Love will hold us together

Mercy is not getting what we deserve.

Grace is getting what we don't deserve.

‎"Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with PERSEVERANCE the race marked out for us.Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..." -HEBREWS 12:1-2

This blog post is for my girls Em and Coll. I love you both a lot <3

Simply because...

I work... to pay to go to school .... so I can work the rest of my life.

ughhhh

On the bright side:
Perk to living at home - unlimited supply of chewing gum! (mom gots a new job!)

Who Knows?

I think sometimes I write these long posts because I like to hear myself speak.... or rather, type.

Once again... I'm rediscovering my joy!

Here is what I've been learning lately....

God is not too big for any of my stuff. So often, I get hit desperation or confusion and give Him the bigger stuff. I trust Him with it because He is the God of all creation so when it comes down to it, I'd rather Him handle the big stuff. But here is what I was missing...

He is just as interested in the small things as well! The key element for me has been starting to see my place in His bigger picture. Seeing how minuscule I am in His grandeur plan and yet how loved I am. Humbled by my understand of sin's effects on this world and my life,  but understanding the beauty of salvation and the plan He has for my life. Wow....
He's not too big for any of it, and if we believe that everything in our lives some how directs our paths or influence us in some way (like in Andy Stanley's 'The Path Principle'), then why would we want to have control of any of it? How do we not understand how big this is... how huge this thing is... and we're invited into it!

Look how they shine for you...

My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind - Einstein

Neat...

Three things in life that once gone, never come back:
1. Time
2. Words
3. Opportunity

Three things in life that can destroy a person:
1. Anger
2. Pride
3. Unforgiveness

Three things in life that you should never lose:
1. Hope
2. Peace
3. Honesty

Three things in life that are most valuable:
1. Love
2. Family & Friends
3. Kindness

Three things in life that are never certain:
1. Fortune
2. Success
3. Dreams

Three things in life that are truly constant:
1. Father 
2. Son
3. Holy Spirit

Truthfully...

Summer has come to an end. With ReFuel coming up, school starting soon, being a captain this weekend at orientation and job hunting to pay for tuition, I feel a lot of attack on my heart. Its not only that I feel the attack, its that there are more and more opportunities to participate in things I just don't need to be involved in. 
Frankly I'm really nervous for the semester. I never anticipated it being this busy, having so much to do... and I don't want to 'loose my soul' in my efforts to do well with everything that's going on. 
The fact is, that God is God, and me not trusting in Him is just saying He can't handle all this craziness. He can. And quite honestly, I know I can't. I shouldn't even bother. Although that may seem as a cop out to a non-Christian, I know that its actually so empowering! I was honestly hesitating lifting up my worries and trusting Him fully because I thought He'd just make it happen. Right. Nothing in life is that easy. But its not like that answer is an olympic marathon in itself either... I simply just have to ask and keep pushing forward.
ReFuel in particular, has been a huge responsibility. Its been almost a decade since some of these churches have ventured outside their denominations and I think God has big BIG plans for this event. 
With that said, I need to get into my bible and take refuge in Christ. I know with my personality, it will be so easy to fall into the same slippy slope as last year. There is a lot at stake this month! God is God, and nothing is too big for Him! Please keep me in your prayers this month. I can feel some spiritual attack on my life right now, and I need to be continually turning to Christ and looking to Him for guidance. 
Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast.
Glory be to God.

ReFuel and more....

Wow! Its September!!

My summer was full of summer road trips and awesome music.

Life changing friendships and trips to the beach.

Family camping and late night tuck tournaments.

Campfires and yummy potlucks.

Church get-togethers and sunny skies!

Dreaming and planning.

Red dirt roads and late night walks.

Foolishness and outbreaks of dance.

Tears and prayers.

Worship and encouragement.

Last but not least, I had the honor and challenge of preparing for a huge event this month. This event, Refuel, is designed to be a kick-off evening for youth groups and young adults from across the Island to come together to worship, pray and find encouragement. We are expecting about 300 youth and youth adults. 

God has been so instrumental throughout this whole process and I am really excited to see Him move in the lives of those who attend. We have a band, a speaker, an emcee and lots of volunteers! So many different denominations, and I think there is something to powerful about youth coming together to worship. I know so often in high school its easy to get discouraged, but this event will bring us all together and hopefully send everyone away knowing that they're not alone!

Keep this event in your prayers these next few weeks. The fall promises to be busy!!

Once upon a time...

An excerpt from Tim Keller's study book Gospel in Life.

Once upon a time there was a gardener who grew an enormous carrot. He took to to his king and said, "My lord, this is the greatest carrot I've ever grown or even will grow; therefore, I want to present it to you as a token of my love and respect for you." The king was touched and discerned the man's heart, so as he turned to go, the king said, "Wait! You are clearly a good steward of the earth. I own a plot of land right next to yours. I want to give it to you freely as a gift, so you can garden it all." The gardener was amazed and delighted and went him rejoicing. But there was a nobleman at the king's court who overheard all this, and he said "My! If that is what you get from a carrot, then what if you gave the king something better?" The next day the nobleman came before the king, and he was leading a handsome black stallion. He bowed low and said, "My lord, I breed horses, and this is the greatest horse I've ever bred or ever will; therefore, I want to present it to you as a token of my love and respect for you." Bot the king discerned his heart and said, "Thank you," and took the horse and simply dismissed him. The nobleman was perplexed, so the king said, "Let me explain. That gardener was giving me the carrot but you were giving yourself the horse."

If we give God things in the hope that they will earn us blessings or heaven., then we are really not doing anything for him at all-its for ourselves. Only an experience of grace changes us so we do good things for goodness' sake, for God's sake.

things have been eventful!

This summer has been absolutely spectacular! Amazing friends and fun adventures.


1. The beautiful Colleen came to visit!


2. Game board nights with fabulous friends.


3. Sunny Sunday delight.


4. Weekend concerts and beautiful people.5. THE BEACH!


6. Karaoke with camping soul mates.

6. Ben&Jerry's splurging nights!

THE END!

Being refined.

My heart is being refined and its painful. I spent the last year asking God to help me grow in faith. Here it is happening... and its getting really hard. Things were so great until this January, and now I feel like I've been getting so many curve balls.

I keep finding myself in the same situations and struggling through them. I guess its progress that I'm aware and catching it... but now that I see the consequences of my actions, its overwhelming and I am often overcompensating and over thinking.

Looking back on years past and how I've grown in my faith, I know God has been preparing me to deal with this. He has presented me with everything I need... Him. Although this has been a painful year, I know this is where I'm supposed to be.

So as I have been dealing with the sin that's been exposed in my life, God has been so instrumental in revealing to me how much he loves me. Its overwhelming and powerful. Hallelujah, grace like rain is falling down on me.

Not pride... humility!
No guilt... confidence!

...powerful

"make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love." - 2 Peter 1:5-8

Timothy Keller

Religion vs. Gospel

I am so sinful that he had to die for me. At the same time, I'm so loved because he was willing to do it.

I'm doing a study on a book called 'Gospel in Life' by Timothy Keller. In our reading and discussion, it challenged us to evaluate how we are living out our faith. This particular chapter defines gospel vs. religion and asks us to move past simply going through the motions of the Christian religion and obedience, and really trying to live out the gospel with the right motivation and heart.

Religion says: If i obey, then God will love and accept me
If you're living out religion, most people either experience:
->Pride: I think I can save myself.
I look down on people who can't live up to the rules.
->Inadequacy/Guilt: I'm not good enough.

But the Gospel says: God loves and accepts me because of what Jesus has done; therefore I obey out of love and thankfulness.

What did Jesus do?
-> Lived a perfect life.
-> He suffered and died. Why? Someone had to pay.

If you are living out the gospel
-> This humbles me because of the high cost he paid.
-> This gives me the confidence because he was willing to do it.

Not pride... humility!
No guilt... confidence!

God, you see my life as i stand before you, and in humility i am admitting that there is stuff in my life that is messed up, that there are places that i have been compromising, that there are places that i am allowing to be corrupted, that there are places in my heart, in my mind, in my attitudes and in my habits where you are not in charge.
I pray that you would change my mind. That right now God, like it says in Romans, that i can be transformed in the renewing of our mind. That you would fix my mind, that you would make our mind work the way yours works, that you would give me your perspective, your view and your understanding of these things. God, that you would change my mind to see what's messed up in my life. God, so i can see sin the way you see it.
God, i need your help to change my ways, to change what i am actually doing. I pray that your power would be in my life in a strong way to help me live a life that you intended me to live.
Your words says that we shouldn't be a people who look at ourselves in the mirror and see our faults and then walk away and forget what we saw... no! God you call us to be a people who deal with those faults and own up to our sins. I know that it is not my strength that changes hearts, but yours.
God, i pray that your spirit would fall on me. That the same power that was raised in victory over sin held death in the grave would be active in my life.
Thank you for your love. God is love. Love never fails.

God is love

Ephesians 5:1-2

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

1 John 2:9-11

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.

Absolute beauty... please pray.

My Aunt Cindy is one of the most beautiful women I know. Beautiful in so many ways.

She is a strong Godly woman who embodies love in every inch of her being. Last August, she took a stroke which came as a huge surprise to all of us. Health concerns, personality changes and loss of mobility resulted immediately. This rocked their family and ours in too many ways and I couldn't help but feel helpless through the whole ordeal. I think we all felt helpless. She has been living in the US for as long as I've been alive and every time she's visited with my super sweet cousins, they brighten up my life. Through it all, the hurt in my father's eyes, the uncertainty in their voices and the desire to have her home with us, we've all been stretched and reminded that prayer is so powerful.

Our prayers are being answered and she is coming home... tonight!!

I'm asking for prayer.

Prayer that God's plan will be followed, not our own... regardless of our desire to have her move home. Prayer that we will be able to asses the issues properly and get some solutions. Prayer that she will enjoy her time and re-develop some of those skills that were robbed of her.

God is love!! To Him Be the Glory!

Danielle

A Mess!

My room is a mess.

My mind is a mess.

I refuse to be a product of this world.

I yearn to solely be a product of my creator.

We have overcome too much to fall.

This won't last long.

I'm just in a funk.

I'm taking you with me when I move forward.

I'm starting running. Tomorrow.

Thank God for amazing friends.

The end.

A Spill?

Consider your life a glass of water.
When someone unexpectedly bumps into you... what spills out?
In other words: in the moments we are caught off guard... how do we react?

The world tells us that the moments we 'get bumped into' and the 'spill' is not something to be proud of, are not moments to be stressed over; That those nights we drink a little too much... that time we swore in agony after banging our knee... and those impure thoughts we sometimes think... that they are not who we truly are, but just simply lapses in judgment.

The bible tells us that those moments are a reflection of the condition of our heart; That the words we say when we are caught off guard, the way we act when we get angry and the thoughts we have that we dare not say aloud demonstrate and reflect the depths of our heart.

James 1: 19-21, 26-27 Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. If anyone considers himself faithful and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his faith is worthless. Faith that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

We have been called to be God's set apart people... so shouldn't our actions demonstrate that?

God doesn't want us to just cover it up and just pretend things are fine... No! We are to have courage and deal with those issues.

What ends up spilling out is a reflection of our heart.
I have been reminded this week to not only guard my heart, but to watch my words, my actions and my reactions, as I strive to live a life that reflects a pure heart.

How's your heart?

spring forth

There is no better feeling then walking into a gym of youth, hearing a thousand voices singing in harmony, feeling the emotion of hearts bursting with praise and sensing the overwhelming presence of power.

The atmosphere. The energy. The unity. ... it was so exhilarating!

Last weekend the Atlantic Baptist Youth were in Moncton helping to run an event called Spring Forth! This year I had the opportunity to sit on a planning committee who oversaw and organized the full event and I was humbled to see how much it took to put the event together. We have some crazy talented people working in ministry in Atlantic Canada!!
1700 attendees
3 locations
24 hours
so many hearts changed!
Dave Currie spoke and we were blessed to have him take his daughter along. At one point they split up the girl and boys for a more gender specific subject talk. I caught the last few minutes of Jody's (Dave's daughter) talk. She is a brilliant relationship therapist who spoke to the girls about self-worth and their value as a child of God. As the girls exited the gym, she filtered them through one door and made them look themselves in the mirror and say "I am valuable". It was heartbreaking to see the amount of girls who could barely say those words..."I am valuable" without tears. As I held the door for them as they exited, watching their faces full of tears and empowerment, I got a vivid picture of the self-worth the females of our generation hold for themselves. Each girl was given a sticker for their mirror that said "Help me see myself how You see me" and a copy of the love letter from Jesus for them to take home.
The event was an absolute success. I personally think it was the best one I've been too. The youth were involved in the event on a whole new level. From the film fest and arts fest to the offering and choir, the students had so many chances to get involved and display their spiritual gifts in front of their peers in a loving, Christ centered environment. It was so powerful.
Leading up to the event, God had prepared my heart for a big weekend as I was evaluating things in my personal life... a process, I am learning, I should constantly be doing. When we identify a problem in our character and bring it to God, He doesn't just fix it for us, He gives us opportunities to fix it while growing a dependence on Him for the strength to overcome! I was given so many opportunities at Spring Forth to work through these issues and I am so thankful for a loving community of believers that will stand by me and love on me as I work these things out. God gave me with so many challenges and with that came an equal amount of support pushing me in the right direction! Most of them would have had no idea I was working through anything at all... but that unconditional forgiveness and the attitude of understanding was so uplifting!
For some silly reason, I had the idea that if the event was geared towards youth, then the youth were there to be filled and I was there to serve them... well... God sure shook that one up. God had been filling me and preparing me as I prepared for this weekend to not only pour into the youth at the event, but to be poured into by the leadership team, the speaker, band and even the youth.
There is nothing I love more then working on a team for youth events and seeing God being glorified and work through that.
God is so great.

A Love Letter

My precious daughter,
I created you unique from anyone else;
You are exceptionally and wonderfully made.
Others may judge you on what you look like,
but I see your heart, I am so proud of who you are.
I have specifically chosen you and
Adopted you to me by child.
You are incredible valuable to me and
I cherish every moment with you.
As you obey my work, you become my friend and
We are united in spirit.
I love you so much that I died for you,
So that you could truly live.
No matter what you have done in your past,
With my gift of forgiveness, I see you as pure and perfect.
There is nothing you could ever do to make me
Stop loving you.

Though you may not realize it,
I am continually working all things for your best interest.
You can trust me with your life;
I want to give you a hope, a purpose and a future.

My joy will be your strength,
My love will surround you,
And my peace will hold you.

Be blessed today,
Know who you are...

Lovely
Forgiven,
Adored,

A princess, a daughter of the King.
A woman who fears the Lord
Shall be praised.

My desire is that you will
See yourself for how I see you!
I love you,

Jesus

This letter was given to the girls who attended Spring Forth last weekend as Jody Currie, a Christian relationship therapist, spoke about self-value and the purpose and value we have in Christ. As the girls exited the gym, she asked them to look themselves, one by one, in the mirror and tell themselves "you are valuable". My heart broke as I watched the pain in their eyes. Most of them holding back tears, could barely see themselves as valuable, let alone say it out loud.

Hope!

Moldovan Children
Pray for Moldova.
Although Moldovans live an a whole other reality then us in North America, they have been blessed with beautiful people and a beautiful country. They deal with issues of oppression, territory conflict, poverty and lack of resources and jobs. This is the poorest and smallest country in Europe that is a heavily indebted transition countries suffering
serious political and economic consequences of the conflict in Transnistria.
Irregardless, the people of this county have hope! Their faces full of joy and their villages flushing in beauty and grace. God is in Moldova. The children and youth of this country have the chance to change their relaity and work toward a better, brighter future.

Where is their hope found? Their hope is found in the Lord.

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.” – Isaiah 54:10

Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but helping the poor honors Him. - Proverbs 14:31

Moldovan youth

Pictures taken in Moldova Summer 2008 Missions trip.