Tomorrow I’m getting up dark and early at 4:30am to hop on a 15 passanger van with about 8 other people.  Then we’re going to drive 18 hours from North Carolin to Missouri.  Through the mountains, over rivers and accross the plains.

Because we’re heading to One Thing 2009 in Kansas City, MO!!

To stay updated on our journey visit IHOP-AC’s twitter.

Be sure to tune into the One Thing 2009 conference via webcast!… it’s FREE online at IHOP.org

Be blessed!!

Well… here were all the happenings of Christmas…

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!   I hope that you keep the reason of Christmas close to your heart all year-long… not the trees, cookies, gift giving, frosting, sugar, lights and traditions, but Jesus.  It’s all about remembering that He not only came to the earth a tiny baby, but He also died as a sinless, blameless, perfect, heavenly, human man… all so that we could be saved.  That’s real reason for the season… remembering His birth, death and resurrection.

May the light of His face  shine upon you this season. For He is so worthy.

Merry Christmas!

Oh yes, my dear friends, driving around and looking at the warmly lit houses in the city is a tradition in many homes across America.

Let us take a look at a few shall we?

I’m not big on the whole blow up Santa’s and Grinch’s, but hey… whatever floats your boat right?

Even downtown Graham got into the spirit of Christmas!

This one has a big ol’ waving Santa right in the middle of their walk way.

And this house takes home the grand prize for tackiest Christmas lights…

Lerry histmas Everyone!  Oh wait we’re not done…

Seasons Greetings!  Oh wait!  But there’s more…

Silly blow up decorations!  Christmas EXPLODED in this guy’s yard!

So… this house is my absolute favorite house yet.  It truly captures what it’s like to live in the sticks of North Carolina.  It really displays the redneckness of this state.  Ladies and gentleman… I give you this very enDEERing decorated house…

Merry Christmas Eve, Everyone!

Out of the whole Bible… the most made fun of, over read, over looked and offensive thing I’ve read is:

John 3:16-17

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that that world would be saved through Him.”

For God so loved the world that He gave.

He loved and so He gave.

I don’t know about you, but when I love someone… I can’t have enough of them. I want to have more of that person. I want all of them.

This isn’t just for married people… because I’m not married and I don’t know that kind of intimacy/relationship… but for friendships and relationships in general.

I don’t have this mentality of loving. So often, I try to take and take and take because I love that person so much and I want all of them OR I give, but I totally expect something in return. It’s this endless circle….

“I’ll give you something if you give me something… then I’ll give you something else and you give me something else…” and around, around, around and around again. It’s love that has been provoked by selfishness and the need of being loved.

God, however, left the statement open.

For God so loved the world that He gave. That’s it. He gave. It doesn’t say, For God so love the world that He gave His son so that the world would in return love Him back. It was so that the world could be saved.

That’s the offense. The reaction of His love is giving and not expecting anything in return. He doesn’t need our love because He is love!

He left the statement open in hopes to ignite voluntary love from the world. How blessed the Lord is when He finds people who voluntarily love Him in return. Not because they have to, but because it’s their desire.

Besides, our love is the only thing we can give to God… and it’s His love in us… so it doesn’t even belong to us in the first place.

Tonight the Lord has proven Himself… once again… to be Faithful… that’s His name by the way.

I’ll give more details after the new year about His provision ;-)

I said it before and I’ll say it again… I don’t want to marvel at the fact that my Father provided. I want to marvel at HOW He provided.

I want to stand first on the one named Faithful and True.

I am the daughter of a good, good Father.

The Bible is probably the most offensive book in the world because it says…

• There’s only one way to enter into eternal life… no other way. One way. Through Jesus… God’s son. That’s it. You don’t choose it… you’re pretty much screwed.

• There’s only one heaven and there’s only one Hell. It’s either or… you can’t hang out in limbo land until you decide. There’s not alternative paradise.

• Once you die… you’re dead. Unless God raises you from the dead… you’re not coming back to this world in this lifetime or reincarnated into a monkey of some sort. If you love Jesus then you’ll come back when Jesus comes back.

• You have to confess your sin. You have to confess that you’re a sinner and you have fallen short. It sounds blunt and harsh, but it’s the truth.

• You must forgive people that transgress against you.

• Not only do you have to forgive your enemies, but you have to love them too!

• You have to love God.

• You can’t put anything above God… He’s first… always. It makes sense… you’re first in His eyes… even He gave up His son before He gave up you.

• You have to trust in God… who, by the way, you can’t see.

• You can’t have sex outside of marriage and you can’t sleep with anyone you’re not married to.

• You can’t get a divorce.

• You can’t lie… not even those little white lies.

• You have to follow the law of the government… and yes, that means following the speed limit too.

• You can’t kill people you don’t like.

• You can’t even THINK about killing people you don’t like…

• You can’t be jealous for what other people have.

• You can’t get drunk… not even a little bit.

• You have to feed the hungry, take care of the poor and care for the widows.

• You have to honor your mom and dad… it’s the only commandment that has a blessing. So if you want the blessing…

• We’re called to hate the world. Yup, we have to hate all the fleshly desires that the world has to offer… hate it all.

Thankfully there’s the grace that Jesus poured out for us on the cross because with out it the Bible would be completely unrealistic and impossible. The only thing that we have to do is believe and know that Jesus is the only way to eternal life… there’s no way around that. (John 14:6) God gave us the easy job.

All this to say, the Bible is the most offensive book that has ever been printed… but out of the whole Bible… the most made fun of, over read, over looked and offensive thing I’ve read is:

John 3:16-17

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that that world would be saved through Him.”

For God so loved the world that He gave.

He loved and so He gave.

Well… I got another haircut…  and yes, I went even shortter than the last time ;-)

There ya go family ;-)  Love you all and if I don’t get a chance to say it… HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

God is the one who defines ‘faithfulness’ and I want to live my life according to His Word.

God is so good.

His promises are unfailing.

If only I could stop living my safe life in the protection I have created… I could live a riskier life under the protection of The Protector.  Then I might be able to see His promises be fulfilled by Him… and have no other way to explain financial provision, miracles, signs and wonders.

Oh, to know the faithfulness of God.

Well, I’m officially exhausted. I’m just tired and I want to be cranky and I want to sleep in tomorrow and I want/need to get my hair cut because it’s the beginnings of a mullet and I want to take a nice long hot shower and I would love to ignore the fact that I just wrote a really big and long run on sentence with hardly any punctuation marks.

But I can’t.

It makes me glad in my heart to know that God is much bigger than all of this.

I posted new products on my Etsy shop!

Go check them out!  All purchases go toward my monthly support as an intercessory missionary!