Overcome

I just heard Jeremy Camp's 'Overcome' play while I was getting ready for the day. Just close your eyes and listen to the words. Remember that no matter what struggles you are going through or what obstacles and fire the enemy throws your way, Jesus OVERCAME a death that He didn't deserve so that we can overcome our struggles. With Him, we can conquer the battles that the enemy raises against us. Love this song. Take a second to listen to it. Such a great, simple but powerful reminder that God is with us. Everyday. He has conquered therefore WITH Him, we too can accomplish this.

After The Storm Came The Rainbow

Yesterday, the weather was a little crazy and one minute it would be sunny... Then the next would be torrential downpour. Needless to say, my decision to try and get a few miles of running in after work was not the smartest but I attempted it anyways. As I was running, the sky was growing darker but the sun was still shining on the beach so I kept running. About a mile in, I felt a rain drop and decided I should probably turn around. It wasn't two raindrops later when the sky fell. I'm not talking a gradual increase from sprinkling to hard rain. I'm talking one drop........ Two drops..... Monsoon! The rain was so heavy that I couldn't see a quarter of a mile ahead of me and I saw two bolts of lighting. So I kept running (shoes squishing and all) and found a public bathroom on the beach road close to a restaurant. I was met by a tourist couple and a local lady with her yorkie adorned with a pink bow. We stood there for a few minutes and admired the rain over the gulf and of course like normal gulf coast weather, it blew over within 10 or 15 minutes.

As the cloud began to move, I noticed a very distinct rainbow where the clouds were breaking and you could see the sun rays shining through the rainbow. It was amazing and got me thinking about the story of Noah and the Ark and God's promise to human kind. When I got home I wanted to freshen up on my rainbow knowledge and found an article on a site called answersingenesis.com. It's called, 'Taking Back The Rainbow' and the author breaks down a few things about the rainbow and what different people interpret it to represent. The coolest thing I got out of the article is that the author talks about how not only does the rainbow represent God's promise to never destroy mankind by water again, but the author says that the rainbow is a 'biblical covenant of Grace.' He backs this explanation with Genesis 9: 12-15 and his explanation is fabulous. I would take a minute to read this article and thank God for His promise and His Grace. Too often we see a rainbow (like many other gifts God gives us) and overlook it because we are going along with our busy day. I am thankful that it was raining so hard that I had to stop and think about this beautiful symbol of promise and grace.

Here is the link to the article I refer to above: http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v2/n2/taking-back-the-rainbow

Remembering Tuscaloosa :: One year later

Devastation at it's finest. Today marks the one year anniversary of the day that tornados shook my home state, devastated Tuscaloosa and destroyed many other parts of Alabama. Birmingham was finding debris from Tuscaloosa and they saw a tornado a mile and a half wide! In all, our country saw over 300 tornadoes in one day across many states and 344 people lost their lives (320 of those in Alabama) in what was known as one of the deadliest tornado outbreaks in history. Below are just a few of the pictures I took when I went to visit and volunteer in T-town the weekend after the tornadoes. The pictures are merely a glimpse of the aftermath...They can't begin describe the awful smell of ruin and the sounds of tears, heartache and sadness of the people I came in contact with while I was there. If you have a minute, take a chance to browse through a few photos and pray for each of the families that lost everything they had -- including family members taken from them in a flash. We are blessed beyond belief, but are not promised tomorrow and this is a reminder that our life on earth is a gift and we must live every day to the fullest and thank God for what we have and stop complaining about what we DONT have... the people that lived in these homes pictured literally don't have ANYTHING. 

:: all photos were taken by me. if you'd like to see more, I can send you a link to an album ::

Colors :: So this season!

So I'm obsessed with COLOR right now! I used to be a neutral or black&white dresser... But I'm trying to branch out and add a little more color to my wardrobe and spice it up!

Speaking of color-- nails! I'm a big fan of being different (in an un-obnoxious way) so I like to paint my ring finger a different color. Normally I try to do a monochromatic theme but lately...it's just been random. I was at Target and discovered a brand of nail polish called SinfulColors Professional. It's FAB! It's in with all the professional polishes like OPI and ESSIE but it's literally 1/4 of the price of those big name brands! It's only $1.99 per bottle... And to make it even better, it comes in a large variety of funky, fun & fantastic colors! You can buy 4 different colors of the SinfulColors brand for the price of one bottle of OPI. Don't get me wrong... I still love OPI... But I've found a new love!

Also-- I'm really hard on my nails so within 2-3 days, half my nails are chipped or at least at the beginning stages. I painted my nails the colors below on a Thursday evening and it dried fairly quickly considering it isn't quick dry and didn't start chipping til the next Thursday! Even then, it probably wouldn't have started chipping then if I hadn't been moving furniture for a few hours that day! The SinfulColors brand names it's colors unique similar to the way OPI does.

To sum all that up... If you like fun nail colors (or are like me and trying to add more color to your life) at a good price, definitely make a little trip to Target. So worth it! Fabulous colors that won't hurt the finances :: I'm all about that!

COLORS PICTURED :: SinfulColors 'Mint Apple' and 'Lets Meet.'

How will YOU respond?

Heavy storm clouds hover over the bay while sun still shines on Destin, Fla.

'The way you respond to your circumstance is an expression of the trust in your relationship with God'

I saw this quote on a Facebook friend's status this morning and thought it was perfect for how my day started off. When the storm comes but you can still see what life was like prior to the storm, sometimes it's hard to stay calm and carry on. We often see those clouds rolling closer in the distance and ignore the warning signs until the second the storm clouds are hanging heavy on our shoulders and almost suffocating us.

It's easy to take the worldly route and think we are Superman... Thinking we can hold those clouds back on our own. Reality check: We're not. The only way to make it through the storm is to trust God an know that while we want to hold that cloud on our own...struggling an straining to peek through the thick cloud... He has the WHOLE world in the palm of His hand.

I really like this quote I saw this morning and just wanted to share. Hope that next time you have a hard circumstance that you will let God take those storm clouds in His own hand and move them when the timing is right... But also when you have those nice, warm sunny days in life that you will praise God an remember that God is good and all good things are from him.

'For the Lord our God is our sun and shield. He gives us grace and glory...' -Psalm 48:11

I love this. He is our sun and our shield! Just love love love that.

Praise be to God for being my sun and not only shining down blessings on my life but also opening my eyes to learn this lesson and showing me new things every day, but also my shield. He protects and defends for me. In His name, I can live every day worry free because He and His army of angels are constantly by me to protect me in all journeys of life...

The question is: in each circumstance, HOW will I respond? Will I step back and let Him lead me through the storm and trust that He can carry those clouds? Or will I try and carry myself through the storm? When I am blessed, will I open my eyes and see God through that blessing? Or will I go on along my day and consider it 'good luck'?

How will YOU respond?

"But I say to you who hear..."

Well God definitely had a lesson in his plans for me yesterday...

So some drama went down yesterday between some friends and someone said a few words that were very unnecessary, and some people got very wrongly accused... and some feelings got very hurt. Well, for me I'm one to speak my mind. For the most part I know when to keep my mouth closed but sometimes I really have to try not to say too much because as wrong as this is, I like to have the last word if someone has accused me wrongly. It's not normally an issue, but sometimes I really have to work and pray that God will give me patience and the right words in those types of situations.

'WELL HELLO!'... I feel like that's what God was saying to me last night... Jesus, the PERFECT, son of God was totally wrongly accused of so many more things and paid such a higher price than I'll probably ever in my life be accused of and I'll never pay the price he paid. So why am I so upset about being accused of something so little that has no matter in the grand scheme of things? Well.. to be honest... I'm human. I'm not perfect. I'm forgiven... but as a Christian I need to learn from this.

Yup. Wake up call right there. Thank you God for that reminder last night. In Luke 6, chapter 27 starts the 'Love for Enemies' section. Perfect. Because last night I was feeling like one of my best friends had turned into an enemy (well, not really an 'enemy,' but I felt like I had been wronged by them)... so I guess it relates. Anyways, This is what 27-36 read:

27 "But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.29 Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either.30 Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back.31 Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.32 If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.33 If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.34 If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount.35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Well --  I think the most influential part of that to me is the part that says, "for even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is THAT to you? For even sinners do the same." It makes so much sense... how are we as Christians supposed to stand out in this world and make a difference if we act JUST like those who aren't Christians and Love those who Love us but Hate those who Hate us (or have wrongly accused us... in my case)?

God really laid that lesson on my heart last night as I was fired up about being accused and I was truly hurt. He told me that there is so much more to be concerned about than worrying about something so small but that as a Christian I am called to do these things above.

It's funny (well not funny or a coincidence... I know God had a plan for this lesson) because today is the day that I am focusing on the 'Pray For The Traffickers' section of the A21 Campaign's Prayer Guide. They declared Jan. 11-21 as a time of fasting and prayer and getting involved in making a difference for Human Trafficking.

I've really been focusing on the victims and praying and fasting on their behalf, but God says to, "Love your enemies." I can't make it any more clear than how the bible states it above. Technically these traffickers are not directly MY enemies... but they SO are! Geez -- the more I learn about Human Trafficking, the more I want to bust down some doors and kick some butt! I don't really feel like that's my calling, but who knows... maybe one day!

But the prayer guide breaks down praying for the traffickers like this: Pray for conviction, repentance & salvation; for criminal networks to dismantle; and for the oppressors to be arrested & prosecuted. Well those are pretty specific, huh!? But if we are all coming together and truly lifting these words up with one unified voice, that's when we will start seeing change! These verses always come to mind:

19 "Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them." -Matt 18: 19-20

If together as Christians we can all be praying with one voice, God is with them and what they ask for will be done. This is so powerful! I will go into more detail about the verses that go along with the prayer topics for the traffickers, but that will be another day. You can find them here.

I'm so thankful that I was reminded about loving my enemies (and people you feel like you've been wronged by) on the same day that I was focusing on praying for the traffickers. They are the enemy but they are also humans and as many awful or horrific things they do, God loves them and they CAN be saved! Think about a testimony of a trafficker once they have been saved and their eyes are opened to the dirtiness and darkness they were submersed in!? They may have never heard of Jesus! They may have no clue that what they are doing is wrong (which I'm pretty sure most of them know, but who knows-- maybe the culture they were brought up in taught them that slavery was okay). It's hard to understand this and obviously every time I hear another trafficking story, I want to bust out some Jack Bauer moves (from the TV show '24'), but right now I am being called to pray. For every aspect of this Human Trafficking cycle.

I hope that as Christians we can learn to be more loving to our enemies. I'm not saying we should agree with their acts or think that what they do is okay, but we can pray for them. This is a hard lesson but I know God knew what was happening when I was upset last night.

Thank you for those little reminders, God! May our eyes be opened to see them more and hear teach us more! The first words in the 'Love your enemies' section of Luke read, "But I say to you who HEAR..." Yes... we must be open to hearing and learning these things. If we don't want to, we probably won't.

Weapon of Warfare

 "The effective, FERVENT PRAYER of a righteous man AVAILS MUCH."-James 5:16

As the new year began, I know everyone has their New Year's Resolutions and those 'things' they want to do or those pounds they want to lose. But often times, those New Year's Resolutions are very selfish or focused on things of this world. Not that there's anything wrong with losing a few pounds... I'd definitely like to be in better shape!... But this year I really feel like God's calling me to grow closer to Him on a daily basis.

I've been in prayer and fasting for the past few days along with the A21 Campaign. It's been such a blessing as I've been in constant prayer and thought for these victims of slavery. Obviously it's not easy thinking about the awful crimes that are being committed and the acts of the traffickers, but there's just something freeing knowing that there is HOPE out there and even saving one life is a huge difference! It is easy to be overwhelmed by the issue of human trafficking and think that we cannot make a difference. But do not forget that each one of us has at our disposal the most powerful weapon of warfare -- and that is prayer!

The A21 Campaign has a prayer guide that leads you with scripture on how to prayer for specific areas of Human Trafficking. They list them like this: For the Victims, For the Traffickers, For Governments, Against Root Causes, For Increased Global Awareness, For the Church and The A21 Campaign. Under each section there are specific things to pray for a verses to go along.

Today I'm focusing on praying for the victims: For their Strength & Salvation, For their Protection, Freedom & Justice and For their Hope & Healing. Here are the verses (from The Message) that we can pray together:

FOR THEIR STRENGTH & SALVATION:

"When I walk into the thick of trouble, keep me alive in the angry turmoil. With one hand strike my foes, With your other hand save me" -Ps. 138: 7 

"He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts." - Is. 40:29 

"For the Son of Man came to find and restore the lost."  - Luke 19:10 

FOR THEIR PROTECTION, FREEDOM & JUSTICE:

"Your job is to stand up for the powerless, and prosecute all those who exploit them." - Ps. 82:4

"God makes everything come out right; he puts victims back on their feet." - Ps. 103:6

"He always does what he says -7 he defends the wronged, he feeds the hungry. God frees prisoners -8 he gives sight to the blind, he lifts up the fallen.9 protects strangers, takes the side of orphans and widows, but makes short work of the wicked." - Ps. 146: 6b-9 

FOR THEIR HOPE & HEALING:

"1 I waited and waited and waited for God. At last he looked; finally he listened.2 He lifted me out of the ditch, pulled me from deep mud. He stood me up on a solid rock to make sure I wouldn't slip." - Ps. 40:1-2

"As for you, I'll come with healing, curing the incurable, because they all gave up on you and dismissed you as hopeless." - Jer. 30:17

"There's hope for your children.' God's Decree." - Jer. 31:17 

These are all very powerful, but I think the one that really hit me the hardest was Psalm 8:24: "Your job is to stand up for the powerless, and prosecute all those who exploit them." Whew. That's a serious job right there. Especially when we think about how many human beings are enslaved today. The New American Standard Version reads, "Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them out of the hand of the wicked." If we all truly stood up and focused on doing this, we would begin to see change at a more rapid pace. As Christians, we are called to LOVE others. God loved us so much that He sent His ONLY son to go in our place and rescued us from an eternal life in hell. If we are living a life under Jesus' example, we too should be rescuing others from evil. In this case, Human Trafficking is the evil and because we should love all, we need to stand up and speak for these victims who have no freedom to speak for themselves.

Our community has formed an outreach group called ECHO (Emerald Coast Humanity Outreach) and I'm so pumped that so many people (not just church members, but also police officers, lawyers, teachers and board members) have joined together to stand up to this evil that is lurking in our community. It starts with awareness and education and as people begin to learn about this crime, they begin to become more passionate about making a difference. I think what has really encouraged people to get involved around here is them hearing that it is happening in our hotels, restaurants and clubs in our backyard. Woah buddy... I've seen some mommas in the meetings ON FIRE to kick this evil out of here! Love it!

I'm so thankful that Christine Cain was able to speak at our church at such an important time and make so many more people aware. I've been involved and educating myself on human trafficking awareness for the past year and it is an answer to prayer seeing how many eyes have been opened and hearts softened for these victims. I pray that over the next few days of prayer and fasting along with the A21 Campaign, we will just see the beginning of what God is doing in our community and world and that we will see an exponential increase of change in the coming months.

Praise Jesus for victories! Even if we save one life, we have made a difference! One of my prayers is that prayer warriors will raise up and be the foundation of this effort going forth. It starts there. Because the chains of Human Trafficking are so deep, dark and twisted, this effort truly must be held in God's hands. As humans, we can't fight this battle alone. Continually be praying and using the strongest WEAPON OF WARFARE that we have been given and make a commitment to stand TOGETHER in prayer! Together we can fight for justice!

HOPE

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." -Eph. 6:12

Yesterday [01.11.12] was National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. And while I was already very educated on this subject, God brought so much to light just in one day.

About a year ago, I met the founder of Fashion4Compassion [@Fashion4C].  F4C is a non profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about Human Trafficking,  but also raises funds for victims of HT once they have been pulled from the chain and rescued. F4C raises money through donations and FREEDOM CHAIN sales and drives. As I began to talk with her and doing research, my eyes were opened to this HUGE and continually growing international problem. I think one of the hardest things I learned was that in the US, there are less than 100 beds for victims of child sex trafficking once they have been rescued! WHAT!? Where do all these women and children go!? They fear everything. Do they turn back to prostitution to make ends meet? Anyways...the organization was in it's new stages so I was able to jump on board and use my God-given talents to help in any way I could... photography, communication, graphic design & social media were some of the main things I helped with. But other things I helped with were continual prayer and support in all of the efforts and planning stages.

As the year went on and I continued learning new [and quite overwhelming] statistics, my heart truly began to hurt for these victims. This was not their choice. Most were FORCED into MODERN DAY SLAVERY. Many people think this just means forced prostitution, but there's way more than that. Sex trafficking is a major part of HT, but there's also labor trafficking, soldiering [young boys] and many other forms of 'trafficking'. HT is defined as: 'the movement of individuals w/ the primary purpose of forced servitude or sexual slavery.' I seriously don't know even where to begin. Isaiah 4:22 reads,

"But this is a people ROBBED and plundered; they are all of them SNARED in holes and HIDDEN in houses of BONDAGE. They have become a prey, with no one to deliver them, a spoil, with no one to say, RESTORE THEM!"

For a few months, God opened doors with great job opportunities so the most I could do was pray. But this is NO small job. The HT process is so twisted and dark that seriously the ONLY way it will EVER stop is with God's intervention. We as God's people are called to be prayer warriors. We often pray for ourselves and our struggles, but there is something so peaceful [even when things get crazy] knowing that you are working with an army that fights such bigger battles than whether you are going to lost those last 10 pounds, or whether your clothes are cool enough.

Recently, God has opened my schedule to where I can be more involved in fighting for these victims. And when I say fighting, I don't literally mean that I'm out in brothels kicking some huge dude's butt and physically rescuing girls and children. While this would be awesome and I would love to be a super hero, it's just not that easy. There are organizations out there who have one main mission and it's to do what I just said. But there are other organizations fighting in other ways. Because there are SO many twists and turns and dark and dirty people who run these trafficking chains, it literally takes an army fighting from all directions to break one down. But there is HOPE! His name is JESUS! He came to give us ALL hope -- and we are called as His people to be the voice of those who 'have no voice.'

Throughout all my experiences working with Fashion4Compassion [which has now started a new branch called Force4Compassion], I would tell people locally and people would literally look at me with huge eyes and jaws dropped, then ponder for a few seconds and follow up with, "Oh, well that doesn't happen here" [meaning in our little Destin bubble].  Ohhhh my why you are so wrong! Sorry to scare you but it DOES happen here! In the US, most of the trafficking that goes on happens in California, New York and FLORIDA [yes. this is our state which is currently ranked #2 for trafficking in the US]. This article was in our local paper and and explains more detail about local issues:

Human Trafficking: a million-dollar industry in Destin

That will definitely open your eyes, if nothing else will. It's just so sad and what's even sadder is how blind people are to the problem. I don't say this to scare anyone. As Christians, this should not scare us, but it should fire us UP to go kick some bootey! [haha -- I really wish I knew Karate!] IN the last few months, my church has become very passionate about this issue and has helped start a local group called ECHO [Emerald Coast Humanity Outreach]. They along with community members [some very prominent people as well] have decided to take a stand and are not going to allow this horrid crime to happen on our home turf any longer! Also, last week, our church invited Christine Cain to speak and o buddy, when I heard this news, I think I literally jumped out of my seat in my office! Christine Cain [along with her husband] founded the A21 campaign which is one of the main organizations globally known for combatting HT. When I say combatting, I literally mean that. She has probably been to some of the dirtiest places in the world where HT is part of their lifestyle and seen lives saved and lives be changed.

CC spoke to Women of Destin (ladies from all over the community attend these events) and SO many eyes were opened and hearts softened for the victims of HT because of her message. She also spoke to all three services at my church, and while she wasn't speaking specifically on HT in the services, I know there are more people aware of it because of that weekend and that's so exciting to me. Just making people aware of the issue is so hard because they don't want to see it happening in their back yard. They don't 'want' to know it's going on. We all just want to live in our little bubble [and Destin definitely is a little bubble] and go about with our business and do our daily thing and 'Praise Jesus' from our safe little homes on our safe little beaches. BUT we are not called to be SAFE! Did God take the 'safe' route when He send his ONLY son to the earth to die on behalf of OUR dirty sins!? Nope. He 'crossed the street [as CC stated] and saw the problem [our sins and that we were condemned to hell if someone did not live a perfect life on our behalf] and made the effort [sent Jesus-His ONLY son] and because of that, we all have a choice and we should all have Freedom. UNfortunately we live in a dirty world and some Human Beings [who are just as special to God as we are] are forced to live a life that we [in our perfect little bubble] can't even begin to understand. It's sickening really.

Christine said, 'Compassion is not compassion until you cross the street and go to them [the people you are hurting for].'  We often times 'feel sorry' for these victims but move on with our lives thinking, 'there's no way I can make a difference because the guys that run that trafficking ring are MAFIA DUDES!' As Christians, we have our own HUGE DUDE on our side! GOD! HELLLLOOOOO Christians! Wake up! It's not about our limitations but about God's SuperNatural ability! CC said, "Jesus came to make us dangerous to Satan! Not to give us a 'safe' life!"

That weekend truly opened my eyes not just to the problem, but to how much I am limiting myself to. My favorite quote from CC all weekend was:

'God has plucked us out of eternity... positioned us in time and  ... and given us talents to make a difference in the world!'

Powerful words spoken through her that weekend. After that, I continued to pray and while I was on the A21 Campaign's website, I saw that the organization has a page that lists 21 Ways to help. Also, they have set Jan. 11 [HT Awareness Day] through Jan. 21 as specific days designated for people to be involved and become more aware. I've decided to fast for these 10 days and use the A21 Prayer Guide to lead me in praying and spiritually battling for the victims, traffickers, the government, against the root causes, for increased awareness, for the church and for the A21 campaign.  I hope that if you have come across this blog, that you may also take some time to learn more about this issue that is the 2nd largest global organized crime today and generates approximately $32 billion per year.

"The Effective, FERVENT PRAYER of a righteous man AVAILS MUCH." -James 5:16