Looking back…? November 13, 2008

Today’s weather is awesome…but not when you have to get up and go to work. I would love to be sitting in bed under the covers with a nice cup of coffee, watching a movie or something. Ahhhh….lol.

And….. moving on to the real world…:)

I will be driving BACK to Athens on Friday to celebrate my dad’s birthday. This will be the 3rd weekend in a row that I have done that. Am I crazy?? Maybe. But sometimes you have to make sacrifices for your family and they are worth it. I will be coming back Saturday though because I do not want to miss another Sunday at Freedom!

So…am I the only one that goes back and reads my old blogs? I don’t know…it’s so much fun to me though to see how much has changed in such a short amount of time! So this morning I was doing that and I read one of my mushy gushy ones and it made me smile…haha. Sorry – I’m weird – I know this. But it’s of course about the future and the one that God has for me. I want to post a paragraph I wrote – again - because I still feel that way and have been more encouraged than discouraged by God lately in how He has been speaking to me about this. So here it is and then I’ll talk a bit about where I am now:

‘Can I just get mushy and girly for a second….? I don’t know why now of all times in my life, but I have just really felt the need and desire to pray for my husband lately. It’s funny how much you can love someone that you don’t even know yet. But my heart has just been so heavy for him and desiring to meet him. I cannot wait to have someone to love, serve with and take care of….yes take care of – cook for, clean for, rub his feet, show respect to :-) ….that is how much I love him….and I don’t even know who it is yet! lol Obviously I am a true romantic and I love thinking about these things anyways…it’s just so cool to me that God cares about the specific little things. He knows exactly what I need and loved me enough to already pick that perfect person out for me before I was even born. How incredible!’

So yeah – I always feel like I have to apologize for talking about this but I’m not going to this time. I’m excited! I am not anxious anymore…just excited! I cannot wait to be able to serve God alongside this man and follow his spiritual leadership! I cannot wait to speak encouragement into his life and support him as he pursues what he knows God has called him to do. I could go on and on…lol. I was listening to Pastor Steven Furtick preach one of his more recent series on relationships and I was so encouraged by the awesome example he and his wife Holly are in the way that they are with each other. So anyways, until then…I am just praying hard core for him – for his protection, purity, and passion for God! The main thing God has reminded me of lately though is that before, during and especially once I get married – no matter when – my focus should ALWAYS be on Him!

Reactions November 12, 2008

I’m sitting here drinking my wonderful white mocha…mmm….wishing that I had some profound or deep thoughts…but I don’t. lol

The last couple of weeks have been extremely prayer filled because I have been in constant need to refocus my thoughts or my desires…it’s hard! I think the main thing God has been teaching me is that no matter what all goes on around me…it is up to me to choose how I react and whether or not I will choose to have a reaction that is pleasing to God. Naturally my reactions are not always so – therefore I just have to pray myself through each situation and let God change my heart – my attitude – my desires – my everything. Here’s a few instances lately where I have had to really really be intentional about letting God mold my heart:

1. When Obama was elected…I wish I could say that my natural instinct was ‘well no matter what i just need to respect and pray for my president’ – it wasn’t. But through hearing more and more of my spiritual leaders encourage me to feel that way – I have just had to pray for God to make my heart a little more respectful and trusting of His will…and He is and has been faithful.

2. When people in my office treat me like crap because I’m the admin – I have had to pray a lot lately that God would help me to love them despite that…it’s hard…especially when I really just would like to be rude right back…or….ya know…punch them in the face…jk! lol I have to pray through my reaction and let God calm me down and change my heart.

3. When I think I might have found a person who I could potentially be interested in – I have to ask God to stop me right there so that I don’t go too far with my thoughts and hopes – I find myself saying over and over again as I’m praying – ‘May your will be done – no matter what!’ I have to pray for God to slow me down and help me to be patient – even in how I react when people talk to me about that person! I’m a girl – it’s hard!

So – reactions are important! They say a lot about the heart! I just pray that my heart would be honoring to God and that I would let God make me more and more like the woman He created me to be. That is my desire.

Praying 4 Our Leaders October 29, 2008

Sitting in class right now - bored out of my mind because it’s ridiculously easy. So I decided I needed to blog again since it’s been a while…

 

God has been teaching me a lot about praying for our leaders. I was reading in Psalms the other day and it was a prayer of David and he was praying hard core for Solomon. I mean…it was a praying-the-stars-down prayer! It really reminded me how much I need to be praying for the leaders in my life. This brings up the most obvious point – praying for our president…or soon to be. Honestly, I am TERRIFIED of what will happen if Obama becomes president. There will be change alright…

I won’t go off on a tangent about that but I feel now more than ever that I just need to start praying hard core for God’s will to be done in who is elected as our next president. And then that no matter who it is, that God will protect our country and us as individuals!

 

More directly, it reminded me how much I need to be praying for my pastor -Pastor JR. Being the pastor of a church that is involved in such a huge work of God, he is going to face so much if not more attack than any of us. It is our responsibility as a church body to bathe our pastor in prayer daily!

 

I would just encourage you all to start praying daily for your leaders – whether it be your pastor, president, husband, father, teacher, etc. etc.      Let us honor those who are put above us – not only in front of them and others but in even our most private times of prayer.

Fun Weekend! October 13, 2008

My weekend was a blast for the most part!

Friday night I got to sell merchandise at the Charlie Hall/Eddie Kirkland concert in Athens. For some reason I love doing that! It’s a fun way to get to meet the artists and help them out! Charlie Hall kinda did everything on his own – he set up all his merch and everything. So we got to hang out with him a good bit before the concert which was cool! He is super nice and I was just very impressed. I had actually never heard of Eddie Kirkland but learned that he is one of the guys that leads worship for the North Point churches. He recorded his version of He Loves Us…and did a great job with it! So that was fun! Plus, I got to see a bunch of my old Athens friends!

 

On Saturday my family and I went and had brunch at one of their favorite ecclectic places in Athens that I had never been to – called The Grit. They have excellent breakfast food! Everyone in there was quite interesting looking though…but I love those weird and unique places…and there are plenty of those in Athens! After that we went to the game – yes, the UGA vs. TN game! My sister and I sat together and then my parents had other seats. But we had so much fun and I am SOOO glad Georgia won!

 

Lauren and I had to leave a bit early from the game though because I promised her I would go see Fireproof with her. So we went. I knew it was going to be good but I didn’t know how good. It’s hard for people to understand why a movie with the most cheesy acting ever would be so good…but it really was and is so worth going to see! I CRIED MY EYEBALLS OUT! There were grown men in front of us crying their eyeballs out! I mean…it was just GOOD! I encourage anyone and everyone to just GO SEE IT…whether you think you will like it or not….

I choose to be in love with You October 7, 2008

I have already posted this before but this is my prayer this morning…

 

Let me be in love with what you love
Let me be more satisfied in you
Forsaking what this world has offered me
I choose to be in love with You

Let me know the peace that’s mine in You
Let me know the joy my heart can see
For I have nothing Lord apart from You
I choose to call on Christ in me

For in the fulness of who You are
I can rest in this place
And giving over this, my journey, Lord
I see nothing but Your face
And i bow down
Humbly i bow down
Humbly i bow down
I bow down

Let me know that You have loved me first
Let me know the weight of my response
For You have long pursued my wandering heart
I choose to glory in the cross

Randomness October 6, 2008

1. Enjoyed babysittin the Lee girls on Friday night. Even more I found it hilarious how determined Pastor JR was to think of someone he could set me up with…keep thinking Pastor…keep thinking…haha!

2. We had an awesome FG small group last night where we dove in a little deeper about what baptism is and why we do it. The most exciting thing to me was realizing that probably 75% of the kids there had gotten baptized that morning!

3. Speaking of…24 ppl were baptized yesterday at Freedom Church! Praise God! I say this so much but seriously I am so blessed to be a part of a church that is actually making a difference for Christ! All the glory goes to God though – not Freedom Church!

4. I am going home this weekend for the GA/TN game and I am also working the merch table for the Charlie Hall concert in Athens. Fun fun!

5. Our office is undergoing an internal audit today…I have everything ready to go…just waiting for them to show up….ugh!

6. I wish more people read my blog.

Night of Worship October 2, 2008

We had an excellent small group last night! Austin did a great job leading it! We even had two new people which was exciting.

A huge THANK YOU to Madi McEver for making cookies and brownies AND more importantly for expanding our vocabulary.

So after small group, we all went over to Tyler and Austin’s dorm and had a time of praise and worship and communion (for those who wanted to partake). It was an awesome and intimate time for our group to really just let go and be free in our worship. It was just such a sweet time with Jesus -sitting at His feet and praising Him for how AMAZING he is! Oh how He loves us! I don’t think we will ever be able to comprehend the extent to which He loves us. Christ is amazing.

Looking forward to band practice tonight with the boys and then coffee with Ms. McEver.

Time to go back to work and listen to some more Pride and Prejudice soundtrack. Seriously – it’s the most beautiful and relaxing music ever! Go listen!

Round 2 October 1, 2008

Tonight I start classes…again…WEIRD! I just have to take one class before I can start Cosmetology school…which I am starting in January! Woohoo! Finally! I have been praying and praying for God to just be clear about what my next step should be with my life. I finally felt like He was giving me the green light to pursue getting my cosmetology license. I really think that God wants to use me in this field to not just do hair and make-up but have an impact on girls’ and womens’ lives for Christ. There is so much crap in this world about what beauty is and what it means…I want to help girls reshape their views of it in some way. God is still showing me in little pieces how this plan will pan out…but I am so excited!

… September 8, 2008

This weekend I went to Athens to visit my family and to be there to hear a potential new worship leader for my dad’s church. I had a great time with them and enjoyed getting to just hang out and not have much of an agenda. We ended up shopping most of the time which was something I don’t do much on my own anymore for whatever reason. Fun fun!

Sunday evening my parents and some people from their church had plans to go to their associational meeting which was more just a big worship service rather than a business meeting. I decided to go and it was really cool because they had worship teams from a bunch of the different churches come a lead us in some worship songs. There was a black men’s ensemble, a koreans worship team and then the worship band from Midtown Bridge Church in Atlantic Station. The guy who preached was Tyrone Barnett – AWESOME communicator! God really spoke to me through him last night! He preached on Judges 6 and talked about how we need to get out of our pit of making bread (read the story and it will make sense) - in my case it is business and start doing what we know God has called us to do.

I have really been struggling lately trying to figure out what God has really called me to do. I love so many things and could easily go a number of different ways but my heart and passion is for the ministry. I just have no idea how God can and would use me. It’s easy to find areas to serve as a volunteer in the church but to be in fulltime ministry as a girl – without sounding too sexist or whatever, there just aren’t as many options out there. I am just praying hard core right now that God would reveal His plan for my life to me – even if it’s just piece by piece. I know I got a Psychology degree for a reason, and I know that I am where I need to be for now. I just wish I could see more clearly and know what God has called me to do in little further down the road.

I am excited to find out but once again it is something I am going to have to be patient about. I am so blessed to be where I am but I just know that God is calling me to accomplish bigger things for His kingdom. We will see…!

Once again…I’m being called to wait well.

Waiting Well September 2, 2008

I so wish I could get better at writing on here – my life has been crazy once again…

I am finally moved and living in Acworth. It is so much easier for the most part! Now I just have a long commute to work. But it helps to actually be living in the community that you are called to help minister in. Now maybe God will provide a job up here…all in His timing.

My sister and I were talking the other day about something that girls talk about all the time – how hard it is to wait on the man God has chosen for us. After our conversation she found an awesome article that talked about ‘waiting well’. I have figured something out about myself lately…I am an impatient person. I spend way too much time being anxious and thinking about certain things, when God has specifically put me in this ‘place of waiting’ for a reason. What was really ironic and cool was that the article mentioned the story about Lazarus in John 11 - something Pastor JR just spoke about at church. The writer of the article was talking about the fact that once Jesus heard about Lazarus, he did not go there right away…”Although Jesus loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days” (John 11:5-6). Mary even said to Jesus, “Lord if you had only been here…” God sometimes doesn’t give us what we request so he can give us something better. Jesus said the death of Lazarus “happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory for this” (verse 4). Granted, a healing would have been amazing. But Jesus had a bigger plan that couldn’t occur without Lazarus’s time in the grave. The article pointed out that even when the wait was purposeful, Jesus engaged in the pain it caused. He wept.

As the writer said at the end of the article – “now as I wait, I’m careful not merely to mark time, so preoccupied with what’s next that I miss out on what’s now. I’m striving to wait well. And part of waiting well, I’ve learned, is being open to God’s lessons about redemption, trust, compassion, and His higher purposes along the way.”

This is my prayer – that I can and will glorify God and be able and open to hearing from Him during times of waiting.