A thought- POISON

Last night as I was attempting to go to sleep the Lord kept putting different thoughts through my mind...One of them I will share....

It is kind of convicting so beware:

Let me preface it with this, I was convicted only because no I don't watch CRAZY things or listen to music with crazy language but it was just something the Lord put on my heart.

We fill our minds, our perceptions...we just view so many unholy things, and allow ourselves to look upon or hear things that really are poison to us as believers. 

When you are watching something or hearing something that as a believer you should not introduce yourself to, or put in front of you, its like feeding yourself a little bit of poison. 

These can be simple things such as tv shows, movies, songs, the words you allow people to use around you, jokes you hear etc. 

Those things that seep a little poison into your mind are those things which hinder your walk with the Lord; they are like little doses of poison that you are feeding yourself. How much poison do you allow into your mind every day?!? 

Something to think about.

So Much....

So Much has been going on in my life lately.... I have been hesitant to blog about it but have decided it is time.

As some of you may know my boyfriend, Nick, joined the US Navy on May 19, 2009.

To be honest, this has probably been one of the hardest times in my life because more than ever I have been forced to trust the Lord. 

There are SO many emotions that come with this decision and so many questions that run through my head. But... Those things don't matter, I do not need to worry myself silly or put myself into depression, the one thing I do know is, I am trusting Jesus.

 ("For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." 2 Timothy 1:7)

Yep thats right, Trusting the Lord who created everything and knows both Nick and myself better than anyone else. I am so thankful to have His guidance and to be able to hear Him speak to me.

This has been really hard for me because, well, I wont be seeing him for a while when he leaves.. September 8, 2009 marked our 1 year anniversary together, and what an exciting year it was! So much has happened and I am so blessed to have him and his family in my life. 

The Lord has also blessed me with many great friends who have helped me and supported me, even to just listen and tell me when the Lord shows them something. Things seem confusing at times but the Lord continues to show me His plan and purpose and I am very thankful for the few who have stuck by my side even when things might not Seem to make sense.

Overall, all of this is to say that Nick will be leaving for bootcamp on November 10, 2009 for Great Lakes, Illinois.  Things will be hard, they will, I will probably have a hard time, but I do know one thing, I will be ok. The Lord has a plan and I am excited to see how he will use both of us in the situations that are to come. This is not something I ever imagined happening, but the Lord continues to speak to me and show me how he will use us in many situations. 

So... I will be using this blog to update on further events... 

on another note, school has started once again and only one more year until I get my BA in Liberal Studies... WOO HOO!!! I wish I could say then I will be done with school but then...another year will be here for credentials and then another if I decide to get my masters....

 Pray for me if you get a chance, for His Wisdom Peace and comfort when I am having hard times... and Please pray for Nick as well that the Lord would bring other Godly guys along side of him as he serves our country and above all else, our God. 

Thanks :)

"For this is God, our God forever and ever; He will be our guide. Even to death" Psalm 48:14

Worship.

August 18
	And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord: Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
	Ephesians 5:18-20
When I feel things aren’t going very well, I’m tempted to lose heart. And when this happens, I know there’s only one thing to do: speak to myself in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.  No wonder David was discouraged. He and his men returned from fighting the Amalekites only to discover that their town had been burned by their enemies, their wives and kids taken hostage.  ‘This is your fault, David,’ said his men. ‘You took us away from here.’ And so angry were they that they wanted to kill him.  So what did David do? He encouraged himself in the Lord (I Samuel 30:6). He sang songs. He wrote psalms. He began to praise and worship. As a result, he rallied his men once again and they recovered all that was lost.  Had David remained in his depressed state, not only would he have been rendered ineffective, but the women and children would have remained captive. And so will you until you begin to worship. God’s will is that you be free — and nothing will free you from the tyranny of your own situation like worship. You will be profoundly blessed and amazingly productive whenever you give thanks to God for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This Daily Devotional is an excerpt from the book "A Days Journey" by Pastor Jon. "A Days Journey" is a collection of 365 short devotions from the New Testatment.

Knowing the hope of His calling

August 8
	… That ye may know what is the hope of his calling …
	Ephesians 1:18
Throughout Scripture, the word 'hope' always refers to that which is coming, to that which is ahead. I'm convinced the single greatest problem carnal Christians have is that they don't know the hope of His calling. They don't know the reality of heaven. Consequently, they are constantly striving for material things and are continually chasing carnal pursuits. They remain in bondage, depressed, and discouraged because they don't see the big picture of eternity. If you're not happy at this moment, neither will you be with a change of location, salary, or ministry. You'll not be happy until you know the hope of His calling. That's why Jesus said, 'Let not your hearts be troubled ... I go to prepare a place for you,' (John 14:1-2). The key to overcoming a troubled, perplexed, stressed heart is to focus on the hope of his calling, on what's ahead, on heaven.  'But heaven seems so far away,' you say. 'For years, I've been hearing Jesus could come at any time. But where is He?' 'Beloved,' Peter said, 'be not ignorant of this one thing: One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,' (II Peter 3:8).  A day is as a thousand years. Maybe you're saying, 'Is that ever true! Will this day ever end?' If you are in a strained marriage, a single person aware of your loneliness, or if you're physically afflicted, a day can indeed seem like a thousand years.  'Lord, where are You?' you cry. 'I've been talking to You. I have total trust in You. But where are You?' This day is as a thousand years because in your day of difficulty and dilemma, pressure and pain, sadness and sorrow, you have the unique opportunity to share the fellowship of the Lord's suffering, and to pray for others in a way you never would have been able to otherwise. We want to get out of the trial, solve the problem, move on. The Lord, however, says, 'Not so fast. I want this day to be as a thousand years for you. The discoveries you'll make, the understanding you will glean, the gifts of praise, the expression of even frustrated prayer will affect you for the next zillion years. Because My coming is near, and your heavenly account is pretty small, I'm giving you an opportunity to make some huge investments in the few days that remain before you go to heaven.' You for whom this day has seemed as a thousand years — rejoice. Savor each moment. Extract each minute. Take every opportunity in this long, long day you're in to thank the Father for the opportunity to store up treasure which will make you rich for eternity.   This Daily Devotional is an excerpt from the book "A Days Journey" by Pastor Jon. "A Days Journey" is a collection of 365 short devotions from the New Testament.

Sent from my iPhone

Birthday Extravaganzas!

I had such a great birthday :)

On Wednesday I worked for 4 hours and then.... off to Disneyland with Nick :)

At work when I clocked in and out it put a nice greeting on the Screen wishing me a Happy Birthday :)

At Disneyland I got a free gift card because Disneyland gives you a free ticket for your birthday this year, but since I have a pass I got a giftcard for the price of one ticket. I got some cool oven gloves that look like mickey hands for when I am baking :) I also got some cookie cutters, some suckers for my niece and nephews and a Wii game called "think fast" its a Disney one, it actually turned out to be a pretty fun game...

Then we were off to BJ's....it was a long ride, we were going to go to one on the beach but apparently google maps didnt know that one closed...soooo...off to corona... lol

After that I went back to Nicks house where a nice surprise gift was given to me from his mom. Then....church, when I walked into my office I was greeted by some balloons and a few gifts along with many cards and more balloons throughout the night.

This day ended with In N Out. A few friends and myself went and enjoyed some tasty burgers after church.

Thursday I was taken to BJ's by Michelle and Bethany, it was a fun dinner and so nice to be able to get together with them :) (Yes, I got 2 birthday pazookies, is that allowed? oh well it happened... :) and they were soooo tasty!)

Friday morning at 4 am we were ready to go...so.... we packed up the car and left for Vegas. My mom, dad, Nick and myself went to pick up my sister ( Courtney) and her husband (Sean). We stopped for some donuts ( I was so hungry, weird I know for being so early) and we were headed East. After a few hours of driving (well more like sleeping, except for my dad he was driving) we were finally there! I had a great time while we were there, Kendall and Justin met us out there and we all had a lot of fun. We went through the hotels and saw the lions in the MGM and in the Bellagio we went to the pretty garden and in the Venetian we saw the Grand Canal, each one kind of has their own main thing. On the fourth of July they didnt have a huge show as I thought they would, Caesars did shoot some fireworks but the great part of the night was when they shut down the strip for a helicopter landing on the street. It was one of the shows they were going to have, the guy needed to have a grand entrance apparently... Meanwhile a guy tried to run across the street and got tackled by some cops.... His beer went one way and he went the other... anyway...It was crazy but overall it was a lot of fun. We went to PF changs one night for dinner and Serendipity for dessert. Its a famous place known for its frozen hot chocolate, the desserts were HUGE!! and sooooo yummy :)

It was pretty hot while we were there but it was a lot of fun and nice to spend time with my family....

We got home super late on Sunday night because of all of the traffic, and on Monday after work, Nick and I went to lunch and he also got me a new pair of rainbows :) (they were much needed, my old ones were really thrashed) then for dinner I made Tasty tostadas and sweet corn cake....MMMmmMmmMMMm :)

A couple of things to note:

-I am so thankful I have Jesus, people are so lost and waste their lives away

-I knew it would be bad there, I have been there before, but I think now that I am older my eyes are more open to how crazy the world is or something....

-being around so many smokers (not my family, the crazy people that were also in Vegas) made my lungs hurt, and I attribute this to my being sick

-people focus so much on things that will burn, they are searching for pleasure instead of satisfaction

-its not going to get better the world is going to keep getting worse

The Lord really spoke to me about a lot of things this weekend and really reminded me of how important it is to share His truth.

I am very thankful for my friends and family, thanks for contributing to make my birthday a great one :)

P.S. The pictures are backward so...the first one is really the last, its the ride home from Vegas... :)

21.

Today I turn 21. WOW! It doesn't really feel like it yet, it is only 29 min into my birthday but....yea. I was curious to see what time I was born so I checked out my birth certificate... I will officially be 21 years old at 7:20 PM. Anyway it looks to be like a fun day, actually fun 5 days so far.... :) I am very excited for the next 5 days. Yay! :D Thank you Lord for another year 

Just Beachy.

Its been more than a month since I posted a blog so I figured hey, why not...

So.......Summer has been Beachy indeed! :)

For those of you who have read my previous blogs, I decided to make it a goal to go to the beach once a week this summer.....Not happening, but I have gone more than I have the past 2 years combined which makes me very happy because I LOVE the beach and rarely go, well usually.....So....since my last blog I have gone to the beach 3 times... Trip number 1 Nick and I decided to take my nephew Colin to the Beach before my niece and nephew got out of school for the summer(the bottom 8 pictures are from that trip) This trip consisted of burying Colin sand fights between Nick and Colin, sand castle creations, water extravaganza...and of course a nice sleeping 5 year old on the way home :)

Trip number 2 Nick suggested we take all 3 of them to the beach, brave, I know. (the top 3 pictures are from this trip)

This trip was a little more hectic I woke all of them up and had a little more to do because you are adding 2 more people to the planning...anyway...We got down there and yet again, more burying, sand castle creating and water fun. Nick helped Dylan learn how to boogie board a little better. Colin is a little more afraid of the water at this point in time so in the picture you will see him sitting on the board right where the waves nicely brush across your feet :)

This trip ended similar to the last but this time it ended with a 5, 8 and 11 year old asleep in the back seat :)

Anyway...the most recent trip was yesterday, I went with Nicks mom and sister to the beach (no pictures for this one...)

It was a lot of fun and this time I was able to go in the water more because I wasn't looking out for kids running around.. but the only draw back is every time we have gone to the beach this summer which is 4 or 5 times now I think... there has been so much sea weed, it REALLY grosses me out...but nevertheless I have been having a blast soaking in the sun :)

P.S. I am excited for this weekend.