O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Every year we always get a real tree for our christmas tree...we spend a nite going and picking out that perfect tree and bringing it home and then decorating it as a family over the next few days. Well this year we didn't decorate it as a family...my mom put on the lights and I put on the ornaments. It was kinda boring, and different. but while i was unpacking the numerous boxes upon boxes of ornaments--homemade, glass, balls, intricate designed, etc.--the Lord spoke to me.
Last wednesday night at youth, P. Jesse spoke on Vision and the steps it takes to get there and get closer to Jesus. He used a ladder to represent the different steps. The first step was Desire. Then, Deciding. Then Seeing. Then Believing. Then Obedience. and the closer you get to the top, the less freedom you have, the closer you are to Jesus, and the more you can see. We are all on different levels of this...some are stuck on desire, some on each one, and the revolutionaries who see the vision, GOD's vision, are closest to Jesus--on the obedience level--where I am striving to be.
So, how does this pertain to christmas trees? Well, just looking at the trees, there are more branches down lower on the tree and less and less as you climb up it. and the branches closest to the top are stronger and more firm. When hanging ornaments on your tree, you don't put the most special ornaments on the bottom branches do you? you don't want a little brother, sister, niece, nephew, cousin, etc. to bump into the tree and make your precious ornaments fall and shatter. I put the prettiest ornaments and the ones that are my favorite on the upper half for everyone to see and those are the ones that wont get knocked down.
Well, Jesus is like the angel or star on top of the tree. We are the branches. And each branch is at its own level, just like with the ladder. Those on the bottom portion are not as strong and can fall off easier than the strong ones on the top. And God won't give those "bottom branches" the heaviest "ornaments" or visions, mentorees, etc. because He knows they cannot handle them...they will break and fall of the trunk (the Vine). He gives the bigger, heavier burdens or visions to those branches who are closer to the top, to the Bright and Morning Star.
As the branches get higher, they get pruned or shaped. You have things torn from you that you think you may need, but they are really just holding you down.

But, unlike my Christmas tree, once you latch onto God and grow with the tree, it is so deeply rooted- so steady- that it will never fall. Funny story, a few days after I had finished the ornaments, our christmas tree toppled over! not fun, but thankfully most of the ornaments were salvaged. ;)
--BUT THE LORD STANDS FIRM FOREVER--
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." -John 15:5

~It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas~

So i couldnt think of a good title for this post, but oh well. Im bored at school supposed to be studying for finals but whatevs. lol.

This weekend went by in a hurry, but was probably one of the best ones i've had in a looong time!!!

Friday nite was family nite! We delivered a basket to the people whose yard I had my car crash in, delivered our "Christmas Jar" (that's a whole other post that I dont wanna go into right now), picked out our Christmas tree, and went to dinner @ Famous Daves. very very fun ;)

Saturday I had a ton of errands to run in the AM plus I got my hair done!! woo woot! it's dark brown with shorter bangs and shaggy layers (LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!) and I got it for free because I won this $500 gift certificate for T'eez hair salon. I'll post pics soon (once I get my digi camera fixed :/) Saturday evening I went to a Christmas party which was fun hangin out with other leaders at youth group.

Sunday I went to church for 1st service. My brother, Peter, sang one song in it cuz it was our Christmas musical. OH MY GOSH he did an amazing job (and everyone else thought so too!) he sang go tell it on the mountain and totally belted it out dude. it was awesome {I was a very proud sister ;)} then I worked in the nursery with the itty-bitty babies 2nd service. I love that! Then my brother turned 16 today so we went out for brunch yesterday to celebrate. I came home and rushed around the house prepping for another christmas party cuz it was @ my house last nite! It was my cell group and our brother cell group (cuz mine's all girls). It was pretty much amazing! lol. but very fun. Then I had to clean up and fell into bed.

Today I'm exhausted. Right in time for finals week! yay! (NOT) but I know that the Lord will be my strength!

One more addition to this post. I was listening to my iTunes on my computer and downloaded this song by Addison Road called What Do I Know of Holy.


I made You promises a thousand times
I tried to hear from Heaven
But I talked the whole time
I think I made You too small
I never feared You at all No
If You touched my face would I know You?
Looked into my eyes could I behold You?

(CHORUS)
What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

I guess I thought that I had figured You out
I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about
How You were mighty to save
Those were only empty words on a page
Then I caught a glimpse of who You might be
The slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees

(CHORUS)
What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Find More lyrics at www.sweetslyrics.com
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

(CHORUS 2)
What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of wounds that will heal my shame?
And a God who gave life it's name?
What do I know of Holy?
Of the One who the angels praise?
All creation knows Your name
On earth and heaven above
What do I know of this love?

(CHORUS)
What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of Holy?

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving was very fun this year, because we had it at our house! There were 20 extra people who joined us, including my mom's sister Mary and her husband and 4 kids, my mom's brother Luke and his wife, my mom's aunts- Maija and Ilga and Ilga's husband and two of her three kids-, both sets of grandparents, my great grandmother (Mamu), and our new friends, Chad and "Rosie" (I will come back to that story later).



So we had a lot of people at our house, and my mom, as always, decorated so beautifully! I love the color palette and it was so much fun having almost everyone around the same table!

Because we were having so many people, my mom and dad made two turkeys: my mom roasted one in the oven and my dad grilled one. The grill one was delicious! He soaked it in this brine overnight and then cooked it on the grill.

The table settings were so creative. My mom is amazing!

Sophie was EXTREMELY fluffy that day and needed to be trimmed, but she had a lot of fun playing with Mary's kids!

So, we had two nonfamily members at our house this Thanksgiving... Chad and Elizabeth. Here's the story: My mom was at Sam's Club getting a diet coke from the fountain drink machine up front. It wasn't working, and a man tells the employee manning the stand. It is fixed and the man let my mom get her drink first. They start talking, and he tells her his name is Chad and he and his girlfriend are in Omaha because he was in construction and was sent here for a project. When they got here, though, they went to the office and there was a sign on the door saying it had been cancelled. So they are trying to find a way to get back home (Seattle area). Right now they are camping out in a tent behind Wal-mart with their supposedly stolen stove from Sams (my mom saw him unwrapping it and putting it into his backpack), in the cold. So they exchanged good-byes and my mom's heart went out for Chad and his girlfriend. So she called my dad and asked him if she could invite them to Thanksgiving. He said yes, so she gave Chad my dad's # and that was that.

We never got the name of Chad's girlfriend before Thanksgiving, so my dad gave her the nickname "Rosie". Unfortunately, her name wasn't Rosie...err, it wasn't unfortunately, but that would've been halarious if it was! (It was Elizabeth).

I thought this was a cool view. The black "frame" in the foreground is two slats on one of the chairs at the table. It kind of looks like a child's view.

This was one of my favorite Thanksgivings. I loved it because of what I have said above and because I was able to be in the kitchen a lot more. In previous years, with family gatherings at our house, I would usually make some cookies and help mom with the little household chores that needed to get done. This year, on the other hand, I cooked a lot! I did the mashed potatoes, cut up the sweet potatoes, made the cardamom carrots, made a blueberry pie, cut the bread, and more. I had so much fun doing that because I love to cook!

I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful, and full of friends, family, and food!

I also loved taking pictures of the decor this year, though I don't have many people in them! hopefully I'll get more of those in here later.

Autumnness

I must apologize for not getting these up here sooner, but life has been busy! and though winter has well approached Omaha, I love autumn, and so here are a few photos I've taken this fall.

Yes, I know I am standing in front of one of the buildings at UNO, but I really enjoyed the glimpse of God's beauty while walking to class one morning.

Immediately when I saw a rose in the rain, The Sound of Music came to mind... "Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens..." hahaha

I love my Sophie!! I thought this was a cool profile shot ;). She was a little hesitant to go out in the rain. hmm, kind of like us...we are hesitant to enter into our problems...but when we do, God shows us the beauty, the "silver lining". Cuz "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's learning how to dance in the rain!"

"We are a city, shining on the hill. We are a light in the darkness of this world. We are a city, shining on the hill, and we will not be moved, not be moved."

(Thanksgiving pics to come)

Purging

So, I've been contemplating an idea that the Lord gave me a week ago...purging.
Last week was The Kingdom youth revival at my church wed. through fri. and it was awesome. God moved in a way that everyone in the room could see and tell. I love being a leader now because I totally get filled up not only by God doing stuff in me, but seeing him doing stuff in the students.
Last Thursday night I was at the altar after a message preached by Johnny Wilson about DENYING myself, TAKING UP my cross, and FOLLOWING Jesus. Now, I've heard many sermons preached on this, but God totally used this one at this time for me! So, like I said, I was at the altar, and was praying and God suddenly downloaded this thought into my brain...Deny yourself by deleting your myspace and facebook accounts.
wow, for me, that was HARD. One, because it was my way of connecting to friends who i don't see much because of schools or whatever. Two, because it had become a habit. Facebook was my homepage when I got on the internet and i was signed on automatically. So I would instantly be notified if I had any notifications or if my friends had changed their statuses, put up new pics, etc. The funny thing is, it totally resonated with me. I really didn't fight it much that nite. I think because i was in that "revival" state of mind, surrounded by the Lord's presence along with others who were experiencing the same sorts of things. Even that night, when I got home, I wrote a "note" or "blog" on it on myspace and facebook saying that I would be deleting my accounts soon.
After friday, I was hesitant, though, because the thoughts of the devil started creeping back up.
"you don't really need to delete them."
"you could just do one, and not the other."
"wait a while."
"look at all the friends you would be unattaching yourself from!"
...etc.
For some reason, MySpace was easier to delete. As I promised, I deleted my myspace account monday, i think. I'm not saying it wasn't hard, but it was easier than I thought. I felt really good about it!
I was A LOT more hesitant with Facebook...because I like it 10x more! anyways, it took me several days to finally deactivate my account...I just did it tonight. I know it will be harder to stay in contact with people, but I believe that the ones God wants me to stay in contact with will continue to email me, or comment my blog, or call me, etc. The ones that He doesn't will fall to the wayside.
So now that the "physical" part of the story is done, I'm sure I left you wondering, "so what?" or "why?" Well, now I'm going to tie in the spiritual correlation a bit better:
Because I have my own laptop, I basically have access to the internet 24/7. I spent a LOT of time on facebook and myspace, no matter how much I can deny it, it's true. God's saying to me that it has hindered our relationship, because there is only 24 hours in a day, and the more time I spend on the internet, the less time I spend with him or prioritizing. Facebook is not a NECESSITY. It is a LUXURY. I CAN survive w/o it, and I need to learn to do it. Though it will be hard to not be "in the know" as much, God will reward me for my sacrifice.
Does this mean I will never get on facebook again? I don't think so, but I do not have a "reactivation" date set. God will give the privilege back to me when he sees fit. It's his timing, not mine, that I'm after.

Taking six steps and sacrificing,
denying myself, taking up my cross, and following,
fighting for the heart of my king and for the lost and dying,
revolutionizing,

--Allie

LOVE

"L. is for the way you look at me. O. is for the only one i see. V. is very very extraordinary. E. is even more than anyone that you adore..."

I've been thinking a lot about love lately, God's love in particular. I feel like sometimes Christians go this deep with God's love and don't realize how INTIMATE God wants our love to be with Him. His love is so amazing, so breathtaking, so indescribable, and we can just blow it off sometimes like it's nothing.
Unfailing.
amazing.
awesome.
crazy.
NO GREATER.
agape.

We need a wake up call to God's kind of love. ok people, He DIED for us. MORE than that, He sent his SON to DIE for us. let's put that into words that someone without or with children can understand...
Think of a sibling, or maybe a best friend, or a parent, or someone who is VERY VERY DEAR to you. now think of you telling that person, "Could you go die? I mean, i have all these people who I want to be with me someday, some people who haven't even lived yet. But the only way they can be with me, and we can party someday, is if you die for them." and then, SEEING them suffer in the most horrible way known to man, but getting a crown of thorns pressed into their head, having their clothes ripped from them and getting tied to a pole to be whipped with the worst thing imaginable and getting their clothes put back on just to be ripped off again, and then carrying this HUGE cross made of wood with a million splinters in it, and at the top of this huge hill they had to climb with this multi-hundred pound cross with a million splinters, laying down on top of it and having someone drive POINTY NAILS THROUGH YOUR HANDS and FEET, and then being put up for all to see.
NAKED
BLOODIED
WEAK
SCORNED AT
DYING

When I put it this way, it sounds a lot worse, huh?! well that's what Jesus went through. When I listen to the song, "You Saw Me" by Hillsong (it's at the bottom of this post), I can't help but thinking that when He was on that cross, there was a slideshow playing in his head of pictures of every single one of us. And when it gets to me, He sees why he died. He sees all my sin that I will have, all the times I will make Him look bad, and He knows that is why he is on that cross, naked, bloodied, weak, scorned at, dying.

THAT is the kind of love that God has for us, and what kind of love I'm supposed to have for him. it's not an gushy, lovey-dovey kind of love you see in movies and feel towards your significant other, it's a bloody, painful, INTIMATE love you can only have with Him.

True Fasting

Isaiah 58:1-12

Your Prayers Won't Get Off the Ground
"Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!
Tell my people what's wrong with their lives,
face my family Jacob with their sins!
They're busy, busy, busy at worship,
and love studying all about me.
To all appearances they're a nation of right-living people—
law-abiding, God-honoring.
They ask me, 'What's the right thing to do?'
and love having me on their side.
But they also complain,
'Why do we fast and you don't look our way?
Why do we humble ourselves and you don't even notice?'

"Well, here's why:
"The bottom line on your 'fast days' is profit.
You drive your employees much too hard.
You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight.
You fast, but you swing a mean fist.
The kind of fasting you do
won't get your prayers off the ground.
Do you think this is the kind of fast day I'm after:
a day to show off humility?
To put on a pious long face
and parade around solemnly in black?
Do you call that fasting,
a fast day that I, God, would like?

"This is the kind of fast day I'm after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
What I'm interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on,
and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.'

A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places
"If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people's sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones.
You'll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You'll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again." (THE MESSAGE)

you make time for me, i can't understand

So I absolutely love when God gives a revelation to me, and then I realize that it actually happened twice, cuz i didn't get it the first time! haha, but He knew it was gonna happen, so he decided to give me twice the sadness (in a light-hearted kinda way) first!!

It must have been about a month ago (wow!) that both my iPod and my camera broke in like the same week. And I totally did not know WHAT in the WORLD was going on! Those, I must tell you, are two key components to my everyday living.
Thankfully, I have a computer to play my music on and another camera that has wayy worse quality, but it's still a camera! I went a few weeks w/o them both and SURVIVED! lol.
About 2 wks ago I went to the apple store at Village Pointe, and tell them about my iPod. It just froze one day, and I even plugged it in to my computer but it wouldn't do anything. But SOMEHOW, when the guy looked at it and plugged it in, it turned on right away and worked perfectly! Oh my gosh, I felt like a dork. but at least i got my iPod working again! haha
Today I went to get my camera fixed. So I go to Rockbrook Camera and tell them that the lens wouldn't go back into the camera and stuff...and the guy pops the lens back in and it, take a guess, worked perfectly! oh my goodness, again, i felt like an idiot cuz i had tried that before and it didn't work! I thought it was this big prob. that would have costed me some money to get fixed...but it took two seconds for the guy to repair.

So then later tonight I had an "AHA!" moment from God. When we try to fix our problems all by ourselves, we can't. It seems impossible, and like it will cost us something to fix! but then, as a last resort, we hand it over to God, and he pops the lens back in as easy as that! the only thing we end up losing is our pride, which is a good thing. Why couldn't I have done it? because it took a professional. God is a professional at fixing our problems, no matter how big or small they are.

Just Stop and Think

it's so interesting that when you are just going day-to-day, living life, you don't really notice all the little things in life.I was sick the weekend before this past one, with a cold. But last monday and tuesday were basically torture for me. I could barely breathe, I had a staggering headache, cough, stuffy nose, and basically just wanted to DIE. I love having a dad who's a doctor, because he was able to order me in an inhaler on monday nite. (Hey, both my dads are doctors!! =] that's pretty sweet!)
anyways, Wednesday and Thursday were absolutely AMAZING! I have felt so free...I could actually breathe, I noticed the warm sun on my face, and was able to enjoy God's beautiful creation.He never ceases to amaze me. I've started reading a book called "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan...and have only ready through the 1st 1.5 chapters, but it is an awesome book. One of the things that Chan tells us over and over in the book is just to stop and think for a minute. We get so caught up in our daily lives...wake up, go to school, go to work, eat dinner with the family, go out with friends, do homework, watch tv, go to bed, wake up, go to school, you get the idea...that we really dont take time to stop and think.I encourage you to watch this video. yes, it's 15 min long, but it is totally worth it.



~Romans 12:1-2 "So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."~ (the message)

full and complete trust

So, if you know me, or have gotten to know me...even just a little bit in the past few months, this is probably old news to you , but bear with me. I went to a conference this summer called Desperation Conference. It's in Colorado Springs, CO at New Life Church. Basically, it's a three day worship fest with speakers and awesome worship bands leading worship. The host of this event is the Desperation Band. They are an amazing worship team being used by God to change this generation! Anyways, so I went to this conference in Colorado this summer and one (of the MANY, i might add) things that I thought God was speaking to me about is my future, because I had just graduated high school and was planning on going to UNO this year and then transferring. But for some reason, MY whole plan that I had for MY life was put into question. One of the things they were really advertising at this conference was Desperation Leadership Academy (DLA). DLA is basically an internship at New Life and with the Desperation Band plus this 24/7 program that is put on by their church. 24/7 is basically a discipleship program along with a high fitness program. And so for some reason, I felt like God was kinda opening this door for me to do this next semester. It's an 8 month program and would replace my 2nd semester at UNO. I got SUPER excited about doing this, because it was gonna be an awesome time where I felt that I would be able to figure out what exactly my calling was, etc.
Well, I felt this way up through the beginning of August (the conference was in July). I was actually leaning towards that than more school at UNO. Then in the middle of August, my youth group had this retreat and I went to it. It was an incredible 3 days that I'm not going into details with right now (that's another blog post). And again, one of the things I was thinking about and praying about was this DLA. And by the end of the retreat, I asked God to give me 3 confirmations if I should do this. And I talked to some other people about it, and they were cool with it, but it wasn't really like people were totally like, "YAH YOU SHOULD DO IT!!" type of thing.
I get home the night after this amazing retreat and I'm having dinner with my dad and brothers. I bring up the retreat for a 2nd time with my dad (we had discussed it earlier in July and he was on the fence about it). This time was different though. This time he basically told me in between the lines of his words that he doesn't think it's the best idea for me. I WAS DEVASTATED, let me tell you. I had just gotten back from this amazing time with the Lord and thought that this is what I wanted to do, and my dad basically kills that dream.
But for some silly reason, I didn't want to give it up! I was so intent on going to DLA for ME that I was basically not even listening to God. I was praying, "God, let my dad change his mind about this. Please just give me three confirmations so I know this is you."
Guess what? I didn't get my three confirmations. FINALLY I let down. FINALLY I said "Ok God." The thing was, DLA for me was exactly that FOR ME. It would be a great time of seeking God, getting to know him better, fellowshipping with other Christians, etc. But it's not where God wants me. and I can finally see that now.
I think sometimes thats how we get. We want this thing SO BAD that we will basically BEG for it, but really God is telling us "No, that's not for you. I have something BETTER planned..."
Now I'm just starting to realize what that something is in my situation. I have started getting more and more involved in the high school youth group at my church. I am one of the leaders of the cell group of all girls I go to, I'm becoming a leader at the service, I'm becoming a coach of a Teen Bible Quiz team, etc. I'm also continuing to help with the prayer team at my high school. And I know I want to go into some kind of youth ministry when I get out of school. DLA would have been a great "program" but it would not have prepared me, i don't think, for my calling in ministry. This, what I am doing right now, is preparing me!
Sometimes our vision is SO FOGGED UP, our heads are SO BIG, and our eyes are not really SEEING what God has for us. And guess what? We aren't supposed to know. I heard this once...If God showed us exactly what our lives would be like, exactly what we would do each and every day, what would be worth living for? We need to be like Abraham. God told him to leave Ur of the Chaldees without telling him where He would lead him. And you know what? Abraham TRUSTED in God, and followed Him.

Prov. 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowlege Him, and He will make your paths straight."

Here I Am, I Am Yours

Just out of curiousity, when you first read/say this, what do you think of?
Well, I had always said it from my perspective, "Here I am, I am Yours, Lord!!" But that isn't the only way you can think of it.
I was at a youth retreat a week or so ago and we were having an amazing time of worship, just seeking God's face. And we got into a time where there were no set lyrics, we were each singing our own songs from our hearts to the Lord. and then the vocalists on stage might start singing into the mic and we would sing along for a little while.
Well, we were singing these words over and over again, "Here I am, I am Yours." And I was singing them from me to God, because something I had in my heart many times over this summer was "Here am I, send me." Then one of the worship leaders, when the music died down, started speaking. And one of the things he said that really spoke to me was that it is not necessarily me speaking to God these words...it is HIM SPEAKING TO US.
He is saying, "Here I am, Allie, I am yours." Wow, how amazing is that.


I am my beloved's and He is mine!!

Shine your light

So I took this picture during the winter sometime. It really depicts how we, as Christians, should be.

One, this candle has been turned on. We are supposed to be in this world, but not of it. If you look around the picture, how many candles do you see? Just one. We are to stand out, to be different. To let Christ's light radiate through us.

Two, we are to be "turned on" all the time...not just for a few seconds here and there...when we are at church or around our parents, etc. This candle, as you can see, has been on for a long time, because of the clear ring right around the heart of the candle. The fog has been "melted" and is turning to water. Just like when we are really following Christ and living our lives for him, he gives us opportunity to "melt" the hearts of those we come in contact with. This will dissipate the foginess that has come between their vision of the Lord. Our Christ-like attitudes and hearts will lead them to Jesus, clearing the path that had been in the way because of their hard hearts and stereotypical thinking.

"Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven." Matt. 5:16

"Shine your light and let the whole world see, we're singin, for the glory of the risen King." -"Mighty to Save" lyrics

"Who's dancing? Who's singing? Who's livin a life worth living? We are, we are, we're shining the light of salvation. Who's running? Who's loving? Who's breaking the doors wide open? We are, we are, we're shining the light of salvation." -"Light of Salvation" lyrics

We are the future generation

"Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD : 'The LORD looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth,
to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.' So the name of the LORD will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the LORD." -Psalm 102:18-22

I have really begun to love this verse, because WE ARE the future generation that was not yet created, but now is created, so we can praise the Lord because of these things: God saved us, He rescued us from the chains and bondages we were in because of sin. And we were supposed to die, but He relesed us from the prison that the devil had set up for us.

And now, we don't really think anything of it. Our generation has assumed that God saved us, so we are saved and that's it. But that's not it. We need to declared the name of the Lord and praise Him for everything He has done for us. We are to assemble together as one body and unite in one song with one heart to praise God for what he has done for us. And for those who have yet to figure out that they are in bondage and condemned to death, we need to be a light, and proclaim the goodness of the Lord to them. Because what if no one ever tells them about how they can be rescued like we were? we will see them one day, but it will be us looking down from heaven to the pit of hell, where they are screaming, "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

That's why we need to raise up this generation to be a generation of believers and basically be "freaks" for God! Whatever it takes, we need to be the hands and feet of Jesus. He did it for us, why can't we do a small thing for Him?

My dream and goal is to one day see churches, or more precisely, youth churches coming together to work as one. Praising and worshipping the King together. Now that's a beautiful picture.

Dance in the Rain

The rain is coming down.
I see the darkness all around.
I can’t lift my feet from the ground.
Then I hear you come my way.
You’re calling out my name.
You said “Dance in the rain.”
So, I will…

Praise Him in the hard times
Praise Him when nothing's alright
Praise Him in the darkness of the night
I will always praise you in hard times.

How come I feel so alone,
So sullen and so cold.
I just need someone to come close.
But suddenly I come alive,
I feel you by my side.
You tell me, “There’s no need to cry.”
And I said I will…

Praise Him in the hard times
Praise Him when nothing's alright
Praise Him in the darkness of the night
I will always praise you in hard times

When you’re left out in the pouring rain
When you’re not given the time or day,
When you’ve seemed to have lost your way…
When you are worried and so scared,
When there’s a weight you can’t even bear,
When it seems like no one else could care…

Praise Him in the hard times
Praise Him when nothing's alright
Praise Him in the darkness of the night
I will always praise you in hard times

Mountains and Waterfalls