How To Tuesdays: How to Remove the Space Where the Navbar Used to Be

You can move the header up to cover over the area where the nav-bar was by adding a CSS rule to your template in the normal way.

The rule to add is:

#navbar { height: 0px; visibility: hidden; display: none;}

Apply that, and the space that the nav-bar was in will simply close up, so the rest of the content is a little closer to the top of the screen.

Hope this helps!

xx
Jo

Worship Team Performance: REST AND RELAXATION

Catch Up : Introduction

                  Part 1: Preparation 1

                  Part 2: Preparation 2 - Grace Makes Us Lazy

                  Part 3: Preparation 3 - Performance v. Worship
                  Part 4: Presentation 1 -  Authority & Arriving
                  Part 5: Presentation 2 - Authenticity & Abandon

Source: architectureartdesigns.com via Kay on Pinterest

This should be a deliberate activity. It’s arrogant not to rest. Anticipate the crash after the adrenaline rush performance brings and work with it not against it. Take time to unwind, give thanks to God and to review your performance.

I’ve been learning a lot about the place of rest in my own life. It’s almost like Christian lingo using the word “soaking”, I know Beni Johnson uses it a lot. Soaking is basically meditating on God’s word and setting your heart on His presence. It’s the absence of striving to get to God and just letting God get close to you.

Striving is what most of us do best as Christians. It’s easier for me to read the Bible and journal and read books and pray than it is for me to listen. The longest I’ve ever been able to lay striving aside and rest in His goodness is like the length of Bethel Music’s “Without Words” CD which was designed for times of soaking, but that was a little bit of a one-off occurrence, now I can only do like 10-15 minutes. It’s definitely an area I need to work on, getting rid of distraction and just getting in tune with God.

Anyway, I thought I’d add this video here in case you needed to do the same. Like I said, this album is such a great tool. The Holy Spirit is woven through each note and I just love it. This song makes me cry every time...hope you love it too.

Plenty of Fish, What's Your Bait?

 

 

 

 

Where you fish for romance and the bait you use to catch a mate says a lot about the virtues you live by. If you fish in the shark-invested waters of bars and parties, especially if you fish with only bait sharks bite, please don't be shocked when you catch a hammerhead. The type of bait you use often determined the kind of fish you will catch." Source

Devotional

Today's devotional comes from Holly Furtick from Elevation Church in NC.

Psalm 139:23-24
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

I memorized this verse when I was a little girl. And up until the other day, I always thought of it as a verse that was asking God to show me my sin. But the other day the phrase, “know my anxious thoughts,” jumped out at me.

Have you ever had one of those days where your thoughts were just running wild with anxiety? And you knew your thoughts were so ridiculous that you shouldn’t even voice them to anyone? Being anxious like having a voice screaming in your head while you are trying to concentrate on having a normal day.

But how comforting to know that God knows my ridiculous, anxious thoughts. Psalm 139:2 says, “You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.” And God is the One who can calm them. When I have these moments, I have to ground myself. I have to stop and remind myself who I am, and to borrow from my husband’s teaching, I have to remember whose I am.

I think anxious thoughts offend God because it is as if I am saying, I don’t trust God. I am a child of God, called by God. I am empowered, through His grace, to be an amazing mom, and wife, and pastor’s wife. He knows my anxious thoughts and He wants me to trust Him with them. Just like 1 Peter 5:7 say, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

Source

Music Review: Utawala by Juliani

I absolutely had to share this video with you guys. Juliani is the absolute best lyricist I have ever had. EVER. This song is called Utawala and I love the video. It highlights the bad times in Kenya where corruption, hunger, mismanagement etc. have wrecked us, but it also shows people along our history who've stood up against it. I especially love the part where he shows how Wangari Mathai was attacked defending the forests and had her hair ripped out and later she was the first woman and first Kenyan to ever win the Nobel Peace Prize. The message of the video is that we should stand up to corruption, from the huge aspects like protecting our wildlife from poachers to the little things like buying pirated movies. I'm not perfect and this definitely opened my eyes. Hope you like it. (And for my non-kiswahili speaking friends, I hope the images in the video speak to you, you never know God might reveal it to you)

CHORUS:Niko njaaa hata siezi karanga              

              hoehae shaghala bhaghala niko tayari kulipa gharama              

              sitasimamaa maovu yakitawala sitasimama maovu yakitawala              

              Ufisadi, ibinafsi ukabila              

              kuuza sura wataki kuuza sera              

              Undugu nikufaana               

              sitasimama maovu yakitawala siatasimama maovu yakitawala

Hard ku get wadhifa una deserve bila cash ama kashfa

hii society kenye wanaeza share ni nyungu ya busa ama kettle ya shisha

Mfuko unasikia echo

utajua thamani ya mali na size ya kifuli

hujaibiwa juu hauna ka kitu worth risking jail time, police bullets for

unaeza argue crime doesn't pay lakini huezi dismiss justice ina bei

mwizi ana fourty days, 365 days later anaendelea ku grow fatter

Do anything for power, ready to loose their head for presidency bora waione kwa currency

sababu gani siko affected na turbulance nikifly angani

nimezoea the same feeling matatu zikipitia pothole mtaani

CHORUS:

Ndio wa raise funds itabidi u raise hands

growing concerns

breakfast za croissants

hatutaki upunguze bei ya bidhaa

tunataka opportunities ndio tu afford hizo bidhaa

walisema kutembea kwingi ndio kuona mengi

nimeshinda nikitembea ma ofisi  nasijawai ona kazi

siezi cheza Golf venye tiger would

mambo si bara bara chin wu

Naomba journey mercies chakula ifike tumboni ikitoka kwa sahani

Policeman anapiga rungu mwalimu, daktari anamrushia teargas

na mtoto wake anarudishwa nyumbani hana school fees analipwa peanuts.

CHORUS:

Sewer za state house na latrine za ghetto ziupatana Nairobi river

No more nita live by hand to mouth

ushawai sikia maskini anaugua gout

Nikiwa na nguvu ya kung'oa reli definately kuinua kura si nzito ukiingiza kwa ballot box

chagua kiongozi wa kweli

Moha, John Allan Namu jicho pevu wakianika mkono refu inapick pocket wanyonge

Navaa mask ka goal keeper wa Hockey waezi ni kerubo

Kenya ni kama Boxing hakuna sub

work with what we have.

 CHORUS:

All owed and copyrighted to Juliani. Lyrics provided for educational purposes only.

How To Tuesdays: Option 6 - How To Remove The "Showing posts with label" / "No posts were found which match your query" Message on Blogger

That is a looong title!

Well, this tutorial is aboout Labels. On my blog, the different tabs up top are actually search results from the labels, but when you clivked on them, it always displayed that pesky message "Showing posts with label 'abc'" which just showed the world what a beginner blog designer I am.

This simple CSS Code saved me from aforementioned public embarassment, hope it does the same for you.

Again,
First thing you need to know is this:

Step 1: Got to Layout on the Blogger Home page
Step 2: Click Advanced
Step 3: Go to "Add CSS"
Step 4: Paste

.status-msg-wrap{
display: none;
}

Hope it works out for you.

xx

Jo

Sometime God Wants Us to Obey Before He Meets Us

Matthew 28 [NET]
1 Now after the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. 2 Suddenly there was a severe earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descending from heaven came and rolled away the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were shaken and became like dead men because they were so afraid of him. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has been raised, just as he said. Come and see the place where he was lying. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead. He is going ahead of you into Galilee. You will see him there.’ Listen, I have told you!” 8 So they left the tomb quickly, with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 But Jesus met them, saying, “Greetings!” They came to him, held on to his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee. They will see me there.”

I've found myself in a little situation where I'm supposed to send my future landlady money for my rent but at the same time stalling a little bit and not pushing that hard to get my bank stuff sorted out because I'm nervous paying this rent having not yet done my relocation sorted. I'm trusting God to give me favor and I've prepared as well as I can and asking Him to show me how I haven't and what improvements I can make before my interview next month. However the fact is this rent invoice is looming over my head and I want with all my heart to take this great apartment.

Last night I emailed my future roomie and told her my fears and as I wrote I kept seeing the irony of saying I trust God, God loves you, He'll provide for us, yet being worried about this.

I was reading Holly Furtick's blog and she talked about how in this passage, Jesus met the women after they obeyed.

In the same way, God's given me some instructions with what He wants me to do with my life. I have to obey and be where He wants me to be, So He can meet me in that place of obedience. My roomie wrote back and encouraged me to follow what God's placed in my heart, so I write to my landlady and explained the situation and I thank God for me and my roomie having favor with her. I am so peaceful about doing this and committing to walking in the future and the path He has set me on, knowing I will meet Him as I walk.

God Meets Us in that Place Of Obedience.

Devotional

I got today's devotional from one of my new favorite pastors, Pastor Steven Furtick coming all the way from Elevation Church out in Charlotte.

God gives strength for today, and hope for tomorrow.

Sometimes we get it backwards. When we worry about the uncertainties of tomorrow we’re bound to bend and break beneath the weight of anxiety. God doesn’t give strength for tomorrow’s tests. He only gives strength for today. Like manna. Each day has enough trouble of its own .

God’s only provision for your future needs is hope. The certainty of His sovereignty is your only guarantee. Make a note though: God doesn’t give you hope for the needs of today. He gives you strength for your immediate needs-and He expects you to do something about them! I’ve met people who waste time hoping things will work out-when God has already given them the strength to make a change and take a step. You can’t substitute hope for hard work, expecting God to do something for you that you can do for yourself.

Do you a have need today? Walk confidently in the strength of your God for the needs of your now.
Do you have a concern about tomorrow? Tomorrow’s strength will be deposited in your account first thing tomorrow morning-not a moment before.
Until then, put your hope in Christ alone.

Great is His faithfulness!

 Source

Worship Team Performance: Presentation 2 - Authenticity & Abandon

Catch Up : Introduction

                  Part 1: Preparation 1

                  Part 2: Preparation 2 - Grace Makes Us Lazy

                  Part 3: Preparation 3 - Performance v. Worship
                  Part 4: Presentation 1 -  Authority & Arriving

AUTHENTICITY

Don’t undermine your intelligence and don’t undermine your audience’s intelligence. When you open your mouth you’re communicating something spiritually and your audience can understand what that is. I had this conversation with my sister about how songs aren’t just necessarily “secular” or “Christian” every song carries a spirit behind it, sometimes in a strongly negative way, like you hear a song and you feel weird in your heart, I can’t describe it, it’s just something you know, then there are songs that lift you up and you can practically see your spirit dancing in the clouds, then there are the songs that are secular but that still make your heart happy and your spirit is content. Anyway, I think you just have to be aware of stuff like that.

The audience can understand your conviction and lack of and that directs them either with you to God’s presence or away from you and maybe even away from His presence.

We have a saying here in Kenya, “Empty debes make the most noise” debes=tin cans. Worship is spiritual warfare; if you’re being dramatic and inauthentic, it’s like bringing a plastic knife to a gun show. Those demons either come in and kick your butt from here to low hell or they ignore you because you’re not a threat, you’re just a bleep in the radar.

Authenticity is just the truth. It begins in the spirit and manifests physically.

So what happens when you have to lead a happy song when you’re not happy? Is it being authentic to sing this song sad or depressed because that’s the reflection of your mood? No. We need to believe who we’re singing about and sometimes that may look like going back to the A, B, Cs of our faith that is having faith. It’s singing this song from the attitude of, “My life sucks right now, but it won’t suck forever!” like Jenn gave this example once, or, “God, I’m not happy now, but I trust in you to make me happy.” Or “God, I’m not free yet, but I believe I will be.” Sometimes it’s just consciously deciding, “I left all this stuff going on out there, but right now I’m going to worship God and focus all I have on Him not for any reason other than He deserves it.” Kim Walker-Smith said this once.

One time, I was alone in my room and I was trying to get my “God hat” on watching a Bethel worship set, and I was just not feeling it, but I remember that day this spontaneous song come out of me, “I’m going to worship like it’s already been done!” Come out of me is actually a mild term, that line practically burst through me and through all that hopelessness and defeat I was feeling. My point is, God comes through.

ABANDON

Abandon is surrender to God, to the performance, to yourself and to your audience. It’s he deliberate laying down of the ego. Enjoy yourself, people more or less tend to mirror you.

Source: 25.media.tumblr.com via Deb on Pinterest

Neema said, think about authenticity like a rubber band, the further in you can go, the truer you become, the further out you can soar when it’s released. That’s when a song goes from your gut into the audience’s gut. The true performer masters the art of balancing between doing it for God/themselves and doing it for others.

 See you next week for the last part of this series!

23rd Birthday Post 2

I know 2 posts in one day, but it's my birthday so deal with it! Anyway, it was a good day. Spent it with my sister, brother-in-law, nephew - Jeremy and niece - Imani. I am currently in a food coma after stuffing my face with pizza, fries and nyam chom (BBQ ribs). Tomorrow we're going back to my mom's and the rest of the fam is coming over, so it's going to be very nice. I'm looking forward to cake! Well, it was a great day. Love my family!

This song has been playing in my head all day and after sitting down and paying attention, I was left thinking,  "Oh, well, duh. this is what I prayed for last night."

The song is called Give Me Faith by Elevation Worship.

It goes like this:

I need you to soften my heart

to break me apart

I need you to open my eyes

to see that you're shaping my life

All I am

I surrender

Give me faith to trust what you say

that you're good and your love is great

I'm broken inside, I give you my life

I need you to soften my heart

to break me apart

I need you to pierce through the dark

and cleanse every part of me

I may be weak

but Your spirit's strong in me

My flesh may fail

My God you never will 

I love this song, especially the bridge, "I may be weak, but your Spirit's strong in me. My flesh my fail, but my God you never will." Wow, I pray I remember these words forever. I pray in my weakness I remember God's strength, when I feel like a failure I remember God will never fail.

xx

Jo

 

23rd Birthday Post!

Psalm 107:7 He led them by a straight path to a city where they could settle.

Yes Jesus! I woke up and read the Bible since I figured it was the best thing to do first thing in the morning :-) isn't God faithful giving me this word! Great Birthday present right there. This verse doesn't only apply to travel plans but also to all the other places where I need God to help me settle - relationally, financially, emotionally, spiritually and so on.

The verses before talk about those redeemed of the Lord and how not everyone started out on these straight paths and some wandered into wastelands where they could not settle, some were hungry and thirsty and their lives ebbed away... (Sound familiar? Getting into the wastelands of bad financial mistakes, bad relationships, depression etc.) ...but the moment we cried out to God in our trouble, He delivered us from our distress. So this is my Birthday promise...straight paths, straight paths, straight paths, claim it for yourself!

Other than that, some other thoughts...maybe this will turn into the song I wanted...

I will give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love

and for all the wonderful things He's done 

for He broke down every gate and cut through every bar

I'm free, I'm free my soul will sing

I will give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love

and for all the wonderful things He's done for me

I cried out to you in trouble and you saved me from my distress

I will tell of your works with joy I will sing

I will give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love

and for all the wonderful things He's done for me

I see the works of the Lord, His wonderful deeds in the deep

I am filled with awe, of your glory I will sing

I will give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love

and for all the wonderful things He's done for me

He stilled the storm to a whisper, the waves of the sea were hushed

I am led, I am guided, of your love I will sing

I will give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love

and for all the wonderful things He's done for me
He turned my desert into rivers, my thirsty ground into flowing springs
I will praise, I will exalt of your grace I will sing

I will give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love

and for all the wonderful things He's done for me
He's turning desert into pools, parched ground into flowing springs
I will trust, I will obey of your faithfulness I will sing

xx
Jo

The Night Before My Birthday: 23 Wishes & Dreams

It's my birthday tomorrow! I'm turning 23! This is officially my first birthday that I haven't looked forward to or pestered anybody about. I just might be growing up :-)

Well, birthdays go one of 2 ways, 1. I can be happy and celebrate another year of life. A chance to have a "new year" in the middle of the year. 2. I can be sad thinking about all the things I wish I had but don't have.
Sooo...I'm choosing to be HAPPY! This is really truly a year God's given me and I know some incredible things are about to happen this year simply because of my realization of His love toward me.

So here are 23 hopes I have for this year, some of them are stuff I feel God's led me into, some of them are just stuff I really would love to see happen/pray happen. Next year, we'll review. Let's get started.

My Top 23 Dreams For May 11th 2013-May 11th 2014

1. Tighter bonds and love in my family: I say this every year, I can't get enough. We're good now, especially my mom, sister and I, but I hope it grows. Not just the three of us but the whole family, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, in-laws...I just pray for a strong healthy family unit.

2. Healing: There's a lot of areas I see a need for healing around me. Mom has issues with arthritis and joint pain, grandma has arthritis and ulcers, I see a couple of stuff I haven't dealt with like trust issues (trust in God, trust in guys, trust in friends...) and generally healing all around in some specific areas. Also maybe reach my target weight/fitness level i.e. get healthier. I'm 132 pounds now, if I could get to 120, that'd be awesome. 12 pounds in a year doesn't sound too hard right?

3. Freedom to travel: I have the doors of the world open to me, but I have to walk through the gate known as Immigration Control wherever I decide to go. I'm just trusting God for favor. I want to travel the world and learn from incredible pastors and be part of teams that are catalysts for change around the world. I would love like joining Dominic Russo in Honduras today and seeing the change happening there. Going to Australia with Bill Johnson and seeing revival. Going to Zimbabwe with Heidi Baker...I mean, there's so many crazy ways God's provided that need not just bureaucratic favors but also financial favor. However, the more I write this, the more I feel my heart toward missions...who knows?

4. Going to School of Ministry: This is the biggest goal of the year. I'm looking for a corporate job as I wait on God to show me exactly how to enter the Church scene. I am 100% sure, even as I look, that it'll be temporary, my future is Church, no way around it. First step, training. I hope I get the chance to do this and get some qualifications.

5. Getting great friends: The year started off with me deciding once and for all with this prayer, "God, I've prayed for friends all my life and you've provided along the way, however, I can't be the one chasing people down to build relationship all the time, there has to be give and take, so God for the next few weeks I'm going to give, I'll be the one initiating conversations and all that, but after that, I'm done. I want to feel wanted and sought after too." Well the plan worked in that, I know where my friendships fall now, but it has left me needing a more solid group of friends. I pray for that this year. I don't know how God will do that, but I'm sure He will. He already has started and I'm super thankful.

6. Building long-lasting networks: I want to do something of my own in the future in terms of ministry, so I definitely want to build a great network of mentors, partners and friends. Connections that are solid an maintainable.

7. Singing BGV for people I admire: This already happened this year. In the past year I've sang in service when Kanjii, Mike and Osayi Onen and Angie Gachui have led worship, a year ago I could not have imagined that! This year I want to take that up a notch higher. God knows I have crazy dreams in my head like singing with Bethel and Elevation :-)

8. Being friends with people I admire: a lot of times I look at people who are popular or famous or who are just plain too cool for school and thought "oh no, she's way too cool to be friends with me" or "he'll just think I'm a fan or a stalker and want nothing to do with me" This year though I'm trusting God to sink into me the value He's placed on me and for me to walk in that identity. I trust for favor and for peace even as I meet these people who ordinarily would not notice me, that somehow God would put a target on my head that they would notice and seek after my value.

9. Favor with leadership: I want to be friends with leadership. I want personal mentoring, I want spiritual fathers and mothers I want them to stop me at the supermarket and say "Oh hey Joanne!"

10. Getting my Bachelor's degree: finally be done with KU!

11. Visiting Elevation Church: this is my dream to see the worship and production and...

12. Meeting and talking to Steven Furtick: How can you not be inspired by this guy, he's built a Church with 7 locations and 12,000 congregants in 6 years! AND he's like 32?! I want whatever He's having. I want to be him when I grow up :-)

13. Stepping out of my comfort zone and doing something radical for a stranger who is "the least of my brothers" People rejected by society: I constantly see people sick or begging on the streets and think to myself what'll happen when I come back from BSSM with my friends and we're walking along Nairobi and come across this guy? If I really want to be like Jesus what would He do? He'd talk to them, touch them, pray for healing for them. Can I do that? The answer is no, but I want that to change about myself. I give money, fine, but I want to ask them their names and stories and love on them.

14. Developing a worship song for Church: I've written a few songs and I want at least one of them to turn into something.

15. Preach a full sermon: yup!

16. Have a relationship with the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues: prayed for this for the longest time, I know it's a weird thing to pray, but I just feel like there's a level of intimacy I want to achieve and I'm not there. A lot of time I felt like maybe I was just afraid because well I don't know what's going to happen, I don't know if I'll fall or if I'll see heaven or if Jesus will walk nt the room, I thought fear held me back, but I've had so many other experiences that I know it can't be fear. So maybe it's timing. He will come when He want to come, all I can do is be ready for it by being able to host His presence...having a solid devotional life.

17. Lead someone into an encounter with Jesus

18. Be more private: I know this is weird since I'm a blogger!!! But my sister mentioned something to me last night. I was telling her about a friend of mine who posted a pic on FB of her in Asia and saying that's what I like about her, she didn't parade all over the internet saying she was going to Asia, she just posted a pic and we figured it out for ourselves. Her whole life isn't on her profile page. My sister told me that's a girl who's secure and confident in her own life. I thought to myself, yeah, hmm, I'm not like that! I'm going to be totally honest and say, yes, a lot of times when I post stuff on FB or twitter, I'm showing insecurity or self-involvement. When I'm alone, I go on twitter when I have no one to talk to, when I'm sick I post it to FB, when I see a quote that touches me I have to share it, a part of that is thinking, maybe if I show the world I'm a Christian, I will really be a Christian when the truth is, I'm a Christian because I'm a Christian! Half the stuff I RT or Share would be better suited for my journal rather than my profile page! So this year, I'm drastically reducing my social media stuff. I'll focus on blogger and instagram. My blog is an extension of my journal and I love blogging even if nobody reads it so it'll be the one thing I stick to.

19. Read my Bible, pray and soak faithfully: I have to stick to this, I do good for a week then quit. I was talking to my sister how when Daniel was told he couldn't pray for 30 days it was such a huge deal for him and he couldn't survive without prayer, in fact, he'd rather die with prayer than live without it. If I was told I couldn't pray for 30 days I'd be like, :-/ heeh...ok. It's the biggest thing about me I'd want to see changed, my intimacy with God. The way I read my Bible reflects on the way I handle the rest of my life. If I'm wishy-washy with this it leaks into my school work, my time-management, my relationships, how I handle money...

20. Develop the inner peace to be pursued: I'm just learning now the art and the peace that comes with being pursued. Not thinking, "how do I get this guys attention???" and just being at peace knowing if this is the guy for me, he would move heaven and earth to get to me. I've started to realize, everything I can do to get attention from a guy he can do for me, like come sit next to me at a party or fish around and get my number or track me down on Facebook. I've learnt to not lead the conversation on dates or texting, if he doesn't ask me questions and only expects me to come up with talking points, I'm not going on a 2nd date. I have learnt that everything I can do, he should have the wherewithal to do. Even if it's Googling questions to ask on a date. There's no excuse. I'm not dating a passive guy anymore. I've spent my life pursuing and leading the relationship, in my past relationship, I paid for dates and bought drinks thinking this is what it meant being a low maintenance woman. The truth though is, I as a woman already bring in my part of the equation. I will love you more than you've ever be loved, I will make you the most cared for man on the planet, all I'm asking for is for you to be a man. Be someone I'm proud to be led by.

21. Fall in love: After being pursued...God, I really want to fall in love. I want to have a best friend and a partner and someone who speaks my language. I want to find out what love really is. I want to see how patient I can be personally, how good I'll be at being cool and setting boundaries and taking it slow and if all these months of salvation have changed my dating persona :-) lol. I want to be in love, to be loved wholly, completely and wholeheartedly. To be valued and respected and wanted.

22. Be in a great relationship: being in love is great, but I pray this guy is the real deal. I don't want to commit myself to a guy who's going to wake up a week from now and say, "Oh, I made a mistake, I don't love you anymore." I can't go through that again. I'm praying for a slow-burn rather than a fiery furnace that quickly burns out or is snuffed put by externalities. A love that grows. A man who'll really think about me and put me first and count the cost before making any moves. I want to be free to enjoy each other without either of us worrying about what the other might do to hurt them. I want us to be free to LOVE. I want us to have fun. I want to see him grow in his relationship with Jesus. I want to be inspired to grow. I want to romance and sparks and all that good stuff. I want peace. At the end of the day, I want to praise God for a husband who held me and told me God is with us and will take care of us.

23.  Fall REALLY in LOVE. Like for real, no turning back, I'm in this, you are mine and I am yours, kinda love.

If I could have one bonus wish that covers all these others it'd be this:

Faith: This is a whole lot of stuff I want for my life and none of them can be done without the provision of God. I want this year to be one of the building stones for the rest of my Christian life. I want to look back and say, "my God who provided rent for me when I was 23 and had absolutely no money, will provide this time" I pray God for incredible testimonies not just for me, but that through them other people can get a renewal of their faith and hope. I want to awaken the dreamer God put in us. I want this to be the year I'm audacious in my faith. I want to follow after the people that inspire me for living out God's purpose with such excellence and strength, building ministries with incredible impact and be an inspiration as well. God says to ask for the nations, I'm asking for the nations. I want to be that one!

Lord change me, make me, mould me into that person you need, that person you made me for. No more mediocrity and just getting by!

Happy 23rd Birthday To Me!

Journey to BSSM Part 4

I had my visa interview scheduled for today. I drove there yesterday to see where it was and how far it was. I went there early today and on time and it was freezing! When I finally got called in to the 1st window, this kind lady told me it was way too early (more than 120 days before start of school) and she scheduled me for next month :-( one more month!

Catch Up:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

How To Tuesdays: Option 5 - How To Center Your Post Title, Date and Gadget Headers on Blogger

Disclaimer: Always keep in mind, I am not a licensed blog developer so make sure you save your HTML before you add any new stuff, not just from me but from anyone. Your blog is way too important to mess around with :-)

Again,
First thing you need to know is this:

Step 1: Got to Layout on the Blogger Home page
Step 2: Click Advanced
Step 3: Go to "Add CSS"

This menu is about to be your best friend :-)

Option 5 - How To Center Your Post Title, Date and Gadget Headers on Blogger

This is pretty easy, continuing from above,

Step 4: In case you have any other CSS codes added, press enter to skip a line and to make sure you don't mess up any of your coding.

Step 5: To center your Post & Date Titles

.post-title {
text-align:center;
}
.date-header {
text-align:center;

}

Step 6: Check it out

Step 7: to center your Gadget Headers in Blogger:

.widget {

  text-align: center;

}

 Step 8: Check it out

Worship Team Performance: Presentation 1 - Authority & Arriving

Catch Up : Introduction

                  Part 1: Preparation 1

                  Part 2: Preparation 2 - Grace Makes Us Lazy

                  Part 3: Preparation 3 - Performance v. Worship

This is when you’re on stage and is also split into 3: Authority, Authenticity and Abandon

Authority is arriving spiritually, mentally and physically. She gave the example of how her director would tell her she needed to consciously feel the ground beneath her feet. I know I’m guilty of this, getting absent minded, my thoughts just trail off and I forget to bring the mic up to my mouth and sing when I’m supposed to! The funny thing is when this happens, not just to me but I’m sure to other worship folk, that’s when you lift your hands and act all into the song, when 5 seconds ago you were thinking about the shirt the guy in front of you is wearing. Inauthenticity noted!

Source: facebook.com via Cathy on Pinterest

When you’re nervous it shows. Stand with your center of gravity intact; be stable, and not easily shaken. Take control of your nervous ticks.

Someone will definitely question your authority so know who you are.

Arriving mentally is knowing, loving and trusting your team. You’ll definitely not perform well thinking, “oh, so and so doesn’t like me” then at the same time thinking about whether the crowd likes you…you’re attacked on every side, but if you know the team is behind you and that they’ve got you, that helps you incredibly. So mend fences and build bridges wherever they need to appear.

Source: scpevents.com via Tami on Pinterest

Arriving spiritually is knowing whose you are and who everything is directed at and where it all comes from. It’s the assurance that whether you’re in a crowd or by yourself, you will still sing, you will still worship. Like Steffany Gretzinger sang once “This is for you and no one else, in a crowded room or by myself, I will worship you, in Spirit and in truth.”

Source: ffffound.com via Mikayla on Pinterest

See you next week!