ask and you shall receive...:)

Good morning friends!
I am just going to post some quick pictures…
Yesterday I wrote about how we were believing that God could finish a backdrop in one night…well He did it!
Thank you to the team for the evening, the color “dinosaur” by custom paint by sam, paper mache-ing, splattered paint and God for providing all the materials and ideas!!!…we finished it and it looks pretty epic (aka amazing) if I do say so myself…;)
mark will be talking about how to live a life here on earth that is glorifying to God...until we get to eternity we need to understand how to live for Him and not give up or give in! so at the risk of sounding like Miley Cyrus haha...just climb over all the rocks in your life and keep fighting toward the cross, toward God and all He is calling us to...

below you can take a lil peek into the process and the finished product and if you want to come see the real thing, come to the new SWAP on Wednesday nights starting sept 8th!

God is so good! LOVE arting with Him…
And so so blessed by SUCH gifted artists in my life :)
So thanks again, guys! you are incredible!






Finished (just needs to be hung…prayin on that too…;) )

psalm 81...

Tonight…a backdrop will be created.
We have some people coming to work on and finish it! :) might be a little over-ambitious…but this is a crazy week so theres not a ton of time, and God can do whatever He wants. So today I am declaring and believing that God has the ability to finish it fast, to bring the body together on this using each of our uniquely God given gifts to their full advantage and to take our breath away with His awe-inspiring creativity.
(I decided I want to start to write more like Asaph…:) just loving words right now)

So keep us in your prayers tonight and be ready to see and be amazed by what God can do with some space, paper, paint, a few of His willing children, and a few hours. :)

Im excited…
:)

I have been reading through psalms some more…and reading in psalm 81 this part stuck with me…
this is more from Asaph…im telling you – these images are powerful! get ready to be inspired…If Asaph was alive today – I would totally go to his concerts…definitely an incredible artist.
But pay attention to the emotion behind these words – pay attention to what God must be feeling as the words come out…they are SOOOO much more than just words…
He says,
"I removed the burden from their shoulders; their hands were set free from the basket.
In your distress you called and I rescued you, I answered you out of a thundercloud; I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
"Hear, O my people, and I will warn you—
if you would but listen to me, O Israel!
I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt.
Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.
"But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me.
So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.
"If my people would but listen to me, if Israel would follow my ways,
how quickly would I subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes!

He wants to help so badly…He wants to subdue our enemies and lift the burden and He’s so ready…and the line where He says “hear o my people!” He is just wanting us to hear Him…He says “I rescued you, I heard you cry, I wiped your tears and saw that you were weighted down so I took your burden and I just want to keep you safe…I just want to be so close to you…and share that incredible relief you should be feeling…why wont you listen? Why do you walk away?”
It like makes me want to cry! Gods heart is so beautiful…who loves that deeply??? That unconditionally???
And my other favorite part is when he says “open your mouth wide and I will fill it”.
All we have to do is open our mouth wide and He will fill…(notice the word) FILL it with His love, His blessings, His security, etc etc etc. and He doesn’t just say – hey, let me pour some of this in…
No…He prepares you – open your mouth WIDE cuz your gonna want all you can possibly get of what is about to come…

So I know I have rambled ON AND ON…so I will just leave us with this…
Lets open our mouths WIDE ppl…He has blessings He is ready to pour out and He will give us as much as we are expecting of Him…
So I will encourage us – lets EXPECT big things of Him...and never be satisfied with just enough.

the art of the psalms

So we took a week off from ALIVE last week because a very good friend of sarah and I - got MARRIED last Friday :) and so the rehearsal fell on Thursday.
But we were back last night! and it was so fun – but we missed sarah who was at home, taking care of her baby.
We spent some time reading through a couple passages from Psalms…if you want to read what we read through I’ll list them for you…
Psalm 77:1-4,14-20
Psalm 74:4-8,10-11
Psalm 80:4-5
Psalm 50:1-5,12-15,22-23
First pray that God will help you see these passages as you go. Then read through them…and as you do – pay attention to what images come to mind. Pay attention to what you think of, what you are reminded of. Don’t just read – but picture what you are reading as you go.
and if you feel led - pick up a pen and paper and write or draw or sing or whatever He is leading you to do!

Lately I have been learning to pay attention to what goes on in my head when I read God’s word. And not just what I am learning, but learning to see what pictures and images form. To see what God is showing me.
These passages are all FILLED with imagery. Just really really cool word pictures (fyi NIV has the best version for the words with these, I think) and I have been looking at “why use those particular words?”
Why not just come straight out and say what he means? And I think its because this psalmist (these are all from Asaph) is an artist. God uses his words to create these pictures so we can SEE what he is talking about and not just learn the words.
I have been realizing that if we never look…if we never pay attention – we wont see or hear what He is trying to show us. we wont – and how can we miss it??? The God of the whole universe is trying to speak to us and show us part of His creativity…lets soak it up for all its worth! :)

I personally have a tendency to analyze and figure out and try to sort out every detail when im creating art…but God is just telling me to stop. Just stop, close my eyes, take a deep breath, and just watch.
He will take care of it…He’ll create through us – we just have to take the time to see what He is trying to show us.

How cool is it that God gives the creative mind this inspiration??? These amazing pictures…the words alone just conjure up these amazing images. “the waters writhe and convulge”… “I hold out my wearying hand…you hold my eyelids open when I cannot”… “the perfection of beauty”.
Beautiful stuff.

After we spent some time with that last night, we got in groups and did more of the same – one group working on coming up with a new drama we could use – and they came up with a really really cool idea. We are going to work on it and see what God does, but im really excited about it – so stay tuned!
And the other group worked on coming up with a backdrop for the new sr. high area.
Mark Thurston is going to be talking about the cross…and what it means to live for Him…until we get to eternity.

Really excited about that too!
So we’ll keep you updated on what is coming – and keep us in your prayers!
That God will keep inspiring, keep pouring out His creativity and that we can remain submitted to Him.

So lets all take time to just sit, close our eyes, and see what He wants to show us…:)
Happy Friday everyone!

disarming the enemy...

Have you ever had God reveal a weakness in you? something you know you should fix and one day you will probably maybe think about battling it…? :)
I for sure have. I will tell you – my big one is self-discipline.
And it is so hard sometimes to have God convict you of the things you know you need to change, I mean - who wants to acknowledge that they are less than everything God wants them to be?
But heres the thing…we are. We make mistakes, we fall short, we fail…
And satan takes those times and he writes them in big permanent marker (the obnoxious ones that are like 6 inches thick) on a huge piece of neon poster board and holds it in front of you…reminding you of every time you didn’t measure up. Of every bad, ugly or remotely incriminating thing in your life…a constant reminder.

Revelation 12:10 refers to Satan as -
the accuser of our brothers,
who accuses them before our God day and night…

he is the accuser. He wants us to fail – that is his sole mission…to keep us from grabbing onto the same strength that hurled him out of heaven.
and back to those weaknesses – while satan seeks to condemn us and tear us completely apart with them, God sees them and instead of punishing us for them - He gently lifts our face, tells us He loves us, and then shows us how to overcome them.
He tells us what to do and then stands right next to us as we step up to fight…and then He gives us everything we need to win.

A song lyric that put a really cool visual in my mind is from Disciple’s new song “Dear X”.
Its says this (talking to pain/hate/shame/etc.) –
“Go ahead
Put a target on my forehead
You can fire
But you've got no bullet”

Here is what I got from this – all those weaknesses, all the “things” we cant forget about and allow satan to condemn us for…those are his weapons. They work because we allow them to sink in and tell ourselves that its too late, we have failed too many times, that we are stuck with these things, “its just who we are”…
but God says – hey, I see those things and no, they are not good…but don’t listen to him.
Hear me – when I say I love you and I am not only able to but I want to free you from them.

And then I realized that me overcoming my lack of self-discipline is not just something I should do... But its God taking that bullet out of satan’s gun. If I fight, if I allow God to fight for me in this, to change this and overcome it – satan can no longer hold it over me. He can no longer fill ourthoughts with it or let it affect who we are. Isnt that cool???
Think about the things that satan holds over your head…really think about them – even if its hard to look at and acknowledge – because until you do, until we look at them and decide to allow God to teach us to overcome them and allow Him to take them away – satan’s got a loaded gun. All he has to do is aim…
But now picture this…you’re standing there, satan standing in front of you with his gun pointed at you, ready to fire…And as he pulls the trigger, he is stunned to realize nothing happens.
Because there is nothing he can say that will take our focus away from God, or take away the truth we stand on.
because we are free.
Not to say he wont still try…he will for sure… "day and night” like the verse above says…
But its up to us whether or not he has any ammo to fight with.

So keep fighting…another song I will recommend – “Fight” by J’son. SUPER good lyrics…we are the body, lets help each other fight. God freed us from the power of the enemy - so lets not "submit again to a yoke of slavery"...not let satan gain any ground in our lives.

Heres one more verse to finish up for today…
John 16:33
I tell you this so that you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble – but take heart… I have overcome the world.

Amen!

collage of worship

so i dont know if you remember, but back in June, before the youth mission teams left for their trips, we put together a worship night that we called "a war cry". it was a night for the teams to come together along with the church family and just soak in God's Spirit.

we wanted ppl to be able to worship in whatever way they felt led, so we had the music, some people danced, and we also set up 3 canvases on one side and invited people to come up and paint or draw as they felt led.

and i really didnt know if anyone would do it - but they did and it was so cool to see what came together and to just see God revealing Himself through the art.

loved it.

i finally took pictures of it and wanted to share some of them!

this one is my favorite part! makes me think of Gods fire pouring down, and turning into the cleansing waters that have the power to purify us and heal us...

painting as worship

it happened awhile ago, but on May 30th at Edinbrook we had 6 ppl paint/draw during the worship time during the services. so cool to both see and participate in. such a gift to be able to use the gifts God has given and just worship Him while using them! we set up easels, canvas, charcoal, paints and everything needed and just let the Holy Spirit do His thing through us.

here are pictures of some of what He poured out that morning. :)

by: Emmanuil Morari..."as we sing - Fire, fall down, on us we pray!"

this one's mine...removing that veil from our eyes! 2 cor. 3:15-18

by: Brittany Kiser...really cool to watch this one being done...and i want to be on that beach so much! :)

by: Laura Thurston...just a glimpse of God's beautiful creation :)

i hope to be able to do this more! if you are a painter or a drawer or writer or whatever - i encourage you to take some time, throw on some worship music and just ask Him to create through you! see what happens and just enjoy spending time in His presence!

a conversation with a stranger...

ok, so just a little more off of what i wrote earlier...

today i stepped outside of my office for a few minutes to grab some lunch. and as i was just a block or so away, i look back for a second and there's this guy there, a young guy, and all of a sudden he starts talking to me - like he knows me...so i just listened for a second.

and he says "that man over there told me i should die."

and it totally threw me off - and i thought he was just venting about this guy who apparently is kind of a jerk.

so i told him that wasnt true, along with some other things...kind of brushing it off

but then he kept talking...and he seemed really upset over this - and he was not laughing about it.

and he just kept saying "why would he say that? he said i dont deserve to live. am i going to hell? what should i do? should i just go kill myself? he said i should die..."

and i was like whoa - ok, and i just felt this need to pour encouragement into this person that i had never even seen before, let alone knew anything about.

and it really just broke my heart. how does someone believe so quickly that they are not worth anything? how does someone rely so much on what strangers think?

but i ask those knowing that its so easy to listen to what people say...and theres a line - i think its from the movie pretty woman - that says "have you ever noticed that the bad things (people say about you) are easier to believe?"

and its true.

today the guy i talked to thought about what that random guy said and he decided that he was right.

i asked him if he prays...if he knows God. and he started crying and he said yeah...yeah sure i pray...and started to walk away and then he stopped and asked "would you pray for me?"

so i prayed with him...right there on Nicollet Mall...prayed that he would know how important and special and loved he is by God. that there is a purpose for his life that God is working on...

and he just gave me a big hug...and then walked away.

i just cant even explain the distress on this guy's face.

you guys - do we know - have we grasped the fact that we are God's children? that we are so special to Him, that He LOVES us, that He has a specific plan for each and every one of us???

because satan is trying to take that truth away, to hide it and cover it up - but he cant if we dont let him. because regardless of what satan does - Gods truth is STILL TRUE.

and i just am so amazed that God led him to me. why me? of all the ppl on that street? me...with my sunglasses on, walking fast, just another face in the crowd - not going out of my way to pay attention to the people around me...yet he found me. what if he had gone to someone who wouldnt listen? who wouldnt have prayed for him? not saying i did anything really - but God totally was in charge and just took care of him! how beautiful is that???

and i am also just so struck at how strong words can be. they are life or death. everything we say has the potential to breath life or death into people...

so by all means - please let us breath life into people. do all we can to encourage and build up and love.

we are God's bride...His family...lets take care of each other.

oh taste and see that the Lord is GOOD!

i just want to post a quick reminder that God is good.
so good.
:)
and He does hear our prayers.
you know those prayers, those quick prayers you say at the beginning of your day like "use me somehow" or "help me bless others today" - things like that? and mean them at the time but as your day goes on, you just kind of forget about them?
well i did that today...i asked God to make me a light for Him today.
and kind of only half-heartedly thought anything would happen... (i dont know why...)
and i think He likes to take those "little" prayers and then surprise us with a big answer so that we know how closely He is paying attention...:)
and then we can just smile because He really is there every second of every day!
and also know that our prayers really do make a difference...He is listening for them!!!

anyways...He's just making me smile today and i just wanted to share that.
so be encouraged that every prayer you say is being heard! and God is paying such close attention to what is on your heart - both good and bad.

i just want to share one more thing - its from Psalm 34...(ps i changed some of the pronouns so its written from a girl's (my) perspective)

let my life boast in the Lord. let the hurting hear and be glad- magnify the Lord with me! and let us exalt his name together! I sought the Lord-and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears…This poor girl cried, and the Lord heard her and saved her out of all her worries. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them.
Oh taste and see that the LORD is GOOD!

i LOVE this passage! so so true! so lets celebrate and magnify the Lord together! and taste and see for ourselves how good the Lord is! :)

he left the curtain torn...

And Jesus cried again with a loud voice and gave up His spirit.
And at once the curtain of the sanctuary of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; the earth shook and the rocks were split.

Matthew 27:46-52

ok, so the other day i read this and then heard the song "Hero" by Abandon and it has stuck with me ever since. so ive been thinking about it a lot and actually have been feeling really inspired by it! :) just loving the incredible imagery of it...i just keep imagining sitting by the temple, seeing that curtain and knowing that nothing i do would ever get me past it. knowing that i am not worthy of it, of being the closest to the presence of God people knew how to get. but there is a barrier...but then all of a sudden the earth shakes...and the rocks split...and right before your very eyes the curtain - that barrier between you and the Holy of Holies - rips from top to bottom into two pieces.

and in that moment you realize that you have just been given the opportunity to enter into the presence of God. there is an opening, and there is nothing stopping you from walking right through...

how crazy is that??? If He hadn't destroyed the barrier and given us full access to the throne room...we would still be sitting on those temple steps...just wishing.

but we dont have to be! we can go in and be right there with Him...even though we are not worthy.

such a cool picture.

and in the song i mentioned above, the lyric that is just embedded into my head right now is this

"He left the curtain torn..."

it stayed torn! The throne room is still open! so by all means - lets continue to walk through it!!! take FULL advantage of the open curtain...He left it torn so that we could know Him, so that we could get to Him. so the choice is left up to us. we can stay, sitting on those temple steps - looking on from afar, or we can see the torn curtain and jump at the chance to get a glimpse into that throne room, into the presence of God.

and my friend Erika who is in Israel right now told me that while they were visiting a temple there the guide said that during that time - people would rip their clothing when they were mourning. so tearing the curtain was a way for God to mourn His son and to allow us to share in it with Him. and then open the way for us to know Him.

i just love it. such a short verse, and such a small song lyric - but wow. its managed to fill my head for a week now and its still goin strong. haha just so many ideas for a video and a drawing and a painting, etc...so well see what God's doing. not sure yet...stay tuned :)

anyways - i just wanted to share.

i hope it can bless you for even just a moment too :)

Psalm 91

Last night half of the team was out of town, but the other half of the team that hasn’t been there was…so it was fun to see everyone else! We took Psalm 91 and had the team read through it.
We then had them take some time and create a visual for the psalm/a part of the psalm using whatever type of art they wanted/whatever type of art they feel most comfortable with.
So either “arting” or creating a drama or writing a song or whatever.
It’s a really cool psalm that was really brought to life for me not that long ago – during a time of some tough spiritual warfare, and its such a cool message of comfort. And just a declaration that God will protect us. Nothing can touch us if He’s with us.
It says that he will call up his angels and make it so that not even a stone will strike our feet, let alone all the other things that could go wrong. powerful stuff!
And at the end of the psalm it says –

"Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him
and show him my salvation."

All He wants to know is that we love Him. He wants us to love Him, to call on Him for help…and He will be there. And i love when He says “I will show him my salvation.” AMEN to that, people! if there is one thing I want Him to show me, its is His salvation! The amazing cleansing, purifying, life-giving, transforming salvation that only He can offer.

This week God has really just been bringing my desire to do art back to life. its been awhile – my focus has been being a leader and so I just haven’t taken the time to do my own thing, but Gods telling me to start creating again…and it feels GOOD. Yesterday I got to church early, went to the dungeon, got out my supplies and my ipod and just sat and turned the music way up and started drawing.
God’s been putting the times I’ve spent in the presence of His Spirit into images over the past few weeks and so I am working on drawing them up. Its so cool to spend time just focusing on what it feels like to be in His spirit…whether it’s standing in the pouring down of the Spirit like being drenched with rain or if its just wrapped up so tight in an amazing, comforting hug when He’s speaking something overwhelming into me, or being filled with the exhilarating fire of His passion – its all just so HIM. We’ll never be able to experience the fullness of His character, but it is definitely a blessing to catch the glimpses and experiences now and then.
so that is my personal new project that I am praying and working through…I forgot how easy and incredible it is to put on music, and just get lost in a drawing for hours. I missed it. :) so its good to be back! God definitely knows His children!!!
So make sure you are listening for God’s leading! because He wants to answer you and honor you. He knows His children… and He wants to bless them.