Death to Life

Wow! I haven't blogged in a LONG time. I was looking through some old papers in my room today and I came across a program from Prairie Lakes. I attended an Easter service there when I was home on break in April. I reread the notes I had taken and thought it would be good to share them!

This segment of the death to life series was about freedom.

First off, Jesus/the tomb is symbolism of freedom. This was important to get out in the open right away because it sets the main message for the rest of the sermon.."We can't have freedom without Jesus and what he did for us." The pasage that we discussed first was John 13. This is the chapter where Jesus washes His disciple's feet. We began with this story to give the picture that Jesus came to Earth to serve, not to be served.

After the main message was established, Pastor Fuller connected the sermon to the congregation by using Peter as a symbol of humanity. When Jesus tries to wash Peter's feet, Peter refuses his offer. John 13:8 "'No,' said Peter, 'you shall never wash my feet.' Jesus answered, 'Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.'" In those days, the feet were the dirtiest part of a persons' body. This part of the passage shows that Peter is trying to deny Jesus access to the dirtiest parts of his life. Not only does he do this, but he also denies konwing Jesus 3 times, and he pushes Jesus out of the way to cut the ear off of Malchus. We can connect to these things in some sort of way. We are all sinners, and sometimes we make choices that we are not proud of or embarrassed about. We chain ourselves to these sins by thinking that they are too terrible to allow Jesus to be a part of. We deny Jesus access and take it upon ourselves to carry these chains when He has already freed us from our sin. Although Jesus has freed us by dying on the cross, we push him aside and stay chained to our sin. We go about our life unfree until we allow Jesus access to those parts of our lives.

This was a HUGE eye opener to me because I know that there are times when I try to control or punish myself for the mistakes and sins I continue to make. But I, as a Christian, don't have to hold those with me, because they can easily be taken away from me. They no longer need to be my burden because Jesus paid it all. The final statement sums up everything that was said. Jesus has given us the freedom to finally Let Go of what chains us and brings us down.

So I challenge all of you and myself to finally Step into the Freedom.

Recap of a Year Full of Change

So I thought I would begin with these 2 Bible verses because I believe they are fitting!

WARNING! This is probably going to be a long post!

I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:13

The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.
Exodus 15:2

My first year of college has been quite the journey. After thinking I was so prepared to start a new chapter of my life 12 hours away from home, I got a rude awakening. Part of my personality has always had me being happy, laughing, and fun loving, but my first (and a bit of my second) semester at college really broke me down. My year started off great. I had found a couple of friends, and I was lucky enough to have a lot of my family living an hour away from me. Then came the distractions...I am not the only person who found my fall and winter months of college difficult. My family hit rock bottom. They had literally lost everything, and seeing all of this take place right before my eyes was heartbreaking. It was so hard for me to wrap my mind around, and I still don't understand everything about what happened to this day. I was also balancing that with the struggles of my grandpa being in and out of the hospital during those months. I was living two lives. I was feeling so much confusion and sadness on the inside, but I've never really been the serious kind of person, so I just continued being my happy self. Then Satan continued to break me down by giving me negative feelings about myself and the abilities God gave me. I had originally auditioned as a musical theater major at Belmont. I was going to devote my whole life to this field, and I would have loved every minute of it. After finding out I did not make the program but made it into the school of music as a regular voice major, I still wanted to study at Belmont. I loved the school of music, but I found myself filling up with jealousy because the life I saw the musical theater majors living was the only thing I had wanted: a close group of people who loved the same thing I did, performing, and just being on the stage. I found myself missing home and missing my times in high school where I could be involved in anything I wanted in the music program. Then I got broken down the most towards the end of my 1st semester when one of my instructors believed that he found me guilty of academic dishonesty. This piled extreme stress on my shoulders..going to meeting after meeting after meeting..constantly pleading my case and what I believed to be true. Academics have always been important to me, and I like to think I am a genuine person. The worst feeling came when I had to meet with a counsel of my peers and discuss my case alongside the teacher. After explaining myself and trying to show my fellow students that I was genuine and telling the truth, I recieve a letter from the counsel saying that they have sided with the professor because they believed that there was deceit involved in the case I presented. Wow! another slap in the face. Not only had I been told that I was a cheater, but I was also told that I was dishonest and deceitful by people who don't even know me. Luckily God was always by my side. In the times that we are at the bottom, feeling vulnerable, feeling defeated, that is when we can really experience God. I have gotten so much closer to God this year because of all of this. God was there when he started to bring my family back up, and he was there when I switched majors within the school of music, and he was there when I put myself together and met with the Provost of the school  (the person who made the final decision on my case) The Provost was the only person left I needed to convince, and finally I did and got off with no academis dishonesty on my file. He is ALWAYS there...no matter how hard, trying, or bad the sitation is, he is ALWAYS there. To strengthen us. He was also there in February when it was time for my grandpa to give up the battle. He had been in and out of the hospital, and it was finally his time. But happiness also came out of this because it brought a family that was already so close even closer. I now know that I don't have to worry about what the future holds because I know God will always be there by my side. Now I can just do me, enjoy what I have, and be happy!

:)

The Great Saga

Last week was Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Around this time also means the returning of Grace's Easter Passion Mime. I was so blessed to be involved in this production last year, and I was lucky to be able to watch and support my friends in it this year. The mime is such an amazing and moving project that not only tells the story of Jesus, but it lets audience members experience God's story and his vast love for us. This year the mime was all about redemption, and I probably got the strongest pull on my heart strings right from the beginning scene. It was blocked perfectly and really sent a message that slapped you in the face (and it was done to the song Start Again by Red- one of my favorites!!)

Note: I tried uploading the video, but the file was too big...so here's just a part of this scene!

Experiencing your whole entire body being taken over by the Holy Spirit to portray this story in the way God wants it to be done is SO amazing! the feeling of accomplishment at the end is great too because as a cast member, you know that you really got to someone in the audience in some way!

 Here are some pictures from the year I was in it! :)

By God's Grace We Are Saved!





It's not who you knew, and it's not what you did. It's how you live!

This is my First Blog ever!! I had been reading a few of my friends, and I really got inspired to make one of my own. So I thought that the first thing I write on should be about how I got the title of this blog. How You Live (Turn Up the Music) is a song by Point of Grace. As the end of the school year is drawing near for me, I think of how just a short year ago I was graduating from high school. I used to sing solos in church all the time, and I chose this song to be the last song I would sing before graduation, leaving for the summer, and moving 12 hours away. I've always gotten amazing support about my singing from my church family at Grace Baptist back home, and the message I was singing in this song ended up being pretty emotional. This song sends a message to turn up the music; to go for it in any situation. Because it really is how you live that matters.

Here are the rest of the lyrics!

 

Wake up to the sunlight with your windows open
Don't hold in your anger or leave things unspoken
Wear your red dress use your good dishes
Make a big mess and make lots of wishes
Have what you want, but want what you have
And don't spend you life looking back

Turn up the music Turn it up Loud
Take a few chances Let it all out
Because you won't regret it
Looking back from where you have been
Because it's not who you knew and it's not what you did
It's how you Live

So go to the ballgames and go to the ballet
And go see your folks more than just on the holidays
Kiss all your children Dance with your wife
Tell your husband you love him every night
Don't run from the truth cause you can't get away
Oh no
Just face it and you'll be ok

Turn up the music Turn it up Loud
Take a few chances Let it all out
Because you won't regret it
Looking back from where you have been
Because it's not who you knew and it's not what you did
It's how you Live

Where ever you are and wherever you've been
Now is a time to begin

So give to the needy and Pray for the grieving
Even when you don't think that you can
Cause all that you do is bound to come back to you
So think of your fellow man
And make peace with God and Make peace with yourself
Oh yeah
Cause in the end there's nobody else

Turn up the music Turn it up Loud
Take a few chances Let it all out
Because you won't regret it
Looking back from where you have been
Because it's not who you knew and it's not what you did
It's how you Live

Because it's not who you knew and it's not what you did
It's how you Live