Adventure on the Emerald Isle

Finally, the day has arrived! I am flying to Northern Ireland for three weeks vacation in a few short hours! I look forward to the many adventures I will experience and will hopefully be able to find a computer to pen my thoughts and post some pics!

I'd appreciate your prayers for a safe journey - I am not fond of flying. My last trip to Ireland was during the 9/11 tragedy. I flew back to Canada September 14th - the first day the airports were open. Needless to say, I was a tad bit nervous but God in His mercy provided some amazing seat companions for me to help calm my fears. I have flown since -to Paris last year- and was not as anxious! It was definitely a God thing! So, I am calling on all you people who pray and ask that you would remember me in your prayers. Thank you sooo much! (By the way, my flight leaves Toronto at 7:35pm on the 29th and arrives in Belfast at 6:55 am on the 30th. I fly back to Canada July 18th. )

Well I'm off my bloggy friends. I was hoping to be able to reply to all your comments but haven't had the chance to get to all of you before I left. But, I will, even if it is in 3 weeks time! Enjoy your summer! Celebrate each day! Stay cool and eat lots of ice cream!

Tragedy for one of my favourite Christian singers

Please say a little prayer today for Steven Curtis Chapman and his family today. Their five year old adopted daughter from China was tragically killed in their driveway on Wednesday. You can read the story here. Apparently, they were getting ready to attend their oldest son's high school graduation. My friend at Catherine's Chatter-Waiting for Hannah blogged more details of the tragedy, including the fact that it seems it was their oldest son driving the car that hit Maria. I feel so sick for this family. In addition, their oldest daughter just got engaged over the weekend. We need to uplift this family in prayer.

Thank you for your Prayers

My dear bloggy friends...thank you so much for your prayers and encouraging words for me as I sang at our Good Friday service! I felt them and know God was glorified! It was a God moment! On Thursday, a special lady at my church gave me a verse that was so timely. She had no idea but God sure did! She was so cute. She even made me repeat it after her to make certain I had it memorized! Here it is:

" Whatever you do in word or deed ( or song!) , do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father." (Colossians 3:17) I didn't even peek as I wrote this out!!!:) It is memorized now!!:)

I give thanks to God for using this song to bring glory and honour to Him AND to remind us our sacrificed Jesus set us right with God. How can you say no to this man!

Prayer Request

I came here this morning to ask you bloggy friends that pray to pray for something but am going to ask you to add one more thing to that list! This morning I have been feeling sooo defeated and sooo rejected. It could be hormonal or it could be related to my other prayer request.

First, I would ask you to pray for me this Good Friday as I am singing in our 10 am service. I am very nervous as I don't normally sing solo's at my church. The song I am singing has a powerful message and it is my prayer that God would be glorified through this message. Pray that I will face no distractions and that those who need to hear this message will have hearts that are open. It is an old song by Julie Miller called, "How Can You Say No To This Man." Please also pray for the musicians helping me that God will use them in this song as well! I am praying for what I call a "God moment." Thank you my friends!

So, in light of this, I am feeling so overwhelmed with defeat. I do not normally feel like this and as I sit here typing this at work, I just don't want to be here. So, I would ask you to pray for me today. Thank you so much.

I didn't even feel like reading my Bible but I did and once again God is amazing and gently puts me in my place!!!I was reading from Romans 4 where it talks about Abraham. When everything was hopeless Abraham believed anyway deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he WOULD do. Abraham dared to trust God to do what only God could do. I had to ask myself, "Do I live like this?" Honestly I wish I could say I lived like this all the time but I can't. It goes on to say the sacrificed Jesus made us fit for God - set us right with God.

It then occurred to me as I was pouring my heart out to God about these feelings of rejection, that Jesus was rejected over and over again. AND, I have rejected Jesus over and over again by not spending time with Him. But, amazingly, the sacrificed Jesus enabled us to be set right with God! He empathizes with us - with me.

I hope this post has made sense....the bell rang so the students are pouring in and I must go. I wanted to get this sent off this morning....these are just some of my raw thoughts. Thank you for listening and praying.