5th Sunday Service

Well I just wanted to tell you a little about the awesome service that we had on Sunday. Every 5th Sunday of the year we have a special service of some kind. They start at 11 a.m. which is later than our normal services. This 5th Sunday was AWESOME!!! I know that is the second time I said that, but it needs repeating.

When we walked into service you could already feel God's presence, in the sanctuary. It was heavy like a thick fog. When service started, and everyone started to worship, there was an energy that could not be explained. Even Brother David, who was leading service said, "If you need something from God raise your hands as we worship".

We had a special speaker that morning, Brother Krupp, but he didn't even get to preach. God took over the service, and the Holy Ghost began to move. It seemed that everyone got touched in the service. The youth surrounded each other and prayed for each other. It was neat to see them minister to one another.

The service lasted for 3 & 1/2 hours, but it was an AWESOME service. It ended with someone getting baptized. I am so excited about God's move in this service, and am expecting great things this year!!

I hope that you have a Blessed day!!

God Bless,
Nicole

Happy Birthday DAD!

I just wanted to post something for my dad, because his birthday just past.

Dad,

I want you to know that you are such an important part of my life. I know that when I have something that I need to talk about that I can come to you. Not a lot of children have that, and I really value it.

You are doing such a wonderful job, in all that you do. Especially in God's service. Your dedication to A.C.T.S. is really something to be commended. I just want to let you know, to not be discouraged, and continue to seek God, for His direction. I hope that you had a great birthday. And I love you very much!

Love,
Nicole

Youth Service 1/27/06

Another awesome youth service!!

Though it was not a typical AFT youth service, I really feel that it really touched the kids. I know that it touched me. We started by reading an article, from The Denver Post. Here is the link if you would like to read it, http://denverpost.com/search/ci_3426221. Then we had about a 1/2 an hour discussion about it.

Then we sang a few worship songs, with Kelsey Cook as our pianist. Which was really awesome. After that we did something a little different, a scripture study. We read the following scriptures, Deuteronomy 30:19-21 and Psalm 119:165. We read them out of all different translations such as: King James, New King James, Amplified, New Living, and Young's Literal. We then discussed which translation was the clearest, and which translations we didn't like. It was really awesome to center that part of the youth service around the WORD.

I hope that God Blesses you through out your day!

God Bless,
Nicole

Youth Service on 1/20/06

God really moved in our service on Friday night. We planned service like we were in a country where there wasn't religious freedom. We all sat on the floor in a circle and prayed and worshipped quietly, so we wouldn't get "caught". Little did the youth know that Jacob was hiding in my pastor's office and was going to come in and catch us all. So we had the youth quote some scripture that we had them memorize, and that is when "the police" attacked. The youth were so surprised, they took off running like crazy, and Sister Irene (our youth leader) was "arrested".

I then started to teach on, if all this was true, do we love God enough, to still be a Christian. I talked about the different people in the Bible that served God, even though they were persecuted. Then at the end of the teaching I put up a powerpoint. Each slide had one of their names, and a question for them. It asked them, "Do you love me more than these?" which is from the Bible. Then under the question, there was a picture of Jesus looking down, and a bunch of pictures of things in a teenagers life. Things such as a CD player, and a x-box. The point was that it was ok to like this stuff, but not to put more value in that, then their walk with Jesus Christ.

The service went really well. My sister said that it was one of the best services we have ever had. Well I hope that you have a very blessed day!

God Bless,
Nicole

A Quick Question

I would love to get some feedback on this post. Today in class we talked about the separation of church and state. More specifically the tax exempt status of religious organizations (I am not just talking about Christian churches, it includes mosques, and synagogues, or any place of worship). The topic was raised about knowing where the funds of these organizations is going. For instance are the funds of these organizations going to support terroist activities. What do you think, should the public or government, be able to find out what they are funding?

Well, I hope that you have a Blessed Day!

God Bless,
Nicole

Follow Me

I was thinking yesterday about how wonderful God is. To think that each of us are so insignificant, yet God chose to love us. He chose to robe Himself in flesh, walk among us, be persecuted, and die a gruesome death. He did all of that, yet gave us the choice to live for Him. I do not want to waste my time on earth, on petty things. I want to do what I can for Him today.

My prayer is that each day, I renew my commitment with Christ. That there wasn't a day that went by that I didn't think about the sacrifice that Christ made. That I would be able to tell someone about Christ today, because tomorrow might be to late. My most important decision in my life was to follow Him. However, it is not a one time thing. You can't follow Him for one day, and you go to heaven. It is a daily path, and it changes your life forever.

Yet I can not say that there is one thing that I regret with my walk with Jesus. My life is far better now, than it was before. Before I chose to follow him, I was headed down a path of destruction. I am glad that as a teenager I chose to follow Christ, instead of getting messed up with drugs and alcohol, and becoming yet another statistic. But I am not a statisic, and for that I am thankful. THANK YOU GOD!!!

Well, I hope that you have a Blessed Day!

God Bless,
Nicole

My Weekend

Well my weekend was busy, but pretty wonderful. The youth rally on Friday was awesome. God really moved in the service, and the preaching was awesome. The message was called, Addicted, he talked about habit Christians do what they are supposed to do, however minimally. But a Christian that was addicted would come in to service, even when they don't feel like it, and give God their all.

Saturday, my family celebrated my grandma, and my, birthday. My mom made chicken and dumplins, and it was soo good. (I have to confess that I ate way to much.) We had strawberry cake, and strawberry frosting, it was really rich but very good.

Sunday morning was Sunday School. We had a very good class, and even a visitor. Our lesson was about the twelve disciples and following Jesus. Children have such a wonderful imagination, and it was fun to be with them in class. They trust God openly, and worship joyfully, I hope that I can learn that from them. The evening service was very good, also. My Pastor preached an awesome message. He talked about God shutting doors, and opening doors. I really see that evident in my life right now.

Well, I hope that you have a Blessed day!

God Bless,
Nicole

Youth Rally

Well today is the Section 1 Rally. If you don't know what that is I will tell you. It is a service for young people that is awesome. A bunch of churches come together and worship together. Everyone gets dressed to impress, lol. Well I am in the middle of doing my hair right now. I am actually waiting for it to dry. Its 5 o'clock and I have to leave at 6 o'clock. Nothing like being last minute, right? So I better go, and get ready, find a permission slip, and finish doing my hair. But it all is worth it.

I hope you have a Blessed day!

God Bless,
Nicole

First Day of School

The day in high school that I did not look forward to was the first day of school. It seems that in college the first day of school happens even more often then in high school. However many classes you take in a semester is how many first days that you have. One thing that I do like about it, is that you get to meet a lot of new people. Today was my first day back to classes. I have Music Appreciation and Contemporary American Literature.

Music Appreciation went pretty well. The teacher made us get up and introduce ourselves to the whole class. (Have I mentioned how much I do not like talking in front of people.) I was the third person to get up, and I didn't have that much time to be nervous. There are some really cool people in the class. There is even a band that decided to take the class together.

Contemporary American Literature was completely different then other classes that I have been to. The professor walked into class and assigned us to people to interview. I met two people in this class, their names were Jenny and Megan. They were really nice. I also saw three people that I went to high school with.

I thank God for helping me be more outgoing today, then I would usually be. I think that God tried to reveal to me that not everyone thinks negatively of other people. That is one of the reasons that I do not like to talk in front of people, because I think that they aren't going to like me, or what I say. But through the interesting people that I met today, I think God was telling me that I was wrong.

Well, I hope that you have a Blessed day! Remember to trust in God.

God Bless,
Nicole

A Time to Reflect

Well today I spent some time thinking about the awesome things that God has done in my life and the lives surrounding me this year. One thing that I truly thank God for is my health. This year I had to have some tests because there was a concern about my thyroid. I thank God for all the people in my life that were there to support and comfort me. So what were the results... They did find two nodules in the left part of my thyroid. They were benign and need nothing more than to be watched. Other than that everything was fine. I thank my Mom, who went with me for the tests.

I thank God for helping my mom through her times of pain with her hips. I thank Him for the doctors that have been put in her life to help her with it. They have been trying some new things, such as aqua therapy, and a back brace, and I thank God that they have helped her out.

Through the year I feel that I have grown in God. I thank God for opening my eyes and helping me to gain the patience that I so badly needed. I thank God for moving in my Sunday school class, for the growth that I see in my students. There is so much that I thank God for that this post seems overly inadequate. But I tried to write a few things, and I will add more to later posts.

I hope that you have a blessed day! I will post again soon.

God Bless,
Nicole

My Family

This is my Family Christmas Picture for 2005.

I didn't say much about my family in my last post because I was saving it all for this post. I love my family very much. They encourage me to obtain the goals that I have set, and inspire me to live for God.

My dad is an awesome provider for his family. He is active in our church. He sings and leads worship and can also play the guitar. My mom and my dad lead a class that is called A.C.T.S. which stands for alcohol Chemical Treatment Series.

My mom is right now probably one of my closest friends. She has really helped me in ways she probably doesn't realize and I love her very much. We have fun together during our shopping trips before we pick up my sister. We even can do grocery shopping for an entire week in about a half hour.

My sister, Jackie, is fourteen and I am really proud of her. She inherited all of the sports ability that seemed to skip right past me. Yesterday in her first volleyball game of the year, she served 10 points on her first serve. They won both of their games, by the way. She is really smart and the older she gets the closer we become.

One person that I want to mention also, is my grandmother. She is an awesome person and I love her very much. Her birthday was yesterday, so happy birthday.

Alright, I probably rambled a little, but I had to tell you all about the people I love.

God Bless,
Nicole

My First Official Post

Well this is my first official post, and I am so excited! I hope that through this blog I can share about myself, and about the awesome things that God has done and is doing in my life.

Just a little information about myself. I was born and raised mostly in Michigan (except for one year in Texas). When I was thirteen I began to go to Apostolic Faith Tabernacle in Ferndale, MI. I was baptized and filled with the Holy Ghost shortly after going to church. When I was 16 I fully committed my life to God and began searching for His purpose in my life. I am currently attending College. In my free time I work with the youth group at my church and teach Sunday School.

You may wonder about the name of my blog and I will explain that. The name is taken from my favorite worship song. The lyrics are as follows:

This is the air I breathe
This is the air I breathe
Your holy presence living in me

And I, I'm desperate for you
And I, I'm lost without you

This is my daily bread
This is my daily bread
Your very Word spoken to me

And I, I'm desperate for you
And I, I'm lost without you

Hope that you have a Blessed day, and I will be posting again soon.

God Bless,
Nicole