So It Finally Snowed...

So after a lot of off and on talk about snow, it finally came. Every one was prepared (if they paid attention), schools closed, businesses closed, even churches canceled services in preparation for the "snow storm" of 2015. My neighborhood is covered in a beautiful blanket of white snow. As my family and I headed outside I looked around and couldn't help but take in the beautiful scenery that reminded me of my sins being cleansed. "Washed whiter than snow."

If you know me and you have been around me in the last week, you know that I have been praying pretty hard for no snow. If you are asking why, please understand that this was literally like a dream week for me. Since I fell in-love with Jesus I have wanted a week of church every night. This week I would have only had one night with out a church service. Also if you are reading this and you have seen me sincerely praying for no snow please know, GOD IS STILL FAITHFUL! His will was for there to be snow, so the snow came. I pray that everyone has taken the time off today to rest in the Lord. God provided you time to be at home with your families so I pray that you took advantage of the blessing, and spent it well. I spent it sleeping in preparation for BLAST, my churches discipleship weekend that starts Friday (please be in prayer for the leaders, staff, and students).

Tomorrow is a new day. His mercies are new every morning, so start yours with Jesus. Spend time in The Word. Worship Him. Maybe even have your quite time outside if time allows and it's not too terribly cold for you to do so. Remember that God is faithful and that He is mighty in power. Everything is in His timing and not ours. Thank God for the blessings of the day, and serve Him faithfully in everything you do. This is a short post but I thought I would just say something about the very beautiful snow fall, and the even more beautiful reminder of the forgiveness of our sins;) May the Lord bless you with an awesome rest of the night in Him and a joyful beginning to a new day in the morning.

Goodbye 2014, Hello 2015!

So it's a new year. So much has happened in this past year and I honestly feel like it just started. I don't know how your 2014 was but mine was full of heart break, surprises, changes and some amazing moments and I don't think there is a thing I would change because even the bad was made good somehow or another by the Lord. I had the opportunity to lead an amazing group of girls during BLAST (a discipleship weekend at my church) which I hope to be able to do again here in just a few months. Just before that I went through a week of loss where I was hit one right after another with three different deaths over the period of one week. As you all know I started college this past year and while it has been an adventure I truly believe that God has been glorified in my school work and I can't wait to see where He takes me on this unbelievable journey. If you know me than you probably know that I have never been a big fan of change. So when brother Mark came down into my Sunday school one morning to tell us that we were not only getting new teachers but changing EVERYTHING that we normally did, you can imagine that I was one of many that was not too happy. I stuck it out for a little while gave it all a shot and now I couldn't be happier with the change. The Lord is opening up so many opportunities for me through these changes as well as in other areas of my life. Let's also not forget that it wasn't too long ago in the year that I started writing this blog and quite honestly it has turned out better than I expected it to. PEOPLE ACTUALLY READ THIS STUFF! Can you believe it??? =D

I have to say that I truly believe God has started speaking to me more about things in the last six months than the rest of this past year. He has opened up an opportunity for me to overcome somethings with the help of an amazing accountability partner, He has opened my eyes to a few things that He might have for me down the road, He even gave me an amazing boyfriend. Obviously I am not writing out everything because that would be a post far too long to publish but I wanted to share some of these things with you. My pastor has been saying that He is believing 2015 will be a big year for Gardendale First Baptist and I agree with him. I also believe that God is going to do even greater things this year for our college ministry (SUB25), for Great News, through the bible study He has allowed us to start on my hallway at the daycare, and in my life personally. I can't wait to see what He does.

I pray that whoever is reading this will have an amazing new year! That God will open your ears and your eyes to whatever He has for you and that you will claim it as the child of God you are. Don't let anyone stop you from getting what God has in store for you! May the Lord bless you exceeding abundantly!! =D

-Kelcy

I Am Alive!!!

Okay so I decided that it just might be a good idea to post something and let everyone know I'M ALIVE. My Christmas was probably not like your Christmas seeing as how I was getting over the flu and my sister went into the hospital with pancreatitis, but we had Christmas nonetheless. My sister is now out of the hospital and we are, as everyone else, slowly moving into the new year. It's about to be over. I honestly feel like it was just last month that it turned 2014 and now here we are moving into 2015 but that is going to be another post. 

I have to say despite being sick I have enjoyed the gifts I received:

1. Soft robe
2. Amplified Bible
3. Praise and Worship Bible
4. Audio Bible Set
5. "Praying Through the Names of God" by Tony Evans
6. #hushrocks DVD series from the church (sermon series)
7. All my gifts from the sweet parents at the daycare:)
8. GIANT teddy bear from my boyfriend
9. Popcorn from his mom

And no, not necessarily in that order:) It has been a pretty good Christmas (I always love getting new bibles and devotionals) and the other stuff is cool too. Most of all I love the reason for Christmas. CHRIST came. I enjoying celebrating this wonderful fact by gathering with fellow believers to worship Him during the candlelight service, and by posting Christmas devotionals. We should never stop celebrating this but something seems special about the way we celebrate it during this holiday. 

I hope you have all enjoyed this Christmas as much (maybe more) that I have. I pray that the Lord will bless you all exceeding abundantly and if you would like please comment below and tell me about your Christmas. Love you all!!! =D

-Kelcy

The Holiday is Approaching...

I realize that I have posted several different posts about Christmas and my excitement for it to get here. I have told you that I enjoy listening to Christmas music (even if I do think it is so wrong that they put it on the radio before Halloween got here) and I am excited for all of the beautiful lights and even a little excited for the cold (but not the sickness that is going to come with it). So having said all of this, I would like to point something out that really only occurred to me this past week. Do you realize that we only have two months left in the year 2014? I feel like just last month we were welcoming in the year and now we are about to say goodbye to this year and hello to 2015. It almost seems to me like each year is flying by faster than the one before it. Thinking about that reminds me of a verse:

"Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes." - James 4:14 (ESV)

Isn't that amazing. The Bible says that we are a mist that appears for a little time and then we vanish. Psalm 39:5 reminds us that to God our entire lifetime is just a moment and that at best, each of us is but a breath! How amazing is that? 

So this past week Gardendale started putting up their snowflake power pole lights. The colder it gets, the more accepting I become of this but on warm nights I find them kind of odd and out of place. However on the nights that it is cold, I turn on the Christmas station as I am leaving work to give the night a more Christmasy feel, but (and I know this is probably weird) when the snowflake lights are out of sight the station is changed back to 93.7 or a choir CD. So with these random things posted for the world to see, I am going to get off of here and try to go to sleep. I am SOOOOOOO excited to go and worship the Lord with my worship family tomorrow. I know it is going to be so incredibly awesome!!! =D Have an awesome night/day in the Lord!!!!

P.S. Just wanted to share a piece of scripture that jumped out at me during my study time tonight: "So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead even though you have to endure many trials for a little while." - 1 Peter 1:6 (NLT)

I pray that you are greatly encouraged by this verse, I know I was! =)