Playing Catch Up

Here are some pics from EVERYTHING that has been going on lately!

At Miss Patty's on our little vacation :)

Silly Mirror

Us Girls at Lake Barkley Resort!

The Family (minus me) eating

Tini

Bek

Jessi

At the Casting Crowns Concert (Notice the hand print shirt...)

Silly Pumpkin Faces at Honey Suckle Hill Farms

Again

About to start the Corn Maze!

Signs

There are four doors that let you into Cherry Hall from the South side; one of them is always broken. Always. So whenever you are walking into Cherry, you must look at the doors, see which one has a sign that says "DOOR BROKEN, USE OTHER DOORS" and then decide which one to walk through. It is kind of ridiculous, but also hilarious. I find myself asking, which door will be broken this week? and what in the world is going on that these stinkin' doors never work? 

However, what is more hilarious is that person who clearly is blind because he or she always tries to use the door that is broken, even when there is a sign on it, right there at eye level! So he tries to open the door, but it won't open. Or he opens the door and it won't close. I'm waiting for the day when he opens the door and it falls off. 

Make sure to read the signs. Especially the obvious ones. Save yourself a lot of trouble.

Conviction

"Convictions are precious few.  Like rare diamonds in the sand, convictions set great people apart from everyone else like a full moon or a bright starry night in the mountains." -Joe White 

This quote comes from a Bible study that I received in an e-mail earlier this morning. Its interesting because lately it seems like I've had several opportunities to talk to people about "convictions." Its such a big scary religious word. But here's the thing, convictions are important. Conviction means that the Holy Ghost is at work inside of us. It means God is changing you to become holy as he is holy (1 Peter 1:15-19). So if you have convictions, keep them. Don't be ashamed of them, they are your greatest witness. 

Here's something important to know: your convictions make up your character. Your character, as Joe White puts it, is who you are when only God is looking. And your character, in turn, provides a reputation for you. If you waver, people aren't going to take you seriously. So the next time you tell your friends you have decided not to drink alcohol because you think it will bring you closer to the Lord... watch out before you pick up that drink at the party. Why would someone want to imitate your relationship with the Lord when even you don't take it seriously?

Convictions also keep us in line. If I used to have a conviction about something, and now I don't, then something has changed in my heart. So I need to examine my heart, is the change a good one or a bad one? If you're giving up something worth keeping, the change might not be so good. If you were really close to the Lord at church camp and decided you were going to stay pure until marriage, then in the heat of the moment decide to give it all up... what can you say about where you are in your relationship with the Lord? 

Self-discipline is the greatest contributor to keeping up with your convictions. If you have no self-control it will be hard to keep it up. Maybe you need to get convicted about having more self control...

That's really all I have to say. 

Just a Glimmer of Hope

Rarely ever does God lay out his plans for us that we might clearly understand them and foresee everything ahead. In my experience, when God's plans have been revealed to me, it was at the very moment they were unfolding. However, sometimes I wonder if we don't know what is going on, or what is going to happen, simply because we do not ask, and in turn, we do not listen. I think sometimes we are afraid of what God might have in store for us. His plans might take us somewhere we have never been before. They might take us out of a place of comfort, and place us in unfamiliar territory. So "whatever those plans are that you have for me God, just let 'em fall right on me, no warning, I couldn't handle that." That's our attitude. 

And maybe that's the point. Surely God knows that if he were to reveal his plans for us to us, we might mess them up or reject them and run the other way. He's a clever God for catching us off guard. But, if you are anything like me, sometimes I just have to know something. I don't need the whole plan mapped out or played on a big screen; I just need something to give me peace, a little glimmer of hope that God really is up to something and that everything is going to be alright. 

Our greatest sense of hope will always come from the Word. Monday night I prayed for peace, and did not tell anyone. Tuesday morning I received these verses in an e-mail:

 Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your cares upon him; for he careth for you. 

If we trust in the Lord, he will give us peace! What hope there is in that thought!

However, sometimes, words on a page are not enough for us. As humans, we need tangible proof that everything is going to be okay. We need to talk to someone, we need to see a sign. Fortunately, God is a God who gives us hope in those ways as well. 

Saturday night I was in a youth service in West Nashville at Friendship Pentecostal Church, where Bro. Dean Chapman is the pastor. The service was loud and the Holy Ghost was electric. We had the windows open and speakers in some of the windows so that the community could hear what was going on. At the end of the service, Bro. Chapman opened the doors and asked us to give a shout to God that the whole neighborhood could hear. It was almost deafening in that building, but I thought about what a sign of hope that was for the community and that church. The people around may not have understood what was going on, but I know that God stirred up something in their spirit when they heard such a joyful noise. That something was hope.

Sometimes we find hope in the presence of a close friend. I believe that God specifically places us in others lives. You don't meet someone by accident. So on one end, make every encounter you have worth something. Be an encouragement to others. On the other end, make every encounter about something that God can do. We gain hope from one another. Be honest with people, show them you care. Last Friday, before I went to lunch, I prayed that God would give me an opportunity to be a witness to someone. A few minutes after I had set down to eat, I saw a guy sit in my direct line of vision and I knew he was the one that God had called me to witness to. Why? Because I knew this guy, and he was the last person I wanted to talk to. However, God stirred up something in my spirit (after he got done laughing at me) and when I was finished eating, I went over and said hi and asked how everything was going. And I didn't talk to him about church or anything like that, rather, I tried to encourage him. I tried to give him a glimmer of hope. 

However, we all have days when hope seems very distant. But trust me, and trust the Word, hope can always be found. 

What's your focus?

"Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn't pleased at being ignored." Romans 8:7-8

Whoa. What are you focused on? I must admit, this verse was kind of a slap in the face for me. If I am completely absorbed in myself and my life and what is going on with me, then I have ignored God. And he is not pleased by that. I definitely don't think I'm guilty of this all the time. Usually if I'm thinking about my own life, my very next thought is to take it to God in prayer... but not all the time. Sometimes I try to work things out on my own, sometimes I get so consumed in what is going on that I forget about God's power. The beautiful thing about this verse is that it tells us that God doesn't want us to worry about things, he wants us to give it to him, so that he might supply our every need. Whoo wee... I need to work on that. 

"But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can harly be thinking more of yourself than of him." Romans 8:9

If you think about yourself more than you think about Jesus, you might want to consider if you have been filled with his spirit, and maybe you have, but have you also allowed the flesh to bury the Spirit? It happens to the best of us sometimes, but I definitely don't want that to be the case in my life! So I'm going to work on it!

Discretion

"Like a gold ring in a pig's snout
is a beautiful woman without discretion."
Proverb 11:22

Or I like how the Message says it:
"Like a gold ring in a pig's snout
is a beautiful face on an empty head."

Pretty harsh, but that's biblical. Watch the words that come out of your mouth, that you write in pen, or type on the computer. Speak kindness. Speak love.

"Discretion will watch over you
understanding will guard you."
Proverb 2:11

Need I say more?

It gets sweeter...

It's Monday morning, 9:50 a.m. and I am in the Cherry Hall computer lab doing... nothing. I've been on facebook, twitter, checked my e-mail twice, and nothing. I have no pressing homework, no papers to write, no tests to study for, and just a couple of small assignments that I don't have to do right now. It feels like the week after midterms... oh wait, it is. I hardly know what to do with myself. This past weekend I was almost sure that the semester is almost over, but I was wrong. Seven more weeks (including finals week). I almost got depressed, but I will not. They will fly by, and then the semester will be over. Hallelujah. So this week of nothing to do (fingers crossed), I will relax and not stress. 

This past weekend was amazing (do I only blog on Mondays to write about the weekend? I'm afraid so). Friday night I went to a Casting Crowns concert with Joseph and his family. It was fabulous.  Joseph wore a white polo with little hand prints all over it... I love him anyways. Saturday morning I woke up and my family went to clean the church in preparation for our service on Sunday. Joseph came over later and we played UNO for two hours as a family. I won twice, Christina won three times, and my mom (the pretty much undefeated champion until Saturday) won once. Rebekah one once and Joseph did not win at all. Fail. 

Saturday night Joseph and I went to Honeysuckle Hill Farms. If you live in the middle Tennessee area, you really ought to go sometime, its so worth the ten dollars you pay to get in! It was so fun! We ate good food (caramel apples...yum) and looked at farm animals (little pigs and bunnies!!!) and went through a Tennessee Twister (ahhh!!!) and, finally, we did a corn maze! It was at night, so it was dark and we used flashlights... some of the time. Two couples from Joseph's church joined us and they were kind of skittish in the dark. So Joseph and I spent most of our time scaring them. Good times. 

And Sunday, my favorite day of the week, was great! I know I blogged about this last week, asking you all to pray and such, and I really think the Lord did a great thing Sunday. The people I wanted to be there were there and I know that God was working in their lives. Every single word that was said was perfect, right on time, and every song was anointed, the worship was moving, and the spirit was sweet.


Our youth pastor's wife, Sarah, sang an old song called "It gets sweeter as the days go by" and she testified before singing about how we go through life and no matter what stage we are in, someone always tells us "these are the best years of your life." So naturally, we might assume that the next stage is going to be worse than the one we're in, but then we get there and Oh! These are the best days! Because when we know Jesus, everyday is sweeter than the day before.

More Friends

All of my friends are getting blogs!

Check her out:
Kait Massie: Lessons and Lullabies

Its super sweet :)

It's Friday and Prayer Works!

All week I've had this mysterious feeling that has caused me to not worry about school work, watch a few episodes of my favorite television show, and not study for the two midterms that I have today. Ehhhh I think it's called burn-out, but I would also describe it as peace. You see, despite this "I-don't-care-about-school-and-I'd-rather-do-something-else" feeling, I have finished my work and I have been very productive and I even feel pretty confident about the two midterms... Someone must have been praying for me this week.

I will be the first to admit that I totally and completely underestimate the power of prayer. However, time after time, sticky situation after sticky situation, God comes through for me. This week has been a big boost of faith. I have a huge prayer that I need answered for this Sunday coming up and I'm expecting a miracle. I can do this because of two reasons:

1. God has answered all of my little prayers this week. So, if he cares about the little things, don't ya think he cares about the big things? Doesn't the Bible say his eye is on the sparrow, and how much more does he care about us than the sparrow? A lot. So yeah! Here are a few (little) prayers he answered for me this week:

~For my history class, I have to turn all of my papers in to this website called "Turnitin" to prove to my professor that I did not plagiarize. Well, I turned in my hard copy last week, but did not turn it in online. When I went to turn it in online, my flash drive had crashed. Poop. So I e-mailed my teacher and explained the situation. Did she e-mail me back? No. So I worried for three days (this was a big grade) and she never e-mailed me back. So I went to her office, kind of scared, because she is scary. Oh, and I prayed. Duh. And you know what? She let me off the hook, told me I didn't have to turn it in online, because I made an A on the paper and she just believed me that I didn't plagiarize (I didn't). So thank you Jesus!

~Also, and I won't go into a lot of detail on this one, but I was worried about a relationship in my life (not Joseph, don't worry hehe) and God opened a door for me to make efforts to fix it. Yay! Thank you Jesus!

~On Wednesday, I was having a horrible day. I was sick, I had to work, I had class, I was going, going, going, from 8:00 that morning til 9:30 that night. But church Wednesday night was SO good. Perfect. And then I had a great opportunity for work to help get my utilization up. Praise God!

~Joseph's mom got an extra ticket for the concert they were going to and asked me if I wanted to go. I didn't really pray for that, but praise the Lord anyways :)

2. I also have faith that God is going to answer my big prayer because I haven't decided in my mind what I think he should do to answer it. Often times we pray for God to work a certain way, and then when things don't go exactly as we think they should, it upsets us. But I know that God's plans aren't always the same as mine. So I'm just counting on him to do something and I know he will.

"You're just a conformist, drunken, naked, running around on a loud motorcycle, smoking cigarettes, breaking commandments, getting pregnant out of wedlock, everyone's done that. It's so tiring. If you really want to be a rebel, read your Bible, 'cause no one's doing that. That's the only rebellion left." -Lecrae

Be a Rebel.

Come Home

"You're not a disappointment to me--
You're just like the rest of us, struggling through this journey.
I don't care what secrets you may keep--
I could never love you less than all the love inside of me.
Please come home,
The door is open wide.
You don't have to fix your life for me--
I died so you would not have to leave.
So come home."

These lyrics come from the song, "Come Home," by Meredith Andrews, and they have been on my heart all day. This Sunday my home church will be celebrating our 13th year of Hope, and this song rings out the truth that I hope is the theme this year. In the past, we have always called this special service our "Anniversary Service," but I heard another church call it their "Homecoming Service," because evidently, it is the day that everyone "comes home" for church. We've never done it that way, but I kinda hope this Sunday goes something along those lines. I sent out a facebook invite to several people who I would like to see come home for this Sunday and I've really been praying all week about it. Our church is absent of many "prodigal sons," people who should definitely be sitting in our pews. My Granddad has baptized over two hundred people since we have been in our present location, and trust me, they aren't all still there. 

I'm looking forward to this Sunday. And if your reading this and you are one of those people who need to come home, I love you and I hope to see you soon :)

Vacation Highlights

Last weekend my family took our first “vacation” since I was… oh probably eight years old. That might be an exaggeration, but actually it’s not. It was just a mini vacation; we went to Lake Barkley Resort about two hours west from my house. It was really nice and relaxing; there was no cell phone service, I didn’t do my homework, and our room at the lodge overlooked the lake. I don’t think I really got any rest while I was there because we did so much, and slept so little, and then yesterday I thought I was going to fall asleep during my history class and that was AFTER I drank coffee. Nonetheless, it was an amazing change of scenery and was really great for my family to spend some quality time together that we weren’t running around and doing all of the stuff that we normally do. We ate good food, did a lot of shopping, but didn’t really buy a lot of stuff, and did some major sight-seeing. We went to Miss Patti’s, a really cute little place in Cadiz, and visited the Homeplace, over at Land Between the Lakes. Here are just a few highlights of the trip (pictures to follow!)

• The first day and a half was just my mom, dad, Rebekah, and myself. That was cool just because it never happens, but I missed Tina and Jess like crazy because they are such fun girls and I was glad when they joined us. 
• The lodge where we stayed was really nice, and it had an indoor pool and jacuzzi and sauna and all that good stuff. Ahhhhh....
• The scenery was beautiful, and made for great pictures.
• Rebekah, Tina, and I all slept in one bed. That was not a highlight. The highlight was that we got so tickled at ourselves and I laughed so hard I thought I was going to throw-up. Laughter is the best medicine.
• We ate such good food. No joke. 
• At Miss Patti's there were all these cute little, super-expensive, shops. But one of them was having a "yard sale" where everything was 75% off. So I was stoked. I love a good deal.
• There was a little arcade-kind-of place in the lodge and my sisters and I played four-player ping pong which requires a lot of running and falling and stuff... mainly because we were all really bad at ping pong. Except Christina. And Me. Still though, it was fun(ny).
• Getting to spend time with my dad when he wasn't concerned about work was really cool. He's pretty much hilarious. 
• Bluegrass, bluegrass, bluegrass.
• We made friends with the guy who worked at the pool and he heard us singing in the locker room one day and asked us to come back and sing for him again. So we packed up our instruments and went and sang him a song. 

You know, just a note on that last highlight, life is ministry. We don't get a break. I always get frustrated by people who think that their just going to "take a vacation from everything," but when the Lord calls you to a ministry, you don't get to do that. Every single day of our lives we choose whether or not to let our light shine. We could have decided that we weren't going to put out the extra effort to sing for that guy, but I know that since we did, his life might be changed. If nothing else, he will remember what we did for him and how he felt. I hope that he knows that what he felt was God.

I won't study [school] no more!

I have never, ever, in my entire life been so excited to get off of school for two days. Seriously! This day can't go by fast enough! At four o'clock I will check out of work, grab my bags, get in the truck and hit the road for home. I am especially excited because my family is taking a mini-vacation for the first time in (I'm embarrassed to say) years! You guys know how busy I am, so this is a BIG deal. We're going to Lake Barkley and staying in the lodge, where I will stare at the water, sleep, and not answer the phone (unless its Joseph) or e-mails. I plan on shopping, eating out at restaurants, and not doing homework. It is going to be fantastic.

So, I've been reading Isaiah and yesterday while I was reading chapter two, I came across this verse:

"nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore."

I immediately recognized this verse from the song we used to sing in church "I'm gonna lay down my burdens, down by the river side... I ain't gonna study war no more!" The verse is, I believe, talking about when God creates a new heaven and a new earth and there will be a thousand years of peace and there will be no more war. Whenever I start thinking about heaven, I can almost get carried away and forget that the Lord sends peace to those of us who are filled with his spirit here, while we are still on this earth. 

So yeah, I was kind of joking when I titled this post because I will not be studying this weekend, but it really is refreshing to know that we can rest in God's presence whenever we like.

The Family of God

I told a friend of mine yesterday that this past weekend was the best weekend I think I have ever had... which is saying a lot, because here lately my weekends have been packed with fun stuff. This weekend definitely outweighed them all though. I wrote last week about the tent revival at Joseph's church, Christ Family Church in East Nashville, but I wrote too soon, because now I have more to say about it! Friday night was so cold, but so awesome. Bro. Pruitt, the pastor, had asked my me and my sisters to lead worship, which was fun, but it was especially fun because Joseph preached Friday night too! I love working together like that. So after we sang, and my feet had gone numb, I wrapped my legs up in a blanket and listened to him preach (it was only like the third time I had heard him!) and he did SO good. I was so proud. He preached about having a relationship with the Lord that is bought, not borrowed from someone else. He preached his heart, and I was so proud to see the Lord work through him. Many lives were touched Friday night.

Then, this really cool thing happened Saturday called "I slept in and didn't leave the house until after noon." That never happens. Never. My family had been invited to sing at a benefit Saturday evening in Bowling Green and it was a great time of fellowship. When we got home, we sat on the couch and watched "Secondhand Lions." Its been months since we watched a movie together. That was fun.

I didn't do any of my homework though (just thought I'd throw that in there).

However, Sunday was the best by far. We had a lot of families out Sunday morning because all the kids are on Fall Break and on vacation and things like that, and I was disappointed as well as a little discouraged because Joseph was coming to preach at our church on Sunday night and I wanted people to be there. Our Sunday school lesson, though, was on loyalty and while I started out the lesson thinking to myself that if people were more loyal to the church and the Lord, then they would start their vacations on Monday instead of leaving us hanging (soapbox) God reminded me of a verse that I had read just a few days before from Isaiah 40. The verse tells us that we should first encourage one another, but that in the end, the Lord is our most faithful friend. He will "never leave us nor forsake us." What a good reminder!

I went to CFC on Sunday afternoon with Joseph and watched him baptize his cousin Phillip. I love baptisms. I love them so much I can't hardly stand it.

Then we came back to Hope for the Sunday night service, and Joseph's cousin Brennan, who is three years old, rode with us. I laughed so much on that trip. I love kids, I love their curiosity and their innocence. He told me he wanted a truck like mine that had a stick in it so he could go fast. 

And Sunday night we didn't have a small crowd. Joseph's family came to hear him preach and it felt good. Because no matter what building we are in, the family of God is the family of God and it feels good to be in service with God's children. I felt really complete Sunday night having everyone together like that. It makes me look forward to Heaven, where we will all be together forever. I can't wait!