Transitions and the Beautiful Fall Colors

There's just something about seasons. You have summer and winter, which you can always count on to be pretty much the same. Summer is long and hot, Winter is long and cold. Then you have what I like to call the transitional seasons, Spring and Fall.

I have always loved Spring, its so representative of a new beginning. Everything is beautiful and budding and fresh, and it all leads to summer, the season children everywhere look forward to as soon as the pools close in September. Spring is wonderful. But what about Autumn? It leads to Winter, a season mostly known for cold, wet weather, naked trees and soggy scenery. I would almost be tempted to dislike Autumn for this very reason.

Today, however, I was taking a walk outside and I noticed the leaves falling. It was as if time stopped for a moment for me. The breeze picked up and hundreds of red, orange, and yellow leaves blew off the branches of the trees and surrounded me. It was beautiful.

So I thought, how could the end of something so great (summer) be so beautiful? And why do we love the colors of Fall so much when in reality the coloration is actually the death of the leaves?

Is it because we know they have to die so the trees will be beautiful once again in the spring?

Our life can be like this. Well, it is like this. Its full of seasons. We are not always in a summer season where everything is beautiful and warm and full of great things. Sometimes we face dreadful winters. We are cold and tired and weak. Sometimes though, we are neither. We are in transitional seasons. We are in the Spring and Fall. The great thing about these two seasons is that they are both beautiful. They both represent change, they both lead us into another season, we know they won't last forever. These are the seasons where we find ourselves waiting, wondering, sometimes falling, sometimes birthing great things.

And Autumn, though it leads us into Winter, is so great. It gives us a glimpse of what is coming and it gives us time to prepare and often times it allows us to die out to ourselves so that Jesus can make us beautiful once again.

Losing It...

Tonight I am sleepless due to mourning the loss of an incredible man of God, Bro. Richard Burgett. He was the Sr. Pastor at Grace Apostolic Church and a dear family friend.

As my family spoke of him today and told the stories of first meeting him, I realized I do not have a clear memory of first meeting him. He is a figure that just appears in my life somewhere along the way.

My sisters and I esteemed Bro. Burgett as a man so close to God that his very presence, even the mention of his name, could cause you to be slain in the spirit. Thus began our silliness. Everytime someone mentioned his name, we would throw ourselves on the floor. This was not in any way to make fun of or even imitate the true spirit of God, but to show how much we truly loved this man and his closeness to God and in that, his humor (I think he found us to be quite funny)

This summer I was priviledged to work in youth ministry at Grace Apostolic Church. They asked me to play for the alter call one night, and as a played piano and sang, I heard another voice join me in the chorus "Breathe on Me" it was the anointed voice of Bro. Burgett. I couldn't stop smiling. Later that night I called my sister and told her of the wonderful experience I had just had, to which she replied, "did you get sain in the spirit???" HAHAHAHAHA.....

Not only that, but it was at Grace Apostolic that my ministry began to really take flight. Pastor Harold Mauldin asked me to speak a word one Sunday night, so I did. I felt like God had given my a word for their church, yet I was still very nervous! To have to speak in front of not only the whole congregation, but Bro. Burgett himself was sitting on the very front pew! The man from whom I have heard many many great sermons. The man who lead the way for me to even stand up there. But as I spoke, I looked out at him and he was smiling and nodding his head. He was supporting me. And that moment made a huge impact on me and the ministry I wish to have.

When I received the news of his death, my first reaction of course was to be sad. I cried. But then I had a great revelation, this man, who I felt was a best friend to God. This man who had spoken prophetic words over my life and the lives of many others, this man, who lead so many people to Christ, was now finally standing face to face with his creator, the God for whom he lived. His whole life was for this very moment, when he would stand before Jesus Christ.

And that made me smile. I will rejoice.
Psalm 116

Addicted

It starts with wanting to fit in

addiction slowly setting in

I drifted off into dismay

Eyes looking back at me

I can't even see your face

The pressure is closing in

I taking me away

Wait, its all that I can take

and every single day

a part of my soul is fading

so now, I'm letting go somehow

Unshackled and Unbound

I'm calling out your name I'm fading

So save me, from what I've become

Its like a force thats pulling you

It's empty promise hides the truth

Just about to break

Help me see the way

I shatter into pieces on the floor

This is a song by popular Christian Rock artists Decypher Down. Tiday I've been thinking about addiction, and not even that to something such as drugs or sex or anything of that calibur, but just an addiction to anything that keeps us away from a relationship with Jesus Christ.

What do we do??? How do you break an addiction that is so strong? I've often wondered how a woman, who has been abused in a relationship could go back to her abuser. But I find myself realizing I do the same exact thing everytime I return to an addiction that hinders my walk with God.

I'm just really wondering what to do right now to stop this. When I figure it out, I'll let you know.

Learning About Love

*This blog entry may get a little personal, on my part and yours. Just know that these words come from the heart ♥

It seems to me that many many people my age are having, or have had, relationship problems. I believe this is a direct result of one thing: lack of intimacy with our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Now I am definately NOT saying that if you have relationship problems you are not a Christian, because that is so not true. This blog is pretty much directly written to those Christian singles who are having relationship problems because I have been there (ok, well, I'm still there :))

There are a few things we could all learn:

1. No one will ever satisfy us or fill our emptiness except for Jesus Christ

2. We serve a jealous God and he will not allow us to be totally and completely satisfied with someone else until we are satisfied with him.

3. When we find ourselves in the perfect will of God, we will never want to go back to who we were before because it will be so awesome

4. We must learn to wait on the Lord, and while we are waiting we must learn to worship him, there is nothing to fear, God will stay true to his promises

5. Life is full of pain and heart break and rejection but God said he would never leave us and forsake us. He suffered for us and we will suffer for him.

So how do I know anything about any of this??? Well, for the most part I truly don't have a clue. But I know where I have been and where God has brought me and I have learned a lot from my experience and the men and women of God who have spoken into my life. I was in a relationship on and off for 2 years. It ended badly. It was kind of ugly. I questioned God and I questioned every choice I had made about my life. I was afraid that God was mad at me for the choices I had made, but most of all, I feared that those two years had just been a waste and that nothing good would come from it. But I learned that God uses everything in our life to build our ministry, to build our testimony. I have been able to talk to so many girls (and a few guys) about making God the central focus of their life. And that is so important. I have learned that if I could touch one persons life with my testimony in a way that effects their eternal life it is worth it.

I am completely confident in all 4 of the items I just listed, even though some of them are yet to be acheived in my life. This is because after the break up I went through, I buried myself in the word of God and his word is full of promises to his children (thats us!!!!)

So here I will share them with you. Be encouraged. God loves us and longs for intimacy with us just like we long for intimacy with another human being. He died on the cross to forgive our sins and when we learn to live completely and utterly in love with him, he will send us some company for our journey on earth :)

"I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears." ~Psalms 34:4

"The Lord is near to them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as are of a crushed spirit, many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him from them all." ~Psalm 34:18-19

" Trust ye in the Lord forever: For in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength." Isaiah 26:4

"For thy maker is thy husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer, the holy one of Israel; the God of the whole earth, shall he be called." ~Isaiah 54:5

"The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed in us." ~Romans 8:18

"'If God be for us, who can be against us?" ~Romans 9:31

"I will never leave thee nor forsake thee" ~Hebrews 13:5

There are so many wonderful promises in the word of God. Explore them, cling to them, and believe them. They are our hope, they encourage our faith, and they are so true.

God, a Girl, and a Jellyfish :)

OK, so I won't take complete credit for everything that will be written in this particular entry. The story about the jellyfish I heard from my youth pastor. However, my story is exactly that: mine. Enjoy :)

So I woke up Monday morning and started to school. I won a free breakfast sandwich from McDonald's Monopoly and I was so excited!!! So I get to McDonald's and the drive through line is absolutely ridiculous. So I go inside get the sandwich.. blah blah blah. Anyways, I go back out to my truck and it won't start the dumb thing is dead. So my grandad comes to the rescue and takes me to school. From there the day just gets worse and worse. In my first class I get a text from a friend saying a classmate has died. Then I realized that the battery in my phone is going dead, and I left my charger at home.

Hang on... it doesn't get better :)

I then call my mom to make sure she deposited my money into my bank account (which I couldn't do on account of being late for class) She did. Buuuuuuttttt I left my wallet at my dorm which is a 15 min walk from where I was when I needed it. To top it all off (I'm almost done) I had two mid-term exams and two major papers due this week

WHEWWW!!!!!

Yeah, its been slightly horrible. However, when I look it all over, I think God very well may have been protecting me. This sounds crazy but just listen to this:

Whitney and her husband Ben were on a trip with Whitney's father, Peter, for his 50Th Birthday when the plane they were in crashed over the Gulf of Mexico. They tied their life jackets together and hung on for dear life until they reached a lobster pen, where they would spend the next 12 hours clinging to life. Of course they were scared of sharks, but what was really getting to them were the jellyfish. For the entire 12 hours the couple spent in the Gulf of Mexico, they were being stung by Jellyfish.

Haha... makes my day seem kind of lame :)

When rescuers found the trio, they were tired, dehydrated, and stung like crazy. But they had never seen a shark. Know why???? Sharks are scared of Jellyfish.... yeah. That's right.

Sometimes we have really really bad days, but when things are just really getting to you, just think, they may be God's way of protecting you from something wayyyy bigger. My Monday was horrible. But I know now that God was watching out for me. Had all those things not gone wrong, I may have found myself getting into bigger trouble.

So I remember this verse: Psalm 9:2-3

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge, and my fortress; my God, in him will I trust

Surely he shall deliver thee.

To all my Ladies: Lead your Heart

So Monday night I went to Bible Study at Megans :) and for fun we watched Fireproof, which I had never seen (shameless movie plug: WATCH THE MOVIE!!!!) Anyways, of course there are many great lessons in that movie, but there is one quote that really stuck with me and has made me think many thoughts that I'm going to be sharing with you ♥

"Do not follow your heart, instead lead your heart."

As girls, we have been taught our entire life to follow our hearts. "I don't know whether to break up with my boyfriend or not." "I don't know if I should tell my friend how I really feel about her sleeping around." "I don't know how to tell my parents I want to move out..." To which the reply is always, "Follow your heart."

But what if we're not supposed to follow our hearts? I know your probably really questioning what I'm talking about here, I mean, if I don't follow my heart, what am I going to follow? To this I must reply:

FOLLOW GOD!!!!

Yeah, that's right, as Christian young women I think we often times confuse following our hearts with following our emotions. If you've been in a relationship for years, your heart is not going to tell you to walk away from it. If you no longer approve of what your friends are doing or getting involved with, its going to be real tough to break those ties you have with them.

However, the solution is simple, we must learn to lead our hearts, and to do this we must bury ourselves in God's word and arm ourselves with prayer. Honestly, we don't have a clue what God has in store for us, but if we allow him to lead our hearts, he will take us exactly where we need to go.

You can find your way home

 "Despite the fact that I cannot understand a word my biology teacher says, I recently learned an incredibly important lesson in his class.

Just bear with me here: The honeybee population is dying out. If you didn't know it, when honeybees leave the hive they make trails that help them to find their way home. Recently, gases and chemicals in the enviroment have been erasing these trails. So when the honeybee is done pollinating and having fun and whatever they do away from the hive, they can't find their way home. The trail is gone.

Get this: Jesus Christ created a trail for us that can never be erased. Its blood red. It leads us to the cross. Nothing can erase it. Nothing can change its path. No matter what happens while you are away from God, the trail is always the same. 'It reaches to the highest mountain and flows to the lowest valley.'

You can always find your way home."

Drowning in Mud Puddles

 "Genesis 9: 14--17

If you live in the southern part of Kentucky, then in the last few weeks you have been witness to terrential rain and have probably wondered at times if perhaps you should make like Noah and build an ark. This past saturday was the worst. I was starting to question if God had forgotten his promise to never flood the earth again... but then I saw a rainbow.

So this got me thinking about Noah. After spending days, even months on a boat and watching the pouring rain, I'm sure Noah was getting tired of seeing the rain and hoping the sun would peek out from behind those storm clouds. I would even venture to say that perhaps Noah woke up every morning dreading the day ahead of him. He probably thought to himself, 'if it rains today God, I'm gonna...' But in the end, everything worked out. The water dried up and God even created a rainbow as a promise to Noah that he would never flood the earth again.

Sometimes in life it rains. Sometimes it rains for days on end, even for months and years. Parents divorce, relationships end badly, we find ourselves falling into sin time after time after time. We wonder where God is. Why would he allow us to go through these things? However, he made us a promise. He said he would never put more on us than we could bear.

So the next time you feel like drowning in the mud puddles of life, look in the Word for a rainbow. A rainbow is a promise."

The World's Full of Smokers...

So I was on my way back from class and I walked past four people who blew their cigarette smoke in my face. They didn't do it on purpose of course, they didn't even know that it bothered me. Oh but it did!!!! I wanted to punch them in the face. I was so mad. But I didn't say anything. I just let it go. I mean they're not going to stop smoking just because it upset me.

Well I got to thinking about this spiritually. The world is full of people living in sin. It bothers me. Everyday I see people who are living in sin, yet do I ever say anything to them? No. They aren't doing it to purposely aggravate me. They don't even know it bothers me. But what if they did??? I'm sure if I told those people not to smoke in my face they would probably say they were sorry, they probably would try to avoid doing it again. Some might not, but I like to think most would.

What if I told the people who were living in sin what I really thought? I mean, I'm not going to yell at them or damn them to Hell.... but what if I just said, "Hey, that bothers me. Could you not do that around me?" You know what? I think it would make a difference. It might even change their life.

Ephesians 4:15 says to speak all things in love that we might grow in Christ.

If I'm trying to make a difference in this world I may as well go ahead and start doing it... right?

FirstBlog

Ok... So I always have thoughts I wish to share and I've always wished I had a blog... so this is it. And at this very moment I am fresh out of things to say... which is unusual. So I guess I will just tell you about myself. My name is Anna. I'm 18 years old and a college student in Kentucky. I'm an English and Allied Language arts major and I hate it. My favorite color is pink. I have three sisters. I'm of the Apostolic faith. I love going to Bible study. I love to sing. I've been to Mexico. I have green eyes and blonde hair. I play the piano by ear. Its 12:18 in the morning and I'm very tired. I will come back to this tomorrow.