Healing Old Wounds

Lately, I have been working on forgiveness and not just sort of forgiving, but truly forgiving. This past week, the Lord allowed me to experience what it is like to truly forgive and to let go of all of the hurt and anger that goes along with it. My faith in God allowed me to do something bigger than myself. God placed a burden on my heart and a desire to truly let go of the one thing that I had not been able to until now.
I was listening to this song by Brandon Heath called "I'm Not Who I Was" and that about summed up the way I feel. I praise God for allowing me to be in His presence and to feel his grace and mercy. Barry and Willie both have said that they were proud of me-but the glory goes to God. I couldn't have done it without Him.

Women's Rights?

I just want to thank the Lord for allowing me to be born during this time period. I have just been reading about the war between the Benjamites and the Israelites in Judges. The thing that got me was that they went to war because the Benjamites murdered a Levite concubine and then the Israelites felt bad because they didn't give the Benjamites wives to continue their tribe's lineage. So what was the obvious solution? To go out and kidnap a wife....!
Now, I don't know about you, but I personally don't know how I would feel if I was having a good ol' time at the festival and all of the sudden ol' boy just came out the woods and kidnapped me and said I had to be his wife?!
All I can say is thank you Lord for again allowing me to be born during this time period.
Holla!

Benevolent Designer?

So, I took the personal dna thing and it told me that I am a benevolent designer..haha. Which, translates to mean I'm a treehugger with good taste...Go figure.
Ok, well, in other thoughts...I read about Gideon defeating the Midianites with only 300 men this morning. I believe that God wanted me to see that sometimes He puts us in situations that we feel are impossible, but we need to only have faith and believe that all things are possible through Him. See, if we accomplish something difficult on our own because we had a lot of help (ie. thousands of soldiers...) then we will take the credit for that. But, if we accomplish something that we know is impossible, then we give God the credit because we understand that God alone could have accomplished such a task.
We don't need to worry about things that God places on our hearts. No matter how impossible things appear, if God wants to accomplish something He can do it no matter if there are 300 men or 30.
Peace!

WARNING: This could offend you...

First, let me say that the opinions expressed on this blog are mine. Ok, so...music. Since I was old enough to listen to music, I have loved it...all kinds. Music has the ability to stir emotions like nothing else, it can make you happy when you're sad, it can lift you up in tradgedy, it can express your feelings when you can't. You don't even have to know what the singer is saying to have your emotions stirred by music. I mean, believe it or not, I sang Italian opera in college and half the time I didn't know what I was singing, but I was still moved by the music. The best kind of music though, is music that lifts up the name of God.
Some church people believe that the only kind of music that does this are hymns. Some will even go as far as singing or listening to "southern gospel," which is basically bluegrass with Christian lyrics. WARNING: If you are one of those people, your toes are about to get stepped on, so you may want to stop reading here.
What makes the music that we sing in the 8:30 service different than your favorite Sunday morning hymn? It is really hurtful to have our motives for what we choose to sing questioned. The purpose for what we sing is the exact same as the purpose for singing hymns...to draw people to God, to lift up the name of JESUS CHRIST and to praise GOD for what He has done in our lives. NO ONE in the praise band is singing or playing for our own glorification...Robbie, as well as the rest us, is totally sold out to God and we don't do anything unless we feel that God will get the glory. God gifted us with these talents and we are using them to serve Him. We put hours into what we do every week in order to give our best to GOD. We are not just "playing church" out there. God is working through all of us to draw people to Himself.
So just to clear things up, stop concerning your self with whether we are praising God or not. We are! Your energy would be better spent on praying for lost loved ones and co-workers and random people that you meet.
Peace out!

Don't Trip

During my family vacation, I had a lot of time to think about the changes that have been taking place in my life over the last year. I thought about the fact that Barry has been called to the ministry and what that has come to mean for me.
I am really honored that God called Barry and I am willing to follow where God leads him. Barry is a spiritually strong person and God uses him to speak to me.
Sometimes though, I think that people forget that we are real people...born sinners just like everyone else. We make mistakes just like every one else and we get hurt just like everyone else. I think that sometimes people think that a pastor and his wife should be perfect - without sin or flaws. That is just not possible.
The only perfect person and friend is JESUS. I have a misguided sense of humor that gets me into trouble sometimes. I sometimes do things or say things that I think are hilarious and nobody else does. But God created me this way and rather than apologize for not being perfect, I am thankful that I don't have to be. Even though I don't deserve it, God loves me and He will continue to change me over the years. He has given me victory over the need and drive to be perfect. I'm done with that, so if I do or say something that someone doesn't like...in the words of Steve Harvey..."don't trip, he aint through with me yet."

SKALELUJIAH!!

The Praise Band is pumped for Sunday!! We had an awesome, God-filled practice last night rehearsing for Sunday's worship service. You will not want to miss this!! We are happy to be out of school and we are kicking off the summer praise with a bang. Pastor Chad will be finishing up his two week sermon series called Consumed and if this Sunday's message is near as powerful as last Sunday's we are really going to have our thoughts and hearts provoked into action.
SKALELUJIAH is coming Sunday...don't miss it!!
Pick it up, pick it up...
Crystal

I Will Survive!

As most of you know, I was attacked (ok, bitten, but attacked sounds better) by a squad of viscious fire ants at my parents' house on Mother's Day. I suffered an agonizing (all jokes aside)allergic reaction. I felt as if I was going to die (which, was confirmed by the doctor on Wednesday). After the reaction, I had a nasty stomach thing going on and when I visited the doctor Wednesday, he seemed to think it was related to the fire ant bites. Anyway, Barry and I were both sick over the weekend and whatever it was seems to finally be gone and out of our systems.
I have been sick many times before and wished that I was dead or that someone would just put me out of my misery, but as far as I know, I have never experienced the feeling that I literally was about to die.
This realization has caused me to reflect on my life and things that God has convicted me about. One of which is spending time with my family. I prayed on Mother's Day that God would not take me yet, not because I am afraid to die - I know where I'm headed, but because I didn't want to miss out on seeing my children grow up and being there to experience all that they do. I didn't want to miss out on seeing Barry become a pastor - something that I know God has called him to do. I believe that God allowed me to stay here because He is not finished with me. I also believe that God allowed me to experience this as a wake up call. As a result of this, I have had to learn to say no to things that I may have agreed to do in the past out of a sense of duty. I have really begun to seek God's will in my life and if He is not leading me to do something, then I'm just gonna have to say no.
Don't forget to consult God before making decisions - no matter how trivial you think they are, you could find yourself stressed out and burned out and far from God.
Anyhoo, get ready for this Sunday morning. We are kicking off summer in an exciting way...you don't want to miss it! Oh, and three more days till freedom!!
Peace Out!