The Shadow Proves The Sunshine....

We are all going to have down days, that's inevitable.
What's great about this, is that a new day is approaching, and is filled with radiant sunlight.
It's thundering WHILE the sun is shining so bright. I can't help but sit here amazed at how even when its thundering....or supposed to seem "dark" ....the "Sun/Son" is still shining....

This is not to say I'm having a "down" day whatsoever, but I have my moments where I reflect on sad moments. Today, I explored through a memorial website about my friend I grew up knowing, Joshua James Stewart. His sister created a memorial webpage for him. My heart is still broken for the family after Josh passed. Many may think that he was "defeated" by his sickness, but let me tell you....He came out on top & victorious because he knew God.

As I'm exploring his website, I'm reminded how much of an impact he had on me when I was little. Of course, like most girls at that age, I had the biggest crush on this long blonde haired, tan, surfer/skater boy. He had a million dollar smile, enjoyed the spontaneity in life, and truly lived it up. This boy struggled through many things, but he kept fighting. He loved God even through those struggles. In my heart, he won the battle. He's in Paradise right now.

When he passed away, my heart not only broke for the friends, but for his sister Jessie (who I could only pray to be like), his parents, and his other family members I grew up with, and loved so dearly. I found myself crying hysterically every night, lacking sleep, losing focus because my heart was discerned and focused on this tragedy.

Just wanted to share the website: Josh Stewart's Memorial

I just wanted to emphasize the fact that, I still feel broken for that family yes, but I know prayerfully that God is taking care of them. He felt that broken-heartedness when he bore all of our emotions on the cross.
To the family: I love you guys dearly, and continue to pray for your hearts to be at peace and comforted.

I'm taken care of....

Isaiah 53:5

"He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our sins, the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds WE ARE HEALED."

Resurrection Sunday

My church's youth group did this skit on Resurrection Sunday...it was beyond beautiful. I cried so much. It's amazing to look at the life of Christ through this perspective. Enjoy.

Procrastination at best....

Camp Wakefield 2011 is coming up SOOOOO fast.
It's in June. & Kolbi and Mia gave me the privilege, like the past 2 years, to head up the worship, lead worship, etc. and plan the recreational activities for the week. It's a Christian camp, usually a pretty huge group of kids get to come out, and we are expecting a lot this year. So, of course, its the planning season. Since school, work, church, and softball leagues (3 this year) is so time consuming, I'm slightly stressed out about planning everything.

But, I know it's all for God and that He will take care of it..just like last year. Phew, what an incredible week that was.

The music planning is coming along. I just have to do all the tedious things now: i.e. making slides, projection screen, sheet music copies, get enough picks, extra strings/capos, extra drumsticks, etc.

The recreation, however, is a little more in depth. I need to get this together soon so I can get all the materials needed.

I actually had a slight "nightmare" last night about camp. Same one as last year, right around this time. God will provide. God will provide. God will provide.


This is....procrastination at best.

Unfathomable Love.

Today has literally just been such an incredible "God" day. The message at church today was just perfect. It spoke about denying ourselves & denying our flesh so that our voice can speak the love of God. Pastor Chris said a few awesome quotes I wanted to share:

"If you harden your hearts to man, then you are hardening your hearts to God."

 &

"We will make the most profound difference in the world, if we are profoundly different from the world."

Both of these quotes are so true.

So, later on during the day, after lunch with Lace, I begin doing homework. Usually, when I do homework, I procrastinate, and kind of ponder on things. I'm not much of an over-thinker, but I do like to just realize what is going on, as far as future events, scheduling and such. I began thinking about my role as a Christ-follower and if I am successfully fulfilling that role. Then I felt God say, "I desire for you to succeed, but to never grow too full of me. I always want you to desire Me & desire My love". I was a little confused at first like....God...I WANT to be full of You. But then I realized, He desires us to seek Him more and more each day. We can never be too full of God... how awesome.

Moving on....

We did a service tonight, of prayer & worship, to prepare ourselves for the new launching of the Sunday night service after Easter. I'll tell you what, the worship & prayer time was so beautiful. I literally could not stop smiling, or tearing up, or bluntly crying when I sang "Til I See You". I just honestly felt like I had made my Daddy proud and that He was smiling at His children praying faithfully, worshiping freely, and standing in agreement for His Kingdom. 

Then after I got home, did an online test, I began talking with a friend of mine. He is studying to become involved with the Christian Pastoral Ministries. I had remembered, randomly, a while back that he was up late a long time ago because God stirred a few things in his heart. And until this day, months later, I completely forgot to ask him exactly what that was. I randomly asked him today about what God had revealed to him. Now, stick with me... Here is the summary of it all:

Abraham, a servant of God, was asked to pretty much go and cut up some animals (my friend's choice words haha) and of course to us, this may be weird. But it was not weird during that time. "This was typical for a treaty to be made (this is actually what God is doing here)

He's making a deal with God!"

And usually when a "treaty" is being made, both parties walk through the halves that were cut. The parties would then say "Let what has been done to these animals be done to me if I ever break the Covenant".But when Abraham does this, only God walked through the halves. What could this possibly represent?!

"God is an incredible act of love, by just passing through the halves, He is saying to Abraham. 'I'd rather be torn apart like the animals have been than to fail you!'" as my friend put it.

Wow. how beautiful is that? God is pretty much showing Abraham the reassurance he needed to see that God loves Him enough that He would rather die for him than to see him fail....then my friend went even deeper with this...which blew me away.

"And whats more? God DID go to the point of death in order to NOT see us fail. "

How amazing is the feeling that we, as children of God, can have knowing our Daddy died for us, in order to see us succeed. He desires for us to fully succeed. I can't fathom this. His love never fails, so that we can successfully love others. His blessings are abundant so that we can successfully bless others with His grace. He died for us so we can succeed. All of this is just....phew...blowing me away.

Thank you, Lord, for just always keeping your promises and wanting us to always succeed with You as our Mentor.

-Jamie