God's Wonderful Blessings

I am sitting here at my work right now (on lunch) and I am listening to a song called "He will Carry me" by Mark Schultz. Such a wonderful song. It got me thinking about the many blessings that God gives me each day:

- A wonderful family whom I love dearly
- My health
- A roof over my head
- A wonderful job (which ends January 6th because of Christmas Kettles being over) and the blessing that I have a job to go after that is over (At the college that I go to..well..not the right campus..but its closer to my house)
- Wonderful friends

Overall he gives me a reason to smile each day!

A wonderful story about his many blessings happened yesterday....

It all started yesterday when my friend picked me up after work and we went for a drive and talked. That was really nice and it was relaxing after a long day (payroll for 8 hours straight). and he gave me a Christmas gift which was a plaque that has the verse "3 John 1:2 "Dear friend I pray that everything may go well with you" That made me very happy because the plaque is beautiful and it is a very nice scripture too.

Anyways, after that he dropped me off at Reitmans so I could buy something with my gift certificate I got for Christmas (i was getting something for a formal i am going to on Friday) and it was worth 20 dollars..the subtotal was under 20 and it had to be 20 and over, which i did not know. so anyways, I had to pick something else and hope that it came to a LITTLE over 20..well it came to 24 something (1 pair of striped socks and 1 pair of earrings at 1.99 a piece and then a sweater) and I had the 20 and maybe a few dollars in my bank account. So we did a transaction to pay for the 4 dollars with my bank card, well it didn't go through because of insufficient funds..so they put 2 dollars on it..so it went through. I was a little worried because I didn't have ANY cash on me and so I called my mom to see if she could come rescue me but she was in bed with a migraine (she had gotten up early that day because of my grandpa). so she couldn't come rescue me, which was fine, she needed to rest.

So I told the lady that I would have to come back the next day to get it, ahd she said "you know what? Merry Christmas. I'll pay the difference" She was so nice to pay the extra 2 or so dollars. I said "God Bless you" and I left the store smiling so widely. It was so nice of her to do that.

God is so good!

Derek in Australia

Hey everyone!
Check out the blog by my friend Derek Craddock! He is in Australia for 6 months, and he has a blog that he keeps up to date with his adventures. He is off to India and Napal til February.

Check it out ^_^

Sacrifice

Sometimes we have to sacrifice wonderful things just so we can please God. This is very important to sacrifice your lives to please God. Very important.

Tonight I was offered the chance to go to Summerland for the New Year (from the 30th of December to the 1st). Previously planned was a Huge Worship Bash to ring in the New Year at my church. I was so torn because I love Summerland (and seeing it in the winter would be amazing) but I also loved the idea of ringing in the New Year with a big bang. Worshipping God through music to ring in the New Year is a great BIG bang I think. So I had to turn down the trip to Summerland because I knew that there would be drinking there... and I don't want to go against my covenant... I don't know if I would be tempted to drink if i went and......well... I don't like that too much... I get uncomfortable around people who drink....so I had to turn it down.

I turned down a great trip to Summerland because of my convictions (i think thats the right word)

I had to sacrifice..its a tough decision to make.

Edited December 23rd to change wording.

What does it mean to be yoked?

What does this mean? Does it mean not to date/marry someone? Or does it mean that you shouldn't fall into a trap of sin when u are with them (friendship or intimate relationship)?

I was talking to a friend of mine about this issue today because it is something I am struggling with really badly right now. I do not want to give details about who he is or anything like that because this is a public blog and such... but I am crazy about this guy, and I mean crazy. Like slip a straight jacket on me and put me in a padded room. We is so astounding when we talk and we find out that there is yet another thing we have in common. Only thing we don't have in common is our faith.

So the Bible says:
2 Corinthians 6:14-15 (New International Version)
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

I hear this, and I understand it, but what I am struggling with is the question of "What if your heart is contradictory to this, and it is so overpowering?" My heart totally wants something that is contradictory to what the Bible says, but my heart is much more overpowering than my head.

So my question for you all to answer in my comments is "What do you do when your heart is feeling what is contradictory to what the Bible says?"

Funny Tidbit for today

Hey everyone
I have a brilliant blog I am working on but won't post it til later because its not done yet and I am getting really tired and am feeling a little ill...so i am off to bed soon..but I thought I would tell u a funny event of the day.

My mom and I went for a walk (before the snow came) down to the candy store in New West. Great store... well I bought some candy and a bottle of vanilla cream..well...this bottle looks like a beer bottle....dark brown... I was wearing my Salvation Army toque also...so here I was walking up the street drinking this bottle of vanilla cream with my toque on...I put it away because people driving by might have thought it was something else....

If you don't find it funny then maybe it was one of those "you had to be there" types of things.. my mom and i found it hysterical.

I will post a picture tomorrow or the day after...I have been quite busy lately.

Good night all! God Bless

The Wind VS God's Love

Have u ever heard the saying about Wind being compared to God's love? "You can't see it but you feel it" ???

Well looking at this weather that happened today, I felt God's love in a BIG way today.... lol

Tiera Janae Isbell

Congratulations to my friend Alie! She had a baby this morning at 3:55am. After 17 hours of labour her baby finally came! There were pictures, but the family and friends that were with her for those 17 hours are way too tired to fix and send pictures right now, so the pictures wll have to wait, but for now here is the information:

Tiera (pronounced like Tear-Ah) I am not sure how it is going to be spelled yet, but Alie described the name like that because the baby was the cry of her heart.....how sweet.. She was born at 3:55am, she was 8 lbs 6 oz and 54 cm long!

Congratulations Alie!

Youth Councils

I don't think I will go into detail quite yet about youth councils. There is just too much to say and not enough time for me to say it to you viewers quite yet. But for now, here are some photos that I took (some of my friends and then some of the wonderful beach that I spent 2.5 of the 4 hours that we got for free time down there ^_^

Isaiah

My mind has pretty much been on school these last few days (and thinking about a special guy friend I have..hes pretty awesome!) but I have decided that it is time I show more pictures of Isaiah (my cousin...) So here he is ^_^

Next up will be pictures from Youth Councils ^_^ (mostly the beach heh)

God is good ^_^

Christmas anyone?

I joined the Christmas Choir at my church, and we had our first rehersal on Thursday. I must say I really enjoyed it. We were reminded who we are doing this for. Its not for the congregation, but its for God. That put a smile on my face. Not only that, but I have been going through a hard time with some stuff in my life, and I have been really down and going to the rehersal and singing Christmas songs really made me really happy.

Christmas really makes me happy. It just makes me smile so much, everytime I think of it, it makes me smile. Jesus was born on that day, and later died for me. That just puts a big smile on my face.

Bring on the Christmas music! ^_^

Friends

I read this tonight, and it has encouraged me through this rough night.

"Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family."

Proverbs 18:24

Job and David

I meet with a good friend of mine to go for dinner once a week, and we have been keeping each other accountable to reading scripture. During the summer we read Job. And currently we are going through the Psalms.

I must say that it is very interesting that the reading of Psalm came after reading Job. Both David and Job have something in common.

Job gets all sorts of things taken away from him, but yet he still praises God. Job 1:21 "And he said 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked i shall return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

Psalm 22: 1-3 "My God, my God why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? Oh my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest." and the worshipful part "YET you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Isreal."

I just thought that was kinda cool.

Convenient Love

I know I might get some tomatoes thrown at me for blogging about this topic, but it is another thing that needs to be said..

Why do we love when it is convenient for us? Why do we say I love you when we want things? This is somthing that is baffling me right now. I was at my church youth last night for the first time in a while, and my best friend was there too, she hadn't been out in a while either. I had bought lollipops a few hours earlier, and i gave one to my best friend, then other people saw that I had given her a lollipop. One person came up to me and said "I love you" in a way that told me she wanted a lollipop. I said to her "You only say you love me when you want something." She walked away. Then other people came to me and wanetd a lollipop. People who NEVER talk to me came up to me and wanted a lollipop. Do they only love me and talk to me when they want something?


It doesn't just happen to us humans, it happens to God. Sometimes we have a tendency to just pray for things we want, and we only talk to God when it is convenient for us, and when we want something. This cannot be. We need to praise God all the time. Why? Because he is worthy to be praised! A good friend of mine always says "God's worthiness to be worshipped never changes" I completely agree...it doesn't matter our circumstances, we need to praise God because he is worthy. We need to praise His name, not just ask for things. We need to tell God we love him all the time, not just when we want something.

*ducks for flying tomatoes*

Love and Reliance

I was reading over notes from a sermon that was preached at Re:fuge a while ago, because it is something that God has laid on my heart tonight. The relying on other people hasn't stopped. God wants people to rely on Him to get them through their tough times, but instead they are relying on people to get them through. My fellow Christians, this cannot be. This cannot be at all. God has laid this on my heart, because He wants you guys to know that He loves you no matter what. He is just asking that you will turn to Him to help you through your problems.

Putting confidence in an unreliable person is like chewing with atoothache or walking on a broken foot. (Proverbs 25:19 NLT)

I love that.. Would you chew on the side that has the toothache? I would nope not. Would you walk on a broken foot? No... so why rely on an unreliable person for the thing that God can give you? EVERYONE in this world is going to fail you at one time or another, but GOD WILL NEVER FAIL YOU! So why not go to the one who won't dissappoint?

That is a short blog..but there it is... there is another one to follow. God is speaking a lot to me tonight.

God's Calling

Be sure to check out Michelle's Blog for some great insight.

Her and I were talking tonight, and she was telling me about this guy that likes her and she likes him, but he said that they can't be together because they don't go to the same church. Now firstly, that is not cool IMO (in my opinion). We are the church, it shouldn't matter what building we go to to worship. Secondly, she was so heartbroken at this. I gave her some great advice that was given to me when I was going through some issues with some people.

My good friend Karyn gave me some great advice. She said to picture yourself chained to this person to which you are having the issue with. When you are going through a problem with that person, you are chained to them because you are carrying around the issue. She said that instead of dragging the problem along with us in our day to day lives, we need to picture ourselves at the cross, and we need to unlock the chain from our ankle and chain it to the cross. Let Jesus deal with them. It is the most powerful advice I ever got.

I wanted to pass it on to my friend Michelle, and I decided to blog about it. Because if you are going through a hard time with someone, you need to leave them at the cross. If you are dealing with inner issues, picture those issues as an actual being, and chain them to the cross. Let God deal with them. There is no use in you losing sleep over it. Give it to GOd cuz he will be up all night anyways ^_^

The kingdom of God belongs to such as these

Mark 10:14 "He said to them, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.'"



^^ Caleb and I ^^


^^ Caleb, my dad and his lion Leo ^^


^^ My new cousin Isaiah. Isn't he ADORABLE? there is the little mohawk ^^


^^ The happy family. My aunty Karen, her husband Shane and little Isaiah ^^


^^ Caleb ^^

The kingdom of God belongs to little children like Isaiah and Caleb!

Things that flow out of love for God

I have felt closer to God through this pain I am experiencing currently, with persecution and accusations etc.

I haven't bought a CD in a long time, but last week I finally bought one. It is an album of love songs from the 70's, 80's and 90's. Great sets of love songs! I love love songs...hehe....that was funny the way I said that...*clears throat* anyways... It is "secular" love songs...but the title of the album is "A Thousand Different Ways". The artist has said that the album is titled that because the songs on it can be sung a thousand different ways, can have a thousand different meanings etc etc.

Since all the sermons on worship, and topics of worship have come up (emailed Devotionals that i get) I have learned that it doesn't matter about the music, it matters about the heart. I have taken these love songs that this artist has sung on this album, and I have sung them to God. This has been such a great worship tool. Music is great for that, but there are also other ways of showing your appreciation to God.

Since listening to this album, deeds have flowed out of my love and adoration (worship) for God. I have cleaned my room, cleaned the house, done lots of housework, made candles for people (and for a craft fair my mom ad i are doing in November), I have made some fish (out of gimp) to sell at the Craft fair in November and all the proceeds for them are going for the Bubel/Aiken foundation for individals with disabilities.

All of these good deeds flowed out of a worshipful heart full of love for God.

I guess my point to this blog is 2-fold:

1. Secular Songs can have multiple meanings.....its not the music that is Christian, its the lyics. It is your choice as to what meaning you will have put to the lyrics.

2. Good deeds will flow out of your love for God.

Idolatry

Since one person has brought it up. I have decided to write a blog about Idolatry. It is in our society today, and it is scary. Idolatry is a scary thing. Idolatry is defined as this:

i‧dol‧a‧try 1. the religious worship of idols. 2. excessive or blind adoration, reverence, devotion, etc.

Now I am not sure what "blind adoration" is...but it basically seems to me that the definition is saying that it is putting an idol above God. It is thinking about this idol and worshipping this idol over God. It is thinking about nothing but the idol. Your whole life is that idol. That is a scary thing. It is something I do not want to get involved in, because in my opinion it leads to death. It might be a harsh thing, but one of the commandments says to not take up for ourselves any idols.

Deuteronomy 4:15-19 says "Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below. And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.

So what is an idol? In this verse it says it can be a man or woman, living and non-living things.

What should we do instead? Well the obvious thing is to worship God only. If you like a man or woman, or like creation or anything, that is fine, but continually thank God for them instead of worshipping them. God created them, so he is the one who deserves the awe and adoration for creating something so wonderful. Take nature for example, when I look at pictures of nature, or I am in a park with beautiful scenery etc. I always take time to thank God for creating something so beautiful. There is no point in worshipping the flowers, they are dead. Another example is celebrities. For some people, celebrities are their whole lives. They think about nothing except that celebrity. They worship and adore that celebrity. What we need to do instead is to thank God for creating them. God deserves the credit for it. The celebrities didn't create themselves. If you think a celebrity is so wonderful, think about their creator (God obviously), and thank Him for creating someone so wonderful. Don't act like the celebrity is god. Because they aren't.

God created everything, so why worship something who isn't powerful. ESPECIALLY compared to God. God is all powerful, so why worship something that is below him and definitly weak.

I encourage you all to live for God and not for things of the world. We tend to do that sometimes, myself included. This is a good reminder for everyone. Live for God. Worship God. Love God. Serve God. Things of this world will pass away, but God will never. Things of this world will fail us, God will never. God will always love us, the world will not.

I will leave you with this verse that I read tonight.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. ~Galatians 5:19-26

Unity Vs. Uniformity

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

~Ephesians 4:1-3

God expects unity, not uniformity. Sometimes we get to thinking that we have to all be alike to be in fellowship with people. Fellowship does not mean that we think alike with everything. we might go to different churches, but worship the same Lord. There are many ways to worship him but only one Lord. There are many different denominations but only one faith. There are many different nations but only one destination.

We should be one body in Christ. We are the church. Not everybody is going to be the same. There needs to be different parts of the body to make up one whole one. Someone needs to be the mouth (encouragement), the eyes (discernment), the feet and hands (service) etc etc. All of the different aspects of the church make up one body. We can't all be hands, and we can't all be the mouth.

As Christians, we do not have to agree on everything. As a matter of fact, it’s better that we don’t. If we agreed on everything then the unity of the body of Christ would be on what we agree on and not our relationship with God. To have different viewpoints (whether it be social, political or economical) but still agree that Jesus Christ is Lord, it puts the focus on where it should be- God. If we are always thinking about what we agree on and what we don't agree on, then the focus is on ourselves. If we think about who we worship and why we worship him, then it puts the focus on God, which is where it should be. The diversity of the body of Christ forces our unity to be the thing that we see most. It is the thing that rises to the surface as the rest of it washes away.

Following Christ is not a contest to see if we can all be the same; it is about finding out that dispite our differences, we are one because of Christ.

Here are some scriptures about the Body of Christ:

“We are all one body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future. There is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and there is only one God and Father, who is over us all and in us all and living through us all.”
~Ephesians 4:4-6 NLT

Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.
~Romans 12:4-6 (NIV)

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
~1 Corinthians 12:12-13

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
~1 Corinthians 12:27

When Bad Things Happen

I was watching GMA (Good Morning America) this morning and I watched an interview that Diane Sawyer did with Clay over the last 2 days, and I was horribly dissappointed. The only issues Diane asked about was his sexual orientation and the fact that he is on Paxil (Depression and Anxiety pill) because he has panic attacks. Why is it that this is what the public wants to know? They could have talked about his work with his foundation for people with disabilities (The Bubel/Aiken Foundation) or his work with UNICEF or his new presidential appointment. But no, they talked about the bad stuff and broguht up bad memories for him (the tabloids back in January) I could see the pain and anguish when he spoke. He was clearly bothered. Which brought me back to a devotional I read from Purpose Driven Life. It was titled "When Bad Things Happen" Here are my thoughts about it and a mix of John Fischer's words:

"When bad things happen to good people we can be assured that this is God, out to make good people better."

When bad things happen it is for God to make us better, but sometimes it can get to the extreme, don't you think? I mean, like, come on... this brings me back to the whole celebrity thing, it is what i see as huge issues, people being attacked in the tabloids. People are being hurt by what the tabloids say. I guess God does want people to grow stronger because of this, and some people's faith has grown stronger. I guess that is what God wants. It is a huge test for Christian celebrities especially.

"There are so many things in life that make us cry, “Why?” “Why me?” “Why now?” I don’t think we are capable of knowing all the answers to these questions. Our lives fit into a vast and complicated tapestry that only God could unravel, because he’s the one making it. There are things that happen in our lives that are tied in an intricate domino effect to something else happening somewhere else that we may never realize in this life. I’ve heard of enough bizarre connections to know this is happening a lot more than we realize. Chalk it up to God’s amazing creativity as he weaves his will into the events of the world."

God is definitly creative. Well obviously, he created everything. Everything in the world is part of his will. Sometimes that is hard for me to grasp. Was September 11th part of his will? I don't know, because it was people who forced it to happen. Same thing with the wars, people started them. Was it in God's will? Only God knows. I don't think it is ever in God's will for innocent people to die. We need to trust in God and trust that when we are going through bad things that there is a purpose for it.

"Our job is to look at what happens in our lives and learn from what God is trying to teach us. There are no mistakes here. God doesn’t go, “Whoops!” or to the angels: “OK, what went wrong here?"

OUCH!! That is truth right there. God doesn't make mistakes. Why? Because God is perfect!

"Here’s the truth of the matter God’s purpose is in everything that you and I go through, whether we are able to see it or not. And that purpose is producing something good in and through our lives, no matter what happens."

"We all have things in our lives in which it is hard – almost impossible – to see God’s purpose. That doesn’t mean anything except that we are shortsighted and short on faith sometimes. That’s when we need to keep on believing and knowing that God is working things out for the best."

Dear Heavenly Father, Help me see that what I go through on a day to day basis is what you want to happen. It is for your purpose and pleasure that everything happens. Help me to realize that you still love me, even though I go through pain and hurt. Help me to always remember that even if friends walk away that you never will. I love you Father, and I will never walk away from you! I tend to think that you do walk away from me when i am going through pain, but I realize after that you were there all along. I am going through pain right now, and Jesus, I know you are here! Help me to always know that you are with me! Amen!

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” (Romans 8:28 NLT)

Pictures from Saturday

Here are just a few of the many pictures that I have from Saturday night. They are clickable so you can see the full photo! The ones that are blurry were taken with my camera (except the one of me and Faye, that was the only one that wasn't blurry for some reason):


Clay! Oh and the 11 finalists and the rest of the judges too..


The Judges

Mrs. Faye Parker and I


Pricisilla (sp?) - She was Clay's college professor, Kristy (works for the BAF), and Faye again (Clay's mom)


Clay!


Clay again!


None other than Ms. Olivia Newton-John!


Clay! Cute eh? He was looking right at my friend's camera (who was right in front of me)

Unforgettable!

This past Saturday (September 9th) I had the great opportunity to go watch the David Foster Star Search at the River Rock Show Theatre. I was so glad that I was able to go because, if it weren't for some random claymate in Ontario, I wouldn't have been able to go. God provided me with the money, but the tickets were sold out. Then he blessed me abundantly, by this woman being so kind as to sell me her tickets because she was not going to be able to go.

There were 11 finalists and 4 celebrity judges: Clay Aiken, Babyface, David Foster and Daisy Fwentez (sp?). I had the most amazing night of my life. I didn't get to meet Clay, but I at least got to see him and he waved at us. It was my very first experience with seeing any sort of celebrity as well known as Clay. I got to meet David Foster, he is one of the biggest producers out there. This was a pretty star studded night for me.

Here is my review of the night:

Tonight was so awesome! I had such a great time and got to meet a lot of wonderful people. Now I know you all are wondering, well no I didn’t get to meet Clay unfortunately. But I was in the same room as him and got to see him in person and listen to him speak his mind.

We got there at around 3pm on Saturday and hung out, waiting for people. Then we went into the Dockside Café and got dinner. And as we are just sitting and waiting, I hear someone whisper “There’s Faye” (Clay's Mother). I was shocked that she actually came out. Her and Jaymes and some camera people were there for around 15-30 minutes talking, taking pictures and signing autographs. Faye was very kind. THEN low and behold I hear SCREAMING. I wondered what the commotion was, so I look and Jaymes had CLAY’S NEW CD in her hand. She opened it up for the mini poster. I didn’t get a picture of it though, someone did I am sure. That was awesome. I shyly asked Faye if I could get her autograph and a picture with her. She signed the LTS book as ‘Clay’s mom, Faye” hehe aww. I also gave her the book that a friend and I wrote so she could give it to Clay ^_^

After dinner, we went up to the balcony to see if we could see Clay. They saw him for like 3 seconds. LOL. I was downstairs at that time, so I didn't see him. But anyways…then I went back up and waited there until about 7:30. I was feeling a little weak and nervous about meeting him ( I get nervous about meeting ANYONE new, let alone someone who is well known), so my mom and I just went to our seats and sat down and waited. When we went to sit at our seats in the theatre and Clay walked out, my nerves just calmed right down. I was completely fine. I didn’t have butterflies in my stomach anymore, and I didn’t feel lightheaded. I was completely calm. Another exciting thing about that night was, when they were going to announce the winner, the host brought out a “surprise”. The surprise was OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN! Oh gosh. She didn’t sing but she announced the winner. Then the show starts…and oh my gosh! They say all of his accomplishments (oh, they introduced him FIRST btw) then he came out wearing a black pinstriped suit and kind of a navy blue shirt and black tie. HOT! My mom even turned to me and was like “Ok, he is cute!” hehehehehehe.

So the show started and he made his comments to the contestants. His critiquing was truthful, but not hurtful. That was really great. There were a couple of funny things that happened that night. Clay was obviously witty like he always is ^_- But there were funny things that he said that had all the Claymates screaming hehe. Firstly, one of the girls when she was singing went "upstairs" meaning she hit some high notes because the song was dragging, so she decided to kick it up a notch. When Clay critiqued he said something about when he notices that the song is dragging or he is losing somebody, he will take it "upstairs" and David commented that Clay has never done it quite that good. And he was like "probably not" and then he was like "You'd better watch out, cuz there are some Claymates who will kick your tail" That got us howling in laughter and cheering ^_^. THEN David Foster gets up to talk on stage and his chair spun towards Clay, so Clay moved it back. David joked around and said “Don’t touch my chair Clay” and then Clay twirled it. David said something about getting him later or something and Clay was like “Who’s got my back? I'm gonna need some help” and again all the Claymates cheered and David said "Don't mess with the Claymates" hehehehehehehe.

At the end of the competition they get a group picture and then the host said that there was no music and then Clay did the "soft shoe" dance. It was sort of a jig haha. It was cute. Then the host told him to sing (he was joking around) and Clay turned away as if to say no. What a great guy, he didn’t want to take the spotlight away from the winner. Overall this was a great evening filled with excitement. I got to see Clay in person, and let me tell you, he is hot on TV but he is MEGA HOTTER in person ^_^ He is so down to earth too. Great night that I will never forget.

September is shaping up to be a great month! ^_^

PS. Sorry for the lack of blogging. I will try to get back to blogging what I usually blog, very soon. I am dealing with some stuff in my life first. Thank you for your patience.

Edited on: September 23rd, at 10:35pm because some people have been criticizing me about my wording of some things. Somethings I forgot to mention.

God's promises

God says: He will provide, He will always love us no matter what, and the most important, he keeps his promises!

Today, I quit my job today, after 2 shifts, it just wasn't working out for me. I was running around like a chicken with it's head cut off...not fun... ANYWAYS... I have never had as much peace as I am feeling right now. A weight has been lifted off my shoulder and I feel great.

Also, I have (sorta) a job opportunity. My nana is in town, so we were taking her to some cool places tonight, and we passed by the Sally Ann Thrift Store in Burnaby and there was a big sign in the window saying "NOW HIRING" I thought "Thank you Lord for confirmation" So I went in and they gave me the number for Sanro and they said to mail in my resume. So I am not going to do that. I am going to call instead and speak to the lady in charge of hiring. She knows my family well, so I feel I have a graet chance of getting this job. Please pray!

Anyways, I was praying this evening asking God if it was a good idea to quit and he didn't disagree. I believe that God will provide (as long as I do my part) so I am at complete peace with my life right now. It feels great! ^_^

Inhumane Animal Treaters!!!

Sorry that this isn't any insightful blog, but it's something on my heart and I need to share it.

On Sunday my friend and I came home from church and we were walking up my street and saw a poor little cat (probably like 7 years old, it looked really old) and it was so sad looking..it was all matted (had knots in its fur..all over) and was so skinny, and had a runny nose, but it was so incredibly friendly. It immediately came up to us. We gave it lots of attention. So I went inside and got a few treats, cuz it looked like the cat hadn't eaten a decent meal in a while. I gave it some treats and it ate a couple and started to choke, so I massaged its neck cuz that helps get the food down. I was really sad about that, but and didn't know if i should report it or not, so i left it for a day.

My parents heard people outside and they were apparently going to tkae the cat to their house. Apparently they didn't because sure enough, it was back outside by my house. So I called the local Humane Society (that I volunteer for) and she told me to bring it to the nearest vet and she would give the "go ahead" to look after the cat. So my friend (Bless his heart) drove us to the vet, cuz our car wasn't working, so my mom couldn't drive me. (I know, I am 19, and I don't have my drivers license.. I don't want it really..)

So there I am at the vet, and I realize that that exact day that we brought this little kitty into the vet, was the day that we had to give our cat over to the Humane Society because we couldn't afford to take care of it (a couple weeks later they had to put her down cuz she was really sick..)

I got a call while I was at Worship Team Practice from the lady at the Humane Society. She said that this cat was anemic, had cancer, had kidney failure, was malnurished, and weighed 4 lbs. There wasn't anything they could do, they had no choice but to put her down. They couldn't even tell whether it was a boy or a girl because it's fur was so matted.

I was terribly upset about this. How can someone just treat their pet like that? Just leave it on the streets to fend for themselves, how can someone just abandon their pet like that. To most of my friends, their pets are family members. I know I feel that way. So tell me this, would you treat your brother or sister or parents like that? Would you leave them on the streets to fend for themselves. Sadly, this happens to. It makes me sick to hear how badly people treat their pets.
Since I volunteer with the Humane Society where I live, I see many stories like this. Cats who are left on the streets to fend for themselves. One cat was left in an abandoned building with just a dish of water and a dish of food. Sick!

Please people, if you see stray cats in your neighbourhood, please take them to the nearest Humane Society (or call the nearest one they will pick the cat up)

Thank you for hearing my rant!

Profound Quote

This is a quote that I got in my email today and I thought it was so profound and I had to share it.

My deep definition of sovereignty - He is God, and you are not!

Rod Parsley

Spiritual Vaccums

I have never thought about this before. But it definitly made me think. I hope it makes you think.

Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotional August 4th 2006

Spritual Vacuums
by John Fischer

Everybody worships something or someone. Worship may be a new emphasis for the church these days, but it is not new for human beings. We have been doing it since we were created. That’s because we were created for this purpose. But God did more than create us and tell us to worship him. He created us with a NEED for worship.

Blaise Pascal, the brilliant French physicist of the seventeenth century who had a dramatic conversion to Christ and went on to write some of the most famous apologetic for the Christian faith in history, is the one who came up with the idea of a God-shaped vacuum in every human heart. That’s because he studied the vacuum and noticed that whenever a vacuum exists something by nature has to rush in and fill it. It seemed to him the perfect picture of how God created us, as constantly pulling in something. Think of yourself as a giant spiritual vacuum.
Now the thing about a vacuum is that it will pull in anything that is within its reach. Like me, you may have heard this concept before, and like me, you may have assumed its work was already accomplished in your life by becoming a Christian. God created us with a need for him—a hole inside us that is in the shape of God so nothing else satisfies that need but him, and once I respond to Christ, that hole is filled and I am spiritually satisfied. But this description doesn’t go far enough. It doesn’t show that we are continuing to need him. God doesn’t plug up the hole so we can go on and indulge in whatever we like since this foremost thing is taken care of. He has made us with an enduring need to keep filling ourselves up with him. In other words, we not only have a vacuum, we are vacuums—always on, always sucking up whatever is near the heart.
Whatever you put near the door of your heart is going to be sucked in. Think of the number of things cluttering our spiritual core simply because we have not kept God and his truths close to our hearts at all times. This is why Jesus said we couldn’t serve God and something else. In order to live with our primary purpose fulfilled, we need to keep God as the focus of our worship and nothing else—not pride, or money, or material things, or even people.

What are you placing near your heart today? That is what you worship, and that is what will be sucked into the core of your being—the place where only God belongs, because only he can satisfy.

Opposites Attract

This is such an early blog, I think it may be the earliest I have gotten up and written a blog. I am going with a few people to camp to help paint some mom's nails. Fun ^_^ Its so early tho.... blah!! Anyways, I open my emails and this was the devotional for today and I thought it was so awesome, and so I thought I would share it:

Opposites attract
by John Fischer

How do you become like Christ? Interestingly enough, God is more committed to this than we are. And it’s a good thing, because if it all depended on us, we would never get very far in this process. We would probably be too easy on ourselves.

“And I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again.” (Philippians 1:6) He started it; he will finish it.

OK, but how does this happen? One of the ways God does this is by letting the opposite thing happen to you. Do you need to learn how to love? Get ready for someone you can’t stand. Need patience? Better prepare for some aggravations to come your way. Looking for peace? Here’s a little chaos you weren’t expecting. Joy? Did I mention sorrow?

Now why is God like this? Is he some kind of killjoy in the sky? Does He get a kick out of kicking us around? Actually, he does this for the very reason that he is the one who starts and finishes the work in us. You see, all these qualities really belong to God. Love, joy, peace, patience are actually fruits of God’s Spirit in those who believe. In other words, he’s provided all these things we need, but we don’t find them until we are desperate for them. It’s just the way we were made.


If we could come up with all these qualities on our own, we wouldn’t need God; we would have rules and formulas and steps to go through to better ourselves. In other words, religion would be enough. As it is, we are deeply flawed. Even our best attempts at producing the right things in our lives come up short. Religion is a fine thing; it’s just that it has never made anyone like Christ. In fact, the more religious we become, the further away from Christ we get. You get to be more like Christ by needing him more and more in your life.

You can’t make the right stuff out of the wrong material. Or as Jesus said, you can’t put new wine in old wineskins. So God allows things into our lives that break the old, to bring in the new. The new is beyond us. We are forced to discover it when we are stretched beyond our means. So God brings the opposite to create in us what we really want. That’s when we grow.

Quote for the day

I got this quote in my email a few days ago and I thought it was SO profound...

"When we worship the Lord, let's remember that He is in control. Nothing alarms Him, or takes Him by surprise. Nothing is too big for Him to handle, or so small it escapes His attention. When the winds of my world begin to blow, He remains seated. When raging waves surround me, He governs their temper...I need not be moved ... Because the Lord is seated and sovereign...He alone is sovereign."

Quote by: Ronald James

God has answered prayers

Wow, God is so working in people's lives. I see him working in other people's lives so much! It's amazing..

Tonight my family actually sat down and they turned off the TV and we talked for 2 hours. Now I like to figure out how we got to certain topics when we talk. This happens with my friends too, we talk and I try to figure out how we got to a certain topic because its WAY off from the beginning..or it is linked someway... The conversation was mostly about my dad's past experiences, because we were talking about Commissioner Christine MacMillian( I was named after her. I look VERY highly upon this women, she is inspirational...) anyways... we were talking about her and it brought up my dad's memories of working with her. We had many many laughs there.

My dad was telling us (we have heard these stories btu they are still SO funny..that we were crying so bad lol) about a day when this guy walked in the Crosswalk with a machety (a big knife...i cant spell lol) and Christine walks up to the guy and grabs the knife and says "Give me that!" So funny..... Christine is a very conservative lady and she looks like such a serious lady, but my dad Christine has a fun side. When she saw my dad last night at the Installation of our new Divisional Leaders she said to my dad "Hey buddy".. She used to call him that when he worked with her in the 80's. A very cool lady...

Another story was these two guys came in and they were fighting, so Christine went up to them and broke up the fight saying "Stop that! Whats the matter with you" The two guys were very embarrassed and said "Sorry, Chris"

Anyways....enough funny stories... cuz I have a lot of them...just ask if you wanna hear more..

But since we got on the topic of the Crosswalk, a friend of the family was brought up because he worked with my dad for MANY years, up until the end of the old Crosswalk. They were awesome people. they were like family and i loved each one of htem. ANYWAYS, I had found out a few months ago that one of them contracted Hep C (i think it was a needle or something that caused it). Now from what I have heard this is not curable. He was on meds and was going to have to take time out from his job and whatnot because the meds were going to make him really sick. Well, my dad informed me tonight (when I asked how this guy was) that this man went to the doctor's and they found absolutly NO trace of Hep C. Praise the Lord!

Gone Vacationing

he he..get it? Instead of gone FISHING? ha ha ha ha...anyways...

Sorry for my lack of writing blogs lately. I have been very caught up in writing my new story. I have had writers block for about 2 years and nevr really attempted to do anything about that writers block. Then I joined the Clay boards and I met some wonderful people there, and one of them is my co-author :) She writes one page of story, and then I continuie and write 3 after that, then when I get writers block, she writes another page (sometimes 2) So my story is now 28 pages long ha ha... nice! I started it last week... like the 22nd I believe.

ANYWHO, I am going on holidays until the 4th of July, so I won't be blogging unless I can get to a computer to tell you about my trip. That might happen. If I dont blog you will know why tho! God Bless and see you all on the 4th!

Blessings..

Do I make You Proud?

I watched the American Idol finale season 5 about a month ago, but really got to love the song the winner sang as I listen to it tonight. Wow the words are really powerful and full of spirituality too. WOW... look at these lyrics:

Do I make You Proud?
Sung by: Taylor Hicks (American Idol winner season 5)

I've never been the one to raise my hand,
That was not me and now that's who I am
Because of you I am standing tall,

My heart is full of endless gratitude,
You were the one,
the one to guide me through,
Now I can see and I believe it's only just beginning
Chorus-
This what we dream about but the only question with me now
Is do I make you proud
Stronger than I've ever been NOW
Never been afraid of standing out
But do I make you proud

I guess I've learned, to question is to grow
That you still have faith, is all I need to know
I've learned to love, myself in spite of me
And I've learned to walk, the road that I believe

This what we dream about but the only question with me now
Is do I make you proud
Stronger than I've ever been NOW
Never been afraid of standing out
But do I make you proud

Do I make God proud with the things that I do? the way I act? If he were to come to my door today would I be prepared for his return? No, I would say no.

A while ago a person that i didnt realy know too well came over and said that God wanted him to tell me that he is proud of me ( i think i blogged it a while ago). He is proud that i perservere throug trials and that no matter what i am going through I still worship God with my whole heart.

This month, i definitly canot say that I have made God proud. I dont think I have worshipped him the way he deserves. So much has happened in my life this last month, and its very overwhelming and I have distracted myself from the problems in my life. I have not read my bible very much, I have been distracting myself with other stuff: computer, and TV mostly...its not good.

Father, please forgive me for being lazy. I should realize even if i feel overwhelmed that i should perservere through it and worship you more than i have ever worshipped you in my life. I should have faith that you will bring me through it. I love you Father, and I thank you for your mercy and grace in my life! Amen

The Lord is at work with his children!

Tonight, I had the opportunity to visit my friends mother in the hospice that she is in. My friend's youth group were going to come and pray with her mother. That was an amazing night that I will never forget. They got there after we did, we got to chat with her mother for a while... then the youth group showed up, and they talked for a little bit, but then just started praying. They immediately started praying in tongues. It was amazing to see God working in that room. They prayed for everything for this woman. As they were praying I could see God actually breathing life into her, they all saw colour coming back into her. It was amazing. Surely the best night! Its encouragement that I needed to see! Praise the Lord!

Oh and Praise the Lord for removing writer's block. I haven't been able to write a story in almost 2 years straight. I have attempted but its just gone bad. I have had an idea in my head for a few months of a story, but i didnt quite know how to put it to paper. After some encouragement from friends of mine from a forum that I belong to... ahem.. i won't say which one, cuz people will get mad...or they will roll their eyes... lol.... They encouraged me and gave me some ideas of how to start the story... so I have been writing non stop for hte last hour and I am at 3 pages long. Its mostly dialoque at this point, so i need to go back and put some descriptions and stuff in there. Its a work in progress tho and so Praise the Lord! But nooooo more writing, I have picked my brain enough tonight with this thing. LOL

Live a Life Uncommon

Romans 12:1-2 says "I appeal to you therefore, brothers by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

We are called to live a life that is not wordly... we are called to live a life uncommon. I don't know about you, but I want to live a life that is uncommon in the world. I don't want to live by the world's standards. I am so sick of following what the world says to do. I am so sick of doing stuff that God does not want me to do.

Listen to this song by Jewel (I apologize that it is a montage of Clay but this is how i came across the song, then I downloaded it, but I can't figure out how to get just the song on here..sorry y'all)Don't pay attention to the video, pay attention to the words....

The Video:


The Lyrics:

Don't worry mother, it'll be alright
And don't worry sister, say your prayers and sleep right
It'll be fine lover of mine
It'll be just fine

Lend your voices only to sounds of freedom
No longer lend you strength to that which you wish to be free from
Fill your lives with love and bravery
And you shall lead a live uncommon

I've heard your anguish
I've heard your hearts cry out
We are tired, we are weary, but we aren't worn out
set down your chains, until only faith remains
Set down your chains

And lend your voices only to sounds of freedom
No longer lend your strength to that
which you wish to be free from
Fill your lives with love and bravery
And we shall lead a life uncommon

There are plenty of people who pray for peace
But if praying were enough it would have come to be
Let your words enslave no one and the heavens will hush themselves
To hear out voices ring out clear
with sounds of freedom
sounds of freedom

Come on you unbelievers, move out of the way
there is a new army coming and we are armed with faith
To live, we must give
To live

And lend our voices only to sounds of freedom
No longer lend out strength to that which we with to be free from
Fill your lives with love and bravery
And we shall lead...

Lend our voices only to sounds of freedom
No longer lend out strength to that which we with to be free from
Fill you lives with love and bravery
And we shall lead a life uncommon

Joy in the midst of Sorrow

This morning my brother comes in the room and wakes me up and says that a friend of the family had passed away suddenly last night. His name was Peter Rolston, now if you grew up on the coast from the 60's to the 80's you will know that name. He was a famous ventriloquist. He had a TV show. He was a really nice guy. I bought his book and he signed it for me :) I will treasure that forever. Anyways... So I was really upset about it and I was quite deprsesed the whole day. When my brother told me I was in shock and couldnt say anything... my mouth was open and my eyes were wide.. (and blinking as well cuz i had just woke up) but anyways... I was quite sad..still am to a certain point but I was very encouraged tonight.

Karyn mentioned that there is going to be a dramatic reading of Psalm 29 on Sunday morning. She said that I can participate if I want, and I am going to. Psalm 29 says:

Psalm 29
Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.

The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.
The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is majestic.

The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
Sirion like a young wild ox.

The voice of the LORD strikes
with flashes of lightning.
The voice of the LORD shakes the desert;
the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
The voice of the LORD twists the oaks
and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, "Glory!"

The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;
the LORD is enthroned as King forever.
The LORD gives strength to his people;
the LORD blesses his people with peace.

I was very encouraged especially by the last verse (in bold) It is totally what I needed to hear tonight! Praise the Lord!

Do not be afraid

First of all, it has been brought to my attention that my posts are being put one on top of the other when you go to read them. Send me an email to let me know if this is waht you are seeing too so i can fix it:)

So I was walking home from youth tonight and i was a little scared. I am paranoid of everything, so i was constantly looking behind me while walking down 10th ave. I was walking to cross canada way and the church sign across the way said this (i am not kidding) "Do not be afraid" WOW... thank you Jesus for that wonderful message in a time when I needed it!

Do not be afraid, for I am with you. ~Isaiah 43:5

God's Timing

God's timing is seriously perfect.

Tonight my mom and I went for a walk to the video store to rent some movies and get munchies. On our way there we saw a pretty cat in the window of a house next to the store... very cute cat..then we came out of the store and the cat was playing on the sidewalk... u know how cats are... rolling on their backs... etc.... the lady that was petting him was like "is this ur pet" cuz we went up and my mom was talking to the cat.. we said no...and she said do you know where he lives cuz he almost got run over a few times. I said that we knew, so I knocked on the ladies door and said 'is this your cat' and she said that it indeed was her cat and I told her that he almost got run over a couple times. She was absolutly in shock. She thanked me over and over.

God put me in that place at that time for a reason. If God hadnt placed me there I can't bare to think of what could have happened to that poor cat. If any of you know me, i have a very soft spot for cats. I love them to death (like I love Clay Aiken he he)

Now for some music.... this is a song that Clay sang "bridge over troubled water" he didnt write it... Simon and Garfunkel did...but its a great spiritual song! so here it is:




And also.... Here is another good song "you were there" Avalon sang it before...

More of Clay Aiken

Here are some pictures I found of that night... and there is a before and after picture as well (from the VERY first time we say Clay at the auditions he he he...BIG change)

Clay Aiken!!!

K this isnt the insightful blog that i usually write.... but meh I don't care.

How many of you watched American Idol's finale on Wednesday??? I DID! and OH MY GOSH. I didnt care who won, my jaw dropped and my heart pounded when Clay Aiken (with his new look....so cute!) surprised a "wannabe" pop star... take a look! (hopefully this works)



Oh, in case you all didnt know... i am IN LOVE with Clay Aiken!

Mary vs. Martha

Luke 10:38-42 "As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

This scripture is basically saying that we need to stop getting distracted by meaningless things and just sit at the feet of Jesus. We live in a world that is always busy, and always has stuff on the go. We rarely take the time to just sit at Jesus feet and spend time with him.

We talked about this at Worship Team practice the other day and I have come to realize that I am Martha. I am so busy doing stuff, I am so distracted by doing stuff that I never just sit and spend time with Jesus. He desires that intimacy from us. But I am either watching TV, cleaning, on the computer, or sleeping. Its a horrible life really. I need to spend time with Jesus. I need to turn off my TV for a few hours and just spend time with Jesus whether its just listening to music or reading God's word. It says in verse 42 that Mary chose what was better and that was to just sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to him.

We were asked where Jesus' feet is (where we love spending time most with Him) I wasn't given too much thought on this one so I just said what I usually do (which is sit on my bed with my Bible) When I came home and REALLY thought about it, I felt God's presence most when I was on the top of the hill behind Julian's house (in Summerland) When we were there in March, I took some time for myself and Jesus. I left the group and went up to the top of the hill and I had my notebook and my Bible and I just wrote a big prayer to God (I was a little angry at him because of my current relationship status..but thats something I am not prepared to share about on a public blog...) After I got angry at him I just cried about it. As I was crying I saw a picture of him holding me in his arms and cradling me. So as I was remeniscing on Wednesday about that morning in Summerland, I came to realize that I love spending time with Jesus in the wilderness, in nature. I somehow feel his presence more when I feel the wind in my face and see the bright sunshine and I am in the middle of nowhere. I also came to the conclusion that THAT is why I want to move to Summerland, because I felt his presence so much more when I was in Summerland. I need to find that here, I want to feel his presence in New West just as much as I felt it in Summerland. Come Lord Jesus Come!

I pray that I can spend lots of quality time with my Lord, and just listen to him. I pray that I will have that intimacy. I pray that I will spend lots of time with Jesus and not just on Sunday's. I pray that this will become a part of my daily routine. I pray that it will become a good habit like brushing my teeth. I am so sick of doing things that He doesnt want me to do. I am so sick of sitting around and watching mindless TV. I pray that I will take at least 1 hour out of my day to spend time just sitting at Jesus' feet! Amen!

New Template

Hello everyone
As you can all see I have a new template. I like it a lot. Except for the fact that I can't see my comments, and nobody can send me comments to the blog. So for further reference, if you have any comments about my blogs..any at all please feel free to email me... christine_bacon15@yahoo.ca I would love to hear from you no matter who you are. I love comments :)

Bless you all! I will blog later tonight, I have spent so much time with the html on this thing that its time to take a break. :)

Godlessness in the last days

A friend and I had a conversation about Godlessness in the last days. We were angry at what happened to a family. They were all killed (except for 1 who is in a coma in the hospital) in a fire in Vancouver. This scripture was brought up:

2 Timothy 3 (NIV)
Godlessness in the Last Days

1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

6They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. 8Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth—men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

If all of this is true...(people are lovers of self, unforgiving etc etc etc) then why hasn't Jesus come back yet. Why has the world not ended yet. Because the number of those being saved is not complete yet. We just need to pray for those who are not saved and we need to continue praying for them. Do you hang out with non-believers? Do you have any friends who are non-believers? Pray for them, and don't stop praying for them. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says to Pray continually. Or in another translation... pray without ceasing. We need to keep praying for the non-believers of this world because they need to know the love of God. They are hurting, if they weren't hurting in some way they wouldn't have to take it out on people. People don't set fires or break into someone's home if they weren't hurting in some way. Pray for these people. If you see people hurting, show them God's love! Pray for them! Don't just be like "these people should be punished severely, these guys are so stupid, causing all these fires" don't just put them down. Pray for them, yes the justice system will get them, but you need to pray for them because they need that love of God in their lives.

Be Blessed! and Continue reading God's word. He has a lot to show you in that book!

I will follow You

Have you ever had trouble singing one song and being truthful about it? Well that happened to me yesterday at the worship service.

We were singing "May the Words of my Mouth" The lyrics go like this:

May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart
Bless Your name, bless Your name, Jesus
And the deeds of the day and the truth in my ways
Speak of You, speak of You, Jesus

For this is what I'm glad to do
It's time to live a life of love that pleases You
And I will give my all to You
Surrender everything I have and follow You
I'll follow You

Lord, will You be my vision, Lord, will You be my guide
Be my hope, be my light and the way
And I'll look not for riches, nor praises on earth
Only You'll be the first of my heart

I will follow
I will follow
I will follow You

Near the end of the song, Karyn was saying that if this is what we are going to do, we need to stand and proclaim it. I stood for a few seconds but then I asked myself what I was doing. I was completely lying to everyone in that congregation. It's not that I don't want to follow what God has for me, I know that his plans are bigger than mine and his plans are better than mine. But I do not want what he has for me right now. What I want is getting in the way of what God wants. It should not be that way. This is what God wants for me right now:

-To stay at New West and be involved with the RAW group from New West (doing open airs and missions stuff)
-Be involved with the Youth and Young Adults group (being the fund-raising coordinator)

What I want right now is:

-To drop out of school and move to Summerland.
-To move to Summerland so I can minister to my non-believing friends there.
-To just plainly move to Summerland, for many many reasons.

So anyways, I stood up for a few seconds and then I was like "I am lying to everyone around me" so I was very convicted, so I went up to the mercy seat and spent some time with God asking him to take over my life and be the center of my life. I asked him for forgiveness for wanting what i want and not what he wants. Cuz it is so true, I want my own way. I want to do what I want to do. I could be doing the stuff that God wants me to do, and still be in Summerland. I could work with the RAW group from there, I could be the fund-raising coordinator for their youth group. But for some reason God wants me to do that stuff in New West.

Dear Father, I pray that you would take over my life. Be the center of it. Help me want what you want. I am so sick of being so self-centered, and wanting what I want. My desire to move to Summerland is greater than my desire to follow what you want, and that should NOT be that way. I ask for your forgiveness for being so stupid. I want my desire to follow you to be greater than ANYTHING in my life. Be the center of my thoughts, my life, my plans, my everything. I pray all these things in Jesus' precious name. Amen!

Jeremiah 29:11-14 (NLT)
For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me in earnest, you will find me when you seek me. I will be found by you," says the LORD. "I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and bring you home again to your own land."

Wisdom

Tonight at Worship team practice, the topic of Wisdom came up briefly. So I thought I would share in a blog about what God taught me a few weeks ago.

I was spending some time alone with God a few weeks ago at the Friday youth night. He was speaking to me about Wisdom and gave me a bunch of scripture.

Proverbs 4 (The whole chapter, its too long to put in here)

The key verses from this chapter are:
Verse 1-2: "Listen, my sons, to a father's instruction; pay attention and gain understanding. I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching. "
Verse 7: "Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. "
Verses 11-27: I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble. Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life. Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evil men. Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn from it and go on your way. For they cannot sleep till they do evil; they are robbed of slumber till they make someone fall. They eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble. My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man's whole body.
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil."

Wisdom is: Not walking in the way of the wicked (14), Keeping God's commandments (4), Not speaking bad or corrupt things (24), Walking on the firm path that God has set before us (26-27)

Proverbs 9:10 --> "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."

That was just what God told me, so i thought I would share the wisdom with you all.. he he get it??

God Bless you all

Desiring God's Will

Tonight at the worship we were singing a song called "Your Majesty is More" by Karyn Baker. Here are the lyrics:

Each day there's a struggle in my heart
Between my desires and your throne
I long for the day when I will truly say
That my will is yours

I see that your gentle eyes look down on me
Each time that I fight to die for you
I yearn for the strength to see You glorified
In all I do

(Because) Your majesty is more than all that I could ever hope for
Your pleasure means much more to me than mine
I let all my dreams fall pale in the presence of Your glory
Joining with the angels I will bow

If I have gathered any earthly crowns of gold
I know that it's all because of You
I choose to set them down and dress your feet
And start anew

This is something that I am struggling with. My desires and what God wants. For example, I want to be in Summerland. I hate it here and really don't want to be in this city anymore. I am so tired of the same old same old. I want to be in Summerland with my other friends. I love my friends here, don't get me wrong, but I just really want to be with my friends in Summerland. I just really want to be out of the city and live the country life. I guess I am a country girl at heart because when i went to Summerland I didn't want to come home because I loved everythng about Summerland: the country feel, the courtesy, the friendliness, the friends, everything. So ya, I am sorta fighting God on this one. Not really fighting, but basically asking why he wants me here.

A while ago when I came back from Summerland I was praying to God to see what he wanted me to do: whether it be drop out of school to move to summerland, or stay here. God told me to stay here for now. There is so much he wants me to do at my home corps and the surrounding area. Since RAW I have been heavily involved with mission stuff and ministry in the church. I am thoroughly enjoying it, but I feel i want something more. But thats MY desire, not God's. God wants me to stay here and carry out his work here.

I apologize to those english teachers or former english teachers that read my blog lately because they seem to just be my thoughts and they aren't in any organized fashion.

My apologies!

PS. I ask a prayer of you all. I am currently a) looking for a job, the one i had the interview turned out to be a complete sham, they mislead me...but anyways.. oh well... and b) for the courage to speak the word of God to my friends without worrying that they are going to push me away or not talk to me.

God Bless!

Prophetic Words

Wow tonight I was majorly blessed!

At the Worship service tonight and we were singing "Your Majesty is More" by Karyn Baker (powerful words in that song, the words are exactly explaining what I am going through right now, but I will blog that after this)

As I was singing that song I heard someone come over and sit down beside me. I didnt pay much attention to it, i was singing this song from my heart because I want those words to be true. After the song was over this guy was telling me that he has been watching me for the past 4 weeks and he has noticed me worshipping God through singing. He has noticed my willingness to worship God. He told me that God told him to tell me that he is proud of me for overcoming trials in my life and for perservering through current ones. This guy (a really nice guy) doesn't really know me at all really. We see each other a lot, but thats about it. He didn't know anything of what I am going through currently, and for him to tell me that God told him to tell me that he is proud of me, that was totally from God. He told me that God told him to tell me that He wants me to stay with the Salvation Army. I was like wow..thats cool! When he was telling me all this stuff I was almost crying, because I have been feeling really sad and stuff.

And confirmation to that prophetic message... I am sure u all remember (well those who know me lol) when God spoke Jeremiah 29:11-14 6 times in a week? Well a different verse has shown up 5 times this month. James 1:2-3 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance."

This just totally made my day. I love it how God gives messages to people that we don't really know all that well to tell us. Its funny how God works :)

God rocks!

Imperfectness

I was taking photos at church tonight of the pretty flowers outside. I don't know what they are but they are pretty. Anyways, I was looking for the perfect flower to take a picture of. I took many pictures of the flowers but none of them were the perfect shape, didn't have the perfect amount of peddles and some peddles were just out of place. But the flowers were still very pretty.

It got me thinking, how none of us are perfect. We don't have the perfect body, we don't have the perfect life, and our spiritual lives are certainly not perfect, yet God loves us still. God's love for us is unconditional. It doesn't matter how imperfect we are, he will always love us. Jesus is still drop dead gorgeous and we are still to die for (he he thanks Karyn for that little snippet in ur profile..heh) even if we are imperfect.

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." *Romans 5:8*

"Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life." *Jude 1:21*

God at work!

Last Saturday, the teens and leaders that went to RAW from New West held an open air at Moody Park. That was an awesome time! God is truly working on me! woot! I was not afraid of speaking and I wasn't afraid of showing my faith to people! Anyways, a gentleman named Will came up to the group and listened in. It was great. It took him a while to come over, but its all in God's time. Anyways, we prayed for him.

Today after the sunday morning service, a bunch of us went over to Moody Park. We had a ghetto blaster and stuff and were just singing and hanging out. Then Mike and Joanne Badior joined us and we had a great chat! It was nice of them to come out! Then I look over and there is Will walking down the sidewalk. I recognized him so I waved to him and he came over and everyone talked for a while. Then Will mentioned to us that his friend Julie, 34, has Brain Cancer. He was quite upset about this, he was crying, I felt really bad for the poor guy. He said he is going to loose it when she passes. She needs Jesus! So anyways, we prayed for Will and we prayed for Julie and he thanked us. Then he had to go, but it was so great how God is working in our lives. We have one open air and God's glory is already being shown! God is working through us to help Will. God is working through us to help all of New Westminster! woot!

God rocks!

God's Plan for Me

This afternoon I came to a great conclusion about God's plan for my life!

I was chatting with a friend from Summerland and we were talking about God's plan for our lives. I was telling him how I don't know what God has planned for my life. A month ago Julian moved back to Summerland and I became very depressed because at that point I loved him as more than a friend, I wanted to date him (I have since then realized that it is not dating that i want.. its friendship that I want with him, and I am really happy about that because I don't want to screw up our friendship)

I was very depressed about him leaving. I had planned to move to Summerland, I was going to drop out of school if that was what God wanted me to do. I kept praying about it and praying about it and asking God what he wanted me to do. He told me to stay in New West. There is so much he wants me to do here. I was angry because I wanted to be in Summerland, I wanted to move there. God told me that he wants me to keep working with the youth that went with RAW.. like go on the missions with them. I was not thinking I was not making a difference being here.

I have realized that God wants me to stay in New West because he is helping me to grow! Ever since RAW I have been stepping out of my comfort zone and speaking in public. It all started when God told me to prophecy to Drew from RAW. I barely knew him and God told me to tell him something. So I told him (it turns out it was relevant to his life... woot!) I was very fearful before I told him because I didn't know how he was going to react to it and stuff. But I did it and ever since then I have been stepping out of my comfort zone. This past Saturday we did an open air at Moody Park. It was awesome! I had no fear of seeing people that I knew, I had no fear of what others would think of me. I praised God, I read scripture in public and had no fear or anything about it. My stomach usually hurts really bad before i speak in public and stuff... but it didn't hurt or anything.

God is helping me to step out of my comfort zone and rely on Him to get me places. He is helping me grow so when I do move I can survive out on my own. By stepping out of my comfort zone, I will get somewhere in life. I can work in the field I am going to work at and not be shy. I can't be shy in this field, I have to make conversation with people and I have to be positive. God is continuing to work through this stuff: Patience, Making conversation, being Positive etc, so I can live out on my own and survive!

God truly does know the plans he has for me! Woot!!!!! God is good!

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile." *Jeremiah 29:11-14*

God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. *Hebrews 11:40*

"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." *Isaiah 30:21*

"Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him." *Deuteronomy 8:6*

"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained." *Philippians 3:14-16*

Spiritual Gifts

I was bored this morning, so I searched google.ca for a Spiritual Gifts test. I got this website called Online Spiritual Gifts Test Inventory. This is the basic spiritual gifts: Exhortation, Service, Mercy, Leadership, Teaching, Prophecy and Giving. There are 35 questions that you answer. When I did this test I got:

EXHORTATION (14): Romans 12:8 - to come along side of someone with words of encouragement, comfort, consolation, and counsel to help them be all God wants them to be (Greek Word: paraklesis - calling to one’s side)

SERVICE (15): Romans 12:7 - to identify undone tasks in God’s work, however menial, and use available resources to get the job done (Greek Word: diakonia - deacon, attendant ‘diako’=to run errands)

MERCY (15): Romans 12:8 - to be sensitive toward those who are suffering, whether physically, mentally, or emotionally, so as to feel genuine sympathy with their misery, speaking words of compassion but moreso caring for them with deeds of love to help alleviate their distress

I encourage you to do this test and comment here and let me know the top three u got (or the highest ones... these three were the only 2 digit numbers)


We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. ~Romans 12:6-8