More than we can ask or imagine

Solid Food=Energy

2007-01-08T21:56:00.000-04:00

Hi all,
I know I have not posted very much in the last few months,, but I must say I have been very busy.. Especially as a student at AST..eepp! I must firstly do a shout out to Linda, sorry for leaving you out of my list of pple at AST last time:( Seniors moment I cry!..But I must say you play some mean Guitar!! yay! 2cents is getting multitallented yay!...
Now that you have forgiven me.. I hope anyhoo;) it is time to move on to that wonderful topic of foood.. last semester we were stuck with organic soups everyday, I was weak all the time..but now I am off the meal plan and well, I have so much energy I am not going to bed hungry. I guess this experience has given me insight into how much of the world's people live in poverty. Well, It is late and I have to go to bed cause I am going to morning prayer tomorrow.. so will post more someother time.. A big shout out to 2 cents and to my Island friends both in PEI and around the world! God bless you all and remember .. Prayer is an important part of our Christian walk so keep it going daily!
love yas all
from halifax
Melissa
aka turnip!

Compline

2006-10-15T22:48:00.001-03:00

Wow! AST is going really great, I have learned lots and I know I am going to continue to learn more. I sure have learned that ignoring God is not good and it seems that God is the one who has to pick up all the pieces when the plan falls appart. I have also tasted a little of the power of forgiveness from friends, especially when I screwed up by not listening to God.
I have met some amazing people here, especially Pope Beanadict XVI, Bishop Spud, Eucharistic Soup or Ecumenical Soup, Father Ross, Jodie, Cynthia, Scott, Kyle, Kevin, well I can go on, but I won't.
I have been going to many Anglican services of late and enjoying them. It was such a blessing to see Bishop Sue tonight and to sing compline. I wil be helping out at Kings soon enough as Sub Deacon. I hope that I will do fine because I have never done anything like that before.
God sure is awesome and continues to provide for my needs. I have been receiving so many scholarships that I hope my grades will be up there to make these people proud of investing in my future ministry. well it is late and I need bed so until next time here is a quesiton to ponder..
"If you were arrested for being Christian, would they have enough evidence to convict you?" Bishop Sue at tonight's evensong service.
Prayers and blessings from The one who places the stars in the sky..love,
Melissa

Praises to His name

2006-08-18T11:01:00.000-03:00

Hallelujah! What a beautiful day to praise God! Can you believe it, I am now almost done my placement. I have learned soo much and I am very blessed with the people I have met. God sure is awesome! I would like to thank all the people who have supported me and prayed for me and helped me along the way. May God shower you all with a million blessings.. well next week is it! and off to PEI for a few days and back to AST. Woo hoo to God be the Glory!
God bless and have a great week

Come and Journey with a Savior

2006-07-03T13:55:00.000-03:00

Ok, I know it has been a while.. a long while I havn't had internet high speed access in a while. so I am taking full advantage of it Well I am in Fall River NS which is not too far from Halifax and it is beautiful cause all of the rivers around here. Wow, I feel like I am home.. I am doing a parish placement and it is a different experience compared to working at Tims, like I have for the last 12years.. yup not months years! So am scared out of my trees.. I will keep my experiences posted so I start me new journey tomorrow.. May God bless you all
M

Rake and Run

2005-11-10T13:09:00.000-04:00

Okay all you SPYDA pple, here this saturday from 3-5 @ 101 Nassau street bring a rake, and gloves. It will be super fun. I hope to see you there, this will be Youth Group for this week, and get this... free pizza after:D May God bless you all today and I will see you all Saturday at 101 Nassau.
Melissa

Thank full

2005-10-11T11:43:00.000-03:00

Well, if you are as lucky as me, you got the oppertunity to fill up on turkey, pumpkin pie and the likes. I never got to go home for thanksgiving because of the stupid papers and stuff i have to do:( But, I was very blessed. My friend's mom invited me over for supper and than I was invited to John's place on Monday. So I got more than enough to eat. But each time I was eating I couldn't help but remember how there are people in the world who have no food. It made me think really hard about a verse, and I can't remember where it is.... but where Jesus said "when I was hungry, you gave me to drink, when I was thirsty, you gave me to eat, when I was naked, you clothed me and in prison, you visited me" How many times do we actually do any of that for Jesus? I think this week, it would be nice to do one of the above for someone. I know what it feels to be on the receiving end of that verse. I have been taken in by a wonderful family and I love each of them very much. I am soo blessed and I know that i have to take that generosity and give it to others. So, yah I know we are all students and money is very slim but try to use your gifts to fulfill what God wants. God will surely bless you with more than you can ever ask or imagine. God is faithful.. and never forget that!!! also, I hope your prayer time is going well. I read in Ben Sirach that when we find a wise person, we should wear out their doorstep. So we have met Jesus and it is up to us to wear out His doorstep! To spend time with HIm everyday! So until next time.. God bless and good luck with your generosity!
M

Until we meet again

2005-09-29T20:08:00.000-03:00

One thing that I have learned being a Christian is that well, we never stay in one spot too long. I just think of all the priests that I grew up with in my parish in sside that had been called to other parishes and also some of my friends that have been called by God to other places. One thing is for sure, the life of a Christian is not a comforting experience. Ok, if that isnot enough to drive you away , I am impressed. The life of a Christian is always challenging, unknown and full of fear. But the good thing is that Jesus promises us He will be with us always til the end of time. Do not fear is mentioned like 366 times in the bible. But this is God comforting us, on our mission. Of course being a Christian is a big responsibility, because we must be representatives of Jesus on earth, we are HIs hands, feet, eyes and ears. Ok, for those who think God will never call you on a big mission,,, think again! God will call you sometime. God has given us gifts to help us on our journey so we will be fine. He never sends us into the battle alone.
Sometimes, God requires us to leave and go somewhere we would never have imagined. So of course we will be afraid! But by saying Yes, God promises to never leave our side.
So now that my long winded sermon is over, I just want to wishmy friend, Rushan God Speed and good luck until we cross paths again, may God' peace be with you and May God bless you and continue to use you as He wills. You have been an inspiration to me and I learned so much from your very relaxed perspective on life. I know this weekend will be hard for u but for sure that is the life of a "Crazy Dog"! Who knows where God will call us next?
Rushan, I will miss you but you will always have a special place in my heart and I will never stop ceasing to pray for u.
Go with God!
M

Do Not Quench the Spirit! Part 2

2005-09-18T08:44:00.000-03:00

I am sorry for not posting more stuff, but I have been very busy with school and the likes. But that does not mean that I was not learning more about my faith in God. In fact, I learned plenty! I have learned that God's Spirit does more than we ever give it credit for. So the warning of Paul, when he said to not quench the spirit has become more meaningful to me. The Holy Spirit not only gives us gifts to understand what God's plan is for us or help us to understand scripture, The spirit also does prays for us constantly to the Father. So if we are sleeping, the Spirit still prays to God for us!!! WOW!!! So it is very important that we do not quench the Spirit..
So now that you know a bit of how the spirit works.. isn't it awesome? Praying continually is amazing. So my prayer to you today is that you will never quench the spirit. It is too precious to throw away. I challenge you to continue to spend at least a half hour a morning praying! You will never be dissapointed.
Peace

A fountain of life springing water

2005-09-07T17:54:00.000-03:00

Today, the first day of school... wow where did the summer go? It was a great summer but at the same time, it was a busy summer. Now it is back to the books. I hope to accomplish two thngs... to do well in school and keep up my prayer time with God and time with my friend Rita.
Today, I received a gift. Not your typical expensive in a box gift. This gift came in a bottle. Noooo not beer or wine! It was something that is what we need to survive... Water! NOt just any water.. this water came from Ebenezer. This is the best water on the Island. My best friend, Amy gave it to me compliments of Rita. I was soo happy to get it and very touched at the same time because someone would think of me at such an early time! This gift made my day, along with seeing Amy! This gift of water actually tied in to what I was reflecting on this morning..
"The water thatI shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life" John 4:14
There are many references to water in the NT.. I really like the story of the woman at the well and how she thirst for tha life giving water Jesus had. Oh how I need to yearn for that as well. It is really beautiful that God gives us this water and requires us to let it flow out of us so others can see.
Water is a life giving source and it is something that we require because without it we are dead. We do not want to be spiritually dead. So my challenge today, is that you spread the beautiful blessings God has given you to others and see how beautiful it grows. Never let things get in the way of the flow of God's life giving water

Oh that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory...

2005-09-03T15:18:00.000-03:00

Some of you maybe familiar with this saying. It is actually a prayer and to be more specific, it is the Jabez prayer. Here how it goes..
"Oh that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!" 1Chron 4:10.
Wow what a prayer eh? Who in the right mind has the nerve to say to God to bless me?? better yet, enlarge my territory!!! What nerve! right? Wrong!
At first, this was my attitude.... I shouldn't ask God to bless me cause I am soo bad, I also thought that territory ment to be shared with others.. After reading the book called The Prayer of Jabez, I realized that God wants us to pray as Jabez did! Wow...bless me and enlarge my territory. I have come to realize that asking God for blessings is a great thing to do. Because God has many blessings stored up to be sent to us everytime we ask Him. God also wants us to enlarge our territories because when we do it, God's name is shared with more pple, in turn giving God more praise. Therefore pleasing Him. wow eh? So I ask you to pray that prayer and I guarantee you will be blessed beyond anything...
May God bless your soxs off!!!

Humble Thyself in the Sight of The Lord

2005-08-31T11:01:00.000-03:00

Have you ever wondered why when we ask God for something, some of the times, we never get it? I know I have, plenty of times and some of these times, it has resulted in angry discussions with God. The reason why, I have come to find out, is in the book of James. It talks about how our earthly passions keep us away from God. And if we ask for earthly passions, they will do nothing but make us grow farther away from God. Like asking for money, fame, lots of fine material things. This is very dangerous because all these posessions act like a barrier between us and God. Once we have a cozy house, a nice car, lots of friends and money, we tend to come to the conclusion that we don't need God.
At this present moment I am blessed that I don't have many material things. I have found that living as a student has brought me closer to God because I depend on God on all my things. I depend on Him to help me with school either it be with how it is going to be payed or how I am going to pay the bills.
When I humble myself to God, things go as smooth as silk, but when I decide that I can handle the situation, that is when my wordly passions get in the way causing me to drift away from God., ergo I get in a pickle.
It is a challenge for me to humble myself to God. This summer, I humbled myself for three weeks and went on a missions trip, worrying about how I was going to pay for the three weeks of missed work. Oh was I amazed and blessed at what God has done and how He provided and how he continues to provide for me. I am soo blessed!!!
I am soo blessed to have so many wonderful pple in my life, besides mom and dad and my sisters, I have beautiful friends who love God with all their hearts and nothing more would please them than to serve God and do His will. Yah, I am talking about Amy, Chelsea and Rita. I am soo blessed that God has brought us together you are all beautiful women of God and I am glad that I can serve God with you all. You know I love you all very much.
So through humility to God, He promises to lift us up! Wow what a promise. So to all my friends, I challenge you to become humble, to become patient, full of mercy and love and to look around at God's presence, like I did yesterday and see how much God has surely blessed you. God is alive... Allelujah!!!!!
May God lift you up today! and send His awesome blessings on you and remember the Jabez prayer... May You bless me, enlarge my boarders, keep me safe and from harm.
Wow what a prayer,, God granted it to Jabez and God will grant it to us...
Remember, to humble thyself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up!

Training for the prize

2005-08-26T19:53:00.000-03:00

Well, I have to say, today I did what I wanted to do, I jogged out to the end of Lower Malpeque road and back. Two hours later, and ten kilometers to boot, I did it!! While I was jogging, I was thinking lots.. like how St. Paul tells us that we are to be like athletes that are training for the prize. Of course our prize does not come in forms of silver or gold, naww they come in the form of eternal life that was bought by the blood of Jesus. We must train to fight against the evil forces. Jesus is depending on us! As St Teresa once said "We are His hands, His Feet, His eyes in which He sees the world" So with that in mind, the training reflection gave me a couple of questions... Am I a dedicated Christian? Do I train everyday to become a better Christian?
Unfortunately, my answer is no, I train more physically than spiritually.. This has been my challenge all summer, to match my work outs with my pray outs! My prayer life has gotten better but I need to work more on it. Jesus is more important to me than any workout! So I challenge each of you to start thinking of your faith life as a workout preparing you for the spiritual battles and leading you to the prize.
"Keep your eyes on the prize and your feet on the street" In other words, Jesus calls us to do the unthinkable but it is never something that we are not prepared to do. So keep your eye on eternal life but remember, we are still here on earth so we must live each day seeking every chance we get to share Jesus with someone. We are Jesus' hands to hug His eyes, to seek out injustices and His feet to share the Gospel of Love:D
Peace,
M

"Prayer-Battle in the secret place"

2005-08-25T17:11:00.000-03:00

Ok, so here is another installment of Utmost for His highest,,, updated version. This one is on prayer. It is really awesome! The reflection is on Matthew 6:6
[ Jesus did not say, "Dream about your Father who is in the secret place," but He said, "...pray to your Father who is in the secret place..." Prayer is an effort of the will. After we have entered our secret place and shut the door, the most difficult thing to do is pray. We cannot seem to get our minds into good working order, and the first thing we have to fight is wandering thoughts. The great battle in private prayer is overcoming this problem of our idle and wandering thinking. We have to learn to disicpline our minds and concentrate on willful, deliberate prayer.
We must have a specially selected place for prayer, but once we get there this plague of wandering thought begins, as we begin to think to ourselves, " this needs to be done, and I have to do that today." Jesus says to "shut your door." Having a secret stillness before God means deliberately shutting the door on our emotions and remembering Him. God is in secret and He sees us from "the secret place"-He does not see us as other people do, or as we see ourselves. When we truly live in "the secret place" it becomes impossible for us to doubt God. We become more sure of Him than of anyone or anything else. Enter into "the secret place", and you will find that God was right in the middle of your everyday circumstances all the time. Get into the habit of dealing with God about everything. Unless you learn to open the door of your life completely and let God in from your first waking moment of each new day, you will be working on the wrong level throughout the day. But if you will swing the door of your life fully open and pray to your Father who is in the secret place, every public thing in your life will be marked with the lasting imprint of the presence of God.]
As I read this last night, I have come to a different realization that God sure wants us to meet Him in a secret place, but I never realized that the secret place refered here is about a place soo secret that even your thoughts do not know where you went. We must pray with 100% comitment to God and also come before God with a pure heart leaving all the junk of the day behind. God has given us the honour to talk to Him, so do you not think he deserves our undivided attention? So why not start to spend time before the chaos of the day starts with God? I guarantee your day will go awesome! I know that since I started spending time with God each day, things have been going awesome! I have a better outlook on life, more patience and more joy. My relationship with God has grown trememdously and I am soo blessed about it.
If you want to have this experience, I challenge you to spend at least 20mins a day with God, I guarantee you won't be dissapointed:)
Prayerfully yours
M

Epiphany! God made the sunset just for you!

2005-08-19T21:11:00.000-03:00

What an amazing day! Work was great, for once! But it was tonite that I was surely blessed, Or as Molly says Epiphany! God was sure with us. Well, an unschedualed supper date, or spontanious supper date, with Molly that was really awesome! Thanks Molly for saying grace at the table. It was really special! And thanx for the awesome sharing. Remember you are in my prayers always! Keep your head up on your journey!
Than I got to see Aleida, who I have not seen in a while:D and what a beautiful sunset. I just can not describe how thankful I am to God for what He has done for me. I may not have money but I have beautiful friends and family and a beautiful home!
I can never speak of how thankful I am to God for all the blessings in my life. I know that I am not worthy of them but I thank God for them. God is soo awesome! I can understand all the praise in the psalms, the only way to describe God's awesomeness is through the psalms and poetry.
Molly had reminded me something, that all things in nature were created by God for us. So everytime you see a beautiful sunset, think that God created it for you and I.. Wow eh?
This is Psalm 30 from "The word on the street"
Elevate You

All I want to do is look at you
Elevate you
You lifted up my head. I was staring at graves:
You saved me.
You stopped the gloat in the throat of my enemies
You made their mockery cease; I begged for help:
you healed me, arranged my early release;
You gave me a hand up and out from the grave with my name on, and now, it's game on.
So let it rip, sing it strong!
let his crew take the roof off with this celebration song;
His fury don't last so long; his favour lasts a lifetime
we cry through the night, but the morning sun begins its climb, and it's celebration time.
you turned my tears into cheers, My moping through coping and on into dancing.
You made me take off my funeral gear,
and suddenly vibrant colour appear.
My heart's gonna sing, it's not gonna stop.
God, I'm going to thank you till I drop- you're top!

May God bless you all
Shalom,
M

Engaging the Word

2005-08-18T19:54:00.000-03:00

Recently, I was suring the net and came across a book titled "Bible for Blockheads" mmm I thought to myself, what a title.. Not a good thing! As far as I am concerned, we need to understand the bible on our own! It is nice to read books pertaining to Christianity but anyone can understand the bible if they spend time with it! Yeah, until recently, I was not into reading the bible but as soon as I started to do my devo time with Rita, I was amazed at how much more I understand about God.. I am not saying I understand God completely but I am noticing his hand prints on alot more things.
I found out how important it is for me, as a Christian, to go and read the word. When reading about the whole armour of God, the word is very important because like a soldier, we can't understand what to do in a battle unless we are of knowledge of the goal, vision and beliefs we have.
I now challenge you all to read the bible. Begin with the psalms and do five a day. Pick up a journal and start marking what praises and thanksgiving you find in there. I guarantee you will not need the Bible for Blockheads anymore. Trust in God and Let His Holy Spirit speak to you.
The Holy Spirit is God's gift to us, The Holy Spirit is free!!!! We don't need a visa or mastercard.
So good luck on tha reading folks! I guarantee that God will speak to you in ways you will never know or imagine!
Remember I am praying for you all
God bless
M

A Generous Spirit Works Wonders

2005-08-17T19:50:00.000-03:00

The greatest cure for greed is generosity. It is also a satisfying feeling when we give. but most of us feel good when we give away stuff we don't need. Have you ever thought of giving away something you value? Jesus gave His life.... what would be of more value than that?
Good generosity involves giving away something you value.. Your time or possessions are included in this. Paul talked about this when he wrote "be rich in good works and should give generously to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them" (1 Tim 6:18)
What have we done with it? You look at all those programes on tv about giving to third world countries,, most of the time you see superstars on there giving money. It is almost like a publicity stunt. This is not the kinda giving Jesus wants us to give. True giving comes from the heart not from the ego. The heart giving is about compassion, love not about impressing others. We must also give cheerfully.
Is your generosity productive? Remember each time you invest to those in need you are investing God's ressources so invest smartly;)
Remember.. money is like fertilizer, its not much good unless it is spread around
If ya want to be rich-Give..
Look at the life of Jesus, he may not have had a mercedes benz or the latest fad of clothes but he left a big impact on many pples lives he gave everything and taught all to do the same. God will provide and provide He does!
I for one, after worrying about the fact that I took three weeks off of work to do a missions trip now worry no more. I have soo many generous pple around me who have blesed be abundantly with food and money that I am overwhelmed. I love these ppl and I know that they feel a lot more blessed because they are helping the kingdom of God grow on earth.. Their money is the fertilizer that will feed the seed of JEsus on earth!
I gave Jesus three whole weeks of myself and He has given me more than I can ever ask or imagine.
Giving tips
-give the gift of time. It's the gift more valuable than money can buy.
-the generous person always has more than enough, the greedy person never has enough..

So to all of you take this and apply it... giving and not expecting anything in return is the Jesus way! and share your blessings with others...

Remember we are all neighbours... C. S . Lewis I think said it best "Next to the blessed sacrament, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses"
How do you treat holy objects?
God bless
M

"Do Not Quench the Spirit" 1Thes. 5:19

2005-08-14T08:09:00.000-03:00

[The voice of the Spirit of God is as gentle as a summer breeze-so gentle that unless you are living in complete fellowship and oneness wiht God, you will never hear it. The sense of warning and restraint that the Spirit gives comes to us in the most amazingly gentle ways. And if you are not sensitive enough to detect His voice, you will quench it, and your spiritual life will be impaired. This sense of restraint will always come as a "still small voice"{1 Kings 19:12} so faint that no one except a saint of God will notice it.
Beware if in sharing your personal testimony you continually have to look back, saying "Once, a number of years ago, I was saved" If you have put your "hand to the plow" and are walking in the light, there is no "looking back" the past is instilled inot the present wonder of fellowship and oneness with God (Lk 9:62 & 1Jn 1:6-7). If you get out of the light, you become a sentimental Christian and live only on your memories and your testimony will have a hard metallic ring to it. Beware of trying to cover up your present refusal to walk in the light by recalling your past experiences when you did "walk in the light" (1Jn 1:7). Whenever the Spirit gives you that sense of restraint, call a halt and make things right, or else you will go on quenching and grieving Him without even knowing it.
Suppose God brings you to a crisis and you almost endure it, but not completely. He will engineer the crisis again, but this time some of the intensity will be lost. You will have less discernment and more humiliation at having disobeyed. If you continue to grieve His Spirit, there will come a time when that crisis cannot be repeated, because you have totally quenched Him. But if you will go on through the crissi, your live will become a hymn of praise to God. Never become attached to anything that continues to hurt God. For you to be free of it, God must be allowed to hurt whatever it may be.] From My Utmost for His highest by Oswald Chambers.
I chose this because it spoke to me and I thought I should share it with you all
blessings
M

AYM '05

2005-08-12T19:55:00.000-03:00

Wow what a journey! The last three weeks I have been blessed to learn soo much. Firstly, I was blessed to get to know 11 beautiful pple who are on fire for God and I got to see how each one lives and learn of their faith stories. Secondly, I was blessed to be in a group that accepted me as I am and at such a fast pace. Thirdly, the music we produced together without music was angelic. Wow! the love of the team was amazing! Then there was the kids.... who are soo smart and their love and excitement to listen to the stories in the golden boxes to the wonderful skits we put on to the memory verses...ok.. here we go
Monday: Luke 6:47-48
Tuesday: Matt 18:21-22
Wednesday: Psalm 23
Thursday: Luke 10:27
These are beautiful treasures, or parables that need to be examined more deeply. One of them I am focusing on is Luke 10:27 "Love YaWeH with all your heart, all your soul all your mind and all your strength and love your neighbour as yourself." I am focusing on the last part.. love your neighbour as yourself. This is what Jesus calls us to do. I will be the first to admit that when someone comes through Drive Thru, I will make fun of them if they don't order right. That is what we as Christians are not called to do. We are called to love and treat everyone how we want to be treated. My goal is to be nice to all customers and crew, even when I am getting yelled at. Jesus never said to be nice to only those who will be nice to you, no he said to love everyone even your enemies..to turn your cheak if they slap you and offer the other one. Jesus calls us to this kinda love. But we can only do it with the help of the Holy spirit.
Why this one? well, on my way to work Thursday morning with Rita at the driver's seat, this was our devo for the morning and I felt it was my duty to love my neighbour and I know I have not been doing a good job of that. It is a challenge but who grows without a challenge??? Not me!
As for the whole three weeks, I must say I learned many games, songs and graces but most of all I have to say that the God moments were awesome! like the time we were outside singing on Rita's steps where Jordan had his God moment to the generosity of all to the look on the faces of hte kids wanting to know what was to come out of the gold box, which story? God blessed us abundantly even with Mary Beth... and all our encouraging letters and also the journeys with Pat! And the fact that we each got a lobster dinner for free! Wow, what a treat and some free chicken and pizza. I know I felt that every community just embraced us like the communities that would have embraced the disciples as they travelled in pairs to spread the word.
This brings me to an important point..... yah I am referring to my sermon here.. sorry guys! A christian community is very important because we are in a battle and we need a home base where we learn about our tactics and plans for battle against the evil one! We need it also because of the support. No soldier goes into battle alone! Jesus stressed the importance of community as well. WE need to keep our armour on and keep it shinning and make sure our swords are sharpened for the battle. The devil is always setting ambushes and so we must be on our guards! There is strength in numbers!
well, I will continue this tomorrow night... until then... God bless and keep that sword sharp!
M

2005-08-11T21:26:00.000-03:00

Tonite was a neat night! I went to a coffee house at St. Paul's it was really nice they were raising funds for a well in Africa with the YMCA exchange. I wish I could have stayed longer:( Oh well. Work at 6am tomorrow... so need to get some sleep. But before I sign off... I have to say, although I enjoyed a great night, I am saddened. The reason is that Rushan is leaving:( I, like most pple, really were hoping it was not true:(
If I look back at my life, I have come to the conclusion that most of the pple I met have left my life. They are out of the picture, some permanently and others not so much. It is sad but at the same time, I learned much from them:) I just hope and pray that Rushan and I will never loose touch. He has been a special person to me. He has taught me much and he has been a blessing in my life. I know that wherever he goes, he will be a big blessing to the people there as he has been to me:D God sure puts pple in our lives to teach us to help us grow...and than they go off and touch other pples lives. Rushan, you will always have a special place in my heart. I am going to cherish everyday I see you or msn you:)
To all my friends, cherish friendships because you never know how much time you have with them.
Blessings
Melissa

The Journey continues

2005-08-08T16:24:00.000-03:00

I am back from an awesome three weeks of eating, sleeping and breathing God and doing his awesome work! Wow, well I am not officially home yet but will be Thursday. I am going to write more than. But for now, it was a ride of a lifetime. God is so awesome and God provides abundantly! I miss you guys already! The light of Jesus shines so brightly inside u all:D I luvs yas and I will write soon
God's peace.. Remember Luke 10:27??????;)
M

This is the last post for three weeks and a bit:D

2005-07-16T16:16:00.000-03:00

This will be my last post for a while, since I will be going on a missions trip:D I am sooooooooOoooOoo excited about what God has planned for us on the road ahead. I am just so pumped that I can go and do something good for God, instead of just working all summer. I have to thank Chris for giving me these three weeks to go experience an experience of a lifetime. I would just ask that everyone who reads this, pray for the team as we bring kids to Jesus! Please pray too that God will be with Pat, our "boss" as she tries to lead us and keep us focused and that the team will get along with each other and not kill each other.
We sure will be praying for you guys. Good luck at work and good luck on your trip to BC and Reese, may God be with you as you go on your new and exciting journey. I am going to miss ya lots!
You are all in my prayers...Bye for now,
God bless!
M
:D

Resolutions....Half Way ones:D

2005-07-15T21:36:00.000-03:00

Ok I have to credit Reese for this idea, what about July resolutions.. so here are mine and well, if ya see this why not try it to? Let me know how it goes...
1. I will not complain about work, instead i will appreciate that I have a job
2. I will live each day as full as I can
3. I will be more thankful to God for all She has done for me
4. I will dedicate myself to my prayer life more fully
5. I will accept all people as brothers and sisters of Christ and treat them that way
6. I will do something Justice related every month
7. I will stop talking about work outside work
8. I will spend more time with friends
9. I will share God at work by my actions
10. I will spend more time reading the bible

Here are just a few... I will tackle these with the help of God! Basically I want to put it all in God's hands and keep it God focused. My life needs to be more God focused

Peace
M :D

...And Justice for All

2005-07-14T17:31:00.000-03:00

I know most of you will be surprised by this blog entry. Ok, I actually was reminded the other day of how good some old eighties music is. I am talking about Metallica. OK, I only like some of their songs mostly to work out to when pumping weights. But I must admit that their album and title track "...And justice for all" has a good message..here are a few lines from the song
Halls of Justice Painted Green, money talking Power wolves Beset Your door, hear them stalking, soon you'll please their appetite, they devour, hammer of justice crushes you, overpower
The ultimate in vanity, exloiting their supremacy, I can't believe the things you say,
I can't believe, I can't believe the price you pay, nothing can save you, Justice is lost, Justice is raped

Yeah money sure talks when it comes to justice. The power of the green bill overpowers anything. Our world is being run by the superpower nations and all the poor nations just keep getting pooer cause of having no money and owing millions if not billions to the bigger countries. Yes our justice system has been raped. The true meaning of justice has been lost. Take all the court cases, how many were won cause someone was flashing bling bling. Yah Lady justice take off those blindfolders, you won't need them anymore, you need to see what colour the paper is that is being handed to you. This will determine which way the scale will go.
Money talks, and to the poor countries, Justice has been lost, raped by the Bushes, Martins and others in this world, and we too have raped madame Justice. Why? well cause of all our consumer wants and how we waiste food and think of no one but ourselves. Yah, I am just as bad too. I have to stop this want and learn to live on the need. I hope and pray that the missions trip will help me with this. What do you think? Has Madame Justice been raped? Is our justice system not justice anymore?
Peace
M:D

Registration time again!

2005-07-12T11:16:00.000-03:00

Can ya believe it??? Today is the day we registar for our first semester. Wow, where is the summer going? I guess it is going too fast! In two months, we will be back into the grind of books, papers, presentations and the like! It is hard to believe that three years are already gone. This time next year, God willing, I will be preparing for AST. But I know that God has big plans as always for this year! I am just sitting here, as I watch the wonderful sideways rain fall, reflecting on how my decision to say yes to God has brought soo many blessings in my life. I would never have met the amazing pple i know now if I did not say yes.
Firstly, Rev. Brian, I miss you terribly but I know you will be back to Canada soon. Thanks for being the awesome man of God that you are and showing me what the church is about.
Rev. Ned and Arlene, I am so blessed by both your you guys. Your love and hospitality has made my transition from my old church to St. Mary's so warm and comforting. You took me under your wings.
Rev. John! I am soo blessed by your support and belief in me. Thanks a bunch for taking the time to help me out with my sermons and other things even though I did not preach them here. Remember the sword! I know the next few years, we will grow together in awesome faith and love for God who is more than we can ask or imagine
Rushan, I thank you for your patience and for taking me under your wing and also for teaching me that youth group does not have to be a formal sunday school at a different time. God works all the time "Where two or three are gathered in His name, so am I in their midst" Thank you for teaching me that sometimes just spontinuity works best with the kids. I learned more from you than you will ever know. You are a true blessing in my life and I pray we continue to grow together in faith and friendship no matter where God takes us! Let us continue to be servants for God!
To my CC friends and Ebenezzerites... heheh I never can spell that name right.. sawwry Rita. Amy and alkfjalfkjalfkj.. and Rita.. I luvs yas all and I really thank God that you are all in my life you are such beautiful gifts to me. Your love for God and knowing God's grace has shown me that I am loved by God no matter if I screw up or not. Yah Psalm 139 pretty well puts the icing on that cake. Rita thanks for being my Spiritual director. God works awesomely in you. I feel it everytime I am with you. Amy, what can i say... You are an awesome friend and I can't wait to see you in like a week. ADFALFKAJFLKa.. I am soo proud of the job you took this summer. Even though I know sometimes it is difficult, but I know you are going to grow way more than you could ever ask or imagine. You all rock
To my cc friends, thanks for accepting me even though I am on a different faith journey. You are all a blessing and can't wait to see you all again. Mis syou much..
I am soo blessed, but when I was pondering the thought of saying yes to God, I was scared but look at all these and others God has put in my life. I am blessed indeed!!!
Blessings on a new day
Melissa
M

Prayer part 1

2005-07-11T18:43:00.000-03:00

Wow, what an awesome day and night I had spent with Rita! I know it is amazing how God works, who would have thought that this past Sunday was going to be the day that Rita had no church so she decided to come to mine. It was really neat too that by this coincidence that I had to serve at the 11, which I only go to if I have to serve. So this worked out super awesome:) Poor Rita probably would not have made it to the 9:15! She would have had to gun the old Jetta down the road.. oo Look out TJ is on his way!
At first, I was a bit hesitant about it cause I knew I wasn't going to be sitting in the pew with her and I knew that it would not be fair, but thanks be to God, it all turned out good. I knew it was going too!! It was sooo awesome having Rita at a worship service. It was nice for her to get to know us crazy Anglicans. He he..
But I think it was the afternoon and the evening that really took the cake;) The morning set the tone and the afternoon and evening just went awesome! The dinner was yummy... And our time of just chatting and reflecting on God's wonderful work and the wonderful interruptions and picture sharing and than the getting down to business;) That chapter was amazing.
I must admit that after doing the little bit that we have done, I can now say that when I Pray I feel closer to God. I am learning soo much about prayer that it is all just blowing me away:D Wow, I now wish I could have had that when I was younger. Now is the time to set the time to spend with God, I hope to get up to three hours and I will be smiling.. imagine spending three hours with the creator of the universe? WOW!
Now it is down to memorizing psalm 139...and the missions trip preperation...I know God is with us for sure:D
Glory to God whose power working in us can do more than we can ask or imagine.! Glory to God from generation to generation in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever.. amen!
Now , I am going off to my prayer spot.... Peace to you all and know I am praying for everyone of you:D