Boxes of Love

This weekend, I had the blessed opportunity to volunteer for Boxes of Love. Boxes of Love is a wonderful ministry that is part of Here's Life Inner City Ministry that helps provide food for the less fortunate during the Thanksgiving season. I went on Saturday with a couple members of the small group I attend and had a blast. I was on television (lol, the girl with the blond buzzcut), but I can't wait to do it again next year. Here's the link to the video and some more info about Boxes of Love below:

NY 1 News:
http://queens.ny1.com/content/top_stories/129320/urban-ministry-s-volunteers-pack-boxes-of-food-for-needy

Here's Life Inner City:
http://hlicnyc.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=128164

Joyce Meyer- Daily Devotionals: A Wounded Heart

From Joyce Meyer Daily Devotional- March 19

"For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded and stricken within me. - Psalm 109:22



Is it wrong to have a wounded heart? No, a wounded heart is not wrong, but you need to get it healed and go on. In Old Testament days, if a priest had a wound or a bleeding sore, he could not minister. I think today we have a lot of wounded healers. By that I mean that there are a lot of people in the body of Christ today who are trying to minister to other

people but who themselves still have unhealed wounds from the past. These people are still bleeding and hurting themselves.



Am I saying that such people cannot minister? No, but I am saying that they need to get healed. Jesus said that the blind cannot lead the blind; because if they do, they will both fall into a ditch. There is a message in that statement. What is the use of my trying to minister victory to others if I have no victory in my own life? How can I minister emotional healing to others if I still have unresolved emotional problems from my past?



In order to minister properly, we need to go to God and let Him heal us first. I think we need to wake up and realize that God is not looking for wounded healers. He wants people with wounds that He can heal who will then go and bring healing to others. God loves to use people who have been hurt and wounded because nobody can minister to someone else better than one who has had the same problem or been in the same situation as that person."



I am not saying that we have to have everybody's problem in order to minister to them. My point is that if we are still bleeding and hurting from our own wounds, we are not going to be able to come against other people's problems with the same kind of aggressive faith we would have if we had already worked through that problem ourselves. The bottom line is that we need to let God heal us so He can use us to bring healing to other people.



-I Can't begin to explain the way this Woman of God blesses me when she shares what God has revealed to her.

Measured and Found Lacking....

I haven’t blogged for a whole month! I am sooooo sorry! I am going to keep you up to date:

This month was our 32nd Church Convention (October 11th-18th, 2009). The theme was: “Stir Up the Gifts that is Within You” from 2 Timothy 1:6. It was an awesome week! The week before was praying and then I had to prepare our church newsletter/magazine called “Endeavor” for it. I have been so busy with it that I barely had any sleep.

My birthday dinner is at the Riverview in Long Island City, Queens. The guest list started out at 30 but now might be around 17-20. I would like for it to be an intimate affair but we’ll see. While I’m on the topic of the birthday dinner, a certain someone maybe a no show. But the dinner isn’t for him, it’s for me. You don’t turn 25 everyday.


My dress!!!!!! Where do I begin? I didn’t get in contact with my dress maker so I will have to buy a dress; the problem is that I don’t see any dresses that I like! Oh woe is me! I did see this awesome dress at H&M but we’ll see.

Dance- I am so humble and blessed that the Lord has allowed me to lead the Dance Ministry at my church. The vision has grown and I will be supervising 3 dance ministries. God is so good! I went to a Praise Dance Seminar today and was so blessed! I am so excited for the next chapter.

My relationship- My relationship with God is showing me that I could be sooo much further but I am holding myself back. I have found lacking and it’s time to get to work. I realize that we as Christians are always silent while other groups shout their beliefs and lifestyles from the hilltops; it’s time to stand unashamed!
There are areas that I am lacking in but I learned in my weakness His strength is shown.


My 25th Year a.k.a My Quarterlife- I am determined to end ties, and severe things in my life that are not of God and hinder my growth. It’s time to stand and stand for all to see. I have to make sure my lifestyle echos my words. It’s a new season; there’s no turning back. Also, I am back in Bible School! I started General Bible Survey 1. It’s a lot of work!

I hope that you guys have been blessed; I apologize for such a gap in my blogging. There has been so much on my plate lately. Be blessed.

Are You Ready To Serve?

Today I stayed home for morning service because my cousin stayed home with my aunt as well. I was talking to one of my younger brothers in Christ on Facebook because he mentioned in his status that he was lonely. I told him if you really look at it your not. Of course he didn’t agree to I shared with him what the Lord revealed to me: relationships, friendship & marriage are all ministries. You serve and are served; if you feel you are ready to be in a relationship or get married ask yourself if you are ready to minister everyday while you’re with them. When he looked at it like that he said he wasn’t ready so I told him to ask God to show you where you lack. I realize that everyone wants to be in a relationship so that they have someone.

It Takes 21 Days to Form a Habit

I realized that they time you take to put something into your system you have to take the same amount of time of more to get it out. I am at a point where God is showing me all the unhealthy relationships that I need to get rid of and now I am seeing why. There’s a ministry and a calling that we all have and in the early stages just like with pregnancy you have to be careful to not doing anything to lose the life you are caring. I can now say that my eyes are open to the things, situations and people that God is calling me away from…..

Life's Too Short!

When I find myself stressing the unimportant little things, I just take a deep breath and remind myself that life is too short! I should be doing more for others than for myself. I always remember that Ministry means to serve others; it's a service that we provide to help others spiritually. Our Young Women's Ministry is starting a can food drive and suggested in the winter we volunteer at a soup kitchen. I remember when we went into a nursing home; there were people there who were so alone and our company blessed them. I made me feel good that I could pray for someone who needed it and they felt blessed. When you look at the people who have nothing and no one, you appreciate everything more.

Where Do We Begin?

Last night, we had our monthly Youth Meeting. This involves the leaders and staff in the Youth Ministry (Youth President, Vice President, secretaries) and those who deal with the youth on a regular basis. We were faced with a difficult question: how to reach those in our ministry? Our problem area seems to be our high school students. I know why, they are at an age where they are curious and don't want to stick to one thing; but to be involved in everything! The youth these days have it a lot harder than those who were their age decades before them. A lot of them come from broken homes, single parent households, the ghetto, and are dealing with drugs, sex, gangs, gay & lesbian issues, etc. The only way to able to reach them is to tackle them one by one. We have to address each person so we can figure out how to reach them. We can't put them in a group because each child is different. I have the blessing and the curse of being close to the age group that we're targeting. The blessing: being able to know what they are going through. The curse: Having to sign up for unlimited texting so I don't put my phone bill through the roof, lol. But seriously, I know how hard our work is going to be for us but with the strength that only God can give, we will be able to lead them all in the right direction.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

As a Children's Church teacher I have learned that children aren't like adults in many ways. They want to know: Who? What? When? How? and always Why? This was especially true last week in class. I was teaching them about Jesus Private Ministry (Baptism, 40 Day & Night Fast, His Temptation) and every 5 minutes I was asked questions that broke into a series of discussions. Mind you we teach 2-12 year olds but their minds were as sponges; eager to take in as much information as possible. The lesson was supposed to last 30 minutes tops; but with all the children shooting question after question, the lesson ran until service was done. I often tell myself that I want a mind like a child; where I believe in God's word and there's no room for doubt. Where I am so hungry to learn more and more about Him that I am constantly reading His word. I have this one child in class who reminds me of myself when I was younger. He came up to me and told me he was prayed for and anointed. He was so excited! He said he felt like he could do anything! Remember when we were like that? When we were so gung ho and on fire for Christ that we would do any and everything possible just to do something for the kingdom of God? When we quoted God's promises, believed it without a trace of doubt; if God said it then it was so? We are constantly at war with our minds between what can be so easily achieved with a "child-like faith". I think if we just take on the simple mind frame as a child and ask & answer those questions we will feel a lot better. Who: me. What: the situation at hand. When: right now. Why: It's just another way God can show me who He is in my life. How: He will solve any problem if I put my trust in Him. All it takes is faith as small as a mustard seed.

Dance!

For the past couple of months I have been like a kid counting down the days to Christmas. I am eagerly looking forward to the Ballet Intensive I will be doing for a week in July. It will be like school (10am-4pm) dancing all day. My body will ache, but I will love every minute of it! Did I mention that I love to dance? Lol. I love dance since the first Christmas I saw "The Nutcracker". The obsession grew as I became exposed to Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers, Gregory Hines and the movie "Center Stage". Everytime I hear a song, I automatically come up with the choreography to go with it. I remember the first song I created a dance to was "Keep the Candle Burning" by Point of Grace. I had my brother, sister, and cousins dancing. It was hilarious! Thank God no one filmed it, I would have burned the tape. But I digress, I was called into the dance ministry at a young age and took it over before I finished high school. I remember when we did the first dance with me leading the ministry. It was to the song "Come Worship the Lord" by Darwin Hobbs. I was so scared, smh. I can truly say that the Lord has brought me a mighty long way. I still get butterflies in my stomach before I dance but now it feels more like an adernaline rush; when you know the Lord has called you for a particular ministry wouldn't you be excited? When I started taking Ballet last year it was so much work but it was also so much fun. I love every minute of it and constantly think about what I will learn in the next class. Maybe I will become good enough to join a company, lol. You never know; with God ALL things are possible.

She's Got the Look

Today was our S.En.S.E. (Sisters Encouraging Sisters In Excellence) seminar/meeting. It was the first seminar I help lead out. I was assigned to do a seminar on fashion. We focused on how to look modest yet fashionable and dressing as well as wearing the best accessories for your figure. We had a blast! We also had the girls cut outfits out of magazines and pick appropriate outfits for school, work, and church. We end up going over our normal time....... I am still looking forward to having a Saturday to myself but I know right now my Saturdays belong to the different ministries I am attached to. And to think I still have to squeeze in time for dance practice! Sigh. Keep me in prayer, lol.

It's Not About Us

Today I had intercessory prayer at church. I am the only one under 25 that regularly attends it. Sad, I know but true. I was drawn to it over a year ago; I wanted to be the one to intercede on behalf of my family, love ones, friends, the lost, etc. I have been attending it for a while and haven't been called upon to lead a prayer until today. I was asked to lead a prayer on behalf of the youth ( I started sweating bullets, I am still conquering the in front of a crowd thing, lol). I am one of the "youth leaders" because for some reason the youth come to me with the things they won't go to anyone else about. I think its because I am honest about everything with them and I won't judge them. So when I led the prayer I asked God to teach us and show us how to love them ALL and show us how to reach them. Not just the ones who listen and attend Sunday School and Youth Service faithfully, but those who live in an unsaved household, those who come in our doors with tattoos, wild color hair, piercings, those who are hurt and only know how to use anger to deal with their pain. I joined the youth ministry over a year ago as the one of the new youth secretary. It started out as an administrative role but slowly became more. The girls began to see me about questions and problems and the boys would come to me to get a big sister point of view. One of the elderly women told me that God is calling me to work with them because I have been where they have been and I want to help them and bring them to where they need to be. I never looked at it like that before. I always looked at it from the angle of why should they be lost if all they need is a hug, a shoulder to cry on, or even someone to take them shopping? Why can't I be the one to do it? One of my older girlfriends told me that ministry takes on all forms but the definition is the same: ministry is serving others. I hope that I can serve others everyday. Even if it's just when I give my seat on the train/bus for an elderly person or cover my co-workers lunch because they're short on funds, etc. That being said, ask yourself "Am I trying to serve others daily?".