august.

i have come to a habit of updating once a month. i need to change this.

here is what happened in August:
my grandmother turned 85! she is slowly declining in her health but she made it to her birthday. she is truly on of my heroes.
i tried to upload a video of my two aunts playing the piano but it's not working so i will keep trying later.

my heart

so the last couple of days i have been listening to Jonathan David Helser. He is a musician who loves the Lord. the last couple of weeks i have been unsteady & restless in my walk with the Lord. i have become complacent once again & it has to stop. my heart still yearns for God & His presence but my actions do not show the same thing.

there is a song called "Likeness of Jesus" that JDH sings. it's a song that i love to hear because it is prayer of mine. i don't know all the lyrics so you will just have to go listen to it yourself.

recently, i went to visit my dad's side of the family. my grandmother is basically dying but i know that she is going home soon so i'm not too worried. i was very happy to see her before she goes. anyways, as i was visiting i realized that i just didn't fit in. i long for purity more than anything in this world with everything i do. it is hard to do at times but it is something i long for.
my sister & i went to church with my dad & the verse that struck my mind was in Matthew.

Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Matthew 5:8

it's been in my mind all week. also, having child like faith has been on my heart all week.

i think the Lord is trying to tell me something...

the question is if i will open my heart & ears to hear Him. i will. Will you?

it was a crazy week at work. sometimes i wonder why i still work there.
the best part about it is this: we have two cake decorators & one of them is a Christian. We talk about the Lord all the time. the other decorator is Guatemalan. i don't know what she believes but she requested to listen to Kari Jobe's, No Sweeter Name in Spanish. so we listened to it at least three times yesterday at work on the other decorator's iphone. how wonderful is that?!

it made my week after all the crazy things that happened. the Lord is good.

i started to clean & organize my room today and i came across some notes from a Song of Solomon study i was apart of in college. Here is one thing i wrote down:

"Quit negotiating when you are in God's presence, let Him like you."

it was so good to read that this morning. those words are not mine. i could not get those words out of my head all day today. "let Him like you." i am replacing the word "like" with the word "love."

"Quit negotiating when you are in God's presence, let Him love you."

Let Him love on you. i don't know how many times i do not allow Him to love on me. usually pray for myself or for others & not rest in His presence. i have to remind myself to just relax in His presence. it so good to be rest & feel His peace when i do that.

a challenge to those who read this. relax in His presence, enjoy His presence during your quiet/devotion time, allow His peace to flow through you. it's a wonderful feeling i promise.

i am challenging myself since i don't get to take the advantage to be myself when i can.

good night friends. i pray blessings & wonderful dreams to you all.

5 seconds

here are some of the kids dancing to the song of the week by Canton Jones.

another month gone

so once again it has been another month since i have updated. so here it goes:

the youth & i went to Texas, June 26-July 3.
we had a great time.
15 teenage girls & 1 female leader (me).5 teenage boys & 2 male leaders (Jason & Bo).
needless to say, we were never bored & i had my hands full.

first, we drove to Paris, TX first & ministered at Pathway International Church of God. Paris is a small town with some crazy road signs that tell you which ramp to exit onto. (i don't have a picture of that unfortunately).
the second thing we did was go to Arlington to see the Rangers play. i am now a fan :D
it was my first major league baseball game & i loved it! i actually payed attention. here are two pictures: first one is Josh Hamilton (he really loves the Lord & he's cute) & the second one is most of the Rangers stadium.after the game, i got to see one of my oldest friends. we have known each since we were one or two. she moved to Dallas ten years ago & we got to catch up! i loved it! she actually saved a few of us by picking us up from the game. all of us didn't make the trolly that takes us back to the hotel where we were staying.
the next day we got to tour downtown Dallas by riding the Dart train. We got to see the street were JFK got shot & the window where the sniper was standing. it's kind of morbid but really cool. we then proceeded to eat lunch at the spaghetti warehouse (which was super cheap). then off to shop at a mall in Dallas. it was the coolest mall i have ever been to! it basically had everything from Urban & Anthro to Dior & Juicy Couture. (i got me a fossil watch).

after our fun in Dallas, we made our way to Weatherford for the Texas COG youth camp. it was an adventure to get there, & to texas, with our GPS. we finally got settled in & had a "come to Jesus meeting" as a group. we prayed & confessed to each other & worshiped til 1am. it was wonderful because we all needed to lay thins down to the Lord before we could minister to the campers.

the camp was fun! i loved seeing my kids unite as one & see how the campers would watch them to either follow in their footsteps or not.
there were 150 kids at the camp.
with our team there ministering:
26 got saved
106 rededicated
51 got healed emotionally/physically
35 got called into the ministry
38 were filled with the Holy Spirit
I pray these kids continue their walk with the Lord & submit to Him alone.

the trip overall was fun & hard for me. I had to be in charge of the girls & the boys since i help with the dramas. we also had all of the girls, including me, in one room with one bathroom and one outlet. let's just say that was really hard for some of the girls. i had to be mean at times b/c they would not listen but what can i say... they are teenagers.

i am glad i am back home to normalcy.

this week consisted of:
work (my first open to close)
seeing HS friends
seeing toy story 3 & eclipse
hanging out with my HS girls

i'm pooped!!!
have a wonderful night.

The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching-- and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him."
Mark 1:27

I'm reading the New Testament in 30 days with my kids who are going to Texas in a couple of weeks. It has been challenging & wonderful at the same time. I am still behind but I am loving this challenge to read the Bible.

This verse above really spoke to me as well as others. The way Matthew and Mark have mentioned the word 'authority' more than once has really stood out. The people were amazed at what Jesus did... the miracles he performed as well as his teachings. The best part about it is the way he spoke. He spoke with authority & he believed in what he was saying. I have started to meet with the girls on the team to talk about what we have been reading because it is important to understand what the Word says. I told the girls today that we need this authority in our lives. We have this authority in our lives if we believe in what we read and trust what it says.

The Word is truth. I want more of this authority in the way I speak and the way I live my life. I pray that the Lord will give us this for our trip to Texas and for our lives.