Stir in our hearts your truth
Awaken us, Awaken us
That we might live for you
We are ashes, we are dust
Awaken us
My prayer for lent.
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Ash Wednesday
Awaken us, Awaken us
Stir in our hearts your truth
Awaken us, Awaken us
That we might live for you
We are ashes, we are dust
Awaken us
Stir in our hearts your truth
Awaken us, Awaken us
That we might live for you
We are ashes, we are dust
Awaken us
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Children's Pastors Conference
We just got back from Children's Pastors Conference in Chattanooga. I cannot even tell you what an amazing experience it was this year!! I left encouraged, inspired and blessed. For the first time in a long time, I felt like God is getting ready to do something big. I don't know what, but I feel He is working. I haven't felt like that in a very long time... I can't even remember when.
I love spending the week with like minded people getting ideas, sharing stories, and going to "big church" ... twice a day!! :)
I can't wait to put into practice what we gained and what we learned.
God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called.
I love spending the week with like minded people getting ideas, sharing stories, and going to "big church" ... twice a day!! :)
I can't wait to put into practice what we gained and what we learned.
God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
My Life Without Facebook
Happy Easter!! I hope you had a great time of worship this morning, thinking about your small sacrifice for the last 46 days. Last night CJ made a comment that got me thinking. She said "I can't wait for you to get back on facebook so we have something to talk about."
This sounded kind of sad to me. What is our world coming to that our conversations revolve around what people post on Facebook? We learn about our friend's lives on Facebook. I'm not saying it's bad! I have a lot of friends spread out across the country, so I LOVE Facebook and the ability to keep in touch with everyone.
But - to base our conversations on what it says? Or what people write?? If we don't talk about what people post, apparently we have nothing to talk about. What does this say about what our society and culture has become?? I think I'm going to keep with this fasting... Every Sunday I will fast from the land of Facebook. This journey of mine is all about making ME better for myself and for my future family. I don't want to have the family that eats dinner in front of the tv. I know it'll be difficult, but I don't want us to conform to how the world does things. Spend time together. Have CONVERSATION... What a concept.
Here's to restarting the battle.
This sounded kind of sad to me. What is our world coming to that our conversations revolve around what people post on Facebook? We learn about our friend's lives on Facebook. I'm not saying it's bad! I have a lot of friends spread out across the country, so I LOVE Facebook and the ability to keep in touch with everyone.
But - to base our conversations on what it says? Or what people write?? If we don't talk about what people post, apparently we have nothing to talk about. What does this say about what our society and culture has become?? I think I'm going to keep with this fasting... Every Sunday I will fast from the land of Facebook. This journey of mine is all about making ME better for myself and for my future family. I don't want to have the family that eats dinner in front of the tv. I know it'll be difficult, but I don't want us to conform to how the world does things. Spend time together. Have CONVERSATION... What a concept.
Here's to restarting the battle.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Drink Deep in the Truth
I cannot even BEGIN to describe church to you, but I'll try. Let me preface with saying that we have a new pastor (as of right before Christmas), and I'm so rarely seen in service, that I haven't heard him preach yet.
I went in focused on Jesus. Worship. I didn't think about what my kids were doing back in children's church. I didn't think about Sunday afternoon events.
Quiet.
Almost like a visitor. :)
Worship started as usual; singing, praising, raising hands. Then, the tears started. Blindly, I walked to the alter for the prayer with the elders. The woman who prayed for me is my previous trainer. I didn't know how to request prayer, so she just prayed. I cried. I can't remember a time when I've cried so much in church.
Pastor Jon preached on Truth. It was an excellent message! He gets really fired up (which our church is not used to) and LOUD! Suffice it to say, I'm so glad I asked someone to take my class. From now on, she's going to take the kids on the last Sunday of the month, alternating with me and CJ.
For that, I am grateful.
I went in focused on Jesus. Worship. I didn't think about what my kids were doing back in children's church. I didn't think about Sunday afternoon events.
Quiet.
Almost like a visitor. :)
Worship started as usual; singing, praising, raising hands. Then, the tears started. Blindly, I walked to the alter for the prayer with the elders. The woman who prayed for me is my previous trainer. I didn't know how to request prayer, so she just prayed. I cried. I can't remember a time when I've cried so much in church.
Pastor Jon preached on Truth. It was an excellent message! He gets really fired up (which our church is not used to) and LOUD! Suffice it to say, I'm so glad I asked someone to take my class. From now on, she's going to take the kids on the last Sunday of the month, alternating with me and CJ.
For that, I am grateful.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Transformed
I hate when things happen that I've been so careful to not let take place. I've been in prayer mode for most of the afternoon. Listening to k-love with my headphones on.
I just got done listening to a sermon that our Pastor gave a few weeks ago. It's two parts, and I'm getting ready to listen to part 2. It's about being transformed. He describes feeling grace. Like when you get pulled over and don't get a ticket. Having an undiluted devotion to Jesus.
"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks, to God the Father through him." ~Colossians 3:14
Like when I'm in worship and suddenly begin thinking about what baseball game is on that afternoon... or anything else. Worship is when I focus on HIM! My heart needs to be right.
Not distracted.
Not watered down.
Today was also the last day of 14-day challenge that has been emailed to me. If you can, I highly recommend Pursued: God's Divine Obsession with You by Jud Wilhite. I LOVED this email challenge and will definitely be adding the book to my to-read list. It made me think. It wasn't just one of those things you sign up for and then delete without reading.
I'm also glad to announce that I'll be attending church tomorrow. I need to be fed after the week I've had. Being sick and then today just being run down emotionally. So I'm excited about that.
We'll see you guys tomorrow. I'll blog about my church experience. It doesn't happen often, so it has to be good, right? :) Love you, guys!
I just got done listening to a sermon that our Pastor gave a few weeks ago. It's two parts, and I'm getting ready to listen to part 2. It's about being transformed. He describes feeling grace. Like when you get pulled over and don't get a ticket. Having an undiluted devotion to Jesus.
"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks, to God the Father through him." ~Colossians 3:14
Like when I'm in worship and suddenly begin thinking about what baseball game is on that afternoon... or anything else. Worship is when I focus on HIM! My heart needs to be right.
Not distracted.
Not watered down.
Today was also the last day of 14-day challenge that has been emailed to me. If you can, I highly recommend Pursued: God's Divine Obsession with You by Jud Wilhite. I LOVED this email challenge and will definitely be adding the book to my to-read list. It made me think. It wasn't just one of those things you sign up for and then delete without reading.
I'm also glad to announce that I'll be attending church tomorrow. I need to be fed after the week I've had. Being sick and then today just being run down emotionally. So I'm excited about that.
We'll see you guys tomorrow. I'll blog about my church experience. It doesn't happen often, so it has to be good, right? :) Love you, guys!
Monday, February 18, 2013
Preparation
Here we are, six days into the season of Lent. I'm trying, once again, to give up Facebook. Last year I made it 12 days. I'm not doing too bad! I've even deleted the app from my phone so I'm not tempted. This year I didn't want to concentrate on food. So much of my life is already overloaded with food do's and don'ts. I wanted to focus on the one thing that takes up more time than anything else. Something that is distracting me from getting in God's word.
Today's devotion was about Adam and Eve in the garden... Why was Eve so quick to believe the serpent? Why are we so quick to believe the devil when he lies to us? We can't be angry with Eve because we do the same thing! When the enemy tells us we're too fat or we can't do something, we believe what he has to say, and we can't get past that. We can't trust God with our lives because we're so in tune with untruths about ourselves.
In preparation for Easter, the next five weeks will prove difficult, but there's many more things for me to focus on -- Prayer, devotions, eating right, workouts, and maybe even reading an actual book. ;) I'm reading A Woman Who Trusts God: Finding the Peace You Long for by Debbie Alsdorf.
Today's devotion was about Adam and Eve in the garden... Why was Eve so quick to believe the serpent? Why are we so quick to believe the devil when he lies to us? We can't be angry with Eve because we do the same thing! When the enemy tells us we're too fat or we can't do something, we believe what he has to say, and we can't get past that. We can't trust God with our lives because we're so in tune with untruths about ourselves.
In preparation for Easter, the next five weeks will prove difficult, but there's many more things for me to focus on -- Prayer, devotions, eating right, workouts, and maybe even reading an actual book. ;) I'm reading A Woman Who Trusts God: Finding the Peace You Long for by Debbie Alsdorf.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Honk
Yesterday I promised I would tell you more about Honk Ministries.
It's a ministry that I'm starting with my roommate and two of our children's pastor friends. We are a mentoring program for children's leaders, helping small to medium sized churches with their programs. If they need curriculum, decorating ideas, set ideas, etc. That's what we'll be doing. For now, we're trying to get into conferences in Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Iowa, and Nebraska. As we develop more (aka have more money) we'll be going wherever God takes us.
We're speaking at a Conference in Wichita in February, so right now we're getting ready for that. We're doing two sessions, both involving media and teaching kids. One is using social media, the other is not HAVING media. Not every church has projectors, etc. for their kids program.
Everything we're doing is just getting rolling, including a website. Once that's up, I'll share so my faithful followers can spread the word!! This is something we felt like God was calling us to do because so many churches have little to no resources for kids.
Happy Sunday -- make it a healthy one!
It's a ministry that I'm starting with my roommate and two of our children's pastor friends. We are a mentoring program for children's leaders, helping small to medium sized churches with their programs. If they need curriculum, decorating ideas, set ideas, etc. That's what we'll be doing. For now, we're trying to get into conferences in Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Iowa, and Nebraska. As we develop more (aka have more money) we'll be going wherever God takes us.
We're speaking at a Conference in Wichita in February, so right now we're getting ready for that. We're doing two sessions, both involving media and teaching kids. One is using social media, the other is not HAVING media. Not every church has projectors, etc. for their kids program.
Everything we're doing is just getting rolling, including a website. Once that's up, I'll share so my faithful followers can spread the word!! This is something we felt like God was calling us to do because so many churches have little to no resources for kids.
Happy Sunday -- make it a healthy one!
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Sunday's Random Thoughts
I've changed the blog up a bit. You like? (Be honest and let me know if it looks horrible). I have several things flowing in my brain right now so I'm not sure where to go today. Today I did a lesson about newness and how God creates in us a new heart, if we pray and desire that change. So many places in the Bible show us, requesting prayer "create in me a clean heart.." We all have our thing. Whether it's drinking, smoking, or even gluttony. A sin is a sin is a sin. I follow a page on Facebook called Feeding my face Faith. She has some really great stuff -- the other day she said this:
Also - tonight is the premiere of Biggest Loser, Season 14! It seems like it's been forever, so I'm super excited! I'm also excited that they're having teens on the show to help them! Jessica Limpert from Season 12 posted a challenge of how many calories you can burn during a 2-hour show. I'll be at the gym at 8pm with my tush on the treadmill to accept this challenge. Will you be watching?
Before pointing a finger at someone who drinks...someone who smokes...someone of a different political party...someone who's had an abortion...someone who identifies as homosexual...be sure you're not part of the huge population of overweight or obese Christians who clearly struggles with the sin of gluttony. Ouch, I know. Grace is for ALL; not just the sins we personally battle against. Let's get mad at OUR OWN sins.WOW!!! Yup, guilty as charged. Even if I have to go minute by minute, I want to honor God with my choices, treating this temple that He gave me in the right way. If you've been curious about going "clean" but don't know where to start in your diet, I came across this earlier today and loved it. It gives you five weeks, so you aren't doing it all at once!
Also - tonight is the premiere of Biggest Loser, Season 14! It seems like it's been forever, so I'm super excited! I'm also excited that they're having teens on the show to help them! Jessica Limpert from Season 12 posted a challenge of how many calories you can burn during a 2-hour show. I'll be at the gym at 8pm with my tush on the treadmill to accept this challenge. Will you be watching?
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