Alcohol

I did a drinking survey on myspace today and it kind of caused a little upset with one of my myspace friends who knew me a while ago when I was a leader at Real Life. I think that his words came out of both ignorance and concern and that he didn't mean to be hurtful or condemning, but it definitely came across that way. I pray that God would help me to not take things so personally and to be able to stand up for His Truth without letting my selfish feelings get in the way. Below is my response to one of his msgs.



"Jesus wants to redeem alcohol just like he wants to redeem everything. Alcohol is just as okay as food, but gluttony is just as wrong as drunkenness. It's important to understand that difference and let Christ redeem and restore all things, from alcohol to food to the environment, to the way we treat each other, to everything else on this earth. The world is being redeemed (as are we), the Kingdom is at hand and I am praying to continue to be in God's will as I live that out as best revealed to me. I understand that you've seen things happen to people when they drink, but the problem is why they drink and that they don't understand the meaning of moderation. I pray I AM an influence to the kids I have poured my life into, I pray they look to me as an example and I will continue to use alcohol in a responsible way, as an adult, living in compliance with the law (I am above the legal drinking age, and after become a Christian I did not drink until I was legal). I know that there have been instances where I have not made the best choices, but that is with anything, as we are human and have a sin nature, but I have asked for the forgiveness of our Lord and He has graciously given it to me and restored me back to Him. I love Jesus and I pray that He continues to Redeem me and continues to change me into who He has for me to be."



I pray that I would truly die to myself and let Jesus live out the things in me that I so desperately believe . The words that I wrote are truly how I feel about EVERYTHING, not just drinking. I pray that God would truly take hold of me and that not that those "changes would take place" but that I would be completely reborn. I love You Jesus, and I thank You for showing me how to accept Your Grace and Forgiveness.



Melissa

Beauty

I'm just in a very reflective state right now I suppose. But I just wanted to post some really beautiful photos, God is amazing.


















God is amazing. His creation continues to leave me in awe and filled with wonder.

How it feels

This song really is just where I've been with the Lord. It just really discribes the way I've been acting and what He's been saying to me. Just reading these lyrics over they bring tears to my eyes. I love you Jesus and I'm sorry.






I've been calling and calling for you
But you answer and I shut my mouth
I've been searching and searching for you
But myself I don't want to be found

You say I am
You say let go
You say Believe... But its not that easy for me
You say wait
You say right now
Don't you see you're already one foot in the ground
you say...

I've been wicked and wild and wrong and i've wondered the price of my shame.
I've been hiding my face for so long, it's a wonder that you know my name..

You say come home
You say I'm here
You say there are some things you just can't control
You say let me
You say Believe
Why do you seach for the answers you already know
You say...

I am the way and the light and the Truth
Don't be misled by the flight of your youth
Faith in the things you can't see to believe
What if you had faith in me...

You say rest here, this is your home
Don't you see that you knew I was here all along
You say...

Thoughts from a book.

Something worth trying...
1. Take a walk. Find a wide, open place. Look at the sky and turn to scan the entire horizon. Say out loud, "The Creator is big." Ask Him to speak to you about how big and spend a few moments considering the thoughts that enter your mind.

2. Find a tree. Hold a leaf in your hand. Look at the intricacies of the leaf. Consider the greater intricacy of your own hand. Consider the priority of the heavenly artist. What did He spend the most time on? What does this say about him? What does this say about you?

3. Take a walk. Find a spot where no one is looking. Jump up and down. Consider the sound your stomping makes, the way your feet feel, the thoughtless but trustworthy nature of gravity, and the way your breathing speeds up to handle the fun. Ask the Creator, "Did You have fun putting all this together?" Consider your thoughts.

4. Get on the web and search for natural disasters. Find some photos of a catastrophe. Say out loud, "If Nature is God, then who needs Her?" Shake your fist. Now ask the Power behind the natural, "Why do these things happen?" Spend a few minutes considering what His heart is saying to yours.

5. Look around your immediate world. How many colors do you see? How many colors are there in the world you can't see right now? It's too much to think about really. Consider the endless colors that must be present in the Great Artist (Earlier in this section the book pointed out that everything in creation came from within God), and the endless ways He sees to use them. Try to give Him credit for being so expressive.

6. Plan a private viewing of a sunrise or a sunset. Watch for something unique. In a very normal, personal way give the Great Artist a running commentary on what you love about the moment. Be sure to offer specific compliments and not appreciation for the fine details of the event. Feel free to go on and on.

7. Remember your favorite pet. Or remember your favorite encounter with an animal. Fond memories? Why did the Creator make so many animals? What does the complexity of the animal kingdom reveal about Him? Consider your love for certain animals and your fear of others. Ask Him to show you the meaning of the differences.

I hated this book until the last few chapters I've been reading. It was so boring to me at first, and then all of a sudden, it caught me by surprise and became really romantic and absolutely beautiful. Its been making me think and that's such a great feeling. Thanks for readin folks!

Mel

Where are they now?

So I should be reading for Theology class right now, but I noticed that I haven't updated my blog in 2 months. TONS of things have changed. I have a new truck, I got my eyebrow peirced, I'm up to my ears in bills (before they just came up to my neck), Brynne and Adam got married, Sarah and Grant got married, Mel and Dave are offically engaged (and I'm a bridesmaid!), Jack and Lisa are engaged, Kitty got a man, Rach got a job, Danielle's in labor right now, and life is just as crazy as always.

God is teaching me and molding me into who He has meant for me to be. I'm learning, and changing and becoming a whole different person. I'm reading a book called Spiritual Authority by a guy named Watchman Nee. I have pages and pages of notes on the book (totaling about 12 so far), there are so many things in it that are just really mind blowing. I have always had a struggle as to why God made me a woman. I want none of what I'm about to say to sound conceded because if ya'll know me, you'll know I'm not like that. But God seriously gave me a brain and I like to use it. Now what I'm about to say I also don't want to sound demeaning in any way, such as a woman can't have a mind or be smart, so read this with that in mind. I believe that God has made me a woman to give Him glory. I think that in me, learning to be submissive (NOT STUPID, but submissive) that that will give Him glory. It's a whole new way that I'm looking at being a woman. It's actually pretty beautiful. Even over the last few days, God has really been changing my opinions on things. It's been a rough, but wonderful experience.


Not everything has been so great, my nephew ran away from home. It's been hard on my family, and it's been really difficult for me. He really opened up to me and shared a lot with me. I don't think I've made the best decisions with the information that he's given me, and I don't think I've been there for him enough over the last week and a half. I'm in a really odd place with it all. And not to mention, really busy and haven't spent any time with him over the last week, which is entirely my own fault and I should really do it. I think I put it off because I know that I have a lot of responsibility after our next talk as to what to do, and I don't really want to shoulder it, but really I need to man up and just do it. Pray that God will help me with all of this... or basically that He would just do it, because I can't.

Work's good, money still sucks a bunch... I'm still like hard core swamped in bills and barely making it through. I really need better money management skills, because at this point I'm going crazy. My new truck sure is dang beautiful though :) !!! My mother got the internet cut off at our house, otherwise I'd show you some pictures, but as it is I can't... I only suggest you call me and plan to hang out with me so that you can see it :-D.....

Well I think thats enough putting off reading for now, I better get to it, only 4 more hours to finish this book and I'm at work (yesterday when I was trying to read at work I got through a whole 12 PAGES! lol).

Everyone be praying for Danielle! (They're currently inducing her into labor as we speak.)
Everyone be praying for Mel and Dave, and Jack and Lisa, and Ange and Joe, and Holly and Steve, cuz they're ALL gettin married!!



Love you guys,

Mel

People to Pray for

This is a post about people I know that are really in need of prayer right now.... please pray for them if you would. Thanks!!!

Melissa Capra. Her and her family recently had to put Cocoa down and I know she was like a part of their family. Please pray for them.

Jonathan. Like I said in my last blog, he's leaving on Saturday for Kentucky for 2 weeks, so please pray that God would keep them safe.

Brynne and Adam. They are getting married in less than a month. Though I wasn't originally sure if they should get married, I feel like my opinion has done a 180. I think they have grown so much and they are absolutely amazing. Please pray for God to bless their new life together.

Kathy. I know she's had an incredibly heavy workload lately and that's gotta be kind of stressful for her and Rach because I know that Rach misses her because she doesn't really get to see her that often. So please pray for her.

My college roommate Sarah. She is also getting married this month and then moving to California. That's such a major change for her, but I know that her and Grant (who is a Marine), are deeply in love and that she has been waiting for this for a long time.

Aaron and Danielle. As most of you know they are expecting a baby, pray for them and this Huge transition from newlyweds to parents :).

And Me. Yesterday really took a toll on me. It was an extreme day, there was no in between. It was either something absolutely amazing was happening or it was something absolutely horrible.




Thanks everyone. All of your prayers for my friends are much apprecitated. :)

Love,
Mel

The Rich Man, The Movie Star and Me.

I have never learned the significance of trust before. I never realized it's implications. I am not working anywhere right now as all of you guys know and life's been pretty hard for me the last couple of months. Gas is $3.25/gallon and that makes looking for work and even getting to stuff like Mike's on Sunday a struggle.

On Friday of last week I went out to get the mail and I saw a letter from my bank. I opened it and I seriously thought I was going to faint. An $80 overdraw fee. I didn't even want to think about how I would pay it. My dad came home and offered to pay it for me, but I told him no. We are by no means a well off family. My parents struggle every month. I started praying and I sent a text message to a close friend that said, pray for me and trust that God will take care of me. And for once in my life I really honestly believed that. I had absolutely nothing else to trust in. I think I finally understood what Jesus meant when He said it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into heaven. I always thought that sounded kind of mean. But really, what would make a rich man think he needed Jesus? He has every earthly thing he could want and if he doesn't have it, he can buy it himself. It's hard for him to understand trust because he doesn't see that he has a need. So after just sitting and praying for about 30 minutes, I called the bank. They said that it was a charge from a Blockbuster account I thought I had closed in March. They said if Blockbuster would credit the charge they would take off all of the overage fees and my account would be in the positive. I called Blockbuster and they said they'd credit the money back and give me a month free of the service. God truly took care of me.


In other news...

I met Chloe O'Brian AND I was on the 10 o'clock news last night :). Kat, Jon, and I went to Trenton's city counsel meeting and the mayor really "took care of us". It was great. We were front row for the entire thing. She is so sweet and so down to earth. She thought we were just crazy to have been there since 5 o'clock (we were even deemed the 5 o'clockers). It was such a great experience! And not to mention just a wonderful day with friends.

I have been incredibly blessed by God these past two weeks. He has shown me so much and truly revealed Himself in so many new ways that I am in awe and am just finding Him to be more and more beautiful each and every day.

AND to top it all off, today I received a phone call and I have an INTERVIEW on Thursday :)!!!

God is so amazing. This week is so AWESOME and is just going to get better. We're starting the One Year Bible study tonight and Angela is coming! I'm really glad :). And tomorrow I get my brand new PURPLE PHONE compliments of Kitty McKat :). And then Thursday I have the interview and "Not Bible study" And Saturday is Danielle's baby shower and Sarah's grad party. What a wonderful week full of blessings, great fun, and great friends.

On a different and yet the same note....

Please pray for Jonathan. He's going to Kentucky for two weeks (I'm slightly jealous) with his family and just pray God keeps him safe and that he has a wonderful time :).


Well that's all for now. I'm off to start enjoying this wonderful week. Love you all!!!


Mel