Life is so good!

Bascially God is doing amazing things in my life. I love being back in Jacksonville, I do miss the Hardee crew greatly but it is so nice to also see my old friends in Jax. Clint and I actually had two nights out alone…go figure. The babies are doing great, Malia is still outsmarting us, just kidding and Tate is goofing off as usual. Life is good!

Thanksgiving

Ok, this may be the typical post but it is true.

I just had an amazing Thanksgiving day with my family. Besides the weather being perfect, I had a yummy breakfast, time with my dad and babies as the rest of the house slowly woke up. Clint had a late night playing Wii, he is hilarious and so much fun to watch. After our yummy breakfast, my mom and the kids/babies we went to the park. Came home and had time for a bible study out on a beautiful porch(Beth Moore study). Also, I had an awesome time chatting with my brother’s girlfriend, very fun,sweet and wise! Then we had our thanksgiving dinner and I watched Clint play with the kids, rolling down hills in the back yard…so wonderful.  Do I need to say more?? Then I took 1st place on Wii in Houla Hoop, thanks to Clint’s encouragement. Then I gave bambinos a bath, much needed! Tate and I continued on a nice walk where he feel asleep. Came back home for some good movies, Nemo and Shrek. Now kids are asleep, watched my mom read to my daughter, reminded me of when I was younger. My family is calling for me to come chat. Need to go!! Today was beautiful.

Extreme Changes

Wow, it is amazing all that God has done since I began my journey of moving to Central Florida. Hardee campus has become more than I could have imagined and I continue to learn more about myself and God each day.

Truly God did plan for Clint and I to move here.

So if you want the meat of my life right now..what is really going on..this past Sat., we had our first Family Fun day in Bowling Green, a town right next to Wauchula. We’ve had many sucessful family fun days in Wauchula but I had no idea what to expect in BG. I saw over 245 people/families come to this little park, all from different backgrounds. It took a few hundred flyers, one awesome cook, servants for God(to hand out the flyers door to door) and what began was amazing… I personally was able to talk to serveral women and as usual it leads me to appreciate how good God is and how much He cares for every person. I also was able to hold this one little boy..not sure why, but he ended up in my arms and just by holding Him I know God did some awesome things for him. He needed to feel special..well that is what we are all about at Celebration and Hardee campus. You want to feel welcomed and loved and special…hopefully you will begin to see that as you enter our church doors. One woman I met was definitely on my path by God, you could see she knew just by our converstation that God was watching over her…waiting to show HIMSELF faithful and loving.

IF I could pick two things that stand out as we minister here in Hardee-here it is:

God truly does want to help the lost, broken hearted and the poor. Words cannot explain the faces I see every day…I see their hurts, I see their hearts and the wounded souls……….AND YET I AM SO ENCOURAGED because every day I get to see healing take place as they choose to rely on GOD.

The second part that stands out, living so close to poverty every day IS A HUGE BLESSING to me and my family.  I become a person who cannot turn from what is happening in people’s lives. We have so many testimonies and stories I could share and yet it is not fair to reveal other’s stories(personal trials) but hopefully those people choose to tell all God has done in their lives because in the end ALL THE GLORY will go to God and we are just vessels for His kingdom.

As we move forward on this journey, I encourage everyone to take time to support Hardee whether it is through prayer or visiting. These people will bring JOY to your life.

 I can’t say all this with out mentioning how beautiful it is to be a part of Celebration Church with our Senior pastors(STOVALL AND KERRI) who support us in some many ways!! We love you guys.

Princess Malia and Princess Mommy

Today I had a wonderful time with my daughter…We played dress up and as always God showed me new things about Him.

Malia has three beautiful dress up princess outfits, as with most toddlers she wore them everywhere and then a few days later she began playing with other toys. Well, today I asked her if she wanted to play dress up and be a princess. She said yes,of course, and made me also dress up. Sad to say but I had not worn a dress in probably 2 months. It turned out to be fun getting dressed up and Malia loved it, we even wore crowns. During dress up time we had tea and played music, which was awesome worship music. Malia asked me to do a princess dance with her, I watched as she raised her hands to God and twirled. Nothing beats that!!!

As Malia and I twirled God reminded me of something; for many of us we have the beautiful dresses in our closet, WE JUST CHOOSE  not to wear them. God has so much beauty for us, including loving every ounce of who he made us to be. I believe many never go to the closet to get the dress which basically means…do you like your nose? hair? thighs? do you even feel beautiful?? It’s how you perceive yourself. BECAUSE we are all made by God. Yes, that’s right we are truly beautiful…as for me HE made me with curly hair, muscular thighs and silly freckles.  My desire would be to accept every part and start enjoying life as a child of His…wrinkles and all. But as for anyone reading this…is it really crazy to believe that God who made us all…made YOU perfectly beautiful..no mistakes(God is the big guy who made everything)..You were formed in His image.  I pray you would face that reality and feel the joy I do (when I am not consumed with insecurity) but feel peace knowing each feature is unique on me for a reason.  We are each a picture of God…I pray you would stop destroying His masterpiece(that’s YOU) with lies from some men, media and especially the voices in your head. SO go ahead and start wearing your princess dress..you don’t have to play dress up… you are already beautiful start believing it, you were created by a KING……..

OH, one more thing…Malia has been calling me “Princess Mommy” all day..yep..I hope that sticks. It sounds soo good esp. from her.

THE MOVE

So much has happened since I last blogged! I recently moved to Hardee county and we started a Spanish service last week. Hardee campus and my life has been changing so much.

God has been teaching me to Never Lose Heart because over the past weeks I’ve faced numerous challenges, I am finding great happiness in a life completely different than I ever planned. God really loves to take us out of our box and makes us solely rely on Him.  Thankfully, I am changing and seeing life in a whole new light.

First, I have to give a HUGE SHOUT OUT to Hardee campus last week we started our Spanish service at 11:30 and WOW! We had over 200 people for the first service and my heart was literally melting. Not sure how to describe but since we began in Hardee I saw such a huge need for the hispanic community in Hardee. God reminded me of this as the service began last week. Overall it was amazing, we had 440 people for both services and an additional 125 who came for the clothing outreaches and picnic.  It was so funny because on Saturday(right before our first  Spanish service), I was begining to lose heart, we had seen so many awesome victories from outreaches to youth but I began to get negative AND then I heard the message I desperately needed. DON’T LOSE HEART!! I decided to trust God and I held firm to a scripture God had given me.  God would strenthen my frame, he would guide me. It is very easy to stay on course with God when you seek Him in the Bible. WOW He always shows up and gives me encouragement. God’s word is never changing and SO exciting…never miss in your own life what He is trying to share with YOU!!! Back to my Hardee Update…last week was kickin and now this Sunday we had 350 total, it’s great to see faces in church have not been there before…God has been watching and waiting for them, and so have Clint and I…. Also, I saw many receive Christ..GO GOD.  Big thanks to everyone whose helped and continues to pray for Hardee.  And to my friends Heather and Sarah who continue to keep me going with this blog!!

Amazing Girls for God-Hardee update

Angel and Vickie!

As promised in an earlier blog, I wanted to share about some amazing girls. Recently, before school was let out FCA allowed Celebration and other churches in Hardee to come into the junior high every Friday and have a small worship/message service. It was all voluntary and the youth began to go on their own.  The service grew to over 350 youth coming every Friday morning. They heard awesome worship, flooded the altars crying out to God and many were saved.  What is unique about this situation is how God used the Hardee Campus girls.  The youth(high school) girls were coming and praying over the junior high girls, several youth played on the worship team and one girl(Gloria) was out in the hallways greeting and showing God’s love with her crazy fun personality.

The second to last week of FCA, Vickie was lead by God to speak to the students. Vickie is one of those awesome servants for God who once said to me, I just ask God to use my hands, my feet, everything for him.  Vickie is quiet but has such a bold presence from God.  She said, during Friday morning worship,  God overwhelmed her with emotion and she didn’t understand why she was crying. Then she said God was talking to her the whole time during altar call, telling her to speak to the students. Vickie obeyed God and when she spoke to the youth, she was bold, spirit lead and brought many to tears including myself. I love seeing amazing girls for God not being afraid to share what they have for God. Vickie lost her father in high school and choose to share a horrible situation in her life to bless and heal others. Many youth do not feel alone  because Vickie stepped out of her comfort zone with boldness for Jesus.  Never underestimate the power of God.

Vickie-I love you and a quick shout out to all my small group girls.  YOU guys ROCK!!

 

Humility, the ultimate call

I remember my trip to Peru years back and a very small village in the mountains. All the babies were swaddled tightly to the backs of their moms, the church was made of clay and we used the fields as a restroom. When I walked in this church, I was speechless. (surprising for me) God’s presence was so heavy and tangible immediately I felt humbled walking into this little church. Our mission leader asked for me to speak, all I could say was how honored I felt being there and could clearly see they were special to God. I WILL NEVER FORGET THE MAGNITUDE OF HIS PRESENCE.  So this began my thoughts of who has it better?? Are we the chosen, living in U.S.?  I know we are all chosen by God but each of us has blessings in our situations. These beautiful families live a life of simplicity which I believe is a great representation of God. They seek God, work for food and clothes and help one another. I did not see any plasma TV’s or internet or Ferrari’s but I did see an amazing sweet presence of God that was unexplainable.

Living in Hardee, we see people with simple struggles every day and many people with real faith.  I am sometimes sad but also encouraged hearing about a youth helping his family work for food at 4:30 in the morning picking oranges. God has a definite plan for our lives but even in hard circumstances I see families pulling together and lives changed by God because of desperation. I am not sure who has it better, but I DO KNOW WHO HAS THE BEST LIFE and that is the person who serves Jesus wholeheartly with pure intentions and a heart to seek His will and face continuously.

In Matthew 17:20 it says, “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.”

 I am not sure what else to say but how thankful I am to be a part of God’s kingdom.

Too young to be alone

I just saw a newborn deer.  I was running, yes running this time and thought I saw a huge rabbit, it was far away.  I ran faster to see what had just crossed the street and it was a newborn deer with the most adorable spots on her.  She was jumping through the back yard of this busy neighborhood headed towards the golf course.  AND she was ALONE, there was no one with her, no brother, sister and especially no mother.  I was upset for the deer but knew if I tried to get too close she would run away and not quite sure what to do if I caught her.  She did not appear injured.  Needless to say this made me sad. I immediately felt consumed with all the children/youth that do not have a mother to help guide them in this crazy world.  Lisa Bevere spoke at Shine, Celebration’s Women’s conference, about our job to be a mother to a generation that does not have one.  So to all you women out there who have a heart to help, guide or encourage a young girl, PLEASE DON’T MISS THE OPPORTUNITY!! God created us for many purposes and one is to mother and take care of the little ones.  Whether it is a 2 year old or a 16 year old, they all need guidance just in different ways.   

Thank you Jesus we can seek you AND you will lead us to YOUR children who need a helping hand! 

Soon to come(with pictures)…Hardee blog update about young women who are helping middle schoolers.

What…The grass is greener??

Finally, I can say the grass is greener but for a good reason! I was running/walking this morning and my neighbor’s yard has this beautiful green lawn with special grass. Yes, special grass, we have that thick St. Augustine grass which has growing weeds but one of our neighbors has the soft Bermuda grass, yep, it’s like the golf course grass. I wanted to stop my run, OK, my walk and take my shoes off and step in it.  You may think that’s crazy but growing up we visited my relatives in Kansas City and they also have this special grass. Basically it rocks…

I did have a God moment while I was visualizing my self walking barefoot through their grass. It’s funny because we have all had moments thinking someone else’s life is more glamorous or they have a better situation. They own a car we want or they have friends we want to hang out with…And then God showed me the cool principle Pastor Stovall is teaching on. Choose well, pretty simple but sometimes hard to do. You make the choices to have exactly what you want in life, God does bless us in different ways but He is no respecter of persons meaning HE will bless your socks off and you can have the awesome life you want. Question is do you want to work at it? Obey His Word through out the day and pray for others when they are mean to you. To achieve the joy filled life of your dreams it takes hard work and decisions. So back to the Bermuda grass, my neighbor is willing to pay extra for the special grass and plant it in his yard. He is also willing to water it more, use special fertilizer and spend the time it takes to have the AHHH yes, amazing green grass.  Maybe it’s time in your life to make a list of the things you want, pray to God and see if your list lines up with His will. Then ask yourself,  Am I willing and ready to truly change my life?

Choose wisely and CHOOSE WELL……..

Keeping it Real

The million dollar principle……If you won the lotto, would you ever refuse to  take the money? Even if you were concerned about the money changing your life negatively, you may still consider taking the money for a good cause such as feeding children in Africa. Basically almost all of us would decide to keep a million dollars and not return it.

As I am putting my sweet little boy to sleep I began to think of our journey with God. The moment we decide to accept Him in our heart, our world is turned upside down with the feelings of forgiveness, joy and great peace. Life is amazing and we are consumed with God’s love.  As we begin living a new life for God we may start to see obstacles, people who don’t understand us or fear of our lives changing too much.  We may worry about people’s opinions and what comfortable things we don’t want to change.  Then I think BUT NEVER would we give back a million dollars because someone said to us…”Since you won the money you’ve changed.”  They may say, “You don’t relate to us as well”, or  ”You are so busy going on vacations with your money. ”

 It amazes me thinking about our relationship with God,  sometimes we allow other people’s opinions to steal our joy or the mission God has placed in our hearts. What happened to the peace, joy and excitement you felt when you first accepted Jesus in your heart?? Living life to the fullest for God means accepting some opposition. Let’s face it, we probably would not return a million dollars so why return all the benefits of being a part of God’s kingdom because we are worried about people’s opinions.

I choose to live life to the fullest for God, to accept my call from God and grab a hold of all the love, joy, peace and mercy God blesses in my life.