2011-New Experiences, New Hope, and Embracing the Guidance of my Shepherd

Is it just me or did I totally miss out on January because it seems like it just went out the window? So much for hoping 2011 would go by a little slower...considering it's already february, that dream is long gone. I've decided that this year will be a year for growth and transformation filled with new experiences and trying to put myself out of my comfort zone! Easier said than done but so far I have done some things that I haven't done before and have thoroughly enjoyed making that intense step!

Along with my school and work schedule I have added a small group to my list of priorities on friday nights and without question-this is by far one of the most monumental and growth producing choices I have made so far! God totally lead me into the right group and I appreciate the honesty and genuine qualities is brings and it has pushed me to grow in my faith so much more. It is something that I have been missing for a long time! Along with that-I've also started my church's new membership classes on wednesday nights and although it has only been 2 weeks I feel even more at home at my church and a sense of empowerment by the Holy Spirit to go above and beyond!

Graduate school has taken a more practical turn this semester which is exciting but nerve-racking! In a matter of 6 months or so, we will be official trainees working at a practicum site and having our own clients weekly! I am diligently praying for a practicum site that is not only paid but rich in clients so I am fully able to soak up as much experience as possible! I am still job hunting in regards to something more related to my field so that when I begin my practicum I can have my jobs centered around the work that I am desiring to get into. Thanks to some of my amazing brothers and sisters in Christ-I've been given some amazing scriptures to help ease the anxiety and help me to constantly lean on the Lord for His provision and righteous hands to guide me into the right place for my 1st year as a trainee!

Isaiah 41:10 "Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."

Philippians 4:6 "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."

Matthew 11:28 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."

So when I'm reading and diving in deep to these bad boys:



I will have the comfort of knowing the Lord is with me, comforting me, providing for me, strengthening me, and guiding me in the right direction.

Golden Birthday, Graduation, and Blessings!

It has been a huge week this week! Jovan had his Graduation ceremony this past friday! What a proud moment this was for his family and for him :) It was a great ceremony, and a lot shorter than CBU's that's for sure (thank the Lord lol)!



Also this week, I officially celebrated my Golden 23rd Birthday! To celebrate, I threw a party at my house with some friends, a plethora of food, Halo, and Rockband! Oh what a sweet time it was! My roommate created the menu for the night which included homemade spinach dip, bean dip, pigs in a blanket, hot wings, pumpkin cupcakes, chips and salsa, and jalepeno popper! All around goodness!

I was blessed with several gifts which was not expected but I was so blessed. One of the biggest highlights was Jovan's gift. Several months ago, while we were out to lunch, I pointed out a woman's set of pearls she was wearing. I always thought they were so classy and I admired how they went with everything. I had always wanted a real set of pearls. Sure enough, he had remembered and I opened a beautiful box with a ribbon with a string of pearls and a matching set of pearl earring. I almost cried! :)



I had a wonderful birthday and I couldn't feel more blessed!

The Life of A Graduate Student...

I am blown away that it's almost October and I have already been in my graduate program for a month now! Time flies by! I have to say to be honest, there are times (more often than I care to admit) where I don't even know what day of the week it us I just know that I have to work or go to class.

For being a structured person, this rigorous and hour-by-hour schedule I have is become a little too routine! haha I am beginning to get nostalgic and going back to the days where I'd have midnight runs to get "fro-yo" or late night walks on campus. Now I try my best to be in bed by 10ish so I get get up for work and try and stay awake for 6 hours of class that night. Wow, so this is what adult life is like?! haha

I am enjoying my classes and it has really given me a strong desire to work with people even more. I just hope that my program will go by as fast as this last month has. I'm picking up a 6th day at work just to get a little ahead financially so I'm able to save some for emergencies. Also, I am going to start a counseling ministry program that is about to start at Sandals Church which is a HUGE answer to my prayers regarding ways to serve more in my church in an area I feel God has blessed me with. Please pray for endurance and strength as I try to give my all to each of these opportunities!

The thumb is doing much better! Just healing now and stitch free (thank the Lord!) Can't wait to fully be able to grip things again...I'm getting that golf itch--can't believe it's already been almost 5 months since I've touched a club! Just hope I can find a day to just mess around and play some.

Jovan and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary at the beginning of this month and Jovan surprised me with a romantic dinner at a place called Peophe's in Coronado and it looked over the whole bay at night. It was gorgeous. We spent the whole weekend relaxing and we went and saw Inception at the theaters and just enjoyed some quality time together! Following dinner, we exchanged gifts and Jovan got me two amazing books, one about prayer that I'm really enjoying and the other is a daily bible reading tool :) I loved it! I made Jovan two jars full of quotes, scriptures, and little notes and challenges from me so he can have something to start of his days at work :)

We had a wonderful time and I cannot believe it's already been a year! Thanks for all your prayers and support! Till next time <3

The Cheese Slicer Won...

Well today was an interesting morning at work. About a half hour into prepping our meats and cheeses for the day I had a battle with our meat slicer. Needless to say, it one and took a chunk of my right thumb with it. My boss came and i went to workman's comp and got 5 stitches and all bandaged up. I took the rest of today off but should be and hopefully will be ok to work on saturday. My poor right hand! 5 years ago I got 7 stitches in my pointer finger. Of course I'm right handed! The Lord has a sense of humor! He got me through it and I'm so thankful!!



Keep me in prayer, stitches aren't very fun and my thumb wont be the same after this. Love you all and thanks in advance for the prayers!

A Series Of Fortunate & (Not So Fortunate) Events!

Well it has been a while since I have written a blog so I figured I'd take this time to update you all on what's been going on during this wonderful summer! These last 2 1/2 weeks I have had the lovely pleasure of having Jovan around since he has been on his summer break from work! We've been spoiled being able to see each other just about everyday which is so very rare of us. Our usual reunions occur once a week at the most for only 24-36 hour intervals. So we've taken turns spending time with his family and friends in La Habra and spending weekends here in Riverside. It has been wonderful because we've been able to try new things to do with our time together that we wouldn't have time for otherwise.

We went miniature golfing with his friend David and girlfriend Melissa...(it should go without saying, I owned them! lol) It was super fun! We also went to a Nickle arcade in La Habra which I have to say is a genius idea and they should build one in Riverside pronto! While he has been in Riverside, I had decided to do something special and take him to one of Riverside's beautiful parks, Fairmount Park, that is 2 minutes away from my house and have a picnic for the two of us. It was such a relaxing time and we enjoyed it so much. We fed ducks afterwards and just had a great time walking around and just talking. Thank goodness the weather was super ideal! :)



I can now begin the countdown until my graduate school program starts and as of today I have T-Minus 19 days! :) I'm nervous but excited to start this huge chapter in my life, I cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for me! Now moving on to not so fortunate news. During my once a month or so visits to the high desert I broke down on the way back to Riverside. Luckily, I didn't get very far down the Cajon Pass, but needless to say I needed a tow truck for the poor boat. I have to say though this car is a champ! It has super low mileage on it for being almost 16 years old and it has put up with me taking it everywhere and anywhere. Thank the good Lord it was a quickish fix and just have to replace the catalitic converters. I get my sweet ride back tomorrow afternoon. After that I will give it a good wash to let it know how much I've missed it! lol



Till next time....<3 and blessings!!

The Gift of Prophecy...

A couple weeks ago on July 4th I attended a new church with a friend of mine to a place in San Bernardino called Kingdom Culture Worship Center. My friend Chris has told me about it amazing it is and although it's a small and growing church, the Holy Spirit is so powerful there and it's such a free place to worship and I needed to experience it. He also shared with me that the pastor there, Sherman Dumas, who has the gift of prophecy. I was scared and to be honest a little skeptical about the whole thing because I had never experienced anything like that before, but only read about it in the Scripture. I knew that type of gift existed but I just wasn't sure because people these days, especially in America, use that type of gift as a rouse to con people. I did a lot of praying about it and after I heard so many positive things about it from respected believers, I decided to go to their morning service.

It goes without saying that I was blown away. The worship time was probably one of the most liberating and blessed worship times I've had with the Lord in a long time. I felt so free and at peace with the Lord and there was no doubt about it that the Spirit was full of life there! The message was wonderful and it talked about how we ourselves should be offering ourselves up to the Lord as sacrifices and how to worship Him the way we were design to worship Him. And at the very end after the offering was given, Sherman got up and looked at me and asked me to come down because the Lord has showed him something and He had a message for me. I was blown away by what was said and I knew it was the Lord because a lot of what was said were things I had only prayed about with the Lord. Here's the video (I'm a couple minutes into the video with a blue flannel shirt) If the video doesn't work use this link:

http://www.livestream.com/kingdomculturetv/video?clipId=pla_60118474-bff8-4abb-b6f5-40929cd2812c

kingdomculturetv on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

I left encouraged, inspired, overwhelmed, and so very blessed! Since then I have heard God more clearly and sought to be a better child of God for the benefit of what God's purpose for me is in this life. I pray you are blessed by this video as I was. God is mighty and powerful and so very gracious! To Him be all the glory forever and ever!!!

My Journey Through the Word!

I mentioned a couple posts back that one of my goals was to go through the Bible in one year or less. Along the way really meditating on what I am reading and learning about while taking copious notes to help me absorb all the rich knowledge and wisdom also doing my best to live out what God has shown me each day. I am happy to say that I am on Day #11. These last 11 days has been an incredible time of just eye-opening information and wisdom. I look forward to stories I have heard before and seeing them through the perspective I have now through all of my years of biblical studies classes. Also, I seem to just relish in the new stories that I had never heard before and really getting a beautiful image of who our Creator is and and how He used people in the Bible. I feel so honored that I get to see their lives just unfold and see their Author of their life stories just beautifully illustrate their purpose and His will for their lives.

Through these last 11 days it has inspired me to take a deep look at myself and meditate on what God wills for me and how I'm doing at being more sensitive to His calling and desire for my life. I have learned so much and look forward to each day I get to spend in the Word. I have come away with a refreshed appreciation for the privilege I have by just being able to openly spend time in the Scriptures while other parts of the world have to keep it a secret and risk their lives preserving God's Word. I am humbled by that fact and just come to God in awe and thanks for His mercy and grace on me as well as my brothers and sisters across the globe who share His Spirit.

Please pray for me as I take this journey through Scripture, that it would never become just a routine but that it would fill me up everyday and allow me to break down the walls around my heart so that I may grow in Him more and more. Pray for all those I come in contact with that I would display the Joy of Him in my life and the courage to share His mercy. Pray for growth and maturity and continuing to attempt to be in God's will each and every day!

Love & Blessings to all who read this!