just a glimpse of my heart

Memories can be a funny thing. They can flood over you with no notice at all. They can be triggered by a person, a song, a smell, or food. They can be cherished or they can be dreaded. It’s always been amusing to me how some memories can stay so well preserved in our mind. I have found most memories are there because that incident was paired with a surplus of emotion– either a surplus of love/laughter or a surplus of pain.

Here I am, a 34 year old woman and I can clearly remember making mud pies in the little alley-like strip of yard between the house and the fence where  I lived as a kid. I remember falling down the back steps of that same house and having scratches on my nose. I can sing ( although I would never do this and am surprised that I am even admitting it) the song from my Christmas play in third grade. I remember staring out the window at all of the damage as we drove back into town after hurricane Hugo. I can remember catching crickets in my backyard. I remember what I wore to my granny’s funeral. I can show you the spot where my brother and I would go outside and pray when our parents were fighting. I remember the first time I saw Otis at a basketball game and then the first time he walked into our church for a Sunday night service.

My point is that not all memories are created equal, yet they all have a hand in making us who we are.

Some we want to remember- we take pictures and save ticket stubs. Others we pray to forget.

So here is my question- why are we so quick to conveniently forget about all that God has done for us?

I have pretty much been in church my whole life. Have I made mistakes? Yep. I clearly remember when I was making those mistakes, knowing that it was wrong and not what God wanted for me…..but also trying desperately to just fit in.

When I look back at my life, I can see all of the times that God has so obviously has His hand upon my family.

I mean He has protected us and provided for us. He has been our healer. He has been our constant when the world seemed  to be falling apart. When stress is doing its best to overtake us, He is where we find our peace.

I could name specific stories over and over, like when Otis was held at gunpoint in a robbery or when Gary fell down a flight of stairs at 11 months old.

The biggest example that sticks out to me is the fact that I never imagined that we would be where we are in ministry.

When I was in college, I only changed my major twice. I went in my freshmen year thinking that I was going to be a teacher. Then I saw all of the extra work that seemed to be associated with that. I took the basic classes for a while under the “undecided ” label. I remember sitting in my counselors office and her asking me if I was a religion major. My quick response was ‘of course not’. She just noticed that I had taken a lot of religion courses and that they were some of my highest grades. Back then ( makes me feel kinda old saying that), but everyone at my Christian college that was a religion major was going to be a pastor. I was just a Christian girl that enjoyed those classes, but was not going to be a pastor. I remember deciding on the major of humanities and fine arts simply because that would allow me to take the most religion courses without actually being a religion major.

If I would have known then what I know now. Just saying.

So why after years of seeing Gods faithfulness in my life time and time again, do I make the choice to stress and worry over the details of this life. I mean, especially when I know that He has clearly called me and spoken to me specifically about things to come and direction. I was purposeful in calling it a choice because that’s what it is. We choose to dwell in our worry. We choose to ignore all of the facts right in front of us– all of the memories of God doing exactly what God does. He shows up right on time.

Even though we have amazing memories and testimonies of Gods goodness and faithfulness, some times it can be so hard to trust.

To wait…

To take that step…

It’s like the moment when you jump with one of those bungee cord attractions. You’re  scared at first. There is a brief moment in time where you wonder what’s taking so long because you have taken the leap, but your cord has not tightened yet. Then it does and you wonder why you ever doubted. And after you are on a high and ready to do it again.

That doesn’t mean that you still won’t get butterflies or anxiousness the next time.

Life seems to be a series of trusting over and over. Don’t let the fear overtake you. Look back and think about all of your memories.

God is so faithful and He shows up right on time.

“Understand, therefore, that the LORD your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.”

‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭7:9‬ ‭NLT‬‬
“Remember the wonders he has performed, his miracles, and the rulings he has given,”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭105:5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

A few posts ago, I talked about how I had been quite slack on my reading lately. I also shared that I was working on it. One day while scrolling through Pinterest, I saw a link to a blog where the reader shared each month the books that she had read and her opinion on them. I thought that might be a fabulous way for me to hold myself accountable. I mean, who would want to write or share a post with only one book??  So, my goal is to have at least two books per month completed. This past month I was able to cover more because we went on that wonderful relaxing getaway where I lounged by the pool and read every day! 😃 So even though this is my first post with this topic, don’t think that this many books will be included each month! 

  
The first book I read was Live Original by Sadie Robertson. This is Allie’s book. She received it as a gift  and had already read it. She told me that it was really good and she wanted me to read it myself. It is written by a teenager for tweens and teens, so it’s pretty easy reading. It has a great message for young girls!! 

The second book was Life is______ by Judah Smith. My husband is a huge fan. He has met Judah Smith, cherishes that selfie, heard him speak and read his books. I heard him last year at the Hillsong Conference. The book was really great. I really like his style. It had really great points in it, but it was also easy to read. It flowed really well and I am already looking forward to reading another book by him.

I also read Undaunted by Christine Caine. This book taught me a lot about her back story– things that I had no idea about. The timing was perfect for me to read this book as it reminded me that God can make a way where things seem impossible. Her testimony served as an excellent example of how if God calls you to do something, it will work out no matter how much things may seem to be stacked against you. 

The fourth book I read was The 4:8 principle by Tommy Newberry. This book is one that I’ve had for years and have just never read it. It is based on Philippians 4:8. It’s all about thinking positive and training your mind to think this way. This was not my favorite book. I made myself finish it, just because I’d had it so long and had already started it. It is written like the author is teaching you- he refers to himself as the coach all throughout the book. I know there are tons of people out there that love this book, it just wasn’t my cup of tea. I do however totally appreciate the content. I believe and have been told that is the way I think naturally. So, being a person that already tends to lean on the positive side of things….the book was a little repetitive.

The last book I read was The Fringe Hours by Jessica Turner. This book wrecked me . It had such an impact on me that I almost immediately knew that I wanted to pass it on to someone else and I already have. It spoke to me as a wife and a mom that is juggling a lot. I also tend to put a lot of pressure on myself and this book addressed that in the most real way. 

All of these books truly blessed me…. Some more than others. None of them were a waste of my time. 

I’m not sure if anyone will even read this. If so, maybe you are looking for your next book to read. Who knows …..maybe you will pick up one of these….

Happy reading! 

today will not go down in history as one of my best days…..

I have been frustrated ALL DAY LONG.

I woke up later than normal and decided that I would flip our normal homeschool routine to see how the kids responded and if it flowed better….

It was a disaster.

School work was not done. Chores were not done. One kid was not showing a single ounce of responsibility and one kid was caught in a lie. You might think that I’m over reacting, but those are both big character traits to me. I’m not teaching little kids…. I’m training people that will be adults one day. I always tell them that I am more concerned about their character and the kind of humans they will be in the world then I am about their comfort at the moment. Little lies and being irresponsible are not creating good habits. So, I’ve spent the afternoon lecturing and fussing. Otis walked in from work and was almost immediately passing out punishments.

I felt like a failure.

These are the kids that we pray over and chose to homeschool so that we can raise them up —- and they know better then how they are acting…

I found myself crying and upset and just having all these thoughts bombard me-

(Now I’m gonna be real honest here)

– am I making a mistake?

– now we are half a day behind schedule in school

– why are they acting  like this- what have I done wrong?

– plus the laundry sure didn’t get done today

– and after this crappy day, I get to go work 8 hours

– and I’m going to miss church tomorrow night and that always throws my week off

– I just feel like the balance of my home is off and I feel responsible- chaos and unorganization are everywhere

-I’m telling them that they need to do better, but I need to do better as well

So I’m crying ( or blubbering) these thoughts out to God and praying for peace and insight and His presence to cover me…

I pull into the parking spot at work and I text Otis to let him know I’ve  arrived…..

Now, just yesterday I put a devotional in my car. My intention was to read a devotion every night before I go into work. I even put a highliter in my cup holder. Last night was great, I even read two.

But tonight….ugh

I picked up my phone to send that text to Otis and I saw that I had gotten an email that a blog I follow had a new post. I clicked over and read it. Then I felt convicted, because in those two minutes that I read that blog….I could’ve read my devotion.

So, I opened the book….

Know what the scripture was for the day?

“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in Your book.” – psalm 56:8
(Deep sigh)

God’s got me. And my husband. And my kids. And my fears. And my imperfections.

And wherever you are tonight, He’s got you too!

This time of year we always look forward to the ilead conference in myrtle beach that is hosted by our district youth directors. It is always a great time that sometimes confirms things to us and sometimes challenges us, but always blesses us.
I usually do not get to attend the entire event. Otis goes with the kids and then I will drive up after work on Saturday morning and attend the last day with him. This year, we decided that I should use some vacation time and go to the entire conference. (great idea!!) The only thing was that I didn’t want to waste the first part of my week off, so we decided that we would take a quick little trip somewhere. I threw around some ideas to him in the months leading up to the trip. We never really set anything in stone until about a month before. We have been so busy and so exhausted, we decided that we were going to take a trip just to rest and relax.
We headed to Hilton Head.
We decided to not plan any “to-do” things while we were there. This was the hardest part for me. Have you ever seen that episode of Full House when the Tanners are on vacation and Danny has the ‘Tanner Family Clipboard of Fun’?? Well, that’s me. Mine is not a clipboard though…it is usually a manilla folder with printed out info on places, costs, directions, hours, restaurants, and even a few different drafts of itinerarys inside. Sounds kinda bad when I have to actually admit that out loud. I found myself googling things to do and had to make an active decision to stop. HaHa. We needed to plan for that time to be specifically about resting. Our only goal was that we were going to sit back and read by the pool…a lot. Friends literally laughed at us when they saw that bag of books that we were taking.
Let me just tell you, it was fantastic. I spent the majority of my days just like this….

 
The kids loved having all of that time for the pool. Usually when we go on vacations, we are so busy doing all the other stuff that the destination has to offer that the pool is usually a ‘if we have time’ type of thing.

The only reason we set alarms was to make sure that we did not miss the free breakfast. We lounged and swam and ate and walked on the beach and played putt- putt. We made great memories. We all enjoyed the downtime. It was refreshing.

We left after four days in Hilton Head and headed to Myrtle Beach for the ilead Conference. This was such a great year- not only because I was able to go, but also because our youth leaders were able to attend and meet us there. I may be a tad bit biased, but I love these people. They are so dedicated and hardworking. Otis and I have both said that we have worked with many different people over the years, but there is something different now. I believe with all my heart that God is preparing us for greater things to come.

It is always such a blessing to see friends that pastor and lead at other churches all over the state. Some of these people are our dearest friends. They encourage and support us and lift us up in prayer.

  

The speaker was marvelous and really made us think about how we judge ourselves and success. We have already had meetings going over what he said and are all in the process of reading his books. We want to be prepared- we believe huge things are coming our way in Fuel.
We enjoyed shopping, laughing, eating, and hanging out with these guys. The second night, there was a geek themed party. You know that since we were all there, that we had to do this thing right! 🙂 Go big or go home!

  
This week was so good to us all the way around. I will be forever thankful for the people that pour into us and stand along side us in ministry. I am also working on being more obedient to God’s voice regarding rest. It seems that every blog, article, devotion that I open lately has been talking about what the Bible says about rest.

What can I say…I’m a work in progess….

Summer is over. We have started school again and are anxiously awaiting cooler weather. Toward the end of the summer, I realized something. I had not read an entire book all summer long. I love being inspired, growing, and learning while reading. I love the way that God can speak directly to me through a book that may have been sitting unread in my home for months. I used to be the reader of our house. Otis has since taken that title from me. Even he mentioned that he hadn’t read as much over the summer as he had hoped. My second realization is that I hadn’t taken a picture with my camera in months. I love taking pictures. I have taken plenty of photos, but I had only used my phone. That  shocks me! The busyness of life had distracted me from some of my favorite things!
-the unfinished fence in the backyard

– the 37 loads of laundry that need to be done

– that white trim that I have been meaning to put a fresh coat of paint on

– cleaning out my closet

– the never ending list of house projects

These are a few things that are not my favorite, yet they consume my mind and time. 

I read a quote on Pinterest this week that basically said life was not meant to be lived in survival mode. Society has created this rush and pressure- everyday is a new chance to cram in as much as we can and push ourselves harder than the day before.
….but at what expense….???

I have a stack of books that I am planning to read THIS MONTH. I have also used my camera numerous times and have been surprised by how much I missed it. 

Everyone is in transition mode right now. We are transitioning to the back to school routine and also (hopefully) about to transition to cooler fall weather. Make time for the things you love. Don’t let time pass you by while you are just struggling to make it. Don’t live your life in survival mode, because really what kind of life is that at all?!?

I was recently faced with a situation that I was aware of, but chose to ignore. It could have really bothered me. I chose to do my very best to not worry about. No one was being hurt. I just questioned a decision that was made, or honestly had not even been made yet. It was the kind of thing that crept into my thoughts every now and then. I always just pushed it back out.
Then it came at me front and center….to the point where other people were asking me about it. So, what was I supposed to do? Lie? say it didn’t bother me? or just brush it off and pray for the best? Close my eyes and hope that it goes away? 
This is what I chose to do-
I knew that those in charge were making the necessary decisions. I asked a few very close friends….
Not acquaintances. 

Not Gossipers. 

Not untrustworthy individuals. 

I asked people that have held me up in prayer before and that I have prayed for myself…people that give of themselves and have proven to be hardworking and obediant to God. I asked them to pray for me. I asked them to pray for God’s will to be done and that I would have peace. I asked them to pray that I would not allow something this little to form anger or bitterness that would take root in my heart. 

My family is too precious. My calling is too time sensitive. 
I have always believed that one of satan’s biggest weapons is distraction. we get so worked up and distracted by little things that hold no weight in the realm of eternity. we often allow those things to wreck us. why in the world would the enemy have to totally destroy you if he can just distract you and have the same results? we are distracted by busyness and perfection. we are distracted by material possessions and wealth. we are distracted with popularity and self worth. Quite honestly, we can be distracted by the poor decisions that other people make. These things consume our thoughts and over time we find ourselves completely unsatisfied.
We used to call ourselves blessed. At one time, we felt so honored to be serving God and nothing else mattered. Now all of a sudden we wonder why things aren’t going according to our own selfish desires and we become bitter.
Guard you heart, friends. 
Don’t allow pride, bitterness or anger to creep in and wreck you. if you give it room in your heart and mind, it will eventually destroy you. 
We face circumstances all of the time that might leave us feeling those negative emotions. Take a moment to consider the importance. If it is a big deal, speak to authorities over you and address the situation in a Biblical way. if not, squash the drama. don’t dwell on it. don’t gossip about it. don’t make vague social media posts dancing around it. Don’t allow it to take root in your heart. 
Trust that God has you. He holds you in the palm of His hand. He knows your coming & your going and the desires of your heart. He knows what you can handle and what will break you. 
Walk in your calling and trust Him completely. 
I have a plaque hanging in our home that reads, “write your hurts in the sand and carve your blessings in the stone”. 
Hold on to the good and plant those seeds in your life. Nurture the blessings and friendships. don’t let drama creep in and take root. 

whatever you choose to plant, is what will eventually grow. 

Allie had been asking for a while to repaint her room. She is eleven and headed into sixth grade. When we moved into the house, she was five. Her taste has changed just a little. When we first moved in, she picked pink walls and a Hannah Montana comforter set. We have changed her comforter, curtains, and even her bed over the years. I was avoiding the major task of actual repainting. Two reasons- #1) I HATE painting and #2) she has a ton of stuff. I tell her all the time that she is going to end up on the show ‘Hoarders’ when she is older. She wants to keep everything and purging things out results in major meltdowns and tears. 

We had talked to her about what ideas she had and what colors she liked for a new room. About a year ago, we put a loft bed in her room to try and give her more space. She is way too tall for that now. Otis and I decided that when she went away to church camp for the week that we would get as much of her room redone as we could, so that it would be be a big surprise when she got home. 

You may have to close your eyes because these next few photos are extremely painful for me to share, and so I can only imagine that they might be just as shocking and painful to view.

This is what her room looked like when she left for camp-   
   
I could make excuses and say that it was this bad because of the chaos of packing, but the truth is that is looks this way more than it does neatly organized. 

(Insert a visual here of me hanging my head in shame)

She had a few requests when the topic of her room came up- 

1) she wanted a bigger bed. I told her that a larger bed would take away a lot of her space, but she did not care. She begged for a larger bed.

2) she wanted a mirror– that’s an easy request!

3) she wanted to use teal and gray for her colors and she liked the idea of having opposite walls.

4) she wanted a gallery wall. She has wanted this for quite some time. It is been talked about for so long that even for her last birthday and this past Christmas, I went ahead and gave her pieces for it.

Her room is still a work in progress. We still have to take out the fan and put in the new light fixture that we bought. We also need to get another shelf for over her second window.   She was surprised when she arrived home from camp. She absolutely loves it! She has done a much better job at keeping it clean and I have noticed that she spends more time in there now. 

This is what her room looks like now-

   
    
   
Like I said before…. It is a work in progress. We are all pretty happy with how far we’ve come though!!! 

As most of you that are my friends on social media know, we spent this entire week in Florida with a handful of our youth at General Council. This is an event that happens every other year within the Assemblies of God. It is a huge conference that people come from all over the country (and even a some from out of the country) to attend. A/G Pastors and their families, along with students that are participating in National Fine Arts fill the Orange County Convention Center. The week is filled with FAF performances, business meetings, trips to the exhibit hall, receptions and nightly services. It’s a great time to see friends that are all over the place serving in ministry. 

This is the fourth year that we have brought students to general council. Usually this trip is kind of a laid back &  leisurely trip for us. In years past, we have spent numerous days at theme parks with our students and wandered the convention center free of any real schedule restrictions. We have usually spent free afternoons at the mall, downtown Disney, or the hotel pool…. While attending services at night.

This year we decided to participate in the AIM missions trip for the first time. Our students were pumped at the thought of a missions trip. During the planning/ registration process, we found ourselves slightly discouraged as it did not seem to be very organized. I’ll be completely honest, I headed into the week with some nervousness and anxiety. We found out that the groups that signed up to participate had been assigned to host churches ( local churches at which they would be working). Our host church backed out. As far as the scheduling goes, we would be doing AIM work from 9-4 on Tuesday through Friday and have Monday as our only free day. Another bump in the road for me was that we found out that we were not allowed to bring Allie and Gary on site with us.  We explained that Allie was technically in youth now, but for insurance reasons they had a cut off for birthdays and she did not make the cut. The council had a kids camp that we signed them up for, however the times did not align with the AIM schedule. So we also decided to rent a car once we arrived in Florida so that I could get around on a different schedule that the rest of the group in a easier way than the church van. 

We left Sunday right after morning service with six students and the Fulford four. We headed to Florida in the church van with a uhaul full of luggage- we had to pack multiple outfits per day since we would have work during the day and service at night. We had a smooth trip down. A fuel student that now lives in Florida drove to Orlando and was waiting at the hotel to surprise our group. So, basically as soon as we arrived tears were being shed. She went to dinner with us and we had a great first night in Orlando.

We woke up Monday excited to spend our free day at universal studios. We ended up buying everyone two day tickets and decided that we would skip service one night and head back to the park after our missions work one day during the week. Monday would be our full day at the park. We did have to go register  at the convention center and pick up the rental car before we went into the park. We also had orientation at 4pm for the missions work and so the plan was to get the car, go to registration, go to the park, go to orientation, and then go back to the park until closing. Otis and I both went in at the rental car place and left the students and our kids in the van. We had signed the paperwork and were headed out a back door to get the car, when I heard someone yell my name. One of our students came running down the hall saying that another student had gotten sick in the van. Happy Monday to us! Ugh! So I went with her and ran back out to find our group had bailed out of the van and standing on the sidewalk with grossed out looks on their face. So, to summarize a disgusting thing— we basically  had to do a quick clean…..then go back to the hotel…..get the student taken care of…..take the seats out of the van and clean it. Luckily whenever the van was cleaned out before our trip, the spray bottle of the really strong orange smelly spray was left in the van.   We joked about it on Sunday when we left, but we were so thankful for it come Monday!! 

I stayed at the hotel with the sick student and Otis took the rest of the group to the park. By the time they came back before orientation, he was feeling better. We all went to orientation together and then enjoyed a few more hours afterwards at the park.

Orientation was interesting. We learned that since we had no host church that we would be doing flyer distribution. I could see disappointment on some of our students faces. Let be honest, you want to come home from a missions trip with stories of helping the homeless or ministering to children…..flyer distribution is not a very glamorous assignment. We rolled with it. We prayed as a team, worked to keep spirits high, and headed back to the park. 

Tuesday morning would be our first day working. We drove to the middle school that would be hosting a convoy of hope event that Friday. Our job was to canvas surrounding neighborhoods and go door to door passing out flyers for the event. We did that from 9-12, then stopped for an hour lunch, and then worked from 1-3 or 4. I came late after dropping the kids at the convention center and then had to leave at 11 so that they would be picked up and we could meet our group for lunch. The afternoon time was the main part where the schedule did not line up. The kids camp did not start back until 2:30, so if our group finished at 3 or 4……there was no real point in taking them to the afternoon session, since it took about an hour to take them, drop them off, and get back on site.

  
I picked up the kids and met our group for lunch and I was mad. I was frustrated and in tears. I walked into the zaxby’s crying and totally not feeling it. I was just having a selfish meltdown. The teens were already seated and eating. Otis got our food and let our kids sit with the students and we sat alone. We talked things through. I was just feeling like what the heck was I going to do– not being able to really be anywhere fully. I just felt like I was going to spend all week running around and like I wasn’t going to be in the stories, memories, or pics. After lunch, he went back to canvassing with the students and the kids and I went back to the hotel and slept. 

We had a great service that night at which George Wood spoke about Elijah and Elisha. He spoke the passing of the mantle. He talked about how the older generation must have something worthy to pass down- something that the younger generation desires. It was a great service and we always enjoy hearing him speak. 

   
 After we got back to the hotel, we all met in one room and talked about the day. This was where all of my frustration was taken away. The students  talked about the people they talked to in the neighborhoods and about how  they they knew their work would make an impact come Friday. I just felt like the Lord was speaking to me as I listened to each of them talk about their experiences that day. We were telling them that no matter how unimportant  the task might seem, God uses it to fulfill His purpose. The Lord reminded me that one of my greatest jobs is being a mom. I would spend the rest of the week doing what moms do–  running around, buying bottled water, checking on teenagers health, getting in their business to make sure they were following a budget, taking care of sick students, providing ibuprofen, and doing head counts. He reminded me that it’s an important job and essentially on any trip (and especially one that is a week long) that I am the mom of the group. I felt a new peace and knew that from then on I would not worry about how much time I was able to spend wherever- I would just do what needed to be done and do it cheerfully. The rest of my week was phenomenal and those little end of the day meetings became one of my favorite things. 

Wednesday we did the same type of canvassing. Everyone seemed to be impressed with how hard our team worked and how quickly they covered ground. We spent the afternoon visiting the exhibit hall and wanted to be early for service. We wanted to get the best seats we could because Kari Jobe was leading worship. 

  
   
 
There are no words to even describe the service Wednesday night. You would think that  a service with that many people would not be personal, but God is so personal no matter how many people are around.  Claudio Freidzon was the speaker and this was labeled as the “youth service”. The altar time was certainly life altering. Our youth worshiped and went after God with all they had.  

 
During the altar time, the speaker asked us to get with another person or two and begin to pray over them. I watched as my husband prayed over the student next to him and then crawled over chairs to make his way down the row and pray over each and every student. The end of the day meeting was inspiring as our group talked about how some of them had never felt God in that real of a way ever. 

Thursday was another day of passing out flyers. Our students were amazing day after day. We are talking about August in Florida— it was HOT. They were walking 7-10 miles a day in this heat. I never heard one complaint. The services ran so Late that our dinner options were limited to places like IHOP and Perkins: again no complaints. They were waking up early and getting to bed late. They were working in the heat all day and doing repetitive work. They were chased by dogs and had doors slammed in their faces. They never stopped. We had two students that could also speak Spanish which was quite handy. I am so proud of them. 

Thursday was also the night that we skipped service and headed back to the park for a few hours. 

Friday was the big day! This was the day of the convoy of hope event at the local middle school. We had to wake up at 5:30 am to be onsite by 7am. The event started at 9, but they wanted everyone on site by 7 to bag groceries.

   
   
The bagging of the groceries was basically a giant line. Pallets of groceries were in a line and students were at every pallet. Other students started at the front with a grocery bag and walked down the line getting each item put in the bag. They would tie off their bag, add it to the pile, and go back to the front to do it again. The end result was this-

   
 
Families were already lined up before it was time and before we were even finished bagging groceries. 

  There were several stations at this event and different groups were assigned to the different stations. There were shoes being given away (provided by TOMS), they offered haircuts, family portraits, lunch, a kid zone with inflatables, entertainment with a d.j. and some fine art performances. They were also brought to a connection area and then given groceries before they left. The connection area is where our group worked. This was essentially a prayer tent and we hoped for this assignment all week. How great is God that we worked so hard all week and then got the area that we were hoping for! I am confidant in our students and I know that they know how to pray. Not all youth groups are like this. I knew that ours would be able to handle this job. When families came to the connection tent, we had chairs set up in circles of four. We would bring them to a circle of chairs and simply connect. We could ask for prayer requests, pray for them, share testimonies, and give them Bibles to take home. 

  
 
It was a powerful afternoon. 

We did face an sudden afternoon rain storm and our kids ran out in the rain to grab the bags of groceries and frantically get them back on the truck so that they wouldn’t get soaked. We were moving paperwork and Bibles Out of the rain. They jumped into action and ignored the fact that they were getting absolutely soaked. 

  
The event ended at two and ended with quite a bit of extra work. The groceries that had been quickly put on the truck had to all be unloaded and reloaded neatly. Floors had to be swept and mopped. Tables and chairs had to be moved. Everyone was exhausted and wet and just kept going. After the work was completed, we all gathered and had a quick debriefing with the coordinator. The numbers were amazing. The also asked Kyra to share her testimony from the day. She was the only student that they asked. How amazing is that! 

  
  
The convoy of hope coordinator along with other leader from the AG leadership and others made a point to go to Otis and praise our group. They really were amazing. I couldn’t be more proud. 

That night was the celebration service where they announce the winners and showcase select Fine Art participants. It is always a fun service. You usually get to see some amazing talent. My favorite are the human videos. 

  
We decided that since we had a week full of early mornings, that we would sleep in on Saturday before heading home. 

We ended up staying up late with laughs and silliness- typical youth trip stuff. 

I love these guys. 

We slept in on Saturday morning then went to the mall for lunch. We let everybody hang out for about an hour before heading home. 

We are currently 45 minutes from home. 

I’ve had a great week- God has done amazing things in us and through us. 

This past weekend was what we consider to be our biggest youth event of the year- The Stand. It is a weekend long youth event that we hold at our church. This is the 5^th year of this event and by far this was the best year ever!

We changed things up a bit as far as what Saturday consisted of this year. In the past, we have brought in speakers and worship leaders. We have had years that we spent the bulk of Saturday doing community work- such as working at a homeless shelter, clothes closet, or doing house & yard work for a female that lives alone. We have also had years that we spent Saturday playing games. We thought it was going to be tough to top last year’s human bowling! In the years past, we have had a Friday night service, a Saturday night service, and then the event ends after church on Sunday Morning.  We always feed the students Friday night, three meals on Saturday, and breakfast on Sunday morning. We have posters, post cards, and shirts made for this event. We give out prizes (and try to make them good prizes)! It is a huge deal to us! We pour hours of planning, preparation, and prayer into this weekend.

This year was phenomenal.

On Friday afternoon the students arrived at 5:30 and we just gave them time to socialize and play basketball ( cause the boys will default to playing basketball anytime they have a spare two minutes). We fed them dinner and opened the doors to the youth room for a 7:00 service…a glow worship service. We put in new lights and black lights. We passed out glow necklaces, bracelets, and glasses. The time of worship was high energy. The floor was literally shaking as the students jumped.

We had a great message and altar call led by Zach Arnold, who is a leader in our youth band. He just graduated from college and is headed to Bethel. 

After service ended, we had an ice cream bar with over a dozen toppings for the students to choose from. After that is was free time until bed.

On Saturday, we woke up, showered, and served everyone breakfast. We had a 10:30 service with Daniel Benton, who is a youth pastor with his wife Kelsey in SC. Each time we had a service, we also had an amazing time of worship with our youth band. They really put in time and prayer and it showed. We had a few minutes of free time ( we scheduled this so that we would not be rushed at any service during altar times).

We served them lunch and then we headed to the field next door for a color war. Now let me just tell you about this color war. We researched how to make our own color powder and it seemed to be much cheaper than ordering the pre-made product. We just had no idea how long it would take. Once we got the hang of it, it wasn’t difficult…..just time consuming.  Basically we had about 30+ hours invested into making this powder. It was all hand sifted by our amazing team. And although by day 3 of working on the powder, we were all pretty sick of it…..we would do it all over again because the color war was better than we could’ve imagined. So when we are preparing for #thestand2016, we will start on the color months out instead of the week of!!

The color war was so fun and the powder went pretty far. We also had squirt bottles with water and food coloring inside which helped the powder to stick. I was expecting it to be over in like five minutes, but it wasn’t. Everyone loved it.

The shower time after the color war took a little longer than normal because of all the extra scrubbing.  After that, we had a 3:30 service with Seth Duvall, who along with his wife Amy are also youth pastors in SC.

All of the speakers this year are dear friends of ours! We are so blessed that they all chose to come and be a part of this weekend!!

We had one more service on Saturday Night at which Otis spoke. We had amazing times at the altar after each service. Otis had just come back from two weeks of camp and shared testimonies with me of teens being healed. Well, this weekend I was privileged to see that first hand. I don’t know the number, but we had multiple healing and breakthroughs as all of the leaders prayed and spoke life over these students.

It really was more than I could have ever imagined….but isn’t that just like God!

So, as a quick summary….

3 days….

6 churches represented….

134 in attendance….

5 meals served….

5 services….

2 sleepless nights….

11 salvations….

Multiple healings….

10 gallons of fruit punch, 10 gallons of lemonade and 8 gallons of sweet tea….

2 starbucks runs….

and 1 trip to early bird diner…..

 all of that combined with some pretty amazing  leaders giving it all they’ve got make for one life changing weekend!

This past Wednesday was our Allie’s first official night in youth. 

Wow.

We knew this was coming. We have been preparing ourselves for this all summer.

It really shouldn’t be that big of a change. I mean, she was at all of our events and functions anyway.

It is a huge deal though. 

She is not just our kid that’s always around or one of the “little kids”. She’s official.

I made her fill out a guest card, gave her a welcome packet and everything! 

Her first night was a little bittersweet. Her daddy was not there, since he is at youth camp this week. That part made me slightly sad. On the flip side of that was the fact that I was handling service in his absence. So, I had the privilege of speaking at our daughters very first youth service. It was my honor to do so.

She is growing up so fast and I am so proud of her. Literally, I have tears in my eyes right now as I’m typing this. She is such an amazing kid with a truly loving heart. I will be forever grateful that I was chosen to be her mommy. She makes me proud and inspires me daily. 

Welcome to youth group,  Allie! We look forward to continuing to watch you grow!! You are a blessing to us always!