In Which God Spoke Through a Teabag (among other things)

Wow! What to write about! I may be feeling like SO much has happened because we just finished our very first performance of Christmas tour, but it seems like it's been ages since I last wrote.

This week has really been full of small things. We've had a lot of stuff going on, classes and rehearsals as usual, as well as two dress rehearsals, American Thanksgiving, youth group, and the performance this morning. But the things that really stand out to me from this week were lots of little moments in which I was able to see God's hand. (and His sense of humor)

The earliest one that comes to mind is one day when I made myself a cup of tea. We have this box called "Bible Verse Tea," and it's an assortment of different herbal teas, so each bag is a surprise, and every tag has a bible verse.

So I opened it up in the morning, and picked a bag out. 

Now...I like to pay a lot of attention to small coincidences, because most often, I find, they really aren't coincidences at all. So before I even looked at the verse, I was sure that God would lead my hand to which bag He wanted, and that verse would be for me.

The verse was Ephesians 6:10,

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

Just on Sunday, God had used that whole passage, starting in verse 10, to relieve some stress about a certain situation I was dealing with. I hadn't even realized it, but I had been thinking about that situation subconsciously, all morning.

That was cool. God knew what was on my mind even when I didn't even realize it, but then I poured the water over the teabag and smelled mint. I laughed. Just before my sister Naomi went back overseas, she and I had peppermint tea with honey several days in a row, and called it "No stress tea." It's the kind you have when you want to get rid of stress.

Another moment which was kind of awesome, was on...I want to say Thursday? I woke up that morning very discouraged. Feeling very unworthy, unlovable, and unable to go into the presence of God. 

I prayed that God would speak to me, and tell me what He wanted me to know. I was hoping He would give me some encouragement, but I was open to the possiblity that He might not. Maybe He would convict me, or show me something about myself that was hindering me from coming to Him.

I opened my bible, and read Psalm 100:4,

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

I felt like He was just like, "Come here. Just be thankful, and come."

And the last moment I'll share with you actually happened last night, or technically this morning.

For some odd reason I've been waking up at 3:11am for the past four or five nights. Last night we got home from youth group at 9:30, and I had to get up at 5 this morning.

I wasn't complaining or anything, but I was praying, just kind of expressing my desire to not wake up at 3:11 again, since I had to get up early.

Sure enough, I woke up in the pitch dark, so I checked my iPod clock. 2:11. Haha.

Well, at least if I move down one more hour, it'll be 1:11! :D

#1:11Ministries #iusehashtagscausetheyrecool

#nojudging

Christmas Tour Projects, and God Behind the Scenes

Once again, I'm writing on the road home. I think there is something about long drives that inspires me, and when I get inspired, that tends to come out on my blog.

So here I am again, I'm going home. SO excited. I'm even more pumped because my family doesn't know! They will by the time I post this, but right now, they are clueless. We'll only be home overnight, we have classes tomorrow, but it's still awesome.

Anyway, I'll just give you a quick update on what we've been up to this week, and then share a thought that's been on my mind.

A few days ago, we started the very ambitious task of taping our bedroom. 

Just to give you an idea, picture a bedroom, now cut it in half horizontally. The bottom half of the room, most of the way around, is all wood. The upper half is lined with wood, and has wood strips all over, leaving the painted wall exposed in rectangles all over the wall and ceiling, in between the wood strips. Does that make sense? I hope so.

Anyway, now picture the painted parts being bubblegum pink. That's not even that bad, until you realize that there's another part of the wall which is deep red, and the carpet that was promptly ripped out before we even moved in, (Thank you, Rachel and Carolyn!) was a thick orange and red shag carpet. Brilliant. Just brilliant.

Anyway, so the project to naturally follow the ripping out of the carpet, is the repainting of the walls and ceiling.

However, like I said, that task was a little bit ambitious. My neck hurt a lot after doing the ceiling. But we did it! It may have been ambitious, but we are ambitious people. What can I say? We're dancers.

We've also made Christmas Wish Lists, had dance parties, and discovered the genius kitchen skills of my sister Anna. (which could be a post all it's own, but I'll leave that for another time)

So now that you have read all about what we've been doing, I just wanted to share a thought that I had the other day with you. I was emailing someone recently, and I said, "God doesn't need an audience to be awesome."

Those words have kind of stuck with me since that moment, they keep coming back, and making me think.

We love to have an audience for when we do good or impressive things. God made us that way, and it's not a bad thing. In fact, I think it shows a part of who He is as well, because we were made in His image. He does like to be seen, to be known, and known for what He does. He likes to be remembered, and given credit.

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. (Exodus 20:2)

Oh, give thanks to the Lord ! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples! (Psalms 105:1)

So again, this is not a bad thing. I have been to performances which I have been extremely blessed by. Performance is a good thing.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

But for all the work that God does which is seen, He does a LOT that goes unseen, unnoticed, unappreciated.

He sets an amazing example for us, being similarly wired in that we love to be recognized, that not everything we do needs an audience.

But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly. (Matthew 6:3, 4)

The cool thing is that even when we follow His example and do things "in secret," He still sees. We still have an audience, and one that will never misunderstand our intentions, or criticize us for lack of skill.

Once again, He is amazing, and I just want to take a moment to recognize Him for the amount of work that neither you or I will ever even know about. 

Thank you, Jesus. :)

Week 4, Part 1: All the Goings On

It's like I actually have a busy life. Who knew, right?

Lots has happened the past week, we've been keeping busy with all of the usual things, but I'll skip the boring details and just tell you about the fun stuff.

First of all, our teacher decided to put all three of us through an exam! Ahh!!

We just started learning the syllabus four weeks ago, I just started pointe four weeks ago, and we're preparing for a major exam as well as a Christmas production. Sound like a lot? It is. My poor muscles.

In all seriousness though, I love it, as challenging as it is.

We just found out our exam dates a few days ago, Anna and Tabithah's exam was this morning, and I will be taking mine on Monday. Prayers are appreciated.

Despite all of the craziness, we still manage to have time for fun things, so we all went to the Toronto Zoo on Tuesday!

None of the three of us had ever been to a zoo, so it was a fun first experience. And we got Beavertails, also a first. Definitely not the last time. :D

Baby pandas!

I feel like an official Canadian, I saw a Polar bear, and ate Beavertails in one day.

Pics or it didn't happen? Proof.

The head lion.

My sisters being a couple of show-offs. I mean, you can't see a canoe and not do the splits in it, right?

As the title suggests, I am going to post again tomorrow for this week, because I had a really awesome thought, more along the lines of my usual blog posts, that I want to share.

I hope you're as excited to read it as I am to post it!

Week 4, Part 2: Every Good Gift

Recently, I had a lovely thought.

It started with thinking about my lack of turnout, which, if you know much about ballet, is a big deal. It's something which you have to have, and I do not have very much of naturally.

It wasn't really negative, but I was thinking about how hard I will have to work to overcome that, when the thought popped into my head, "Your body is a gift."

Suddenly, I realized that God gave it to me! :D

It seems like a really simple thought, like yeah, I knew that, but suddenly it felt like a privilege. Everything that I have to do, stretching it like crazy and overcoming "obstacles," is really a privilege, and not everyone gets to experience the road that I will get to take with my body.

A few days later, I was stretching in the studio, and I looked up at a poster on the wall, which quoted from James 1-17.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights...

It only took me a moment before I realized that not only is "every good and perfect gift" from above, but EVERY GIFT THAT IS FROM ABOVE is "Good and perfect."

Woah!! I really love this thought.

In case I had any doubts that God was trying to teach me this, they were discarded last Saturday, when we had ministry training, and the directors of 1:11 Ministries were focusing on eating disorders, and self image.

I don't think I have ever been one to have a really bad self image, I've had my moments, but I tend to be pretty positive about myself. I'm not sure why God chose to teach me about that these past two weeks, but I'm just glad He did, because it makes me really happy.

Also, just another note on that verse which is sort of unrelated, but which just made the whole thing a little bit more cool, is the "Father of Lights" part.

I have always loved that part, because it reminds me of Matthew 5:14.

“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden."

Jesus says we are lights, and then James calls God the "Father of Lights."

Looking at that with the rest of the verse, that my body is a gift given me because it is good and perfect, by the Father of Lights, who is my father, because I am a light...it's just super cool.

I'll include the whole verse here at the bottom, because if anyone has heard my talk about my favorite things about God, it's FAITHFULNESS!

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. (James 1:17)

See you next week! :)

No, I'm THE Big Fat Panda

This week has been similar to the previous ones here in Crystal Beach, lots of laughing amidst dancing, eating, school, dancing, pain, housework, and more dancing.

I will say though, it definitely had it's moments to stand out from the rest. For one thing, I have officially become The Dragon Warrior. Well, Po anyway.

One day I was thinking about how much I am like Po from Kungfu Panda, seriously, the more I thought about it, the more clear it became. We are the same.

I'm all inspired by other dancers, and wish I could be just like them.

But then I try...

"There is now a level zero."

But I am determined to improve!

"Don't worry master, I will never quit!"

And then my weakness was discovered.

And so Carolyn assumed the role of Master Shifu, and made me pirouette in a circle of chocolate bars on the ground. No word of a lie.

I couldn't help but laugh, as I had JUST been comparing myself to Po, and then she came up with that. Totally independently, I didn't say anything about Kungfu Panda before the chocolate bars.

So yes. This is my life.

But one day, I will BE the Dragon Warrior. I believe it.

In the meantime, God has given me so much to be thankful for!

The other day I was sitting in the loft above our garage as it rained. The rain was pelting down on the roof just above me, I had epic music playing, which mixed really well with the rain, until you couldn't hear the music anymore because the rain was so loud! It was lovely.

Anyway, it was the perfect time to just pray and be alone with Jesus, and a verse came to mind that I had read the day before.

Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. (Psalms 30:4)

I love how this verse encourages us to give thanks just at the very remembrance of His holiness. Every time it comes to mind, it is the perfect time to thank Him.

Because no matter what is going on, whether you are dreaming about ballet while making noodles in your father's restaurant, or sitting in a loft enjoying God's presence, or fighting an evil kungfu master, God is holy, and unchanging, and good.

Crazy Times with the Sisters

It's week 2!

One of the things that has been interesting about this adventure, is spending so much time with my two younger sisters, Anna and Tabithah.

Now, I do spend a lot of time with them at home, but nothing creates comradery quite like taking three dance classes a day together, and then sharing the same cold room.

The three of us shared aching muscles for the first few days, and from then on, we have shared aching abs from laughing so hard.

Seriously, we practically haven't stopped laughing since we got here.

My sisters have been teasing me about breathing through my ears for a few days. Just to clarify, I do NOT breathe through my ears, but I made the mistake of mentioning to Carolyn (our teacher) that my ears keep popping during class and it's quite annoying.

Well, none of them could understand what I meant by "pop," so I said it felt like I was breathing through my ears. You know what I mean, right?

Well they didn't. So they all laughed at me, and Carolyn told me it might go away if I would focus on breathing through my mouth and nose. Sigh. Never gonna live that one down.

Anyway, our most recent escapade, I like to call, "The Canadian Homeschooler Prank," because it's a fabulous prank that none of us actually have the guts to do.

We came up with it Thursday morning when we were upstairs in the studio, partly practicing, partly stretching, and mostly just cracking up about anything and everything.

There is a part in one of the dances, in which you turn, and place your foot flexed in front of you. Well, Anna discovered that if you hop to the same position on the other side, and then repeat several times, it looks quite a bit like some sort of Russian folk dance.

Thus, we invented the most genius prank that we will ever not do, which was that the three of us would practice that in sync, adding things like turning around, prancing around the studio, and occasionally throwing your arm in the air and yelling, "Hey!" Then, in rehearsal, we would do the actual dance until we got to that part, and then flawlessly switch, making our teachers second guess themselves.

Yup. That was a good time. We laughed really hard, and then went downstairs and practiced like good Canadian, homeschooled students.

I do want to keep this blog semi-focused on what is really important, so I will finish by telling you about a moment I experienced at prayer meeting on Wednesday night.

As I was sitting there, my mind wandered a bit, and I thought about ballet classes, and how my ears kept popping. The worship team started playing a song just then.

It's Your breath in our lungs,

So we pour out our praise,

We pour out our praise to You only.

I had to laugh. I heard the words in my head as,

It's Your breath in my ears,

So we pour out our praise,

We pour out our praise to You only.

God does have a sense of humor, and ever since then, when my ears pop during class, my first thought is to praise Him.

Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. (Psalms 150:6)

A Place of Rest

At this moment, I am sitting in a car, watching rain hit the windshield. 

Okay, so I'm staring at my iPod screen, but in between sentences, I'm watching the rain.

Guess where I'm going? Home!

In my last two posts, I told y'all about my invitation to train and tour with 1:11 Ministries for two months. Well, I was thinking maybe you'd like to know how that's going, so I'm going to write about it.

We just finished week 1. I'm on the road right now, heading home for my sister's bridal shower, but we'll be making the trip back Monday morning, in time for my first class at 10:30 am.

This first week has been awesome. Every day I take two ballet technique classes, and a choreography class. We've been working on a different dance each day, so it's a lot to cram into my head, but it's been really good.

I'm not going to write a super long post, for your sakes, although I have a ton I could write about. The highlight of this week was definitely at the beginning, when God showed me something amazing.

Man, I'm trying to write short, but everything has backstory! Okay, so the synopsis of what you need to know, is that for a really long time now, I have been struggling hard. Spiritually, emotionally, not having a good time. I've been trying to cling to truth, and seek God in it all, but it's just been so blatantly obvious how bad I am at that.

Anyway, it kind of reached a peak recently, where I just felt like I was about to reach the end of my rope, and I needed...something. I honestly had no idea what I needed. Rest? Revival? Breakthrough? I didn't know anymore. I'm so glad Jesus did. :)

This trip, as much as it was like a dream come true, felt like another thing added to the burden I was carrying. I could barely even get excited about it, I just got stressed out.

I realized something on the road to my new house though, I was leaving a lot of things that were burdening me behind. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my home, but I felt relieved to be going somewhere where some of my stress didn't exist.

We drove on Saturday, and went to church the next morning. I can't even tell you how amazing the service was. Mostly the worship, I wish I could remember the lyrics to tell you, but I can't. All I remember is God speaking, telling me He had provided a place of rest for me. 

Another major thing that was stressing me out He clearly addressed in one of the songs, and as I sang, I knew He wanted me to let it go, because He had control.

Another weight off of my back. I already felt like a new person. But there was more.

After that, I believe it was Sunday night, we were having dinner, and there was a little picture frame with a bible verse on it.

He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me. (Psalms 18:19)

Again, He brought me into this place to be a sanctuary for me, a place of rest. I might add, the house I'm living in is HUGE. He definitely brought me forth into a large place. :D

A few times, I have gotten discouraged during dance class, or stressed about something, and it's like I can almost hear Him saying, "Are you going to trust Me?"

I feel like He's given me one task. Trust.

It's very humbling, because I want to claim to be such a great Christian that I don't need two months to JUST trust, but it's what God has given me, and I think He knows what I need best.

That's really all I can say without repeating myself, but it really doesn't do justice to the peace I'm feeling.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)