PROGRESS IS HAPPENING!!!

That's right! PROGRESS! =D I am so excited to let everyone know that our hard work at the gym has started paying off! People have been telling me that I've lost weight and while I appreciated the compliments I didn't see it and couldn't believe it. Well.... I got on a scale and I have lost..... 20 POUNDS!!!!! That's right! 20 POUNDS!!!!

I was ecstatic after I was told the scale was indeed right. I thought it was broken! Nope! I may not see it looking at the pictures but they say the person losing won't see it for a while so I'll just have to trust the scales and others on this one.

For those of you keeping up, that means I now have 110 more pounds to lose out of my 130 pound goal. I am so excited and though I do want to lose weight this journey is worth it if only for how much better I feel.

Our journey to change has continued on quite a path since the first day of the New Year. We have been doing our Bible study at night along with reading The 5 Love Languages; we have been regularly going to the gym and working hard while there; we have been eating better for the most part (we are not perfect); we have been at church every Sunday and have only missed our class twice; and a few other changes have made their way into our lives by the grace of God that we will keep off of the blog (sorry!).

In other news! I would like everyone that reads this to be praying for a change that the Lord may bring into our lives this year that we are incredibly excited and nervous for! We aren't really talking to anyone about it except a few people that we have praying with us and those that have brought this opportunity to our attention. The Lord knows the cries of our hearts in this area and we are simply praying that He will allow everything to work out in our favor. Thank you in advance for the prayers, hopefully we will have answers soon!

As always I appreciate the continued support. I apologize for not being able to post a lot in the last several weeks, it's been incredibly busy. I can't wait to have another update about my weight for you all! I'm feeling good and going to keep working hard =D

I won't bore you with all of the pictures in between, however here is the most recent gym picture of Charles and I :) Sorry it's a bit fuzzy, the little seal band in my Lifeproof is loose and managed to come over the camera a bit. God bless!

Until next time!
-Kelcy J.

To My Worship Family

Dear GFBC Worship Ministry,
I want to publicly tell each and every one of you that might read this, just how much I love you all. You are more than just people that I get to worship with on Sunday's and Wednesday's. You are my family. I can not really put into words the overwhelming love I feel for each of you when I get to see you all during services or practices and while singing with you. While there are far too many of you for me to know each of your names, I pray for the choir, orchestra, and praise team as often as the Lord brings you all to my mind. It is such a blessing to be able to stand with so many people that have such a strong love for the Lord and want to use the gifts that He has given them to show it.

When I stand in the choir loft, the choir suite, on the stage, or in praise team practice, I am always overwhelmed by the love I feel for all of you and the joy that I feel getting to praise God with each of you. I can't tell you enough how much I love all of you, but may the Lord allow each of you to know the love that He has put in my heart for you. If you can't grasp anything else of what I am saying please know these two things. You are my worship family and I love each of you so much more than I can explain.

To our three God fearing, Spirit filled worship leaders: While everything above is for you as well, thank you so much for all that you three do to keep things running. Thank you for praying for each of us, for encouraging us, and for leading us. God's hand is on each of you and we couldn't ask for better leaders. Not only do you encourage us to sing or play out for the glory of God, but you encourage us by your lives and walks of faith. You work hard and it is appreciated more than the three of you will ever know. May God pour out His blessings on each of you in overwhelming waves!

Thank you all so much for loving God and allowing Him to use you for worship at GFBC. I look forward to worshiping with each of you again soon! May the Lord bless and keep you!

In Christ,
Kelcy =)

Speechless (sort of)

It's funny that I want so badly to type this out here and yet I am at a loss for words. I mentioned in a previous post of how I enjoy sitting in the old sanctuary in the church where I work. Well, today as I went in there I had the intention to be still (and quite) before God. So that's what I did. I went in, took my place in the first pew, leaned back, and asked God to speak. As I was sitting there in the stillness of God's presence I allowed my eyes to look over the sanctuary. I did this for probably somewhere around 20 minutes before feeling the need to just talk to God. So I started talking to Him about how I felt sitting there, expressing the fact that I didn't understand what it was that I enjoyed so much about that sanctuary. Then He spoke. Not audibly of coarse (though if He wanted to He could) but with a memory that explained it. 

In this moment, I was moved to tears as God took me back to a beautiful little chapel in Ecuador. If you know me then you know that I took a mission trip almost a year ago (it will be a year next month) to Ecuador with the student ministry at my church. While in Ecuador we stayed in two places, Camp Chacauco in Patate Ecuador and Camp UNPES located near Tena in the jungle. Something that Chacauco has that I love so much is this quaint little bitty chapel. It has some chairs stacked in a corner, a little podium, and sometimes there was a fold up table in there... Anyway, during my time at this camp, as the day would close I would go to the cafeteria to Skype my parents and than I would head into this little chapel turning the dim lights on and getting alone with God. 

Some of you don't understand my point behind telling you all of that so here it is. Though I loved serving in Ecuador some of my sweetest memories are of what God did while I was in that chapel, much like the sanctuary. Now you get it? While the sanctuary is big, with pews and a stage and all that, God made me realize today that He has blessed me with a little (big) piece of Ecuador. A wooden roof, just enough of a dim light, and it is quite. Just like the chapel... 

So today, as my Father showed me this gift from Him, I sat and cried, overwhelmed with love and joy:) And with that peak into my life today, I would like to end with this question. Has God given you (His child) a gift that maybe you've overlooked? If you're not sure, maybe you should ask your heavenly Father to show you:)

Time for bed, I hope you have a wonderful night, and may God bless you with sweet dreams:)

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.