One Day I will Sing in Heaven!

During my years of singing there have been some wonderful moments that I've had with the Lord. I shall share one of them with you today.

This past weekend we had very blessed services. I can still taste the presence of the Lord. It was amazing. While we were singing the Song "Agnus Dei" (Hallelujah for the Lord God Almighty Reigns) as I worshiped I could hear like as if it were hundreds of people singing the song along with us 4 singers. It was truly incredible and a joyous feeling because our church is not a huge church - just yet! : ) and it seriously sounded like it as if it were angels that were singing along with us, it's quite amazing. The bible does say that Angels are present to minister to the heirs of salvation (Hebrews 1:14)! During my years of singing I've had this experience a few times and I've even open my eyes, to see if the Lord will allow me to have a glimpse of these angels singing along with us, but I can't say I have seen any. It may sound crazy but when we talk about faith, faith is crazy, acts crazy, but accomplishes the impossible. This experience always fills my heart of joy and takes my mind to that one day that Revelations talks about, while thousands of thousands will be singing to the King of Kings and to the Lord of Lords. Experiences like these, make me want to sing my heart out even more, be a better worshiper and wrap myself in the presence of the Lord forever!! The Lord becomes so much more real to me, and I am humbled that he would allow me a glimpse of heaven. It inspires me and encourages me to keep fighting this battle of faith, because one day, I will be doing what I love best forever! Singing to my Lord and Savior face to face. The thought of that brings such great joy to my heart and tears of joy to my eyes, to think of that day. Oh how I desire to see HIM. I am so blessed to know Him and to have the opportunity to see Him one day. For now, I will keep rejoicing in His presence and singing to Him and only Him.

"Call Me Fanatic" - Poem

Call me fanatic if you will.

Call me crazy if you will.

Call me abnormal if you will.

But you just don't get it, you just don't understand.

You weren't there, when he gave my life meaning

You weren't there, when he held me in my loneliness

You weren't there, when he gave me strength in deception

You weren't there, when he healed my loved one of cancer

You weren't there, when he saved my sibling from disaster

You weren't there, when he kept me from drugs & disease

You weren't there, when he kept me from addiction

You weren't there, when everyone left, only He remained

You weren't there, when he healed my soul from pain

You weren't there, when he kept me from harms way

You weren't there, when he provided, when there was not a cent left

You weren't there, when he showed me love in my weaknesses

You weren't there, when he made a way, where there was no way

You weren't there, when he opened a door, that was forever shut

You weren't there, when he gave me peace that surpasses all understanding

You weren't there, when he showed me light in the darkness

You weren't there, when he wiped my tears

You weren't there, when he filled me with wondrous power

You weren't there, when he forgave all of my sins

You weren't there, when he blessed me, with more than I deserved

You weren't there, when he answered all of my prayers....

Call me fanatical if you will, but YOU JUST WEREN'T THERE.

-Me

Some people will never understand why we dedicate so much to serving God, why we spend so much time in his presence, why we work in his business without getting anything in return. But the truth is, there's nothing that can compare, to God's presence, it's a bit of heaven on this earth! Anything that we do here on earth, could never re-pay the Lord for the salvation he offers us, for his mercies every morning and for the faithfulness he has shown us, even in our weaknesses. He's done so much for us, how can we not serve HIM!?!? If they want to call me fanatic, so be it, I am a fan of JESUS. Why not? The world has so many idols and love for human beings, and even cry and scream when they see them, just another human being, like you and me! So why is it fanatical and crazy to cry and worship in the presence of the almighty GOD, who is not human, who is all power, who has done so much for me and the ones I love? I say it's more crazy to worship a human being, than it is to worship, the CREATOR of all. But I'll leave that up to you to decide. Call me crazy if you will, but you just weren't there.

"Preaching about the cross sounds foolish to those who are dying in sin. But it is the power of God to those of us who are being saved from the punishment of sin" - 1 Corinthians 1:18 (NLV)

Growth Through Pain - Testimony

About 5 years ago, my beautiful mother went through a rough year, health wise. She was constanly in pain, in surgery after surgery. There were times when she would call me crying and I would feel helpless. It was a tough time and when I think about how she and I got through it all, I can only thank God. It is very possible that my mom would not be still alive today but by the mercy of God she is. It was a hard time in my life, but we made it through.

I remember one particular time, I was going to visit her at the hospital after work. I was feeling very down because of this ongoing situation. I wanted to see my mother's health restored. This had just gone on for too long and there was also a fear in me of my mother not making it. I didn't feel ready for that, eventhough I was married, I felt that I still needed her alot in my life for guidance and advice. She's always the person I turn too. That day, I felt so heartbroken, asking God "why?", I could not bare to see my mom in so much pain and suffering any longer.  I decided to play a CD I had in my car to calm me down the rest of the way to the hospital. I did not want my mother to see me in the state I was. I needed to be strong for her. As the CD played, a song came on that ministered to my heart, oh so dearly (it was God sent, I don't believe in coincidences!). It was a breaking point for me. I had my moment with God that gave me the strength to endure the rest of my mother's sickness. The tears just started to flow and I thanked God for being my strength, my refuge, my hope and my peace (Psalms 37:39 - "He is their strength in the time of trouble"). Although I was still concerned for my mother, I was finally able to leave my burden on God instead of carrying it myself.

Now everytime I hear that song, it takes me back to that moment and time. And I get teary. There are moments you have in the presence of God that impact your life forever. I'm thankful for the moments God has allowed me to pass with him. My moms sickness made me learn to trust him more, it made me grow in faith (as I saw him heal her from Cancer!), it made me mature in him, it made me value the right things in life, the things that are worth it and to enjoy even the smallest moments of life with your loved ones.

From everything we learn and I'm thankful for that. It was a painful time of my life, but now when I look back, I realize all of the great lessons it taught me. I don't think I had ever gotten as close to God as I did, when my mother was sick. I believe that is another reason why I had to go through that time, to learn to get close to Him and stay close to Him for the plans He had in my future, I needed to learn to have that close relationship with him. I needed to stop focussing on the things I was, to focus on Him and His plans for my life. During that time, He wrapped me in his arms and sustained me.

The chorus of that song goes like this (it's in spanish but I translated the chorus).

You are my Refuge, and my Salvation

In you I find, comfort in my pain,

I know that you desire, my time and my life

I give it all to you.

I leave you with this verse, which I truly believe: "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." - Romans 8:28

Some People Just Want To Talk

As I posted in my Resolutions post for 2013. One of the things I wanted to focus on this year is giving more one-on-one bible studies. It's a challenging thing for me to do and it keeps me from being comforterable with what I already know about scripture! During these one-on-one bible studies, you never know the questions that will come up, but if we have a constant relationship with God, with his spirit, with his Word, the Word just flows! I have experienced that the right words just flow and I'm left thinking, "when did I read that again?" The point is, I did at some point and God allowed that word to penetrate into my heart and mind, so in the right moment I could speak it out! - Scripture completes itself, when it says...."I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them” Hebrews 10: 16 - his word is written in our minds! :)

Anyhoo, so I had a bible study scheduled with an elderly lady from the church who has been visiting us for a bit. I wanted to share the plan of salvation with her. So we met and before we started the study, she started talking about her life, her family, her children etc.  Through her tears, you could tell how much burden she carries inside for her family but the lovely part was that she said that she depended on God for strength. After chatting away for bit I was finally able to start on the bible study. I proceeded to explain about our church's beliefs and with about every point that I said, she had a story or question to say/ask. I had about 5 pages to go through and we barely covered the 1st page because she had alot on her chest which she wanted to express.

Our time ran out and I wasn't able to complete the study. As I meditated on the situation, I was not upset at that, I realized that some people really just need a person to listen to them, to listen to their needs and minister to them by just listening. Sometimes this can do a whole lot in the "conversion process" of the person, than you carrying out a lesson plan word by word. They need to see the love of Christ in you and  that we truly have love for their souls and are there to minister to their particular needs. Of course, the teaching is important, but it can go hand in hand. Again, this is why we always have to be in tune with what God wants to do instead of what we want to accomplish out of a bible study. This lady, at this point, just really needed someone to hear her out and to speak words of encouragement to her.

So I guess what I learned, once again, you can never be tooo ready for a bible study, you never know how things will play out, just be in tune with the Spirit of God and He will direct what you have to say. Remember to be a good listener, that's a way to minister as well, some people just want to talk. : )

What I'm Thankful For From 2012

I must say I had a great holiday season, spent it with family and church family! It was really one of the greatest new years we've had as a church family. Because we didn't have our own church building (we sold our previous one) we hadn't really had our normal end of year celebrations for 3 winters in a row! We all missed it. We bought our new church building in the summer, so this year we went all out. We had alot of fellowship and alot of fun. You could see the joy in everyone's faces. I'm so thankful for what God has done at our church.

I'm thankful for alot of the things God gave me in 2012, good and bad because from everything we learn and grow. I'm thankful for the simple things (which are not so simple!) like a family to love, a place to live, eyes to see etc. But as I meditate on last years events, one of the major things I'm thankful for is our newly aquired Church building. Now, I know it's just a building, but there are many reasons why I'm thankful for it. I'm thankful for it because 1) working towards the goal, united us as a church more than we could have ever imagined, 2) it increased our faith, because their were things during the process that truthfully only God could have made possible, and really, obtaining a building like we did was only an "in your dreams" type of thing, because of the location itself 3) because it has open doors to do more things for the glory of God and the growth of his church and 4) because the church is in such a strategic area (the area we really desired!) that people have been coming to the church just from seeing our church sign alone.

Truthfully, obtaining this church building was a dream come true for many of our members. And with this new blessing, God has provided us a new vision, new passion, a new love for the growth of his church. I see the brethen working with love and passion and that is truly inspiring to me. Also, seeing my Pastors overjoyed about what God is doing also makes me happy. They have endure alot of heartaches during their years of ministry and I feel like they deserve this blessing so much.

Like I said, I'm thankful for a lot of things, but what we've achieved out of this new church building are memories, experiences and growth with God which I will never forget.

Our lovely church. :)

Weekly Favs - "I Still Believe"

So, as part of this new blog, I will be posting my weekly favourite song. They will be new, oldies or middies (not quite new & not quite old) songs, whatever impacted my life that week.  Also, some will be in Spanish, since I attend a Hispanic church. Maybe y’all could learn some. Ha!

This week’s song is sung by Jina McCool called “I Still Believe”. I really love this song because of its truth. Sometimes we think that because we are Christians, bad things shouldn’t happen to us. But truthfully, we are not immune to situations that may arise in the normal course of our lives. What I do know is, if we know and trust God in all moments of our life “good” or “bad” in our eyes, we can truly find peace and joy in the midst of any situation. Trusting that God knows what He’s doing and that in everything He has a greater purpose for our lives provides us with Peace that surpasses all understanding.

Our God is a faithful God, in any moment, you can run to him and he can heal, restore and sustain you. Remember that lovely verse…“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”. Romans 8:28 (NIV)

If you love Him, He’s gotta a greater plan in the midst of your trials, don’t forget that. Don't let your trials steal your FAITH! The night won’t last forever, joy comes in the morning. Still believe in his mighty works and faithful hand!