Starting the New Year off right....Hello 2015!

This year, I am proud to say, my husband & I started off in the right place. It wasn't in a bar full of crazy people, although we did go out and enjoy a couple free games of pool earlier in the evening. We went out for a quick stop on UM campus to check out the Butterfly House exhibit, which was pretty cool. But then we went to church, where we spent the evening playing board games, eating good munchies & desserts, and then we ended the evening with praise & worship, intercessory & prophetic word prayer time & communion at midnight.

What a great way to start a new year! It was so fun. One of the cool things that our pastor had us do was write down a prayer list for 2015, write our names on the envelope, date it, and place it in the offering plate/basket. Next New Year's Eve we will receive our envelope back (if we are present), so that we can see how much our prayers were answered during the coming year. One of the associate pastors got his back from 3 years ago this year, and he reviewed with us how God had answered almost every one of his prayers in some way, although some of them took him more than a year to accomplish.

So I thought I would use my first post of the new year to share with you what my prayer list is for 2015.

1.) My first prayer was that 2015 would bring me back to school. I have figured out ways that I can complete my education, and hopefully will be able to make that dream a reality later this year.

2.) Just like most people, I have a goal to become more healthy this year. Except my goal doesn't just involve losing weight. My goal is all about BECOMING A HEALTHY PERSON! I hope to become more dedicated at exercising, particularly with Yoga, Tai Chi, Zumba & aquatic exercise. I also want to become more learned about herbs & supplements that can help me feel better naturally. I believe that God gave us whole, natural foods to eat in order to stay healthy. 

3.) My dream has always been to have my own praise & worship band someday that will perform as a type of outreach ministry. I'm loving being a part of our Sunday worship team, and also helping with worship for Celebrate Recovery every Friday night. Tonight I led worship by myself, singing over the top of a CD, because everyone in our praise team was sick! I thought it went well. It brought back memories of Highland Baptist CR in Clovis. I really love singing, and I'm hoping to be able to increase my music & keyboard skills so that I can be able to play keyboards & read a lead sheet. That way my goal of putting together a music ministry may someday become a reality.

4.) My biggest dream is still to become a mother someday. I'm hoping that the Lord will see fit to grant me my heart's biggest desire this year, and bless me with the gift of motherhood. There could be no greater miracle for our lives.

5.) This month marks 4 years that since my husband & I met...on my birthday. This year (October 1st) we will celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary. My final prayer for this year was that Mark & I will continue to grow closer to each other & closer to God in all that we do. I'm looking forward to seeing what the Lord has in store!

May everyone have a blessed & happy 2015. I know I hope to!

New Year's Commitments

As 2014 is drawing to a close, I find myself doing what a lot of us do...planning for a new year. The past several years I haven't done ANY resolutions, feeling like "What's the point? I never keep them anyway!". Well, this year I've decided to change all that. I need an attitude adjustment, and recently I've been experiencing one. I find myself beginning to make goals again, and for this year, I need to devise a system to keep me on track. I just need to become more focused. Much of the time, my health conditions and chronic pain issues keep me held back. I try to set goals, but keeping myself on task is difficult when I can't sleep right, eat right or exercise like I should. 

This is what my human nature says... 

But this is reality...

Just because I have a bad track record of following through with things doesn't mean that I should just give up altogether! Lately, the changes that have occurred in my life have begun to stir a desire within my heart to set goals for the new year. Of course, I have the standard "resolutions" on my list...

• Eat Healthier
• Exercise More
• Focus on my education....keep learning something new every day
• Strive to achieve more in my career.... Etc.

I've already begun making changes that I will continue in the coming year. Just this month, I was able to FINALLY stop smoking! Tobacco addiction has ruled my life consistently since I was 13 years old. One of my first acts of rebellion, and it has tried to rule my life for nearly 24 years now. Well I finally have broken the habit. They say it takes 21 days to make or break a habit, and December 28th was 21 days since my last cigarette, so I've accomplished that goal already! And I plan to continue! Not only will I be able to breathe better, but it will improve my everyday life and singing voice quality.

The goals I have set for the coming year are ones that I hope to be able to continue every day for the REST of my life. These are areas that I have struggled with for years! Day by day, God is showing me the path that HE wants me to take in life, and that is to help others. 

I've always been a very free spirit, and very connected to others and their energy. I've also always had a lot of health issues. Well, I'm finally beginning to see that God has given me the ability to HELP others too. I am beginning to make changes in my life that will enable me to begin a system of changes for the future. I have an amazing career in hospitality, and I am beginning to read and learn more about the gifts & talents that God has given me to better myself & potentially help others in the future.

So my "commitments" for 2015 have to do with Body, Soul & Spirit.

Body:

• Eat more whole, natural foods
• Do Yoga daily to stretch my painful muscles
• Learn how to ease my pain through Acupressure, Massage & Essential Oils
• Sleep more regularly & with improved quality
• Supplement with herbs & natural healing remedies
• Help heal others with what I've learned & applied to myself

Soul:

• Strive to make connections to other women with common goals - establish positive friendships
• Strive to connect with other couples through couples ministry
• Seek out time to fellowship through bible study or ministry areas
• Begin seeking directions for areas of leadership both spiritually & in my career
• Seek to establish a healing connection between body, mind & spirit

Spirit:

• Spend time daily with the Lord in prayer & personal bible study
• Establish a bible study group with other couples
• Seek to be more active in women's ministry groups
• Actively participate in praise & worship ministry

Finally this is my ultimate prayer....

• Understand that the only person I can fix is ME
• Pray for others, but don't try to "fix" them
• Become more understanding of my differences with others, and APPRECIATE our differences
• Learn to practice Grace, Mercy & Forgiveness in all my relationships with others, and toward MYSELF

I pray that 2015 is a year that we ALL can stop focusing so much on the day to day and learn to see the bigger picture. I hope that we can all begin to see where God is challenging us to change and grow for His purpose is greater than we will ever know. Friends, I pray that you will have a desire to make "commitments" for the coming year that are realistic and that you will keep. I pray that MY commitments are ones that I will finally focus on keeping. May everyone be safe and blessed in the coming year. 

All My Love, 

Update.....Sorry it's been so long!

Oh my goodness! I can't believe that I've been so forgetful to post to my blog for so long! So much has been going on in my life. We returned to Globe, Arizona, my hometown, on June 1st, 2013. So much has happened since then. I began a new job on June 6th and haven't had any internet at home, so I've just forgotten about posting on here for so long.

NOW THINGS ARE BEGINNING TO HAPPEN!

God is showing me more and more what it is HE wants me to do! I am still in the planning/goal-setting stages, but Heavenly Father has been giving me visions of what He wants me to do with my future.

I am currently in the process of working with the Head Pastor of the church we currently attend in Globe, Arizona....Living Waters Community Church....in preparation to launch Globe-Miami's FIRST Celebrate Recovery program! Hopefully our program will launch after the first of the year, 2014. This is a project I am assisting with, and hoping to be involved as a leader at. However, it is not where I will stay. I'm sure we will serve there for 6 months to a year, but our ultimate goal is to finish our education so that we can embark on completing the visions that God has given each of us.

WE PLAN TO GET INTO MINISTRY!

God takes everything in our lives and turns it around for good. (Romans 8:38)
As many of you know, I spent years living a life of drug addiction, homelessness, spiritually broken and in the depths of hell due to my own choices. I realize that much of what I went through was due to the choices I made for myself, but a lot of those choices were because I didn't know how to deal with the issues that I had within.

So God has given me a vision to get a degree in Christian Counseling. I plan to minor in Praise & Worship pastoring. My husband spent 9 years in prison (literally) due to a bad choice that he made. God has given him a heart for prison ministry and he hopes to be able to develop a jail/prison ministry and also get a degree in Sound Engineering. We together have a vision to develop our own Christian non-profit organization that will be geared toward the healing of souls through various ministry efforts. We are also hoping to form a Christian Contemporary band to work within our organization, which will allow us to praise and worship Him through music, and share the message of Jesus Christ through the talents God gave us!

So now we are in a season of preparation. As the holidays are upon us, we are working toward forming our goals for the coming year. We are working on getting back into school in January, to continue working toward our long-term goals.

I have embarked on an online journey, and am currently seeking certifications through Christian Leaders Institute online, which will help prepare me toward my education in ministry. I will be using this blog as a communication tool for my education, and I WILL be posting more often! I hope you will check back to see what I've posted! Thanks for following!