I've always believed that God can do anything. But yesterday, my faith in God was completely revolutionized.

My friend Emily is 15 years old. A few weeks ago she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease — also known as Hodgkin's lymphoma. It's a cancer of the lymphatic system, which is part of your immune system. Three Sundays ago, we prayed for her as a church - believing that God could heal her. I prayed for her these last few weeks... truely believing that He could follow through with what His word says.

Yesterday, around lunch, Emily went in for a routine CT... just to see if the cancer had spread more, or if it maybe shrunk a little. The cancer is gone... COMPLETELY... GONE. Praise you, Jesus.

You would think my imediate reaction would be pure excitement (I thought it would be too.). But... athough I was truely thrilled for Emily... my initial reflection of that moment was, "Why am I so amazed? I knew God could do this... I knew it." And now He did what I knew He could do, and I'm standing in disbelief.

I do understand that the Christian walk is a walk of continuous growth. We all fall short of His glory, and yesterday was one of those many days for me. God showed me that believing that He can do something is great... but believing that He will do what you know He can do is what we're called to do.

James 5:15 says, "And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up...". I choose to believe the Bible, and when the Bible says it will... I believe it will. Here, it says He WILL make the sick person well.. He WILL raise him up... and I choose to believe that.

"God, Thank you so much for healing Emily. She is a precious girl that is going to do great things for you kingdom... I just know it! Thank you for teaching me some things about myself though the life experiences of others. I love you.. and believe that you will do what your word says you will do... today, tomorrow, and forever."

Yesterday, we had this FABULOUS surprise birthday party for my friend, Lindsay! Her 23rd birthday is this Saturday, but her and Jon were heading out of town and won't be back till next week.

During all of the hustle and bustle, I took a sec to look around... soaking up everything about the night. It blessed me so much to see such a fantastic group of people there to do nothing more than love on Lindsay. Her smile made the last 12 years of our friendship so rewarding!

I can see her passion for God growing every single day! She is becomming more and more aware of how real God is and just how much He is crazy about her. :) How could He not be? He made her to be absolutely fascinating! Before she started wholeheartedly running after God, she was sweet, gorgeous, and just flat out hilarious! But with Him... ohh... with Him she's all that and more! She's compassionate, loving, forgiving... and even more beautiful than she was before!

Lindsay - She is my best friend. I thank God every single day for what He is doing and what He is going to do in her. It's Great!!!

Taking every step (or lack therof) in obedience.

"my sunshine"

The last month or so... I've had this indescribable feeling inside of me. Today... this emotion became expressible.

We are just waiting on the Lord with this insane peace? It's like... when you ask your parents for something.. and you know they have it stored up for you... but you don't know exactly what it is.. or if they'll give it to you for your birthday, or Christmas... or an anniversary... You just know it's good... and your excited.

We just know that God has a really cool plan for Matt and I... but every time we take a step or two in what we think is the right direction, that door gets slammed. Which is exactly what we pray for... but it's just a really bazarre feeling to entirely trust God with our future, knowing that we have all these "plans" for ourselves... what we want... when we want it... why we want it. But as bad as we want these things.. that desire doesn't even compare to our desire for God's perfect blueprint for our lives.

Waiting is painful for me sometimes... but I will worship while I wait.

While I'm waiting...

I am waiting.
Waiting on You Lord.
And I am hopeful.
I'm waiting on you Lord.
Though it is painful.
But paitentially I will wait.

I will move ahead bold and confident.
Taking every step in obedience.

<chorus>:
While I'm waiting,
I will serve you.
While I'm waiting,
I will worship.
While I'm waiting,
I will not fade.
I'll be running the race,
Even while I wait.

I'm waiting,
I'm waiting on you Lord.
And I am peaceful.
I'm waiting on you Lord.
Though it's not easy.
But faithfully I will wait.
YES I WILL WAIT.

And I will move ahead bold and confident.
Taking every step in obedience.

<chorus>

I will move ahead bold and confident.
I will be taking EVERY step in obedience!!

<chorus>

I will serve you while I'm waiting.
I will worship while I'm waiting.
I will serve you while I'm waiting.
I will worship while I'm waiting.
I will serve you while I'm waiting.
I will worship I'm waiting on you, Lord!

This has been the 'story of my life' this past year.. or two? I am so greatful for the life God has blessed me with. Seriously, my mom and sister are my heart. I have the most amazing friends and family... truely. Our church has blessed me in more ways than I can put into words. Matt and I are so happy with our place of employment... and ahhh .... Matt. He's mylifesaver. He's my husband.... and he's very very good at that. :) I'm just so blessed... what more could a girl want?!

Actually.. My heart wants babies. I'm only 23, and I know that I could wait like 10 more years to start having kids... but I don't wanna. I'm ready to grow our little family.

I have always told Matt that when we get a bigger house, I can get a bigger belly. And since I've said that for 3 years.. I'm sort of stuck on it to be honest. The only problem... we can't get out from under this house. We bought it right after Ivan and owe more on it than it's worth.

A little less than a month ago, Matt was at work, and I was praying. I have always wanted God's will for my life... but that time it was different. I told God that I truely wanted what He had planned for Matt and I.... and if that meant staying in our little townhouse for the next 20 years and having a family here... that's what I wanted. It was the first time that I was ever able to say that and mean it from the bottom of my heart.

The next day Matt and I were on our way to Saraland to see his family, and I got a phone call from my sweet Lindsay. She said, "So, I think I found a buyer for your house.....". What?! I didn't even know what to think. Our house wasn't even on the market to sell.

Long story short, these 'snow-birds' from Virginia (?) saw the house 2 doors down and loved it, but the owners took it off the market before they could buy it. Their realtor overheard Lindsay talking to my Momma about us eventually trying to sell or rent our house, called her buyers, and they were very interested in seeing our house!?

So we sent them pictures of the house, and heard that they loved it and wanted to see it in person. They are coming to Pensacola in 2 weeks. It's between our house and one other one. Man, am I hoping they like ours. :)

It's just hard sometimes not knowing what God's will is, but knowing you want it. I know that with all this excitment, God's not caught off-guard. He knows exactly what is going on, even when I don't get it. He is truely in control, and knowing that gives me a peace like no other. I'm just waiting. Waiting on God's timing. Waiting on His permission to make a move. Until I hear a clear word from the Lord... I will be right here, in our beautiful little town house... with my wonderful boys (Matt and Baxter.. ha.)... just wondering when it will be our time to start a family of our own.

Man.. my heart is there... and the Bible promises that God sees the desires of our hearts.

Thank you God for having my best in mind.

Weight Loss Journey 1

So I entitled this entry "Weight Loss Journey 1" to specify that this is my first official entry about my weightloss. But when I looked at "Weight Loss Journey 1".... it made me thing about just how many weight loss journies I have already been on in my short life. I'm 22 and I think every other month for the past 5 years I have been trying to lose weight. So really this should be entitled "Weight Loss Journey #201".

I have been a member of http://www.weightwatchers.com/ for a little over a year now. I am currently 18 pounds lighter than I was this time last year (bravo....)... but am still oh-so-far from my goal. I am on the far left in the picture above.

Three weekends ago was our 3rd Anniversary! Matt and I went to Evergreen Alabama for the week and did so good as far as eating goes... UNTIL (dun dun dun...) My sister and her boyfriend, and my best friend and her husband came out there Friday and stayed through the weekend. We ate and ate and ate... and ever since then I haven't been able to get back into the groove of eating healthy. I eat great for breakfast and lunch, then BLOW it at dinner. I have to realize (again) that just because we go out with our friends, or have dinner at Momma's, it doesn't mean to pig out and eat whatever we want to.

STARTING RIGHT NOW ( lol... is's 10:30 at night... I'm about to go to bed.) I WILL EAT HEALTHY. Eating healthy is a choice that only I can make for myself. I WILL make that choice.

• For breakfast I will eat a piece of peanut butter toast and a 8oz. of apple juice.



• For lunch I will eat a spinach salad with 0point veggies and light honey mustard.



• For a snack I will eat low-fat cottage cheese and pineapple.
  Officially leaving me 16.5 points for dinner.. YUMMY!
  
  OH! I'm sure I'll fit a starbucks doubleshot in there somewhere. :)
  
  So... 15.5 points left for dinner. :)
  
  Why does blogging help me???? This is going to be great!
  

"I forgive you."

In my book, those are some of the most difficult words so speak...with sincerity. I mean, sure.... you say, "I'm sorry for lying." I say, "I forgive you." But forgivness goes a lot deeper than words.
For a long time, I took the meaning of "forgivness" for granted. Let's be honest.. all of us have had something done to us or someone we love, or said to us (or about us), that we thought we would never forget, much less forgive them for. I mean, afterall... do they really deserve our forgivness?? Probably not, if we look at it through the world's perspective. But forgivness is not for the other person. You choosing to forgive is you choosing to free yourself from harboring that bitterness inside your heart... if for no other reason... you forgive for you.

God's views of forgivness are completely different than ours. Forgivness is rarely easy, but it's always the right thing to do. God always forgives you.. always. Show God's love by forgiving people unfailingly. The Bible actually says that forgivness is mandentory in order to keep the communication lines opened between you and God. You cannot pray with an unforgiving heart.... God can't hear you(John 9:31). It's that important that you give your worries to God, and just forgive.

Die to yourself?

What exactly did Jesus mean when He said to take up your cross daily?" That's a quesiton that I asked Matt last week. I have heard that my entire life... but never quite understood what it meant. Matt's answers were great.... and truely encouraged me to dig a little deeper.

In Matthew 16:24, Jesus said to his deciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."

I have so many "plans" for my future... starting a family while paying down debt, owning a business while being a stay at home mom.... so many things that, quite frankly, could never work together beautifully. When you take up your cross, you lose all personal ambitions. You have to be willing to let the leader lead if you are a follower. (This also applies to my marraige.... if I want Matt to be the leader of our home, I have to be just as willing to submit and follow him 100%.)

Matthew 6:25 continues with, "For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it."

Anytime you have to do something to "be seen", you have lost the concept of dying to yourself. As Pastor Charles always says, "It is NEVER your ability, it's your AVAILABILITY!" We want to be 1/2 dead and 1/2 alive... We want to choose what we die to. You can't do that! You have to die to all of it. Die to your marraige. Die to your finances. Die to your friendships. Die to your diet. Die to your past. Give it ALL to God and he will make it more beautiful than ever.

Jesus finishes with with Matthew 6:26. "What good will it be for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul?"

When my heart is right with the Lord, it seems that I tend to "Count my blessings" instead of craving more. I have so much to be thankful for. YOU are # 1 on my list. :) Yes, YOU.

I am most greatful for my wonderful husband, Matt...
(And our baby, Baxter!)...









I am thankful for my precious Momma and Sister...















I am thankful for our Young Married's Group!..















I am thankful for The Bestest!..









I am so thankful for my wonderful in-laws...















I am greatful for my sisters and their beautiful families!..













I am greatful for my Dad and his awesome wife Linda!....












And for my amazing grandparents!...









And every single one of my wonderful friends!!....









I LOVE YOU ALL VERY MUCH!