Freedom From These Chains!

God has been SO gracious to my family, but particularly my 23 year old brother Josh. =) I know my sis has already posted on all this, but I wanted to share with you all as well.

This year's theme for our statewide conference 'Celebration' was sovereignly titled "Freedom". The logo that was used for the conference is a beautiful picture of a wooden cross with severed ropes hanging off it, symbolizing the freedom Christ gained for us on the cross! I went into the weekend, knowing God was going to set me free from some personal sins, I just wasn't fully aware of WHAT He was going to do that weekend. God was so gracious to soften my heart (in the week leading up to the conference) in specific areas of sin that I was so blind to, and He continued pursuing my soul throughout the weekend, all the while drawing me closer to Him. =)

Unbeknownst to me, my brother Josh was at home realizing the much bigger battle...the battle for his soul! Josh was 16 (seven years ago) when he verbally realized he was not a Christian, and chose to follow the desires of his flesh, rather than pursue God's call on his life. Since then, my family and countless friends have interceded for my lost brother. I remember at first, praying for God to protect Josh from the 'evils' of this world, keeping him safe from bodily harm. But as Josh continued to be seduced by the lurings of this world, my prayers turned from self-righteous sighs of protection from physical harm, to desparate cries to guard his soul above all else. Over the years, I've received countless prophetic words, encouraging thoughts, and scripture to continue interceding for my prodigal brother. Only my Saviour knows the number of tears I've cried to Him, begging Him to at last woo Josh's soul over. On Saturday August 30th, my brother's soul was finally captivated by the King. Josh spent a lot of time on his knees that day in our living room, weeping. Not because he was crying out to a God who had turned a deaf ear! Not because Josh was asking God for things He would not give him. But because the scales on Josh's eyes had fallen, and he was seeing Christ for who He really is! He was experiencing the unfathomable forgiveness from his Heavenly Father!

I have been overwhelmed at all the people that are pursuing genuine relationships with Josh since Celebration. Side note: My parents drove back on Sunday during the conference to pick Josh up and bring him back in time for the ministry session that night, where tons of people (not knowing the status of his soul yet) came up to him, chatted, exchanged numbers with him, etc. I am so grateful for the local church's commitment to reach out to the lost AND the newly converted! What a blessing!

Please continue to pray for Josh, only now, pray for the Holy Spirit's voice to be loud and clear to Josh so that he will not give in to temptation. =) Josh has already shown much fruit in the way he's responded to different situations in his life. And I can already see God using him in the lives of his unsaved friends. Praise the Lord for His saving work on the cross! Hallelujah! Our God IS mighty to save! =)

Below is a picture of Josh at Celebration the first night, reading a letter Todd had given him.

WorshipGod '08

Wow...that's the first thing that comes to mind when I think of this year's worship conference. It's already been over a week since we left for the conference, but my head is still reeling from all that I heard/learned. =)

If I haven't already told you yet, Donald Whitney's seminar on "Praying with the Psalmist" was the highlight seminar of the conference for me! I had never heard him speak; or seen him, for that matter (he looks like Sean Connery), and he was so engaging and helpful. Honestly throughout his message, I was thinking 'yeah this is great. I should put this into practice when I get hom'...knowing that I most likely would not try this little exercise when I got home, due to my sinful, lazy heart. But at the end of his message, Don asked us to find a Psalm (he gave us about 20 seconds) and we were going to put all this into practice because "I'm sure some of you were thinking, 'This is great, I should really start doing this...' but we're going to practice it right now!" I was SO excited! This was so very helpful!

I really enjoyed hanging out with my homegroup on Wednesday (all day) at the Harbor and outside Fort McHenry. ;) That time of talking, laughing, taking pictures, encouraging one another, sharing words/scriptures, praying for one another...Ahhh, I love it! Such a precious time with my spiritual family! Here are a few pictures from the weekend. I will post some 'stories' later. ;)

Note To Self....

When wandering around Downtown Disney with your friends, guard your personal belongings as if you're on the streets of New York...otherwise you will end up like me.

Yes, I was at Downtown Disney this past Friday night with some people from Metro and some people from the Fort Lauderdale church (we had SO much fun!). We were walking out to the parking lot at the end of the night (little did I know it was just the beginning!) when I realized I didn't have my phone on me. The group stopped and we were trying to figure out where I could have left it. Meanwhile, I look over at my sister and was convinced she had it or had given it to someone else as a joke because she was kind of smirking! Turns out she was just smiling....for some reason. ;)

Angie, one of the girls from Fort L called my phone and when she said "hello?" we all stopped to look at her...I totally did NOT expect someone to pick up my phone...don't know why. Anyway, some man had picked up my phone and would curse at my poor friends whenever they tried to call him to find out where he was, and to convince him this wasn't his phone (apparently he sounded, uhh, intoxicated. He finally turned the phone off so we would stop calling him, which caused my persistent, patient friends to resort to texting him, informing him that "this isn't your phoone. My friend lost it in downtown disney. Please call so we can get it back to her." =) We ended up splitting into 2 groups, to backtrack our steps, but to no avail. I filled out a report at Guest Relations but even the guy behind the counter could not offer me any sort of hope when I explained what happened.

So, I was able to get a new phone (after much difficulty with the Verizon fellas) very similar to this one. Thus, the moral of the story is: Never let a drunk guy steal your phone. =P

The Valley of Vision

In Prayer

O Lord, in prayer I launch far out into the eternal world, and on that broad ocean my soul triumphs over all evils on the shores of mortality. Time, with its gay amusements and cruel disappointments never appears so inconsiderate as then.
In prayer I see myself as nothing; I find my heart going after Thee with intensity, and long with vehement thirst to live to Thee. Blessed be the strong gales of the Spirit that speed me on my way to the New Jerusalem.
In prayer all things here below vanish, and nothing seems important but holiness of heart and the salvation of others.
In prayer all my worldly cares, fears, anxieties disappear, and are of as little significance as a puff of wind.
In prayer my soul inwardly exults with lively thoughts at what Thou art doing for Thy church, and I long that Thou shouldest get Thyself a great name from sinners returning to Zion.
In prayer I am lifted above the frowns and flatteries of life, and taste heavenly joys; entering into the eternal world I can give myself to Thee with all my heart, to be Thine for ever.
In prayer I can place all my concerns in Thy hands, to be entirely at Thy disposal, having no will or interest of my own.
In prayer I can intercede for my friends, ministers, sinners, the church, Thy kingdom to come, with greatest freedom, ardent hopes, as a son to his father, as a lover to the beloved.
Help me to be all prayer and never to cease praying.

~Valley of Vision

~

The yearnings in my soul are constantly being stifled by the horrendous cravings of my heart. How I wish this prayer were the reflection of my soul consistently. My soul longs for the Home in which I will forever be in the King's presence...in which I will constantly see His glorious face and forever experience the tangibility of His love!

Oh blessed Saviour, grant me the ability to continually live in light of eternity, instead of allowing the distractions of this present world to lure me from the Path.

God's Faithfulness

Wow, God truly has been faithful to me. Even though I'm not travelling to Wales this fall as I had hoped, God has given me such a peace about it...so much so that I am able to truly rejoice with one of my closest friends Janelle Leach, who just found out this weekend that God IS providing a way for her to go! What a BLESSING to be able to send my dear friend to a dear people across the ocean, and what a blessing to be able to truly rejoice with her, knowing that God is sovereignly hindering me from being 'sent out' this year...for purposes known only to Him, the God of the universe, Who sees all things, and through Whom all things come together. =)

Okay, I just had to post that. =)

Wales Update

Hello my friends!

I just wanted you to know that I've made the decision to not go to Wales this year. After much prayer, counsel, and tears I believed that God had not given me a peace about going this year. The main drawback was the financial aspect of this opportunity. Alot of things financially were NOT falling into place like I had hoped they would, and alot of things here at home WERE falling into place, as far as relationships and job details.
Thank you all SO much for your prayers and encouragements and questions! I definitely need them all the time. =) And just so you know, this doesn't mean that I'm totally crossing Wales off "the list" of places to go on mission trips. I'm actually going to be saving now, in hopes that I would be able to go next year, if they do the GAP team program next September. It has been such a good experience to go through this thinking/discerning process and to find out where my heart really was on certain issues. The Holy Spirit revealed a lot of sin in my heart and has been so wonderful in helping me deal with it.

So for now, I will remain in the U.S. of A. =) But I am continuing to pray about where God would send me and how He desires to use me in my local church and in the community!

Wales Update

Greetings, friends!

For those of you who have been praying for me regarding getting accepted into the GAP team that will be living in Newport, Wales for 11 months. This is just a friendly reminder to continue praying for me, if you think about it. =) I had my interview on Friday the 6th, and it went really well. Dan is a very nice guy, and very easy to talk to; we ended up talking for almost an hour. I won't find out for sure if I've been accepted, until the week of the 23rd.
Below are a few areas I thought would be helpful in knowing how to be praying for this situation. Again, if you have any questions, please feel free to post them or email me directly. Thanks!

Pray for:
*ultimately, for God to be glorified no matter which direction He chooses to take me
*for God to give me wisdom in knowing what HE wants me to do, and not just what I WANT to do
*wisdom in my personal finances, if God allows me to go, to know how and where to "trim" my spending habits :-)
*financial blessing, because there's truly no way I can afford this trip, apart from God's divine intervention
*peace in my heart until the "final decision" has been made, as I have been dealing with emotional ups-and-downs the past several days, trying to figure out what God wants me to do

Yes, I guess those would be the main things right now. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your prayers, questions, and encouragements! It is such a blessing to know that there are people interceding for me before the Father. Thanks again!