Thankful Thursday Week 2

Wow, this week has been awesome! So many amazing things have happened! So Here's what I'm thankful for this week!

1.) New friends. There's a new girl who moved into town to nanny for a family at church and she's awesome

2.) Sweet Endings. It's a coffee shop in the center of town where I've chilled out at for the last 3 days straight for various reasons! They make some pretty killer coffee and pastries!

3.) My car. Even though it has 154,000 miles on it, it gets me to where I need to go and it hardly costs me any money, minus all of the repairs, but hey I don't have a car payment!

4.) Cardboard Testimonies. If you don't know what they are you need to watch this video.

5.) Valley View Chapel. Over this past year I have felt so welcomed by everyone there and I have grown so much because of these people. I've never felt like my opinions have mattered this much in my entire life. They are so supportive!

6.) New Release Tuesday. I love finding new music and this week a ton of people/bands came out with new music and it was all amazing! http://www.newreleasetuesday.com/

7.) My Bible Study Girls. I look forward to sharing with them every week and the support and encouragement that they give! I love them so much!

8.) Skype. I get to keep in contact with friends all over the world because of it!

9.) Friends Blogs. I love being able to see into different parts of people's lives when I don't get to see them very often!

10.) NJ Hire and the star ledger .com. They are providing lots of insight on different jobs in the area!

Wow, I have so much to be thankful for this week! What are you thankful for?

Meeting People

When I was younger I had a really hard time meeting new people and really getting to know them because I had so many insecurities with myself. Why? I can honestly say that I was trying to change myself on my own. I didn't know who I was and what I was doing on this earth. I didn't like the way I looked. I was always taller than other kids my age, I was always heavier than kids my age, I had big feet, I wore glasses and I just didn't know how to talk to them. I have always been able to converse better with people who are older than me than my peers. That is up until now!

Over this last year I've been able to communicate so much better with people. I've always made excuses that I just don't know what to talk about, but while in college the church I went to www.aletheiachurch.com talked about rocking Philippians 2! "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others." (philippians 2:3-4)

So you may be asking yourself, what does that mean? Simply it means to always look at others better than yourself. It means, not focusing on you but on other people on their issues, on their hurt, on their needs before your own. Each one of us is selfish. It's one of the many sins that plagues each one of us. So how do we get rid of this sin? How do we become better people? How do we emulate Jesus? Because that is the only man who is better than all of us! The only man who is perfect, pure and holy, blameless and without sin.

1.) We need to recognize that we are full of sin, that we are worth nothing except that our debts have been paid for. How was that paid for you ask. Well, God sent His one and only son Jesus to earth to live as a human. He grew up amongst the people and as He got older He began to preach the truth. After 33 years on earth and Jesus was betrayed, brought before His own people who exchanged Him for a prisoner. Then he was nailed to a cross and that's where He died. Three days after His death He rose! What? Yes, He rose from His grave and took his rightful seat next to His father in Heaven. He paid the ultimate price for our shortcomings, our sins, HE DIED for US! How awesome!

2.) Repent of our sins and believe that Jesus died to save us. Acts 20:21 What does that mean, that you are truly sorry for everything that you've done wrong and that you want to change, that you believe that Jesus was sent to this earth to die for us and that because of His death and resurrection that He paid for our sins so that we may also be in Heaven one day!

3.) Start looking to Jesus to see how we're suppose to act. So many people have this negative connotation of Christians because we screw up all the time and people only see what we do and how we act and well, we're are terrible examples of Christ. So we need to be sure that we're looking to Him each and every day to find out what part of us needs work.

With all of this we can learn how to put people before us and learn how to care for them. This product is called Rocking Philippians 2! Not hard at all! When you rock Philippians 2 you can talk to anyone because we can all talk on and on about ourselves.

If you're having trouble talking to people after all of this, sit down and make a list of questions that people ask you. Include follow up questions as well so that you can find out more about them!

Keep Rocking Philippians 2!

New Music Tuesday

Wow, this week was an awesome week for the world of Contemporary Christian Music! Today alone Passion, Adie Camp, Sanctus Real and Chasen came out with new CD's!

Let me tell you the Passion CD is AMAZING! How could it not be amazing! You have people like Christy Nockles, Chris Tomlin, Kristian Stanfill, David Crowder, Hillsong, Matt Redman and Fee on there! That is one stacked team of worship leaders and bands! I've just been blown away by this cd! During worship planning today we decided to sing a new song off the album called Our God. The song is so powerful. You can check it out on worshiptogether.com. It's their featured song of the week. It's really super easy to play and super easy to sing! We're going to sing it in a little over a week and I'm super excited!

Now when you read the names of the bands that came out with new music today you probably read Adie Camp and asked "Who is that?" Well, she is the wife of Jeremy Camp (also another super awesome christian music artist). I did listen to the entire preview of the album and didn't really care for it the first time I took a listen but then I went back and listened a second time and loved it! So, I would really recommend it! Her music is calmer, so if you're looking for a rocking worship album I don't recommend it, but there is something so reflective about the music she chose! She does cover Hillsong United's "All I need is you" and I must admit that I do like her version better. It's a lot simpler and it helps you to hear a smaller band pulling it off. I must admit that some of the louder, broader songs do intimidate me because I'm worried that we don't have the band power to pull it off because let's be honest I just want to copy the song. Although, there is something really sweet about making a song your own!

So, that's the new music report thus far! I haven't had time to listen to the new Sanctus Real CD all the way through yet, so I'll be sure to keep you updated!

Wow, a whole 2 days!

Wow, I went 2 whole days without blogging! I'm going to have to catch up tomorrow because it's way too late now! Today was great!

What a Morning

All I can say is WOW, this morning was awesome!

A group of young college and career men and women went to Newark to serve and man was it an awesome time! We show up just as the kids are showing up and we signed some paperwork and then had our little orientation. Then we finally got to start getting to know the kids. There were only two girls there this morning and about eight boys, which was perfect because our group was nearly the same number! Well, as soon as I started playing a game with one of the girls, I was whisked away by one of the teachers of the school. She goes to my church and although I don't know her, I felt like I did about 30 minutes later.

She took me on a tour of the school which has about ten teachers and eighty students. They have to combine both Kindergarten and first and then fifth and sixth grade because they do not have enough teachers for all of the students. As we were walking around she said, "You should consider working here." As we were walking one of the students walked with us as I got the grand tour and she asked if I was going to be one of their teachers. I can't tell you how I felt at that moment! These last few weeks of unemployment have been hard, and my heart was just tugged so hard at that moment because here is a student who really wants to learn and I've only known her for ten minutes and she already wants me to come and be one of her teachers. So, now I've got this little voice in my head telling me that I should be asking for an application, but another saying, What are you talking about, this is Newark, this is an inner city school, you can't handle this!

Wow, sounds like some spiritual warfare if you ask me. So, we continue our tour, I get to meet another teacher, and hear more about what it's like to be a teacher at that school. Let me tell you it sounds like an amazing experience that is incredibly rewarding, but at this moment I can't determine if this is something that Meaghan wants or if this is something that God wants.

After my tour I go back downstairs and the kids are playing games so I join in. I felt like I was in gym class all over again. We played steal the bacon, I'm pretty sure I haven't played that since elementary school with Mr. Slack. It was pretty fun, minus the fact that I was wearing clogs and I didn't exactly where the best clothes for playing body contact type games. Next, we got to listen in on the prayer requests of the kids, and the worship time and the introduction of the teaching lesson. Once that happened we started getting ready for lunch. We were serving the kids hotdogs.

While some of the members of our group were cooking the rest of us took a tour of the upstairs section of the building. We got to see where they hold youth group events and then where we're going to be staying this summer when we have our missions trip there. I can't even express how excited I am about this trip. This is going to be my first missions trip ever, and I can already tell that it's going to be AMAZING! We saw where we're going to stay and we even got to go up on the roof and look out over the city of Newark and you can even see NYC from there! Normally I wouldn't think of it being the nicest landscape to look at, but let me tell you there was something so beautiful about it.

We went back downstairs and ate with the kids and hung out with them a little more and then it was time for them to go home. It was so much fun getting to know them this this morning! We're going to be back there in two weeks and I'm already excited! I never thought I would enjoy something like this, although I don't know why because I love kids, and I love serving other people and I really like VBS weeks and well this is like VBS but all year round!

It's amazing how closed minded I am. I didn't think I was closed minded, but each day I'm finding out more and more that I really am. I'm also comfortable, too comfortable. I always said that I would never work in an inner city school, well after today I could see myself working there. All morning I couldn't stop thinking about my grandfather. It's been nearly 5 months since he died and he's always on my mind in some way. Today I couldn't stop thinking about him. I can only imagine that he was looking down on me this morning and smiling. He loved Newark, he loved teaching. The week before he died I went to go see him with my parents and I had taken papers with me to grade and I could tell how happy he was to see sharing the same passion for his craft, teaching. I'm tearing up just thinking about it! I miss him. It's strange because I forget sometimes that he's not with us anymore.

I'm so thankful today. I'm thankful for crumbling of the walls that I've put up around my heart. I'm thankful for the work that He's doing in my life, each and every day. For the passion that He's given me for teaching and for serving! I know that Jeremiah 29:11 is a verse that keeps arising in different areas of my life for a reason! I keep praying for the answers to those questions, and I am confident in the fact that His plans are to "prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future."

Helping People

Tomorrow morning the college and career group from my church is heading into Newark to serve at a World Impact center! I can't tell you how excited I am at this opportunity to serve! I feel like I haven't done enough to help the youth of today, especially those who are less fortunate than I, and especially those kids who sort of live in my back yard!

I'm so excited to be His hands and feet tomorrow morning! I'm excited about meeting the kids, working with them, getting to know them and starting to build relationships with them! I'm praying tonight that He will open up many doors tomorrow, that the kids will be receptive and that I'll be a willing vessel! Oh, how closed minded I can be sometimes, and well, that hinders my ability to serve. So, I'm praying for being as open minded tomorrow I can!

I can't wait to report back about all of the super cool things that happen tomorrow! If you're in the Northern NJ area tomorrow morning and want to come serve, just meet at Valley View Chapel at 830 sharp!! I'm sure you won't regret it!

I think that I may have a problem

It's Friday night and well I've been sitting in my bed for the last 2 hours. What the heck is wrong with me? I am 22 years old and it's a Friday night, but instead of going out and doing something fun I caught up on my TV shows for the week. My night wasn't a complete waste because I did have dinner with the parents, which has happened now 3 times this week. I'm pretty sure it's a new record.....well since I started college. We had sushi, it was delicious!

Okay, so now onto the problem! I'm pretty sure I'm a TV addict. Why do you ask? Well, here is the list of TV shows that I watch!

Sunday Night: Army Wives (It's only on during the summer I might add)

Monday Night: 24 (Final Season)

Tuesday Night: LOST (Final Season)
GLEE (On Hiatus due to American Idol, which I must say is the worst show ever)

Thursday Night: Fringe

Grey's Anatomy

Private Practice

Okay so that's 7 shows. What the heck is wrong with me! I think I may be missing some too! Plus, I don't ever watch Thursday night TV anymore because I'm never home on time from band practice, so I have to waste 3 hours of my life during the week to catch up! Oh man, I need to find other things to do with my life! But, I must admit that 2 of my shows are in their final seasons, so next year that's 2 fewer shows and Army Wives is only on during the summer months, although I feel like it's starting earlier than usual this year, which I'm praying that means it will be on for longer!

So, I just thought that I would put it out there that I am a TV addict! That's all for now!

Oh, I forgot to mention how excited I am about the week of April 11th! Army Wives and Glee return in the same week! YES! WOOOHOOOOO