I've Got the VICTORY!

Today, I have had such a wonderful day. I can’t say that my hardships have changed, but something in me just wants to scream and shout "I’ve Got the VICTORY!" You know when you feel the tingling sensation all over and your stomach has butterflies. Or when you just want to run throughout the house and jump all around. That’s what I feel. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, I didn’t receive a large sum of money and I have not witnessed someone turning their life over to God today. But, I feel like the Extraordinary is sitting in my living room, that I just received a pot of gold and I just witnessed an infilling of the Holy Ghost. In the words of my favorite cereal character, Lucky Charms, I would have to say that today was magically delicious…or rather, spiritually delicious.

Snoopy on Ice

Last night we went to Knott's Berry Farm to see Snoopy on ice in "Snoopy's Cool Christmas". The story line was about the Snoopy Gang finding out the true meaning of Christmas. With the help of the ice skaters and each member of the snoopy gang, we [the audience] were eventually revealed the true meaning of Christmas; to celebrate the birth of our new born king, Jesus. It was amazing! Amongst a time where the stores do not want to even say "Merry Christmas" yet alone bring the true meaning of Christmas back into Christmas, Knott's Berry Farm brought it back in full force. As we sat in our seats anticipating the next moves of the ice skaters, the true meaning of Christmas was brought back to us by the reading of the scriptures from the Bible. Yes, they actually read scriptures from the bible to help us remember the true meaning of Christmas!

Is this the beginning of the end of Christmas falsehoods and "Happy Holidays"? Are we going to start hearing "Merry Christmas" again when we walk into the stores? Have we in this society gone so far to avoid Jesus that we feel compelled to bring Him back into our lives? I hope so. There were would be no Christmas, no holiday to celebrate (even though we have taken it and turned it upside down), no presents, nothing if Jesus was not born. There is no Christmas without Jesus and I'm glad that someone other than the church has recognized it.

Thank you Knott's Berry Farm helping us to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

With Faith, Not Worth

"For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." -Mark 11:23-24

This is one of my favorite verses. One reason I love it so much is because Jesus never said we had to be worthy to receive what we believe. He said we must have faith enough to believe and receive what we are asking for. If these verses said "...but shall believe and be worthy so that those things which he saith shall come to pass" or "...believe and be worthy so that ye receive them..." we would be in some big trouble. No one is worthy and we wouldn't receive one thing if that was the criteria. This is a wonderful example of God's grace and mercy. He knows we are not worthy, yet He loves us so much that he made faith so easy. We don't deserve it, but He is willing to give it to us any ways. He has so much mercy that he did not place hard restrictions on faith and He has so much grace that He will answer our prayers with what we desire. We receive our blessings through faith, not worth. Isn't God good? YES, all the time!

Happy Thanksgiving

I am wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving early. I will be sharing this holiday with my family, which means that I will be biz-ee. My niece thinks I am to be used at her discretion and my son eventually gets a tiny bit jealous, so I am constantly juggling between the two. I have to admit, I love it. So, I wish you all a blessed holiday and a happy Thanksgiving. God Bless.

Working for God

To put another note about work, my coworker said this to me the other day, "I have to remember that I am working for God." Wonderfully put! Each day I walk into work (even when I can't wait to leave the moment I get in), I have to remember that I am working for God. It makes the day so much brighter just thinking about my task ahead. Think about it.

• With God the bonus possibilities are unlimited (He doesn't limit us, we only limit ourselves),
  
• The promotions are many and not few & far in between (There is always room for spiritual growth).
  
• When I need help in dealing with a situation, I am not pushed to the side (God is available when I need Him).
  
• Plus, I get a window seat. Actually, even better. I get a corner office on the top floor (He only wants the best for me).
  
• I have Security blocking the traffic (because God only gives us what we can handle) and
  
• A Janitor to help clean up my mess (God helps us even when it is our fault. See the story of Abraham and his wife Sarah).
  
• I can drive the company car(because He supplies my every need) and
  
• Fly in the company airplane (because He supplies us with our needs as well as our desires).
  
• And the best of all. I get fresh, pure, living water each and every day and not Arrowhead (no offense to those who like Arrowhead).
  

What a job! What a job! Boy-o-boy, I love working for God!

Holidays

As I sit here and just think about going into work tomorrow, I can already feel my anxiousness of getting out of work so that my holidays can begin. I love the holidays and although I don't want them to go by too quickly, I can't wait for them to come. With Thanksgiving just a couple of days away, I feel anxious and ready to hit the road to begin celebrating all the wonderful things that God has given me and all the things I have been able to give to others. It just makes me happy! I love this time of year.

My Little Man

Here is a pic of my little man at our Harvest Party. Let me share with you a funny story on how we decided that he would be a cowboy.

For the Treats on the Streets festival that is held every year in Orange, Anthony went as Batman. We already had the cape, mask, breast plate and belt. All he needed was the body suit, so I thought it would be a good idea to just use what we have. So, I packed up some grey pants a black shirt and his batman outfit and sent him over to Terry's. I met them after work since Treats on the Streets starts a 4:00p.m. and I didn't get off until 5. Well, to make a long story short, when I seen my little man I couldn't help but think that he was the ghetto-ist looking cowboy I had seen. Let's just say that he looked homemade. And of course Anthony had no clue that his mother sent him out of the house looking like that, so let's just say that I persuaded him to go as a cowboy from then on out. Looking at this picture, I think Anthony made a good choice!

On the Ice

For any of you who don't know what I look like, here is a picture of me on the ice. I can't tell you if this was before or after I began falling. I looked pretty happy, so I would say that it was probably before.

It Was Beautiful

I was talking to my coworker this morning and she said something that really stuck out. She was describing her dinner last night with her fiance and his mother and said that the night was a blessing from God. She said it [last night] had to be because the night could only be described as "beautiful". That is a word fit for a King!

Amongst all of the trials that we must endure, having to rush through our night only to have to battle through the next day, it was awesome that she was able to pause and see the beauty that could only be created by God. It doesn’t have to be a struggle to live for God and it definitely does not have to be ugly. Sometimes, we just have to wait and be still in order to bring back into focus the beauty of life.

C2C Night: Relationships

Tonight in C2C we talked about relationships. I quite enjoyed myself. The first thing that Bro Frank asked us to do was to write down all the things we would want in a spouse. It was funny in a sad way, but I thought of more things that I didn’t want in a spouse than I thought of what I did want in a spouse. That was eye opening because I have been in a somewhat fear of marriage. I have wanted to get married for so long, but now that I have truly enjoyed my single life, I have been seeing the things that marriage would take away from me.

But, that is not the way to look at marriage, even when I am comfortable in my current situation. Having to think of the good qualities only made me realize that as long as I am in the will of God, it will be all right. There are so many things to look forward to, but so much to be patient and wait for. There is so much that I would want from my spouse, yet there is so much that I need to learn to give.

Marriage is so many things and so much more than just love and infatuation. Marriage is so many things that tonight I couldn’t name them all.

Rat Problem

I had to give an update on my rat problem. So far I haven't seen it again. Gabriel came over to finish raking my back yard the day following my incident and he saw the rat run under my house (a con to living in an old house. Old houses don't generally sit on foundation but are lifted up). However, with all my might and every last string of will power left in me, I managed to take the trash out today without running away. Yes! One point for the human!

She Knew The Way

I love my mother.
She’s a beautiful star in my night
A shining ray of sunlight.
She brought me up the way she thought I should go
Gave me to God and dedicated her soul
I love my mother
Although I only had five years with her,
I have come to know her as if she is with me each day
I’ve come to understand her choices
I’ve come to accept her leaving
Because I know that she knew which way I should go

When I ran away into the world,
I couldn’t let go of what she had taught me
When I sought after every possible moment of happiness
I couldn’t forget her joy
When I think about how her life was dedicated to a God and His church
I think about how I dedicate mine
And with all these thoughts
I know she loved me so,
Because she taught me the way I should go.

Today I live my life for this God
And I’m showing my son the same
So when my son thinks God is bigger than Batman
And stronger than Superman
I can’t help but say
This is all because I have a God who loves me so much
That He gave me a mother
Who knew the way I should go.

Ice Skating

Youth Alive went ice skating tonight for our monthly event. I don't think I have ever been so unbalanced on my feet and fallen so much since we began going ice skating. But...I have never had as much fun ice skating as I had tonight.

Just Another Night

Tonight's church service was off the hook. I was contemplating not going since I had been battling with a fever since Friday. I had thought for a moment that maybe I should rest and gain some energy. But it's always when you miss that the best services happen. It's a bummer to hear everyone else rant-&-rave about the service that you weren't at. Plus I had said to myself that if I miss one church service due to the illness I would finally go to the ER. There are various reasons why I didn't want to do that. So, I had Sis Terry pick me up and we were off. Good thing I didn't miss tonight's service because it would have been those "You missed a great service" nights. God moved in a mighty way. Because of the excitement of tonight's service (and because I found a rat in my broken trash can in my backyard and now it's currently hanging out in the trees in my front yard) I have found it hard to settle down. And just to think, tonight could have been just another night if I hadn't gone to church.