Tag Archives: college

Culture, God, Prophetic Vision, Unity/Community, Writing

You either swallow the Enemy or let him out

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If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you’ll probably remember a few posts about my prayer walks at MTSU (the local college).  If you haven’t been a faithful reader, then I’ll explain.  Basically, I took prayer walks on the MTSU campus all summer long.  I also continued to take them after school started up again.  Well, after I started working at the temp agency, I didn’t take the walks as often as I wanted to.  And, I eventually stopped a little over a month ago.

Since I stopped prayer walking, there have been two shootings and one stabbing on campus.  Knowing I hadn’t prayer walked in so long and hearing about all of those violent things happening really convicted me.  So, today I Trikked to campus and took some time to pray and seek God for specific scripture for the campus/my life/the city/the church.

And, as always, God did not disappoint.  While there, I had a great time of prayer and I also received a few awesome scriptures. 

1 Samuel 2:1-10 — What first caught my attention was verse 10.  “The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces.”  While thinking about all of the violence on campus, it was comforting to read that all of the evil that was so prevalent would be destroyed.  I was reading these verses in the New Spirit Filled Life (NSFL) Bible.  It’s the New King James Version.  The NSFL Bible has great explanations, especially for verse one.  The verse says, “I smile at my enemies…”  The explanation for that verse said it was a cross reference for another verse that means an open mouth devouring enemies. 

My next scripture was Isaiah 29:9-24.  It talks about praising God with lip service but not sincerely praising Him.  It’s idle religion without an honest relationship with God.

And finally, I was led to Psalm 111 and 112.  Psalm 111 is an example of the correct way to praise God as a congregation.  Psalm 112 talks about delighting in the Lord (i.e. smiling at Him).

After reading all of this scripture God gave me two visions.

One was of an open, smiling mouth of praise that devoured the Enemy (as the 1 Samuel passage said).

The second was of a mouth speaking the words of the Enemy: idle religion, division, disunity and lies like that of the people in the Isaiah scripture.

The church of America has become irrelevant.  It’s like the people in Isaiah.  Idle religion.  Lip service. 

The church of America needs to be like the 1 Samuel passage and those two Psalms.  We need to delight in the Lord.  We need to smile at Him and, consequently, devour our Enemy. 

The tongue speaks life and death.  The mouth either devours or releases the Enemy.

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BarlowGirl, Culture, God, Music, Writing

It’s the most wonderful time to blog…

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Although this blog has not been updated recently, many things have ocurred.  Perhaps that’s why the blog has been neglected.  Hmmm…maybe so.

Here’s a recap:

1. I got a job.  Albeit temporary.  It is still a job.  I work for a personnel service in their office.  I’m a Human Resources Assistant.  I do not know how long this job will last.  Could be a month.  Could be until December.  The wonderful thing is I can quit with a two day notice if another, more stable job comes up.

2. I am still pursuing work at the local college.  I just applied for another job the other day for the media department of the athletic program.  I am truly contending for that specific job in prayer.  It’s something I’m qualified for and something that excites me.

3. I bought a Trikke.  It’s a three-wheeled, human-powered, fun, fitness machine.  It’s comprable to a scooter/roller blades/bike/skiiing.  It’s rather hard to explain.  Here’s a link to a website where you can buy the Trikke if you are interested.  I am a Trikke affiliate.  If you order the Trikke from this site, be sure to use the Promotional Code 595.  It should already be loaded with that code, but if not, make sure it is.  Here’s the link: http://www.trikketampastore.com/595.html.  In the near future, I’ll post a video and/or pictures of me riding the Trikke on my YouTube and this blog.  But before I document me on my new ride, I must become more skilled at riding the Trikke.  It’s relatively easy to learn how to ride, but it still takes time to perfect my technique. 

4. My church satellite congregation is almost ready to launch into Sunday mornings.  Since April, we’ve been having church in the afternoon in another church’s building because we’re in the launching stage.  But, in October, we will be ready to start meeting on Sunday mornings.  It’s very exciting.  I’ve never taken part in a church plant before.  It’s thrilling, yet challenging stuff.  In October, we will meet in a movie theater because it’s a feasible option for this time.  I’ve also never gone to church in a movie theater.

5. I’ve been singing background vocals on the worship team since April.  Very soon, I’ll be trained in how to lead worship at Life Group (a small group Bible study).  After that, I’ll be trained further in leading worship on Sundays.  Exciting stuff in the realm of worship!

6. BarlowGirl’s brand new CD Home For Christmas comes out September 23rd. If/when you see it in stores, you should definitely buy it.  Why?  Because the CD is awesome and so is BarlowGirl.  But also because I am singing on the CD.  I am in the choir that sang on the CD.  So whenever you hear the choir, then you’re also hearing me.  It was such a pleasure and such a dream and desire come true to not only be able to sing on a CD but a BarlowGirl CD!  Woot!

7. I also sang on a live worship recording for my church.  It’s called The Alabaster Heart Project.  You can find information about ordering the CD at http://www.new-song.com.  I’m also in the choir on that CD.

I think that’s about it for now.  As I said, a lot has happened.  Hopefully I won’t be as delayed with my next posting.

God, Writing

Seeds and Leads

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I met Brooke Fraser last Thursday.  She is a wonderful woman of God.  She has a great voice too.  Brooke played a concert in Nashville and I was blessed enough to make her acquaintance.  I took tons of pictures but have not taken the time to put them on my computer yet.  Perhaps later…

The reason I got to meet her is because I wrote an article about her for CCMmagazine.com.   Because of that mass of words, I received free tickets to the show and an opportunity to meet her.  So, of course, I took it.

In case you aren’t familiar with her, please, read the article.  It’s got the basic gist of who she is and what she’s up to.  In short, Brooke Fraser is a solo artist with a massive career overseas who is trying to break into the U.S.  Additionally, she’s a member of Hillsong United, a music ministry movement of Hillsong Church in Australia.  She’s an amazing songwriter with an awesome voice and is definitely worth looking into!

Brooke has a song called “Seeds.”  It’s on her new CD “Albertine.”  That’s where the first half of this blog title came from.

The second half pertains to me and my ever-popular job search story.  I’ve got a few leads now through friends who work at particular companies.  I must say that it is way more encouraging to apply for jobs when I know that somebody already working there can help me out than it is to apply “cold” to jobs.

One of my leads is at my roommate’s aunt’s workplace.  She is supposed to talk to her friend in the HR department today.  At this point, I’m most excited about working there because of the earnings potential.  I’m not a money-monger, but I do have a godly desire to support my friends who are missionaries.  A few of them have contacted me recently asking me to support them and I’ve had to deny my assistance.  I didn’t enjoy doing that.  I also would love to try and bless my roommate financially.  She has helped me out so much since I moved here a year and a half ago.  From buying me lunch sometimes to paying a little extra on the grocery bill, she’s truly been a shining example of service to me.  I want to repay her for that…literally.   I am not sure if she’ll see this blog, but if she does, my thanks go to you, Shay.

I’ve started prayer walking on the local college campus.  I was sulking in my bed one day trying to sleep off my feelings when God spoke to me and said that I should go prayer walk on campus.  He’d planted that idea in me months ago but I had not yet done it.  However, last Saturday, I armed myself with scripture and went to pray.  Now, nearly a week later, I’ve gone there nearly every day praying scripture over the students, the faculty and the campus.

Let it be known that I didn’t receive any job leads until after I started prayer walking.  When God calls you to do something, it’s in your best interest to obey.  Because obedience brings rewards.

Listen, obey, receive.  It kind of reminds me of lather, rinse, repeat.  🙂