Let's Do This!

My husband and I have agreed to make a resolution. Starting New Year's we will get up early in the mornings to head to the gym and spend time working out together. Our intention is to do this very often throughout the week. We will change our diet. We will get more rest than we are getting now. We will lose weight, and get healthy. I know some of ya'll might be coming across this post and thinking that you've heard this same resolution hundreds of times. I mean what could be more cliche than a resolution to lose weight and be healthy? However, we are dead serious.

My husband doesn't yet have a weight loss goal in mind (not that he is in serious need of one), but I do. I want to spend the next year losing 130 pounds. I know that this will not be easy but I know that it is possible. After I lose it, I am going to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

For those of you who don't know, I am a diabetic. I don't have to take insulin but I am on medication for it. Part of my goal is getting healthy enough to come off of my diabetes medication (with the doctors approval of course). It's not going to be easy. In fact, I know there are going to be days where it is really going to suck. There are going to be days where my depression fights to keep me in bed, and my anxiety tries to convince me to stay away from a gym full of people.... but I am going to get up. I am going to go. I am going to reach my goals.

Along with getting physically healthy, I am going to get spiritually healthy as well. If you know me than you know we haven't been in church as much as we should this past year. We stopped going to our Sunday school, I don't read my Bible every day, and I don't talk to God near as much as I used to. That is going to change but unlike the eating, that is changing NOW. I know that I am not perfect, but I know what I can be for God and I haven't been that this past year. So it's time for a change.

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So, now that you have been filled in I would love to hear any tips as far as eating healthy, making the most out of scheduling, making the most out of working out, etc. So please leave anything you have to say in the comments below. 

I haven't decided quite how I am going to go about it yet, but I may try to make a post every now and then about how things are going with our journey. Stay tuned and I will keep you updated!

As always, all your support is greatly appreciated. Please share with everyone and follow. Practice makes perfect and I will be trying to make my posts better all the time. 

-Kelcy J.

God Is In Control

I haven't really posted anything about this since we got the news, and today I sit here with a lot of worry in the hospital waiting room as my dad has surgery. A few weeks ago we received the news that my dad has cancer. I'm not sure exactly what kind of cancer but today they are placing a port in his chest and taking out a good portion from his neck. I don't know all of the medical mumbo jumbo of what is happening today all I know is that this surgery is incredibly risky. So as I sit here with my family I keep reminding myself that God is in control.

I'm sure anyone who has been in this kind of position knows how hard it is not to be fearful, and how hard it is not to worry. This is my dad. So as many of you can imagine I am very concerned. I am very scared. I am very worried. I'm not the only one. My family is sitting here, probably feeling the same way.

So what is the point of this blog? To ask you to pray. Pray for my dad and the doctors working on him. Pray for my mom as she waits to see the man she has been married to for 25 years come out of surgery. Pray for me and my sister as we wait to see our dad. Things like this are never easy, but luckily my family knows who is in control and who is seated on the throne. Everything is going to be okay. But would you please still pray:)

All of your prayers are appreciated.

-Kelcy J.

Crazy. Random. Nervous Post O_O

It always seems that my posts have more and more time in between them, but life is busy as I am sure most of you know all too well. There has been a lot going on since I last posted. School, wedding plans, trying to get a place to live so that we aren't homeless after the wedding... 

I am sitting here as I type awaiting a phone call that will tell me whether or not Charles and I have gotten an apartment. I don't think I have ever been so nervous for anything in my entire life. THIS IS A BIG DEAL. Don't get me wrong, I know that if it's in God's will and apart of His plan it will all work out... however, I can't help but be nervous and hope and pray that it is in His will and that this phone call would hurry up and come and be good news.

Can you see my stress yet? Can you almost see the gray hairs this has created on my almost 21 year old head? This has been an ongoing super stress since Thursday of this past week. I am sick to my stomach, and I feel like my head won't stop spinning until the phone rings... then again that might make it spin faster until they tell me yes or no... 

You know the nervous I'm talking about, right? That, crawling-out-of-your-skin kind of nervous. 

I just looked at the clock and it is 8:52AM.... Their offices open at 8.... I hope they don't wait all day.... 

You all think I am crazy right now for typing this all up in a blog, but let me tell you it's helping. This post may be all over the place but hopefully it will make me feel better. 

I know what you're thinking though... You're wondering if I am going to write this post until they call.... well, I would like to say yes because that would mean they were going to call in the next few minutes however my answer would be, of course not! That would be insane! 

I am actually about to stop writing now... however... while we already have a small army of people praying for this to work out, we would love for that army to be enlarged. So will you pray with us... please? Pray that God would allow this all to go well... 

Thank you for putting up with this crazy post (if you made it this far, that is). May God bless you all with a wonderfully awesome day! Will hopefully post again soon (prayerfully with good news!)

-Kelcy

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.

A New Season of Life

Well, it's time for new a season to begin. Not like Spring though I'm sure some of you are ready for that. No, the season I'm talking about is a life season. Somewhere around the end of this month and the first of next month I will be dropping down to a substitute position at my job (by choice). Between school, ministry, and church I really don't have time for my job. I am going into ministry so I feel that this is really the best decision. Oh, don't worry, there will be no lazing around I still have plenty to do. Between my quite time with the Lord and my required readings for school there will be plenty of studying going on, on top of continuing whats left of the bible study with my co-workers, fundraising for Ecuador (click on that button by the way), Great News (which I hope to start back with soon), class assignments (which includes a 15-slide power point on Genesis 1-2 this week), church, and SUB25 (which is our 25 and under ministry at church).

Don't get me wrong I love my job, however the daycare is a "for now" job, not a "forever" career. Before anyone starts calling me crazy, and telling me I should think this through, I have. A lot of prayer and thought has went into this decision and it comes down to the fact that if I don't drop down to a sub, my grades will start to suffer and my health will start to suffer. I am getting worn down and something had to go and after a lot of prayer the only reasonable thing to let go of was my position at the daycare. I will admit to having worries about this decision, but because I know that this is where the Lord is leading me right now I trust that He will provide for all of my needs.

Quite honestly, I am looking forward to the time that I will have to be able to do all of my readings for school (which is a total of 16 reads this week), read more of my bible, and spend more time doing ministry focused things such as starting Great News back up with devotionals. I look forward to what the Lord is about to do in my life. With that being said, there are things that I will miss about not being in a consistent position at the daycare, like for example being able to regularly go to the sanctuary and just sit alone in the quite with God. Another thing I will miss will be seeing the amazing kids that are in my class and on my hallway. While I don't always get along with each of the kids (face it, they are 2's to 3's) I still love each and every one of them. Finally, I will miss my co-workers. In at least the last six months I have had the blessing of getting to have some awesome God conversations with some of these girls and even just getting to see God do different things in some of their lives. And while it hasn't always worked out, I've even been able to  do a bible study with them.. Each place that the Lord has put me since I have been at the daycare has had some purpose or another. From buggy rides to water days (which, just saying, I really dislike water days), and everything in between God has had a purpose.

So now I would like to ask that you would all pray. Pray for God to guide and direct my every step. Pray for Him to open new doors during this season of my life and maybe even for Him to reveal Himself to me in a new (to me) way. I can't wait to share this journey with you as the Lord allows, and I pray that He will bless each and every person reading this with an awesome day in Him. I'm done rambling now:)

-Kelcy

The Flu and Christmas

That's right. I said it. The flu. I have been sick with the flu for three days now. I am tired, I am achy, I am dizzy, and this is NOT fun. I honestly think this is my first experience with the flu and quite frankly I would prefer that it be my last but something tells me, since I do work at a daycare, that's probably wishful thinking. I have had two kids go home in the last two weeks with high fevers of 102.9 and 103.3. Both were crying, really red faced, and shaking. I know how they feel because I think I have experienced their pain in the last three days. Friday I left work with a fever of 102.2. Crashed at a friends house because 1. The plan was for us to have a Christmas movie night and 2. There was no way I could drive home with how dizzy I was. Everyone at church knows that I must have been sick even if they weren't told simply because if you know me, you pretty much don't expect me to be out of church unless I am near death or in the hospital, in fact I would rather be in church anyway but even I felt bad enough that I decided (without being forced) to stay home from church). On a brighter note as we are about to be officially in the week of Christmas I feel decently better than yesterday with only a slight fever, dizziness, and I am very sleepy. 

Now some of you just looked at that last part about being sleepy and are saying to me (your computer screen really) "STOP BLOGGING AND GO TO BED, YOU'RE SICK!" I would probably agree with this accept I have slept away most of the day after watching the church live stream, and if I don't stay up for a few hours I will be up a half a dozen times tonight even with NyQuil, and if I am up a half a dozen times tonight I will be miserable tomorrow. Sadly, with all of this going on I have to call into work tomorrow, believe it or not, while many of you think that should be a good thing I am actually kind of sad about it. However, I would never wish the way I have felt on my worst enemy therefore I would rather say home and get better than pass it on to people I care about. 

Finally, the part of the post I was looking most forward too. As you go about your last minute plans to prepare for Christmas, be it groceries or gifts, stop and take a moment these next few days to be still before the Lord, quite your heart before Him, worship, and remember that the whole reason we celebrate Christmas is because CHRIST came to earth. May the Lord bless you all richly this CHRISTmas season! Love you all! 

In Christ,
Kelcy

P.S. Please keep my family and me in your prayers so that we who are sick may be healed and the one who isn't (mom) may remain completely healthy! In Jesus' name!

Worship as a Lifestyle

Something has occurred to me recently that I don't guess I have really consider: Worship is not just an activity or an action, but instead, a lifestyle. Our entire lives, the in's and out's, the up's and down's, in everything that we do, we should be worshiping God. God created us to worship Him, we are worshippers. So why is it that we only seem to consider worship as singing a few songs. There are plenty of "lifestyle" choices that are being made in the world. People choose to have a lifestyle of being gay, or partying but as Christian's should we not choose a lifestyle of worship? Stop arguing over whether or not we should accept the lifestyles of non-believers and start shining through the darkness with the lifestyle of a WORSHIPPER!

Starting this week I am going to make every effort to live a lifestyle of worship. Because of certain struggles I have been facing my mentor has recommended, that I fill as much of my time as possible with reading the Word, and listening to praise and worship music. Now don't get me wrong this should always be our goal, struggle or no struggle and I have always enjoyed doing these things but now I need to increase these things in my life as much as possible. I think doing this will be a great help to me as I begin to make worship a lifestyle, and NOT just another church activity, as so many of us have sadly made it.

So will you join me? Will you stop worshiping on just Sunday's and Wednesday's and start worshipping all day every day? Will you stop allowing worship to be just another church activity and start making it a lifestyle? I can promise you, God will change your life in ways you never expected if you do:)

I know this is a short post so this next statement is probably kind of sad but this actually took me about three days to write... I know... sad. Truth is between work, church, school, study time, and family it was a lot harder than I thought to write a post this week. I know you understand:) Hopefully next time it will be a bit easier=D May the Lord bless you richly and far beyond all you could ever hope or imagine! May the Lord help you to make worship a LIFESTYLE from this day forward. =D Love you all!!!! =)

I Have a Lot of Children

For those of you that know me you know that I work at a daycare, in fact some of you reading this may be the parents of the children that I keep every afternoon (please keep reading). When I say I have a lot of children I mean it. I didn't give birth to them, I have no legal right to them, I am not their mom, and in some situations I am not their teacher. If you bring your child to the daycare I work at odds are once I meet that child whether they are in my class, have left "graduated" from my class, eventually coming to my class, or are to never set foot in my class they are still mine while they are there. For most of them I have changed their diaper more than once, I have kissed more invisible "boo boo's" then I can count, I have rejoiced over counting (correctly) from 1 to 10, I have potty trained, cleaned up accidents, tied shoes, found socks, cleaned up spilt water, spilt milk and dried the tears caused by the spilling of the milk. On some occasions I have held children close and rocked them doing every thing I could to soothe them as they screamed and cried because they had a fever well above 101 degrees and their parents hadn't quite made it to the daycare yet. So parents please be aware when we call you to let you know that you child is extremely sick, there is someone (be it me or another teacher) who is holding your child close and comforting him or her until you get there, and quite often we get whatever they get but we would do it again because they are ours while they are at that daycare.

I can honestly not tell you how many times I have had to go back up to someone and let them know that I work at a daycare because I have went on and on about "my" kids and how they have; learned a color, learned to count from 1 to 10, learned to use the potty, told a crazy and funny story, learned to walk, learned to talk, and so on and so forth. I remember when I was on the baby hall and had my first, first steps moment with one of the kids (had another parent walked by they would have thought she was mine) I was so excited and went from room to room to room making sure every teacher saw that she was walking and (yes I did make sure they got just as excited before I walked away). I reacted the same to the two kids that did so afterwards as well. Not only did I get excited in the daycare, I stayed excited after I went home and proceeded to tell my family (in detail) about each child and their first steps.

There is one last thing that I want each parent reading this to be aware of, not only do I love your child tremendously, but I pray for your child AND your family. I pray that your child will be a mighty warrior for God and that they will serve Him all of their lives. I also pray for you (parents) that you will trust in God, that you will find strength and peace in Him, and that you will never be discouraged. I pray so much more than all of this over you and your families. When I walk into the classroom in the afternoons, before I ever wake the kids, I get on my knees and I pray; for my kids, my co-workers, the day and yes I pray for me too. When I sub for a morning teacher the first thing I do as I walk in and start preparing the room is start praying for the same things. Please never doubt that when you leave your children with me, they are loved, cared for, protected and prayed for. Things happen, your child might get bit by another child but it DOES NOT mean that we didn't do what we could to prevent that from happening. We are not perfect people but we do our best to take care of your child while they are with us. If you sit down and you think about it 9 times out of 10 your child is with me more than they are with you. PLEASE DON'T MISUNDERSTAND ME, you work and I get it, sometimes you are off and you need that break and it's okay! I don't mind having your child but it is a fact that I see your child more than you do in a day, Monday-Friday. So, please find comfort in the fact that when you walk out that door headed towards work or wherever, and you leave your child with me, they are mine. I love them and will take care of them to the best of my ability until you come back.

So, now I am going to go and get ready for work. I am going to go and be with these kids whom I love so very much. I would ask that you would pray for me and my co-workers because while we love your kids, we also have many others. I have 9. It takes a lot of strength to care for 9 2-3 year olds. This is my life. God has put me where I am and while He may move me later in life, for now I am right where He wants me. I have A LOT of children and I love them all. =)

A Little Slice or Two of Heaven

I was sitting and listening to an AMAZING song that we are getting ready to sing at church by The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, and as I was doing this I started to think of a few things that give me joy, little "slices" of heaven if you will. It's more than two but here are some of them:

1. A passion filled worship at church
2. GFBC Choir, Praise Team, and Orchestra
3. My personal worship time
4. My alone time with God in the South Campus sanctuary
5. Breathe by The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir (and yes, that is the song previously mentioned)
6. The GFBC Christmas Program (you have no idea just how big of slices those really are...)
7. A sunset on a sort of cloudy day

I thought seven was plenty for here, don't you agree? My God is an AWESOME God. In the last few days He has allowed me to experience six of these seven (because it's not Christmas time...) even in the heartache. Plus last night I was overjoyed to get to witness the baptism of a friend of mine! I will admit that it's been a pretty bad week, and if you read my last post you will understand that, but I would also like to remind whoever is reading this and myself that God's Word says that even though weeping may last through the night, a shout of joy will come in the morning (Psalm 30:5b NASB). I trust my God. Right now, I am leaning on my God because I don't have enough strength to walk around on my own. My God is so much more awesome than mere words could ever say. My God has given me a shout of joy with each experience. How could I not love Him?

I want to ask that you will continue to pray for the friends and family of the man I mentioned in the last post, who so recently went home to be with the Lord. But, I also want to encourage you to sit and think about this question: What are your little slices of heaven? Feel free to comment with some below as well, I would love to read them! May the Lord bless you!

Would You Pray?

I just wanted to take a moment to share something that is on my heart in hopes that everyone reading this might take a moment to just say a prayer. I was scrolling through my Facebook and came across a picture collage of a friend's day in Ecuador. If you know me you already know where this is headed but if you don't you should understand that after my first mission trip there I fell in love with the people, the group I was with, and the places that I saw. I miss Ecuador all of the time and really do hope that the Lord is willing for me to return sooner rather than later.

So anyway, as I passed the pictures my heart broke a little and the tears began to stream. I miss Ecuador far more than I though it possible for me to miss ANY foreign country. In my head something that has become normal began. I started remembering every aspect of my mission trip there. I remembered the sweet little chapel that I have mentioned here before, I remembered camp Chacauco, I remembered the jungle camp which I think was probably my favorite of the two, I thought about the sweet little family that I met while I was there that I love so very much, the beauty, and just so much more. 

Some of you are reading this and feeling sorry for my heartache, others are tired of hearing about it, both however, would probably want to pray for God to take away the heartache. PLEASE DON'T... As crazy as that may sound I would like to ask that you would pray asking God instead, to provide a way for me to return soon. Pray over the financial details (because mission trips are EXTREMELY expensive), pray for the timing so that things will work out with school for me to take a leave of absence, pray that the Lord would take every worry I have and remind me that He is GREATER. 

If you have made it this far in the post I want to thank you for reading and for your prayers. I know that the Lord is good and that His "faithful love endures forever". I am thankful for the HUGE family that is the body of Christ, and the brothers and sisters in that body that lift each other up in prayer. What an amazing privilege to be apart of the family of God! May the Lord bless and keep you, making His face shine upon you and giving you His peace! (Numbers 6:24-26) =)

Last night I had the privilege of doing one of my favorite things, I got to go to prayer. My choir director, her husband and several members of the worship ministry get together at 7:14 on Thursday nights to pray. I enjoy this far more than anyone could ever imagine. Standing with other believers and praying to our Father. Some of you are looking at the time wondering why it's 7:14, it's because of 2 Chronicles 7:14 which says, "Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore the land."

Some people think that I carry my excitement too far when it comes to being at the church all the time but honestly one of the men last night put it best. He was talking to a friend earlier that day and when his friend asked where he was headed, he told him that he was going to prayer. The friend said something along the lines of man we're there all the time and he simply said well, where is there to be? (Sorry if that didn't make any since)

That's how I feel. I honestly feel like every other place that I go through out my time here (work, out with friends, and yes even home) is pointless. My mind even wandered to a verse the other day from Luke. 

"'But why did you need to search?' he asked. 'Didn't you know that I must be in my Father's house?'" -Luke 2:49 (NLT)

Sometimes when people ask me why I spend some much time at the church, or when they tell me that I spend too much time there, or the infamous you don't have to be there every time the doors open, I think of this verse. I want to be at my Father's house whenever I can be. So what if today's culture says I'm taking it too far, I think God is looking down smiling at my eagerness to be in His house. Some people think that I am spreading myself too thin and that I am going to ware myself out but I promise you, the less time I spend at church and the less time that I spend with God the more worn out I feel, but the more I'm at church whether it be for service, practice, or prayer, and the more time I spend with God the more ALIVE I feel, and the more rested I feel. 

Being a christian means that no matter what the people around us think about it, whether it be friends, co-workers, or even family, we will do what we feel like the Lord is leading us to do. We will risk everything. 

I guess I am done with my rant now:) I really hope that this will encourage some one today. And I hope that you all have a WONDERFUL day!! =D

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." -Romans 15:13 (ESV)

Today was a special day for me. Today I made vows to Jesus. Some of you think I'm weird but really it is already changing me. You see I have a purity ring that for the longest time I have only thought of when it comes to staying physically pure before marriage. However recently I have thought more of purity in heart, mind, and spirit. So today in the dim lit, tranquil setting of my churches old sanctuary, I got on my knees and made vows to my sweet Jesus. I recommitted my purity ring, this time with a deeper understanding of what it means. My time there today was a sweet moment that will stay between Him and I unless He leads me to share the details of it later, but my heart is overwhelmed with a joy that I cannot explain.  

Some of the sweetest parts of my weekdays are when I get to go into the old sanctuary at the south campus of my church. You see, I work in the daycare there every afternoon Monday-Friday and the sanctuary is in the center of the building. When I get there the kids still have somewhere between an hour and a half to two hours left of their nap so I will spend a little while talking with co-workers and/or eating lunch, then I will slip off to the sanctuary where I am blessed to be able to spend about half an hour sometimes more, just me and Jesus:) This time, without a doubt is the sweetest prayer time I have ever had the joy of experiencing. I would encourage everyone to make sure that you have a time at some point during the day that you can be completely alone with God if at all possible. Since I started doing this almost a month ago my walk with God has become more intimate and  I find myself falling in love with Jesus more and more:)

Well I guess since today is about to become tomorrow I should get some shut eye. May God bless you exceeding abundantly:) Goodnight.