I Love My Choir!

When I was turning 16 I was allowed to join the adult choir at our rather large church. Our choir usually has about 50-60 people on a full Sunday. From the first day I sang up in the choir loft I just LOVED it! I remember being amazed at how big the church looked from the choir loft and how neat it was to be able to look out at everyone while I sang.

Now, even though I have been in the choir a long time, I still love it! About a month ago I was able to share this experience with my younger sister Bethany who is 13. Now we are both able to enjoy singing and laugh about some of the things that happen during choir practice together.

Two weeks ago I really started noticing how great our choir is! Not just because of how we sound, or the song arrangements we sing, but because some of the people who sing are really singing to bring honor and glory to God. And our director . . . I believe he is the best choir leader our church could ever want!

Lately God has been showing up for our practice. One Sunday after we sang "Watch and See" we got into a long discussion about how important it is that we sing with all our heart so that the world can see God through us. We totally quit singing and just talked and praised the Lord for 25 minutes! While one man spoke of God's goodness a tear fell out of his eye. I don't think that happens in many churches. But our song leader knows that sounding perfect is not the most important thing. He has his eyes on the right goal: to shape our choir into an instrument that will honor and glorify God and in result, bring others closer to the Savior.

That is my choir, and I am proud to be a part of it!

You're Going the Wrong Way!

Every third Thursday of the month the skating rink in our town has a "Homeschooler's Night." Most of the homeschoolers that come out are Christians, so we get to play our own Southern Gospel Music instead of that contemporary stuff. It is always a lot of clean fun!

This past month a family with six kids, who had just started coming, brought their cousins who we happen to know. As I was skating with one of the girls we began to talk about the way we have always skated. Everyone goes around the rink counter-clock-wise, for the whole night. By the time it's time to leave you will have blisters on that one side of your foot. We both agreed that we should skate the opposite way half of the night.

Not long after that her brother and cousin started going the opposite way! So what did we do? We followed them! The first thing I noticed was how hard it was to skate that way. I found out that not only am I right handed, but right footed as well!

Soon others started to follow us. The first ones to do so were our own brothers and sisters, naturally. After a while everyone started going the wrong way. Obviously some of the kids must have turned around because the lady that was supervising told us that we all had to skate the same way. That was the end of our little fun.

Later I started thinking about how we do this very thing in life all the time. We follow the crowd in the wrong direction. Everybody else is doing it, so why shouldn't we? A lot of times it's not the sinners that we are following, just like we weren't following strangers at the skating rink. They were our friends and family! Even Christians can lead us in the wrong direction. Christians can convince us that contemporary music is okay. They can make us believe that wearing skirts a little above the knee or tight shirts isn't that wrong. Christians are the ones who may lead us to back down on our disciplinary beliefs.

Going with the flow can often be easy, but if we know it is wrong it should bother our conscience, making it hard to continue in this path just like it was hard skating clock-wise. But if we don't listen the the Holy Ghost telling us to turn around, others will start to follow us . . . most likely those closest to us.

But oh, how easy it is to be going the right way once we have turned around! The actual turning around may not be easy, but once we have, the peace of mind and the joy of knowing you are in God's will is so rewarding. May we all strive to follow Christ . . . not the crowd.

Oh, the Joy of Spelling!

There is one fact about myself that I just can't seem to hide: I CAN'T SPELL! Mama is a great speller, so good that she was in a spelling bee in school. She didn't make it very far, but she made it a whole lot farther then I would have ever made it! My brother Ryan and my sister Bethany are good spellers too, so that leads me to believe that it is not because of my lack of studying or lack of a good teacher, but that I am naturally a bad speller. At times I still catch myself thinking "Is their spelt with ei or ie?" Pitiful . . . I know!

Thankfully there is this wonderful thing called "Spell Check" that is on most e-mail and blogging publications. As I was going over some of my recent post however, I found many spelling errors. I suppose even my friend Spell Check can't find all of my misspellings.

So if you find words that are spelt wrong here on my blog, just try to over look it and remember that not everyone is able to spell : )

Trials

Hard times will either make you or break you. It is up to you to decide how your life will be shaped.

Faithful in the Little Things

This past week a group from our church went to The Wilds in NC for the Seniors Retreat. Although it sounded like a time for them to relax, spend time with their Christian family, and be refreshed by sermons and the Word of God, they came back wore out! They said they were busy the whole time they were there! I'm sure it was still refreshing though.

This morning at church one couple commented that they thought I would love to volunteer there. They said I would probably really enjoy it. Having heard a lot about this camp and how much fun it is, I probably would! I love being around people and I generally get along with anyone, so being around a lot of Christians all day would be very enjoyable.

However, right now I simply can't go up there and volunteer, so that isn't really a matter I am considering. But it did get me thinking. Why would I really like to volunteer at The Wilds? After searching my heart I realized that I want to serve in a ministry again. I have been in church ministries in the past, but lately I haven't because I've been so busy with work and school, and issues in my life have kind of clouded my mind like a fog. But now that I feel the fog has drifted away, I am ready to do something in the church!

I know I should have been listening to the preaching, but my mind was somewhere else. (I'm not perfect!) I tried to think of somewhere I could help out in our church. I didn't want to do just anything. I wanted to enjoy what I was doing and I was going to "pray about it." (At the time I was so eager to do something that I probably would have convinced myself that it was God's will.) But then I remembered Matthew 25:21. "His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." Right now my goal is not to be a ruler over many things, but this scripture can be applied to anyone. I need to be faithful over a few things - the little things.

I started thinking about the things in my life that are under my care. I teach my younger sibling how to play the piano. I sing with my sibling in church. I am trying to become a good writer. These are the things that I need to learn to be faithful to - first! The lessons I give them in piano are often few and far between and singing more often would defiantly improve our singing. As for writing . . . I do quite a bit of this, but I don't give my best. (I hate editing and revising!)

So this is where I am right now, trying to be faithful in the little things. I believe if I do well with the things God has given me right now, he will open doors for me to do greater things, and then I will be ready for them.

A Walk Down a Country Road

I love Saturdays! It is a day that I can sleep in (if I don't have to work), get up and eat a good breakfast with my family with a fresh cup of coffee, and start my day off relaxed.

This morning after I ate the breakfast, my sister Bethany fixed me, I was able to spend some time alone with God before I started my day. While I made my bed and got dressed I opened my window blinds to let the sunlight flood my room with it's cheerful beams while I listened to a new CD. It was so refreshing!

This afternoon Bethany and I went on a walk down our country rock road. The fresh air and warm sunlight was too inviting to resist! As we started walking down our long driveway I "drank in" the delightful surroundings (as Anne Shirley would say). Everything seemed to speak of Spring. The wild purple and white flowers (actually weeds) filled the ditches and fields, making the perfect place for butterflies to land and flutter around. The dragon flies buzzed around in the refreshing breeze while the horses nipped at the green grass with not a care in the world. Even the little ponds seemed so peaceful, yet alive as the wind blew their water into ripples. It was the perfect day for a walk!

It all reminds me that Spring is here . . . and I believe it has never been more beautiful than this year!

Happy Spring!

Spring shows what God can do with a drab and dirty world. ~Virgil A. Kraft

Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush. ~Doug Larson

No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow. ~Proverb

Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night. ~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke

April hath put a spirit of youth in everything. ~William Shakespeare

He Knows the Ending

“Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.” -Genesis 37:3–4

One theologian once wrote, "If God had told me some time ago that He was about to make me as happy as I could be in this world, and then had told me that He should begin by crippling me in arm or limb, and removing me from all my usual sources of enjoyment, I should have thought it a very strange mode of accomplishing his purpose. And yet, how is His wisdom manifest even in this! For if you should see a man shut up in a closed room, idolizing a set of lamps and rejoicing in their light, and you wished to make him truly happy, you would begin by blowing out all his lamps, and then throwing open the shutter to let in the light of heaven."

Everyone goes through times of crisis in their lifetime. Sometimes it is a major crisis, or maybe it’s two or three in a row. But it seems as if every one of us will have unplanned difficulties along our journey of faith.

Joseph faced these same crises in his life. I don’t think Joseph ever dreamed his own brothers would betray him. I’m sure he never thought he would spend time in a dirty Egyptian prison. No one plans for such difficulty, yet it seems as if everyone faces these times in their lives.

Joseph was a man who suffered greatly but who was faithful to God throughout his entire life. Another man in the Bible like Joseph was Paul. The Apostle Paul was a great man of God who ended his life well for God. Second Timothy 4:6–7 says, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” What a great testimony! When going through a trial, your goal should be to learn what God desires to teach you and to be faithful to God through it all.

Imagine if God had approached Joseph beforehand and had said, “Joseph, I am going to use you one day to save my people from starvation during a great famine. But first, I am going to take you through some trials. You will be hated by your brothers; you will be sold into slavery; you will be accused of something you didn’t do; you will spend time in prison; and you will have to struggle to regain your reputation.” What do you think Joseph’s reaction would have been? What would your reaction have been?

God has a great plan for your life. But realize that plan may require a time of struggle first. There will be times of difficulty and growth. But trust that God knows what is coming at the end of your trial. He knows the outcome and the blessings He is going to bring into your life.

Are you in a time of trial? Is there some difficulty or struggle you are enduring? Realize that while trials may come and earthly solutions will fail, God intends for you to grow stronger in faith through it all. He desires that your testimony will shine brighter because of the difficulty you endured. Submit your will to His and trust Him, for He knows the ending!

~Dr. Paul Chapell from Daily in the Word

Good-bye Vacation

Monday I started my online college classes again. This will be my last quarter in Medical Coding so I really want to study hard so that I will be confident when I start a job as a Medical Coding Specialist (I guess that's what they are called!). I am excited about this quarter even though the teacher forewarned us that there will be a lot of work to do.

So for the next 10 weeks I will be pretty busy. I'm still planning on blogging (I can't give that up) but I wont be able to blog as often as I would like to. Hopefully I will be able to post something at least once a week.

So until my next post . . . have a great week!

God's Will is Perfect

From the time I was entering the teenage years I began to find an interest in Christian magazines such as Hope Chest and Stepping in the Light. The articles in these magazines were written to help young girls before marriage. Over and over I read about girls who saw that even though they were certain that they knew what they were going to do, God had other plans. They finally came to realize that only God knows what the future holds.

Reading this for years made me think that I wouldn't make the same mistake because I knew better. Now as I sit here at my desk thinking about the past two years, I see that I was so wrong. Even though I didn't realize it at the time, I was just like the other girls. I suppose we all have to experiance it for ourself to really understand what it is to trust God.

I just knew that God was going to let things work out the way I thought they would. Everything seemed to be going so well, it seemed that God was answering my prayers, and all the puzzle pieces were coming together. Everything seemed perfect in my eyes and I gave God the glory for it.

Over the past month I have seen all my dreams vanish. All of a sudden everything changed and my dreaming came to a halt. Out of all the ways my story could have went, this was not how I ever expected it to go. I was left confused, afraid to dream. I didn't plan this.

Now I see that this is all part of God's plan for my life. If things had went as I wanted them too I would have been in a mess. My Lord knew that my plan was not the best for me so He graciousely and lovingly took my dreams away. Now am trying to live day by day, asking God what He wants me to do. Which reminds me that as Paul said in Romans 8:26, "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." Perhaps the wisest prayer we could ever pray is "Nevertheless not my will, oh Lord, but thine be done."

Even though this is not how I was hoping things would turn out, I can clearly see that this is God's will and truly His will is good, perfect, and acceptable.

"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Romans 12:2