Season of Changes

Well, I haven't done that well with keeping up with the blogging have I? sorry! It's definitely a season of changes.

Over the summer I made the decision to leave Florida, On September 28th I may the drive up to Georgia, I'm currently staying with my dad and the family. Looking for a job and home church, but it's been a lot harder than I thought it would be. At least the part about finding a home church. I definitely miss the fellowship of friends and my church in Ft. Lauderdale and I also have realized how special it was and how blessed I was to have it. I also realized that.. if I"m going to be honest, I didn't appreciate it or value it as I should have. It's so true what they say sometimes space and distance makes the heart grow fonder, and you never really know what you have until it's gone. Of course with the move lost of thoughts and feelings have crossed my mind, I've taken notes on some and hope to blog about those things later on. 

Besides a change of location, I also got to go back to Pittsburgh for my birthday! It was a great trip, just like last December. I got to do some sight seeing, visit new places, meet knew people - it was great! I had a birthday wish list of sorts that was just between me and the Lord, and I can really say that God answered it all. It was awesome and it reminded me once again of God's love for me. I think a part of my heart will always be in Pittsburgh, the question is will I be there in the future.

I've also taken some more pictures, I had my first "paid" photo shoot, took pictures of Kate's best friend and her mom, fall pictures that came out really nice. I went around a nearby city and took some pictures to submit to a contest that was being held for TobyMac backstage passes. I won the contest and Kate and her best friend got to go backstage and meet TobyMac. I also got a bit creative at the concert and took some pictures that I think are pretty cool. Of course during my trip to Pittsburgh I took TONS! One of the places I visited was the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Garden, TONS AND TONS of pictures of all the beautiful flowers.

Besides that I've just been spending time with the family and taking it literally one day at a time.

December's Pittsburgh Visit

So I’ve tried to write this blog for months… I’ve started it many times, but never really finished it. So let’s see if this time will do the charm.

A couple of years ago, probably around 2008 I was just going through a really hard time. Friendships were dropping left and right, I felt like God was taking everything that was dear to me away and I felt like I just wanted nothing else but to RUN AWAY!! To start somewhere fresh, and leave all the pain and hurt behind.

As I talked with one of good friends about this she asked me “where would you run away to?”. After thinking a fewminutes I answered “Pittsburgh” She asked “why” I again answered “Because it’s the one city where I would be by myself but for half of the year I would have something that I really liked that would entertain me.”

Obviously I never ‘ran away’ in 2008, although I did spend a good amount of time researching which neighborhoods were the best and looking at apartments on craiglist.  Yet the idea stayed with me and it resurfaced last fall, so once again I took to craiglist and this time I even started looking at airplane ticket, part of me just wanted to atleast visit one time to see if i even liked the city. 

Well in December we got a bonus at work and guess what I did… I booked a plane ticket to Pittsburgh. I also knew of some friends that lived there that I would have loved to meet up with while and catch up with while I was there. Well Mary and Tuff not only said yeah we would love to meet up they opened the doors to their home and hosted me while I was there. They were such a blessing,  they took me in and really showed me the town.

From the Monongahela Incline

To the Market Place

  Dinner at Jerome Bettis Grill

To the Strip District

To a drive by of the Steelers Training Facility.

The Cemetery ( Hey it’s on Pittsburgh’s TOP 10 places to visit!)

Mount Washington

Steelers Game!!

Some of my favorite from around the city

It was such an amazing trip that well if I had something to describe it by it would be Ephesians 3:20 and I actually wrote the date of the trip next to that verse in my bible. That was big for me, because the closing months of 2010 where very… “gloomy” for me.

So the spark and curiosity birthed in 2008 was ignited even more on that trip, the desire has grown even more. So for the last 5 months my question to God has been “where do you want me?” and I know that there’s BIG possibility that God may have already answered that question for me and that I missed hearing the respond. I’ve honestly become so tired of South Florida, and part of me feels like there’s no future for me here.

Now I have a decision to make stay here in South Florida or move. The move decision has even gotten a bit more complicated, because besides thinking of Pittsburgh I've also thought of Georgia. Which that in itself is a miracle, I never thought I would be consider moving to Atlanta with my dad. Yet after my last visit in April I've really been thinking about it, but I don’t want to step out of God’s will.  That’s my biggest fear, steeping out of God’s will for me, yet at times I feel like I already have.

A Love Story?

Last week as I read over some of the news coming out of Joplin , Mo and the devastating tornados I saw something that really caught my eye. It was the story of a wife and the sacrifice her husband made.

The Weather Channel did an interview with a young woman whose husband of 6-years, a former High School football star, threw himself over her in their bathtub to protect her and them from flying debris as their house was being ripped apart by the tornado.  He suffered a terrible puncture wound from a piece of large debris that went through his back and died shortly after. 

As soon as I read that I thought of Ephesians 5:25 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” and the scripture came to life. This man loved his wife so much, he put himself in harm’s way to protect her. He took the hit, whatever it took to protect his wife, and it cost him his life. I don’t know what this man’s faith was, if he was a believer or not, but he loved his wife the way that God called him to. I'm sure it will a story that will be retold many times, a story of love, a husband's love for his wife. 

Give Me Faith

There's a new worship song that they've been singing at church. I personally love it because it's the cry of my heart now, and it might be my "Theme Song" for this year. Here are the lyrics. 

 "Give Me Faith" - Elevation Worship
I need you to soften my heart
To break me apart
I need you to open my eyes
To see that You're shaping my life

All I am, I surrender

Give me faith to trust what you say
That you're good and your love is great
I'm broken inside, I give you my life

I need you to soften my heart
To break me apart
I need you pierce through the dark
And cleanse every part of me
Give me faith to trust what you say
That you're good and your love is great
I'm broken inside, I give you my life 

I may be weak
Your spirit strong in me
My flesh may fail
My God you never will

Happy New Year!

Why does it take a “new” thing to create change in us, to bring out action in us? Why is it that we often wait until the “new year” or “new month” or “new week” to makes changes, correct bad habits, and start new dreams instead of doing it NOW?

I’m so guilty of this, with this new year I’m trying to make changes, stick to a reading plan, spend more time doing devotionals, spend more time on myself and stop worrying about the things I can’t control – I tend to do that a lot, worry about things that I can’t do anything about, that I can’t control. Yet I’m trying to change now, in the New year… I wonder how different the fall of 2010 would have been if I had resolve to even just try a little back summer/early fall to change. When I was really starting to unravel… maybe there wouldn’t have been such wasted time on my part. Maybe more dreams would have come to be, maybe I would have been able to do more ministry… instead of… well doing nothing. God knows – He’s in control and I can only pray that he will redeem the time.

With that my SSMT verse is Isaiah 43:18-19. This is a verse that I felt God first gave to me last Dec. 31 2009, yeah I know a whole year later.  I so often tend to want to live in the past and hold on to those form things-whether it's friendships, people, feelings, memories, "what ifs", regrets, points of view, fears, traditions and so much more. It's time to let go and see what God has in store for 2011.

Isaiah 43:18-19

“Forget the former things;
   do not dwell on the past.
 See, I am doing a new thing!
   Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
   and streams in the wasteland.