Hey All!

It is another gorgeous day in Fargo--I'm so loving the weather and am getting used to it sticking around! :)

But on a sad note, my Bison lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament. :( They played a great game, but just were unable to overcome the national champs!

Other than that, I am NOT looking forward to this pending flood. We are already in a warning stage and UGH! I'd just rather not. The one bad thing about living next to a river and having no hills on an entire half of a state.

So I was reading one of my devotionals this morning and it was about our distractions. The reading was from Isaiah 44:3-8, where God was telling Isaiah about the idolatry of the people. They denied God His ability to work in them. Then in brought up how we become distracted and failed to put God always first. It struck a nerve in me. There are many things I feel I need and want, yet they stop me from completely pursuing the Father.

I quickly ran to the grocery store after reading this, and I did the usual thing I do, start turning on the music and pumping the jams. In the mornings, I'm almost always listening to contemporary worship or music of that sort. This morning I turned it on, and thought, "why do I need this? Shouldn't I be talking with God?" I quickly turned off the music and started pouring my heart out to the King. I know I am a work in progress, and prayer is what I need--that constant communication with my Savior. I was glad that I took the time to open up to God, even if it was just a few moments.

I am trying to contemplate more what drags me away from God. Though these things are not inherently bad, they do draw me away, when God created them to draw me near.

But God is faithful. He knows my weaknesses and downfalls, and still He loves me. He sees only His Son when He looks at me. And that is power.

Have a wonderful weekend! God bless!

First off, can I say that today was an absolutely gorgeous day!?! Wow! It was beautiful!

God is so wonderful, and my heart has definitely been receiving a lot from Him.

I'm still reading the book "One Month To Live" and in it there was a question a few weeks ago about the area in our life that we're at. I was thinking this over and today with the beautiful weather, I noticed a heart change from when I first read this.

Yesterday was a bummer day for me, at first. I was just in the mood to be with people, but God needed me with Him. I started to get down that I was by myself, but God set me straight. I was listening to some worship music and I felt a deep sense to just praise Jesus. And so I did. I spent an hour just worshiping Him. I let the tears flow, even though I did wonder where they came from, and felt such sweet release. After that, I opened the gospels up and felt such a fire for them. What wonderful words are written in the Bible!

And today it seemed to be true as well. I was just excited! I bought a new cd today full of country gospel and I cranked it up and had the windows down (it was 40 degree weather, so not bitter cold) and just sang praise. Never so recently have I experienced such freedom, and its all stemming from my love of my Savior. "I just keep falling in love with you over and over, all things pass, all things brand new, my lips shall praise thee, joyfully give you glory, while lifting my hands in your due, I just keep falling, falling in love with You!" (Check out CeCe Winans "Falling in Love")

Man our Saviour is great! I keep falling in love with Him. Wow! Thanks be to Jesus for this wonderful weather--a new spring is here!

There are signs of spring! I am so excited!!!

I have to run 17 miles tomorrow for the marathon! It is going to be so wet-but I don't care, SPRING is almost here!

Ok, enough of my ranting, I'm just so excited. I think it is going to be a wonderful spring!

Have a great weekend all! God bless!

Hi everyone!

I hope everyone is doing well. Just wanted to say how much I am loving reading the book "One Month To Live." It has been challenging to me, but very rewarding.

I wanted to share the experience I had yesterday after following the calling and challenge from day 7 of the book. In that day it talked about actually kick-starting our lives into gear and really living passionately for God. One of the challenges at the end of the chapter asked us what would we be doing if we knew we couldn't fail for God and we didn't have any barriers stopping us. I immediately thought of preaching! I wanted to do that and I knew that was what God had been putting on my heart.

Well, as you all know here in Fargo, the weather was beyond terrible--it was downright nasty! So, I knew we would not be having drama practice that evening. However, I was wondering what or if there would be a service that night. So I took a chance. I had written a sermon a while ago and I decide to ask Dale, our senior pastor, if I could give that message. He let me.

So last night, for the first official time, I gave a sermon to a congregation about our need to feel younger, to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ as children, and to walk boldly in faith with confidence in God and His plan. And I feel it went well. It felt very cool engaging the audience and getting them following along. I planted some seeds last night. I don't know if I'll ever see them come to fruition, but I did it.

While I would have gotten the place of where that first time would come, I know God wanted me submitted to Him and listening to Him in order to let that chance come. I'm really glad He humbled me into reading this book and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I hope all of you get the chance to be challenged and be rewarded for your faith! We are meant to humbly trust Christ and know that what is beyond is the better. "So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen, eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV)

God bless!

Hi everyone! This is my first post--I've never blogged before, so I thought I'd just say hi for this first one! Excited to see everyone else's posts! :)

God bless!-