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"You Never Let Go" by Matt Redman

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
Your perfect love is casting out fear
And even when I'm caught in the middle of the storms of this life
I won't turn back
I know you are near

And I will fear no evil
For my God is with me
And if my God is with me
Whom then shall I fear?
Whom then shall I fear?

Oh no, You never let go
Through the calm and through the storm
Oh no, You never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, You never let go
Lord, You never let go of me

And I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
A glorious light beyond all compare
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
We'll live to know You here on the earth


Yes, I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
Still I will praise You, still I will praise You

Just talking to my Jesus....

" So if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God. When the Messiah, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory." - Colossians 3:1-4 (HCSB)

Jesus, I love you and how you are rockin' my world right now. You are amazing. But I am not seeking what is above like I should. Guide me this week, day by day, to set my mind on you. Give me eyes to see the "idols" that I need to remove out of my life. I want to be filled with You. I want Your light and Your love to just ooze out of me onto others. Thanks for taking care of this girl in the palm of your scarred hands.

Learning

Apparently God wants me to learn a lot right now. It amazes me that when I read something out of God’s Word that it’s exactly something I needed to hear – something to encourage me, something to wake me up to realize how I am slacking (i.e – a good kick in the rear), or it’s Him just letting me know that He thinks I rock. Below is a scripture that just hit me this weekend and I wanted to share.
Be blessed!

Galatians 1:16 "For am I now trying to win the favor of people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ."

Galatians 2:16 "...yet we know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified."

A Bloggity Make Over Edition

Hey y'all!

I hope you guys have been doing well. I just wanted to make a BIG shout-out to Amanda @ Mama Sings. First of all, she is one of my favorite bloggers to read because she keeps it real (so go check her out) and second of all she has the same style for flair that I do. Through her blog I found something that makes me as happy as a Diet-Coke-from-Sonic-at-10:00-at-night; a FREE blog design place. It's called The Cutest Blog On The Block and that is where I found my new Fall design. L-O-V-E it!! So I am sharing the love --- check out www.cutestblogontheblock.com.

Flair it up girls... flair.it.up!
Karen

Some New Finds...

I just found a new favorite person in ministry - Kelly Minter. Please check out her website at www.kellyminter.com. I am currently reading her book "No Other Gods" and I am having my socks completely knocked off by how good this is. Plus she blogs (she's over on my favorite blogs list). Here is the link to her latest post and it just really hit home for me so I thought I would share.

Another person I have found is over at Ministry So Fabulous. She is also in my favorite blogs list (check her out if you haven't already) and I can't wait to read more of her stuff.

Hope y'all are having a blessed day!
Hugs ~
Karen

Theory Blown To Bits ....

I had it. The kind of moment that while you are talking in that moment you know it's not you, but that God is speaking through you. It was quite amazing. And I must say faith-building. It just confirmed how I am right where I need to be at this point in my life. That God carved out a purpose for little ol' me. While He is busy with the "big things" like making sure the stars are in the right place in the sky at night or that a child in a third-world country gets a meal today, He is taking the time to make sure I know He has a purpose for me.

I was "doing my thing" working at church this morning. I was pumped with all the activity going on because it was Promotion Sunday for our 6th graders. (By the way, it was amazing to actually see how many students are in our ministry and to already see that God will be doing a mighty work in the Student Ministry this school year at Brookwood.)

Anyways, a mother of a high schooler that I had met before wanted to talk with me with her daughter there. It was like I was looking in a mirror from 15 years ago. It was absolutely scary in how reflective it was.

I was the girl scared to talk to anyone. I had no real friends. Hated myself, how I looked and how I felt. Hated my life at home. Didn't like the church I was at. I just wanted to stay in my room away from the world. Just wanted to be homeschooled in order to avoid people at school. Had no clue who I was. Had no clue of God's love for me. Had no clue of how a true family operated. Had no clue of what church really was. (If my Mom hadn't literally pushed me out of a car to go apply for a job when I turned 16 years old, I would still be that girl - living in a hard, cold shell.)

I saw that same girl today at church with her Mom. And I just had to reach out to her. "Karen the Assistant for the Student Ministry" wasn't talking to the girl and her Mom today. The Karen that has overcome some of those issues with God's help (and is still working on a few of those issues) was talking. God was directing my words. I listened to myself talk and was like "where did that come from??". And when it was all over I was exhausted yet amazed. I was shocked that God would use some of the junk from my past to help in such a powerful way. I want that girl to know the God who created everything, created her for a reason. That He loves her more than anything. That He made her the way He did for a reason. And that He is there to love her no matter what she does, how she looks or how she feels on any given day of the week. And that there are other students like her that she can connect and grow with. (We have some pretty amazing students in the High School ministry. Students that I wish surrounded me while I was growing up.) This Mom wants me to be around on Wednesday nights with her daughter to help her connect. But I had to explain to her that God has lead me to get back into Praise Choir. With God's guidance, I was able to think of a way to help that the Mom was good with. But it would involve the assistance of another student. After our conversation I thought - who would be able to really help connect with her. Who would stick with this girl for the school year to help her? And sure enough God directed my steps to one of the best student's for this girl. In less than 5 minutes, before I even had a chance to pray to God about it, He stepped in and provided an awesome student that is willing to stick with this girl.

I have heard people talk about experiences like this and thought that these were wonderful experiences, but that God would never use me for something like that. That I am not knowledgeable enough or any of the other hundreds of reasons lies that Satan wanted me to believe. Today God blew that theory to bits and he made those bits turn to dust. This experience has made me realize that I need to fill up on even more of Him. To re-wallpaper my mind even more with God's Word so that I will be ready for the next time God uses me. Not if He uses me again - but when. Because after this experience I know He will definitely use me again. Needless to say, after church was over I was in my van all of 5 minutes and the thoughts of "this really wasn't that big of a deal... you didn't really do anything" flooded my mind. And I immediately realized Satan was back to his old tricks. And that is how I know this experience did matter today. Because Satan was not too happy about me reaching out to someone with God's love. Right after that one of my favorite songs came on the radio. It was like God saying "that's my girl...showing some of My love to others." He knew exactly what I needed to hear by playing that song on the radio.

I hope that God rocks your world this coming week as much as He has mine. We serve, love and worship an amazing God!

Love y'all!
Karen

Pink Hair!!!!!!!!!!

Pink hair. Never in a million years would I have thought I would have pink hair. About two weeks ago my friend Elicia colored her hair pink (and yes, she works at the church with me). It was so cool and I wanted to do it as well, but I wasn't sure if I could pull it off and I didn't have the money to spend on a dye job at the time. So when I went to Sally's Beauty Supply store I found out they have spray color and it was on sale. So I have hot pink, lime green and blue to try out. Today I tried pink. The beauty of this is that I can wash it out right away if I don't like it. I am totally diggin' on the hot pink and this coming weekend I may just go and get that dye job of blond and hot pink through my hair. Here is a picture of me from today with my hot pink spray job. It's so cool! LOL

Floored by Jesus

Amazing. Busy. Tiring. Awesome. Awestruck. Excited. Changed. Thankful. That was my week this past week. There was alot that happened so be ready for a long read. LOL

Brookwood had "Adventure Week" aka VBS this week. Adventure Week was called "Slime Time" and it rocked. The Childrens' Ministry put so much work into this event and you could see it. Literally... see the You Tube video below. Each day it all started at 9:00am in the Auditorium with 300+ kids and their Crew Leaders for a half hour program that included games, skits and worship. The Worship was lead by the Student Band and had a Dance Team of Students to get the kids pumped. It was an amazing experience to see over 300 kids get into Worship the way that they did. Jumping up and down, arms in air talking about "telling the world" about Jesus and what a "happy day" it is because Jesus changes us and we'll never be the same. For months I have been asking God to show me how to get more involved in Worship... to show Danny ... to show us both how to do authentic worship that our amazing God would find pleasing. And to do it together in church. Well, this week He answered my prayers. When you see 300+ kids bring the house down with worship, you just get it. It's like a "light bulb" moment. (Both Danny and I grew up in conservative churches. Hence the reason for asking God to show us more about worship.) Danny was a Crew Leader this week. By Friday I could see a change in him. It completely floored me. I was thinking "He was a Crew Leader.... he was teaching the kids... why would he have a change?" But after thinking about it this is what I realized. The kids were being changed and learning and their excitement about it all cycled around to Danny. Isn't it amazing how God works?!!? By Friday Danny was in tears talking about how amazing this week was. How this week he learned as much if not more than the kids. And that just rocks my world because not only has it made an impact on Danny, but Danny is willing to share his thoughts and feelings to me about this experience. This week Danny got to sense and experience God's presence in a way he never has before. But he wasn't the only one. To be able to start my work day in worship with 400 people was amazing. Then to be able to turn around and do it again at 2pm just blessed my socks off. And on top of that I was able to experience this all with my husband since he was a Crew Leader. Amazing. We will never be the same when it comes to worship. This is just the beginning for us in our journey. I can honestly say that me and Danny are not the same people we were almost two years ago. God has done some mighty, awesome, scary, exciting and, extraordinary things in our lives since becoming a part of Brookwood. And this past week was just a small but amazing part of our journey. We will never be the same.

Now for another thing I was so blessed to be a part of.... I have been part of the Brookwood Praise Choir since Danny and I joined Brookwood in January of 2007. In November of 2007 I had to back off from Praise Choir because of all the hours I was working at Brookwood. Well this spring I realized that I HAVE to get back. That God wanted me back in it and that I needed it. Well, they take a break in the summer so I decided to start back in August when they resume. About three weeks ago our church was called by HIS Radio 89.3 and told that we were in the running for winning the opportunity to be the choir to sing on their road trip to Chick-Fil-A here in Greenville. After all the votes were counted we were the winners! We went to Chick-Fil-A on Woodruff Rd at 6:45am to sing on air off and on until 9am. To be in the outdoors with all the amazing people in our Praise Team, Praise Band and Praise Choir was such an experience. We were all there just to praise our amazing God. It just floored me (again) at how amazing our God is. To stand their and sing "God of This City" in public was amazing. To stand their and sing with my fellow Worship Team members near one of the busiest roads in Greenville just blessed me more than words can say. I was floored that God allowed me to be a part of this.

This week has made me even more excited about what God is going to teach me and Danny in the coming months. And I am floored that He would use us for anything. God is going to show us some mighty things. He already has. He is going to show Himself off to us and others in how He works in our lives. Have to end this post with this You Tube video of one of my new favorite songs - "Make It Matter" by Natalie Grant.



God Bless!
Karen

I Will Not Be Moved

If this song doesn't make you shout by the end, I don't know what will. When this comes on the radio in my car, the kids know this one Momma turns up. The words are powerful and so rock my socks off. Enjoy! (You will need to pause my music list on the right side to enjoy the video.)

Unbalanced

That is what has been happening the past three months. Over the past couple of weeks God has shown me I am just too unbalanced. It is one thing to be dedicated to your job; to want to be successful and (especially with working at a church) want to go above and beyond to help make the ministry successful. But to place it above all else, to focus on nothing else is not good. Not healthy. And not how God wants it. And I am so guilty of this. I didn't mean to get to this point. I couldn't even tell you how I got to this point. It just kinda happened. Don't get me wrong I love my job and the people I work with. I praise God each day that He has blessed me to work at Brookwood. It's just my life has been unbalanced and beginning tomorrow I am backing off a little. Meaning no more working late hours. As some of the folks say at church, you will never have everything done - there will always be something to do. I think the perfectionist in me was trying to prove to myself that I can get it all done. I have felt like I am floundering in the unknown territory of ministry. Growing up the way I did in the church that I grew up in, there was no such thing as ministry. No one ever "did" ministry. So this whole thing of ministry is brand new to me - unknown to me and lately I have felt like I am struggling in it. Struggling with finding my place. I feel guilty that I haven't balanced life and ministry/job. I've been wondering why God placed me where I am since I am new to everything I am experiencing at Brookwood. I am not as experienced as others. After an amazing heart to heart for two hours with my good friend Jill this weekend(who knows very well what goes on when you work in the ministry); I know that God has strategically placed me at Brookwood for this time. That He has plans to use me and that it's ok to not be perfect in everything I do - I am new to this and learning. God is so amazing in placing me at Brookwood when He did. To make me get out of my comfort zone, to stretch me alittle - to make me grow. And to connect me with people that will surround me with prayer, love and guidance as I go through this new season in my life.

Blessings and Hugs~
Karen

"Remember ministry is not about position, it's about people. Let name after name be written on your heart. He who turns water in to wine, turns wimps into warriors. You have a ministry. Go fulfill it!" - Beth Moore

Finally!

Hey y'all!

I finally was able to get an appointment with a special facility that will screen and test Alex. This makes me one very happy Mama! And it's not six months down the road like I thought it would be - it's in May. Praise Jesus! ("Heysus" to my yada yada sisters - LOL)

Here's the latest picture of Alex...

Just had to share...will share more later. I hope you all have a blessed Sunday! Here at home it will be a beautiful Spring Day and we are grillin' after church. Yummo!

Blessings~
Karen