Okay, here are the rest of my "Thankfulness"  facebook posts for November 2013:

Nov. 10 - the Body of Christ part 2 - none of us is in this alone. "And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it." - I Corinthians 12:26. Today our brothers and sisters in the Philippines are heavy on Father's heart and on my heart - even though I only know two people from the Philippines, and they live in NJ!

O Lord, please pour out Your redemptive power upon each one who has suffered loss! Please pour out Your Spirit upon and within Your people in the Philippines, and Your salvation upon those who do not yet know You! And please show us how to pray, as we join You, Jesus, in intercession!

Day 11 - music! Thank You, Lord, for music!! Throughout history, people have expressed their deepest emotions through music, with or without words. And through music, I find I can express my deepest love for and praise to God Almighty. God has worked powerfully in my life through times of musical worship to pour out His love, work deep healing in my heart, and make His presence known in a beautiful, tangible way!

 Day 12 - Joy! Thank You, Lord, for JOY! So different and so much deeper than the "happiness" the world offers, which is based on circumstances. Joy comes straight from Your Spirit, springing from our love relationship with the Father and the Son; even in the hardest valleys and toughest situations, Lord, You cause Your joy to bubble up in our hearts to bring us peace and hope, and Your joy becomes our strength! So thank You, Lord, for joy!!

 Day 13 - Laughter! Thank You, God, for laughter, for giving us a sense of humor! Laughter is "good medicine," lowering our blood pressure and releasing endorphins; and besides that, it's just plain fun!!

"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person's strength" (New Living Translation).

 Day 14 - Hope! Thank You, Lord, for Your hope! Not like the world's "hope," which is merely a wish or anticipation; Your hope is sure, based on substantive promises with YOU backing them up! "My hope is built on nothing less that Jesus' blood and righteousness..." No matter what circumstance we face, we can hope in the Lord!


Day 15 - thankful that God is GOD; that HE is in charge, and I am not! 'Nuff said.

Day 16 - God's creation! Every time I go to the mountains, I am amazed at His power, majesty, creativity, beauty, and just plain awesome-ness! Looking at the beautiful trees this time of year brings the same sense of awe and "wow!"

 Day 17 - God's creativity part 2 - people! On the sixth day, God created people, and since then He's made no two the same! We each reflect God's image and personality in unique and beautiful ways. Thank You, Lord, for people, and for all the wonderful people You have put in my life!

Day 18 - God's creation part 3 - the fall colors! They've been simply spectacular this year, and I'm so enjoying God's artistry!

Day 19 - Thankful to work at Thornwell Home for Children! Every day I am blessed to see how God is at work in the lives of the youth and children whom we serve, bringing healing, hope, and redemption to their lives! I'm thankful for the opportunity to be involved in His work here!

 Day 20 - Thankful for my co-workers at Thornwell! The people I work beside here at CFM are dedicated to making kids' lives better; they're also among my best friends, and a LOT of fun! :)


Day 21 - thanking God for answered prayer! He has not always answered my prayers in exactly the way I sought or hoped for, but he has ALWAYS answered in the way that was best in the long run! He listens when we pray, and if we listen closely, He will guide us on how to pray according to His will. Psalm 138:3 "On the day I called You answered me; my strength of soul You increased." (ESV)

 Day 22 - praising God for our awesome Family Teachers here at Thornwell! God has clearly called each couple and single person here, and He is working through their Christ-like love and servant hearts to minister powerfully to the youths in their care!

 Day 23 - thankful for health! I'm not as young as I used to be (who is, really?), but God has blessed me with health, vitality, and energy. He's also given me a love of the outdoors and great enjoyment of activities that help me stay fit, like hiking and bike riding and walking.

Day 24 - thankful for my church, Bethany Presbyterian, a true "church family" for me! Solid Bible teaching, strong missional focus, freedom and balance in the Spirit, and "contemporary" worship music, where I can be on the worship team - this is what I told Judith Lane Brown I was looking for in a church over 21 years ago, and she said, "You've got to come to Bethany! We've been praying for a guitar player for three years!" The rest, as they say, is history.

Day 25 - pets! Thank You, Lord, for the dogs and cats (and other domesticated critters) who bring so much joy to our lives and become an important member of our family! There 's nothing like the unconditional love of a dog (or a cat who decides to give you attention) to warm your heart, lower your blood pressure, and make your day. Thank You, Lord, for pets! 

 Day 26 - God's provision! Though it is raining and 33* (1* Celsius), I am in a warm house, had plenty to eat for breakfast, and am about to take a hot shower to get ready to go to work - employment which is way more than a "job," but is a ministry with people I enjoy being around. Life is good - thank You, God!

Day 27 - thankful for friends who are bold and loving enough to "call me out" and hold me accountable when I'm in error. Ps. 141:5 says, "Let the righteous smite me in kindness and reprove me; it is oil upon the head; do not let my head refuse it." Truth be told, when one of these friends lovingly confronts me, my first reaction is to refuse it! But God uses these bold and loving friends to protect me from the enemy's schemes to use my own sin-pattern to bring me down. So, if you've been this kind of friend to me, THANK YOU!!!!

 Day 28 - Thankful for...Jesus, Father, Holy Spirit, life, love, joy, peace, family, friends, health, God's creation, music, God's provision, pets, the joy of serving Him and seeing Him work through Thornwell Home for Children, Eagle's Wings Albania, Upward Challenge, PRMI, Bethany Presbyterian Church...I could go on and on...Thank You, Lord!

Day 29 - God's Word! Every time I open up my Bible and read it, the Lord speaks something new or reminds me of a truth I had forgotten. Thank You, Lord, for Your Word - it truly is a "lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path" (Psalm 119:105).

 Day 30 - just plan thankful!! Thankful for a beautiful day with blue skies and lingering fall color; thankful my eyes work and I can see that beauty; thankful for all of you, my friends, and for those not on facebook! And I'm thankful for coffee :) 

Giving Thanks!

In our nation, we set aside one day a year in late November to give Thanks to our Creator and God. But I do not believe one day is enough to give thanks. I want to cultivate the habit of thankfulness in my life, so I've chosen to give thanks each day in November in my facebook status. At the suggestion of my good friend Irma from Alaska, I am posting these statuses starting with today's post, and working backwards to November 1. Then, each week through the remainder of this month, I'll update with that week's Thankfulness posts. So, here goes!

Day 9 - Lord, thank you for Your Body - for the many dear friends with whom You have blessed me, who are family in Your Spirit; who have walked beside me through the hardest times and who love me with Your love when I am not loveable at all in my humanness and failings. For prayer partners with whom I've served You side by side, as we poured out our hearts in serving You and ministering to young people (and sometimes adults), supporting one another in the trenches and covering each other in battle after battle to advance Your Kingdom. Thank You, Lord, for these dear compadres-in-You, some nearby and others far away in places like Alaska or Rhode Island or Albania, but always near to my heart. Thank You that we do not travel this road alone, but You have given us great companions to share the journey!

 Day 8 - thankful for my parents! For my Dad's unconditional love and support, which the Lord used as an opening to show me His Father Love; for my Mom's consistent instruction and discipline as a child and her loving support of me as an adult; for laying a solid foundation for my faith through a Christian upbringing; and for all the Lord instilled in me through them: character, self-discipline, a good sense of humor, and a love of music (to name a few).

 Day 7 - the Holy Spirit: Helper, Comforter, "Paraclete" (the One who comes alongside of us), our Keeper in Psalm 121. Thank You, Holy Spirit, for making real to us everything of the Father and the Son; thanks to You, we KNOW His/Your love, healing, redemption, forgiveness, joy, comfort, strength...we are never alone, for You are always with us, and You never slumber or sleep!

 Day 6 - His provision and protection! "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, how blessed is the one who trusts in You!" - Psalm 84: 11-12

He is our Sun - the Source of all light, warmth, life, joy, and all else that we attribute to the sun in the physical world. He is our Shield - our Protector and Defender. No evil or harm can touch our lives without His permission; and even then, the enemy can do no more to us than God will allow and must stop when He says "Stop!"

How blessed are we who trust in the Lord of hosts!

 Day 5 - His strength!!! Ps 84:5 How blessed is the person whose strength is in Thee, in whose heart are the highways to Zion! (6) Passing through the valley of Baca (weeping), they make it a spring...(7)They go from strength to strength, every one of them appears before God in Zion.

O Lord, thank You that when I am at my weakest, You show Your strength in and through me! That You are with me, keeping me on my feet when I cannot go on any longer, and You are right by my side in those valleys of weeping. Thank You that I'm never stuck in the valley, but by Your grace I pass through, and by Your redemptive power You make the "valley of weeping" a spring, an oasis in the desert! And you give us glimpses of Your glory along the way, a foretaste of your beauty which we will behold in full when we join you in heaven forever!

 Day 4 - I'm thankful for God's presence! That through His Holy Spirit within us, He makes His presence known to us and makes real the truth that "I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20b) That He draws us into His dwelling places (Psalm 84:1-4), satisfying our deepest longings and yearnings, and blessing us as we dwell in Him. That in this abiding we find our strength and sustenance (John 15).

 Nov. 3 - thankful for His grace! The unmerited favor of our Lord, His love which we could not earn and cannot lose; His grace is sufficient for me, as He bring His resources into action where I fall short, and by His grace, when I am weak, I am made strong. By His grace we are saved, forgiven, set free, healed, empowered...and loved with an everlasting love!
  
Nov. 2 - I thank God for prayer - that He wants us to share our hears with Him, and if we will be still and listen with our Spiritual ears, He will share HIS heart with us! And through intercession, He chooses us to partner with Him in His work in this world!

November 1 - in this country, at the end of November we've set aside one day, "Thanksgiving Day," to give thanks to our Creator for the many ways He has blessed us. In my opinion, one day is not enough. So during this month, every day will be a "thanksgiving day" for me.

Today I thank God that I belong to Him, that I am His and He is mine! That He called me to Himself when I was young (age 12), and He has drawn me closer and closer to Himself ever since then! That no matter how "alone" I may feel, I am NEVER alone; He is ALWAYS with me, closer than the air I breathe; He is always loving me and taking care of me, even when I can't see that provision. 

long overdue update:Adventures in Worship

Time for an update - recently I attended the Integrity Seminars4worship conference in Augusta, and I came away with a plethora of new insights. The Lord also did some deep healing in my "foundation," which I'll expound upon later. Right now the challenge I'm living into is to seek God's Word for our congregation as I plan/discern the worship set for the Sundays I'm leading worship. So, it's Monday, Nov. 22 and I'm now seeking to hear/perceive/discern what God wants to say to Bethany this Sunday, November 28.

I came away with LOTS of songs in my head and heart, and all these new (and a few old) songs tend to clutter the discernment process, as I have trouble telling if the song is resonating in my heart for me (because God ministered to me through it at the conference) or for Bethany. The most significant song He used was "I Belong" by Kathryn Scott - He used that song to settle in my heart that He truly loves me and delights in me unconditionally, no matter what, always and forever! Even cooler, He did that in answer to my prayer a few hours before that, as Brian Doerksen spoke on the Father heart of God, and I asked Him to get rid of whatever keeps me from fully receiving His love. He did just that during the "soaking prayer" session a couple hours later!

He also stirred up/renewed my desire to write songs for Him, and on the drive home I sensed Him telling me He has things He wants to communicate to His Church through my unique voice and personality. So, my prayer now is, Lord, bring it on! Work it in me! Brian Doerksen spoke of "writing to the gap" - speaking to issues/angles that haven't been covered or saying things that haven't already been said in other songs. I've been pondering just what "holiness" means, that's a concept I've always had trouble getting my head around, and I've been asking the Lord to teach me/impart to my heart/mind/soul just what holiness means. God is Holy, and He calls us to be holy...what exactly does that mean in real life? Maybe this will be the focus of the next new song He births through me.

That's all for now...more to come later!

Post-Passion Atlanta 08 Regional

Okay~I've been trying for a week now to sit down and write a "THANK YOU!!!" to those who covered me in prayer while I served on the Intercession Team at Passion::Atlanta Regional on April 11-12th. Okay~so I took a few days to recover physically, while my spiritual mind and heart remained somewhere in between heaven and earth. Nine days after leaving the Gwinnett Arena, when I try to think of what to say, I'm still stuck with: WOW! PRAISE JESUS! HE IS ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY AWESOME! and WHAT A PRIVILEGE IT WAS AND IS TO SERVE HIM! TO SOMEHOW BE A PART OF SUCH A HUGELY BIGGER PICTURE AS HIS KINGDOM!

Okay, you get the idea...but I'm still gonna try! We twelve intercessors (thirteen, with our leader, Anne) became two sub-teams, as each team took two turns in the prayer room and two turns out in the arena during the four sessions. Our prayer room, dubbed "The party suite," consisted of a suite with box seats about midway up the arena, at the center-court line. In each session we opened wide the sliding glass doors to join in with the 9500+ worshipers led by Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, Charlie Hall, Christy Nockles, and/or some combination thereof. Once the musical worship wound down and the speaker began (either Louie Giglio or Francis Chan), we closed the sliding glass door so we could focus on intercession, yet still with one ear to the speaker.

While out in the session, the six on my team spread to different spots in the arena - sometimes I stood in the "nosebleed section and looked out over the crowd. Sometimes I stood on the floor, at the back of the incredibly enthusiastic "floor people," absolutely amazed to be in the midst of such energetic worship! Sometimes I stood up in the stands, amongst the college students, occasionally joining in prayer triads as Louie led the group in prayer for their campuses and/or communities, for this nation, for people in other nations...lots of prayer times! Usually I stayed on the fringe, praying for the Spirit to lead each triad around the arena in His work of intercession...imagine this, 9500+ people in threesomes (3,166 little huddles) all praying at once. Close your eyes and imagine a soft "beehive" sound of Kingdom activity...gentle yet quite loud...yet our Father listened intently to EVERY PRAYER! At some point Louie would give an update on "Do Something Now" - you see, each person was to bring at least one towel and a pair of socks to donate to homeless shelters in Atlanta. Plus, they could donate to help drill wells in Africa. In addition, they were encouraged to help send the Passion team around the world to 17 different cities (from Sao Paulo to Kuala Lampur to Kampala, London to Jakarta to Vancouver...) beginning May 16 in Kiev, Ukraine. From the Atlanta crowd, they ended up with 6,140 towels, 27,900 pairs of socks, 11 wells in Africa, and $118,430 for the Passion World Tour!

Louie and Francis spoke powerfully, clearly communicating the word of God in a manner that really spoke to the hearts of college students. Each talk ended with a challenge and a time of silence for people to reflect, pray, and do serious business with the Lord. I encourage you to read testimonies from the conference on the Passion blog, http://www.268blog.blogspot.com/
Truly, that blog tells the ongoing story of what God is doing as a result of this conference and the other five regionals that Passion conducted around the country during the past several months.

To those who prayed for me, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! You played a vital role in this Kingdom work. Keep praying for these 9500+ college students and their leaders as they impact their campuses. And please pray for Passion Conferences in the coming weeks and months as they begin the world tour. (For more information on this ministry, go to their website, 268generation.com.)

Favorite spot

Here's a photo of one of my favorite spots at the Community of the Cross - the cross! One of many fantastic places to pray and spend time with the Lord.

Upward Challenge!

Quick report on Upward Challenge (Youth event by PRMI in North Carolina) this past week - in one word, WOW! Now for four words - God really showed up! Despite some spiritual warfare and some rain, the Lord worked powerfully in the lives of 40 young people and ten or so adults. He expanded all of our boxes, took us way outside our comfort zones and taught us all to trust Him at a deeper level. My responsibility was leading the musical part of worship. Before going, I asked people to pray especially for clear discernment of the worship sets - song selection, order, how long to stay with each song, etc. He empowered me in this aspect for every single set! Even on Thursday evening, when I went into the session exhausted, as soon as we began I had energy and He brought us all into His presence.

More than ever, I want to live by His power and for His glory in everything I do!

First day as a blogger!

Wow! This is certainly a new experience - writing my thoughts, feelings, etc. for any random person to read on the internet! Probably won't say much today, as it was a pretty normal, uneventful Sunday. But God IS great, He loves me, and life is good!

Here's a "family picture" with Simba, the Clemson kitty.