So I’ve decided it’s time for the long awaited “bucket list.” There have been some things rolling around in my mind that I have been dying to do, and I think if I put out a list I will be more apt to do it. Plus I am hoping some of you out there that read this will help me accomplish some of these if you have the means to do so! Some are simple and can be done rather quickly but i just haven’t done them, some are a little more tough. So, here goes!
The bucket list:
Make my own clothes
Go apple picking
Record a song or two, or three
Hike a high peak
Ride a motorcycle
Learn to ski
Learn to kayak
Go on a missions trip outside of the US
Go back packing
Go to California
Ride a horse
Spend a week volunteering in a homeless shelter
Learn to drive a standard
Run a half-marathon (a marathon is too ambitious!!)
Learn to dance (like really dance, not the white man shuffle)
Paint my apartment (really if I don’t put it on here I won’t do it)
Get a bangin’ body (or at least workout more than what I’m doing now)
I will probably add to this when I get creative!
Filed under: Blogroll | Tags: birthday, family, friends, God, journey, life, love, ministry, obedience, patience, summer
yup, it’s true. I am hittin thirty next week. Being a single woman at the age of 30, one would think that I am on a verge of a nervous breakdown, wondering what will become of me. Will I turn into this old cat (or dog) lady? Will I let myself go, wallow in self pity and ice cream, will I throw myself upon the next available half-decent man, and settle in less than holy matrimony because I’ve been alone for thirty years (minus the few short-lived and unhealthy damaging relationships).
no. not at all.
I rejoice in my birth, and that I have another year to grow wiser, to grow stronger, to grow healthier in my mind, body, and spirit. I look at this year as another opportunity to be all that God has created me to be, another year of life lessons under the belt, another year of missed opportunities, heartache, failures, defeat, but also little victories. I can look back at the last year and rejoice because I know that God is His VERY BEST in mind. I will not settle for medicrity in my life, in my relationships, in my future marriage, in my career, or in my ministry. No, I will become all I can with the time that I have. I am learning to value those around me that are older and wiser, and remind myself that those around me that are younger and less wise could use guidance, patience, and encouragement. I do realize that people do look to me. I often for that about myself, and then something happens where I realize, oh yes, I’m a leader. whoops. Thank God for grace!
So birthday month is coming, I plan on celebrating all month long if it’s possible. I have a lovely group of friends to spend my actual birthday with, out to dinner somewhere fun. I have family birthday because I LOVE LOVE LOVE that I share my birthday with one of the most special women in my life, my mother, obviously. I love that she and I have the same birthday and it’s special to me. So family birthday, and then friend birthday bash – which is still in the works, I have a few different ideas I am tossing around with what I’d like to do for my birthday, I haven’t decided yet but I want it to be BIG and FUN and full of all the people I LOVE and admire.
God has been so faithful to me, I am in constant awe of how He watches out for me, how He gives me all the desires of my heart, how He leads me, guides me, and restores me. I am so thankful for every single person He has put in my life this year. Seriously, every single person. I am so blessed and encouraged and thankful for every single one. New, and old. It’s so amazing how His timing is so so so perfect and He gives us everything with need for life and godliness.
I am my beloveds, and He is mine.
I keep meaning to write in my blog + then events + situations + life just pops up + screams at me; “I AM MORE IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW!” So then writing becomes a lesser important task. But here I am, a few minutes to steal away + write until my little heart is content.
So I haven’t written anything since Valentines Day, yikes. I just went back + reread what I wrote for Valentines day + thought to myself; “daaannng, I’m good.” I just love those God-inspired moments where you get this revelation about something + just have to w.r.i.t.e. it all out. I am hoping this moment turns into a God inspired moment, other than the fact that I haven’t written in almost two months, I’m not really sure why I am writing at this moment in time, so Jesus, feel free to show up at any moment.
God has been making Himself very apparent in my life in very clear ways lately, it makes me thankful that I have Someone like Him that I can trust with my heart, especially when I don’t know where my heart may go, or what it feels. Our hearts are tricky little things that can at times be very deceitful. Proverbs tells us to above ALL else, guard our hearts, for out it flows streams of living water. I think that’s a very clear message about how we are to protect our hearts. I just know that as long as my heart is in the palm of His hands, it’s safe + protected. I can truly say that I have watched the Lord take me out of the miry pit + set my feet on solid ground. I have watched Him change ALL of my circumstances + bring beauty into my life + take away ALL of my ashes. I am fully confident in His love for me + that He never leaves me hanging. I am amazed at how He has brought such an awesome community of people around me that I can trust + lean upon + worship with. I am so blessed by every person that I call brother, sister + friend. There are some amazing people in the community of believers around me that I am constantly in awe of + constantly challenged + inspired by. I am so thankful for each + every one of them.
I just started working with the prayer collective (www.prayercollective.com) in march. I love the vision + the end goal for this ministry. It’s totally my heart, it’s the reason I live + breathe. I fully believe God had brought me back to Buffalo back in 2007 for prayer + worship. I believed it with all my heart + I had a lot of ups + downs through this journey since coming back from IHOP-KC but I never stopped believing that He wanted to establish night + day prayer in the city of Buffalo. It makes me so excited to see it finally happening + that I am a part of it. I love the small beginnings, I love that I can lead a two hour set every saturday morning + have the whole sanctuary to myself at times + it doesn’t move me. I know that I was created to worship Jesus + be in the house of prayer + that’s what I’m going to do, regardless of who is there or not there. However, this past saturday I had a number of people in my set + that was also exciting! I fully believe that there’s a shift taking place in this region + people are actually getting hungry to see the deeper things of God, to have an earnest desire to spend time in the secret place for hours + hours if necessary. People are starting to catch on to the idea of prayer + worship in the spirit of the tabernacle of David + that it’s vital and necessary to every aspect of ministry. If you’re going to do ministry on a regular basis, then you’d better be on your face in prayer on a regular basis. The very foundation of any revival started when people got together + prayed. So I’m excited that there’s a little bit of a spark catching on in Buffalo + I feel that the stirring will just continue to grow + grow + we will see some change coming to this region. It’s very exciting!
I cannot wait for the eagles wings conference this weekend, I totally believe God is going to do something HUGE in the body of Christ this weekend + I am expecting to have an encounter with Him myself. I’m believing it, asking for it. Ya know, I just want to worship Jesus + be with Him all the time.
Summer is also very excting as well, I’ll be off work, able to give myself full-time to ministry + watch God show up. I’ll probably add another set into my week at the prayer collective + hopefully get more involved with other ministries. So, I guess that’s it! God is so good to us in our weakest + strongest days. He’s always faithful
Filed under: Blogroll | Tags: Jesus, life, love, relationships, singleness
Why I don’t particularly like Valentine’s Day.
Valentine’s Day bothers me, with all the hearts, candy, flowers + sugary syrupy fake romance. Society takes one day + elevates romantic love above all other loves, it causes one to believe that that kind of love is the only love that matters + if you don’t have that love then you are lesser in society at least on that day, but often times we are made to feel that way the older we are. But what about God’s love, agape love, to love like Christ + to be loved by Him.
Valentine’s Day bothers me because it puts pressure upon those that have romantic relationships to step it up a notch for one day + do something you wouldn’t typically do for your mate, when you should be loving your spouse unconditionally, without reservation, or fear on a daily basis. It’s like, all the sudden you have to show your spouse just how much you love them through insane amounts of roses or chocolate. Now I’m sure that it doesn’t always turn out that way for married couples, I’m positive there are those of you that are able to communicate your love on a daily basis with no problem. But Valentine’s Day is very E M O T I O N driven, which I feel can cause a person to act upon an emotion thinking it’s love because of the way we perceive Valentine’s Day + then later regret that, because often our emotions mislead us, which leads me to the tricky dating situation during Valentine’s Day.
For example, if I was in relationship with someone and it was fresh off the press + Valentine’s Day shows up, no matter what that man did for me that day, would automatically ramp up the relationship, because our emotions get wrapped up in such an awful commercialized day. I wouldn’t want any pressure put on my significant other to buy me lavish gifts, or take me somewhere to eat that is beyond his means + I wouldn’t want him to feel that he had to do that just because it’s Valentine’s Day.
Sure I will appreciate the random flowers, or coffee in a spontaneous moment, that my significant other may do out of a love + desire to love me, but something that is pre-ordained like Valentine’s Day, it just bothers me.
None of this has anything to do with the fact that I’ve been single for every Valentine’s Day of my relational life, please don’t pity me. I’ve actually never had a date on Valentine’s Day, never gotten a bouquet of flowers, or a box of chocolates. But I refuse to lament or agonize over my singleness because I know the waiting for the RIGHT man + the HEALTHY relationship will give me thousands of opportunities to get those bouquets of flowers or boxes of chocolates.
I am quite content in my singleness + happy that I’ve found a love GREATER than Valentine’s Day + greater than any other love. God wrote a book for us that’s FULL of LOVE + if we could only take hold of that + let it resonate within your spirit + soul + you will be able to conquer ANYTHING. Lean upon the One that is the Author of love + romance. Let Him captivate Your heart + conquer any fear that you may be facing. He TRULY is our knight in shining armor. He is the Lover of our souls; He is the One that knew us before we were formed.
So, 2012, it’s here. Well actually it’s been here for about a month but I’ve been so busy to even try to update anything that January is just about over and here I am. Where to start?
I felt the Lord laying it upon my heart that this is the year I truly decide to wait upon Him. After a lot of reflection, sorting through things, praying, seeking, fasting, asking, and searching my heart it was revealed to me that I never truly have ever fully waited upon the Lord. At least not for an extended period of time. I start off great, and then get impatient, and either move onto something else and forget about that thing I was waiting for, or try to make it happen on my own, and I believe in most situations the Lord takes His hands away and lets me make a mess of things so I realize the importance of trusting and relying upon the Lord to act.
Currently I feel as if I am in a holding pattern so to speak. I know what I am called to do, and I want to do it, but I haven’t been provided a way to do it, not fully. I’ve had opportunities here and there in bits and pieces to do it, and to do it well, but I have yet to be fully released into what I truly believe is my destiny. So I wait upon the Lord, truly wait upon the Lord, trust in Him, trust in His leadership, trust in His timing, because this is something so important to me I don’t want to try to take it into my own hands and make it happen and then have it fall apart months later. So here I am, stuck in limbo, but learning how to be content in the midst of it. Learning how to rejoice and be thankful in the midst of it. Learning how to be still and be quiet in the midst of it. I continue to study the Word, pray, worship, seek the Lord, seek wise counsel, and. just. wait. But I know the reward in the long run will be far greater than any instant satisfaction I may obtain.
So what’s going on in Meg’s world? Well, work is full-force and busy as ever. I’ve been having some awesome times of worship and intercession with an amazing bunch of people every 3rd Friday, something we started in the Fall, and it’s morphed into this incredible time to just be before the Lord, to cry out for our generation and for the city, to see blind eyes opened, deaf ears opened, and hearts healed. Isaiah 61 as it is, is truly the cry of our hearts. I long to see people set free from addictions, depression, anxiety, guilt, shame, and the list could go on and on and on. I know what it’s like to struggle with those things because I have struggled with the very same things, and at times still struggle with some of those things, but I believe that He can give us freedom from all of those things because of the Cross. Because He took it all for us, so we can be free, if we truly trusted God with our very hearts and lives, we wouldn’t be anxious, fearful, or depressed.
I’m also signing up for the prayer collective which you can check out here: http://www.prayercollective.com
it’s this grassroots collaberation of prayer and worship before the throne of God as in the tabernacle of David, we are hoping to see prayer and worship established 12 hours a day 6 days a week 52 weeks out of the year – until the coming of our Lord. The movement is to see the body of Christ in Buffalo unified, to see churches and groups and denominations across the board to come and spend two hours of their week in this place and add fuel to the fire. I’m taking the 10-12 set on Saturday mornings, and I couldn’t be more excited!
What else am I doing? Oh just a little bit of everything, I’m also involved with two different and very unique youth ministries, I have a group of girls that I see once a month from calvary bible church that I absolutely love. I took this group of kids to Joshua Revolution this past December and had a total blast! It was such an amazing time and I fully believed the Lord genuinely encountered those kids. More recently I had the girls over for a slumber party on Friday – it was a blast, I loved having the girls into my home. We talked about having our identity in Christ and what it means to be called a Christian, and then of course ate a ton of junk food and watched movies and talked and talked and talked.
I also work with another youth ministry at steps on saturday nights, two saturdays a month I spend my evenings there hanging out with the kids, and helping in whatever way I can. I lead worship one saturday a month there and that can definitely be a little more challenging that what I am used to, but I love the opportunity and how God is stretching me.
So really, that’s about it, that’s a lot, but not a lot.
Wait upon the Lord, trust Him, and He will bring it to pass!
