I'm Amazed Everyday!

Like I mentioned in my first blog, I'm moving into a fabulous apartment in 5 days! I never really realized just how much it actually costs to be independent, but I'm beginning to see why some people live at home for so long (Hey, I've got 23 years going for me, so that is in no way a knock at some of you who are still at home). I began to start budgeting just how much I was willing to pay for things and started surfing the web to find great deals I could take advantage of (Ikea.com is a live-saver!). First on my plate; a dinning room set. Come to find out, my parents were just going to give me theirs. Awesome, right? Next up, various kitchen stuff. Here's where my amazing friend Jill comes into play...She just happened to have a whole room full of random decorations (many of which were kitchen related) and said to me one day, "Just come over and take whatever you want!" So I did. Now, not only is my kitchen complete, she also gave me various wall hangings and decorations that will basically keep my apartment decorated until whenever I decide to buy new stuff...which will probably be never because if you know my friend Jill, you know she's got an eye for decorating, so everything is beautiful. Awesome, again, right? The last stop on my journey to independence was a trip to the magical Couch-Buying Land. I'm not gonna lie, this was the part I feared the most. Big furniture is SO expensive. Well, I began to pray that God would just provide me a couch. I've been praying this for about a month, and it seemed He had given a way out. A friend of my roommate was going to sell her couch to us once she moved out of her place to get married...The only catch was that we weren't going to get it until mid to late June. All I could think was that we were going to have a livingroom full of neon green and pink bean bag chairs transforming what I thought was going to be my classy apartment to the dorm room I so longed to leave. But, it was a steal ($125.00) and was in pretty good shape. Fast forward to about 2 hours ago. I was informed that my dad was helping my uncle move some new furniture into his gigantic home and lo and behold, one of those items was a new couch. What was he going to do with the other one, you ask? Well let me tell you! He was going to sell it, but, being the persuasive (or manipulative, your call) girl that I am, I called him and asked him if he'd keep me in mind as he was preparing to part with his old couch. Not only did he keep me in mind, he just gave it to me. So here I am with a $3,000.00 Broyhill suade-leather infusion chocolate brown couch sitting in my garage just waiting to be moved into my livingroom! God is good! I never, ever, thought my first place on my own would be as awesome as it's going to be. I can't even begin to tell you how thankful I am for everything. I can't wait to roll up my sleeves and get my place moved into and decorated. So yeah, that's it for today. If you're not busy on Saturday, I could sure use some help with all my awesome stuff! :) I leave you with a picture of my niece that has NOTHING to do with the post, but she's so freaking cute, she doesn't have to:

To Change the World

It always seems to me that God speaks to me the most when I'm driving in my car. It never fails...I turn on the engine, hop on I4 and then it happens. For those of you who don't personally know me, I drive about an hour every day to and from work/school (but that changes to a 15 minute drive in a week PRAISE GOD!) so thankfully, there's a lot of time available for God to speak. This is how it went down the other day:

I borrowed the new Hillsong Live CD from my buddy Lindsey, so I popped it in to get me through a horrible traffic-filled drive through the interchange of I4 and I75. On this particular CD, it's a complilation of the Hillsong crew singing all over the world. The album is done in English, but there's this one small track that's in Spanish. It was recorded in Paraguay or something like that, but anyway, it was not in English. I was listening to these people praise God in their own language to a song that was written in a language they normally would not know and my soul just began to long for something. I want my music to be the kind of music that transcends language barriers for one sole purpose: to praise God. God began to speak to me to tell me that that is a totally possible. So that's my goal for the rest of my years as a worship leader. I will make music that allows people from every part of the world to truely worship God with everything.

Life

So this is my first blog on this site. I randomly blog on my myspace, but I want to make this a regular thing for me. So here it goes:

I've made my decision. I'm transferring (yes, again) to USF to finish my schooling in the area of "Social Science". I'll basically be able to study History and Humanities and then one day teach them on a high school level. This shift in my life is brought on by a number of reasons, but one reason seems to stick out to me more than any other...I want to graduate. If I were to stay a music major, I'd be in Lakeland for another 2 years (with senior recital, piano profeciancy, and all the religion classes I'd be required to take). So I'm done. Life will be better and I think I'll actually get a job when I graduate now. Hah.

Another huge event taking place in my life right now is my move into my very own apartment! May 3, 2008 will be the day I take the leap from my parent's nest and begin to be a real adult. Scary, I know. But hey, it's about time. I'm so very excited about the opportunity to be on my own (with my dog and a few roommates). I've been discovering my "Martha Stewart" side and I have to say, it's becoming stronger every day. I'm buying decorations for my kitchen and imagining little ways to make the place fabulous. My husband will be a lucky man. I'm all about being a housewife.

Other than all the changes going on, life is awesome. My job is wonderful, my family is doing awesome, and Element church is up and running! I can't wait to see where God takes us with this. I know awesome things are about to happen and I'm so blessed to even be considered to be a part of this movement.

As this week begins, I'm reminded that God is a great God and He uses things we deem insignificant to radically change our thinking. I'm praying that this week, I keep my mind open enough to hear from Him.