Remember. Grow. Expect. Gratitude.

     To start things off.... I just want to thank the Lord God Almighty for how extremely blessed I am. I am so thankful for the things that have happened to me, the things that are in my life and the things that are yet to come. Which leads me to my whole purpose for writing this blog. Remembering who you were, growing who you are, expecting what is a head and always being thankful. 

     Remembering back on my life is pretty overwhelming. I am so blessed to have had a relatively normal life. Nothing horribly tragic has happened to me. I have a family who loves and supports me. But looking back on where I was in my walk with God at age 7 when I accepted him into my life. At age 13 where I began to understand the importance of a quiet time. At age 15 when I felt the call to overseas missions. At age 16 on my independent streak where I ignored God. At age 17 when my life was thrown for a whirwind moving away and then moving back home. At age 18 deciding to pursue missions and put college on the back burner. Turning 19 in Panama in Central America at a place of brokenness and surrender to the Lord. And now almost being 20 serving and learning about an amazing God, and a powerful Holy Spirit. That's a blast from the past over my almost 20 years of living. 

     Last night I was looking back on the last 4 months. I have learned, grown, and am still growing so much.  And still have so much to learn. But I am so thankful for where I was 4 months ago and also thankful for where I am now. Learning how God speaks to me has been the most amazing and challenging time of my life... and He still continues to surprise me. 

     Growing is not always an easy part of our lives but is extremely essential. It requires a surrender attitude. It is hard to grow in your walk with God without sacrifice of some sort. Not the crazy hurt myself for salvation kind of thing. But a sacrifice of self... taking on a servant attitude. Going low to go high. I love how Pastor Jeff Phillips says, "Kingdom is a kingdom of opposites. To get you have to give. To go high you must go low." So in an aspect to grow you must shrink. You must surrender yourself completely to the will of the Father. It must turn into Thy will not my will. This is something I struggle with. Daily I have to remind myself that it is not me.... it is Christ who lives in me. I am Christ's mouth, his body. I am responsible for loving others more than myself. It is a wonderful lifestyle to live and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I never miss a penny I give. And I never miss an ounce of myself that I surrender to the Lord. And the great thing about it is that He [God] is much more capable of handling my life than I am. His purpose and his ways are much higher than mine. And in that I take comfort and delight.  So in this moment Lord- I give You who I am. Take it, it is Yours. Use me where you desire. Give me Holy Spirit eyes and open my eyes to the things that break Your heart. Give me a Jesus boldness to do greater things. 

     I am so excited for the things that are ahead. I feel the Holy Spirit releasing some exciting things for the Church in a whole and for myself. I feel like this next season is going to be a season of fruitfulness. I believe that God is going to reveal himself in ways that we aren't used to, it's going to take us changing our outlook on our walk with the Lord and being open to new ways of the Holy Spirit moving. I am excited for a move of God in Owensboro, Kentucky. And I believe that revival is coming. I have been praying and seeking God on our little, cute, and homey city and he has told me that it is coming. Praise the Lord! I am so excited to see where God is going to take my life. I am expectant of a wonderful husband who will encourage and push my walk with the Lord. Someone I can serve alongside. I am so excited to see what mission fields I will step on. To see what lives will impact me. To see little orphans being fed. (www.mercy29.org). To see Promiseland Metro Church grow by multiplication. To see the churches unite in Owensboro, Ky. And then state wide, and then nation- wide... and then reaching out to  the globe. I have so many desires and dreams and visions of what is to come. And just to think- that it's going to better than anything that I can envision! 

     I am so thankful for everything that the Lord has revealed to me. For my family. Promiseland Metro. Church family. Friends. Work. Love. Laughter. Joy. Peace. Freedom. Releasing of His Spirit. Movement of God. Choosing and calling me. Countries. Nations. Glory to God. I am sooooo thankful for all of this. 

What parts of your life do you remember?

What part of you needs to grow and develop?

What do you expect?

What are you thankful for? 

I'd love to hear about your story and what God has saved you from. And the things that He is leading you into.