Celebrate Life!

Well, I've been thinking about this recent conference I was able to attend back in October of this year, I was incredibly blessed to be able to listen to the hearts of several women of faith while in Sacramento, Ca.  
While each one of them had a completely different life story to tell, they all centered around their undying love for Jesus.  They shared of hardships and trials and even some of the tears and pain that occurred in their lives and how they had been brought through these trials to be able to see the triumphs and victories over these times to believe and see what lies ahead in their brilliant futures.  Each one of their stories ran over several years of their life where they had their ups and downs.  Sometimes just when things started to look up…their world came to a crashing halt! Then, when it seemed as if all they wanted to do was give up, they rose to learn from their past and push on toward their future.
Philippians 3:13-14 -- Now, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

I mean, have you ever felt like that?  Most of us have.  But, in truth, as it says in the scripture, in this life we will face trials….but take heart HE has overcome the world! 


Christine Caine was probably one of my favorites that weekend.  I love how she spoke on ‘a plague of frogs.’ I seen that scripture in a whole new aspect that day.
Christine shared that we are important – each and every one of us --  and God knows and cares from each and every one of His children.  It doesn't matter where we live or where we were born, we are more than just a number in the system, we all have a name and are fearfully and wonderfully made!  Whether we grew up and lived with our birth parents or if you've been adopted or if you live in a child care center somewhere...you are more than just a number in this big world....you have a name and you matter...and you are loved!
It says in Jeremiah 29:11, “’I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord…”  God’s got a plan, a purpose and a destiny for you!
I am fearfully and wonderfully made! 
Ephesians 2:10 -- For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

How are you going to live without your fear?  You don’t have to be defined by your issues?  Christ knows your name and who you are.  I can't wait to dive into Christine's newest book, "Undaunted," and learning more through her writing as well. 

Isaiah 49:1 -- Listen to me, all you in distant lands!  Pay attention, you who are far away!
The Lord called me before my birth; from within the womb he called me by name.

Psalm 139: 1-24 --  www.biblegateway.com

O Lord, you have examined my heart

and know everything about me.

² You know when I sit down or stand up.

You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.

³ You see me when I travel

and when I rest at home.

You know everything I do.

⁴ You know what I am going to say

even before I say it, Lord.

⁵ You go before me and follow me.

You place your hand of blessing on my head.

You’re wanted!!!  You were made for more! The truth will make you free!

Galatians 5:1 --So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.

Angie Smith spoke about fear, and who doesn't have some kind of fear in their life, right?  Angie shared about fears through the voice of Hagar, and how when Hagar was sent off with Ishmael they face trials, their faith was tested but even  where human provision may have run out, the ‘well’ is always there and God was always with them helping with there needs. Hagar
   Genesis 21:8-21


Angie spoke about Psalm 139 today and the impact on this chapter in her life.

Angie told her story about here daughter and each of their births.  She opened with her twin daughters and how she had them figured to be the best babies in the world.  She had no trouble taking these angels to the store and out and about.  Although, her next child came to be the complete opposite.  "She's a negotiator" Angie said.  As she told the story about telling her daughter that if she would quit sucking her thumb for 2 weeks, she would take her to Toys R Us and buy her anything she wanted for not sucking her thumb for 2 weeks!  All in all and to quote "a very funny story" her daughter agreed to the proposition.  Well, 5 minutes later Angie found her daughter in her room sucking her thumb. When she asked her about their deal just earlier, her daughter turned to her saying, "eh...I'll just get it for Christmas."  Kids!

Now Angie told us of her cute little stories of her girls but she left one story for the end.  Her next little baby girl.  A little girl who halfway through her pregnancy, the doctors had advised Angie to 'end her pregnancy.'  They told Angie and Scott that their baby girl wasn't developing like she should be, she didn't have a pancreas, she didn't have 4 chambers in her heart and there were two other organs missing.  Knowing how strong Angie and Scott felt about the human life growing inside of her they trusted God and they continued to full term against the wishes of the doctors.  By their next appointment, the doctors were amazed about how much progress the baby had made.  Her organs had been developing and she had 4 chambers in her heart.  Angie made it to deliver her baby girl.  Although she was weak and small, they were aloud to hold their precious and beautiful baby girl for a couple hours on the day of her birth.  And even through they only had a few hours with her, she said that they would have a lifetime of memories  for as long as she'd lived that day, and they would never have traded that day of anything.  They loved and cherished every moment they had spent with their precious and beautiful daughter.

God sees you different than you see yourself. 

                                                There is hope beyond where you are right now.

Sheila Walsh is always amazing to hear and a blessing her hear her thoughts and teachings.  She spoke from Romans Chapter 12, identifying that there is ‘nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ.’  
   
   It’s not about who you are,     
   it’s about whose you are!      

         I am a daughter 
                of the 
                                                           King of Kings!



Shannon Ethridge graced us with her presence as she shared that God is more than sufficient to meet ALL of OUR needs! 



Shannon's life story was incredible to be able to listen to her heart as she  told her story.

I just want to break down some of my favorite quotes spoken by Shannon this day, they pretty much say it all about surrending your life over to God and letting go.  Knowing that we are going to make mistakes and even though we may fail at times, God is there to embrace us and pick us back up and dust us off.  

• Let God woo you and pursue you
  
• Embrace your bridegroom“

• Loving Jesus without limits!”

Even, the one of the few men (Ken Davis) that we there shared a few good points, 

1 – To believe with all of your heart that God is the author of ALL YOUR JOY!  
2 – To believe with all your heart that perfection is not a requirement! AND 
3 – To believe with all your heart that He will NEVER let you down!

Women of Faith...part 1 -- it's okay not to be okay

This past weekend I was able to attend a Women of Faith conference.  I've been able to attend a few of them before in the past and they have always been amazing and worth so much for all that I can take away from the conference.  The speakers are so full of life and their love for God shines all over that stage!  This conference was a one-day event, as the two-day event will take place later on this year.   The one-day is a great addition to Women of Faith if you can't make the two-day one, but I think this event just made me more excited to see, hear and attend the event again in October in Sacramento!  :-)  


There is so much to tell about this event because it was all so amazing!  So I think I'll break it up into a couple parts in this blog, so here is Part 1 of the conference...


Worship - They always have an awesome worship experience at these events.  With this being a smaller event, there were probably near 1,000 women singing their hearts out -- praising and worshiping an amazing God!  Especially when the music stops and it's just 1,000 voices praising the Lord.


We were then introduced to the main speaker Sheila Walsh, who was accompanied by David Pendleton -- ventriloquist and Scott Macintyre -- musician/singer, once on the American Idol stage -- more to come about his story later. :)
David Pendleton shared his message through comedy through ventriloquism. While Scott Macintyre shared his heart through music and how he "walks by faith, not by sight."

A Mosaic Stone --
 I don't have the one she was talking
about, but this one was pretty :)

Then, of course, there was Sheila Walsh who shares her heart every times she steps on the stage.


Sharing - It's okay not to be okay!


Sheila opened up with  Isaiah 61:1.  The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me, for the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.
Sheila told a story about her how things aren't always how they seem and how we may think we're getting one thing but we end up with something else.  She told a story about how her son (when he was younger) and how he saw this really amazing Mosaic Stone that was beautiful put together and written on.  He decided that would be a great gift for his mom.  Well, after ordering it and when it finally arrived, it was all in tiny little pieces that had to be pieced together.  She said he spent his time assembling the pieces and writing 'I love you, mom' on the stone, in time to give it as a gift, (which, I think it was for Mother's day one year).     If you could just imagine how delicately this stone was crafted together by a pair of hands and how much love was put into it.  It's how God forms His children, taking his time and giving each one of us special gifts to be able to use as we serve him in our life. 


Isn't that how we come to God though?  We come in our brokenness, struggles, fears and tears, only to find how much he can restore us to be whole again.  God gives us new life and pulls all of our broken pieces together when we can't do it by ourselves, just like the mosaic stone.   Even when our hearts are restless and we feel we can't go on anymore...God is there!  In the midst of it all, He's there for us!  He picks us up when we're broken, dusts us off, cleans us up and puts us together, because we our His Children.  We are Children of God!
We are here to become more like Christ as we enter into a relationship with Him.  He helps us whether the changes that lie ahead of us in our lives.  Through Christ's nail-scarred hands he stops our bleeding and heals our wounds.
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
We can come with all of our baggage and lay them at the foot of the cross.  


If you saw all of your baggage laid down in front of you, would you take it home with you?  OR Would you lay it all down?

I don’t need easy, just possible!

I just love the movie ‘Soul Surfer’ and being able to watch how Bethany Hamilton works through her struggles and accomplished what she set out to do.  I was listening to an inspirational message the other day by Kali Deblander Brigham and she was talking about the movie Soul Surfer and how she finally was able to watch it and about how motivational and inspirational it was.  She had talked about an anagram for POSSIBLE that she came up with from watching the movie, and I loved this so much I just had to share it.
                                                      
Practice – being consistent in good days and bad, staying on track.
Others – focusing on other people takes your mind off of your own struggles, and places it on someone else.
Support – by having people around us who challenge us and push us to move forward, because they see our potential.
Seeing the Big Picture – by Bethany challenging herself she was taken around the world to Thailand to help people there.  She was meant for more, she was stepping out of her comfort zone and seeing more.
Innovative – Learning and learning a new way to do things.  You have to keep learning and sometimes re-learn.  Bethany had to learn again how to duck dive so she can get to the waves faster and more efficiently.  She had to keep trying no matter how difficult it was for her.
Believe – she believed in what she was doing by believing and having faith that ‘with God, all things are possible!’
Love – what you do. Love the Lord with all your heart with all your mind and with all your strength.  With all the talk about the Passion 2012 conferences, you can really see (or hear about) people coming back from there with a greater love and passion!
Embrace – what makes you different, unique and special!!!  Where is your passion?


Bethany’s passion for LOVING her Heavenly Father with all her heart, mind and soul allowed her to fulfill her passion of surfing.  Even only having one arm she was able to BELIEVE  and EMBRACE what made her different from other people and pull from the SUPPORT of OTHER people around her.  She was able to PRACTICE until she was able to get up on her board and duck dive.  She was able to SEE the big picture as she traveled to Thailand with World Vision.  And, she was able to be INNOVATIVE in how she was learning all over again to surf on a whole new level.

“For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13 (NIV)

In the Message Bible it reads from verses 10-14, “I'm glad in God, far happier than you would ever guess—happy that you're again showing such strong concern for me. Not that you ever quit praying and thinking about me. You just had no chance to show it. Actually, I don't have a sense of needing anything personally. I've learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I'm just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I've found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. I don't mean that your help didn't mean a lot to me—it did. It was a beautiful thing that you came alongside me in my troubles. “

This past summer a  couple of us did a skit at a church where we had to ‘learn to surf.’  We had to rely on others to help us and guide us in the proper procedures so we weren’t injured.  Just how we learn to rely on Christ to get us through difficult situations in our lives. 

Learning to Surf in a VBS skit this past summer! :)

                                                                                         
                                                                                       

Remember the Blessings….

Even in times of sorrow can come happiness and good things.  Love the song by Laura Story, called ‘Blessings’…..
”what if these blessings come through raindrops what if your healing comes through tears what if a thousand sleepless nights are enough to know you’re near….”

     Wow…September isn’t even over yet and it’s already been an eventful one.  Full of ups and downs. September marks the beginning of Autumn, the start of new school years and a month of remembrance for the past decade.  Many beginnings and endings to the many chapters of our lives.  Though the end of every chapter brings a new beginning to another chapter and a new beginning brings new experiences and many many new adventures!
     The beginning of September brought a great Labor Day with many family and friends.  My cousin had been down for the past couple of months and we had several friends over for dinner.  It was so wonderful to be able to spend time with family that I never get to see or don’t get to see that often.  That Monday brought many smiles.  My cousin had fixed my guitar in the past month so I could start practicing on it more and  he was willing to help me learn some more about the guitar to become better at it.  I was so excited to be able to learn more.    
     Well, as September pressed on and 9/11 was approaching and this being the 10 year anniversary of that unforgettable tragedy that struck NYC and the east coast.  I will never forget that day!  I still remember waking up to the news that morning (before 6am west coast time) and watching the two planes hit the twin towers and seeing them collapse.  I remember crying my eyes out that whole day.  Even watching the news in my Geography class (so grateful for only one class that day), in the whole room there wasn’t a dry eye in the place.  We will remember!  It’s amazing the things that we will never forget!
     Well, remembering that morning as well, this year is when we discovered that my cousin, had recently passed away early that morning.  A day where it was a great comfort to have most of the family get in their cars and make the trip to be with each other that day and comfort one another.  While many other family members were making plane reservations that day to fly in just to be around family, even the ones that couldn’t make the trip were all with us all in spirit and prayers.  It’s so great to feel blessed to have a great family that God has provided! 
    It was so great to be able to have my cousin around for these past few months and being able to talk to him, more than we have before.  We will all miss him so much and have treasured the time that we had with him this summer!  
     But, even though we have times of tears and sorrow, there is a greater joy that comes from MY Heavenly Father.  Being able to be apart of a new church plant…is simply amazing!  I am so blessed to be apart of an amazing Family of God!  Granted it’s not the easiest road to take and the path seems rough at times and we feel we just can’t take it anymore.  But, when we can reach those people who have been turned off church or  other religious paraphernalia, it’s totally worth it to be able to show them the true and everlasting LOVE of Christ!  If we can show the kindness and love of that Christ has to offer in our smiles and in our actions and in OUR FAITH…we can give a whole new meaning to the name “Christian.”  We can show people what it really means to be a Christian and me totally and completely in love with Christ…with “no strings attached.”  He can lift our burdens and be with us during our pain and wipe away our tears, when we go through a life-changing time in our lives.   God is with us!  Just ask….it’s    LIFE-CHANGING!
     Our church has recently relocated into a commercial building in North Modesto.  We’ve been working to fix up and prepare the building for our services to be held.  We will soon be able to be a “mobile church”  being able to have our worship services anywhere we feel led to worship and share this amazing love inside of us to those who haven’t heard!   This new adventure is exciting to see what God has in store for us here with The Beacon.
     I’ve been totally blessed this past month to be able to call on the friends that God has provided me as well here.  Being able to call friends up and go to a random movie in the middle of the week, just because I need to be with friends, makes me incredibly grateful for the people that God has provided to comfort me.  Whether it’s going to a movie or circling Modesto for a place open after 10pm and ending up at Denny’s.  To be able to hang out and just talk is something that is so wonderful to be able to have friends that share similar interest with each other! 

Grace and Peace to YOU and Blessings!!!!

Honduras! :)

Wow, I can’t believe it’s been almost 4 years since I last went to Honduras.  Going there was such an amazing part of my life.  Being able to go, help and serve these wonderful people who are longing to hear the Good News that Christ has to offer them, giving them hope for their future.
A couple of years ago I was incredibly blessed to be able to sponsor a child who lived on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, Honduras.  Her name is Josselin.  We prayed together through letters back and forth and we sent pictures to each other.  It was so breath-taking to see how just a couple of dollars could feed, clothe and provide medical attention and an education for this little girl. When I was at Faith Home, our General Baptist care center for children, I met this little girl, her name was Emerita.  She was one of the cutest little girls (of course at Faith Home, they are all so adorable, you just want to take them all home with you, if you could).  She was attached to me that week when we were around the kids.  I just wanted to stay longer just to keep being there for her.  It was  fun just to be able to hang out with the children and play with them.

Going on the medical teams were so amazing to be apart of I’m so glad I was able to experience that.  Being able to see how these people live, but yet  how grateful that they are when they are provided medical treatment for, maybe even, the first time in their lives.  Even to be able to provide a church service for them and to be able to share with them the gospel for possible the first time in their lives. 
Then, going on a Vacation Bible School/Construction team we got to teach the kids and play with them during VBS time and then help with much needed repairs, maintenance and chores around Faith Home.  It was so awesome just to be able to be helpful and to be able to accomplish “much needed tasks and repairs”  around the property.  Being able to share the Love of Christ with children in the schools off-campus in the smaller towns was great, just to see their smiling faces when we walked in to teach and play with them.
I loved being able to travel to Honduras and I hope to be able to return and be able help out again.  It was such an amazing experience!!!
“Shine your light let the whole world see…”

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)