How Great is Our God

Mom tried to post this in the comments section, but couldn't get it to work, so I made her email it to me instead:

The e-mail Ginny quoted was sent a little before 10:00 p.m. After I went to bed last night (at 10:40), I had trouble sleeping. Then I thought about the fact that I had just requested that everyone pray when they couldn't sleep, and no one had gotten my e-mail yet, so it was my turn to pray. This morning I got the following e-mail from a friend:

I just have to tell you this. Elmo and I went to bed, watched a DVR and by the time it was over, it was around 10 p.m. We turned the light off, said our goodnights and were hoping to be off to sleep. Wrong. This was just not to be. So, I got up, got some snacks, got online to see if there were any new emails. Sure enough, the one from you about baby Jaden. The Lord had a reason for not letting me sleep tonight. So, I just said, "Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to intercede on Jaden's behalf tonight."

She was the first intercessor! I know the Holy Spirit was busy waking others up because Cindy and Wesley were awakened at 2:30 a.m. by a wrong number phone call and decided it must have been for a reason. They prayed for Jaden then. It amazes me...even though it shouldn't...how amazing our God is!

Pray for Jaden

My sister's sister-in-law (yes, it's a mouthful), Jennifer delivered her baby four months early. His name is Jaden, and he's having a rough time...as is the whole family. Please pray for baby Jaden and for Jennifer and her husband. He is their first, and I can't even imagine what they must be going through. He weighs about a pound right now, and doctors are struggling to keep him going while his tiny little body continues to develop. It is not unheard-of for such a little one to survive and develop into a healthy, happy baby...even if it were, we serve a BIG GOD who can do anything! Read Mom's update below...and please be in prayer!!!!

Hello all,

The baby had a rough night last night. Doctors called the family in to say their good-byes because the baby's vital signs were not good. When they got to the hospital, there were three nurses trying to rally him without success. When Jaden heard his mommy's voice, he was fine. It's just been so amazing how he responds to Jennifer. I think the hospital should let her have a bed beside him! Anyway, he stabilized and they went home. Then doctors told them today he had an infection...normal since he has no immune system yet...and they're flushing him with antibiotics which usually makes them lethargic. However! Jaden has been very active all day! Yeah, Mom's been there. So we need to pray for Jennifer's strength to hold...and that the hospital will let her come anytime day or night. Oh! Another good sign...he's tinkling...all over the place...and the doctor says that's great!

If God wakes you up in the night, please pray for Jaden. We need to keep the prayer vigil going especially at night. We do have some missionary friends in Asia praying, and I think their day might be our night, but we still need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit for the night vigil here. Don't be aggravated when you can't sleep. Just pray.

Dance Like David

Last night was so much fun, I can't even begin to describe it! Leigh was visiting each Kidz Praise class to teach motions for "Feliz Navidad." She had promised to come to our class first, so I didn't really want to get into any of our Christmas music until she came by.

So I popped in the "Crazy Praise" CD so we could just dance around and sing some silly fun praises to get everybody warmed up. The first song we did was "I Think I'm Gonna Throw Up" (My Hands to the Lord). Tons of fun. I never know all the motions, but the kids do, so I generally have about six or seven kids up front with me to lead the class (and me) in motions.

After that, Leigh hadn't made it by yet, so we continued on with "Dance Like David." This one, for those of you who have never had the pleasure of singing it with kids, has tons of motions that require full body movement. It also contains two long virtually un-singable verses and a long instrumental interlude...during which a lesser crowd might get bored and feel awkward and lose interest. Not my kids. Nope, we decided to utilize those sections for a little freestyle dance party.

There were kids doing the twist, the swim, the mashed potato, the pony, and even...the robot. Yes. The robot. One little girl, in fact, was roboting across the length of the room back and forth in front of the whole class. Great job, Amanda...you made my night!

This morning I started thinking about it more critically, and I had to smile...I think David's dancing was probably just as unhinged and unscripted. He was dancing for pure joy and thanksgiving to be in the presence of God Almighty...not unlike a happy child lost in the unquestioned bliss of a freestyle praise dance party.

2 Samuel 6:14-15
"David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets."

Can you remember a time when you totally let loose and just PRAISED with complete abandon? Let's hear about it!

Whew!

Last night, just before my head hit the pillow, my husband asked me how my day had been. My answer? It was magical.

We had a commercial shoot planned for weeks, during which we were also going to shoot stills for whatever purpose may come up, because former Miss Texas, Magan, was coming into town for the commercial. Any time we can get Magan, we try to get as many photos as possible. She's not only impossibly beautiful, she's extremely good (yes, modeling is actually really hard work that requires talent and intelligence) and she's unbelievably kind and fun to work with.

So about a week ago, Crystal (who normally does the model photography) told me her husband had asked her to take off the day of the commercial for a family thing. She was willing to forego the family event, but I hastily volunteered to take her place. Not that I was anywhere near prepared, or consider myself good enough to fill her shoes. I was, however, aware of what a great opportunity it would be, and "do or die," as they say, I was going to GET prepared.

I nearly drove everyone around me crazy for a week, and I did have to go home early Friday because I gave myself a migraine I stressed so much, but now I'm standing on the other side of that "good opportunity," and all I can say is....MAGICAL. Everything went smoothly, I think I got enough decent photos for Crystal and myself and whomever else in our little marketing office may need to use them throughout the holiday season, and it was just plain fun. I can't believe I get paid for this stuff :)

My People

I hear Auny talk about her "village" sometimes, and it makes me long for that kind of close-knit group. I feel like since Steven and I got married, our "village" sort of disappeared. Everything changes, you know, when you tie the knot. We're part of a great Sunday Morning Bible Study, but I haven't really bonded with too many of the girls, and the ones I do have a connection with, I don't get to spend time with very often, so I don't really feel like a part of their lives yet.

Yesterday was a really long day for me (after an entire week of really long days). I had to work, of course, and on my lunch break I had to go buy a couple things for a baby shower I was co-hosting, then run to the church for a practice. Then after work I went straight to the shower, and directly after the shower I had to go back to the church for Overflow practice (Overflow is the new contemporary worship service we're starting at GABC). After all that, I knew I wouldn't get home until about 10:00, and I knew I would be completely exhausted. I was dreading it, frankly.

True to my prediction, by the time I drove up to the church I was so tired I wanted to cry. I really just wanted to turn my car around and GO HOME! But I didn't. I'm glad I didn't. When I walked into the "Big Room," our venue at the student center, what I saw filled me with joy. The guys were on stage going over a song that Julie I won't be singing on, and everyone else was hanging out at the back of the room. Julie greeted me at the door, and her kids, Riley(6) and Tate(2), were running (literally running) around the room. Her husband Jason was sitting on the steps below the sound booth with Meg, our Girls Ministry leader and Matt, our new Student Music Minister. Justin eventually greeted me with a joke from on stage, and when Riley and Tate saw me, they ran up and gave me hugs. I took off my shoes and sat cross-legged on the floor by everyone in the back and just joked and played air guitar with Julie and laughed at her strumming it like she was playing a piano (silly Julie). Then we all laughed together watching Tate copy every single thing his big sister was doing...even to the point of attempting a cartwheel.

Then I had a moment. I looked around and thought, "These are my people. These are people around whom I know I can relax and be myself. Most of the people in this room know me well enough not just to know my personality, but my heart. They know my hopes and dreams, and they know that I have a passion not just for singing, but for worship, and they share that passion. They know and love my husband, and one or two even know my mom and dad." That was a good feeling, and worth all the busyness that propelled me into that moment. Praise God for friends, for a circle in which there is true unity and fellowship and just plain fun.

Weary

I know it's been FOREVER since I posted anything! I've just been so incredibly busy at work. I used to write my posts during the lunch hour, because once I get home, sitting down at the computer for ANY reason just feels too much like work. But lately I've been working through lunch every day...excuses, excuses...

I've been in high gear ever since I found out we are going to Colorado on vacation. I knew that leaving the office for a whole week during this time of year would be a really tough thing to do if I didn't prepare accordingly. So I've been working like a dog to get homepages scheduled to automatically change while I'm gone, taking 200,000 pictures of fall merchandise so my new helper can optimize them while I'm gone (OK, it was literally more like 300), and launching a new fashion collection section that had to go up before we ran out of the clothes. Believe it or not, I accomplished all that in three days. I was so afraid I wouldn't get done with it all, and now I find myself sitting at my desk with a little bit of free time today. Wonder of wonders.

But I'm weary. Bone tired. My brain is exhausted, my body is exhausted (taking pictures is actually very physical work), and I think I had too much espresso this morning. Please pray that I will be able to relax on vacation, and that we'll find lots of fun things to do without actually having to follow a schedule. Steven tends to start "planning" whenever we take a trip, so we always risk becoming more busy during our time off than we are at home!

My in-laws are going with us, though, and they usually stick up for me :) And I'm super excited to see them enjoy this experience. It will be their first real vacation ever in their entire lives! They have done weekend trips before, but they have never just gone on a week-long trip to see the sights somewhere far from home. They have never been beyond Dallas in the westward direction, in fact, so they are in for a real treat.

I'll try to post some pictures when I get home :)

The Lord Is A Warrior

I started the day with a lousy attitude. We had drama at work yesterday, then I came in to the office to find a pile of work I simply don't have time to do. For the past month I can't seem to make it home before 8:00 or 9:00 or 10:00 at night. I'm tired! I dragged myself down to the studio this morning to start photographing about a million shirts, jeans, coats and necklaces that I keep putting off. I was almost in tears because I just felt like I was drowning...I'm pretty sure you ALL can empathize.

I couldn't seem to pray anything except "HELP!" In fact, I felt so powerless, I just started praying that the Lord would raise up somebody else to pray for me...I didn't even feel like I had time to stop and send an emergency "I'm exhausted, please pray for me" email to my nearest and dearest.

Then, I was kneeling down to straighten out a shirt for a picture, and I just started singing,

The Lord is a Warrior / The Lord is mighty in battle / The Lord is a Warrior / Lord of Hosts is He

My Lord is a Fortress / He is a Sun and a Shield / The Lord is a Deliverer to those who put their trust in Him

He gives strength unto His people / He guards His own with His right hand / The angel of the Lord camps around the ones who fear Him / And delivers them

Slowly, I just became glad. There is no other way to describe it. In the midst of all the mess around me, the Lord fought for me, and I just became glad. I continued to sing songs to the Lord as I was by myself in the studio, and He made me glad. Now the things that were tempting me to cuss this morning are pretty much just making me laugh hysterically. My days are busy, but I'm alive...I mean, really ALIVE, and God is working and moving, and I'm so glad to be a part of it.