Things to be Thankful For... (Pt.1)

• Salvation through Jesus Christ
• Parents that are still married to each other
• My sisters: K and B
• My brother: T
• Old friends who know so much about you and love you anyway...

What are some things that you are thankful for?

When I come home to visit my family, I go to church with my parents who attend a solid church. By "solid", I mean unashamedly proclaiming the unabashed gospel of Jesus Christ in an expository manner with thoroughness and thought-provoking practical application.

Yes - "Solid" really means all of that.

Founders Baptist Church is located in Spring, Texas in a modest and nicely situated facility. Pastor Richard Caldwell has been the pastor there since 1998 and is dedicated to the exposition of God's Word at any and all costs. The first sermon I ever heard brought conviction and gratitude for all Christ has done for me in a way that I have never been before. Never one to promote overblown emotionalism, this pastor preaches in an understated way with a way overstated result if that is possible. People are changed when they attend this church. It is a place of solidarity between generations, between leadership and laymen and between God and man through Jesus Christ. I have learned so much each time I have visited and believe that God has His hand on this church and on this pastor. You can trust him. You can believe that He is consistent. You can see that He is humble and yet passionate for the lost and a vision for the future.

If you are ever in the Houston area, please consider visiting Founders Baptist Church. You will hear God's Word in ways that will change your life.

Thank you, Pastor Richard, for choosing your life's primary path of educating, demonstrating, and encouraging others in the ways of the Lord. I am a life that has been impacted by you and the Holy Spirit for the glory of God.

Happy Birthday!

Today is it. It's the start of a new year for me. November 7th, 2009. Several notable events that have happened on November 7th thus far...

• 1619 – Elizabeth of Scotland and England is crowned Queen of Bohemia.


• 1874 – A cartoon by Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly, is considered the first important use of an elephant as a symbol for the United States Republican Party.


• 1918 – Billy Graham, American evangelist, born


• 1929 – In New York City, the Museum of Modern Art opens to the public.


• 1944 – Franklin D. Roosevelt elected for a record fourth term as President of the United States of America


• 1957 – Christopher Knight, American actor (aka "Peter Brady" FOREVER) born


• 1967 – US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.


• 1962 – Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States (b. 1884) died


• 1991 – Magic Johnson announces that he is infected with HIV and retires from the NBA.


• 1994 – WXYC, the student radio station of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, provided the world's first internet radio broadcast.


• 2004 – Howard Keel, American actor (on "DALLAS") (b. 1919) died..... Admit it, didn't we all stay up on Friday night after the Dukes of Hazard and watch who shot J.R. and Bobby wake up from his season-long dream? Our first taste of night time soap operas!

After seeing this list, how many people knew that November 7th would be the day a child would be born, their last day on earth, the day a major event would alter their very lives? We know not what the future holds but we know Who holds the future. Today is the beginning of a new season for me, full of unknowns and hopefully, POSITIVE note-worthy events. May the Lord be honored in this next year of life for as long as He gives me to walk around and praise Him here on earth!

Going to the "The-ah-ter" tonight...

... to see Mary Poppins at the Hobby Center. Lots of great reviews by extended family and friends. Going with some great people... my parents and my sisters.

"HE gives beauty for ashes,

strength for fear,

gladness for mourning,

peace for despair."

- Crystal Lewis "Beauty for Ashes"

Praise the Lord!

Toy Drive Today!

Today is the Kingwood Chamber of Commerce Toy Drive at Second Baptist Church. I'll be there at 11 AM for preview of the toy tables and then the program starts at Noon with entertainment provided by a friend of mine, Kristen Jeffries, and me. We are both singing two songs apiece and getting to ring in the holiday season for the community.

I am blessed to be able to spend time with people I enjoy, doing things I love, and being surprised at how the Lord continues to provide...

...always!

Poetry for the Season, Pt 4

Truthfully...

YOU can't

Not good enough

The only answer is...

Christ

Poetry For the Season, Pt 3

Pride

THE Impetus

Masking the insecurity

"Do I measure up?"

Honestly...

Poetry For the Season, Pt 2

Masks

Really Fake

Downside is upkeep

Always trying to impress

W h y?

Poetry for the Season

Halloween

New Identities

Costumes for all

What are YOUR masks...

Everyday?

Three Days More...

I spent time up at work today and got a lot finished with regards to packing up boxes and getting a few things organized. I also provided keys for a scatterbrained colleague and a conversational partner for one of my crazy friends who is also looking at 5 days more. What will these people do when I am not there to borrow keys from and provide witty banter?

I suppose they will continue to find someone else to provide for those exact things.

Everyone is replaceable.

That is sometimes hard to hear. There is the knowledge that life will continue on as normal at the clinic and there will be many lunches and conversations I will miss out on. It is sad to me a little. I trust that my time there at Vanderbilt is now over because He is moving me on to a different place where He will grow and stretch me, probably more than I could ever imagine.

Honestly, I'm nervous.

But it is amazingly exciting what the Lord is going to do in the next several months!

Please pray for me as I am continuing this journey that the Lord placed in my heart when I was a girl of 6, singing from the top of my lungs "Lookin' For Love In All the Wrong Places".

Hey, you gotta start somewhere!

News Continued...(In More Than 22 Words)

Well, you knew I couldn't just give you 22 words. :)

I did it and here are my thoughts a few weeks post resignation letter...

I feel certain that there will be bumps and bruises along this new trail I will be travelling. I feel certain there will be times where I miss the consistency of a 9 to 5 job. I feel certain that there will be many times where I really miss the great people I work with now and those that begun the exodus a while back. I feel certain that there will be some serious struggles with financial needs and a very tight budget. I feel certain that there will be some lonely times being essentially by myself and not in a big office with lots of wonderful colleagues with stimulating conversation and great camaraderie.

BUT...

I also feel certain that this is something that I HAD to do. This is something I wanted to do. I feel certain that this is the right timing at last. I feel certain that this is a huge leap of faith for me and one that will most definitely increase my dependence on the Lord in hundreds of ways. I feel certain that no matter how crazy it looks, how desperate it feels, how impulsive it appears, I know that I know that this is what the Lord has called me to do right now and upon reaching that decision, I have felt nothing but peace ever since.

The Lord has been preparing me for 30+ years for this time in my life. Not that the before now, was not useful in an of itself but it served as a training ground for me and what is in my future. I believe that the Lord is preparing us for our future and does not expect us to dwell in the past. There have been broken hearts, broken families, financial crises, illness, changes, new beginnings, births, growth, change, transformed relationships, restored hearts, financial provision, healing and undergirding it all is God's faithfulness. He has never failed me yet and I don't expect that He will start now.

A good friend told me one time that it is one thing to run from something and quite another to be running toward something. I feel most definitely like I am blazing a trail toward God's best for my life right now. I know it will take lots time, effort and energy and most importantly, the favor of God. I am willing to move forward in this next chapter with excitement and dreams (and a little fear, honestly) with my knees to the floor and my face to the sky.

I think now, I am ready.

So... here I am - ready and raring to go!

Tune in for the joy that happens on the journey! It's gonna be fun!

News (In 22 Words)!

I have some BIG news....

I've resigned effective November 4th.

I already truly miss GREAT people.

I could NOT be any happier!

Who Will Be Knockin' on Heaven's Door?

I subscribe to a blog by Abraham Piper. Yes. The son of John.

I chose to subscribe to this blog for a couple of reasons:
1) His blog's name is 22 Words. The point is to engage thought, make a point, induce a laugh, etc. in 22 words. ONLY 22 words.

I thought "How is that possible?" I think possibly 2200 words or MAYBE 220 words but 22 words? Seriously.

Yes. He does it day in, day out.... and I am amazed and intrigued and challenged to say more with less. (Perhaps with the next post...)


2) His wife is a speech pathologist and at times, he speaks "my language" of daily events when talking about or quoting his wife.

3) He is the son of one of the greatest preachers and, in my mind, challenging writers that I have gotten to partake of in my short life and I assumed that he has picked up some of his father's giftings. This was one assumption in which I was correct and though different, he still addresses concepts, thoughts, and perspectives I want to be challenged with and engaged on generally speaking.

Anyway, His post of the evening is....

"We will be shocked by who’s in Heaven.

Do we live like this is depressing or
exciting for us?"

I fail, but I want my life now to prove I’ll be overjoyed—not annoyed—with
whoever else God lets into Heaven.

(See - count 'em... 22 words)

I had not thought about that perspective before.

Are there really some people who were called by God into heaven that I will be disappointed , chagrined, irritated even at the fact that they, too, are in heaven?

I have thought about a lot of people that I would sincerely want to be in heaven but will not be there whether it is because they have either shown no interest, refused to discuss the topic, are banking on good works alone, "trusting in chariots and horses", or defiantly rebut the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. This I think about and think about WAY more often than about those who I would be ticked about arriving there with me.

Have you thought about this?

Are you talking to those that you want to be there in heaven with you?

More importantly....

....are you talking to those that you DON'T want to be there in heaven with you?

Why or why not?

HT: Abraham Piper @ http://twentytwowords.com/

The Choice

Today, I had an evaluation that lasted from 9 AM until 2:35 PM.

I am fried, Ladies and Gentlemen.

I have heard every detail of this particular family's life down to each intravenous needle used to perpetuate a heinous drug habit, places to put the needles, manipulation of family members that would make your blood boil and one of the most unhappy mothers who have had to sit back and watch her children make poor choice after poor choice and then reap the consequences of a life time of bad choices.

I have felt so many different ways today from frustration, to pity, to empathy, to insignificance, to hopeless, to bold. This was a boulder of dysfunction and the poor mother was holding on for dear life, being rolled over hundreds of times per day and yet as it was her family, she could not bring herself to let go.

She said she grew up in church. I am not sure if she still attends regularly but her husband does not lead his family into worship each week.

In a situation like that, what do you do? Do you cry with them at the expense of your daily productivity? Does counseling the family come across as perceived arrogance when you have no CLUE what she deals with on a day to day basis? Do you encourage? Do you send them elsewhere where someone else can take care of it. Do you stay as far away from The Truth that you know will change their very lives in one single moment?

Or do you tell them about ...

Jesus

The Creator of all life

The Father to all children

The Judge of all courtrooms

The Rebuilder of everything that is broken

The Shepherd leading us beside still waters

The Burden Bearer of all things weighing us down

The Supplier of our every need

The Almighty Mediator between God and man

The Comforter in all sadness

The Prince of Peace in a house of chaos

The Healer of all illnesses, addictions, mental instability, emotional brokenness

The Friend that sticks closer than a brother (or husband, or child, or sister)

The One and Only Savior who came to save those who were lost.

What do you do?

Do you really have a choice?

CD Release Party Pictures

I wanted to let you guys see some of the pictures from the release of HEAR. These are not all of them but a smattering of some of the evening's fun moments. I want to send a shout out to Alicen Herrin and Natalie McCullough who were there all night long (and Natalie was so agreeable to find out about and take on the responsibility the night of the event. Thank you so much, neighbor!) You might recognize the name "Alicen" because we have been friends since 3rd grade and I have blogged about her in the past. Here is yet another thing that she jumped in and helped me do and, of course, she did it perfectly as every time before. THANK YOU to both of you sisters. I so appreciate you!

So, "HEAR" we go....

Opening with "Everlasting God"
I should mention that it is extremely difficult to maintain appropriate pitch on a sustained note and walk with purpose in heels approximately 20 feet to stagefront debuting a intensely personal work with the shakes of nerves and everyone you love from the last 30 years in the same room staring at you nervously. I'm just sayin'...

"Made Me Glad"
Here, the cotton mouth was mostly gone and the pressure was lessening which is exactly opposite of how performances usually go for me. I am usually OK at the beginning and as the song goes on and time increases, I tend to get more nervous. Still for me, a pressure packed situation but one in where I CLEARLY saw the presence of the Lord calm my nerves and give me a peace that could only come from Him. I just love the song "Made Me Glad".

(Just a background bit of info, I found out on Thursday afternoon before the release on Friday that this track to "Made Me Glad" had some pretty significant (to me, at least) mistakes in it that were unaccounted until the music was run through a professional sound board. Another attack by the enemy. Thank goodness Jim Hammerly was there to help get us through those little issues.)

A good friend of mine, Jim Hammerly (formerly of Brooklyn Tabernacle and Christ Church in Nashville, currently with Brentwood Baptist Church in Brentwood, TN), graciously carved some time out of him schedule to fly to Houston and be part of this special evening. The Lord absolutely knew that we HAD to have him there to help out with so many things that we didn't even know about until he got there. Masterfully, he played a couple of songs for me on stage as well as provided music for the reception. He helped out with the glitches on the track, the mix, the musical details and was a go to person for the tech crew. My parents and I have said time after time that Jim was literally a God-send for that night.

God provides exactly what we need before we even know we need it!

Tim McDermott, general manager and President of KSBJ Radio, 89.3 in Houston served as the MC for the evening and was outstanding. Yet another way the Lord demonstrated that He is Lord over all the details. We were so blessed that Tim agreed to come out that night and offer his heart and services.

God demonstrated His great love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

I believe that given His sacrifice for me, I have the joy and the responsibility of ministering to others in His name. I know that I have been placed where I am for such a time as this. It is not by accident or a series of haphazard decisions or circumstances. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ and I will not back down,

stop singing,

quit talking,

stand aside,

take for granted,

be unavailable, fruitless nor useless

for His cause and calling on my life.

I will continue for as long as I have breath and I pray that He finds me available and willing to be a good steward of this high calling.

Thank you, Jesus, for this opportunity to live out dreams and for dreaming bigger dreams for me than I have for myself.