they will know that I am God

last week Steven Furtick posted on one of my absolute favorite artists - Chuck Close. he has some things at the Walker and at the MIA in minneapolis and no matter how many times i see them - i can literally just stand and look at them for so long. they are absolutley incredible. the detail is amazing.

and in the blog post (the link is toward the bottom of this post - so you can go read it) he talks about Chuck and how he has a condition where he is unable to remember faces. he literally will see someone and then turn around and forget them. yet this man paints and draws faces. and he is good at it.

and if you are thinking "oh man, thats so impressive" - well Chuck is also disabled. He was almost completely paralyzed before - so he learned to paint with his teeth. ??? and now he can move his arm some, so he is able to place the tools in that hand, balanced strategically - and go about drawing/painting his works.

amazing right? i posted a picture of one of his drawings...and no, its not a photo.

crazy, huh? i want so badly to learn to draw detail like that!

anyways - Steven goes on in his post to say that Chuck Close's strength is creating faces in incredible detail. and yet - faces are his greatest weakness - he cant remember them.

and that is how God works in us........our greatest weakness is what God wants to use as his platform. because in that weakness - He can display His splendor to its maximum potential. its His platform...because its where we dont get in the way :)

so dont be afraid to acknowledge your weakness and let God use it. and when He calls you to take a step of faith and act on something you dont think you can do - dont hesitate.

Because He's planning to show up and make sure everyone watching knows its Him working.

how many times in Isaiah does God say "so they will KNOW that I am God..."

make sure to take a second to acknowledge your weakness and then make sure to stand in sheer awe of the contrast between what He can do and what you know you can do.

and soak it in - because that's God. and He's giving you assurance that He knows you, and He is more than capable of taking care of you.

love it.

http://www.stevenfurtick.com/spiritual-growth/your-greatest-weakness-gods-greatest-platform/

-ALIVE

never limit God...

This morning I heard a guy on Air1 talking about faith…and he said this “having faith is placing all your hope on the fact that God is going to stay faithful to the promises He’s made”
And I just really loved that. we are trusting Him to come through for us and fulfill all His promises – that He has forgiven us, that He loves us unconditionally, that He will never leave, that He’ll provide, that He will come back for us, and so on, so on.
So many amazing promises.
And we can’t have real faith until we choose once and for all to believe that He means them.
Because until we choose to really believe that – how can we do the crazy things He calls us to? How can we have a REAL relationship with someone who we don’t really trust?
I was listening to Crazy Love by Francis Chan the other day in my car, chapter 9 I think, and he was just telling all these life stories about Christians living POWERFULLY impactful lives by the power of the Holy Spirit – and I was just crying. Crying so much – not because these stories were so sad, but because these people were truly choosing to trust God and to love Him no matter what, and God was coming through. He was/is using them in HUGE ways in the lives of the ppl around them. All because they love Him- fully and truly. And because of that – they trust Him enough to answer when He calls, no matter what its to do. His heart is all that matters to them.
And I just felt His Spirit so deep in my heart – wanting so much to be able to live a life that declares His faithfulness like that. that I can hear His voice and just answer. because I can, because I trust Him. And no other reason.
This weekend one of the speakers (and I have a WHOLE lot to write about this weekend…so this is just a little part) Josh Thurston talked about being alive for Christ.
And one of the things he talked about was the vision that we have for our lives, the vision that God has given us…
And he had us write it down. And said to dream big – because God can and will do it.
So I sat down, along with the students and other leaders (and I have tried to put into words my dream/vision before and I haven’t been able to) but this weekend, God just spoke it. it just became clear.
And its cool. And has the potential to either be very small or VERY big. So I’m choosing to believe Him for as big as He wants to go…
And expecting it.
Out of faith.
Because all my hope is on Him fulfilling His promises…and I know He will.
So stay tuned as it all unfolds…;)

– Hebrews 6:13-20 says…
“When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.
People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. “


Now – one more thing…God has been using Pastor Steven Furtick to speak to me about a lot of things lately and it has been a HUGE encouragement – so I just want to share his blog post from today.
Never limit God. Never dream small.
http://www.stevenfurtick.com/video-blog/my-thoughts-on-oprah/

and know without a doubt that God is more than capable to and will come through.
So trust Him.

-ALIVE

Ink

Here's some stuff I did tonight in class

-ALIVE

Give Me Your Eyes: Edinbrook Edition

last night we had some HIGHLY productive practice time...and im not even exaggerating...haha
we thought we were done with Give Me Your Eyes...but we were asked to perform it this Sunday at Edinbrook. so we did a little recruiting, got some people from our team to come and so last night we taught it to everyone, and it looks really good!
so grateful for a team that is willing to work so hard to learn this stuff on such short notice.
love it.
but it went really great. and we even had a FEW minutes at the end to do a little yesterday, today, forever...:) always fun.
and so everyone should come on sunday morning (either service) to see it!
and also keep us in your prayers - that everyone will remember it and that God will be truly glorified through every second of it!!!

we also have a few more projects in the idea stage...;) so pray that God brings them out and brings them to life!

-ALIVE

fire

i'm seeing a theme going with these posts...first we have water, now fire - in faith i'm believing that the next is actually going to be wind and it will be the wind coming from the Holy Spirit breathing on me - and leading me into a new adventure...;)
but really...:) i really didnt plan the water, fire thing...just realized it - but hey, i'll go with it!
anyways.......
i've been thinking about fire a lot lately because God has me walking through an intense one. during the last session of {em-pou-er} Grace had her pottery going and she was talking but God was talking through her and speaking DIRECTLY into my heart. literally - it was like He was standing right in front of my and lifting up my face saying "this is for you...pay attention..."

but she was telling the pitcher she was working on that -
"its ok, darling. you might not know what's happening - but i do. its all for a purpose. so that you can be tall and beautiful and perfect and strong. you are about to go into the fire. its going to be hot, really hot. hotter than you think you can stand but you'll make it. you'll make it through and you know what? you'll come out stronger and more beautiful. so just trust me, darling, trust me that I know exactly what I'm doing. and I won't mess up - just let me."

and i just heard the line "you're about to go into a fire, and its going to be hotter than you think you can stand, but you'll make it and you'll come out stronger and more beautiful than ever before" over and over again in my head.
and that, my friends, is kind of an overwhelming thing to hear God tell you.
but He was preparing me - so i could brace myself a little. i wont go into everything that God is teaching me...haha...just trust me that it does indeed resemble fire and it is indeed quite warm. haha

but He's also given me a couple songs that are just speaking right to me- Gold by beckah shae, Something in His Eyes by shonlock, and Divine Romance by phil wickham.
all so great - and i have them set up to play on my computer so they go in order...haha...(maybe crazy, but this is really how God speaks to me sometimes...) so try to follow the logic... :)
but Gold is all about the refining fire. i'm going in the way i am now - but through the intense fire - i'm being refined. refined by God, He's getting rid of all the impurities that will tarnish after time and weaken my foundation and who knows what else...and making sure that when i come out, i'll be solid gold.
then Something In His Eyes starts playing...and it gives this great picture of how when things get crazy and just get to be too much - He tilts up my chin so i can look Him in the eye and see ALL the love He's got for me in there - and makes sure I know that He's got His girl covered. (gives ya butterflies...;) ) take a second and picture really staring into God's eyes and just seeing His love for you...crazy stuff.
and the last one...oh the last one. this one God uses to just give me rest. every time i hear it, i see Him sitting right next to me, hand on my arm, saying - "i'm here. just lean on me. even though it might seem hard - it's worth it."

cool, huh?
i just wanted to share that - not to give you these songs as a formula to experience God. its not. He gave those songs to me for this moment in my life. so listen to them - they're great...but also make sure to ask God what He wants to show you for your life. so i encourage you to listen for Him, because God is speaking (sometimes in ways you don't expect) but He wants to speak into your heart. and He might call you to tough things (big or small) but He's right there through all of it. He's not going anywhere...
so lean on Him.
listen to what He's waiting to show you.
and let Him love on you.
:)

-ALIVE

water

Here is my latest revelation……
So the other day I was reminded of how much I need to drink water. I was at work, then went to the gym after work. I hadn’t really drank any water and didn’t really feel thirsty – so didn’t think much of it. I meant to grab a bottle of water before I left for the gym and forgot…no big deal.
So I get a quick drink from the drinking fountain and then hop on a machine and run for awhile. I get thirsty when I run – but its not terrible…so when I forget water – I just kind of suck it up and get a drink when I’m done.
But here's where the regret kicks in…cuz after I run and am on my way home I get SO thirsty. I mean really really thirsty. And so when I get home I get a drink (or a few) and I get a little less thirsty but I can just feel my body craving water so much. like lots of it.
And I drink water – but every time this happens I just hate it cuz i have way too much water just sitting in my body but i'm still so thirsty...(haha...does this happen to anyone else?) because my body needs more water in that moment than I can physically give it fast enough. So it just stays thirsty until I can get enough water in it. and its just uncomfortable. and it makes it worse knowing that i could have prevented it - by just drinking a little more water!
So here’s my thought…
In my life if I’m digging into God’s Word, praying, constantly looking for Him in my everyday life – its like im drinking water all the time. And so when something comes up – something big or difficult or overwhelming – it might still be tough, and it might still hurt – but I’m gonna bounce back a LOT faster. But if I’m not in the Word daily, not leaning on God and I haven’t been drinking Him in regularly…I’m going to be thirsty. And when the hard times come - I’m going to try to make up for lost time by grabbing for Him and trying to shove in all the “God stuff” I can to prepare myself for what i know is coming – but there’s no way I can learn and soak in ENOUGH of it FAST enough so that it doesn’t hurt for a little while.
Sure it’ll cushion the hard time and God will eventually teach me what I need to know…but the whole time I’ll be thinking –
why didn’t I just do this little by little all along?

Timothy 4:15-16
Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Mark 24:44
So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him

-ALIVE

believe

ok...so i went to {em-pou-er} conference today. all i can say about it is...wow.

God showed up today. His presence was SO powerful. the main speaker we brought in was Grace Johnson. she is a potter and an incredible woman of God and she shared her story while on stage and made pottery while she was speaking. it was incredible to watch. and so beautiful because she talked about how she is the potter molding this clay like God is the potter molding us, His clay. and so as she works with the clay - she speaks to the clay like God speaks to us.

one thing that i want to share that hit me really deeply was when she was talking about how amazing it was that God could love on her, and touch her, and move her. and then she talked about a time when she asked God about it - and asked how she could touch Him, love Him, move Him the way that He does us.

and God told her -

"believe."

believe that He is everything. believe that He will fulfill His promises. believe that He will come through. and believe that He is so deeply in love with you.

and believe it enough to let Him mold you.

and she spoke those words like God was talking directly to me...and it was like God was standing in front of me, asking me to believe. "just believe in me. i just want you to trust me, i want you to show me you love me by trusting me"

that's powerful stuff.

have you ever thought of what it means to God to know that you trust Him with your life? that you really do believe with everything in you that He is going to take care of you?

His love is just too amazing to fathom. and He is OUR GOD. let that soak in...He created the earth, He is a king above all other kings. He has a plan for each and every one of His children...and He loves me. deeply, powerfully, and initmately loves ME. and you.

so just take a second or a few and let that sink in.

and start believing Him...

and He will mold you into the breathtaking masterpiece He designed for you to be.

God proved Himself faithful in so many ways today. and i am beyond grateful for every single one of the many ppl that volunteered to run sound, serve/prepare food, clean up tables, ALL of it. i am just in awe of the body of Christ and i know i take them all for granted. so today i just really really want to appreciate them. to say thank you and to say that i love them so much and love their hearts to take up their saturday morning to serve their sisters in Christ. it was amazing.

-ALIVE

{em-pou-er}

hello again friends! :)

i know this is not technically ALIVE related but its been a huge part of sarah and i's lives for the last few months...:)

haha...but TOMORROW is the ladies mini-conference called {em-pou-er}. it has come together in such a crazy way and we've spent the week setting up and finalizing details and its just truly TRULY amazing that we are not here...the night before...and its all ready.

steph page and i met with the speaker tonight and helped them set up and oh. my. goodness. this woman, in a matter of literally 5 min, just reminded me of the sheer awesomeness of being able to enter God's presence.

i mean - powerful stuff people! but i tell you this because we have an AMAZING group of women coming to Edinbrook tomorrow and i just ask that you PRAY. pray pray pray. God is going to do amazing things - i feel it. and i am beyond excited.

He is just so so good.

-ALIVE

Just for fun

I just downloaded this super cool app onto my computer, its just like a paint app, but it has a lot more advanced sort of photoshop type stuff. I just made this and thought i would share it :)

God Bless!

-ALIVE

what will kill you if you don't do it?

So I have been reading the book Primal by Mark Batterson. And its this really great book just getting back to the very base of our faith. Figuring out what is God and what we have made up ourselves. Its pretty intense stuff.
But one of the chapters talks about a man who went to Africa on a trip, saw that a lot of the kids weren’t wearing shoes. So he knew in that moment that he had to get as many of these kids shoes as he could. And then said the sentence that we have all heard many times before… "I will do this if it kills me.”
And then Mark asks this question…
What will kill you if you don’t do it?

Now for the last few years I have been all about figuring out the dreams God has placed in me, the gifts He’s given me, and where He is leading me – but that question I read, thought about, and realized I didn’t know. No idea.

and it continues on to ask more questions – get you thinking more on it…
“what puts a holy smile on your face? What makes your spirit sob uncontrollably? What makes you pound your fist on the table in righteous indignation? Because when you find that, you find your God-ordained passion. Or rather compassion. Because you are feeling what God feels.”

Crazy to think about, huh?
I just sat there and went through those questions and really thought about them. Really thought about which of my passions bring me the closest to God’s heart. And there were a few.
I still don’t know for sure how to answer that first question…but it’ll come.
For now – I am just really loving being able to work in His ministry. to have gifts that I truly love to use.
One thing that I am learning about myself is that I LOVE to create…to be creative. Which I always knew I liked…but didn’t know how much I really loved it. It just makes me feel so alive every time. No matter what else I am feeling that day. and it amazes me every time.

God is good, friends. He has gifts He wants us to use. He has dreams He wants us to take part in. and He wants us to experience His heart in a way that truly moves us to every version of tears. :)

So take some time…go through those questions…really think about the answers. Let God speak it into your heart.
And then pray that He will place in you a passion to answer this question… "what will kill you if you don’t do it?”


-ALIVE

team.friendship.org

Dooood!!! Ima post something on da BLOG!!!!! :D


Man oh man did i do some work on all these folks!!! Haha, we all got our exercise for the day :) But doing these more upbeat, really exciting dances is something that we've not done too much of before in Alive, which is good! It's a great way to just worship God and have so much fun while doing it. Like Jillian said, this song just makes you want to jump around and sing and smell flowers and give people money, and jump around, in joy, of course. And its just so great to be able to do this fun fun dance, when we perform it i really hope that some random people who aren't part of it will just start worshiping like they never have before, it'd be great!

So this thursday i should be finishing up the choreography for it :) And... maybe finally starting to learn the Fear Dance!!! It's another more upbeat song, but its a bit more Hip Hop-ish, which is REALLY different. BUT GOOD! :) It's an amazing song ("Afraid" by J Moss) it has awesome lyrics and my dance teacher has been teaching me a dance that might take a bit more... time... :) than what we're used to, that is. I should be able to teach Ashley a bit of it and we'll see how it goes!


But the thing about doing dances is that, its a great form of worship for the dancers, but not always necessarily the audience, depending on the situation, of course, and with the yesterday, today, forever dance, I'm really wanting to just give a visual to the joy that song brings out in me, and many other people! And with that, i just really hope people will worship while watching, we encourage random jumping if thats how you worship! :) I know that when we perform it, God will do great things, like he always does. Here's to God! This is in his hands :)
-Flail instructor Austin :P


-ALIVE

His joy...

and welcome to dance practice :) cute Maider took some pics on thursday so i stole them from her and am posting them. here is the group shot...all of us trying not to look too overwhelmed :)

and here is our wonderful choreographer/teacher...

another group shot...possibly looking slightly less overwhelmed...:) and having so much fun
some of the super cute girls taking a little break from dancing :)

this was so fun. i have always admired people who have the gift of dance. there are just those songs that you hear that you just want to jump around and praise God while you're listening to them. however - if you are like me and not exactly what you would call "coordinated" :) then you just imagine being able to dance out what you are feeling on the inside. so learning this was just really cool - because NOW when i hear the song...and i really love this song (if you havent heard Yesterday, Today, Forever - see the video in the last post) - i have a picture of the movement in my head and i can just picture/dance that dance filled with the joy that is happening on the inside instead of just random jumping :) so i still admire the people who have the gift of dance - so beautiful and SO powerful. but i will embrace this little chance to participate in this way of experiencing God's joy and just giving it a channel to pour out of me! :))) so i just encourage you to find a way to express the joy that God is filling you with and fully experience it! let His joy fill you up and come out in whatever way He desires...just be open to it. ;)

-ALIVE

Yesterday, Today and Forever :)

oh so fun :) last night we had dance class. intense dance class. haha...

and sarah, erika and i joined in this time. so glad we did. it was so fun.

have you heard the song Yesterday, Today and Forever by Ryan Stevenson? if not - please take a moment to listen to it...and i bet you a million dollars you cant listen to it and not dance even a little bit.

its just such a HAPPY song! God never changes! and He is calling us to Him.

and i just LOVE the picture of just trying to reach His heart with all we have - our worship.

anyways...so Austin has been working on choreographing a dance to this song and asked if we could take some time on a thursday night and learn it. so we said sure - that would be fun.

so last night we started by reading Psalm 19...

i highly recommend reading it...i am listening to Francis Chan's Crazy Love, and in it he talks about this passage. the psalm says that God's handiwork declares His glory. Francis points out that God created the world. His handiwork is His creation...His art. God's art declares His glory. and it was like God was saying - "i made you creative. i want you to have a passion for allowing me to make art through you..."

He is creating through the gifts that He has given His children. His art is declaring His glory. so when we allow Him to create through us - its His art. and as we allow Him to move us and create through us - His glory is declared!!!

God is strongly suggesting that we creative types spend our time being creative and creating with Him - the most creative being that has been or ever will be...that is our ministry. that is our calling. no, please God dont make me do what i love in order to serve you! :) i mean seriously? what a crazy blessing! what are we waiting for??? He is just getting me so excited about intentionally letting Him loose in my life and just following- whereever He leads. oh man...so good.

the last half of the night we spent with our hearts racing, not breathing, and stumbling over our feet...haha...BUT eventually, after some work and instruction - we learned part of the dance! and it was so fun to learn (even for the "non-dancers") and just worship while doing it. loved it. and it looks so cool! we made some of the ppl who mastered it and made it look cool do it while we recorded it so i am going to post the video here - you can get a glimpse of what we worked on :)

not sure what we'll use it for or when - but God will use it when He wants to...

so thanks team for being good sports :) and thanks austin for creating the dance!

have a BLESSED weekend...

-ALIVE

Give Me Your Eyes: Part 4

Practice #2 at St. Joes = success! :) i was really excited to go tonight and work with the group. we brought 5 of our team members along and there were 8 from st. joes. so a really great group! and it was even better because our favorite dance teachers were there ;) it went really great. and it was really cool to watch austin teach the whole group. :)

they learned it so fast and by the end of the night it looked so great.

just praying that it will stay FRESH in everyone's minds until next wednesday when we perform!!!

:)

i really love working with a different church, its fun to see the two teams working together. and i am just beyond grateful for the whole team. just being willing to come to church on tues night and give up their evening to learn this dance/drama and work on it...such a huge blessing. and to just see God using their gifts...love it.

so thank you team members that came with...God is going to use this. He has put it all together in record time and it is turning out better than we ever thought it would. just a few weeks ago we were sitting at caribou with absolutely NO idea what to do along with this song. haha

but here we are now...God always comes through. always. He is faithful to the end. He will accomplish His purpose.

love it.

what an AMAZING God we serve. :)

the ONLY bad part of the evening if i have to find one was when sarah walked into the sanctuary and pointed out that we were wearing the exact same outfit. from the hair, to the shirt, to the jeans, to the boots. yeah.

there is no picture...we didnt want to record the moment. haha...but im sure we looked SO cute and so cool leading the group looking exactly the same...

oh man...just God keeping us humble....;)

but it was a very productive and fun night!

this week for our ALIVE meeting we are learning a new dance :) so fun!

-ALIVE

quick look at 2010...

Hi friends!
crazy to think its 2011 already...but here we are! its been another whole year of ALIVE. everyone's been looking over the last year and all that has happened and so i was just looking over the blog and remembering all thats been happening this year. and its just crazy to look at all that has happened in just one year. time has gone so fast...and it has been QUITE the adventure.
quick recap over the last year with ALIVE...............

January - decided to go to Mexico for a youth mission trip!

February - take a break from ALIVE...start working with mission team :)

March - LOTS of rehearsal time...

April - we performed The Project: Hosea!

May - mission trip plans changed some when a few team members ended up not being able to come...not the highlight of the process, but definitely a time of learning to depend on God for leading - and our faith growing hugely in the process. also held the first annual El Award-O's? so fun.

June - performed Set Me Free drama for Revolution, held a worship night as a send-off for the mission teams heading out, and went to MEXICO! such an INCREDIBLE trip. God truly blessed us.

July - took a break from meeting for a few weeks...

August - painted a backdrop for the Relentless room at church
September - performed the drama to the song Dear X by Disciple for the See You At the Pole Rally

October - performed The Bride drama for both the youth group on wednesday night and on sunday morning for church. pretty intense stuff...

(video from sunday morning version- if it shows up cut off, you can watch it on the website http://www.edinbrookchurch.org/MEDIA/WEBVIDEOS.HTM)


November - did some arting on the stage on a sunday morning for the finale of Pastor Ivan's Morph series. love the arting :)

December - made art as a team, played with Light Arting, had our Christmas party! :), and started working on the drama/dance for St. Joe's - Give Me Your Eyes.

we have been busy and im just really really excited to see what this year has in store for us!!! we already have quite a few, semi-huge projects in mind......:) so we'll see what God does with them.........

-ALIVE