Adversity

“Greater resistance requires greater power to overcome; therefore producing a greater victory.”

Last night I went down the mountain to hear John Bevere speak at Agape Faith Church. If you don’t know who John Bevere is then you should definitely google him or something because he wrote the most life changing book I’ve ever read, The Bait of Satan. When I first found out that he was going to be close enough for me to make the trip down the mountain I was supposed to be babysitting but quickly started praying that that wouldn’t need to happen so that I could go. The next day babysitting got cancelled so all systems were go for this mini road trip. Four of us jumped in a car and took off for a service we all knew would be great but I don’t think we realized how great it was actually going to be. The Lord was all over this trip from the very beginning. We’re listening to some Jesus Culture and then we start to pray together and it was incredible to just be getting stirred up while driving down 421. When we got to the church we found our seats and worship started and there was never an awkward moment where I felt like I had to push through even though for the most part I didn’t know any of the songs. It was really great to be surrounded by strangers and everyone was just praising as one. John Bevere then got up to speak and I had never heard him speak before and I only knew about the one book but he’s done so much work and really has such a great testimony of what it really means to completely trust the Lord with EVERYTHING you have. He spoke a lot about adversity and how we can arm ourselves to better deal with it. John 16:33 says “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Adversity is going to come regardless of what we do but when we accept that, then we can begin fighting back. He talked about how adversity isn’t always a bad thing. There are several benefits: greater battles yield greater victories, your capacity expands and increases and your character is matured. He said something that really stuck with me last night, “God uses your present challenges to strengthen you for future conquests.” As someone that internally complains a lot about how “bad” I have it that one kind of rocked my world. As much as I’d like to change how things have happened for me or how I’d like to have a “normal” life, I can’t and after last night I don’t want to anymore. Every challenge that I’ve encountered in nearly 25 years has brought me to this point and is preparing me for such a great future. Adversity was made to strengthen me and to this point I haven’t really been taking advantage of that. I’m done complaining and I’m moving on to pure thankfulness.

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do it’s work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

James1:2-4 MSG

I’ve read that so many times but it wasn’t until last night that I truly understood how much James meant that when he wrote it. The Holy Spirit would have never allowed him to write those words or for it to be included into such a sacred book if it wasn’t 100% true. Nothing in the Bible can be exaggerated. We all need to start living like that! Facing each challenge head on and being ready to tackle and learn from it.




As always if you’d like to support me financially on my trip to India you can do so easily here, if you would like for your donation to be tax deductible then you can also mail a check to our church office:

Cornerstone Summit Church

869 Highway 105 Ext Suite 3

Boone NC 28607

Freedom!

         I was spending time with a friend today and this song came on.

         I could hardly contain my excitement as we were talking about what will happen when we take this message to the women in India at the Awaken conference. The women that will be attending will be women that were brought up completely different then any of us. Yes we’ve all been through situations that have made us strong men and women but for the most part most of us have some sort of a support system telling us that we can do it, we will beat whatever this is and that we have the ultimate champion on our side. Can you imagine living somewhere where you were taught from a young age that you weren’t worthy of anything? That there are certain animals that are treated better then you? It’s kind of hard for me to process that but the truth is, there will be women and children that I meet in less then 2 months that have been raised like that! I have been given an opportunity to possibly be the first voice in their lives to love on them and tell them about my Father and how He already loves them even though they may not have a clue who He is. They are going to hear that He values them above everything. I mean I grew up hearing that in church but if hearing that even now doesn’t give you chills and bring tears to your eyes then I don’t know what to tell you. Jesus is really so great and I’m in a gushy mood because I’m really so blessed. Yes I’m currently jumping and going crazy in my room but because of where I live I can praise like this anywhere that I choose. I’m so thankful to serve a God that is able to set the captives FREE!

         This post is taking me the longest to write because Jesus just keeps grabbing me and pulling me off my bed. I’m just so excited for what is about to happen in India. Scratch that. I’m excited for everything that is already happening in preparation for India. Jesus is preparing the hearts of the people over there and He’s preparing my heart for things I’ve never seen or thought of. This trip isn’t just a trip for me and it’s not just one opportunity to follow the Lord. It’s the first step through the door that is for those that the Lord has chosen to go and reap the harvest. My mind is blown right now at how awesome it is to know that I don’t just get to do this for 9 days, I get to do this for the rest of my life! How freakin great is that?!

       Just a little while ago our team got an email from a woman that we’ll be working with this summer, and in it she attached some pictures of some of the girls we’ll be giving a home to this summer. I want to share one with you so that you can have a face to put with your prayers.

         As always if you’d like to support me financially on my trip to India you can do so easily here, if you would like for your donation to be tax deductible then you can also mail a check to our church office:

Cornerstone Summit Church

869 Highway 105 Ext Suite 3

Boone NC 28607

What a Monday!

         *I started this blog yesterday so these were all things that happened on Monday morning. Had a busy afternoon and never got to finish it. Please forgive me! *

Ok so I know I already blogged once today but some days God is just so funny that it calls for more then one. Now I’m warning you that I’m a little off the walls right now so if this doesn’t make sense right away just promise me that you’ll continue pushing through to find little nuggies. My day is so so so full of them so far and it’s still technically morning!

        

         So first things first, I got a grand total of 4 hours of sleep by the time by alarm went off at 5:30 this morning. I get to work and I’m jammin out in here while I’m brewing the morning coffee and before I know it it’s a full on praise break in here. Now we open at 7 but I look over while jumping around like a crazy person (because lets face it, I am) at 6:45 and there is a woman at the door so I let her in and she was laughing and told me that I’m very chipper this morning. So I just start telling her about how great my God is. How He’s my healer and my provider and how I’m just so completely in love with Him and we end up praying together and she buys her coffee and leaves. All before we’re technically even open. Gonna be a great day, right?

         Maybe half an hour later another man walks in and tells me that I’m looking awful happy for it to be a Monday and that I have a very Friday attitude to me. I’ll take that man!

         Right after he left another lady came in. This one is a regular. Her names Sarah (large soy chai). Were having our usual morning banter and she stops and I’m thinking “oh shoot. I guess were done for the day?” I look over and she says “dude you’re going to India?” so of course I just start blabbering about our trip and how excited I am about it. And she goes to leave and calls ME a hero for wanting to do something like this. I’m not the hero Sarah, that would be my God. I just follow Him wherever He goes. He needs me to be his hands and feet. She looks at me like I’m slightly crazy and I can’t really blame her at this point. See ya tomorrow Sarah!

         Anyone that’s ever asked me about my day has probably heard me talk about Linda. She’s one of my favorite people. She isn’t a believer (YET) but she’s so great and you will all love her. She drops money in my India jar everyday but never really says much about it because she’s rushing to get to work, but today, today was different. She asked if she could go with me and I jokingly told her that of course she could. She then told me that she’s always wanted to do something like that. And that ever since she was little she’s had such a heart for orphans but because she knew there was no money in it she chose to go into real estate instead. And now she thinks that her time has passed her by and she can never do anything differently. So she said she was just going so support me and then live vicariously through me. Now Linda, don’t get me wrong because I love your support and of course you can live through me BUT you have all the same ability to go out and do this too. Age should never keep you from doing something the Lord has placed on your heart. So she leaves in a hurry as always and I’m left here just thinking and praying for her. Two hours pass and the shop phone rings, I know that it’s going to be one of three people, my boss, a telemarketer calling for my boss or Linda but Linda only calls in the morning and she wouldn’t need to call twice in a day would she? Wrong. Guess who it was? She needed some more coffee and was on her way back up here. This time when she came in I actually told her all of the things that I mentioned earlier and got this funny look on her face and got a little teary eyed. I asked her if I could pray for her, she said no because she was in a hurry but that I could pray for her after she left. Now that may not have been exactly what I wanted to hear but it was definitely a HUGE step. I’ll take it Jesus!

         Ok so in between Linda visits yesterday I had another regular customer come in. He’s a younger guy and he is always very nice so when he asked me how my weekend was as usual I excitingly told him that it was great and I got a lot of much needed rest. He asked if I went to church for Easter and I told him that I did and asked if he did too. He told me that he didn’t and that he doesn’t really ever go because he works so late on Saturday nights and likes to sleep in. I told him that I understood needing to get some rest but that if he ever got a Saturday off then he should come to our church sometime because it’s really great. He said he was shocked that I didn’t look down on him or start preaching about how important going to church was, and said that he’d think about coming sometime. I’ll take it! However it got me thinking, how many times have people been on the verge of coming to church possibly for the first time or maybe the first time in a long time and somebody said something to them that turned them off to the whole idea? We as believers need to remember that we first and foremost need to love them. Just because they aren’t looking the same direction as we are doesn’t mean they aren’t deserving of it. Remember that we were all there once.

         As I mentioned before I had a crazy afternoon and didn’t have time to finish this post yesterday well a big part of that is due to a wreck I witnessed in front of the shop. I was the first to see/hear it so I instinctively grabbed my phone and started calling 911 as I ran out to check on the drivers. One was out and walking around but had a pretty bad cut on his head and the woman in the smaller car was stuck in it and had a lot of blood basically everywhere. I couldn’t get the door open and with all that blood I wasn’t sure if moving her at all would be the best idea, so I just stood there talking to her trying to figure out what was wrong. Unfortunately I didn’t get much more then her name out of her before she lost consciousness but thankfully the paramedics were pulling up to take over. They ended up taking both drivers to the hospital and I don’t know that I’ll ever hear from anyone to know how things turned out but if you can join me in praying for Rachel and the man in the truck (didn’t catch his name) that would be fantastic!

         Well this is officially the longest blog post of mine to date. I’m sorry that I ramble a lot but really I’m not sorry at all because it was all things that I wanted to share with you. I hope you found at least one little nuggie in there somewhere and I hope that you make your Tuesday a great one!

As always if you’d like to support me financially on my trip to India you can do so easily here, if you would like for your donation to be tax deductible then you can also mail a check to our church office:

Cornerstone Summit Church

869 Highway 105 Ext Suite 3

Boone NC 28607

River Monsters

Last night I was watching my favorite show (River Monsters in case you don’t know that about me), and the new episode was shot in Southern Africa. Right away that peaked my attention because lately I’ve felt more drawn to Southern Africa (not South Africa though) and then I realize that it’s specifically being shot in Botswana, which immediately started tugging at my heart. Now let me set the scene for you: I’m on the couch with my best friend who is in her own little world for the whole episode (and for good reason! J). And from the beginning of the episode until the end I’m continually reminding myself not to cry because who cries during a show about a man catching huge killer fish all over the world?!  But this weeks episode may have given me a small glimpse of things I’ll be seeing one day.

The show’s host (Jeremy Wade) was interviewing these two women and both are physically impaired, they are telling him that it is because of a crocodile. They had been fishing and a crocodile came from out of nowhere and attacked the daughter and was attempting to drag her under. The mother immediately started fighting to get her daughter free but somehow her arm ended up in the crocs mouth instead, she eventually fought her way out and they escaped but that croc swam away with 3 out of their 4 arms. They also live in a small village with a witch doctor, I’m not sure why I never expected to come across any of those but I’m very thankful that my eyes were opened to that last night. In my eyes I guess I had seen Africa as this place where people either already know Jesus or they had never even heard His name before, very silly when I look back at that now. So from the beginning I’ve been praying for the Lord to send me to those people, but what if the people that haven’t heard of my Daddy also don’t want to be left alone because they think their own medicine and “magic” will be better? Am I prepared for that kind of life-style? Well honestly I haven’t really been prayerfully preparing myself for that option until now. I’ve been living in a giant DUH moment ever since I had this realization. Thus far I’ve had it pretty easy because for the most part everyone I’ve encountered has been pretty receptive but that’s not always going to be the case, and I need to start learning to love them better now. Africa or India isn’t my practice field. I have to do that right here in Boone. This is the place where I’ll be tested. I’m just being given the opportunity to prove this in other places.

“The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields”

Matthew 9:37-38

Jesus is great about how He times things. Who would have thought that watching Jeremy Wade catch killer fish would have led me to this realization, but He’s really so great. Simply because He’s coming to me where I am. He’s seriously so great and always running to me even if I’m not even looking in His direction. That’s some serious love y’all!

        

Well now that I’ve successfully talked your ear off about River Monsters and Africa…INDIA. Gosh. In just over two months I’ll be there! My finances are coming in just like the Lord promised and I’m currently sitting on $2,000! So just another $1,200 to go and I’m totally believing for that to happen in this next month! Thanks for keeping me in your prayers!

As always if you’d like to support me financially on my trip to India you can do so easily here, if you would like for your donation to be tax deductible then you can also mail a check to our church office:

Cornerstone Summit Church

869 Highway 105 Ext Suite 3

Boone NC 28607

A Thankful Heart

         Well I’ve been sitting here staring at my screen for close to an hour and I REALLY feel like there’s something in me that needs to be released in this today but nothing is coming out. Major writers block. The only thing that I know to do is to make a list. Lists aren’t really my thing but I’m going to ignore my flesh on that one and push through and hopefully something will work itself out through this.

Things I’m thankful for:

1.     I’m thankful to know that His love covers anything and everything that I’ve ever done or will do.

2.    I’m thankful that He is the ultimate provider.

3.     I’m thankful for His healing.

4.    I’m thankful that He always makes a way when I see it as impossible.

5.     I’m thankful that He has given me the choice of free will.

6.    I’m thankful for my parents, and that they raised me in a Christian home and showed me love.

7.    I’m thankful for my little sister, who shows me her strength daily when she doesn’t even realize how strong she is.

8.    I’m thankful for my extended family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins) that pray for me and want the best for me even though we don’t get to see each other nearly enough.

9.    I’m thankful for my brother-in-law and how he loves my sister unconditionally and works so hard to provide for her.

10.  I’m thankful for my Pastor and his heart for the Lord. His vulnerability is so inspiring.

11.  I’m thankful for my church family in Boone. They have shown me the true meaning of “one body, many parts”

12. I’m thankful for my job and the opportunities that it’s given me to meet some really amazing people.

13.  I’m thankful for my discipleship leader Vanessa. She is truly inspiring in the way that she works so hard for her family and is constantly giving. The epitome of a Proverbs 31 woman.

14. I’m thankful for my friends that have helped to push and mold me into the person I am today. It’s not always easy to point out points of improvement to someone and they have done that with such a Godly grace.

15.  I’m thankful for my roommate. She’s really the best thing. (I could say more but I think I’ll leave it at that for now)

16. I’m thankful to live in a country that allows the freedom to do something as simply as express my thoughts and beliefs publicly.

17. I’m thankful to come from such a strong military based family that are some of the most patriotic people I know.

18. I’m thankful that through my freedom I have the opportunity to go to other countries that don’t have that and help minister to them about the love of my Father.

19. I’m thankful that slowly and surely the money is coming in from my support system to get me to India this summer.

20. I’m thankful that almost half of the money that I’ve raised so far has come from strangers and customers in the coffee shop that only know me as their barista, but they give so willingly.

21. I’m thankful for Proverbs 16:3 “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.

22. I’m thankful for the Lord’s protection. He’s protected me from so much and probably so many more things that I’m not even aware of.

23. I’m thankful for laughter. I get to do a lot of at work surprisingly. I’m doing it currently because there is a puppy outside and he’s just staring at me through the window.

    24.I’m thankful for my boss and the HUGE blessing that he is being by donating 20% of our sales tomorrow (3/5/12) to my India trip!

       As always if you’d like to support me financially on my trip to India you can do so easily here, if you would like for your donation to be tax deductible then you can also mail a check to our church office:

Cornerstone Summit Church

869 Highway 105 Ext Suite 3

Boone NC 28607