Randomness(!)

This post will jump around from topic to topic but will hopefully fill you in on what is going on in my life, show you some recent pictures, share some verses, and basically will give you some more randomness as well!.....

I have so wanted to do a Thankful Thursday post, but on Thursdays it just seems that something else always has to happen before that, and then I most likely forget ;-). So while I have some time on my hands, I would like to share my list...

1. Fall! Wasn't God SO good to give us seasons?! It would be so boring if it was always the same season.
2. Friends from the Lord. The Lord has abundantly blessed me with friends. And not just friends, close friends! I just thought the other day that we have only lived here over a little over a year and God has brought friends into my life in that short time that I trust with my whole heart. And not just even close friends, close friends whose one goal is to seek God with every thing they have!
3. Joy. There is a time for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). And the Lord has whispered to my heart that right now in my life is a time for joy! I don't know what I would do with out joy! The Joy of the Lord is my strength (Nehemiah 8:10)!!
4. Exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I use them a lot)
5. A little sister with a button nose who loves to listen to music with me and to dance around the living room together for no reason in particular!
6. Good books.
7. African jewelry. (my friend Lisa recently came home from Africa and blessed me with some!)
8. Music.
9. A sweet sister with freckles dusted across her face that is the best joke teller in the world!!
10. The cutest little brother in the world that now walks and says "nnnnnnnnnnnn" (no)

 

 

Recently I have read this book: Shadow of His Hand by Wendy Lawton. It is based on a true story of a Jewish Aryan girl during the Holocaust. It was a very good, but sad book.It was a beautiful story of how God never left Anita out of the shadow of his hand, and how He never left or forsake her. This is a story of how God showed her His love, and how he works EVERYTHING out for good. This is one of the words that she said that I thought was so true:

"God has a very unique way of scooping up the shattered fragments of our hopes and dreams and molding them into a plan of His own-- a plan vastly different from ours, but far more wonderful."

Isn't that so true? I just love that! This is a must read!!

 

Here are some pictures of Ana and Caleb...

 

 

We have an upcoming trip to Colorado! We are visiting our Grandparents, and we will also so my Uncle, Aunt and my Cousin!! I will post pictures from that when we get home!!

I wanted to share this verse:

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.  For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing."
2 Corinthians 2:14-15

Meditate on that for a second...  isn't that so cool?!

Have an ABUNDANTLY blessed week!!

~Katy

"You will go out in joy

 and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and hills

will burst into song before you,

 and all of the trees of the field

will clap their hands."

 Isaiah 55:12

FLOOD

This last Friday and Saturday I went to this conference in Fort Worth at Convergence Church (convergencechurch.com) with my youth group. It was called "FLOOD" and their one goal was to seek God. That's all. Number one goal: Seek God.

Okay, one thing I have to say is, this post is just telling a piece of what all went on at FLOOD. It was so AMAZING! We seriously got flooded with the Holy Spirit! (and no one can explain the Holy Spirit right?!)

David Fish, Joe Johnson, Chad and Julia Dedmon were the speakers. They were all so spirit filled, and I loved hearing all of them speak. I learned so much from these guys in just two short days!

The worship was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

You know that verse "Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom" well this is exactly what the worship was like!

The first night we got home at 1:00 in the morning. It was such a powerful night of healing. A deaf person got healed. That was so amazing to get to see! We got to see 3 people's legs grow out. That was just astounding! I have always believed that Jesus can heal, I have believed it with my whole heart, but I had never seen it. Now I have!! Take a look:

 

Okay, I saw in real life, what you just saw in that video!

Saturday morning David gave us all a challenge. He wanted us to pray for someone when we went to lunch. Sounds pretty crazy right? Just to walk up to someone, and pray for them. So, our Youth Group decided to go to the mall for lunch. After we ate, we paired up with prayer partners. My prayer partner was my good friend Johanna. So, we set off, praying and asking the Lord to tell us who to pray for. We were both so nervous. We had never done anything like this before. We finally just asked someone "Can we pray for you?" The lady was really shocked, glanced down at the bible in my hands, and said "Okay." So we prayed for her. Then we prayed for this girl who got really excited when we asked if we could pray for her. (that was very encouraging.) We also prayed for a pair of teen girls, and a Christian lady. We only got refused once. So, Johanna and I were rounding the corner, and I really felt God telling me to go pray for this person. So I told Johanna, and we were on our way, when a security guard called us over. We were both really nervous. We are the kind of girls who obeys, follows the rules. What in the world did we do wrong?

This is what the Security Guard had to say to us:

"Girls, you are not allowed to pray for people here. This is private property, open to the public, and you are not allowed to pray. I believe in God and everything, but you are not allowed to pray in the mall or the parking lot. You can sit and read your bible and we won't mess with you, but you can not pray. You are not the first people, and you will probably not be the last. Most people don't give me much trouble, but I had one guy who got really fired up. If you continue to pray I will have to call the police and escort you out."

We were very respectful, but on the inside-- the Holy Spirit was getting so fired up, and we were feeling it. The manner that the security guard had was very, very disrespectful. Not that he needs to respect us, but his manner... I don't know how to explain it. When he said the words "I believe in God and everything" I got so fired up inside. Those words were flippantly said, and he was lying. I could tell.

So we went back to our group. Johanna's dad was so encouraging. I don't know what I would of done without him. He just really told us "good job." He was saying good job at all the people we prayed for. He was telling us not to worry. Mr.Aron is a very wise man. And he basically told us that the security guard was lying. It goes against the law. We have freedom of speech. We were not forcing anyone to let them pray for us. We were asking, and accepted the answer. It was that simple. When Johanna was just expressing how this broke her heart, and how it just wanted to make her cry, the tears really did come on both of us. How could this be? That is horrible, that you are not allowed to pray in a mall. We live in a very broken world. And it should break our hearts. It broke Jesus' heart.

Later when we got back to the conference we told our testimony.

The rest of the conference was so amazing and powerful. Another person's leg grew, and there were some other healings.But almost to the end, one of the lady's in charge came up to Johanna and I and told us how powerful our testimony was. She said that several people had come up to her telling her how much our testimony had influenced them. That was pretty amazing to hear.

They had a wall of fire at the very end.(when people line up to pray, and other people walk through the tunnel and get prayed for.) It was so powerful. When those people who were praying for you touched you, you could feel the Holy Spirit in them. No words can express...

The next day of church we had an opportunity to share our testimony, and to pray for some people. It was all so amazing.

As I said at the beginning of this post, this is just a little piece of what God did in my life at FLOOD. I can't explain the Holy Spirit! I have just three more words:

God is amazing.

A Wagon Ride...

 

 

(are these two not the cutest?!)

Sweet baby boy...

Caleb is almost one year old! It has gone by so fast! To fast. Waaaay to fast! This little blessing of ours is almost one!...