead of exhausting your days begging God to give you a good gift, spend intentional time seeking the heart of God and asking Him to make you into His likeness..so that someday, you’ll be a good gift He can give.” That was revolutionary for me. I have never believed in ‘the one’. But, I do believe that God, in His sovereignty, knew that I would choose Derek and that he would choose me. And I believe that in His loving kindness, He has been preparing me for him, and him for me our whole entire lives.
Huge THANK YOU to Quilt & Color Photography (www.quiltandcolorphoto.com) for capturing one of the best moments of our lives!
I’ll never tire of learning to love you well, Derek Winkley.
January 26, 2016 – My heart is glad. I’m sitting on the couch in my parents house, drinking yummy tea and eating biscuits and gravy, cozying up in front of the fire place that my mother dreamed of, designed, and built, accompanied by some delicious melodies tickling my ear. I’m 21 years old, single, and thoroughly content with the choices I’ve made and the love I’ve chosen. My life is rich. Rich in adventure with the wooer of my heart. Rich in friendship, rich in love.Rich in memories of what has been, and rich in hope for what’s to come.
I am OVERWHELMED by the love, prayers, support, and encouragement that this year has held thus far. As many of you know, I spent the first couple weeks of 2016 in the Middle East sharing my testimony and the Gospel of Peace with a people in dire need of Hope. I have so much to say about this trip and have been at a loss for how to start…..
HERE GOES:
Our team was composed of 22 young adults recklessly willing to pray the hard prayers and start the hard conversations with strangers on the street all because of Love. Our journey began in Istanbul, Turkey – where in a city of 17 million there are only 3,000 Christians……that’s less than .06% of the total population (on a high estimate.) Islam is the cultural religion. I’ve never been in a nation where the Muslim call to prayer played 5 times a day, louder than the thoughts inside my head. There are not words adequate enough to articulate the feelings that transpired in my heart every time I heard the call to prayer.
I don’t have children, (yet, Lord willing!) but imagine with me for a moment – the very thing that you created with the person you love more deeply and sincerely than others.. the being that made you sleepy, gain weight, throw up, have wild mood swings, etc. ..the being that you loved and nurtured even before he was born, the baby that cried tenderly in your arms for the first time, the love you felt when you kissed his perfect and misshaped newborn forehead..the joy you felt as you counted his fingers and toes a hundred times.. the baby you cared for, taught, protected, discipled, spent time and money willingly to make sure he was taken care of.. imagine him proclaiming five times a day, ” You are not my mother, I am not your son. I will thank, worship, and maybe if I work hard enough I can earn a spot in my bosses house because I have no mother.” The call to prayer is as hurtful and insulting to the Father as is proclaims false truths throughout hundreds of thousands of streets all over the globe, “ALLAH is Most Great. ALLAH is Most Great. I testify that there is no god except ALLAH. I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of ALLAH. Hasten to prayer. Hasten to success.”
My heart was deeply grieved, as I can only imagine a mother who gave herself up for her children to live. My time in Istanbul awakened my heart to the reality of the Father’s longing for the 1.8 billion Muslims in the world to know and receive the only Way, Truth, and Life.
On the ferry from the European side of Turkey to the Asian side with Hagia Sophia in the distance.
Istanbul is a beautiful city that is in desperate need of Hope. Three days after our team left, there was a suicide bombing in the historic Sultanahmet Square district, killing 11 people, all foreigners. The reality is that I.S.I.S. and other terror groups compiled of radical muslims have been around for longer than we know, and are not going anywhere anytime soon. I know that is a bold statement, but I believe it to be true. That being said, an urgency has risen in my spirit to clearly and effectively communicate the Gospel as much as I can before I die. In the way that I live, in the way that I love – audaciously and selflessly, in the way that I give, in the words that I speak, and in the testimony that I share. Now, I’m only 21 years old, and I don’t plan on dieing anytime soon..but with the rise of attacks both nationally and globally, ya just never know. I am not scared to die, everybody dies. But this I know: whenever my time on Earth is done, I want every part of my living to tell of the testimony of the Lord.
We boarded a plane in Istanbul and set off for Tel Aviv, Israel after our few days in Turkey. We were welcomed warmly at the airport by a kind and corky man who has spent the last decade (plus some) living in Israel. Our ministry times were my FAVORITE! Unlike our time in Turkey, (or any other country I’ve been to) we were able to boldly and freely share with anyone who would listen that we were Christians coming to to Holy Land to see what Israelis knew about Jesus. Surprisingly – 90% of the people we talked to over the week that we were there were clueless as to simple details of His life.I was shocked! I mean…this is the Promised Land..the land of flowing milk and honey…these are the streets that Jesus walked…the places that He taught…the places He prayed…the places He turned water into wine, healed the blind and lame, walked on water, turned five loaves of bread and two fish into enough to feed 5,000 men (NOT INCLUDING the women and children that were present!!) Seriously guys, I was shocked. It was such a cool way to share the Gospel unparalleled to any way I’ve done before. These Jewish people had no idea that the most famous man in all of history was a Jew – and His name was Jesus.. let alone the fact that He died for the atonement of sins and the abolishment of the law so that we may live freely and wholly, daily receiving the gift of grace and walking in the promised gift of salvation. Then we told them that He not only died………but He ROSE FROM THE DEAD! I’m telling ya, the looks we got were priceless.
Looking over Jerusalem from the Mount of OlivesThe EMPTY TOMB that once held the King.Sunset on the Sea of Galilee.Ancient synagogue that Jesus visited.
There was one man (Anthony – the shop owner) in particular in whom Madison, (my assigned partner for evangelism) and I were able to build a unique relationship with. He owned a high end fashion shop on the street that we were assigned to spend our time on. (My oh my, he is a DIVA.) We aimlessly wandered into His shop our first morning of ministry because we liked the shoes we saw in the window, (we had no intent of telling him about Jesus……) Three hours later we left the shop after a long conversation about anything you can think of and how it relates to the greatest story ever told. We told him the full story of Redemption – from cover to cover. He asked question after question and I was amazed by how the Holy Spirit would give my teammate and I the most gracious and perfect answer to every. single. question. He was taken back by not only our knowledge of the word, but by our tenderness and genuine interest in his life. There was one point in the conversation where he said, “Ya know, it’s great that you believe all of this – but just wait until you’ve lived a little more life and people have screwed you over a couple times.. just wait till hard things happen to you, then you can decide.”‘YES!’ I thought!! This was the perfect opportunity to share some of my testimony with him. I began to tell him about my childhood and the sexual abuse I had experienced from my grandfather. I told him of my journey to forgiveness including a court case and prison time for the man that I’d grown up calling grandpa.. I told him of the abandonment, emotional abuse, and neglect I’d felt from the men who should’ve loved and protected me. And I told him about Jesus… the man who’d never let me down or made me feel unsafe. I told him of the man who gives me peace. He is the one who comforts and provides. He is the perfect Father. I told him that hard things have happened to me – but He is the one who gave me hope. Anthony’s whole demeanor changed. The conviction of the Holy Spirit fell in his heart and he immediately felt uncomfortable with the reality that I was not forced to believe in this ‘high in the sky’ kind of God..I was not forced to forgive..but that I chose relationship with a kind, forgiving, and merciful God.
Anthony – the shop owner.
We visited our new friend everyday after that. We brought him coffee and talked about the Gospel, pausing when costumers would enter his shop. We shared stories of our lives and laughed deep belly laughs. He introduced us to his friends as the “Jesus girls”(not in a mocking way either.) He would translate for us in Hebrew and often times tell his friends the story of Jesus even before we could ask him to.
Heres the thing: I’m not sure if this man will ever accept Jesus as the son of God and savior of his soul.. but one thing I know – he will never forget the stories we told of the Jew named Yeshua and the way He changed our hearts and met us with kindness in our time of need. My prayer is that one day, that is what will lead him to the cross.. “Or do you presume on the riches of Hiskindnessandforbearance andpatience,not knowing thatGod’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” Romans 2:4
THOUGHTS ON SHORT TERM MISSIONS:
Some don’t see the benefit of short term outreaches..whether their reasoning comes from ideas that it’s not genuine or it’s for self glorification, good pics for Instagram, or any other of the many reasons to completely discredit the good that short term missions do. I deeply and fervently disagree.
Think about it this way: there is a global outbreak of a deadly disease. There is one cure. I have it. How selfish to keep it to myself. How ignorant to say, “I won’t go to the Middle East to give this life saving antidote to any who will receive it.”Even if only 3 people accept it…that’s three more people who won’t suffer the eminent death cause by the outbreak. And if none receive it, at least they had the chance to chose life or death. It seems like common sense to me.I love Jesus, and I believe with my whole. entire. heart. that He is real..and that He is the antidote to all of our otherwise tragic death. I believe that He is, in fact, the Son of God. That He lived a real life, in a real city, and had real friends. That He died a real death, and that HIS blood..the blood of the perfect sacrifice is the perfect atonement for the sins of mankind.
If I really believe that Heaven is real and it’s a place of Peace and Joy and Rest and unending Friendship – If I believe that Hell is real, and it is a place absent of the presence of God, Peace, Truth, Light, Love… If I really believe that..if WE really believe that, then logically, the most loving thing we can do is clearly tell the story from beginning to end – creation, fall, redemption – and invite every tribe, tongue, and nation to the place of Peace for all of eternity.It doesn’t come from a motive of fear or performance that ‘maybe if I work hard enough or tell enough people about Jesus then I’ll earn a spot in Heaven’..but from a genuine love for people and an understanding of the freedom that is offered.. for homosexuals, for heterosexuals, for liars, for cheaters, for drug addicts, for the bitter, for the broken, for the abused, for the abuser……
These are just my thoughts, feel free to leave yours below!
I am writing you with EXCITING news!! It has been a dream of my heart for the past couple years to go to the Middle East and GUESS WHAT?! IT’S ACTUALLY HAPPENING!!
A couple weeks ago I was lying in a hotel room somewhere in South Dakota with an annoying cold and I felt a stirring in my spirit to spend the next day fasting. I didn’t know why I was fasting, and I don’t know about you, but I need massive amounts of grace when I fast because I get real hangry real quickly. But I woke up the next day filled with faith and anticipation for whatever it was that the Lord wanted to tell me during the fast. This particular day we were driving from Iowa City, Iowa to Kansas City, MO and I purposed to spend the time on the road seeking the heart of God. I was praying and journalling about my dreams for this Fall/Winter and what I’m to do after this tour is over and I kept hearing the same thing over and over again… “Em, what do you want to do this Fall & Winter? What are the dreams of your heart?” I’ll tell ya what, He is so tender with my heart. How kind of the Creator, the Author of my story to let me choose what I want to do! I felt so loved and at the same time so frustrated. It is so much easier to follow instructions..to do what you’re told. It’s a whole other story when you get to think, decide, and reason for yourself. What a gift. What a loving God – to give us the ability to think critically and make decisions. So there I was, sitting in the back of a rattling bus, traveling down I-35 with complete freedom and release to walk in the dreams of my young heart. And just like that – An opportunity has come up for me to be apart of a team that will travel to the Middle East in January of 2016, ministering with Every Home for Christ. I cannot specify the exact locations that we’ll be visiting for safety reasons, but the trip will start in Israel and go on to several other locations in the region from there.
Who is Every Home for Christ?
Every Home for Christ is an international missions organization based out of Colorado Springs that was founded in 1946. They are dedicated to the Great Commission, to reach and disciple all people and every nation with the Gospel. They are systematically taking the Gospel home to home around the Globe by partnering with local believers in literature distribution. In the last 70 years EHC has taken the gospel to a total of 1.7 billion homes and they have seen 156 million positive responses to the gospel. Our team will be partnering with local churches and EHC workers for various different kinds of ministry and evangelism. EHC sends out small groups of missionaries, partners them with people from the local church, and then literally goes door to door, home to home to tell people about Jesus. This ensures that when the team leaves, everyone that has been ministered to is connected to a local church. I am so excited to be apart of something that will continue on long after our team leaves!
Partner with me on this trip!
I am full of faith for all that God is going to do on this trip and look forward to sharing the gospel in the Middle East during such an important time in history. In order to give myself to all the Lord has called me to, I need to raise a total of $2,500 by December 31st. If you feel lead to partner with me financially, please connect with me via Facebook or shoot an email my way at emily.tharaldson@gmail.com.
We have been on the road for 34 days, been to 33 campuses, and traveled over 3,000 miles so far. We have spoken with students, faculty, and innocent bystanders in 17 states, prayed many prayers, cried many tears, and taken lots of selfies, haha. We have seen the power of the Holy Spirit meet us in a 200 year old chapel at Yale University. We have seen the kindness of the Father encounter young women at the University of New Hampshire. We have met with professors and presidents of Universities. We have walked around campuses and released songs of the goodness of the Lord. We have seen middle schoolers give their lives to the one true living God. We have meet with student prayer leaders at West Point Military Academy who have diligently prayed an hour a day for the past 4 years for an outpouring of the presence of God in their lives and on their campus. And let me tell you – GOD MOVES ON THE PRAYERS OF HIS PEOPLE.
One of the most frequent prayer requests I’ve heard from students is for wisdom in how to better manage their time. I’ve heard at least one student on every single campus we’ve been to say they have too much going on and not enough time to get it all done. I understand that college is stressful and the work load seems, at times, unbearable – but I believe this exhaustion comes from a generational fear of missing out. I’ve noticed over the past month that millenials tend to get involved in multiple clubs, activities, and get togethers because we have an underlining fear of missing out. As a result, we make decisions based out of that fear and find ourselves constantly exhausted.
My concern is that this generational fear transcends beyond the walls of a dorm room or the perimeters of a university campus and onto our relationship with God. My heart is heavy because the Father has invited us into a place of rest and communion with Him – I’ve seen in my own life and in the lives of my peers that we so easily pass up that invitation of communion because we don’t want to miss out on what is going on in the world around us. Rest and communion look different for every person but I want to encourage you to be intentional about taking time to just be with the Father.
Not only have I seen that we are unconsciously refusing to enter into a place of rest, but we are living in fear of missing what God has called us to. We put so much pressure on ourselves to make sure we don’t do the wrong thing that we end up becoming crippled by our fear of getting it wrong when in reality, we are called to not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving we are to present our requests to the Lord. AND THE PEACE OF GOD which transcends all knowledge and understanding will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4) It’s only from that place of communion and rest that we find peace and clarity about what we are to do. My prayer has been and will continue to be GRACE TO REST. It sounds silly, but really, we need to give ourselves freedom and grace to just be – to make ourselves available and spend intentional time just listening.
Please join me in praying for my generation – that we would have wisdom in what to invest our time and energy in and that we would give Jesus more time to speak into our hearts and minds than culture and society. Pray that we wouldn’t buy into the lie that we need to be busy all the time in fear of missing out. Pray for freedom to enter His rest.
So much love, EMILYDEE
West Point Military Academy // Harvard University // Iowa // Penn State University
If you have any questions or would like to contact me, please shoot an email my way at: emily.tharaldson@gmail.com
I am writing in hopes of giving you a glimpse of what I’ve been up to as well as what’s on the horizon.
WHERE I’VE BEEN
As many of you know, I worked with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Charlotte, North Carolina from the Fall of 2012 up until this past Spring. During my time with YWAM, I did a Discipleship Training School (DTS), a Worship, Intercession, Spiritual Warfare, and Evangelism school (WISE), and a worship intensive school with Burn 24/7 and YWAM Harrisburg. I also staffed a DTS and a School of Ministry Development, lead worship at the YWAM base and at multiple conferences, lead week long summer outreaches for high school students, co-lead a two month overseas outreach trip to Thailand and Cambodia, and that doesn’t even scratch the surface. Those were two and a half challenging, growing, humbling, incredible, life-changing years that have helped shape my character and fine tune my personal dreams and vision. I will always cherish the relationships and memories from my time serving with YWAM locally, nationally, and globally.
Last Fall the Lord started speaking to me about phasing out of YWAM (at least for now), and moving back home to Colorado Springs, CO. At first, I was completely against it. I mean who wouldn’t be? I was comfortable. Living in community made my heart come alive. Watching the lives of my peers radically change right before my eyes because they had a deep, personal, experiential encounter with the only true God excited me and challenged me to seek personal depth with the Father. Training, equipping, and mobilizing my generation to be serious about the work of the cross and the grand story of redemption woke me up from sleeping in apathy. Don’t get me wrong..not everyday was fun, or happy, or good, and just like every season of life..this one was sprinkled with some really difficult moments and days..BUT- I was living my dreams. Quite honestly, I was scared to go back to ‘real life’ and leave the community that had so quickly become my home. Naturally, I did the first thing I could think of.. (I tried to strike a deal with God..) “ALRIGHT FINE- I’ll leave YWAM (for now) and this family/community that I love.. BUT ONLY IF I get to live in Charlotte with my second family, write and record music with my closet friends, learn ballet, and work at Anthropology (maybe I could do more than window shop if I had the employee discount..hahahaha).” Well..the Lord does have a sense of humor, but He did not think that was as funny as I did, and in His loving kindness, He rebuked me. I remember Him saying, “EMILY- I am so much more concerned with the condition of your heart that needs healing than I am about you writing songs. I am so much more concerned about relationships that need to be mended back home than I am about you living in a house decorated in all of your ‘Anthro favs’. Remember my character and accept that moving home is the most loving thing I can ask you to do.” The only response I could muster up after that humbling little conversation was, “Yes, Lord.”
The transition out of full time ministry (going from being submerged in Christian culture and surrounded by God fearing people, back to ‘normal life’, living with my parents, and working 40+ hours a week) was not an easy one to say the least. Sure, I grew up in the Springs, and everything looked the same, but E V E R Y T H I N G was different. The friends I grew up with were all either in school, married, traveling the world, or starting their careers. I cried. A lot. Not to mention the added heartache of an unexpected breakup with my boyfriend just two weeks after I moved back home.. I REALLY cried. I was in udder confusion about the word of the Lord to me just months prior.. “Remember my character and accept that moving home is the most loving thing I can ask you to do.” As tempting as it was to wallow in my tears and listen to the voice of the accuser who was trying to convince me of the ‘false sense of security that lies in being a child of God’, I refused to question the character of my Father. I prayed, and often times begged the Lord to keep hope alive in my heart. And somehow, in the midst of disappointment, uncertainty, heartbreak, and confusion, HOPE had the last word. He filled me with peace that surpasses all knowledge and understanding and He kept my heart tender to His voice. Transition is rarely easy – the good news is that the word of the Lord is as sure in the darkness as it is in the LIGHT.
WHERE I AM
This summer I got a job working as a front dest associate at a Hyatt hotel when I got a call from my best friend and her husband saying the Lord spoke to them about moving back to the Springs. I felt like I could hear the HALLELUJAH chorus!
They were staying with me one night right when they got back and asked me how things were going. I proceeded to tell them how much I disliked my job and how the transition had been really difficult for me. They said, ‘Em, if you could do anything, what would you do?’ Without skipping a beat I responded with something along the lines of – ‘Pray for America and our government, be involved in and influence the (failing) education system, write music, and live in D.C.’ And that’s when the skies broke.
Within a week of having that conversation with Seth and Rachel at my kitchen table, I put in my two week notice at the Hotel and accepted a position working with the National Day of Prayer as an intern for their annual Bus Tour around America. This year’s focus?..Education. HOW COOL IS GOD?! Listen friends, God dreamed a dream before the creation of the world and loved it so much that He waited thousands of years, until just the right time, to wrap a body around that dream and release it on the Earth. We are literally the living dreams of the Father’s heart and He has a purpose and a calling on each one of our lives. Be BOLD with the dreams of your heart, speak them out loud and watch as they go from mere dreams to reality.
WHERE I’M GOING
With all that being said, I wanted to let you know that I am leaving in less than two weeks for the kickoff of the tour. It is so cool to see how all the training I’ve had over the past three years and the seemingly random jobs I’ve done both in and out of ministry have helped to prepare me for my role with the National Day of Prayer and the Bus Tour this Fall. I am traveling with a core team of four people on a 14.5ft tall, 50ft long, charter bus that is covered in this years theme: “PRAY FOR AMERICA – 2015 EDUCATION TOUR – praying for our nations schools, colleges, and universities”. We will be on the road for 56 days, going to 51 campuses, totaling just over6,000 miles, starting at Harvard and ending at the Department of education in Washington D.C. We will be visiting Universities, homeschool groups, Catholic schools, public schools, Ivy leagues, middle schools, high schools, and Indian reservation schools. We are trusting and believing God for an unprecedented move of the Spirit in the Education sphere and we are so looking forward to hearing and capturing video testimonies day after day of how God is moving on campuses all across the nation. Our heart for this tour is simple – to ENGAGE the body of Christ in what’s happening on our campuses nationwide, to EQUIP the body of Christ with ways to pray strategically and intentionally for our students as future generational leaders, government officials, stock brokers, business men/women, teachers, coaches, employees, moms, dads, etc, and to ENCOURAGE the body of Christ with the real testimonies of how the Spirit of God is moving through education.
CALLED TO PRAY
I am thrilled to be apart of this tour and am joyfully inviting YOU to be apart of it, too. I am asking for your precious prayers. I have personally seen deaf ears opened through the power of prayer. I have personally experienced hardened hearts becoming soft through the power of prayer. Of this I am convinced: if we actually understood the power of prayer, we would be on our faces before the Father day and night, fervently asking for His will to be established in every area of our lives and the societies we live in. I understand that most people can not leave their jobs, families, etc., for two months to physically be apart of this tour, but please, JOIN OUR TEAM by investing your time and praying with us and for us as we go.Thank you for loving and supporting this wild journey that I’m on. YOU GUYS ROCK!
So much love, EMILYDEE
If you have any questions or would like to contact me, please shoot an email my way at: emily.tharaldson@gmail.com
Our team was composed of 22 young adults recklessly willing to pray the hard prayers and start the hard conversations with strangers on the street 
telling him about Jesus……) 
Warfare, and Evangelism school (WISE), and a worship intensive school with Burn 24/7 and YWAM Harrisburg. I also staffed a DTS and a School of Ministry Development, lead worship at the YWAM base and at multiple conferences, lead week long summer outreaches for high school students, co-lead a two month overseas outreach trip to Thailand and Cambodia, and that doesn’t even scratch the surface. Those were two and a half challenging, growing, humbling, incredible, life-changing years that have helped shape my character and fine tune my personal dreams and vision. I will always cherish the relationships and memories from my time serving with YWAM locally, nationally, and globally.
and ending at the Department of education in Washington D.C. We will be visiting Universities, homeschool groups, Catholic schools, public schools, Ivy leagues, middle schools, high schools, and Indian reservation schools. 
emilydee 