Wednesday 6am Prayer!

Psalm 5

1 O Lord, hear me as I pray;
pay attention to my groaning.
² Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God,
for I pray to no one but you.
³ Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord.
Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.

Every Wednesday morning at 6am we gather as a church to pray over the needs if our church, our community and our country. This is one of my favorite times of the week! It is so awesome that we have the opportunity to come together and intercede over people and our country. It is a real privilege! I feels like we are doing something to make a real difference for the kingdom of God. I've asked our staff and our small group leaders to join me and they are stepping up to the plate. Thank you! Now I would like to invite the rest of you to follow your leaders in this. I truly believe that this is what is going to impact our city more than another church on another corner. Not that another church on the corner is a bad thing but I just think that it's what is done in the prayer closet that is missing in too many churches on the corner. I'm not saying we are better than the others, I'm just saying that I've realized that for me and the team that God has given me the opportunity to coach, this is the way we are going to go.

Here is why -

1. God alone can change our generation

2. We need to get our orders from head quarters

3. Prayer is were the battles are won, on our knees we are the strongest

4. You need us to be a team that will storm the gates of hell for you and your family

5. We get to hang out with the lover of our souls - God

Hey considered your self invited to join us in changing Charleston, I double dog dare you!

My Trip to Walmart

So, yesterday I went to Wal-Mart right before Genesis to get some coffee and creamers that we needed. But what was supposed to be a quick 10-15 minute trip to the store turned into quite an eventful one. When I got back to the Extension, I realized I only had 2 of the 7 bags of coffee that I had purchased. My first thought was "I am NOT driving back", but then realized that was almost $25 worth of coffee. So, I took a deep breath and made my way back to the store. As I'm walking in, I see a Hispanic man being cornered by three white guys. I could tell the guy couldn't understand what they were asking him and then realized he had stolen something and those three men were from lost prevention. They then proceded to take him into the store. While I'm waiting at the Customer Service line to be helped, I find out that he'd stolen a box of medicine worth $5 and they found $200 cash in his pockets. This really made me think why would he do that? He had the money to pay for it! Was it worth it? Now he has to pay a $1,000 fine for stealing! It just made me really sad.

Living Wide Awake

For the past week or two, I have been reading an absolutely AMAZING book, Wide Awake by Erwin McManus. It has really been rocking my world and radically changing the way I view my life and the world around me. He challenges us to dream bigger than we think possible. To not be afraid to stand up and work for what matters. And to be willing to each work in our own unique ways. I was talking to Mikey last night, after many days of thought and speculation (not that those days have stopped), and it occured to me that over the past few years I have grown up a lot, but not really into the person I dreamed of and thought of becoming. I have grown up like most people do. And that's not what I used to want. I told Mikey that the biggest way I've changed is that I used to think all of my quirks, the things that make me uniquely Anna, were cute and wonderful and everyone loved them. It never occurred to me, even past the years where most pre-teens and teenagers start questioning themselves and trying to fit in, that my differences could ever be a bad thing. I speak differently than a lot of people because my family always emphasized learning and grammar. I love medicine and science. I always loved going to school, learning new things. I didn't ask myself if I was taking on too much with five Bible Studies a week, leadership in a number of clubs, school, and ballet. I just did what I could do...filled up my hours with work, and I loved it! But somewhere over the past few years, I lost that joy, or at least parts of it. I started wondering if people liked me less because of my differences. My enjoyment of school became a thing I thought I needed to downplay so I wouldn't stand out so much. I lost sight of who God created me to be in a huge way. And as Philip McCart, the youth pastor at Northwoods said this morning, quoting the great philosopher Popeye the Sailor Man, "I've had all I can stands. And I can't stands no more!" I refuse to keep taking the path my heart and mind started taking unbeknownst to me. I refuse to keeping questioning who God made me to be. I refuse to stop dreaming dreams too big for this one human being. I refuse to stop learning and growing and reaching. I refuse to not enjoy school, everything I learn, every test of skill and knowledge. I refuse to give in, to stand for what the world has told me matters. I am who God created me to be, and to my dying day, I will dream and reach farther than humanly possible because it is God who works in me to his glory!!