Mood...

Let it be know that, yes my dear friend Jennifer did this!

I am grumpy. Yep, that's right! I'm grumpy:

Disney with the VanLue girls

This past Monday I got the privellege and honor of going to Disney with the VanLue girls and their precious mom. It was SO much fun! We went to Magic Kingdom all day to celebrate Kristin's 5th birthday! Below are a few pictures I took. The one of Kristin is blurry because we were going round and round in the teacups and I was having a hard time holding on to dear life and to the phone. I had to take the one of Leni because it was to adorable not to take. She wore my sunglasses for quite a while, and said she needed to keep them so I would not break them! I think the best memories were the exictement Leni and Kristin had about going on rides with me, especially Thunder Mountain. Being with Krisitin in Birthdy car at the racetracks (I am surprised we are still alive after that trip around the track :) It was an eventful day. Cissy was right when she said in her blog it's something like the Gladiators. I remember at one time I had Kristin on one hand and Leni on the other and them just pushing each others buttons whatever way possible. Never a dull moment with these 3 precious girls :) Thank-you Cissy for letting me come with you. It will always be a special memory etched in my heart forever. I look forward to many other opportunites to be with you and your girlies :) If you want to see more pictures of our fun filled day go to vanluefamily.blogspot.com

Mighty to Save

Last night, our God did an amazing thing. See yesterday I was driving to a wedding shower and had been listening to the radio and this song called "Mighty to save," came on. Let me share some of the words with you before I go on. "Every needs compassion, Love that’s never failing, Let mercy fall on me,Everyone needs forgiveness, The kindness of a Saviour, The hope of nations Saviour, He can move the mountains, My God is mighty to save, Forever, Author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave So take me as You find me, All my fears and failures, Fill my life again, I give my life to follow, Everything I believe in, Now I surrender" Back to the story. Crystal needed a ride home from the shower so I told her on the way home she had to hear this song. Well right at the begnning my brother Steven called me to tell me that he had gotten out of Juvienlle Hall. The first few minutes were wonderful talking to him. It was SO good to hear his voice, but as questions were asked and conversation went on I soon began to realize that he was still wanting to do the things, that got him into trouble in the first place. We ended the conversation, and I proceded to play the song for Crystal. We were both crying, and praying for my brother. The next few hours were not easy, and I had all but wanted to curl up and stay there. I was lacking faith for God to do anything, and I did NOT want to go to Deluge and plaster that smile on. But something inside me told me to go. So I went, and this is where God really spoke to me. Out of ALL the songs that could have been played last night, we sang "Mighty to save," We had never even sung it before. I wanted to cry, scream, shout. I did not know how to contain myself. Then something inside of me said read Psalm 18, and there were 5 verses (30-35) that stuck out that read "This God-his ways are PERFECT; the word of the Lord proves true; he is the shield for all those who take refuge in him. For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?-the God who equipped me with STRENGTH and made my way blameless. He made my feet like the deer and set me secure on the heights. He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand SUPPORTED me, and your GENTLENESS made me great." I kept hearing him say go share it. So I went up to Danny with every bit of strength I had, and shared it. Immediatly he said I want you to read this now. So I got up to the mic. There were problems with it, and between all of that tears started forming and words were blending together. I apologized and started over again and as I read it I just felt peace fall upon me and realization of what I was saying gave me strength to believe that if He can move mountains, and He is the author of our Salvation than He can save my brother from the sin that has intangeld his heart, and blinded his eyes. I can't say that in the past 24 hours I have constantly believed that because I haven't but it has given me HOPE for him and a constant reminder that apart from God's grace I could very well be where he is. Lord there are no words that could possibly describe my how thankful I am that you have choosen me, and given me a love, compassion for my family. I pray that a desire to pray for them to be set free and for them to come to know your saving grace would continue to grow in my heart. I pray for a desire that I will want to read scriptures like I have never read it before. I don't want to be a christian in name only or one who "flirts" with the world. I want to be truly and wholy yours. Set my heart on fire and let that passion that burned in my heart in high school become evident again. You are so good Lord. May all the glory be yours!

My thoughts....

I had the opportunity to go back to Willow Creek Church for their grand opening of their new worship center. It was so special to be able to go back and see something that has been going on for many years, and now come together. I was there when they first started planning, and I was apart of the whole youth planning team, and what we wanted to see happen in the youth room. The best part of tonight were to see the families that I had grown to love, ones who I had babysat their children when they were small and now had grown up, some were almost as tall as me. I heard encouraging stories of my time as a youth leader, and was amazed at seeing God’s faithfulness still in the student’s lives. With all of this it also brought back some sad memories while I was there. If you remember last January people from that church had died unexpectedly. Christina who was a junior at Seminole High School and was in Willow Creeks youth group while I was there died in a car accident. Then there was Anton, who I served along with as a youth leader. Right before I started attending Metro, he had moved to Maryland to be a youth pastor. He died while playing basketball, leaving behind his sweet wife Jasmine and his beloved son Tobin. I say all of this because Mike Nash gave a message at Singles about “Don’t waste your life,” and hearing what he said was a reality check for me and reminded me how short life is thinking about Anton & Christina. My walk as believer I have learned a lot, grown more ways that I can express but I have realized in the past few days what nomalism is and how it has played a HUGE roll in my life. I am that very person they described a few weekends ago. One who goes to church, serves, worships, might read a book here or there, pick up my Bible once in a while. I am not saying this has been all of the past 11 years of being a believer but I can see where the pattern started and how it has continually gone on from there. My intuition, convictions became less. My desire to see sin as sin, and more of I deserve that or I can do that because of what has happen to me has taken a huge toll into my relationship with Christ and my relationships with others. Please pray for me, and that I will change and be set free. Lord I ask that you give me strength to fight nomalism and that I will be set free from these reoccuring patterns in my life. I want to have a heart that desires your word and that continually thirsts for more. Thank-you for unending grace and love that you have poured into my life. Amen!

Christmas time at my house :o)

Well I figured since no one saw my christmas decorations except for me I would share with everyone what they looked like (since it took a lot of time and work). These are only the main pictures, I didn't take pictures of every little thing in my house :) I hope you enjoy and maybe sometime somebody will take me up on my challenge and ACTUALLY come to my house :) The invitation is still open (though its probably going to be a mess for the next few days as I clean-up so if you want it clean you might want to wait a while :) Have a wonderful day! Happy New Year!

 

 

 

 

Car accident

This morning while driving in Winter Park I came to a stop only to look in my review mirror seeing a car getting ready to plow in the back of me and then a jolt of all jolts was felt throughout my body. As I was trying to pull over, I noticed that this car was not following me so I u-turned as quickly as possible but it had already made it's get away. I then pulled over again, called the police and looked at the damage. It's really not as bad as I thought it would be. I have some scrapes and paint on my car but that's it. Pretty AMAZING. Though the pain my body is feeling is a totally different story. I can't get a break first my knee, then this. I was already having problems getting things done now I am really going to have a hard time. Please pray for a quick recovery (especially for my neck and left shoulder) and also that they will catch this person. Not that I have high hopes but you never know :o)

So you want to see me dance? :o)

So my dad told me about this thing called Elf yourself and its pretty funny. I think you will have to see just for yourself how good it is. All I can say is you DO NOT want to pass up this opportunity to see some people you know (Jenn, Tara, Stephanie and me) dancing :) Enjoy! http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1629134006