HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

Well ladies and gentlemen the week of Thanksgiving is finally upon us. NOW it is okay to fully decorate for Christmas! Our tree is up and decorated (though I will be honest, we did it about a week ago), I have my room partially decorated (which I am excited about because I have never really decorated my room for Christmas before) and I am sure soon we will all break out the Christmas goodies. Now, as many of you know I posted about a week or so ago that it was FREEZING!!! However, if you went outside yesterday it was almost 80 degrees!!! That's Alabama weather for you, it makes absolutely no since...

So Thursday we will all have the opportunity to gather with family and/or friends and celebrate all that we are thankful for. God has blessed me with so much that the thought of all I am thankful for is overwhelming. What about you? What are you thankful for most this year? Here is my top 20 list, not really in any particular order:

1. I am thankful for my God
2. I am thankful for my family
3. I am thankful for my church (GFBC)
4. I am so very very VERY thankful for my worship family at GFBC, my heart is overwhelmed every time I have the opportunity to come together with such an amazing army of God.
5. I am thankful for the worship leaders at GFBC, those three amazing people are on fire for God and so very encouraging to the rest of the worship ministry. 
6. I am thankful for my friends, (they keep me sane... or make me weirder... yeah probably that one)
7. I am very thankful for the sweet guy that God has just recently brought into my life:)
8. I am thankful for my pastor and for the passion he has for the Lord
9. I am thankful to be a student at a pretty awesome school (Grand Canyon University)
10. I am thankful to live in a country where I can own as many bibles as I do and use every one of them publicly
11. I am thankful for my job
12. I am thankful for my co-workers
13. I am thankful for good God conversations
14. I am thankful for a roof over my head
15. I am thankful for the passion and love God has put in my heart for Him. 
16. I am thankful for the passion and love God has put in my heart for worship. 
17. I am thankful for Great News!!!!!
18. I am thankful for the gift God has given me to write.
19. I am thankful for the gift God has given me to play and sing music.
20. I am thankful for you. For each person that passes through on here or on my Great News!!!!! blog (or Facebook) and takes the time to read, like or even share the (sometimes crazy) things that the Lord lays on my heart. Thank You!!!

God has blessed me so richly and I promise you these aren't even all of the things I am thankful for. I pray that you will take time this week to sit down and make your top 20 list. Meditate on the blessings in your life:)

On a final note I want to make everyone that is not on my Facebook or in my life aware of the new change as far as my schooling. As most of you know I have been pursuing my degree which was B.A. in Christian Studies with an Emphasis in Biblical Studies. This past week the Lord touched my heart on the way to work about the love He has placed on my heart for music, the gifts He has given me to play and sing music, and the heart He has given me for worship. I prayed about this for a few days and received an email from my school letting me know that they have added a new program to their Christian Studies programs. Before I go any further you should know that I was told before I ever enrolled that there were no worship classes for online students. The new program is the same degree except instead of the Emphasis being Biblical Studies it is Worship Leadership and it is for online students! This past week I changed my Emphasis to Worship Leadership. To say that I am nervous would be grossly understated. I have no idea where God is going to take me with this but I trust Him and will follow Him wherever He leads. Now some of you may be wondering and I want you to know that I feel no leading to walk away from Great News!!!!! or public speaking, but I feel like this is just something that God has added and while I'm nervous, I am also very excited to see what He does.

I hope you all have the most amazingly, richly blessed Thanksgiving in the Lord!!!! Count your blessings this week and be sure to thank God now and every day for everything He has given you. God bless you my friends! I love you all =D HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

Can I Just Say...IT IS FREEZING

Living in Alabama is really an experience wether you are like me and you've lived here all of your life or you're someone who has moved here. If you don't already know, the weather in Alabama is crazy, illogical and sometimes unpredictable. Monday and Tuesday of this week were nice and decently warm. However the last three days have been FREEZING. We go from 70 degrees one day to 20 the next. Somewhere in Alabama is supposed to get SNOW this weekend!!! S-N-O-W! THE WHITE STUFF THAT FALLS FROM THE SKY AND, sometimes, STICKS TO THE GROUND! Mom made a good point the other day, she said that she can't remember there ever being snow in November. TECHNICALLY we are still in the middle of Fall. THIS ISN'T WINTER. My kids at the day care are starting to get sick, kids are getting fevers and not "feeling good" through the afternoon and then another kid, and another and another and yes... another. It's like a never ending cycle of sickness and the only thing that breaks it is Summer. 

Now let me just say, I generally like Winter weather. However, as previously stated in posts before this one, I can not stand the sickness that comes with Winter. Whatever the kids get, I usually get it. Not to mention, I feel like the cycle of sickness is going to start off ten times worse because it was such a sudden and drastic change in temperatures. 

Some of you aren't going to like what I am about to say but it's okay, just take deep breaths and realize that I am not a weather person and there is still milk and bread in the stores.... well... as far as I am aware that is. I want it to snow. DON'T FREAK OUT!!! I don't want it to snow right now. Let's get past Thanksgiving before we actually start the snowy weather, but I do want snow. It would be nice to have snow right around Christmas:) Are you still breathing? You just un-followed my blog didn't you... it's okay:| Go ahead... go get your milk and bread, I'll wait....

You back? I knew you would be. Now I would like to make a suggestion. If it does snow, you should take the opportunity that you are stuck inside, assuming that it is the kind of snow that prevents travel, to really dig deep into God's Word with your family or by yourself. Don't get me wrong you should be doing that now and every day, but during the time that you would normally be heading to work or somewhere else, you should turn off everything that distracts and dig deep into the Word. Spend some time with Jesus, and even put on some music and worship Him in song:) Yes... IT IS FREEZING, but let's make the most of the freezing weather when ever we get the chance. You never know, God may make it snow to give you rest and to get your undivided attention on Him instead of the things of the world. Just remember, if it does snow, you can't control the weather so stop trying to think of how if it goes away soon you can still get to work. Thank God for the break, and honor Him. 

Am I thinking too far ahead... okay well, have an amazing day=P May the Lord bless you richly! STAY WARM!! =) Frost bite is real people!!!!!! ;)

Till next time....

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! =)

Two Pennies and a Message

God did the most awesome thing last night. This morning I had the opportunity to speak at First Priority at my former high school. Since I was asked to do this Monday night I started praying continuously for God to lay something to speak about on my heart. As the sun went down yesterday I still didn't feel what God wanted me to speak on, I stopped off at Walgreens on the way home and used cash (which I never do) and as I walked out, God finally answered my prayer (in His timing) when I opened my hand and saw two pennies. Yes, it does sound crazy, I know but keep reading it gets better. I had been given a very shiny penny and a dirty penny. As I stared at the two coins in my hand my eyes grew wide as the Lord began speaking and I listened. As I went home I told my parents about what God had spoken to me and my mom made it better, she gave me a filthy, chipped (broken) penny. With these two pennies God gave me the message I was to speak to the students this morning.

Think of this with me for a second. Jesus is the shiny, spotless penny. We are the broken, filthy penny. When Jesus died on the cross He covered our sins with His blood. Now think of that shiny penny covering that dirty, filthy, broken penny. You can't see the filthy anymore... THAT'S WHAT JESUS DOES TO US WITH OUR SINS!!!! 

"We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags." - Isaiah 64:6 (NLT)

We are like FILTHY rags! We are impure, unclean, infected, broken with sin and Jesus comes in and cleanses and purifies us! HE MAKES US LIKE HIM!! THIS IS THE GOSPEL!!!!! Is that not the most awesome thing?? There wasn't a whole lot of students in there but God allowed me to look at some of them and watch the expression on their faces change as they really just... got it. It was such a blessing to be able to speak there this morning and I pray that God allows me to have more opportunities in different places to speak before long. So that's what God gave me. Two pennies and a message, and wow wasn't it an awesome message:) 

May the Lord bless you richly!

Signs In The Sky

I usually don't post things this close together, but I had to share this. If you are on my Facebook then you have probably already seen the picture that I shared of the clouds that looks like Jesus on a horse with an angel behind him. I have seen several comments from the original post about this being fake and as I sat asking God to give me a reason to believe it wasn't He reminded me that I have seen an image in the sky that was just as clear as the one in the picture. This past Sunday morning on the way to church, though I didn't take a picture of it, I saw very clearly a cloud that looked like an angel blowing a trumpet. I saw that image with my own eyes, not in a picture in the sky and that can't be faked. Someone commented on the picture saying they know cloud formation and that the picture was faked because clouds don't do that (and yes I am paraphrasing how he said it) but I have news for you, God can do ANYTHING. 

So with that being said I have posted the picture below and just want you to take a good look at it:

When my mom first showed me the picture a song immediately became stuck in my head and I have been singing it all day. "Day's of Elijah", I have posted the song below, listen and you will hear why. I hope that this has really touched you and reminded you that as Revelation 1:3 in The Message bible says, "Time is just about up." 

God is BIGGER than ______________.

I want you to take a moment to fill in the blank. God is BIGGER than __________. Take something that you are currently struggling with; school, work, finances, trust issues, fear, lies... and fill in the blank. It doesn't just have to be one word, express your weakest self, knowing full well that He is BIGGER. While you do that let's talk a little bit about why I am asking you to do this.

Most of you on Facebook have seen, I'm sure, the God Is Bigger movement. I have a bracelet to remind me that He is but in the last few days I have become so overwhelmed with some things that I am losing my grip on this truth. When I open my bible there is a quote that I wrote down after having seen it on a church sign on my way to work, I took a picture so you could see it below:

"Let your faith be BIGGER than your fears."

I am sharing this with you because as I flipped open and read that quote over and over and over again today I found myself crying, my heart writhing in pain because I realized that my fears about certain things in my life, far exceed my faith... I feel like I am powerless against my fears (and please feel free to comment on what God says about these feelings) but I feel like I am being held under water because of these fears, worries, and concerns about things that could NEVER be in my control. I know that the Word says God has not given us a spirit of fear or timidity but one of power, love, and a sound mind. I try my best to cling to that when I feel most overwhelmed by my fears. My insecurities. My stress.

I am weak. I am allowing you to read that here. I am opening my heart and allowing you to know that I am broken and I am weak... but I know... no matter what... I am loved. I am cherished. I am HIS.

Greater is He who is living in me than he who is living in the world. (1 John 4:4)

So let me fill in the blank for my life. God is BIGGER than my every fear, every temptation, every doubt, every insecurity, every trust issue, every hurt, every bit of stress, every concern or worry, He is bigger than my anxieties, He is bigger than my finances, He is bigger than every lie that Satan is trying so hard to convince me of and quite honestly God is bigger than ANYTHING I could ever face. 

So now it's your turn. Take some time. Allow God to bring it to your mind and fill in the blank. Speak it out loud, shout it from the rooftops or at least to the top of your lungs where ever you are at right now. CLAIM IT! Right here. Right now.

God is BIGGER than _________________.

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!!!! =)