We survived Back to School Sunday!

In case I have not told you...."I LOVE MY JOB". Willie and I are the Children's Pastors at our Church! I love it! We had our big Back to School Weekend! Our Pastor brought ALL the kids in this weekend and prayed over them! It was amazing time! We did fun stuff in kids...give aways, back to school photos, and and just had fun! Willie gave them a nugget about being a light in school. It was awesome! We have an amazing team that makes it happen each week!

I just wanted to share from my heart about kids! I might be biased but it is the best place to minister! The kids are so tender...and those that get it really LOVE Jesus...it is amazing! You should see them worship! You would really lose it....hands lifted high, eyes closed...it is truly unbelievable. I love the fact that they are learning to worship Him freely at such a young age!

I really would not trade what I do for anything...such a great harvest for God and I am truly grateful for the opportunity to serve Him in this capacity. I thank God for Pastors that have given us the opportunity. We do not take it for granted! There are some people that look at us funny when we say we work in Children's Ministry...especially when we look happy...but it is where we KNOW God has called us and we both love it!!!

We have the most amazing stories too!!! I might share some occasionally. The funniest part is they are like little adults...and very honest. I was told the other day by a boy that I must have been having a BAD hair day! You must know who you are in Christ or you would be crushed because the are HONEST. I just laughed and said, nope. I thought my hair was actually cute that day! Oh well!!!

Jesus said, Matthew 19:4 But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Proverbs also says, in 22:6, Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.

How can I not be excited about what I do? These precious ones are very important to the heart of God.....

Lazy Days!

You would think that I would have gotten something accomplished due to Tropical Storm Fay, but not a think...just a cramp in my neck from resting to much! I did absolutely nothing. I guess you can say it was a bit of rebellion....but who do I hurt myself. I did not one chore...and I could have done a few! I guess I have no reason to complain next week when I am behind. What pathetic beings we can be at times! Isaiah is always telling me to relax and I did just that...I had a hard time at first... a bit grumpy because I needed to get some things done at work and the office was closed....Finally realized God was in control..."imagine that??" Hey, I definitely believe that God was in this storm, I love it when he amazes, those meterologists, with all their snazzy little tracks. Then the stall that totally perplexed them..."hello?????" He is God!!!! Florida obviously needed rain...rain does prepare the ground for seed....is our land not dry and thirsty? Naturally, spiritually???? We have had some issues in Florida...so perhaps it was a cleansing rain??? Just some thoughts....

I love God....we must get to know Him! We must know the Character of God then we will learn how to respond in every situation. There are seasons in our lives we go through circumstances that force us to know His Character. I recently had a season where I have had to know Him as the God who Heals...not just physically. God heals us when we are hurt by others. Also a God or Refuge. Oh my did I learn that He was my safe place. I think about the Cities of Refuge in the Old Testament that men could run to to be safe when they were in trouble. Over the past few months I have had to run to God my place of Refuge. It was there that I found safety. It was not in my husband, kids or friends no matter how much they tried to comfort me it was in the Shadow of the Almighty. He is my place of Refuge. Thank you God for teaching me that you are my city of Refuge!!!!

Haven't been here so long!!!

Well it has been some time since I blogged!!!! I am doing EXCELLENT. It has been 1 year since we started in full-time ministry as the Children's Pastor and it is awesome. God has done such incredible things in our lives. There is nothing better than living for Him!!! Taste and see that he is good!!!! Oh my gosh!!!! Well, we are loving being the Children's Pastors. I love those kids. There are hearts are so pure. You should see them worship...with hands lifted high....it brings me to tears each week!!! I am so thankful that God has entrusted us with those kids and I would not trade it for anything. We love it!!! I could go on and on....they are absolutely adorable. No matter what kind a day I have had when I step into that Kids room, the warm hugs and smiles changes everything!

The boys are fine, Nathan moved into an apartment this year! It's a new season. Hey parents I am loving this season. I have learned to trust God in a whole new way with Nate! He is so independent. I don't even worry about him, I pray for Him, but have completely given Him to the care of Jesus. Oh how precious that I have a Savior I can trust with him...I actually sleep really well at night!

Isaiah, is good. He is the new DJ at church. It is so him...he thinks he is so cool! you know? God did some big stuff with him this summer....helped him through some personal tough times, friend, decisions, peer pressure, teenage stuff you know! It was very transforming for him. It was a time of listening and redirecting for us as parents. We all grew through it!!! Praise God.

You know as a parent, I just want to encourage my friends that parenting is not easy but when you remember that the kids ultimately belong to God it changes everything. We must learn to release our children to God. He loves them and has their best interest at heart!!! Even you would just believe that you will have so much peace. I am so much better now that I have embraced that concept. God is a safe place for our kids, and prayer is our weapon of warfare.

Well, that is it in a nutshell...I will share more about what God has done in me....later...hopefully it won't take a year!! love ya

I'm back!!!

Hey, thanks to Ms. Fritiz, I am back to blogging. I have been silent for a while. I have been busy! Willie and I have started out new jobs at Celebration Church of Jacksonville. We love it! Our offices are right next door to each other, that is diffent! Anyways, Willie is the kids Pastor. I work alongside him with. I am the Growth Track Director. I work with Spiritual Formation of our congregation. I am the teaching assistant for our Leadership College this semester. It has been fun teach the class so far. We are basically covering the Foundation of our faith, living principles, etc. It has been a blast for me, hopefully the students feel the same.

What have I done fun lately, well, I went to night of Joy in Orlando and danced in the streets of Disney singing, Mary Mary's Shackles and Chris Tomlin's Healed! What a night, I went with my friends, Rhonda, Hope and Marcia. We got to bed at 3:00am. It was so much fun.

How have I embarassed myself lately....oh showed up to a wedding 2 hours late, and didn't even know it until I had been there about 10 minutes. It was hilarious after I got past the moment of shock! As my friend Arlene would say to me, "you dork!"

The boys are good....Isaiah is doing Youthquake Live again! Nathan is still in school, he is tutoring this semester! Doing good!

love and hugs,
lisaa

Enjoying time off!!!

You would think that if I had been off since the 25th that I would have blogged by now...but I have been way to busy cleaning my house. I did the final touches today, after we shipped Isaiah off to Peru!!! My baby is gone and guess what I am fine!!! I am so excited to see how God will use him. I have asked him to journal, since he can write and is very creative, we'll see. He says he will but will probably forget.

Nathan is still home, he is lonely though Scarlette is gone for 3 weeks and he is kitten sitting their kitten. I am not that fond of kittens. Now that Isaiah is gone during the day the kitten will probably not have as much freedom as he did when Isaiah was home, when Nathan is at work. His name is Flash, go figure!

Willie and I are counting the days until we are official Celebration Staffers. Their is nothing like serving Jesus. We start on the 15th of August! Did I say that we are excited??

Well will chat later!

love and hugs,
Lisa

Almost a month!

What's up? It has been almost a month since I posted. Boy, have I been busy. Since the last time I was here, we had a family reunion. Boy, did God do incredible stuff. We had such a great time. My oldest sister and I did all the planning what a job! Neither one of us are ready to tackle that again any time soon! The fruit of our work was great though. Everyone had a great time. I even got to sing! I threatened the DJ and he gave me the mic.....I have been asked by all close and distant family members NEVER to sing again! I had a blast and to God I give all the glory!!!

Well, in about 2 weeks Isaiah is off to Peru for a mission trip with the Church. God has really provided almost all the the funding to go... thanks so much to many of you. We know that God is going to do something so incredible with Isaiah while he is there. He is excited and so are we....pray for that his passport will come soon.

Nathan has about a month month and he will be off to school once again. I am not so sure how he and Scarlette are going to do with their time apart. They spend every moment they are not at work or sleeping together. Oh to be in Love!

Willie is good. We are just super excited about starting at Celebration in August. Since we said yes to God...so many trials have come to our lives but we are trusting God. And we know we have victory in Him! No weapon formed against us shall prosper. We know that God is going to continue to use us mightily. We are pumped for Jesus!!!

Big NEWS!!!!

Well, here it is...Willie and I are going into full-time Ministry on August 15th! We are super excited and praising God! Many of you have prayed for us forever, and saw this coming way before we did! We are so grateful for the prayers and encouragement. Many of you have just blessed our lives tremendously. We are eternally grateful for your love, support and prayers and covet more as we begin to do move into full-time ministry. Willie and I are going to be the Children's Pastors at our church. For all the Washington people, please let our Emmanuel children know, I think my fourth grade Sunday school girls will love it! We can't wait to see what God is going to do with our lives. Willie and I have both informed our current employers and though they hate to see us go...have encouraged us. God is so good and we love serving Him!!!!