The Dropbox Film

Last night I went to see the movie, The Dropbox Film.  I went with a lovely lady from church who has adopted children.  She knows mine and Sean's heart for adoption and I knew this would be good for us to go see together.

This movie, literally wrecked me.  My heart is so full with happiness and brokenness.  This man, Pastor Lee, has literally laid his life down to care for these children he has adopted and for the ones that come in daily through the baby box.  Yes, babies come almost daily to this man's home.

I did not realize how bad it is for women who are unwed to get pregnant, especially minors.  Most babies that get put in the baby box have mothers who are TEENAGE GIRLS and cannot take care of them alone.  Their families will not help raise the child; it's either abort the child or abandoning the child on the streets of Seoul.  Most babies have been abandoned on the streets and this pastor has provided an option to give them up so these babies can be adopted.  It is a great thing that this man is doing.  There is some controversy over this baby box, which I do understand why, however, I believe this is a great alternative to bring Life in this world.

Pastor Lee says every child that comes into the home has a purpose.  Most of the babies he has adopted have special needs and have to be cared for.  He prays over child and thanks God for saving their life.  Seriously, how amazing is this?!

We need to wake up.  Our society needs to be willing to be transparent and open their homes to these children who have been abandoned by their families.  Now is the time to take care of the orphans and the widows (James 1:27).  We can no longer wait for someone else to take care of it.  It's our time to get over ourselves.  It's time to give our time with a servant's heart.  

One of my favorite things about this movie is how the director of the file, Brian Ivie, found his identity in Christ.  It was an amazing gift of how God orchestrated this.  I have posted the link to his interview of how this film came together.  

Brian Ivie's Story


I have more things to say regarding this but I don't have the words yet to write down at this moment.  I can't wait for this film to be out in stores and share it everyone I know.

Take us further

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the waters

Wherever you would call me

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made stronger

In the presence of my Savior

                                      Oceans by Hillsong United

This past week was our first Holy Ghost Meetings of 2015 at Light.  It was a great week of meetings.  I was able to just rest in the presence of the Lord during this time.  I mainly work all of our services since Sean is over our Media department and I help out wherever I need to with him.  On Saturday night, Sean and I made a point to actually sit and be a part of the service.  We did not volunteer to help with anything, we just sat and soaked in the presence of the Lord.  

Our church has been singing the bridge to the song called Oceans for over a year now.  I believe we have sung it before it became a huge hit on mainstream Christian radio, who has ran it to the ground (my personal opinion).  Anyways, I have become somewhat numb to this song since it has been over-played everywhere but whenever we sing in our services, it's like God always makes it a love song to our congregation.  I love it.  It's a cry from our heart to take us further in our walk with the Lord.

We sang the bridge this past Saturday night and God just revealed something to me as I was singing this.  He revealed to me that Sean &  I have started this path.  We are walking in this right now.  HE has revealed to me that His trust has no borders; He has called me to a place where I would have never imagined to be; He has taken me to a deeper place; my faith has been tested, therefore, it has been made stronger.

It's so crazy how everything changes when God is in control.  I mean EVERYTHING too.  God has completely changed my mind on so many things since I have lived in Florida.  Yes, I still prefer Alabama seasons, but I cannot imagine Sean and I still living there with what God has called us to do.  God has provided Sean & I a family to be a part of here and when He finally revealed those people to us, life here has been so much better.  The waiting is long & torturous (that's how I felt)  sometimes but it's worth going through. 

So, I encourage you to not despise the wilderness.  The time in the wilderness is good to learn what God wants us to know.  We must try to listen for His voice and understand what His Word says.  I encourage to not despise the waiting period.  Learn to be content where God has you in the season you are in. 

Tale of Three Trees

On Palm Sunday, our kids did their first musical, A Tale of Three Trees.  They did an amazing job too!  They learned all the songs, motions, & speaking parts in about 4 weeks!  I have never seen kids so genuinely excited for a musical.  I grew up in doing kids' musicals at my church and I also helped with some too and I have never this much excitement as these kids.  They loved it so much that they wanted to start working on the next one!  There are not many kids at our church at the moment but these kids can sing too!  When I was in the musicals, we always had the back up voices but these kids knew their words and sang.  It was so refreshing and so much fun watching them.  Sean and I helped with the lighting and I got stuck doing the spotlight...  I have no experience with that either.  haha.  But I did enjoy it and it was more fun that I got to do it for the kids at the church.  These kids are absolutely amazing and full of so much joy.  I think I am just as excited for the next one as they are!!  Here are some pictures from the play.

Me practicing with the spotlight.

All the kids performing.

After the play, Pastor Tommie spoke a little bit.  At the end he started to encourage everyone (including the kids) to worship together.  The best part is seeing the kids participate in worship.  They may not understand everything we talk about yet but they do know how to be respectful to their elders and engage in worship.  The Holy Spirit is known to our children.  I absolutely love them.

You are worth more.

I read a twitter status yesterday by Jenn Johnson:

You are not what you wrestle with.

Since then, I have not stopped thinking about this statement.  I am guilty of judging people by their actions & behaviors at the present time.  I know to look at the heart rather than the outside but we all know that is easier said than done.  I feel like it's even harder to not hold some judgement to those that are in the church.  Especially, if the people in the church were not raised in the church.  It's also a great reminder for myself that even though I have hard times, I know that I am worth more and my God sees much more in me.

Sean and I have recently servicing our youth at Light.  Our Equip classes (aka Sunday School but only lasts for 10 weeks) started February 9th and the youth drama team started on Valentine's day.  We have loved it too!  We have partnered up with another couple whose heart is for teens & I have enjoyed every second getting to know them more & working along side them.  Our kids are dealing with some heavy stuff & it's important to encourage them that God truly loves them.  These kids are smart & I can't wait to challenge them more on what they think on topics we discuss.

This past Sunday we introduced to them that is okay and important to learn to pray for each other.  God moved & I truly believe this is the start of some thing great.  I also believe that they will start to learn what it means to have a family of friends who they can count on.

The staff at Light did a three week fast of your choice.  Our pastors and majority of us did the Daniel Fast.  It was mine & Sean's first time to do it.  We really enjoyed the fast because we are trying to start living healthy and eliminating the foods we do not need.  My main struggle that I had with the food part was not eating chicken.  If you know me, you know how much I love chicken and how much I eat chicken on a regularly basis.  Sean also struggled not having meat towards the end.  Even though the fast is over, we plan on to continue to keep the foods we have been eating in our meal plan.  We have completely eliminated sodas from our choice of drinks.  I am still working on less coffee intake.  It's a work in progress :)

This fast has been helping us realize what we need to do spiritually.  For one, we both have forsaken our First Love and we starting to make Him the true center of our relationship.  This has been a little hard for us because we have had little time to devote to us and our devotion time.  We were so busy during our fast with things in our lives and it hasn't really slowed down.  So we are learning to balance this.  It is an adjustment that we must make but I am so excited to make this adjustment for us and our relationship with our Father.

One thing that has really stuck out to me towards the end of our fast is how I have become completely drunk and consumed in this world.  I have been consumed with others (which isn't bad) and I have been selfish.  It amazes me how I see things and let it consume me.  It may be because I am still trying to adjust to the life here.  I am not sure but I do know that it has taken me a while to get used to life down here.  I love it down here but it is hard when it is your first time to ever 'move' away from home.  Sean has been so great to me.. listening to me when I get home sick and when I reminisce.  He truly is an amazing husband.
 So with all that being said, I have started to really reading the Word daily again.  Right now it's been my daily devo's on my phone and I am thankful for them.  One thing God has really laid on my heart was becoming sober again,  here is a passage:

But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine:  that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience;  the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things—  that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,  to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.
          Titus 2:1-5


I love this passage because it reminds me of part of my purpose here on earth.  We are here to stand out of the crowd by the way we live.  I have let myself forget my purpose but now that it is a new season for Sean & I, we are not letting this season go to waste.  We are so excited for God is doing in our lives right now.  We are excited to see the things come to pass that have been promised to us.  We are excited to be serving together as one for our King. 

Appreciation Dinner

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, Light at Fort Myers had an Appreciation Dinner/Thanksgiving dinner.  There was a committee of ladies who put this together and I was honored to be a part of this committee.  The idea of an "Appreciation Dinner" is to buy someone's meal that you appreciate.  It's that simple.  With the short time of planning this event, we did not do it the way we had originally planned but we still had a great turn out for our first one.  The meal for adults was 3 bucks!  And for kids, it was one dollar.  You can't beat this price for a Thanksgiving meal.  This will be annual event at Light. 

The committee consisted of about 10 or so ladies.  We all cooked a turkey (if not more than one) & dressing, some of us cooked a ham, some did desserts, some did the mashed potatoes & green beans.  We asked the congregation to bring dessert as well.  Some of the ladies decorated the fellowship hall.

This is us meeting a week before the event to make sure we all know what we are doing.  We had a great time planning this event for the church.

The four pictures below are what I made for the dinner: brownies, cupcakes, ham & turkey.

     

 This is my TURKEY recipe that I used.  It turned out great!!  Well, I actually did not try it but Sean did and said it was great, so I will be doing this again.  I did it in a crockpot because I have never cooked a turkey and you can never go wrong with a slow cook meal.  Plus, this was easy & recommended by one of the ladies for me to do.

Below are some random photos of the event.  Please disregard the alignment of them, I am having some issues with the photos aligning properly.  I hope you enjoy them!

   

The ladies above are amazing.  Deanna (left) made the fellowship hall look wonderful!  & Gaila (right) was our wonderful director of this whole event!

                                                

        

    

      

This is my plate of food.  It was delicious!  Sorry but I prefer ham instead of turkey on Thanksgiving.

       

We had over 200 hundred people come to eat & fellowship with us!  We were so thankful to have guests and family to come to this event.  We cannot wait for next year's dinner!  We also had entertainment throughout the meal.  Thanks to all who performed!  You all did a great job!!

our purpose

Since Sean and I have been in Florida, something amazing has been happening at our church.

Our church holds monthly meetings called Holy Ghost Meetings.  We moved down here just in time for the September meetings.  Since that week, we have had more prayer meetings that been spontaneous.  It's been pretty amazing.  I have had to adjust to these spontaneous meetings because I have not done this since college.  It's been a little hard but very good!  Sean was able to jump right in. 

The Lord has been breaking strongholds off people and this church.  The church building, itself, has gone through many struggles.  From what I have been told, Light is the fourth church to use the building.  So you can imagine all the things that have happened there.  The building is in need of a bunch of upgrades; I mean a bunch!!  We are working little by little to get it there but this facility is very large so it will take some time. 

As we were praying last week the Lord revealed something great to me.  Due to the history of the church building, there have been spiritual walls built up.  God revealed to me that these are "Walls of Jericho" and that he has called people to come to tear them down.  Then I was given Isaiah 61 to read to help me to adjust to life here in FL.  I started to read Isaiah 61 and God revealed to me the purpose of why we are here.  Sean and I are here to help rebuild this church physically and as we help build physically, God will restore it spiritually.  Most people on staff at this church are not originally from Fort Myers (including our pastor) and that confirmed it more for me.  We are here to tear down the "Walls of Jericho."  We are all here to help rebuild this church and call forth life and love into this church.  We have all taken a leap of faith & obeyed God to move here to do His Will.  We will not stop praying for this movement.  Restoration is coming to the hearts of His people here.  Great things are about to happen here in this church and in this city. 

They will rebuild the ancient ruins
    and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
    that have been devastated for generations.

Strangers will shepherd your flocks;
    foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.

And you will be called priests of the Lord,
    you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations,
    and in their riches you will boast.

(Isaiah 61: 4-6)

I am so encouraged by this!  It has taken me a little longer to get adjusted than Sean.  I have not started work yet so I have been at home this whole month and not explored my surroundings.  I'm going a little crazy!  This passage really confirmed what I am supposed to do here.  (I've a little lost on my position).  I know, now, that I may not have a 'title' at the church but I know that I am to help where ever it is needed until more people come to take on their roll at the church.  I believe this church will be full of workers and givers.

So, I encourage you now to read this chapter in Isaiah and see if God reveals anything to you.  The Lord will let you know where you belong in your church.  I encourage you to keep moving if you have obstacles facing you within your church.  The Lord knows your heart and will guide you where you are to go.