Oh my goodness...

there is so much going on in my life, I cannot even begin to explain it all to you. All good, I assure you. Just really big things that I wasn't planning on going through right now. As I learned (tonight at my Beth Moore bible study) and can whole-heartedly agree to - that when God calls you to do something or brings up things that you need to address in order to move forward with your life, sometimes it comes all at once and that's the best way. To get it all out and in the open so you can breathe that sigh of relief in victory over your life. Whoooo I am almost there! I am almost there. I feel that my heart has come full circle but my life is just taking it's time to join me but I am getting there. 

I've had the wonderful opportunity to share with the youth at our church for the past 3 weeks. It has been such an enlightening time and I have met some wonderful kids with big hearts and I feel so blessed that I get to be a small part of their lives now.

As I explained before, God put Jeremiah 29:11 on my heart. I am beginning to think for more then just the youth, but more as the base for where God is calling me into ministry. 

"for I know the plans I have for you," declares

the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm

you. plans to give you a hope and a future."

2 weeks ago, I shared that God lays things on our hearts and gives us hopes and dreams for a reason. He created us and our personalities and our likes and dislikes, etc. etc. AND our dreams for our futures. I shared that those feelings and hopes are little clues to the calling that God put on our life. Then I shared that through the course of life we are often discouraged from those original hopes and dreams because maybe they don't fit the standard way of life that we're all so accustomed to. And then I encouraged them to write down those hopes and dreams that they have for their own lives and to try and not stray from the calling that He has put upon us. Everything else is just a waste of time. I've been there. He's always brought me back, but the time it took (because of me) was not worth it. I encouraged them that if even though (whatever that calling may be) it makes them stand out from all the rest around them, to take that step of faith. And usually, by doing so, you'll help more people then you ever even knew and you will be incredibly blessed. 

Then this past Sunday night I shared how, because of the things that are done to us and that we do to ourselves, we try different 'band-aids' (drugs, sex, alcohol, relationships, gossip, money, etc) and how every band-aid falls off and all that is left is a big ugly mess that is our life. And then how we try to make it better by using other types of band-aids (church, reading our bible, doing good deeds, etc) and how those too lose their adhesive and how, once again, the mess that is our life is left. But then I showed how God is the only one that can renew our life and make it whole. I shared from personal experience that once I handed my life completely over to Him and I saw how He began to clean up the mess that I had made, my trust began to build and I got curious to see all that He had planned for my life so I decided to jump head first (which is where I am now) and in doing so I have found that not only is my life whole but that my heart is whole too and that He has me in His hands. BUT, more importantly, that He had me in His hand when my life was a mess. My heart had always been whole because He wasn't about to let anything damage who He created me to be..... AMEN! 

I wish I had what it takes to preach like the glory-filled woman Beth Moore is because I feel it inside.

The Lord has done so much for me but I had to be ready and I had to put myself out there but He prepared me and went before me! I am never alone. And neither are you. Your life is a gift. Always has been. No matter if anyone around you acts like you are a gift or not. You are. Because God created you and He put His name on the gift that is your life. He's just waiting for you to open it up and see all that He has in store for you. 

The path of life He has called us to be on is not easy, but it is the best path.