I'm ecstatic, and my thoughts are uncontrollably sporadic, but they're all centered around one center: Joy. In plush, ripe tones, joy is rushing through my bones.

Bradley Hathaway - "On Being Joyful And Content."

Beloved, our God is exceedingly good. Infinitely better than anything we deserve. Exponentially more powerful and also more kind than we could ever imagine.

My day today consisted almost entirely of fantastic fellowship. From waking up to Trent and Laurin and they're awesomeness, to church with them at Glad Tidings, to the Open Bible parking lot picnic, to getting baptized again, to sitting at McDonalds for 3 hours, to sitting on a trampoline for almost 2 hours with 3 of my very best friends. And I can honestly say that in all of those things it was us and Him. And that's my favorite.

I forgot where I was going with this blog. I guess I just wanted to encourage you and remind you that our God is good, and faithful.

Update on my last blog: I can't say that I'm at 100% yet, but I'm in pursuit. And so is He. And I've noticed that as I truly seek God's face more, I think my dad is starting to understand that. Something Damien Rice spoke about kind of comes to mind, saying that when our prayer lives become a more focused part of our life, you'll see that the rent gets paid, the kids start acting better, you'll have food on your table, life in general just starts to improve. And I don't mean to say that life seeking God's face is just happy go lucky all the time and we don't have anything to worry about. It's kind of a twofold explanation. 1) As we seek God's heart and pursue a relationship with our Creator, He can guide us more easily to where He wants us, and if you follow your calling, He will provide for you. And 2) I believe that as we really press in and grow closer to God, He helps provide so we don't have to worry about how we're going to make it, so we can focus on Him. I feel like I worded that poorly, but I'm about to crash. So I guess if you need it cleared up let me know and I'll do it when I'm awake.

But I'm gonna wrap this up. Good night, beloved!

If Christ died to erase my sin, and if He rose from the dead to give me victory of it,

then why am I still holding on to it?

I feel like I'm at an impasse, beloved. I know a lot ABOUT Jesus, I'm totally in love with who Jesus is, but I don't know Him personally. I'm not totally sold out in love with Him.

I can spend all day teaching people and witnessing about freedom and the loving God I yearn to serve, but I can't seem to truly empty myself of myself in order to be filled with Him. And I know the answer, but I can't seem to follow through.

"Then He said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be My follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow Me."

-Luke 9:23 (NLT)

I need to cast off the pieces of who I am that hold me back. I believe this is what Christ meant when He said to cut out your eye if it causes you to sin. "Take up your cross daily." I'm trying to grasp that, that every day we must die to who we were.

It was prophesied the night before I moved back to Iowa that:
1) This would be the most painful season of my life, because God would be burning away from the outside, in to remove everything that's going to hold me back, so that I could burn from the inside out and ignite the world, and

2) That the day is coming when I must choose to please either my heavenly Father or my earthly father.

Wow. I believe God revealed to me as I was typing that that in order for the first one to be fulfilled, the second needs to be resolved first.

“If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple."

Luke 14:26 (NLT)

So now is the time that I make my choice. I choose the Almighty. But how to begin this journey is beyond me. I feel like I should start with finding somewhere else to stay, being here and having to answer to my dad can't be helping matters.

Pray for me. Please. The sooner I can start this process the better.

Revival in the Cedar Valley

The last three nights, I saw about 300 middle-high schoolers set ablaze with the Holy Spirit. I saw so many people saved, delivered, healed, and empowered that I really am crazy enough to believe we are at the spearhead of a nation changing movement of kids who aren't afraid to stand up for their God.

Please pray for the students in this area. I saw a small army rise up, and I pray that they will be steadfast, and that they will not lose heart. That they will walk with boldness and band together and step up to the Revival that God has pre-ordained them to lead.

It's no secret we live in dark times. If we can see the broken people in our generation healed and delivered, we will see restoration sweep the nation, and even the world.

Let's press in and make this vision a reality.

08.24.2010

Dream time!

I had a dream last night that my stepmom had died. I don't remember the cause, but I remember it was gruesome, her body had been mangled so it was a closed casket service.

And I remember being at the funeral, kneeling beside the casket and crying out: "God, revive her! Creator, wake her up! I believe you can raise the dead, God, you created her and you can return her to who she was, wake her up, God!"

And as I was crying out, God said, "She can't get out if you don't open the casket." So I opened the casket and she was there, waiting for me to let her out, made completely whole and totally healed.

That's all I remember, but what we should take from it is this:

We can pray all day for the spiritually dead in our lives, but if we don't take the time to give them the doorway into life, nothing will change.

We can pray for the homeless and the hungry to have shelter and food, but if we don't give up some of our food or room in our houses which God has provided us to share with them, it's meaningless.

We can pray for our friends and family to come to know Christ, but if we don't introduce Him to them, if we don't show them who Christ is through our actions, they will never care enough to get to know Him themselves.

We are the body of Christ, and we are called to be His hands and feet.

Someone mentioned to me once the story of when Jesus fed the 5000 with just one boy's lunch, and how once Christ had blessed it and handed it to His disciples, they could have said "this is barely enough for us, we should eat first and they can fend for themselves." But they didn't. Because they shared their small meal with the hungry, thousands of people were satisfied.

Don't get me wrong, praying is powerful. God can move in huge ways through just prayer. But a lot of times we are called and enabled to go out and do His work that we or someone else is praying for.

I believe we are at the spearhead of a huge revival. One that will never stop, my friend had a vision that this revival has no set beginning, and will never have an end. More than ever I've seen kids who no longer care about what everyone thinks about them, as long as they're bringing heaven to earth.

It's time to step up, and step in to destiny.

Sorry about the absence. I've had a lack of internet on and off for the past 3 weeks or so.
Just a quick blog to share what God laid on my heart real heavy last night.

“How precious it is, Lord, to realize that You are thinking about me constantly.”
-Psalm 139:17


Isn't that wonderful? I mean. He actually got my attention through a myspace survey.

"Do you think someone is thinking about you right now?
Jesus Christ is always thinking about me."

At first, I answered more out of habit or reflex than anything. It's a truth I'd always heard, but I'd never really read deeper into it.

Here's the thing though: He is THAT passionately in love with us, that we are ALWAYS on His mind, and on His heart. He's always sitting by the phone, waiting for us to call. I mean, its like when you're interested in someone romantically. You look forward to talking to them, to take any chances you can get to see them or to talk to them or whatever, you think about them and you hope they feel the same way, and that's probably not even real love! This is real, legitimate love in all of its glory, the love of Jesus Christ. Imagine how exponentially more powerful that is! Jesus Christ longs to have an intimate loving relationship with our heart. The God who created EVERYTHING. The timeless, perfect, holy Heavenly Father, loves YOU enough that you're always on His heart, on His mind. That's intense.

Kind of on the same note, a few months back a friend of mine posted a facebook status that she wasn't having a very good day, and I commented saying that I pray for joy and optimism in her life and heart. Shortly after, someone I didn't know responded saying that, "Jesus was a man of sorrows, and that's a fact. Welcome to being His friend." But really? Imagine your best friend in the whole world, or your spouse, or your child, whoever you love the most on this earth, was having a bad day. If you knew, would you not do whatever you could to try and make their day better? Doesn't Jesus love us so much more than we could love someone else on this planet? Why wouldn't He comfort us? Just sayin. :)

On that note, I bid thee farewell, friends. I pray for joy and blessings on your life and your heart this new year! :) <3