27 february 2011

hello there!
sorry i've been MIA the past week or so.

friday was Music for the Mission, a fundraiser show that my friends & i planned. wow! still in awe about how awesome the whole thing turned out! a beautiful, perfect night with amazing people, food, music, worship.  plus! i raised nearly $1500 for YWAM! I'm just a few hundred away! God is SO FAITHFUL. he is teaching me soooo much right now. through all of this.

beautiful night! god surely blessed it.

gave my 2 weeks notice today! yep! crazy. i nearly had an anxiety attack, but i did it. & i feel good about it now. :)

jesus is good. so grateful for redemption today.
he is so evidentely real. so good. so true. so faithful to every promise. so jealous of my attention.
praise him- he is certainly good.
i am the prodigal. gomer. rich young ruler. the fisherman. the woman at the well.
he is the father. hosea. my teacher. my rabbi. my jesus.
mmm.

lately, this whole surrender thing has really been a trip! so many verses have been steeping in my mind & heart.
"I count everything as loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Chris Jesus my Lord..." 
"For to me, to live is Christ, to die is gain." 
"For I am crucified with Christ, I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." 
"He must become greater, I must become less & less"
"If anyone wants to be my disciple he must deny himself, take up his cross & follow me" 
"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also..."
sometimes following Jesus isn't easy! but. i can say from firsthand experience that it is WORTH IT. HE is worth it. He somehow, miraculously gives us the strength.

psalm 145.

17 february 2011

$2600 left to raise!

still praying for miracles, even though on Monday I thought I still had $5950 to go!

now, THAT, my friends, is a miracle. 
what an answer to every prayer i prayed this past weekend. 
my god is faithful!

today i hung out with my friend, we had lunch... 

even though i'm doing a juice cleanse...

i opted for some salad & decided that my juice cleanse would start after lunch. haha

i've been going to our ladies bible study at my church.

we are studying beth moore's DAVID series.  it is so. freakin'. good.

i'm eating it up. 

god's already taught me a lot, which i will try to type out sometime in the near future. ;)

also... tonight my friends & i went to a  basketball game.

holy canoly! 

4, yes 4, overtimes!! 

& even though our boys didn't end up winning, it was such a great game! aghhh!

tomorrow i have a day off, & i plan to:

paint paint paint

read

mail random stuff

find a backpack/sleeping bag

go bike riding (the weather is perfect right now)

& hangout with good friends

sounds wonderful to me.

catching up...

- My church launched a new satellite church yesterday morning!! I am so blessed to be a part of what God is doing there & I'm blessed to see Him working. We had 220 people our FIRST sunday! The place was pretty full! So incredible.


- Last weekend I had an awesome opportunity to lead another Dnow. & it just so happened to be MY church! I had a great group of girls & I believe God started something huge not only in the lives of the students hearts, but in the life of our church as a whole. The weekend was devoted to learning about Jesus as He is today- enthroned in heaven at God's right hand. So good. Sunday morning, all of the students & the rest of the church came together for normal (or as close to normal as possible with around 200/250 students), & at the end of the service the speaker, Richard Ross, said, "If Obama walked in the door of this place right now, we would all stand in respect to honor him, we would stand for our president. But you don't stand for a King. Especially ours. You bow before a King." He invited whoever wanted to, to bow before the Lord.... The amount of people that fell to their knees was incredible, almost everyone in the building was face down. But even more incredible was the Holy Spirit in that place in that moment. There have been a hand-picked amount of times that something like that has happened in the life of our church, but it was crazy. God was just there. & we were bowed before Him. Such a sweet, sweet time. When the service was over, no one moved. We all just sat there in silence, not wanting to leave. :) We have an incredible Savior, a wonderful King.


- I am planning an event on the 25th called Music for the Mission. It's a fundraiser show. I'm getting all of my favorite musician friends together for the night & we are going to play some good music & charge $5 to get "in the door"... even though it's going to be outside. I'm SO excited about this show!! Already praying that God brings people that need to hear about Him. Praying that even this could be a night of Salvation. I'm so blessed to be surrounded by people that are so willing & eager to help me out & devote their time, energy, & money to what I'm doing.  I pray every day that I will be faithful to carry out the Gospel to all nations so that all of their support is not wasted or put to it's full potential. I am blessed beyond measure or explanation.


- In other news, today is LOVE DAY. I worked this morning. Olive Garden wasn't HALF as busy & chaotic as we were all expecting for lunch. I'm sure dinner was insane, but thankful I didn't have to work in all that madness. My friend Radar had flowers delivered to every girl at work. It was awesome.  Today was just a different type of day.  My friend Cait had a singles V-day party at her house tonight... it was. so. much. fun! We had a blast.


I love you all, whoever you are.
Hope you've had a wonderful Monday.


xo xo xo xo xo

3425

that is the amount of dollars left to raise for ywam.

an amount that is becoming smaller and smaller each day.

i'm overwhelmed by God's provision today.

i prayed all weekend for God to work a miracle as far as money is concerned...

i am seeing Him work!! it gives me chills.

today i just stepped back to see the progress & i was shocked. 

god provides, my friends. 

:)

all i know to do today is praise.

thank you, God. 

today

i have felt uncertain.

i have doubted.

i have questioned.

i have wondered.

i have contemplated.

   but

he is certain.

he owns the world.

he has all the answers.

he is surprised by nothing.

he determines my steps.

today, i am trusting that God.

Lord, help my unbelief.

this world is not my home
I am a stranger in this country
Jesus in me, won't You pour me out
I'm ready to abandon all my shiny things
my family, and this American dream, Lord
come take it all from me
until there's nothing left but You
-mandi mapes

lessons. snow. concerts. etc.

it's been too long. so sorry!


man, oh man.
here's a quote that has been extremely influential in my life (thus the blog title. :)) & something that's been heavy on my heart the past few days:

"wherever you are, be all there.

live to the hilt every situation

you believe to be the will of God."

                         - jim elliot

confession: lately this has not been true of my life.


i thought about this in terms of the bible... and james 4 came to mind. 

Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, 

spend a year there, carry on business and make money."Why, you do noteven

 know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist thatappears 

for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 

"If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."

man, oh man.

the holy spirit hit me like a ton of bricks.

you know, maybe it's winter, the lack of sun. maybe it's the lack of relationships. 

maybe it's been weariness. maybe maybe maybe.

OR maybe i've been checking out. 

because ywam is in April.& i'm really really really really excited about it,  because i know that for right now, God has this door open for me.

but.

i shouldn't be so excited that i lose touch with life here.

people. friends. work. ministry. church. family.

man... i don't want to be that type of person.  i want to give it all i've got every step of the way.

i want to be steadfast. not lose heart. run until the end.

anyway. i'm learning. and god is changing me.

i'm stickin it out. if i have to wake up every day & commit to it, i will. life it too valuable.

god has given me this very moment. & it's a blessing.

ok, ok... now it's picture time, folks:

today it snowed! it only snows about 1 time a year, it's such a thrill that everything is usually cancelled for the day! plus, it's so pretty!

the other day, i finally took my mom out for her christmas present. :)

fun mom-daughter day. :)

& sunday, 3 of my best friends & i roadtripped to San Antonio 

to see one of our favorite bands. it was pretty awesome.

yep. :)

hope all of you lovely people are having a great week. 

blessings.

xo xo xo