The newest addition to the Nice family <3 Isn't he just precious!! <3 I just love being able to cuddle him!!

On a different note

... lately I've been shocked to see so many believers giving up values and teachings that come straight from God's Word. I've heard many excuses (which Satan is more than willing to provide) like "there is freedom in Christ and we need to stop living in bondage" or "we need to focus more on the principle" and many others! I'm not saying that these things aren't true I just don't think that God means for us to stop living the Kingdom life. I've been reading Matt. 7 and it's been personally convicting me also making me think about the things going on around me. I feel like I have new resolve about the life I choose to live. As I read through and got to the verse about the narrow way I tried to look at it from a different direction than what I've always thought it meant but there is really no getting around it. God really wants us to understand that being connected to Him and having Him flow out of us will set us APART from the way those around us live. Matt. 7: ¹³"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. I have to wonder how many times I have convinced myself that living in "the middle" is an ok way to live. Why is it so easy for me to live apathetically and without passion? Is it because there isn't really a pressure against apathy? I tend to shy away from passion...but isn't that the tendency? I am a bit sick of people trying to fake passion as well...not that I haven't done it myself. (maybe that's why I dislike it so much) It's one thing to talk passionately and to say all the right things and its a whole different story to live passionately. Lets just say that disciplined living or the lack thereof is easy to spot. Matt. 7:¹⁵"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ¹⁶By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Sadly as I write this I have to say that I have this little sick feeling in the pit of my stomache...I'm convicted. I know that all too often I have talked the talk and not walked the walk. I realize too that before I expect anyone around me to be passionate I must learn to be just that. I must live closely connected to the vine. I guess this is a confession of sorts. I am tired of trying to "look" passionate and only "sounding" that way. I'm tired of telling people what to do instead of letting Christ work in my life and doing what He says I should. I want to live on the narrow away, allow Christ to work in me, I want to bear the fruit of Christ in my life, and I want to build my life on a firm Foundation.

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.  Matt. 7:24-25

Listen...

This song had been on my mind a lot lately.  It made me ask myself how many times I don't recognize a message from God or don't give credit where credit is due. Our Father loves us so much and wants us to know that. He tries to tell us in different ways. I think way to often I've dismissed it as coincidence or just a pleasant moment rather than thanking God and being grateful for His love. I don't want to miss these "God hugs" in my life. God is speaking to me through the events in my day...am I listening? Are you?  God is speaking ~ what is He saying to you?

God Speaking - Mandissa

Have you ever heard a love song, that set your spirit free?
Have you ever watched a sunrise and felt you could not breathe?
What if it’s Him. What if it’s God speaking?

Have you ever cried a tear that you could not explain?
Have you ever met a stranger who already knew your name?
What if it’s Him. What if it’s God speaking?

Who knows how He’ll get a hold of us?
Get our attention to prove He is enough.
He’ll do, and He’ll use whatever He wants to.
To tell us, I Love You.

Have you ever lost a loved one
Who you thought should still be here?
Do you know what it feels like
to be tangled up in fear?
What if He’s somehow involved?
What if He’s speaking through it all?

Who knows how He’ll get a hold of us?
Get our attention to prove he is enough.
He’ll do and He’ll use whatever He wants to
To tell us, I love you.

His ways are higher
His ways are better
Though sometimes strange
What could be stranger than God in a manger?

Who knows how He’ll get a hold of us?
Get our attention to prove He is enough.

Who knows how He’ll get a hold of you?
Get your attention to prove he is enough.
He’ll do and He’ll use whatever He wants to,
To tell us I love you
God is speaking, I love you

OK...I get it

  How many of you know that feeling when you finally get the hint...the one that has been lurking around and you just didn't want to face it. Maybe it's not so much "getting the hint" as much as it is accepting it. I would say that it's almost the same thing as facing reality but not totally. I don't know how to describe it but it feels like resigning or giving up the fight. There's a will inside that wants to keep fighting and ignoring that little "thing" that keeps popping up around you. For a while it's not hard to just push the little booger aside and keep plugging away but then there is that moment when you realize that nothing has really changed. You no longer can ignore it and inside you simply lose the drive to ignore it any longer. I hate the feeling...

  I recently had to deal with the feeling in more than one case. They were all very hard pills to swallow but the one has left a pit in my stomach. I just had to face the fact that I'm not a young girl anymore... that time has brought changes and more than likely NOTHING will simply go back to how it once was. I'm not so against change really but the realization that you have lived 23 years and those years are long gone and the memories are fading faster than you would like... it leaves me grasping for memories that I can't pull out as fast as I could before. I look at choices I made, some small and others life defining, and I wonder if I would do the same thing again. How do we face this reality...the "grown up world", the never stopping clock, ...age.

  My new resolve in this area is to think...ETERNITY.

  I don't know what I'll do with some of these other "realizations" but I will say that it feels SO wrong to simply resign my heart and let go of the will. It feels like defeat. I will search for new resolve but until then I think I will not resign or "just get over it"...no matter how stupid I feel... or look for that matter :)

This Is Home...

I've got my memories
Always
Inside of me
But I can't go back
Back to how it was
I believe you now
I've come too far
No I can't go back
Back to how it was
Created for a place
I've never known

This is home
Now I'm finally
Where I belong
Where I belong
Yeah, this is home
I've been searching
For a place of my own
Now I've found it
Maybe this is home
Yeah, this is home

Belief over misery
I've seen the enemy
And I won't go back

Back to how it was
And I got my heart
Set on
What happens next
I got my eyes wide
It's not over yet
We are miracles
And we're not alone

And now after all
My searching
After all my questions
I'm gonna call it home
I got a brand new mindset
I can finally see
The sunset
I'm gonna call it home


Now I know
Yeah, this is home

I've come too far
And I won't go back
Yeah, this is home

the fading sun, the rising moon
are fighting for the afternoon
the day gives in, gives up its light
the stars wake up, to keep the night

and as you glory fill the sky, I wonder
how could you
consider me
so much more
than all i see
cause i am not
have never been
beautiful like this

my weary words, and broken lies
are set beneath, your summer skies
what's worn and wrong, what's good and right
I laid before, my eyes tonight

but you make all things new
Jesus, you make all things new
I'm beautiful in you, oh, oh, oh

that's how you could
consider me
so much more
than all i see
redemption mends
a brokenness
it heals our wounds
removes our sins
your purest love
was humbly spent
to bow our hearts
and draw me in
where i become
whole again
I'm beautiful like this
I'm beautiful like this

what can wash away my sin
nothing but your blood oh Jesus
Thank you, Thank you Jesus