Harlem Shake Kids Matter Ministries Version

This is what I do for a living.  I get paid to act like a nut!  Best job in the world...hands down!  ;)

This was our children's ministry lock-in this past weekend.  It was so fun to shoot this.  Although very few kids had heard of the Harlem Shake.  I got to educate them on viral videos and what is cool right now!  HAHA  Although I had to be very selective on Harlem Shake videos to show...most of them are not quite appropriate for little eyes! 

Thanks to GABC College Ministry for your Harlem Shake at Chick-fil-a.  That was a great example of one for us to watch to get some ideas.

You have made me new!

Every time I feel a need to blog, I realize it's usually about the same theme.  New life in Christ, how God takes the ugly and makes it GOOD, broken...now redeemed.  I guess I could consider this the main theme of my life.  The need to blog this time comes from an experience I had recently with my precious husband. 

Most of you know our Air Force history.  Michael valiantly served as an exemplary pilot for 10 years.  He gave it his all.  He was awarded for numerous things, events, activities.  His whole identity was wrapped up in his career and what the Air Force made him.  Pride comes before the fall, is the saying.  Is that biblical?  A proverb?  I'm certain it is...will have to look that up later.  Michael has been out of the service now for 2.5 years.  I write about it a lot because it was a traumatic loss for our family!  You get used to things being done a certain way and then, it's ended.  It's a little surreal.  We were used to the Air Force determining our destiny.  Telling us where to go next and what to do.  God had a hand in putting a screeching halt to that when we got out.  It was at that moment that Michael fully surrendered, recklessly abandoned everything to follow only what God wants for our life.  Easy?  NO!  It's quite the traumatic experience.  It  probably could have been peaceful if we hadn't been kicking and screaming the whole way. 

So, here we sit quite a few years into our "new" life.  Michael has tons and tons of military uniforms and paraphernalia in our attic.  He was fine having it sit there for the past 2 years.  Evan, is of course, enamored with all this militaria. So, Michael decided to get it all down the other night, go through it, and determine what he should keep and what he could get rid of.  He pulled it all down, then had to leave for a meeting.  So, Evan pulled EVERYTHING out.  Beaming with pride to see his dad's awards, the uniforms, the patches.  Michael got home from his meeting and Evan had a ton of questions for him about all these military stuff littering my living room!  Michael sat patiently and answered every one of Evan's questions about every item he pulled out.  Then, we put the kids to bed. 

I then found Michael sitting in the living room amidst all the remains of his old life.  He had tears streaming down his face as he held some flight instruments.  He sat there telling me how hard it was to see all this stuff again because it was such a deep part of him.  He told me how he foolishly made all that his identity for so long.  This military life that he wanted to invest in just came to a screeching halt in 2010.  He cried grieving the "old" life.  The man he used to be. 

God pulled him out of that life because God had a better calling for him.  God wanted to use Michael in a way that the Air Force would not allow.  God was going to make Michael a new man.  And he's been chiseling away at him for the past few years now.  Chiseling is a painful process.  It calls for sacrifice, selflessness, humility, putting God's ways above our own. 

The song that has been resonating in my soul for a while now is "New Man" by All Things New.  Wow.  What a song.  I'll share it with you.  Hopefully it helps you to quite grieving the "old man", but reminds you that God has made you into a new creation.  A way better model of what you were before! 

God reminds us constantly that we are His!  Set apart for great things.  Praying God restores my husband's heart and reminds him that his identity is not in his old man, but in what God has made him to be. And watch out world for what's coming!

All I Need

God keeps showing me so many things!  I prayed and asked Him to open my eyes to things I’ve never seen before.  I kind of meant that I wanted to see angels standing guard outside my doors…things like that. 

Instead, He has answered my prayer and is showing me attributes that are travesties…he’s showing me things I haven’t seen or noticed before that need to be changed. 

The coolest thing I’m seeing are people that God is madly in love with!  I’m seeing Christian people who live out of their comfort zone, who are fully invested in God, who seem to keep experiencing “trials”…I’m seeing those things in a backwards way.  The backwards message of the Cross, some have called it.  We typically see God’s blessings as tons of money, a big house, a nice car.  I’m starting to see God’s blessings for what they really are.  Struggles, things that take you to your knees, illness that doesn’t seem to heal, rains that keep falling…those are the blessings.

Backwards?  Yes.  Because the trials and the struggles are what run us straight into God’s arms.  And that’s where He created us to be!!  We seem to take Him out of the equation when life is good.  So, to get us where He wants us, trials abound. 

My dad, who is God’s very best friend, has suffered with shingles for many agonizing months.  My heart breaks for him, but I know God is holding him, so I don’t have to worry about him.  It hurts, but he’s at peace…right where he’s supposed to be.  A dear friend lost her son before Christmas.  The pain I feel in my heart for her is NOTHING compared to the pain she is feeling.  But God has her right in the palm of His hand where true peace exists, so I know she’s okay.  A friend has come to Grand Forks with nothing but the clothes on his back.  He is experiencing true trials right now, but as he stated, “This is where God wants me.  He wants me to be still and wait for Him to provide.”  The trials are where God is!  Of course, He’s there in your success and easiness, too, but we don’t lean into Him as deeply during those times.  Have you noticed that? 

God has opened my eyes to our apathy.  I’m seeing a lot of people who truly just want to be comfortable, and that to them is more important than doing uncomfortable things for God’s people or for God's glory.  My house is so comfortable and warm, so I don’t make time for those who need me outside the walls of my house.  Those are some things I really didn’t want to see when I asked God to show me things I had never seen before.  Those things make me angry, so I’m going to have to now ask God to show me how to do something about it, or how to make peace with it.  But in the meantime, I’m living outside my comfort zone.  That’s where God is.  I hope you’ll view your trials and your struggles as a gift from God.  And if you can’t see the gift, ask Him to show you.  Step out and realize He is truly all you need!

Dreams

For the Lord your God is living among you.
    He is a mighty savior.
He will take delight in you with gladness.
    With his love, he will calm all your fears^.
    He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.

Zephaniah 3:17

I LOVE music!  It's one of my favorite things in the world.  You will never walk into my house without hearing some sort of music playing or hearing singing of some sort going on in my presence at all times.  It's just  THE thing that moves me.  We all have that one thing that motivates and inspires us.  That one thing that we love.  Mine is music.  If you've read ANY of my blogs, you know that God speaks to me through songs.

Growing up, music was my life.  I was in every choir and ensemble that I could possibly get in to!  Singing competitions, talent shows, anything I could sing in...I was there!  My idol at the time was Sandi Patti!  Wanted to be just like her.  Wanted to sing to packed out crowds and possibly be some sort of a rockstar when I grew up.  :)

This was my dream when I headed off to a college known for its music.  I was going to be a music major and just see where that led me.  The beginning of freshman year was always a Freshman Talent Show.  Check out the new talent coming into the music program.  I was prepared to "wow" the crowd with my amazing musical ability.  I think my ego got a bit inflated, ya think?  I had my song prepared...a song I had sang numerous times at numerous events.  I knew it like the back of my hand.  I walked out on stage and got the worse case of stage fright EVER.  I had never experienced that before.  They tried to start my song for me about 2 more times, but my mind had just gone blank.  I felt I was laughed off the stage, and literally flushed my dream right there at that moment.  It sealed the deal for me the following year when as a sophomore, I attended the freshman talent show and heard some people in front of me talking about that girl who froze on stage the previous year.  UGH!  I felt that was now my legacy. 

So, take that dream, and stuff it.  Didn't use my talent hardly at all for the next few decades.  (Yes, I am old enough to be able to use that term...sadly.) 

But I never stopped singing.  I just sang to myself.  In my car, when I was alone, when I was behind a screen at funerals when no one could see me, when I am tucking Evan into bed at night.  No one really even knew I had the talent.  I was never okay with that, and really missed being able to do what I absolutely loved, but just figured my time had passed and it was time for new dreams. Evan asks me constantly, "Mom, why don't sing anymore?"  *tears dude*

I live my life now absolutely in love with what God has me doing.   It was never my dream to work with kids, but God knew I would love it.  But He also reminded me today that He still loves to hear me sing His praises.  Recently, He spoke to our worship leader, Adrian,  and told him to ask me to sing with him this Sunday.  I was honored to be asked, but a little fearful that I'd get laughed off the stage again.  Satan crept into my thoughts dropping little bits of fear and doubt, as he does best.  Satan even caused this big ugly snafu among quite a few people to occur to take away my joy in the situation.  That ugly beast causes such train wrecks.  But I had to constantly pray through it and ask God to keep being my joy and to allow me to sing like He created me to sing.  I think THAT is what got me through the fear of my past.  An ugly situation (that Satan meant for harm) that draws you right into the arms of the Comforter (that God used for good). 

God is good.  And He rejoices over me with singing!  He rejoices over YOU, TOO!  Despite where you are with your dreams, He delights in you.  Let Him use your broken ugly pieces and turn them into that one thing you love...and that He loves, too.

God's Masterpiece

There are things in life that you can't believe you are a part of!  Things that you can't believe you are old enough to do.  Tasks you can't believe God would trust you enough to have you do. 

This is where I am in my life right now.  I've recently began to view the last 6 years of my life in North Dakota as a testing ground.  A place where God sent me to give me a series of life's tests.  As I sequentially passed each test, I was given a little more favor and a little more ground on which I was to build.  The Bible tells us that to whom much is given, much is expected...even required. 

At present, God has us building a church.  A church building to house the Church we have been a part of for the past 6 years.  Being the children's minister, I am in charge of building the children's area.  God has prompted me that our children's areas will resemble an art gallery.  Children will be reminded that they are fearfully and wonderfully made!  Children will be reminded that they are God's masterpiece!  They were created VERY GOOD, and nothing they could ever do would alter God's opinion of them. 

My life has been chiseled into something grand the past 6 years.  Nothing of my own doing.  Just a constant laying down of my desires and taking up only what God desires for my life.  I haven't always been on board with what He's chosen to do.  There have been quite a few painful bumps in the road.  Some places where I feel my canvas had to be repainted to start again.  God is still chiseling away parts of me that make me ugly.  I'm definitely a work in progress! 

This video perfectly describes the vision behind our new children's space.  It describes my heart for the kids that God has entrusted me with!  My heart to make sure they see themselves fully as God sees them.  For them to know they are an ORIGINAL masterpiece, priceless to their Creator.

I've missed you!

WOW!  Over 2 months since my last post.  Life has been a roller coaster, and it's just not stopping to let me off!  I think of things to write about, but just don't make the time.  Today, I'm sitting down at my computer with a nice cup of hot tea and making time for what God has laid on my heart. 

If you have read any of my past posts, you know that God speaks to me through songs.  Psalm 40:3 says, "He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God.  Many will see what He has done and be amazed.  They will put their trust in the Lord."  I'll hear a new song on the radio, or sometimes even hear an old song, and God stirs up my heart something He wants me to learn from that song.  Then it becomes a long process of researching things in the song or just watching how God reveals things out of that song to me in other ways. 

This is the most current song that God is speaking through.  Chris Tomlin, "Whom Shall I Fear?"

The first time I heard it I focused on The God of Angel Armies.  In my bible reading it has constantly been talking about The God of heaven's armies.  I'm reading about Elisha and how he asked God to open the eyes of his servant to see the angel armies all around them.  (How many times have I asked God to open my eyes to see that?!)  There was even a children's church lesson that I got to teach about that story.  God has been showing me that He is all around.  Protecting us, supporting us, keeping us walking where we need to be walking.

Even in a season when my spirits have been a little more down than usual, God has shown me that I'm down, but not out.  He is protecting me from Satan's fiery darts even as I lay helpless.  Kind of reminds me from something from Narnia and the battles they fought.

More recently, I've been focusing in that song on the phrase, "You are faithful!"   The Corsars are strong, but we are only strong because God is faithful to us.  Without him, we would crumble.  We feel so many attacks, but I'm starting to feel that God is taking the brunt of those attacks for us.  We are only feeling some slight aftershocks of what is going on around us.  If my spirit eyes were opened, I would see flaming horses and the biggest brightest angels positioned all around my house.  They are trotting alongside my van.  They are filled shoulder to shoulder in our new church.  Swinging from the rafters, they are. Swooping down the give high fives to the kids who fill the children's areas.  They position themselves outside of Michael's office while he's trying to study.  That is one place they are definitely fighting hard for now.  It seems when you dive in to do the things God wants you to do, you might as well walk outside with a bullseye on your back.  And man, those attacks hurt!

Regardless, God is faithful.  "Nothing formed against me shall stand.  You hold the whole world in Your hands.  I'm holding on to Your promises.  You are faithful!"

That's where we'll be standing...should you need us. 

Giving Up!

Wow!  I haven't posted since July!  It's funny how summer just consumes your every moment.  And we didn't really do anything of any value.  Just acted like bums.  And that was truly needed! 

I'm writing today to make it official that I am giving up.  Michael and I have been trying to "figure out" God's will for our lives for so long now.  It's exhausting.  The Bible tells us to seek God with all our heart and we will find Him.  Well, it's not that we've lost Him...we've always had Him.  We just can't seem to read the language written in the next chapter of our book.  Our secret decoder ring hasn't yet arrived.

So, in the meantime, we keep trying to figure it all out on our own.  Something unusual will happen and we try and spin it to fit what we think is God's will for our life.  Or someone will say something profound to us and we will try and make that fit into something God is trying to get us to hear.  Or we will read something and  try to fit that into this box we have our future in.  The only problem with this is that we think we know what God wants for us, when in reality, we really don't know anything!  So many things keep happening that we think is God's will for us, but then they aren't coming to fruition.  We've thought we've found God's will about 20 times in the past 2 years that we've surrendered our lives wholeheartedly to His service.  But yet, we are still here doing the exact same things we were doing 2 years ago.  And being quite successful at those things, by the way. 

So, we've just decided to give up!  Give up trying to put God in our little box of what we think is right.  Give up listening to what other people think God is doing in our life.  Give up reading into everything that happens as some big cosmic answer to our question.  I sat reading Ecclesiastes yesterday (I'm a few months behind in my One Year Bible, but at least I am still reading) and Solomon kept talking about how everything in life is truly meaningless.  Even human wisdom and trying to figure everything out is meaningless, because no one knows which way the wind will blow or what will happen.  So, basically, STOP TRYING TO FIGURE IT OUT!  "Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time.  He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end."  (Ecc. 3: 11)

God is using us right where He has planted us.  And we are filled with joy.  It's not that we will quit reading our story, but we will wait patiently for God to finish writing it.  We will just keep on walking the road we are on until God puts a turn in the road.  And if it's His will to keep us doing exactly what we are doing, then so be it.  I will be beautiful in the time God has prepared for me right now.