woman: the new has come

This past weekend New Life Church had a Women's Conference. It was the kind of thing that changes the way people live their lives.. Precilla Shirer spoke an encouraging word over the women of our church. A word that helps us know that God wants us to stop wishing and wishing that we could hurry up and move on to the next phase of our lives, whether it be leaving singleness to be in a relationship.. or rushing past the dating years to get married.. or wishing that we could go ahead and arrive and shine in the calling God has placed on our lives. We can't keep up the habit of constantly wishing the present away, never satisfied because we think one day we'll wake up and our lives will look like what we always thought they would. No, we have to embrace our season. We have to invest our hearts wherever we are.. at whatever phase of life in which we currently reside. God has rest for us NOW. God has a plan for us NOW. Exactly where we are. As long as we are loving God and Serving faithfully with whatever we have in our hands at the moment, we are walking in God's perfect will for our lives. The new has already come.

some pictures from the conference after party....

hope..

my best friend becca and i have been leading a life group of amazing high school girls. girls who have real hearts and real problems.. and need a real Jesus. being a part of this wonderful group of young women has changed the way i view leading worship. getting to know my girls helps me know who is out there in the crowd i'm trying coax into the presence of God on a week to week basis. it makes so much sense to me why not everyone is ready to abandon themselves to the saving grace of Jesus the second the first note is played.. or even by the final song for that matter. there are people out there who don't really feel like worshiping... maybe they don't know if their dad even loves them.. and they can't trust their mom with the secret details of their lives because she's too judgmental.. and they have friends that would throw them under the bus at any given moment if the opportunity to look cool in front of other people presented itself... these kids can count on so little. their confidence is rickety.. and their passions are fragile. their foundations are constantly being shaken... it's not fair.. injustice can put a serious damper on someone's ability to believe in freedom...and honestly, it sucks. but, now that i have a better grasp on the heart-condition of the ppl i'm leading.. i feel like God has put something in my heart that desires EVEN MORE for them to get into the healing presence of God.. it's so important that they know Jesus. and leading worship, or being a lead worshipper, means figuring out how to help them know God sees them.. and that he offers them hope...

happy me...

it seems as tho i've fallen off the face of the blogging earth.. I'm going to try to hoist myself back up..

soo... what have i been doing lately?

well.. for those wondering, i've been hanging out with my beautiful, funny, smart, awesome spectacular, singing, dancing, guitar playing, skinny-jean-wearing, Harry Potter-loving boyfriend. meet bronson chambers duke II:

oh... and we love each other... ♥