dance unashamed

So I was driving home from school this morning, listenin to the good old i-pod. I put on this playlist that my friend Mary had made for my planeride home from Australia, and I just kept on driving, kind of listening to the music, kind of not. It's like you've got the music playing, but you're really just thinking about what's for lunch, or why that guy is following you so close, or what the plans for the rest of the day are, and "hey, why is my butt sweating?" seat heaters! But today this one song just popped out of nowhere. It's like the volume just came up, and it was screaming, "listen to me! listen to me!" It was Brandston's "Nobody dances anymore." Here's the lyrics-->

You wanna play it safe,
Don't wanna step out.
You gotta pretend so no one finds out.
You gotta break free,
You gotta break out
So everybody knows what you're all about.

Don't be afraid to be the one to start it up,
It's a party, once you turn it on it's hard to turn it off.
Listen to the music,
Turn it up, let it go.
Take it in until you feel it take control.

Nobody dances anymore,

Nobody takes chances anymore.

So, besides the fact that I was singing and dancing like an idiot in the car, God really spoke to me a lot through this song. And I finally realized why Mary put it on that playlist (considering the majority of the other songs were serious worship songs.)

Ok, I'm all about analogies, I know total nerd, but it's how God speaks to me a lot, and I LOVE IT! So I like to think about the music that they are talking about in this song as like God, and his voice, and everything that comes with that whole package. We need to just listen to God. Forget about everyone else (not trying to sound mean or anything), but turn him on and turn him up so that nothing else can be heard, and when we do this, He's gonna take control. He's gonna override all the other voices that are spinning around in our heads that we constantly find ourselves listening to.

BE UNDIGNIFIED BEFORE CHRIST!!

The guys said it perfect, "You gotta break free, You gotta break out. So everybody knows what you're all about." Stop caring about what other people are going to think. I find myself doing that so often. Not doing certain things because I feel like someone will judge it. But I'm beginning to realize that there is a limit to how much we should care about what people think. There is a difference between wisdom and insecurity. People will judge, but the great thing is, God deals with that for us! I believe when we finally break out of that shell and be totally unashamed before the Lord, that is when we will Shine like stars just as is talks about in Philippians 2: 12-18. That is when people will see Jesus through us. Because we are different! CLAIM IT!

So, go do it! RUN, DANCE, PLAY, SING, SHOUT. and do it like only one person is watching. He is all that matters.

Oh, here's the music video. It's really funny. It will probably inspire you.
-->watch this junk!<--

so much love. <3>

Mocha-choca-latte-yaya

I want you to think about something for a second... when was the last time you bought something that you didn't need?

for me, it was an IBC cherry soda from work. I justified it on the fact that I get 50% off and so since it's a deal, I might as well.
Maybe for you it was that latte from Starbucks, or the Daily Grind if you know what's best for ya! And that's probably not the first time youve splurged on one this month, if not this week! (I know I am guilty!)

Today I got to see a website that basically blew all justifications out of the window. (credit to Tatum Downs for giving me the link). The website was for a group called the Mocha Club. And basically it shows how far just 2 Mochas ($7) can go in a place like Africa.

WHAT CAN $7 DO IN AFRICA?
In the U.S., $7 = 2 mochas

In Kibera, Kenya, $7 =
3 meals in a day for 9 orphans

In Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, $7 =
1 school term for 2 children

In all of Africa, $7 =
clean water for 7 Africans for 1 year!!!!!

After looking at these statistics I was immediately overwhelmed with emotion, and like Annie, I'm a crier. So I sat there and thought... if I only gave up something I don't even need 2 times every month, I could be changing a child in Africa's life. I could be giving hope where there is none... Alot of times, that's where it stops. Just thinking. No doing. I was challenged today, to follow my heart of living simple, “Live simply so that others may simply live.”

I know this may sound like another one of those commercials with that old guy asking you to donate money, but this is just my heart, overflowing with love and passion for these people. If I only affect one, it will be worth it.


Here's the website www.mochaclub.org
just check it out, it may have the same affect on your heart as it did mine.

Thrive

In times during life when it just feels pointless and numb, unexciting and without challenge is it possible to THRIVE?

"If you would live in victory over the circumstances, great and small, that come to you each day...
...and if you want God's life and power to well up from the depths of your being...
...then you must refuse to be dominated by the seen and felt." -Amy Carmichael

Yes! The last line of that quote sums it up. We cannot let our lives be driven by cricumstances that we are in, things we see happening in life and the way it makes us feel. But we ask, how can we conquer if there is no mountain in front of us in the first place? When it feels dry and desolate, when we are just asking for a big challenge to grow us, to keep us busy, something of exciement to work towards, and all we see is flat deserts...

We take this seemingly dull life and THRIVE in Jesus. Let Him come and fill our innermost being. let him bring excitement to a cloudy day. Just as I talked about in the look up blog, we need to do just that. We don't have to have a huge challenge before us, we just need to live and breathe Jesus. If it's such a dull and gloomy day, what better thing to do than to go inside, into the secret place and fall into the arms of our Daddy above? It's all about a heart attitude. You can grow just as much in Jesus in the quiet and solitude as you can engaging in a huge battle.

"You must look steadfastly through the visible, until the invisible opens up to you." -Amy Carmichael

Jesus forgive me for only knowing this in my head and not my heart. Help me to look past the circumstances of each day and instead look to you. Teach me that it is ok to have dullness. Help me to embrace the solitude.

Quest

Lovesick for my Beloved.

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God...Deep calls to deep." -Psalm 42:1-2, 7

"This is the generation searching for the face of God. And only You can satsify. And the Spirit and the Bride say come..."-Misty Edwards

I have begun a quest, one into the discovery of the fullness of the love of Jesus, a quest to find Love Himself and to know him. And of corse, it's not going to be easy. Think about the quest of a knight: He has his long journey, only to get to the battleground where he then has to defeat some nasty dragon or something, and THEN he is met face to face with the one who has been waiting for him for so long, waiting to be called his lover!

This journey to knowing God is long yes, stretched with winding roads, rain storms, and sore feet. The battle ground is vicious, with the enemy trying to steal, kill, and destroy any joy and hope you may experience along the way. But in this we must overcome, we must keep our eyes on Jesus and his promises, his faithfulness, that if we seek him, we WILL find him and that he has already won all the battles with his blood. And we must not let anything get in the way of that because to overcome the enemy is to overcome the world and our own flesh. We must take away everything that gets in the way of love. And when you have reached the final destination you will realize that it was worth it, HE is so worth it! But as I said, I have only just begun...

Misty pretty much sums it up right here:

"Jesus the faithful witness, you were faithful to the death, you were faithful to the end. you loved me even to the end. Oh God make us faithful, make us overcomers as you have overcome. to the end. we wanna be faithful, we wanna love you to the end, loving not our lives even unto death God, even unto death. We wanna be equally yoked to you Jesus equally yoked in love, loving you until the end. Just as you loved us until the end. You are the faithful witness. You are the faithful witness, the first born from the dead. Let us love you this way oh God. Let us love you more than we love this life. Let us love you to the end, even to the end...you have been faithful, you were faithful even to death. Let us love you this way. let us love you to the end, to the death." -Misty Edwards

"And happy am I to lead a hungry life, blessed am I to thirst." -Misty Edwards



So what I went a little Misty crazy, She inspires me, she encourages me to do just this: know and love God.