A few years ago, I struggled with severe depression, and for those of you who know my whole testimony, I think you'll understand a bit more what I'm about to say.
Not long after I had a breakthrough with my depression, I was reading my Bible, and came across Psalm 3:3 which says "But You, O Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, and the One who lifts my head high". For me, this had a special meaning because even with everything I went through, and the situations I placed myself in, I realized that this verse had always been true in my life (Even if I hadn't really noticed or payed attention to that verse before).
Looking back, it was only by the grace of God that I am alive today. He truly was a shield around me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I was just listening to a podcast called The Ramp. And in it the speaker just said, that the phrase "lifter of my head" doesn't necessarily mean that God is holding your chin up, but that He is restoring someone back to their original position of authority or responsibility.
My point to this short blog is to explain to everybody why I'm getting this tattoo on September 3. It's because it's my life verse. It's an everyday reminder that I am alive because God restored me back to my responsibility to follow and serve Him. So you may look at me and wonder why I would want this tattooed on me where it will be seen even on my wedding day. But I'm not worried about what it will look like in comparison to my wedding dress because I look at it like this-
1) I'm alive today and I can stand in front of everybody and gladly say that and mean it. And
2) I am following someone who loved me so much, that He sacrificed His ONLY Son in order to save me from an eternity in hell.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Surprises, friends, and God
So what do you get when you put surprises, friends, and God into one day? You get an AMAZING day that will fill you up with the Holy Spirit. Please bear with me as I try to get this all out.
My day started out with the women's breakfast at church. The food was great, the conversation was even better, and the message was amazing.
From there, my good friend Chris picked me up to go to Buffalo to not only surprise my best friend (and her reaction was hilarious. She saw me, ran, and jumped into a hug), but to street evangelize and then go to a worship service. While we were out on the street, it was Rachel, me, and Deborah and there were three instances that really stuck out during this entire time. The first was this lady named Barbara. She was sitting all alone underneath a tree on her walker. So we walked over to her and she has an incredible story. We walked away and we found some little boys. We started talking to them and they were sharp boys. Two of the boy's names were Caleb and Jeremiah so we told them what their names meant and gave them fliers and walked down the street with them.
After the boys went home, my mind went back to Barbara. And all I could think was "Jill, you need to pray for healing for this woman" and I KNOW that it wasn't just my own thoughts. I was thinking about the language barrier we ran into because neither Rachel nor I speak Spanish. So for me to have this thought was really strange. And coupled with this thought was this feeling in my stomach that I couldn't get rid of. It was a mix between anxious and nervousness. And I'm thinking that it was the Holy Spirit making sure I was paying attention. So after we got back to the group to go back, we told our testimonies for the day and then we prayed and the first thing out of my mouth was a prayer for healing for Barbara.
The last instance was with a family. This mother was strapping her son Andreas into a wheelchair/seat and we walked over and introduced ourselves and invited them to church. After we had talked for a little while, we asked if we could pray with them. And while we were praying, you could feel the mother's heart reaching out. It was SUCH a beautiful thing. We started praying for Andreas and when we stopped, we looked at him and where he had been unresponsive before, his head was moving. It was like the holy spirit was making him come alive. It was just such a beautiful thing.
I got to see God move and work through people that I had never met. And there were at least three people that came to Christ. No longer will I doubt what my Father can do.
After hitting the streets, we went back to Rachel's house where we hung out while she was finishing her sermon and I took a nap (It has most definitely been a long day-but a good long). We ended back up at the church around 7 for the service we were inviting the community to. Chris and I pulled out of the parking lot at 10:30. But the time didn't matter, because we were in the presence of our Father. There were three messages given that were amazing and I needed to hear all of them. My favorite quote was "Light is the only thing that can come in contact with filth and remain uncontaminated". That quote will stick with me for a very long time. As long as we have God's light, darkness will flee and the light will remain untouched. Nothing can get rid of it.
I'll close by saying that we serve an AMAZING God who can do ANYTHING. With Him, all things are possible and I pray that if you don't know Him, that you come to know Him.
My day started out with the women's breakfast at church. The food was great, the conversation was even better, and the message was amazing.
From there, my good friend Chris picked me up to go to Buffalo to not only surprise my best friend (and her reaction was hilarious. She saw me, ran, and jumped into a hug), but to street evangelize and then go to a worship service. While we were out on the street, it was Rachel, me, and Deborah and there were three instances that really stuck out during this entire time. The first was this lady named Barbara. She was sitting all alone underneath a tree on her walker. So we walked over to her and she has an incredible story. We walked away and we found some little boys. We started talking to them and they were sharp boys. Two of the boy's names were Caleb and Jeremiah so we told them what their names meant and gave them fliers and walked down the street with them.
After the boys went home, my mind went back to Barbara. And all I could think was "Jill, you need to pray for healing for this woman" and I KNOW that it wasn't just my own thoughts. I was thinking about the language barrier we ran into because neither Rachel nor I speak Spanish. So for me to have this thought was really strange. And coupled with this thought was this feeling in my stomach that I couldn't get rid of. It was a mix between anxious and nervousness. And I'm thinking that it was the Holy Spirit making sure I was paying attention. So after we got back to the group to go back, we told our testimonies for the day and then we prayed and the first thing out of my mouth was a prayer for healing for Barbara.
The last instance was with a family. This mother was strapping her son Andreas into a wheelchair/seat and we walked over and introduced ourselves and invited them to church. After we had talked for a little while, we asked if we could pray with them. And while we were praying, you could feel the mother's heart reaching out. It was SUCH a beautiful thing. We started praying for Andreas and when we stopped, we looked at him and where he had been unresponsive before, his head was moving. It was like the holy spirit was making him come alive. It was just such a beautiful thing.
I got to see God move and work through people that I had never met. And there were at least three people that came to Christ. No longer will I doubt what my Father can do.
After hitting the streets, we went back to Rachel's house where we hung out while she was finishing her sermon and I took a nap (It has most definitely been a long day-but a good long). We ended back up at the church around 7 for the service we were inviting the community to. Chris and I pulled out of the parking lot at 10:30. But the time didn't matter, because we were in the presence of our Father. There were three messages given that were amazing and I needed to hear all of them. My favorite quote was "Light is the only thing that can come in contact with filth and remain uncontaminated". That quote will stick with me for a very long time. As long as we have God's light, darkness will flee and the light will remain untouched. Nothing can get rid of it.
I'll close by saying that we serve an AMAZING God who can do ANYTHING. With Him, all things are possible and I pray that if you don't know Him, that you come to know Him.
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