School has begun. I went to orientation yesterday and my heart and mind was so filled with joy as almost 50 students listened to our director, Scott Cunningham, welcome us and debrief us about the next nine months of the School of Worship.
For all of you who I have not updated, which there is a lot, I want to share how greatly God provided.
My pastor in Napa, Bill Walden, asked over his facebook status if any of his friends in the O.C. were willing to open up their house for me. Stephanie Dollis responded with a yes. The Dollis family lives in Huntington Beach, CA and they are wonderful. The have a 17 year old son named Hayes who is gifted musically with a bunch of friends who are gifted as well. So I have a feeling a lot of music is going to be filling the Dollis household these next months :)
Isn't is so great how the body of Christ responds when one member is in need? There is such unity in the body of Christ- more unity than human blood relation could ever bring. And what a great Helper the Spirit is! He places burdens upon people's hearts, directs them and guides them; He guided me to the Dollis house, where He has chosen to put His name. I'm very thankful.
I move into the Dollis house today. I may also have a roommate, which would be SA-WEET! Her name is Ashley. She's praying, I'm praying, and God is guiding. :)
I have been job hunting. I picked up a Starbucks application (much to Mario Piambo's dismay I'm sure), learned how to apply online for Old Navy, and sent my resume to a Chiropractor who needs an assistant on Saturdays. I know God will provide for the right job that doesn't just suit me, my personality and likes, but that also encourages those that I'll be working with. I'm anticipating where He will lead for this need.
I also have transportation to and from school! I was planning on riding my bike there and back, which would only be a little over five miles each way, but as I was telling a girl this yesterday at orientation, another girl who was sitting in a row in front of me turned around and said, "I live in Huntington beach off of Garfield st. and Beach Blvd. (which is where I'm living very close to) and I can give you a ride no problem"! Ha! God is so good! Wow... I'm so blessed. So I will just need to find a ride home on Monday's and Friday's or if Ashley does room with me, she also may have a car.
All I have to say is yesterday was just a wonderful day witnessing the providing hand of God. After Orientation, we went to Redondo Beach and ate crab at a Korean restaurant on the pier. I had never had a crab-eating-experience before yesterday, and when something is the first, it's usually the best. We all hammered away, wearing bib and all, eating the luscious crab meet, sipping up the spicy Korean fish stew, and enjoying making memories that will last in the cubbies of my mind forever. I know, whenever I eat crab, I will think of yesterday, August 28th,2009: the first time I ever ate crab. Petey, my brother-in-law, told me that when God is showing me who my husband is and we are dating, I need to take him out to eat crab. Petey did that with Jenn, that's why he suggests it. Jenn, my sister, said, "If you can hammer at a crab, wear a bib, get crab juice sprayed all over you, spray crab juice all over everyone else, smell like fish for the rest of the day, and still have a guy who is in love with you, you'll know it's meant to be". She may have not said that verbatim, but it was close enough. So, future hubby, just know, the crab test will come!
Just as yesterday was a great day, I know today will be as well. I woke up pretty early this morning, mind filled with all the "to do's" but a heart stilled and resting in peace knowing that today is the day that the Lord has made, so I will rejoice and be glad in it. I was struck with the simple reality of the fact that I am God's and He is my master, I am His Handmaiden and my life is not my own. What weight that releases in this big world where everyone tells you that you need to make yourself into someone of worth. My worth is in my God because He is the one who made me and chose me as His.
Maybe today you are struggling with who you are. Maybe today you are questioning your worth. May you know that you were redeemed not with silver or gold which perishes but with the precious blood of the Lamb of God. There was nothing less of perfection in the person of Jesus and He gave Himself for you that you may find your identity and freedom as His child. You are God's prize. Jesus made you perfect in the sight of God; you are perfect without spot in the eyes of God Almighty and He loves you, truly. Maybe you needed to remember that today. Rest your mind on His love for you.
As I close this blog, that list of "to do's" invades my thoughts; Go to Ikea and get a bed, shop for groceries, meet up with Petey's friend, first take a shower, have another cup of coffee, then shop for groceries and q-tips and toothpaste and five lb. weights..... Today is going to be a great day because today is the day that the Lord has made.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Practice
As I was cleaning today, my sister Jenn said something to her oldest son, Josiah, and the words sunk in deep. She said, "If you want to get better at something, then you need to practice." Words I'm sure we've all heard from parents and teachers and coaches, but today, the Lord used those words to change my thoughts.
Jeremiah 33:3 says this: "Call to Me, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know. "
A couple more verses came to mind as I begun dusting off the self in this quiet consolation with God: "But reject profane and old wives' fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness" (1 Tim. 4:7) and "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil. 2:12b).
Call, exercise, work out... all those words involve you our participation and action. So many times I think about my desires. Oh, how my thoughts can be filled to overflowing with fantasies of all I long to be! I have prayed, "Lord, I want to do great things for you. No matter the risk, use me. I want to go where you say go, and stay where you say stay, and do what you want me to do. I want to do big things for you." I know God answers those prayers but often, when He opens the opportunity, I find myself inhibiting my ability by listing the reasons why I am ill-equipped.
Practice.
Practice means to do or perform often, customarily, or habitually; to perform or work at repeatedly so as to become proficient. (thank you merriam-webster.com! :)
So, I have a question for you: What do you want to be? What do you desire to do? Are there things you want to do for God that require risk?
I know what I desire to do. I have asked of God, and He has faithfully answered. He's shown me things in which I did not know. What a faithful God!
Today I was challenged, along with my nephew Josiah, to practice what I want to do. Can I challenge you too? You are God's precious workmanship; you are His poem and He'll put down the pen when your last breath is taken, but for now, He desires to write a beautiful story. Let's not inhibit Him! Practice what you desire; I'm going to practice too. Let's be children of faith that take our Daddy at His word. As you climb upon His lap, hear him say "tell me, what do you want to be?" know that He is fully equipped to hear you and show you His plans. If you first mess up or fall short, H'll be there encouraging you, lifting you up and helping you.
Psalm 138:3 says, "In the day when I cried out, You answered me, and made me bold with strength in my soul."
"If you want to be good at something, then you need to practice." What a good lesson.
Jeremiah 33:3 says this: "Call to Me, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know. "
A couple more verses came to mind as I begun dusting off the self in this quiet consolation with God: "But reject profane and old wives' fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness" (1 Tim. 4:7) and "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil. 2:12b).
Call, exercise, work out... all those words involve you our participation and action. So many times I think about my desires. Oh, how my thoughts can be filled to overflowing with fantasies of all I long to be! I have prayed, "Lord, I want to do great things for you. No matter the risk, use me. I want to go where you say go, and stay where you say stay, and do what you want me to do. I want to do big things for you." I know God answers those prayers but often, when He opens the opportunity, I find myself inhibiting my ability by listing the reasons why I am ill-equipped.
Practice.
Practice means to do or perform often, customarily, or habitually; to perform or work at repeatedly so as to become proficient. (thank you merriam-webster.com! :)
So, I have a question for you: What do you want to be? What do you desire to do? Are there things you want to do for God that require risk?
I know what I desire to do. I have asked of God, and He has faithfully answered. He's shown me things in which I did not know. What a faithful God!
Today I was challenged, along with my nephew Josiah, to practice what I want to do. Can I challenge you too? You are God's precious workmanship; you are His poem and He'll put down the pen when your last breath is taken, but for now, He desires to write a beautiful story. Let's not inhibit Him! Practice what you desire; I'm going to practice too. Let's be children of faith that take our Daddy at His word. As you climb upon His lap, hear him say "tell me, what do you want to be?" know that He is fully equipped to hear you and show you His plans. If you first mess up or fall short, H'll be there encouraging you, lifting you up and helping you.
Psalm 138:3 says, "In the day when I cried out, You answered me, and made me bold with strength in my soul."
"If you want to be good at something, then you need to practice." What a good lesson.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Flipping Through Journal Pages
Tonight is a night I feel as though I could wright and wright and wright. God is enormous and gigantic and I'm just awestruck by Him.
I have been accepted into the School of Worship. I was reading through my journal and came across the date that I wrote the calling God was placing on me to attend the SOW; April 25th, 2009. I remember Scott Cunningham was being interviewed on KWVE and I was listening to the live broadcast over the Internet. God has creative ways of leading His children. Under the sentences of writing out what I was feeling called to, I wrote "Confirm, round about, if this is truly Your will. Open doors, I pray. Close doors, if need be." That is still my heart's prayer. I haven't a place to live in Costa Mesa or the surrounding area yet, I haven't any transportation other than a bike, and I haven't a job lined up yet either but I now focusing on the things I haven't would be such a mistake.
Faith; what is it? The substance and realization of things hoped for, the evidence and confidence of things unseen. (Hebrews 11:1)
I have faith in my amazing Father, all-knowing Abba, the keeper of my life to provide all my needs, as He has faithfully done from the day I took my first breath.
There truly is something amazing about remembering all the things the Lord has done in one's life. Flipping through my past journals brings tears to my eyes because I can read the recorded faithfulness of a gigantic God in my personal and seemingly so small life. I love reading answers to prayers. I love reading when I cried out to God with my all. I love reading how the Lord spoke through His word that day. I know that the pages of my journals are read by my Father and He hears even the words that my heart utters without using verbal or penned out words.
Tonight the Lord spoke to me this verse- verse 5 in Deuteronomy 12. I wrote it in my journal. It says, "But you shall seek the place where the LORD your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name of His dwelling place; and there you shall go."
I want to seek where He chooses to put His name so desperately. Psalm 85:12 & 13 say, "Yes, the LORD will give what is good; and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before Him, and shall make His footsteps our pathway." He leads where He has already trod and that comforts me.
May you be equally, if not more enamored by God's faithfulness to you. May you continue to pour out your heart before you Great Counselor. He has attentive ears, embracing arms, corrective words, and love that spills past the vastness of the universe. He loves you, yes, He loves you so. Remember all that He has done.
Handmaiden of the Lord,
Melissa Rae
I have been accepted into the School of Worship. I was reading through my journal and came across the date that I wrote the calling God was placing on me to attend the SOW; April 25th, 2009. I remember Scott Cunningham was being interviewed on KWVE and I was listening to the live broadcast over the Internet. God has creative ways of leading His children. Under the sentences of writing out what I was feeling called to, I wrote "Confirm, round about, if this is truly Your will. Open doors, I pray. Close doors, if need be." That is still my heart's prayer. I haven't a place to live in Costa Mesa or the surrounding area yet, I haven't any transportation other than a bike, and I haven't a job lined up yet either but I now focusing on the things I haven't would be such a mistake.
Faith; what is it? The substance and realization of things hoped for, the evidence and confidence of things unseen. (Hebrews 11:1)
I have faith in my amazing Father, all-knowing Abba, the keeper of my life to provide all my needs, as He has faithfully done from the day I took my first breath.
There truly is something amazing about remembering all the things the Lord has done in one's life. Flipping through my past journals brings tears to my eyes because I can read the recorded faithfulness of a gigantic God in my personal and seemingly so small life. I love reading answers to prayers. I love reading when I cried out to God with my all. I love reading how the Lord spoke through His word that day. I know that the pages of my journals are read by my Father and He hears even the words that my heart utters without using verbal or penned out words.
Tonight the Lord spoke to me this verse- verse 5 in Deuteronomy 12. I wrote it in my journal. It says, "But you shall seek the place where the LORD your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name of His dwelling place; and there you shall go."
I want to seek where He chooses to put His name so desperately. Psalm 85:12 & 13 say, "Yes, the LORD will give what is good; and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before Him, and shall make His footsteps our pathway." He leads where He has already trod and that comforts me.
May you be equally, if not more enamored by God's faithfulness to you. May you continue to pour out your heart before you Great Counselor. He has attentive ears, embracing arms, corrective words, and love that spills past the vastness of the universe. He loves you, yes, He loves you so. Remember all that He has done.
Handmaiden of the Lord,
Melissa Rae
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