Why Can't God Tweet!?

I think I told you that I went to Dallas last week and went to church with my cousin Meg at Gateway Church.  Well I really enjoyed the sermon.  He was very relatable and so funny.  So I went to the church website.  Go Here to see the sermons by Pastor Stephen LeBlanc.  This is what your screen should look like... and please if you watch any of them.  Please watch Sometimes God is Silent.

Pastor Stephen Says:  

"Sometimes God is Silent becuase we are not.  We are the servant, we are the one who is supposed to say God, I want to pour out my heart to you and sometimes we just need to stop talking and back off.  And when we back off and we turn off the electronic product de jour and the constant music and constant media - gosh you can't even watch the news without three crawls and this and that.  We are so into multi-tasking.   we are so into microwaving, but God is into marinating.  And he is saying this, listen, I still speak like I did the first seven and a half thousand years.  Come on, God needs to learn how to tweet!  God doesn't do it.  He waits until we power down.  He waits until we cultivate a place of maturity when we are ready to listen and says I am ready to listen because he will not compete on the world stage.  Psalm 46:10 BE STILL AND KNOW!"

WOW!  What a great message.  And that is only a minute of a 40 minute sermon!  Its's so great!

How many times have you wanted the answer now.  I know that recently I have been praying and wanted a straight up answer.  I wanted God to tell me know.  Even after listening to the sermon, I thought that I was doing it right.  I thought that I was praying and waiting.  Little did I know.  I wasn't.  Sometimes you just need to step back and evaluate outside the situation and prayer to see if you truly are leading and praying a life of maturity in waiting and listening.  

Listening is so hard for me.  I like decisions to be made now.  Sometimes that leads to making the wrong decision.  Making a decision that if you would have waited just a little bit you would have made a different one.  You might have seen God's providence.  

I pray today that you wait.  You see. And that you Listen to what God has to say.

This is my work place.  I was booted to a tutor room - but I am okay with that - I have a door, a plug in, and I can watch hulu and sermons all day!  I had an athlete today and I am really enjoying helping and organizing these classes.  It is a lot to keep organized in my mind but with several schedules a highliter pack and lots of excel spreadsheets _ I am able to keep myself organized and on track! God definitely placed me in this position because of my organizational skills!  Pray for my kids that they do their work and have a great semester!

From Top to Bottom Left to Right these are my kids:  Brittney, Donald, Tsuwani, and Cordarius!

Dear younger and more artistic sister,

I miss you so much.  I wish you would come and visit me in Waco, but I understand that you would rather go to Annapolis to be with... well achem, a boy!  It's really okay.  I am not bitter or anything!  But I would really appreciate some wall art for my room!  You are such a talented artist and I would love and think it was the coolest thing if my talented little sister spent time and made me a little piece of love.  You know they say that?  Art is a form of love.  Well, will you love me? haha.  I like this maybe for my room (red black and white and yellow) Love you sister

Your darling older and much wiser sister.





Thought of my good ole friend from a blog around the corner (that's a cute name for a blog if you are looking for one) at Katis Get Away.  Her little boy Ryder will one day play baseball I am sure of it.  And one day my son (who I want to name.....) okay I am so not going to tell you that because then you will like it and use it!  Stop being so nosy! hehe.  I thought these pillows were so cute especially for a little boys room!  Found on pinterest of course!

I am headed to Houston Tonight!  I am going to stay with the sweet and darling Laura Holt and precious little girls!  I can not wait!  I am counting down the hours until 5!  It will be so good to get away and be with Mrs. Laura!  She is so wonderful!  and the absolute epitome of a Proverbs 31 woman.  She is such an inspiration to me and I am so thrilled about our relationship and how I am able to be closer to her and spend some time listening to her and asking her questions.  It is important in life to find those women that are wiser than you and to sit under them and learn!  Why do you think Alexander the Great was so great?  (besides my incredible paper this summer) He was great because he studied under Aristotle who studied under Plato.  They soaked up the knowledge!  Well I want to be a Proverbs 31 woman for my man :)  So I will sit and soak. and LISTEN!

I will leave you with this:

taken from www.joyshope.com

With love you can truly find bliss.  And with bliss you will always be charmed!

Abby

The Going is Getting Tougher.

You’ve heard the saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” But what happens if the going isn’t just tough, but impossible? What happens when you’re giving it all you’ve got, but all you’ve got is nothing? It’s then we often think, “What if I’m on the wrong path? It can’t be this hard, this messed up. God has promised to make a way, but all I see is a wall.”

I think at times God purposefully brings His people to this point. If you have no strength, no ability to move forward, then when accomplishments do happen, everyone knows—it wasn’t you; it was God.

“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” 1Cr 1:27

In our weakness, then He is permitted to be strong, and the whole world will see Him through our trials. I feel like right now I am facing the impossible and it seems completely ridiculous to move forward. Foolish to even try. Yet we see again and again in the Bible that our God is the God of the silly and impossible. Think of the Israelites marching around Jericho thirteen times. That’s pretty silly. But they followed the journey God requested of them, and He tore that wall down.

Think of young David flinging a stone at a giant. That’s not only silly, it’s downright foolish! Yet God brought Goliath down. Think of Jesus, trying to feed thousands of people with just a bit of bread and fish—that’s impossible, too. Time after time we are shown His power in the Bible and even now if you look closely you will begin to see the awesomeness of Jesus and his miracles everyday in our life.

Why should today be any different? I speak from personal experience when I tell you that our God is still the God of the silly and impossible, right now in 2011! He is still a God who asks us to go on that difficult journey so that our faith will grow, His grace will abound, and all glory will be given to Him.



“…We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Rom. 5:3-4

So next time you face that impossible wall—know that our God is just waiting for you to hand it over to Him. All He asks of us is that we keep walking. And just like I will continue to walk in Waco, not knowing where my path will take me. I walk in obedience. And with the power of God before me, I know that my path will be prepared for me and if I trust in him all else will fall into place.

I thought I would introduce you to my friends. I couldn't find a good 700 club picture - so it is a group shot of my core group of friends.











Theses are my best friends. These are the girls that have shaped and molded me into the friend, Christian, and confident woman that I am. I am for ever grateful for these girls. To the point at hand: most of theses girls participated in Big Brothers Big Sisters, however, I did not. I never had the patience nor the "time" to give to such a frustrating task of picking up children and Mentoring to them. It was not until my senior year that I started getting involved with my cousins kid. I started to kind of like it. Well, guess what I signed up for last week? BBBS in Waco. I am really excited! I can't wait to be placed with a little kid! Yay! God is moving. I am finally ALLOWING him to move.

I drove to Dallas to go to church with Meg, my cousin, last week and the teaching was over opening the door to pure thoughts or the devil. It was really cool to think about. He said God is waiting at the door to help you, but you HAVE to open the door! Wow! You must do the opening, God will not kick down the door. You have to choose to open it. Do it!

I've decided that I will do it. I am going to give my time to God. And it will be good.

Friday is the last day in the book room and today I am in the athletic building with my office mate Ashley. She played softball here 4 years ago send is a GA with me. We have had fun so far. Tonight I will be going to this back to school party thing for the athletes with Ashley so that will be fun! I am looking forward to it.

Also I called Harris Creek Baptist Church this morning and signed up for a life group! I am branching out and I know this week will be great despite some walls that are crumbling in life. God is always enough!

Today is my Grandmother's Birthday! Happy Birthday Grandmary I am so thankful for you!










Have a Charmed day!!

Abby.

Location:Common Grounds, Waco.

It's been a while! So here it comes.

1 Thess 5:13 "Praise God in every situation for that is what is glorying to him."

That is hard to do.  Especially in a place like Waco.  That is my prayer - that I would be able to praise and thank God even in the hard times.  This is a hard time for me.  I do not see what I need to be thankful for or what I should praise God for.  However, Taylor encouraged me through that and God showed me through the movie Soul Surfer that I have a lot to be thankful for!  Be encouraged!

Oh how I love this boy.  Johnathan Taylor Clark.






More fun times in the red truck with Taylor!  This boy is so encouraging!  He text me the other day and told me

"Have a great day.  The path of the Lord is straight keep your eyes and heart on target so that when you take the wrong step your neck will hurt and you will have to straighten back out.  Gods plan for you involves me and I'm super excited.  I love you baby."

Wow!!  I hope that one day you have a guy like mine.  Every girl deserves to have a man encourage, love, and appreciate her.  He treats me with so much respect!  I am sorry I always talk about him, but this whole Long distance thing is killing me.  He is amazing and I hate that I spend Monday-Friday without him.  But that makes the weekends that much better and I know that God has a plan.

 This is just one of several carts at one of our book runs in the bookstore.  We made about 5 last week.  And this particular book run cost us of $50,000 dollars.  Books for class are so expensive!  But they are beginning to look interesting - the more I see them the more interested I become in reading and learning about the subject matter.   













After  buying the books - we put them in boxes and then on a dolly to transport them into our cars and then to the bookroom.  It is quite a process and each book run takes about 2 hours.  In this instance it took about 3.5.  This has been my job for the past 2 weeks and it is about to be finished!  I am beyond thrilled to get rid of these books!   

This is the book room.  I think we have most of the books done and finished.  It opens tomorrow from 9-5!  Woooo.  I am so ready to be finished with these books.  I have been dreaming about books.  haha - it is a scary thing!

These are over 500 athletes books.  Alphabetized and categorized by sport and last name! 








Meg came over the other night and helped me hang and decorate my room!  I love that my cousin and I are so close and are best friends!  She is amazing!  We made choc chip cookies and ate all of them.  DOn't judge.  Starting my diet and workout plan tomorrow!

Doesn't my room look good!  That is my bedside table with my pictures of Taylor on them!  And then that is my bed!  The bedding is from Target and the picture is from Target too!!  Doesn't it all look good?  I am very pleased at how it turned out.

This is our fridge door!  I love my sisters!! And that is the precious Natalie and Ben.  Their wedding is November 26 ?  The Saturday after Thanksgiving!  How precious!  He is soo in love with her!  How precious is that save the date!  It was baseball themed and it had a baseball on it.  And said we are saving you a seat for the big game! ha  Love it!  

My world in Waco is beginning to feel a little like home.  Home is where love is and where you end your day with someone you love... So it's not quite love, but it's close.  

This is where I sit every morning from 8-845.  Common Grounds. 8th street. Waco.  in front of the deer.  It reminds me of Taylor and of East Arkansas.  Have I mentioned that I miss Taylor and I love East Arkansas?  Well I do.  How relaxing is this picture.  I love sitting in front of it and praying and getting my devo on with God.  I look forward to it every morning.

It's nice to look forward to something everyday in a place I am not exactly happy with.  I still cry and I still miss home.  I don't know if I will ever like this place - but I know that I have plenty of people praying for me and wishing me the best.  I have been home every weekend thus far - so seeing taylor and my family makes me happy and is what really helps me through the week.

I am thinking about starting a morning devo/prayer time for girls at Common Grounds.  If I do this - what book should I use?  Should we just do bible stories - or should we just pray and talk about life?  Let me know what you think!















I have been reading this book by Francine Rivers.  It is such a good book and she does an excellent job at portraying some important women in the Bible.  I am reading about Bathsheba right now - and she gets a pretty negative rap about her relationship with David.   I mean she practically through herself on David and then committed adultery with him.  However, Francine writes with compassion on Bathsheba  and trys to get us to see her with more mercy from a women's perspective.  David was an amazing man of God.  We all want that right?  He was attractive and could play the harp and worship God as if God was right there with him - which is was.  All she wanted was for David to love her back and so she did what girls do best... used her looks.  She did what i took to get his attention.

I am so thankful and so blessed to have "my David" in my life.  And i understand sort of in a weird way what Bathsheba was going through.  When I first met Taylor I really did get excited and loved his fervent love for the Lord.  I wanted to be apart of it just like Bathsheba, so I understand it her passion for this man.

I hope you have/will have/or will experience this type of love for a man one day - because it's amazing.  Don't settle for less.  I am blessed to be have Taylor in my life and reading this book has helped me understand his love for the Lord and be thankful that he IS in my life.







I hope that you have enjoyed my blog post today.  
Hope that your day is better than mine.  Have a charmed day and a blissful week!
Abby

My week in short.

I promised I would tell you about work at Baylor - So here it is.  

BOOK ROOM:

First we have these sheets of paper (below) and one sheet equals one athlete.  Each athlete is taking classes, obviously, and we have to pull their books for when they come and get them.  So we go through the list and check for three things:  

1. no text required classes (we have to double check these in case that is a misprint)

2. Check for Double books

3. And then finally highlight the books that we do not have and can't find so that we can go to the bookstore and complete each student's book list. every sheet almost needs books from the bookstore.

Then we get to look in the BOOK ROOM for all of these books!  Sometimes it is pretty easy, but then sometimes there are soo many books and they aren't alphabetized so it is hard to find... 

 After we find the books we stick the sticky note on top of their book pile and set them in sports groups (track, golf softball etc..) We have almost made it through the women's sports teams!  Yay.  All of this most be completed by Friday at 3!  So we have a long week ahead of us...

Coming home:

So Wednesday after work I left and headed to Arkansas.  I was so ready to get home.  I only stopped once!  And then I made it to Carlisle at about 11 and I got a flat tire.  My wonderful boyfriend drove 45 minutes to pick me up!  I was so thankful for him and for his loyalty to me!  Definitely saved my mom a trip to Carlisle!  I was so happy to see him!  I will tell you one thing - Long Distance is NOT fun!  but I am praying constantly for patience, persistence, and strength!


I went and met his dad and stepmom on thursday night.  We drove to Jonesboro!  It was so much fun.  His dad made chicken - which I love - and potatoes and grilled vegetables.  On our way I decided we needed to take pictures and 'document' our road trip.  Taylor was so sweet to let me snap a few with my phone.  He really can't stand phone pics - but at least we have some.  Oh and the sweetest thing - we went to dinner last night and then to watch the Help.  By the way - if you haven't seen it!  GO SEE IT! It was unbelievably good!  Even Taylor liked it!  Anyways, he had this picture on his phone background!! How sweet is that!  love this boy.

 Went shopping at Target with my mom yesterday and bought some stuff for my room in Waco!  It took us forever to pick a bed spread but we decided on this yellow with a red quilt!  Do you like it?  I am sure I will be posting about my room decor later.  I am really excited!  My mom was so sweet - she really does not like to shop - but she was so sweet to go with me and help me pick up all of my room stuff.  It is kind of hard moving into your first house after college because you really haven't accumulated anything, well at least not from ouachita because all of the rooms are furnished.  But we got most of it!  And I want to say I can't wait to decorate - but actually I can.  I really like my time at home this weekend and do not want to go back!

Hanging out on Friday night.  This boy is soo sweet.  CHeck out how we are matching in our red rain  coats!!! 

PINTEREST FINDS!  If you do not have a pinterest account - create one!  It is amazing!

Amazing long distance quote I thought it was cute!

And of course I can't have a blog post without cupcakes!!  Thought this was a cute quote and pic!

And Baseball!  You know how much i love it - and then this is just wonderful!!  I cant wait to do this one day!  Just makes me soo happy to see that little hand on that ball!

 I hope I look like this.. yah right!

I am going to leave you with a video:  Watch it!  Enjoy it - and then pray that God gives you the strength to live day to day through the trials, the temptations, and even the good times - don't wish anything away, don't take anything for advantage - instead live life as though today is your last.  God will give you strength - and it is amazing when he does.

Especially those times that you look back and you say  THAT WAS GOD.  

Enjoy life - and live it!  Be Charmed!  God will help you through and thats wonderful.  you are not strong enough, but with God you are!

Abby

The Time Has Come.

I am finally here. I came to Waco. I can not believe it. I know I have shared my reluctancy to come for the past week or so, so I thought why not share my journey with you.

I woke up yesterday morning at about 8 and packed my last final things into my car. I ended up coming by myself because with a twin blow up and no furniture what was my mom supposed to do? It ended up being smarter to come alone. And it gave me reason to suck it up. So I did.

I don't have any furniture yet - if you didn't now that, well it's because Ashley's can't deliver until next week. So I'm without it for a while. I slept on a blow up which ended up not being that bad. I did however wake up several times.

So here is my house - without furniture and I'm sure the next time you see it it will be decorated because one of my roommates, Taylor, No not my boyfriend, but Taylor likes to decorate and is bringing some stuff!

This is the kitchen...

And this is my poor room and blow up mattress.... :(  It will be okay - I will have a great bed next week.  Maybe!

After I set up my blow up mattress I was hungry so I went to Chipotle and grabbed some food - there were a lot of people in there and so I decided that I wanted to spare myself and not eat alone in public... YET. i know its bound to happen, however, it was not about to happen on my first night.  So I took my food and where am I the most comfortable and feel at home?  Okay East Arkansas with Taylor - yes I know that!  But the other place?  the Baseball Field - if you looked at the pictures to help you with that... NOT FAIR! ha

So I went to the baseball stadium and guess what!  It was open!  That was a God thing!  So I sat in the stadium, watched the sunset, and listened to worship music while eating chipotle.  It reminded me of my days at Brookhill Ranch Camp when we would have vespers services - I saw God that night! 

So this is the Song that Played... Kari Jobe You Are For Me  

I know that You are For Me

Even in my Weakest...

WOW! this was definitely a weak moment for me and God totally spoke to me through those lyrics to calm my heart!  

I know I have said it alot but Deuteronomy 31:7

Be strong and courageous in the Lord, for you shall go into the land which the LORD has given to you.  For the Lord has gone before you.  

 

The Lord has definitely been here!  I have faith that he has created some divine appointments for me here and will give me the strength and the persistence to find those and create relationships and influence them and encourage them in the name of the Lord.  Jesus will be glorified here.



We all know how much I love Fireproof and how often I watch that Movie!  I am so pumped about my baseball experience and I get home ready to hop in my bed (very loosely put) and watch fireproof.  YAH RIGHT!  My computer is black and white.  So who ya gunna call?  RACHEL!  my best friend Rachel is a computer/tv/electronic genius!  So I call her.. no luck!

I decided then to call Taylor and go to bed... that didn't work out to well - we talked for an hour!  :) But he is so sweet.  I miss him so much!  But I get to see him tonight I hope that today goes fast!

So here are some things I like and I have found on different blogs!  Check them out!  I love my Google Reader Account and thanks to katisgetaway.blogspot.com  which you should all go visit - I have found some great reads!

 CUPCAKES TAKE THE CAKE!  


CLICK HERE FOR SOME GREAT CUPCAKES!

Evereyday I find the cutest most delicious cupcakes and recipes on this blog!  DIVINE!

KELLYS KORNER
HERE

This is Harper and if you are looking for some cute ideas or how to dress your kids - read this!  She is adorable. I mean just look at that shirt! 

JIMMY CHOOS AND TENNIS SHOES

HERE

kati indtroduced me to this blog.  Tara (the girl on the far right) puts up the cutest and the funnest looking dresses.  Check this funky color peacock one out!  Adorable!  and her stories are fun too!

JOY'S HOPE
HERE

this lady has the cutest little girls, a store on etsy, and every sunday puts up a wonderful verse!  It's great!!! I love reading her blog and she just had a baby boy!

FINDS ON PINTEREST!

How weird are these stuffed animal/organ dolls.  If you are a med student or just like the inside of the body - i dare you to put these on your Christmas List!  They are all the rage!  (NOT)  It's creepy... Just think about it - Hey mom this is my pet large intestine it's name is BOB.  NO!  that is so wrong!  

So I have found a place to eat breakfast and get coffee - Common Grounds.  They open at 7.  I think I am going to try and make it a ritual and they give you 20% if you bring in your own mug and leave it!  And since Lisa Stagg and her girls gave me the cutest mug during Miss Arkansas - (Below the red one) I am going to bring it in and drink from it every morning!  Oh and I can't forget my Nature Valley Bar and they have wifi - which I don't have at the house at the moment and I am dying.. 

Went by the Registrar's Office and signed up officially for classes and got my Baylor Student ID!!! WOo HOO!!  and this is the Simpson Building where I will be working.. Except for the next two crazy weeks in the Book Room.  I will post tomorrow about that- because this post is already too long and I have a lot to say about it! 

I hope you have enjoyed my post.  Taylor is on the phone so I am going to stop posting and talk to him..

Charmed to write for you

and at the moment in utter Bliss (talking to Taylor :)

Abby