Surrender, You whisper gentle....

Hey guys, you know the sign that i haven't posted in a while is probably the fact that i almost forgot my username and password. I thought i would set aside a time to do the whole blog-posting thing, but i opened my little computer and God tugged on my heart to post something. Not for you. For Him. It doesn't matter to me if I get 0 or 10 comments. Father wanted me to do this. What have I been doing? Just started my work at Ware Jewelers in downtown Auburn. Where am I going? Hopefully Nashville, or at least that's the plan for right now. What am I wanting? To completely surrender to the most capable, beautiful God in the world. To learn more about my Savior, not for my sake so that He will bless me, but that He will use me to get the most glory for Himself. He is opening up doors in my heart right now and showing me that He is so detailed. I want Him to be my every thought. There is so much of Him to marvel at...how do we have time to let our mind wander with silly earthly things? I know I am so guilty of it, but I know the Father will be persistent with me. I want to feel His presence more intimately, and to recognize Him all along the landscape. He is in every crevice, nook and cranny of this universe. We just have to wake up to His majestic beauty. Don't you just love that the One who is so constant changes us every second? He changes us to further make us like Him. He is drawing us closer. WAKE UP TO IT!
I was driving my grandmother up to Auburn a couple of months ago to move her here. Watch out Auburn, the Rican has come to town. Anyways, I was driving her car, what the grandchildren commonly refer to as the townhouse. Its a lincoln towncar, and it is a hoopty. If i ever had to live in a car, that would be my choice place of residence. All lincolns come equipped with a piece of metal on the front of the hood that is the lincoln symbol. I don't know the technical term for said part, but give me a break. As we were driving along, I glanced down at the logo and realized its similarity to a cross. The wheels starting turning (in my head, the cars were in full circle), and I came to this realization: God goes before us and we have to trust Him in whichever way He turns our life. It was cool to see that in a visual form. When we stray off His path, He always brings us back to Himself. Praise Him for that!!!! "Sometimes praise comes face to the ground, unable to move because we are so aware that this holy, terrifying God has busied Himself bringing us back to Him."-David Crowder
O, and I also see our Lord and Savior as an overflowing cup. "My cup runneth over...." He is life...abundant, overflowing life. Draw from His love and that cup will never run dry. If we attempt to draw life from any other cup, you will find yourself very thirsty. Things of this world are fleeting and do not last. He is the only satisfaction. Do I mean cup as in alcohol? Sure. Do I mean drawing our life from our friends, families, boyfriends, girlfriends, a cause, our work or activity instead of drawing from the endless supply of the love Jesus Christ has for us? Yeah, that too. Drink from His abundant cup. "Taste and see that the Lord is good". Ask God to increase your hunger and thirst for His life in yours. Ask Him to rub away you. Nothing left of me to see. All You, Father. Only You. I love You.
Surrender to the Holiest of Holies. Have a great week.

His fame, His renown….

Lord, spread the glory of Your Name today! That was Mr. Giglio’s prayer, and that should be our constant prayer. Today I watched on iTunes as the Passion ’06 bundle went from #39 at 8:00 AM, to #7 at 12:30, to where it sits now at #4, and it is still rising. I know that Passion is not about the music and their sales, but I pray that this bundle is used as a channel for His glory. I pray that it sparks curiosity in those who don’t know Him. Let it catch the eye of those who are looking around on the iTunes homepage. I pray it has the regular iTunes users wondering, “What is the Passion, and what have they got to sing about?” And if you have the bundle, you would know that He is our joy, and that salvation is here. Let these songs and Louie’s talk spring new life in us as well, so we can be in constant recognition of His sovereignty, and so that we can do our part in spreading the love of the Father that stirs us so much everyday that it should just come pouring out of us.

What does it take?

Surrender. Surrender to Him. Father used the Passion Conference this year to draw me closer to Him. It took surrender. I am going to try to explain this, but it might be confusing, so bear with me.

The Lord is bringing me to a place where I desire nothing but Him and what He wants for my life for His glory. It feels great! It is such release. No matter what you want out of life, decide to surrender, and let the best decision maker choose your path. And He will bring the most glory to Himself by increasing your satisfaction of Him. The more and more you look at Him, the more breathtaking He becomes. The more and more you fix your eyes on His love, the more He proves to you that He loves you, and you see more and more just what He has done for little, insignificant you and me. The Lord is teaching me more and more each day. Dialogue with Him all day. Talk to the Father and keep your thoughts on Him all day long. He is the best person to talk to.

Sorry, a little off subject, a conversational pigtrail as I like to call it. Ok, back to what I came to say.

Over the past couple of months, I have been on a journey to find true, authentic worship. Not the kind of worship that arises from emotions or the kind of worship that gets you raising your hands because your favorite Crowder song came on or your neighbor is raising their hands, but the kind of worship that is all out for the Father's glory. The kind of worship that has us raising our hands and dancing before the Lord in appreciation of all that He has done for us, all that He is doing, and all that He will do. And because we truly love Him.

At the worship panel at the conference in Nashville, during the Q & A segment, this question was asked: With all of the technological advancements (the LED screens, sounds systems, lights, colors, etc.), is it hard not to get wrapped up in it and lose focus? (Those weren't the exact words, but close enough.) Louie Giglio proceded to ask of us, the audience, if we would show up to Passion if none of those technological advancements were present. Of course, we all replied yes. But then I began to wonder, what does it take? What does it take for true, authentic worship? Does it take all the lights, screens, etc.? And then I thought, what if we showed up to our respective worship meetings and walked in to find that there was no musical equipment, no amplification or magnification of any kind. What if what we found when we walked in was a cross lifted high and nothing else? Would that be enough? Would we still fall to our faces in reverence of The Holiest of Holies? He moves us. He stirs our affections. Without the show. Without any of the lights, screens, movies, songs, sermons, etc. So what does it take to have true, authentic worship? Just Him.

mr. darcy

Let me take this opportunity to indulge to you how quite pleased I was with the movie "Pride & Prejudice". I've seen it twice already. What I'm about to tell you will probably be in some form of British dialect since I am rather fond of the way they converse. Having said that, go see this movie. It is truly an amazing love story.

My thoughts after viewing this picture show...
Warning: my girly side is about to come forth.
Above all, I walked out of this movie desiring a husband that would be foolish for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm in the stage that Matt likes to call, "single and satisfied", but the male characters in this movie found their weakness in these women. They could hardly get a word out, and I found it adoringly precious. They were stupid silly for these women. These men made their intentions known. They carried no fear of rejection. They pursued.
As much as I desire a man who is all these things to me, I want him to be all these things multiplied for our Heavenly Father. I want him to seek after my Lord and Savior, and be extremely foolish, silly, stupid in love with Him. I want him to delight in his weaknesses, so that God may do amazing things through him. I want the Father's love to quiet him, so that he can hear what our Creator has for him. I want his intention to be to run hard after the cross and to seek His Kingdom FIRST. And I want him to pursue the heart of the Father.
Mr. Darcy's world was not right until Elizabeth Bennett was in it. Our world is nothing without our Father.

Cheerio!

More Quotes...and a few pics

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
-2 Corinthians 5:21

Thirsty hearts are those whose longings have been wakened by the touch of God within them.
-A.W. Tozer

I'd rather have 30 minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special at all.
~Julia Roberts

Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
-Matthew 17:20

Keep on loving each other. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by doing so some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
-Hebrews 13:1-2

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
Let everyone say:
"His love endures forever."
I will give you thanks...
you have become my salvation.
The Lord is God,
and he has made his light shine upon us.
~from Psalm 118

One day you will ask me, 'which is more important, my life or yours?' and I will respond 'My life.' And you will walk away without ever knowing that you are my life.

When you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear
a word behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."
~Isaiah 30:21

the holidays are here!!!

Merry Christmas!

When I was a little girl, and even to this day, I always helped out putting up Christmas decorations. Usually I am in charge of setting up all the nativity scenes we have. We have over 10. Jesus is born a lot in our house. Growing up I knew where everything went because my mom showed me. Now I see that every little figurine is in it's place for the divine will of God. Setting up these mangers is a joy knowing that this little child is the Lord Jesus Christ. This little baby changes my life every second. Every second of that night, and every second of my life, is for His glory, His name, and His renown.

How much do I love this time of year? It's the best! We have already decked the halls over at our little house with stockings, a tree, lots of mistletoe, and....introducing the newest member of our family.....Mr. Darcy. Named after the character in Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy has proven to be a true gentleman, dressed up as an adorable penguin! Enjoy the Holidays! Drink hot cocoa with tons of marshmellows, watch old time Christmas movies, listen to the *Nsync Christmas CD(cuz it's hands down the best), and remember why we celebrate this holiday!



JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!!!

our language

Just trying to put what I am learning into action...

Matthew 13:10-17
These verses talks about our understanding, our gracious understanding of the Word of the Lord. Those who do not know Him can never grasp what the Lord says, and can never see the miraculous things he does. We are aliens to this world. Our language is unrecognizable because God speaks to our hearts in ways those of the world cannot fathom. How amazing is that? This holy, amazing, grand God busies Himself with us. He speaks to us, He speaks through us, and all we have to do is listen and receive. I am constantly amazed at God's constant presence in every detail of my life. We sometimes do not recognize Him, or refuse to, but there is not a moment in history that has alluded His gaze.

Nov. 28 My Utmost for His Highest...read it.
Winning. You can't win with God. You must receive it as a gift or live without it. Winning is of this world. Winning is trying to accomplish what God has way more control over. When someone thinks of winning, it usually has to do with sports. But there are all sorts of winning. "Little Victories", as I like to call them, will remain little. These are the victories of self-effort, selfish motives.

"He can do nothing for us if we think we are sufficient of ourselves"...how true! And I am often so guilty of saying "Your grace is sufficient for me", but living in a totally different way. Depend on Him and receive the riches of His glory. "We have to enter into His Kingdom through the door of destitution." Nobody deserves glory except for the One who created it. Amen.

best week ever

Just wanted to share some crazy things that ha-happened over the break. Well, there's just 2, but they are the best.

So while shopping in Publix in Seagrove, FL, who does my dad run into? None other than Karl Rove. Yeah right! I was stoked. I admit that at first I didn't quite know who he was. But once I got the full biography of him, I admit, I was quite impressed.

Second thing that happened was one of the highlights of my holiday. While shopping as the awful, huge, tacky Christmas store in Destin (and by huge and tacky I mean amazing), I ran into Santa. Not just any Santa, but a life-size Santa figurine that had a microphone to go with it. So I did what anyone would do. I picked up the microphone. Once I started talking/singing/bring on the grammy, Santa's lips started to move. Freak! It was flippin awesome, and I am forever changed by him. Haha.

Here's the lesson in my blog...find joy in the smallest and silliest things. And...don't hassle celebrites.

much thanks and giving

My thanksgiving thus far...

Has been filled with laughter. I have really truly enjoyed this time with my family. I have gotten some great catch up time with my G-ma who I do not get to see very often. My mom and I have walked every day on the beach, painted some Christmas goodie bags, and prepared for my upcoming graduation party. I just wanted to share some funny things that I know brought a smile to my face...

Let's just say my adorable mother (who is one of the smartest people I know), is not the most technolically advanced person out there. She can hardly work her cell phone or anything with buttons for that matter. She had over 40 blank pictures on her cell phone. How? The world will never know. On one occasion today she asked me to rewind the movie we had been watching. It was a DVD. O, and p.s., it was Casablanca...LOVED IT! She informed me the other day that she was so thrilled when the Auburn football players made an eagle symbol when they scored. She was extremely disappointed to find out that these players were making the omega symbol.

Nonetheless, she is as precious as they come.