Advent Week 2

The first candle was the prophecy candle. It reminds us that God is who He says He is and does what He says He will do.

This week we look to the second candle. The second candle on the Advent Wreath is called the Bethlehem candle. It is a symbol of the preparations being made to receive and cradle the Christ child.

Luke 2:1-7

“the census comes at the exact time to get a virgin to Bethlehem to fulfill prophecy with her delivery.” -John Piper


As we look at the preparations God made in sending His son to redeem us, we have to see that these preparations didn't end in the manger, or on the cross but He is continuing to bring things in preparation for others who will come to know Him personally!

2Corinthians 5:21, Romans 8:28, Philippians 1:6
These verses reveal to us that God sent His son as the sacrifice for our sin, but they also show us that the work God does in our life to redeem us and restore us and prepare the way for His Son does not stop at the moment of salvation. These verses are a reminder that God uses everything in our lives for a purpose - to make Himself known among the nations - and that what he begins in us, He will be faithful to complete.
“The question is not what God could do, but what he willed to do.” -John Piper

God could have sent His son in all his glory, but chose to send Him in humility. As we look at the Bethlehem candle we are reminded of this. We are reminded that God has a plan and it is far better than anything we could come up with, but it is also far beyond our ability to comprehend!

Matthew 3:1-12 allows us to see John the Baptist preparing the way of the coming Messiah. In the same way that God used John the Baptist to prepare the way for Christ, He uses us to prepare the way for what He will do in those around us.

As we get closer to Christmas we should look expectantly toward what God will do, but also look back gratefully at what He has already done. He has shown up in our lives in amazing ways, in circumstances we could never have pieced together no matter how hard we tried.

As we watch these candles burning we are reminded that not only is God who He says He is and does what He says he will do, but He has a perfect plan for our lives. He is the one making the preparations we must simply follow after Him!

Today begins the Advent Season! I am so excited about this! Zeke and I are doing our own Advent family worship times and I just wanted to share what we did tonight for the first night. I am hoping to share what we do for each Advent Sunday, maybe some in between too! The whole purpose for this season is to focus our attention and affection on Jesus Christ our Savior. That is my prayer in posting this.

"Lighting a candle is a simple yet profound act. It is a testimony to the power of light over darkness. Even the light of one candle can reveal our faces as we stand near the candle. As we light the candle, we begin our journey to Christmas, a day of joy and celebration. 

The first candle on the Advent wreath is called the Prophecy candle, it opens the period that anticipates Christmas and remembers those who first spoke the promise of the coming Christ child."

      -http://www.reformedworship.org/article/september-1995/lighting-advent-three-sets-scripture-readings

For 400 years the people had no one who came to them bringing a message from God. Think back through all the prophets God had sent to them over the years, then for 400 years He seemed to be silent! 

Then, just like lighting even the smallest flame expels darkness, Jesus came and through the cry of an infant, they heard from God once again. And this time not through another man, but from God in the flesh.

Just as with the prophets, there would be some who would reject what He said, but others who would believe and follow. 

The first candle is a reminder to us that God is who He says He is and does what He says He will do! 

Prophecies had been made about this great King who would come one day, but then silence fell, and with silence, probably some hopelessness, but praise God He always keeps His promises! So on that dark night, just as He had spoken through the prophets, the Savior King came! 

One light. It may not seem like much. Just like one infant crying doesn't seem like much, but with God all things are possible, and we can have confidence that He will complete what He has started.

So as we look back, we also look forward. One day, that infant, our Savior King, will come again, but this time as our conquering King! We may not know all the details surrounding His return, but we know that just as sure as He aid He would come before and He did, He will do it again! We can celebrate with Hope! Not wishful thinking hope as our society knows it to be, but absolute certainty Hope, based solely in the fact the God is who He says He is and does what He says He will do!

"But there will be no  gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he  brought into contempt the land of  Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he  has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people  who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of  deep darkness, on them has light shined. You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with  joy at the harvest, as they  are glad  when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as  on the day of Midian. For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us  a son is given; and the government shall be  upon  his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful  Counselor,  Mighty God, Everlasting  Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the  Lord  of hosts will do this." (Isaiah 9:1-7 ESV)

Layne

Thoughts on Moving

Well, as I sit here our moving truck is completely packed - in one day, thanks to some amazing friends - and we are set to leave Tennessee on Wednesday headed to Las Vegas for one year of church planting training then on to Hawaii.
I am so amazed at how God moves! I remember when we first got to Carthage. I remember when our house here was as bare as it is now. I remember knowing very few people, and starting out on this new journey God had called us to. Now, as I look back I am thankful for all He taught us. It hasn't been easy. We have been through, and will go through again, some rough seasons in ministry, but God is faithful!
Right now I am sitting in the basement of a house that God provided for us! Ministry has taken place within the walls of this home! I am so thankful for the lessons learned in hearing my mom say over and over again "This house isn't ours, it's His! It is a tool for ministry." I have been able to see that in this home! I am listening to the sounds of a washer and dryer run. The first appliances Zeke and I ever bought as a couple! I remember thinking "I cannot believe we bought this!" But God provided! I hear the dishwasher running upstairs - this will be hard to part with (: - that was a Valentine's gift from Zeke because we had gone almost 2 years without one! But God provided for that! He has absolutely blessed us beyond what we can comprehend!

I think back to today and how we went to pick up our rental truck, and because they didn't have the car dolly ready, they gave us a discount on the whole rental! Which pretty much covers one of the many fill-ups we will have to do between here and there! I think about how packing the truck started a little slow, but within minutes we had so many people in our house packing, loading, and cleaning. How even the lunch that we were going to provide for those who helped ended up being provided to us! He is so faithful! I think about the fact that clothes that didn't need to be packed on the truck, got packed on the truck, but in a couple loads of laundry I had kinda slacked on we have what we need to make it there! The same goes for towels and blankets! He is so faithful!

It is easy at a time like this to get overwhelmed with all that will be missed - and please don't misunderstand me, there is a cost involved for those who are Christ followers! There are birthdays we will miss, but there are also birthdays we will get to celebrate! There are big life events we will miss, but there are also big life events we will get to be part of. There are people, places, and things that will be missed, but we have been called by a faithful God to go, so we will go. We could think about all these things we will miss, or we could count the ways He has been overly faithful to us during this time!

There is a verse that is on our living room wall here at the house that says "What then shall we say to these things? If GOD is for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:31 This has been a reminder to us through seasons of blessings and seasons of difficulty that if God is for us, if He is leading us and we are following after him living out of the relationship we have with Him, who can be against us! Who can come against our God? Who can be victorious over Him? And if He is the one that is guiding us, leading us where He wants us, who can come against that? Oh yes, there will be difficult circumstances we face, but we can face those knowing that our God has the victory! I think about 1 Thessalonians 5:24 that says "He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it." He will accomplish His purpose! I am so thankful that as believers we get to be part of that! I am so thankful that I cannot stop what I did not start! He started this! He has called us, and He will complete it, because He is so faithful!

Do We Really Believe It?

  There are a lot of thoughts that are running through my head tonight. It has been a busy day, more than that a busy last few weeks! Today was our first day of Teen Music Camp. This is an annual event in our community where teens come for a weekend and learn skits and music that they perform in a worship service at the end of the weekend. I say perform, but perform isn't the right word. They use these songs and skits to lead the community in worship at the end of the weekend. It was amazing to see 40+ teens singing together and enjoying fellowship with one another all day today.
  The whole focus of today was worship. The thought that worship is all about God and it is a lifestyle, not just something we participate in for an hour a week. This is such a foundational truth that we all need to be reminded of, almost daily! It is so easy for us to make things about ourselves, and we do it without even realizing!
  While thinking about this, God brought this thought to my mind, do we really believe God's Word? I mean more than do we know His word, but do we really believe His Word? Because this flows out into every area of our lives. What we believe about God reaches into every area of our lives. Matthew 12:34 says, "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." If we say we believe in God's Word and we truly trust it, then our lives will reflect that! No question about it! What is in our hearts will come out in our lives! We can't trick people by trying to live a life that looks good like we believe a Christian's life should, when in reality our hearts are dead to Him. Unless he gives us a new heart, all that will flow out of us will be death because our heart is dead! But when He gives us a new heart, life will flow out of us! It will be evident! I love the illustration David Platt uses for this. He compares the change that Christ brings in our life to being hit by a Mack truck - there is going to be a difference! You don't get hit by a Mack truck and walk away looking the same as you did beforehand. You walk away looking drastically different!
  We cannot say that Christ has changed our lives if our lives look exactly the same as they did before! it simply isn't Biblical! What is in our hearts will come out! So if what is coming out looks nothing like Christ, the issue lies in the heart! Proverbs 4:23 says "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life." Another version says 'for from it flow the issues of life." Everything about our lives begins in our heart. If we have issues with anything in life, we must move past simply treating the symptoms and realize it is a heart issue!
   I am not however saying that as believers we do not sin. We absolutely sin! We struggle daily with the flesh. However, the difference is in the lifestyle. If the pattern of my life is sinful, that doesn't look like Christ! Remember, if you get hit by a Mack truck, you will look like it! As believers we do sin, but the Holy Spirit of God that dwells within us opens our eyes to the fact that we have sinned and just like Romans 2:4 says "God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance." This does not happen in the life of the non-believer. It happens in the lives of those who have been hit head on by the extravagant grace of an awesome, holy God, and they are never the same because of it! This same God, Takes away our dead heart of stone and gives us a new heart! "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 32:26.
   If this awesome, holy God has hit us head on with His extravagant grace, we can no longer live like we lived before. We cannot make excuses! If this has taken place in our lives, the result will be the life of Christ flowing out of the new heart He has given us!

Launch Update

We have just finished the first day of the Launch Assessment Retreat & it has been a long, good day! It is exciting to be surrounded by couples who are in a similar place as us. Hearing all the stories of how God has called these couples has been refreshing and God has used it in a great way to reaffirm what he is doing in and through Zeke and I.
Along with the blessing of the assessment retreat, it has also been wonderful to see our Vegas faith family and get to see their new facility! I am so humbled to see all that God has done over the last 11 years! It is just like God to move in the way he has moved in our lives through this assessment! For us to be able to go through this with part of our faith family that has guided us through many other major life events is a huge blessing!

Please continue to pray for us! Tomorrow will be a day of more assessment and instruction.
- Pray for wisdom and understanding as we are assessed.
- Pray for clarity as we share the vision God has given us for Hawaii.
- Pray for the relationships and partnerships we are building through this retreat.
- Pray for restful sleep tonight as we are both dealing with some jet lag (Zeke more so than me).

Thank you for your faithfulness to pray for us and your support of us through this season of our lives! We greatly appreciate it!

Zeke and Layne

Prayer Needs

As most of you already know, God has made clear to Zeke and I the calling to plant a church in his hometown in Hawaii. God has allowed us to connect with a program called Launch to help us through this process of church planting. Through this program, there are various assessments to determine where we fall in our readiness to church plant. Zeke has already competed many of these assessment online. This Sunday we will fly out to Las Vegas for 2 days of church planting training/assessment. I am writing this blog to ask you to be praying for us during this time. Zeke will be coming back from Italy Sunday afternoon and we will turn right around and fly out to Las Vegas, so there are a lot of logistics involved. So with that said, here is how you can be praying for us:
-Pray for Zeke and the team in Italy as they spend their last few days in Italy and begin their trip home.
-Pray for flight connections to be on time.
-Pray for Zeke as he deals with jet lag returning from Italy & preparing for this training.
-Pray for wisdom and understanding as we learn more about church planting.

Thank you in advance for your prayers! We truly appreciate them! We cannot wait to see all that God is going to do!

Random Lessons

This is a random blog post, but it is just some things God has been showing me. And honestly, I need to do something to occupy my time because as I write, it is another Monday under Tornado watch here in Smith County! These are definitely my least favorite days of Spring, but they make you appreciate so much more the days that come after. I am learning that for me, this is one of those times where God tests me. Do I truly believe that He holds everything in His hands? Because if I truly believe that, then why do I worry so much about storms that I cannot control when I know the one who holds not only the storm, but the world in His hands! Too many times I find myself forgetting that He is the only one deserving of my fear. I fear too many things that have absolutely no power over me, & too often find myself completely ignoring the fact that He is all-powerful, almighty, and absolutely the only one I should fear!

This weekend, our church family participated in a prayer walk throughout our community. Zeke and I chose to select our neighborhood and the areas immediately surrounding us. The first thing that hit is was how many people live in this area that I honestly considered to be one of the less populated areas of our town. We counted around 80 homes that are in this area! A reminder to us that there are so many people who still need to hear the gospel of Christ!

As we were walking, it became a little more intense of a walk than we originally expected. (I later found out that there was a special weather statement saying that it was a record heat day!) So as we were walking I looked down in the grass and saw something moving. It looked kind of like a worm, but then when I looked a little closer I saw that it was an ant carrying a piece of bark. And it reminded me of the Proverbs 6:6 where is says:

"Go to the ant, O sluggard;consider her ways, and be wise."

I thought about that as I was watching this ant. All the random facts that you learn about ants in school came to my mind and I realized how amazing a thing it was for this tiny ant to be carrying this piece of bark. I also thought about how in doing this, the ant was bringing praise to God. The ant was doing exactly what God had created it to do, and because of that God gets the praise. The same is true for us. When we do what God has created and called us to do, He gets the praise for it, not us!

As I think about these things I am overwhelmed by a God who holds everything in His hands and love us with a love that is so undeserved and absolutely unconditional. The only response to this amazing, mighty God is to fear Him and serve Him with all that I have.

Pictures of the Son

This is my first blog of the new year. I intended to post sooner than this but everytime I sat down to start, it just wasn't right. But today it the day!

This year, I am reading through the entire Bible. Many of you have probably done this before, this is the first time for me, and I am excited! There is a reason that God's Word is put together the way it is and I think there is great benefit in starting from the beginning and working our way through. If it is something you have never done, I encourage you to go for it! God has used it in my life already in awesome ways.

One of those ways is through opening my heart to realize that God uses His word to point to Jesus. From beginning to end it all points to Him. So, to help myself keep a record of it more than anything else, I am going to focus this blog on that for the next year. As I read through His Word, and God reveals these pictures of His precious Son I am going to post and share on here.

Right now, I am finishing the book of Genesis and there is picture after picture of Christ and His sacrifice for us on the pages of this book. I am going to share all that I can remember, but for today I am going to focus on Adam and Eve.

We have all heard this story at least once, if not many more times than that! God created man and saw that it wasn't good for man to be alone and created woman to be a helpmate for him. God placed them in the garden that he had made and gave them "the rules" so to speak. He told the man and the woman that they could eat of any tree of the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and EVIL. (I meant to put that in all caps, I will come back to it in a minute.)

God walked with them daily. They could literally hear Him! How many times we would love to have that now! What a blessing to not walk with God figuratively, but literally! (Now some of you may say "We do literally walk with God as believers today." But I am talking about walking with God like you walk with your family or friends, it is an event in your day, just like this was part of what they did each day!) Such an awesome picture!

But one day, the serpent tempted Eve to eat of the tree. He used half truths and manipulation, and planted seeds of doubt ultimately making it look as though God was withholding something good from Adam and Eve. And ultimately, they believed the lie and disobeyed God. (So much I could add in right here about our obedience to God, but I fear I am drifting from the point.)

Because of their disobedience, their eyes were opened to the fact that they were naked, and they made a covering for themselves of leaves. (This is the counterfeit folks! Today we call it Religion. We are sinful, and think somehow that we can do something to remove the sin from our lives. We try to get to God, a right relationship with Him - on our own terms instead of coming to Him on His terms and finding true forgiveness.) But when God came, they realized how inadequate their covering truly was. There efforts did nothing but cover sin, in their strength it couldn't be taken away. But God (don't you LOVE hearing those words in the Bible? things look hopeless But God steps in!) made a covering for them and a sacrifice for their sin. Genesis 3:21 shows us a picture of the precious lamb that would come and live a holy and blameless life and then be offered on the cross as a sacrifice to cover our sin! Praise God!

Of course there were still consequences of their sin, just like we have to face the consequences of sin today, even after coming to Christ. (Here is where I am coming back to the "EVIL" in all caps.) Before their disobedience, Adam and Eve had only known Good. Now, unfortunately, their eyes were open to see and know evil. Physical death, hard work, pain in having children all became part of their life as a result of their disobedience, and ultimately are part of our lives today as a direct result of this event.

But God (Awesome right??) made a way! Through His precious Son. Although practically we still live life in this place and deal with death and disaster, we live as those who have HOPE! We have great HOPE in Him!

Advent: Hope

I think it is so appropriate that the first candle we light for advent celebrates Hope. I was listening to a song yesterday, and I was reminded that from Malachi to Matthew, God is silent. Not just the people aren't listening close to what God is saying to them, but rather He is absolutely SILENT.

Think about that for a second, have you ever set in absolute silence? Is it just me, or can absolute silence be deafening at times? It is almost overwhelming for us. Maybe because we live in a society where it is so rare, or maybe that is just the way God created it. Think about times when something has happened and left you speechless, or left someone with you speechless. You are just hoping that they will say something, anything, but instead they sit in silence and the whole mood of the conversation is altered.

Now put that into perspective of what is happening in scripture from Malachi to Matthew. 400 years make up this space between these to books. 400 years of absolute SILENCE. 400 years! A few minutes of silence is enough to make me uncomfortable, but 400 years! Think about that. Entire generations lived and died not hearing God speak.

Finally after all those years, God speaks to His people again, but this time, through angels and the cry of an infant. And in that cry as that precious baby was born, the sound of hope was heard once again.

As we look forward to the Christmas season, I pray that we take the time to truly look at all this season means. I pray that we look beyond the gifts, and traditions. I pray that we see that HOPE entered the world at Christmas through the person of Jesus Christ.

Lessons from Tangled

Last night, Zeke and I went to the movies with some friends. We saw the movie Tangled (in 3D, cause you really wanted to know that). I was really excited because I was wanting to go see this movie, but knew it was one I would probably just have to wait for on DVD. So, we got invited to go with some friends and really enjoyed it! It was such a cute movie, but beyond being a cute movie, I saw an amazing Biblical illustration in part of this movie.

So here is the spoiler alert because to tell you about this illustration, I am going to have to tell you some info about the movie and give some things away! Sorry!

For those that don't know, the movie is about the story of Rapunzel. As the story goes when Rapunzel was a baby she was kidnapped from the castle because of the power her hair had to heal. She was raised by an evil lady who kept her trapped in a tower her whole life. However, every year on her birthday, Rapunzel would look out the window of the tower and see these beautiful lights in the sky. This was done as a memorial to the princess that was kidnapped. So one scene in the movie shows them on this day letting these lanterns go and they float up into the sky and off into the distance.

What was amazing to me about this scene was that it starts out with the one lantern the king and queen light, the rest of the kingdom is dark. But slowly, the people in the kingdom begin to light their lanterns and let them go, and suddenly the kingdom is glowing with light. The thought hit me as I was watching this..."This is how it is supposed to be with us!" As believers, we light our lantern and let it shine so that those around us can see Christ in us. As others come to know Christ, they light their lanterns, and so on. Then all of the sudden, this kingdom that was once dark, is now glowing with the light of Christ! And that glowing light from the lanterns intrigued and attracted those outside the kingdom, just like the love of Christ in us intrigues and attracts those who don't know Him.

So, as we go throughout our lives meeting people who are searching for something more, may we remember that we need to live in a way that reveals to them the light of Christ in our lives.

Thankful Post #8

Ok, so I have not been very good at all about keeping up with these "Thankful Posts." Sorry about that. But I have been thinking each day about something to post! So many days I would find myself with multiple things to post that I am thankful for...so much so that I could not have shared them all.

I was reminded this week that thankfulness is a characteristic of a true follower of Christ. Believers know that they have been given so much, and the result of that is an overflowing thankfulness. i love the wording of that...overflowing. the thought behind overflowing is that an object is filled to the point that it can no longer contain what it is being filled with. For example, if I poured myself a glass of tea, but even when the tea reached the top of the glass, I still kept pouring. the tea is going to start spilling over the sides of the glass.

As believers, all that God gave us in salvation is enough for this to be true of our lives. We should be overflowing with thankfulness, not just one day a year, but everyday!

So I know that tomorrow we will all be focused on thankfulness, but I hope that it continues in our hearts throughout the year as we think back on all that God has done for us!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thankful Post #7

Today, I am thankful for believers who have gone before me and left a legacy worthy of following. I was writing a not to one of the senior adult ladies in our church today, and as I thought through all that Zeke and I have learned from her and her husband in the short time we have been here, thankfulness for this family filled my heart.

It makes me think of something I read or heard a while ago. The thought is that as we walk through life, following after Christ, we make our steps deep enough that those who come behind us are able to walk in them. As I set that goal for my own life, I am thankful for those who have done that before me. Through their actions, they show me that following after Jesus is worth whatever the cost.

Thank you Lord for those who are wiser in the faith and leave a legacy obedience as an example to those of us who come behind them. help this to be true of my life for those who come behind me!

Thankful Post #6

Today, I am thankful for home. God has absolutely blessed Zeke and I with being able to have the home that we have. He opened the doors and has provided for us every step of the way with this home. There are definitely days that it can be overwhelming to have a house and not an apartment, like the days I am behind on cleaning and people are coming over, but the other day the thought hit me that I should be thankful that I have a home to clean because some people don't have that. So I guess the whole goal for doing this 24 Days of thankfulness is starting to pay off. :) So on those days that I get frustrated with all that it takes to keep our home functioning, I hope that I will remember this. That I will start to think through the fact that God has blessed me when he gave me this house, that ultimately it is His house anyway, and He has entrusted it to me to use for His glory!

Thankful Post #5

Wow, it is pretty hard to blog everyday! But I am getting a little better!

Sunday, what I was thankful for was the ability to worship as a church family, without fear. Many times we forget how big of a deal that is! I have never experienced anything different than being able to do this, and I am thankful for that, but I never want to forget that it is a privilege and I should continually be thankful for that!

Monday, yesterday, was a long day! I was called in to sub for a 5th grade, and it was good, just long. After subbing, I went to the after school program that I have been working at for the last few months, and then came home. I was so tired! It was all I could do to stay awake until 9 - and honestly I think I fell asleep a time or two before then! As I sit here on the other side of that, I am so thankful for rest. God gives us rest, but too many times we don't use it like we should. He set the practice of rest for us during creation. He didn't need to rest, the Bible tells us the He never grows weary or faint. He set the practice for us. I am thankful that He gave us rest. Thankful that He understands what we need, and provides it. :)

Thankful Post #4

So I got a little behind on this over the weekend, and this will be a few posts in one! :)

Thursday, was my fourth day working at Magnolia's here in Carthage, and it was the day that the Vera Bradley order with all the new Winter Colors came in! For those of you that know about and share my love of Vera Bradley products, you can understand how much fun it was getting to look at all the new prints and styles. As I was doing this, I thought about how awesome it is that our God is creative and colorful. That He didn't just make everything black and white and boring. All of these patterns that I enjoyed that day, reflect His creativity throughout nature, and they are a reminder that we serve a God who isn't stale and boring, but creative and exciting!

Friday, my parents came up and got to experience Smith County Football, and a 5th Quarter with us. Our friend Melvin also came up that afternoon, and spoke at 5th Quarter. On this day I was reminded of how thankful I am for friends who love Jesus and want others to know the love of Jesus. When I get overwhelmed with things, as I had let myself that day, I need to be reminded that He is the most important thing in my life, and He calls me to tell others about Him. It is an encouragement for believers to be around other believers. They are like-minded and know the purpose God has called them to. Friday God placed this on my heart and I realized how thankful I am for these believers that He has put in my life and used to encourage me and challenge me in my walk with Christ.

Saturday was my mom's birthday! Zeke went on His first hunt with Bro. Tim, and he came back all in one piece, but also without seeing any deer. My dad and I worked on some things around the house - I guess I did more watching than helping, but oh well. He took the pressure reducer off of our water pipes so now I can wash dishes and clothes at the same time - I can't even explain the big deal that is! :) Then we switched the the doorknob on the front door with the one on the side door so we no longer have to fight the door knob to get out the front door! :) That night we went to Outback for my mom's birthday dinner. We definitely enjoy it when they can come up here and spend some time with us. We are thankful that they take time out of their schedule to be involved in what God is doing in our lives.

Thankful Post #3

So this is actually yesterday's post, I just wasn't able to get it up yesterday.

Today I have been thankful for music. That may sound a little strange, but God has used music in my life at times where words just don't fit. There are some truths from His word that cut to our very core when they are put to music.

We were working on some Christmas songs in choir last night and we are doing "O Bless the Lord." This song is absolutely so powerful! I love it! There is so much truth packed into this song! There is a line at the beginning of the song that says "Oh darkest night, Your reign is done, now melt before the rising son" then it goes into the chorus that starts with "Hallelujah, Praise on Praise." So amazing!

As we were practicing this last night it just reminded me of how blessed we are and how worthy our God is to deserve all our praise! I am thankful for music given to us by a God worthy of all our praise! Sometimes I just have to stop and listen as others praise God around me and I think how sweet and treasured that sound must be as we truly realize that He isn't part of our life, He is our life and we take time to thank Him and express out love and gratitude to Him.

Praise God!

Thankful Post #2

Today has been a very productive day! :) I started working at Magnolia's here in Carthage last Friday. I worked today and we got a lot done! :) We got to start setting up the Christmas room - I guess that is what you would call it. :) But it was really fun for me because I am a huge Christmas fan! I am the one who is ready to start playing Christmas music as soon as school starts back! I just enjoy it.

So, as I sat down to think about what I was going to write about for my 24 Days of Thankfulness, I realized I can't decide what I want to write about! There are too many things to choose from! :)

Today I am so thankful for my husband. He has been gone to East Tennessee all day, and even though I have been busy today, I hate days when he is out of town! God has used Zeke to challenge and encourage me in/through so many circumstances. He is always able to see things from the side I can't/don't/won't see them from and he challenges me to look at it from his angle. More than anything, I am thankful that He loves God and daily seeks to know Him more. I am thankful that he continues to seek after God to lead and direct us in everything. I am absolutely blessed to have such an amazing husband!

24 Days of Thankfulness

So, I was thinking about the fact that today is the first day of November and before we realize it, Thanksgiving will be here! As I thought about that I thought it might be neat to take the 24 days leading up to Thanksgiving to blog about some people/things I am thankful for. Also, the more I think about it, they say it takes 21 days to form a habit, so hopefully this time will help me form a habit of realizing I have something to be thankful for each day!

So, to start this little journey off, I am absolutely so thankful for my relationship with Jesus. It still amazes me that He loves me! The Creator of the Universe, who holds the world in His hands, as big as He is still desires a relationship with me. I am thankful that He loves me enough to not let me stay where I am, but continually challenges me to mature. I am thankful that when I call to Him, He hears me, and He answers! I am thankful that as I surrender to Him and follow in obedience after Him, I can rest in the fact that there is a purpose and a plan for all that happens in my life! I am thankful that He can be trusted in all things, that He is faithful, that he is my provider, that He never grows weary or faints. As believers, we are a blessed people!

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." 1 Peter 2:9

Falling in Love with Jesus

So I had to take a break from washing dishes to blog for a minute. Today has been a weird day for me. I have gotten easily frustrated by things and found myself wallowing in complaints as a result. I was sharing these complaints with Zeke and then we sort of stopped because we realized that this complaining needed to stop. I went on to wash dishes, trying to think through some other things. As i was washing dishes I start to hear Zeke playing on the keyboard down in the basement. It took me a while, but I finally realized what he was playing. Here it is:

Falling in love with Jesus

Falling in love with Jesus

Falling in love with Jesus

Is the best thing I've ever done

In His arms, I feel protected

In His arms, never disconnected

In His arms, I feel protected

There is no place I'd rather be

It hit me that no matter what I face, that song is true of my life. Falling in love with Jesus is the absolute best thing that has ever happened in my life!

Can you say that? Have you ever fallen in love with Jesus? If you call yourself a Christian, does this describe your life?

I hope it does. I hope that everyone who reads this understands that following after Jesus is worth leaving everything else behind, and focusing our full devotion on Him!

Desperate Prayer

So, I haven't blogged in a while because it has been a busy last few weeks and honestly I don't know where to start! :)

I guess the best place to start is with a quick update. Almost 2 weeks ago now (doesn't seem that long at all!) 12 of us from Carthage set out to Long Island, NY for a mission trip. I have to admit I was not crazy about the idea of driving from Tennessee all the way to Long Island, but it wasn't bad at all! We drove from Carthage to Harrisburg, PA the first day, and then drove in to Long Island the next morning.

I cannot even describe for you here how amazing it was that from the second we started on this trip, God was with us! He absolutely created this team (representing 4 different churches in Carthage)! Everyone that came not only was able to encourage someone as God worked through them, but was encouraged by others in the same light. It was amazing!

God really used this trip to remind me of how absolutely desperate we are for Him, and how we need to cry out to Him through prayer. When I got back our lesson in Sunday school was over John 14-17, and as I studied, I was amazed at how many times Jesus told His disciples that whatever they asked in His name he would accomplish. There are many times in scripture where we are reminded that we do not have because we do not ask. Even though I know how powerful prayer is, so many times I don't cry out to God through prayer, and then I wonder why nothing changes.

Before I go any further, I should mention that many people have taken verses like this out of context to make them say something they absolutely do not! This verse does not say that I can ask God for things like He is a magic genie. It says that when I submit to and follow after Him, the things that are on His heart are now on my heart, and as I call out to Him in prayer, He will answer those prayers as I seek for his will to be done.

I wonder how different my day would look if I took everything to Him in prayer? If I truly looked at life and said "there's nothing too big or too small for me to seek God on," my life would reflect that in every way! I really and truly believe that as we seek God He will answer us - His word says He will. It is up to us to decide whether we are going to continue on in our own strength, or desperately cry out to God to guide us and direct us in everything we do.

"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." ~2Chronicles 7:14

"Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you." ~Jeremiah 29:12

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ~John 14:13

If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. ~John 14:14

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ~John 15:7

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ~John 15:16

In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. ~John 16:23

Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. ~John 16:24