The Best Christmas Gift!!

I got  the most unexpected Christmas gift tonight...

My first donation!!! A check for $100 for my  trip to Ethiopia.

For those of you that don't know yet I am going to Ethiopia this summer and I could not be more excited about it!! This is just a little look into one of the wonderful things God has put in my heart over the past few months. More about my trip to come...
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.  If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. John 15:9-13
As God laid down his life for us, I reminded of this tonight as my best friend since third grade gives me a gift that showed how we: love each other as HE has loved us! Molly you are the most amazing best friend! I love you so much!
"Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart”
So remember the reason for Christmas...
 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
I am so thankful for all my my friends and family!!
 Merry Christmas!!

I'm All In

Over the past 4 months God has been doing some pretty amazing things in my life and I couldn't wait to share it!!
 But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in;  indeed, I cannot. Jeremiah 20:9
As I was at Kairos one Tuesday night (as usual) this summer Mike was out and Aaron Bryant was speaking. His sermon completely spoke to my heart and has changed me in so many ways. I could relate to everything he was saying...
So many times in my life I have been on idle or auto pilot and just going through the motions of showing my faith. Going to church on Sundays, if I'm too tired...sleeping in, going to Kairos, and doing an occasional Bible study, but always just coasting through my spiritual life. Aaron said that night, "If you love Jesus, own it. You have to own it or disown it, you can't straddle the fence with Christ. You either follow him or you don't." In James 2, it says if you don't live it then its dead. Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action... is dead. James even suggest that it is non-existent. What good is it if it is not accompanied by action?"
Ok, here is where I stopped and really thought about it. He is so right...What am I doing in my life that shows my faith? I can go through the motions and say how I am Christ believer, but what good is it without me owning up to it? That's harsh to some people, but for me that night it was exactly what I needed to hear.
The scripture tells us that if we place our faith in Jesus Christ, it is by Gods grace through faith in Christ that we are saved. If you love Jesus the people around you will know that your a disciple by the way you love each other. Never in the Bible do you see faith taught without obedience. So as I sat there that night I started thinking that if I love Jesus like I say I do, then I needed to start showing it in my daily life and that I was "all in." I needed to have the actions to back up who I say I am.
Show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my faith by what I do. James 2:18
So over past few months that's exactly what I've been doing in my life, walking obediently with Christ. My love for him has grown so much. I now "own it!" I have placed my faith in Jesus and walk obediently every day. I am now willing to back it up and show my faith by what I do. I am all in!! Are you?