Kyleeisms

This will be an ongoing blog to keep track of all the funny things Kylee says! Enjoy! You have to read each one with a sassy attitude and a head bob. 

*Uncle Snake was shoveling sand from a big sand pile in Pappy and FiFi's driveway. Kylee asks him, "Isn't it rude when someone does something to someone?" Snake, "yes." Kylee, "well you're doing something to me. You're messing up my sandcastle!" 

*I was trying to get Kylee dressed for family pictures. When she wouldn't cooperate and I got a little frustrated with her she asked me, "Why you bein' so dramatic?" 

*I was telling Kylee she needed to sleep by herself in her own bed tonight and she asked, "can God sleep with me?!" 

*FiFi needed to use the bathroom, but I was in there taking a shower. Kylee told her, "Go use Mommy's bathroom." FiFi said, "But your mommy is taking a shower." Kylee replies, "so! She's not sitting on the toilet!" 

*Kylee was sitting on the potty and she looks up and says, "Hey Mommy! I'm pooping out those two bananas!" Oh good grief!

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Sitting on the Play Set

It is a glorious Monday in the Van Sant backyard! I'm currently sitting in the fort of the kid's play set. Kylee invited me to join her and of course I can't resist that sweet raspy voice and precious smile. She's such a crazy, rebellious, sassy, little girl but she has a big heart for The Lord! She loves singing praise and worship and telling people about Jesus. 

Today Matt Redman's "10,000 Reasons" has been stuck in my head. I was walking around singing it when Kylee asked me to download it on iTunes! Yep! My 3 year old knows all about iTunes! 

Again it's hard to turn down a 3 year old screaming, "bless Th Lord oh my so oh oh my so worsh he holy name. . ." (There's no typos), so of course I did. Needless to say she's made me play it 100 times today, but that's okay because it's such a great song I don't mind at all. 

So back to the fort. We're on the fort and the wind is blowing in our hair, it's a wonderfully cool evening and she wants me  to turn on "ohhhhh my so" again! As I stood driving our "ship" we were loudly singing the song and enjoying the view of the neighborhood from this "ship!" What a sweet reminder of the beauty we see everywhere that is Christ. As I looked out over the yards surrounding us, I felt overwhelmed by His presence. 

God is everywhere, we just have to open our hearts and minds to see him. I feel His presence in some of the simplest, most basic ways. We don't have to be out on a mission trip or trying to save the world to acknowledge Him being with us. Christ is all around us, protecting us, loving us, encouraging us, engaging us in conversation, and showing us the beauty of this wonderful life. . . We just have to open our eyes to it and feel the blessings. 

My prayer for you is that you will open your heart, mind, and eyes to the beauty of Christ in your life. He's with you even when you feel all alone. He's with you during trials and triumphs. He wants to move into your personal space and get deep in conversation with you. He wants nothing more than to feel your love and energy. Engage Him today. I pray you reach out, cry out, yell out, or simply speak out to Him today and ask Him to move in your life. He will be there for you. He will console you. He will love you. He will always be faithful. But relationships aren't a one-way street! You have to reciprocate and be in the relationship with Him, too. Acknowledge him in all you do. Every great blessing comes from Him so give Him all the glory today and always.

That's my prayer for you. 

There's no such thing as a coincidence!

There were some pretty amazing things that happened on our trip! Moments which really prove there is a wonderful God in heaven! When people refute my God, these are the types of examples I use. Things that happen way too perfectly are without a doubt blessings handed down from Him. 

For this reason, I do not believe in coincidences. God very intentionally puts people in our paths to grow us in some way. He put a sad lady on Skid Row in our path so we could prove to her she isn't forgotten. He put a hipster dog-walker in our path so we could simply show him compassion. He put 2 pastors in our path to open our minds up to other ideas of Christianity. Maybe these aren't His reasons, but I definitely took something away from each of these encounters with strangers. I know His plan is much greater than what I can wrap my brain around, but for now, this is how I see it. 

These people didn't by chance cross into our lives. . . It wasn't just a coincidence that we were seeking God's wisdom and the pastor preached about that very thing! It wasn't a coincidence we were at Echo Park and just so happened to pass the dog walker. It wasn't a coincidence we were at the Dream Center the same week as the pastors from Indiana. God very intentionally put us where we needed to be when we needed to be there!  

I look at each of these scenarios as sweet blessings from Him. God continues to work on my heart even after I'm thousands of miles away from LA. He continues to plant seeds in me, which enables me to plant seeds in others. 

I wish I could step out of my moment for just a minute and see what's happening with Kawana, Dillon, Jared, and Chris. I wish I could see the work being done in their lives! I'm so thankful we serve a God who is so much bigger than anything we can imagine and I'm confident they are well taken care of! 

I continue to pray blessings over all the men, women, and children I came into contact with while in LA! They are destined for greatness and I hope they put their faith in God to get them there!!! 

Sidewalk Sunday School

The following is a collection of pictures from Kids Jam Sidewalk Sunday School. We went into Compton, Watts, and South Central to bring a Biblical message to the kids. 

In the second neighborhood we went to, there was a really sweet grandma who stayed and listened to the lesson. She kept interjecting witty comments. The best was when she was speaking about the girl teaching the lesson, "She love Jesus so much, she don't even know she in danger!" I guess that's true. I remember a few years ago Pastor Tim encouraged us to get dangerous for Jesus. . . Although it didn't feel like it, I guess these are considered dangerous areas of LA. 

SSS starts off with volunteers loving on kids. I played duck-duck-goose, Red Rover-Red Rover and UNO! It was so much fun! Once we played a while, we had "tarp time" where the kids sit on the blue tarp to hear the Bible lesson. The lesson was "Honor your father and mother," Matthew 15:4. They gave the kids a simple way they can do this: A- through their attitude, B- through their behavior, and C- through their communication. The funny grandma made sure to say to honor your grandmother, too. 

This was definitely a rewarding experience. I love watching kids get excited about God. 

Trusting God

Serving at the Dream Center proved to be the highlight of my summer! It definitely helped me to step out in faith and meet new people, pray with people, and encourage people. 

Walking through Echo Park and inviting people to the Dream Center's Back-to-School Bash ended up being one of my favorite activities! Erica and I prayed with so many people! Until then, I haven't ever prayed for strangers on the street! It was so neat to offer prayers to people and for them to actually accept! We even had one sweet couple who prayed for us. It's powerful to share our love of Christ with others and to simply show them His love through our actions. We didn't overload people with Jesus, we simply showed them we cared about them and we engaged in conversation with them. 

Sometimes we try to make things too difficult. The truth is, you don't have to have all the Bible knowledge in the world to successfully lead people to Christ. Actually I'm pretty sure some of the most successful proselytizers simply show people they care. Sometimes the overbearing scripture-quoting Christ followers seem too intimidating to people, therefore pushing them away, rather than drawing them near. I'm not saying that to offend anyone, but to really drive home the simple fact that you don't have to be well versed in scripture to get people to follow. Simply witnessing love and compassion draws people to Christ. I'd like to think we planted seeds that day we walked Echo Park.

God is so good and I can't imagine living a life without Him. By accepting His son, we are guaranteed a spot in heaven and It's our job to make sure heaven is filling up!!! I don't want my influence to end in California... I want to continue to witness to people through my sincerity, my love, my compassion, and my smile. 

Let’s not get tired of doing good, because in time we’ll have a harvest if we don’t give up. So then, let’s work for the good of all whenever we have an opportunity, and especially for those in the household of faith. (Galatians 6:9, 10 CEB)

God's Wisdom

Pastor Chris preached about submitting to God's wisdom rather than human wisdom. As we worked at the Dream Center last week, we kept this at the forefront of our thoughts knowing we would all be stepping out of our comfort zones to reach people for Christ.

Society tells us too often that we're not good enough, we're not strong enough, we're too weak, we're not worthy, we're too skinny, we're too fat; the list could go on and on. While society is filling up our heads with these nagging thoughts, we tend to submit to this human wisdom, rather than the One who refutes each one of these thoughts. It's easy to collapse under the pressure and submit to what society thinks about us. For whatever personal reason there may be, we tend to ignore our wonderful Creator's opinions of us, thus pushing aside God's wisdom. 

Not only is it hard to see ourselves the way God sees us, it's hard to see others the way God sees them. God created every single human on this planet in His image with his own talents to offer. God loves the smallest and weakest all the way up to the biggest and strongest. No person "falls through the cracks" in God's eyes. He knows us. He yearns for a personal relationship with all 7 odd billion of us. 

My week at the Dream Center taught me so many lessons, I can't imagine being able to write about every single little "ah ha" moment I experienced. But. there's one thing that was made extremely clear to me through this journey: to love people

Like God loves people. Put everything else aside and give people grace. Give people the benefit of the doubt and show them sincere care and worth. Everyone, no matter how rich or poor, can surely use prayer, love, and encouragement. There's no one "too far gone" for God's grace and love. Why do humans think they get to make that decision about fellow humans??? None of us are God! 

We simply submit to God's commandment to love each other. (John 15:17) When we start seeing each other through God's vision, we gain a greater understanding and appreciation for humanity. We start to understand that God's wisdom is so much better than human wisdom! When we listen to God's  word and truly seek Him, it's so much easier for us to get out of our comfort zone and do His work! 

God's wisdom trumps human wisdom every single time. Seek His ways in all you do. 

Visit to Venice Beach

Here's our group before we go to the Dream Center! 

LA Dream Center

Today is the day! We're heading to Los Angeles to do as God asked us to; to continue His unfinished work. I'm not sure what to expect once we arrive to the Dream Center, but I do know God is going to work through us ladies in a way we could never imagine. He's totally awesome that way. Follow our journey through my blog! Thanks for all the love, prayers, and support!!! Let God's will be done!

Turning Down the Devil

There are times when my mouth gets the best of me. My tongue is sharp and my emotions high. In the midst of my anger I'll pour out every cutting remark I possibly can. In those moments I'm not worried about feelings or friendships, grace or forgiveness. I'm focused on me. My hurt. My worry. My cut. My pain. My anger. 

That's the simple problem here: me. I am not in this alone. I'm on a team. A team who should represent all that is holy, mighty, and courageous in this fallen world. I'm on a team where the members show each other grace, they forgive, they love, and they serve. This team has a head coach who led by example when he was on this earth. He never sinned. He forgave. He loved. He cared. He was absolutely perfect. He showed us how our mouths should speak and our hands should serve. He did not make cutting remarks to the thousands who cursed him. He prayed for them, he asked for God's grace to come raining down upon his enemies. 

Oh how difficult that must have been! 

I never thought of my raw emotions like this before. It's true, though! Whose team am I on? Am I on God's team? The other team is the one of fire and flames. There's two choices. When I'm ugly with my actions and words Satan is cheering and tallying up more points. But, when I'm encouraging and using my words in an empowering way, my team stays ahead. 

In the moments of raw emotions, I'm learning it's better to stay quiet then fill the room with words I'll later regret. It's best to keep my temper at bay and try to resolve problems in a more healthy way. 

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. (Proverbs 15:1 NIV)

I'm practicing the gentleness in which Christ handles me. He takes care of my every need all the while ensuring life lessons are being taught at every turn and corner. When we are gentle and kind with our words, we are extending grace and perhaps even forgiveness to whoever we are upset with. Shouting hurtful words or scornful name-calling gives way to the devil and only hardens our own heart. 

Next time you're upset and in the midst of your raw emotion remember to ask yourself, "whose team am I on?" If the answer is God's team, remember what we learned when we were little, "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." It sounds so cliche, but honestly, it's the best policy!