His PERFECT will.

Today was the day : ) What a blessing it was to share this day with some AMAZING brothers and sisters in Christ. What a joy it is to know that God is my forgiver, my strength, and that He makes ALL things new .He is the God of new beginnings and second chances. I am praying for big and mighty works to be done in each and every one of us.

Love you all.

____________________
-Why have you decided to be baptized? (give us a little insight into your story)

Growing up in a family full of pastors , musicians, and humble hearts, I was blessed to know Christ at a young age. I came to personally walk and know Him at the age of seven and have had my fair share of spiritual rollercoasters. Over the past 2 years, I have grasped Him and His love in deeper ways that ever before. I have watched my faith be tested, I have watched and seen his fingerprints all over specific areas of my life that have led me up to this one. It's not about just going through the motions anymore. My heart longs for more of Him, desires to grow into a deeper relationship with Him, and grasp even more who He is. I know this is the next step to do that.


-Why is the act of baptism so significant to you?
For me baptism is something deep, something personal, something that grasps all that Christ has done for us on the cross and making that public. It is a public affirmation of my ( one's) faith. On more of a personal level for me, baptism, is about expressing to others what God is doing in my life. He is washing away my messy, selfish, prideful, insecure and self-controlling self and showing His goodness, faithfulness, and forgiveness. It's the next step of obedience for me and breaking bondage that I have had for far too long.

-A common fear that people have about baptism is not having their life "all together." How would you respond to this?

Goodness...I don't know if I can be farther away for " all together ". As mentioned previously , I am a mess. Utter mess. :-) . We are all broken people, who fall short of His glory . I love the quote by Leighton Ford, "God loves us the way we are, but too much to leave us that way." Once one makes the decision to accept Christ into their life, it's not up to us anymore. Once we open up our heart to grasp Him and His ways, he is what helps us make beauty off the messiness, beauty of the brokeness, and beauty of the "ashes." He is the first step. He longs for us to be who He has created us to be . He changes , he mends , he fixes . :-)

I am beyond blessed to be apart of this with all of you . I am trully greatful for the hearts of all of you and the community. I pray God continues growing us and strengthening all of us in Him. I look forward to so many " new beginnings " will all of you , and seeing all of us grow into a closer relationship with Him :-)

Carry Me Through - Dave Barnes

What an amazing day it has been : _)
I cant tell you guys how stoked I am about this Sunday. We are getting " washed by the water " YIPEEEEEE!
I am beyond blessed to be apart of all God is doing in the hearts of all of you and beyond blessed at how faithful and full of grace He has been to me : ) What a new beginning this will be : )

What an amazing God we serve.

I was running yesterday and heard this song on Pandora, Its pretty dang amazing and holds so much truth. He is with us, helping us move the mountains, cross the rivers, and love those around us : ).

Many Blessings.
Whit.

Natalie Grant - In Better Hands Now

I must have overcomers.

I hope it has been a great day for all of you :)

I can say that I am exhausted, but I know in a few months, all of this work. school. work stuff will be worth it : ) Super excited to see how the next few months go : )


PS. I am Florida bound July 29th :). I'm all smiles, and I don't think it could get here soon enough .



Anyway. I wanted to share another tidbit from Come Away My Beloved.


" I have been crucified with Christ;it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by FAITH in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

- Galations 2:20



" Oh My children, the path where I will lead you is not easy for your human nature to bear. It is not a pleasant way, nor in accord with your
selfish desires. I do not intend to please the self-life; instead, I will bring it to the crucifixion; for it can only be hindrance to your spiritual progress and My working through you. You have faith in Me, this is good, but faith without works is dead. Faith I can give you as a gift, but the works I can do through you only when your ego moves out of the way. For they are not your works, but My works,just as Jesus said,"I must work the works of the one who sent Me" ( john 9:4)

Like a flood I will cause the tears to flow through you, and I will purge out your self-life, and I will give you My love. With My love , I will give you My power; then you will no longer walk in your own way, but you will reign with Me in the throne of life.

I must have overcomers through whom I may overcome. There is an enemy to be contested and defeated; and to do this, there must be more than resolve in your heart- there must be power. This power cannot operate until your self-will is out of the way. Yes, My new life will become yours in direct proportion to your success in emptying your heart of self-will.

I know you cannot do this for yourself; but you must will it to be done.And as you will it, I will work with you and within you bring it to pass. You will know joy as never before, and never possible any other way. You will have rest from inner conflict; yes, you must be delivered from the inner conflict in order to engage in the outer with the enemy "



What an AMAZING God He is. All he wants is more of Him, and less of Me. Less of my wants, my desires, my "needs", and more of his. He is faithful. I am in better hands when I am out of my own. I pray that He continues to have His way in this heart of mine and that my heart continues to grasp these truths.






Love you all,
whit

: ) In love with this song : )

Beauty Love : )

As some of you know, I have been really interested lately about natural foods, super foods, and just natural ways to better your skin, hair, nails, and overall health.

I have heard several times about home made mask and such but had never really tried it out before. I am OFFICIALLY sold.

Ingredients

• 1 avocado, peeled and seeded
• 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

Simply mix and muddle the two together, apply to the face, leave on for 10-15 minutes and rinse :)

Your face will love you !

The avacado is full of nutrients and is an amazing moisturizer. Enjoy : )

" I anticipate your dependence on me "

" I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself to me"
Gal 2:20

" Oh my child, give me your heart, for out of it issues life. My hand is upon you, and I will keep you in all places wherever you go. I am your God, and I am your Father, and I will care for you and provide for you according to all that you need. I will be at your side, ready to help you wherever you call on Me. I am not unmindful of your needs, and My concern is for you.

You do not need to carry your own load, for I will be happy to help you carry it and to bear you up, as well. You do not walk alone or meet any situation alone, for I am with you, and I will give you strength , and My blessing shall be yours. keep your heart set on Me and your affections on things above; for I cannot bless you unless you ask Me. And I cannot answer if you do not call. I cannot minister to you unless you come to Me"

Do not wait to feel worthy, for no one is worthy of My blessings. my grace bypasses your shortcomings, and I give to My children because they ask Me and because I love them; I do not love one more than another. I give most liberally to those who ask the most of Me, for I LOVE YOU HAVE YOU DEPEND ON ME. This is why the spirit within you cries, " Abba Father". As your Father, I anticipate your dependence on Me. You may mature and outgrow your dependence on your human parents, but as my child, you will never "outgrow" your spiritual sonship, nor will I ever cast you out to rely on your own resources, not even when you become a parent. Indeed you will more fully understand the love a father has for his child and experience the desire to care for and provide; then you will know more fully how much I love you, how ready I am to help you, and how available I am to counsel with you and give you My support.

Heaven's resources are at your command, and you need never want, as long as I am your Shepherd. Do not thing that since I know all about you , you need not bother to tell Me. It is true that I know , but you need to tell Me so that in the telling, you may experience the release of an open heart and the fellowhip of a Friend.

As you open your heart to Me, I will come to you. As you speak to Me, I will speak to you.As you reveal yourself to Me, I will reveal myself to you. This is the law of life. THERE MUST BE ACTION TO BRING REACTION.There must be a question to bring an answer. There must be an expression of love and confidence on the part of one person to arouse a corresponding response in another person.

Never pressure My presence. Never assume that knowing your need, I will automatically supply. Ask, and it shall be given. Call upon Me, and I will answer you. Tell Me that you love Me and I WILL MAKE YOUR HEART KNOW IN A VERY REAL WAY MY LOVE FOR YOU AND MY NEARNESS, and you shall NEVER feel alone.

Welcome Me into your heart, and the more you sense My presence within you, the more you will feel at home no mater where you may be. Forget everything else, but NEVER forget this."

- Come Away My Beloved

Thankful for an amzing Day and grateful to serve such a faithful and constant God. I pray this day has treated you well . : ) Talk to you soon.

Blessings,

Whit

MIKESCHAIR - Let The Waters Rise

Faithfulness.

How I have missed you guys. Its been a pretty hectic couple of days, but God has shown complete and uttermost faithfulness. : )

As life continues to change, continues to throw me off guard, God is reminding me of how faithful He is. Always has been and always will be. I think we all sometimes forget to look back and see where He has already taken us from.

This past Sunday night I attended a worship service at Austin Stone and went needing something and praying hard that God would reveal Himself to me. It had been a few days of feeling like I had been praying to a wall, like God wasn't listening to the desires I had been laying before Him, like He didn't want me to budge. My thoughts stayed the same, my worries, my fears, my heart. I guess I just felt as if I were at a stand still. I wanted to feel something. I wanted to be moved my Him, in ways I had been before. I could tell Satan was having a field day in my head, I have been working hard at controlling thoughts and feelings that I know are not from Christ, but from the enemy trying so hard to ruin and rob any type of joy from me.Its been and will continue being a process, but I know the God I Love and serve is bigger than the lies and deceit satan is made up of. I will continue fighting that battle.

I had been reminding myself daily, that God loves me, that He does have a plan for my life, that I will not be forsaken, that He created me with specific and divine purpose, that He is bigger than me and that His ways are better than my own. HE IS FAITHFUL.
These truths are who He is, but I was NOT feeling it. I was still allowing those doubts, the "what ifs " , the " had not " moments creep in and out of my mind.
As I sat down at church I prayed hard that God would reveal Himself to me. That He would stir my heart for more of Him and that He would help lighten the load that I had been carrying. He was faithful : )



Here are some notes on the sermon.

In Genesis 12 we watch as doubt seems to ruin everything for Abram, but we see that in the midst of his failure, God is faithful. Here are some questions to help you think through how to apply the sermon:

What is your famine? Abram trusted God's promise initially, but when a famine came into the land he panicked and began to doubt God's provision.

• What are the circumstances that are making it hard for you to trust and believe God's promises? What things make it hard to believe He is working everything for your good?

What is your Egypt? Abram ended up losing his wife in Egypt and making such a mess of his life that it seemed impossible for God's promise to be fulfilled.

• What are some ways you have ‘messed things up' so bad that it's hard to see how God's promises can still come true? If you are not there now, reflect on a time in your life when it looked like you had blown it.
• Make a list of some promises of God that you are tempted to doubt. What behaviors, emotions or thoughts do you have that reveal that you are not trusting in God?

What is your Bethel? God rescued Abram from Egypt and blessed him in spite of his unbelief. Abram then returned to Bethel to reflect on God's faithfulness. He let his past inform his present and future by letting it build his faith.

• What is a time or moment in your life when God's faithfulness has been clearly visible? What are the ways God has provided for you and rescued you in spite of your mistakes?
• Find one or two stories in Scripture where you see God clearly displaying His faithfulness in the midst of failure. Thank Him for these 'Bethels' that are recorded to build your faith.
• Send some time praying and asking God to let His past faithfulness fuel your future faith.

I pray you can see how He has deemed Himself faithful time and time and time again. His faithfulness is all over scripture and all over your life. I hope this blesses you in the way it did me. Seeing that the God I love and serve will always work out my messes, will never let me fail, will never give me something that I can not handle, that I cant mess His divine plan and purpose up if I am seeking Him about it, and trusting Him with every step. That He has been faithful before and he will be faithful again : ).

Come Away My Beloved:

" There is a life ahead for you into which you could not have entered into before. There is a work ready for you, and I have prepared you for it. It is too wonderful to miss. It will be silent but powerful. I will cause the veil to drop, and you will enter a new area of experience. You will be given knowledge in My Spirit that is not found in books. I will share with you my thoughts, and who can tell the sum of them? You will partake in the mind of Christ and of the Holy Spirit of God. His eyes go throughout the whole earth seekingout the thoughts and intents of the hearts of men. YOU WILL SERVE ME IN WAYS YOU HAVE NEVER HEARD OF BEFORE. IT IS MY WORK. I HAVE LAID IT OUT BEFORE YOU. KEEP CLEAR OF MANS WORK. STAY FREE TO DO MINE. YOU WILL NOT MISS IT IF YOU KEEP CLOSE TO ME AND STAY SENSITIVE TO MY SPIRIT."

Amen to that truth.

Many blessings,

W

Heal my heart and make it clean.

What a fun day it has been : ). School was amazing and goodness , all the fun new things we are learning. Today we learned about Wella Magma color. AMAZING and the results are so much fun. The color is a lightener ( bleach ) all in one. In one step you can get , let me say it again, AMAZING results : )..My good friend Sam is now sporting a new do : ). What an exciting day it was and how happy it is to see God blessing my prayers for motivation and dedication to what I am doing. Cant wait to see whats next : )


and on a more serious note :

In my devotional tonight ( The Power of a Praying Woman ) , Stormie Omartian talks about the importance of making ones heart pure and right before God. How much this touched my heart and challenged me in doing so. She states that " its not about being somebody you are not. Its about becoming who you really are. But in order to see these things happen, you have to be completely honest with yourself and with God about who you are at the moment "

She talks about the importance of getting completely right before our Heavenly Father , so He can bring all of the blessings He has for you into your life. " See it as God preparing you for the important work He has ahead for you to do ".

What a joy this is.... To know that He just wants us , as we are , sitting and resting at His feet. That He loves us, and is waiting to catch us right where we are. That he wants us to poor out our hearts and brokenness before Him. That He wants to be our first step in restoration , and His plans for our life...


Stormie says best when she says, " In order to accomplish this, you have to examine your life closely. You have to be brave enough to say ...


Lord , Show me what is in my heart, soul, mind, spirit, and life that shouldn't be there . Teach me what I am not understanding. Convict me where I am missing the mark. Tear down my arrogance, pride, fear, and insecurities, and help me to see the truth about myself, my life and my circumstances. Expose me to myself. I can take it. Enable me to correct the error of my ways. Help me to replace lies with truth and make changes that last "

I pray this stirs your heart as it did mine, and that this helps push you on towards Him and the plans He has for you. : ) What an amazing God we serve . and oh how He loves us : )

Faith.

" Do not doubt or hesitate, for I the Lord your God go before you. You already have My promise that the work I begin I am able to carry through completion. Yes , there is already laid up an exceeding weight of glory for those who go through with Me and determine to seize the prize. For I have wealth beyond your fondest dreams to bestow upon those who have left all to follow Me. All the glittering enticements of this transient life are as chaff in comparison, for God's gifts are calling never waver, and My giving is restricted only by the will and choice of the recipient "
- God.

I cant tell you what a blessing reading this was. I am now going back and forth between a couple books and devotionals. Come Away My Beloved is absolutely amazing and stirs my heart every time I open it . Its full of Gods word and truth.

How beautiful it is to know that He is ALWAYS in the midst of doing something, that He is always working things out according to His will and purpose.

I think we all fall short of having the faith in this very specific truth ( at least I do ) His word says in Jeremiah 1 :5...


⁵"Before I shaped you in the womb,
I knew all about you.
Before you saw the light of day,
I had holy plans for you:
A prophet to the nations—
that's what I had in mind for you."

also in Romans...

^26-28Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.



He has us. All of us. He will work all out for His good.
What a faithful God we serve. It amazing to me just how faith is tested, and how He uses these times to remind us where we are and where we need to be. Ive been so convicted lately in thinking that I have had my " having faith" moments. I packed up everything I owned, drove thousands of miles to a place of the " unknown " .... It was all about faith then . Leaving everything I knew, grasping change, being alone, and isolated from all I was used to . I had faith. It excites my heart to see God working so faithfully. Its good to not know, but trust Him. Over the past month, I have been thinking over the times when I had " faith ". What does that even mean ?

I am continually seeing God remind me , that its always about faith in Him alone. Having faith is apart of every circumstance, for instance, moving, jobs, finances, chances, relationships, stepping out into ANY unknown, But more so .... Just having faith that HE IS GOD, that HE HAS ALL OF OUR BEST INTEREST AT HEART, that HE HAS A PLAN , that that plan, IS BETTER THAN OUR OWN. Believing that simply allows the other worries and anxieties to fall at His feet.


Know that He is God. He loves you. He is constant.

I pray today is an amazing day for all of you.

A Beautiful Prize Called Dignity.

As I am coming up on chapter 9 of So Long Insecurity , I can see just how much God wants to help me restore this area of bondage and brokenness in my heart and so many others. So many things have popped right out at me and I have decided that my face should have been the cover of this book. :).

Beth talks about how insecurity will make a fool of you, and how it has made one of all of us several times. She posted the question...

" Has insecurity ever made a fool of you ?"

The responses were heart wrenching because I saw myself in so many of those responses. I see how badly this burden has taken a toll on so many of us.

The responses varied and are pretty much summed up in...

Insecurity can:

make you act a fool in female friendships ( jeously,doubts, control)

cause a mom to be overcontrolling

can turn a gifted person into the competition

can turn a priceless daughter of God into a bootlicker

( doing things just to be accepted)

can blind us of how blessed we really are

can confine us

can talk us into doing things we dont want to do

can make us give entirely the wrong impression

can make us overcompensate

can keep us from accepting compliments

explodes with rejection and can twist our perceptions

can make a fool out of you by making a liar out of you

can turn you into a public fool

can keep you from expressing yourself

can be a relentless robber of many wonderful things

a quote:

" insecurity can make us settle. Insecurity makes us distracted. Insecurity robs our confidence in out rich inheritance from God. Insecurity makes us put our gifts on a shelf to gather demonic dust. Insecurity disturbs our sleep.Insecurity derails our life."

Its time to say ENOUGH. and boy do I mean that. Ive been fighting this battle too long and I know many of you have been too. The sad reality is that , in Beths words, "unchecked and unhealed, it makes an idiot of us over and over ."

It IS time to get our dignity back. We were created by an all knowing , unfailing God. He created us in His image, and loved EVERY part of us. Im putting my boxing gloves on and ready to take any thought, or idea in my mind that has made me believe differntly down." Insecurity does not have the right to be my excepion, even if it has been with me since toddlerhood".

"She is clothed with strength and dignity"....

" A woman of valor, who can find? Her value is beyond rubies"..

Ladies, He has said this about us. This is what we are to Him. This is what we are created to be.

This whole battling and defeating insecurity is about getting back our dignity with our Heavenly Father. He wants to restore our souls.

Beth makes an amazing point in this:

" Absorb this: you are worthy of respect. So am I. No matter how foolish insecurity has tried to make us feel , we have the right to dignity because God himself gave it to us. If we really believed this truth, we wouldnt have to mask our insecurity with pride. If we knew who we were and what God has conferred upon us, what everybody else thought of us would grow less and less significant. Notice that God did not put this honor/dignity in our hands. He put it in our heads. He wrapped it as a crown right around our minds, just where we need it most. Our possession of dignity is not always something we feel. Its got to be something we know. Something we emphatically claim... All insecurity is a cover up of unbelief...SHE IS CLOTHED WITH STRENGTH AND DIGNITY, believe it sister : ) "

I believe that God is restoring my heart and mind in this process. I believe and know that He does want this area broken and these walls shattered in all of our hearts and minds. Im handing Him over the my heart and I believe that He will get all the glory in this. The same for you my friends. Love you all, and praying BIG things.