He is Here!

As I sit on our couch in a dark house after a pretty quiet day I am reminded of how God is here! In the darkest of days/nights and in the beautiful days... He is here! My friends I want you to remember that God is here... He wants a relationship with you... Through the good and bad! Some nights like tonight I just love to go to bed after Jaron and just sit and soak in our little life. Our lives are not perfect, our marriage is not perfect, our families are not perfect, the ministry that God has called us to is not perfect, but God is here in the mix! He is fighting for us!

As you know, Jaron and I would love to have a family! When I get bummed out about the process of adoption or the cost of it I am reminded that God is here! When I see all the wonderful pictures of ultrasounds and babies across my Facebook I am reminded that God is here and it's just not our turn!

Jaron and I have attended another adoption meeting and fell in love with this agency! My heart filled to overflow when the ladies talked about the counseling for the birth mothers. I really want to have a good relationship with our child's birth mom. I don't want our child to have a hole in their exstitance that wonders about their mom. I know God is working ahead as I pray for our future child's birth mom. God is there with her and God is here reminding me that He is here and He has a plan!

As of 2 weeks ago, we have enough money to actually start the process!! We will need quite a bit more money through the process ($10,000) but I know God will provide! He provides for us everyday and I know He will provide when it comes to this! I am starting an online business of making baby quilts and crib sheets and possibly receiving blankets to help with some of the cost. I know God wants us to work for it and not expect a hand out. He is here urging us along in this crazy process.

I am so grateful for all the prayers we are receiving through this journey. I know that one day when we get through all the paperwork and financial stuff we will have the child that God has granted us! It's so crazy to think about all that goes into an adoption, but it will all be worth it in the end! We will have the family He desires us to have, but as for right now... He is Here!

WoW really?!

OKay So I haven't blogged in months... Well, that's a lie. I have blogged just not posted them for your enjoyment!

Life has been so crazy, I resigned my church and now live in NOLA. I never would have thought I would live in Louisiana or even be going to Seminary right now... My life is pretty normal, Friends, Class, Studying... It should probably be in a different order, because I spend a lot of time in class and a lot studying! My roommate has moved out not because we didn't like living together, but because she found basically a free house to live in! So, now I live in a 4 bedroom apt by myself! I actually really like it!

One thing that is hard right now is finding a church... I've been to church with friends and haven't really felt like whole heartedly "this is the church for me." UGH! Why doesn't NewSpring have a New Orleans Campus?! haha! But Sunday is coming and it will be a new day and a new church!

I'm looking for a job and have interviewed twice with a Cheer gym for a coaches position! I am praying that if it's God's will that I get it! I love cheerleading and coaching and the fact that it is a Christian gym just adds icing to the cake! Man, I hope it happens and I get a chance to mix my passion for leading teenage girls to Christ and my passion for Cheerleading together!

I have been able to babysit a couple of times and it is just wonderful! I get to spend time with kids and play! Plus, I can be a blessing for parents here on campus that can't find a babysitter or one that their kids like! lol!

Funny kawinkadink, 2 of my best friends at home were Kristy and April... Well, here my 2 best friends are Christie and April! Ha! At least I didn't have to learn new names!

Where does Your devotion lie?

God has really been rocking my world with 1 Cor 7. Some of you know my obsession with 7:17 in the Message, but the whole chapter is full of Godly goodness! So what does it talk about, you ask?! Try staying single and being devoted to God, if you can that is! But seriously, 7: 35 says,

I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.

I have found while this month in Seminary that TOO many people are focusing on what I would consider the wrong things. (Some of you are going to laugh thinking that is coming from me, but God is really convicting me.) We are focusing on in a Christian realm would be a worldly thing! WTCrap are we thinking and doing?!

• Marriage and finding the one (UGH! It's driving me NUTS!!! I've even stopped watching "Say Yes to the Dress" that's how much it's bothering me!)

• Theology and NOT reaching people

• Making yourself look good and NOT God

• Their church

• THE SAINTS (okay, I LOVE football and this is SUCH a big deal in NOLA, but we are tending to talk about them and NOT Jesus)

So those are just things I can think of right now, but seriously there are way more I know it! I guess it just kills me that people aren't trying to find a way to reach our city. Now, I am one who is super focused on my studies and very rarely leave campus because of it... Which is a big reason I'm hoping for this cheer job! But the Marriage complaint above is really getting to me... like so much! I hate people asking me "well, have you found anyone there yet?" Okay, really?! Why am I here?! I thought I was here to learn and to grow! hmmm apparently I'm here to find a mate?! Who knew! I wish God had sent me that memo! haha! Okay, so only certain people will get that, but it's true!

Hopefully I will Update again soon!

Renewed

So I was really struggling Spiritually for about a month... I didn't tell anyone and really thought that no one could tell. The Ironic thing is that the person who could tell the most was my old roomie Kim. She called me out all the way from Asheville, NC! haha! Well, about 2 weeks ago maybe 3 I started the book Soul School by Jeanne Stevens. I can not tell you how much this book has truly blessed my life and has renewed me. I am preaching next Sunday night and this book has inspired much of what I am going to speak on. From Christians trying to hide their sins from each other to focusing on the past instead of the present. Jeanne put Isaiah 43:19 out of the message translation into a chapter. It says,

Forget about what's happened;
don't keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new.
It's bursting out! Don't you see it?

Man that is good stuff! How many of us focus on what we did in our pasts or even wanting to go back to a certain time in our life when we feel like things are getting tough. INSTEAD we need to be alert and present because God is gonna ROCK our faces off if we are just expectant about it! I see this in our churches. We want to go back to the hay days but we forget that our hay days were some of the toughest times in our lives. We just remember how we felt after God brought us through those things. In the book Pop Goes The Church, by Tim Stevens, a question is posed... What would your community look like if your church was gone? Would people notice? and by people the author is not talking about the church goers and their friends but the people who do not attend and drive by on a daily basis. I know for Round Oak that all we do feeding people and helping them get by in tough times and on Wednesdays nights when the van runs to the trailer park to pick up the kids that those people would notice... they would notice that that help is no longer there. I just hope that we are seen as a light in this community and not just a social club!
So yeah that's what God has been teaching me lately!


Another Subject entirely is how much I love Dorothy Thomas... She is a pillar in our church and is the oldest member at like 98 or something like that... Today while playing Secretary she called to see if tomorrow during homecoming work day if someone would clean a plaque that was placed in memory of her husband... she said that in 26 years no one has probably cleaned it, but she was just hoping that someone could get around to it... That makes me want to go clean it right now! She never wants to inconvenience someone but is so sweet and loves her Jesus so much people just want to help her!