Merry CHRISTmas and a Happy New Year!

Well, it’s that time again!  It’s Christmas time and time to start a brand new year!  As we say good-bye to another year gone by we said a warm wintery Hello to the new year 2011!  Wow! To think about everything that has happened in this century so far and how much we have learned in the past 10 years! 
The memories we have made with old friends and even new ones that we may have just met this year.  We’ve accomplished goals and maybe even created new ones.  We’ve started new careers and made new plans for ourselves.  I’ve had many friends who have become engaged and have been recently married and some who have had their first child.
Though being approximatly 2,000 miles away from those college and post college friends  that I left behind in Indiana, it’s great knowing that I can stay in contact with them over the phone/Facebook/email.  Even though looking at pictures of everyone sometimes brings me to tears as I think about all the good times we’ve had, and how much I miss them!
Even thinking about the new friendships I have made with the friends that I’ve been blessed with working on this new church planting ministry.  We’ve been able to reach so many different people through music and drama and just by being able to create relationships around us and spread the good news about how wonderful a relationship with Christ is!  I look forward to the many adventures we have together through what God has plan for our lives.  It’s going to be such a great adventure!
Starting new career paths is always a scary thing to do.  But starting a business with MaryKay has been a huge challenge for me!  But it as been extremely worthwhile for me every step of the day.  It’s allowing me to get out there and meet new people and try new things.  I’ve met so many new friends that I have been blessed to work with through this new business endeavor.  They have helped me overcome my fears and accomplish my goals.  I am so blessed to be about to work with these wonderful people that I can call friends! 
I could not have accomplished anything with out the love of God with me!  He is always there in my good days and my bad ones.  When I am feeling lonely, I can run to his arms and just feel comforted.  Whether I am in my quiet time or worshiping in our Sunday service.  For as Philippians 4:13 says, for I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.  And God gives me daily strength to make it through each and everyday.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  And as I look at this verse over and over again I am reminded that God knows what is best for me, he knows where my career path leads and he knows who that “future husband” is for me.  So as I continue to study God’s word and dig deeper into the scriptures and live out the word of God by telling people, performing dramas or maybe just by helping people.  I can be assured that I am still growing and learning more day by day.

Second Chance

Second ChanceBy:  Tami Gregor

Have you ever felt like the Samaritan woman in the Bible?  Asking yourself why would Jesus talk to me?  And why would he ask me to get a drink of water for him?  Jesus answers the Samaritan woman by telling her of the Gift that God has for her.  “Where can I get this gift?”  Asked the Samaritan woman.  She asks again, please sir…give me some of that water!  Then I will never be thirsty again. 

John 4:1-30 is where Jesus talks to the Samaritan woman.  See before, the Samaritan woman lived with five different men, the Jews looked down upon her, she was a woman and she didn’t have the cleanest reputation.

When the Samaritan woman met Jesus, she was then offered a safe, healthy and empowered life, unexpectedly.

After she met Jesus, she saw the love and mercy that Jesus offered her that she had never seen before and certainly didn’t deserve.  She left her water by the well and went and told everyone what Jesus had done.

Sometimes its hard when you think you have just totally messed up your life and no one can love you.  You have done so much wrong and your faith has just slipped away little by little.  But something happens and you see the life you have led flash before your eyes, and suddenly right where you are, you bow your head and pray, for maybe the first time, or for the first time in a long time.  You ask God to take control of this life you are leading and change it.

It doesn’t matter who you are, where you live or what you have done.  Salvation is there for one and all.  Embrace the relationship that Christ has for you!

As it says in Jeremiah 29:11, God knows the plans He has set forth for your life .  Embrace Him.

God is a God of second chances.  Take that chance.

Grace and Peace to you all!

I am Free!

Freedom By:  Tami Gregor

“So if the Son has set you free, you will be free indeed.”  (John 8:36)

We have the free rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but we also have the freedom to choose Christ as our Savior.  Choosing Christ is a different kind of free; that can never be taken from you!

We have the choice to get up on Sunday mornings and evenings to attend a worship service, or attend a worship service or Bible Study during the week and the freedom to read God’s word without being thrown into jail!

If you get up out of a warm bed and a good nights sleep.  If you ate breakfast or even just had a cup of coffee in the morning.  If you got up and walked out to your car and drove to church, work or to a friends house.  You’re not only luckier than over half the population in America, but you are considered rich to millions of people in other countries!

We have the freedom to choose Christ as our Savior.  We have the freedom to tell the world that “I Choose You.”  I choose today to live for God and I choose today to do something about my faith.

Some show their faith through singing, some through acting.  Some write their feelings on paper, in a novel, in a poem, in a song or maybe even in a script.  Others preach the gospel; whether it is in a small church or a heavily populated seminar. Some lend a helping hand to those in need and some are gifted through prayer.  How are you showing your faith?Are you putting your faith into action?What can you do to help that person on your mind?|How do you want to show your love for Christ and show that you choose Him?

 “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)

“for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” (Romans 10:13)

Life, Liberty, Speech, Press, and Religion, we have all of these freedoms and rights in this country, but the freedom to choose Jesus Christ as our Savior and to worship God through out our lives, is the best kind of freedom that is ever given to us because no one can ever take it from you, no matter what.

Christ died over 2000 years ago for our sins to that we could spend eternity in Heaven with Him; all we have to do is ask for forgiveness.  Christ died for all of us so we might be free and live for Him. 

LOVE
my
Indiana FRIENDS!!! :)

Called to Worship

I was reading my daily devotion from a Rebecca St. James book one day and it was just an amazing way of stating how we are called into worshiping God.  She states, "that God does not call us to be robots.  He gave us a choice."  God wants us to be joyful as we worship Him.  He wants to see smiles upon our faces and loving hearts.  Every time we worship God we are in awe of everything that he has done in our lives, he gives us the desire to raise our hands and praise his name!  When we focus on God, and take our eyes off of  ourselves we can truly worship our Wonderful maker! :)  Rebecca St. James puts it an amazing way, she says that whether we "lead or participate in worship, none of us are called to be a star -- God has called us to be servants." 

                                         

As we worship God with all our hearts we are desiring that personal relationship with Him.  We want to be able to give him everything we have and will be, because "he is all I want, he is everything," I love that way the song "Everything" states that Christ is all that we desire! :)  We want to be able to feel the extravagant love of Christ and be able to share his love with everyone around us. 

I've done a skit, titled 'Best Friends' about two little girls one of them a shy new girl, Mallory, and the other a hyperactive girl, Tami.  When the Mallory is sitting by herself talking to nobody, Tami, who has lived in the town her whole life comes up to talk to her.  She talks about how she does so much playing and reading her Children's Bible everyday! Her excitement is so high and full of joy that her new friend, Mallory, is now very intriged by this excitement, and now wants to know more about this sudden joy and burst of energy, that comes from this hyperactive new friend of hers.  When we share Christ with those around us, he is with us, in a smile, touch or voice, he is there to help us meet those needs of others. 

"Your love is extravagant, Your friendship, it is intimate, I feel I'm moving to the rhythm of Your grace, Your fragrance is intoxicating in the secret place, Cause Your love is extravagant..."  (Your Love is Extrabagant by Casting Crowns)