For day three I choose “How He loves us” by John Mark McMillian.

Why? Because it portrays the love that God has for us! It makes me fall in love with Him all over because I am reminded about the depths of love that come from His heart!

Do you know how much He loves you?

Listen to this song and be reminded!!!

Oh what a happy day! The day that we get to celebrate our mothers! Praise the Lord for mothers!

Dear my wonderful mother!

I love you so much. Throughout the years, I have come to love you and appreciate you more then ever. When I think about who has made sacrifices in their life on my behalf, without a shadow of a doubt it is you!

Your love for me is known by everyone who knows you and most of all by me. Your love for your children is beautiful. You have selflessly given of yourself as a mother for 32 years! Always giving as much of yourself as you can. Denying yourself things so that we might have what we want. Do you know how much you have blessed me?

You let me go to college 900 miles away. You continually supported me when I couldn’t get my bills paid. You would always say yes if I called and wanted money for something. You would always get me home some how, some way. You sent me cards, not only for holidays but just to tell me you love me. You sent me packages and always fulfilled my requests even down to wrapping every gift inside the box!

Then I quit college and you still supported me 100%. I never doubted. Then I became an intercessory missionary with no pay. You might have questioned for a second, but then you completely accepted the Lord’s will for me and did what you had to do to help me out.

God has blessed me beyond words with you. You are truly a wonderful mother to me. I am forever grateful for all you have done! I want to give selflessly like you have, make sacrifices and love me children wholeheartedly! Thank you mom, for being the kind of mother I have needed over the years! You are beautiful and I love you sooooo much!

Love your oldest daughter,

Amanda Mary

I’m back with happier posts! I’ll try to get away from the same old, mundane posts.

So as you’ve read in the previous posts I’ve been having some what of a rough time lately. Mostly with my emotions. But God is sooo good and He blessed me tremendously the other day!!! It was glorious. And so I thought I would share with you some things I am so thankful for and that blessed me!

1. IHOP-AC bought a building in downtown Burlington. We bought it back in January, and we’ve been praying for it since July 31st, 2007. We are not in the building yet because of all the work that has to be done, but we are contending for it! And we walked in the “new prayer room” on Wednesday (we go and pray over the building once a week) and demolition has begun!!!!! It was one of the most encouraging things to me! Here I am praying for the raising up of 24/7 prayer in Alamance County, and not always seeing whats going on, and the Lord shows me tangible answers to our prayers!!!!!! I was so moved by this simple thing! Praise the Lord, HE ANSWERS prayer!

2. Here is some breaking news–the chance that I am going to go to Romania is even greater then ever!!! I’ve written several times on here that I’m praying about going this summer for about 20 days. And I got a call on Wednesday that it’s looking really good that I am going! This makes me SOOOOOO excited! I’ve been 3 times already, but this will be a different city in Romania and it will be to minister in a youth camp. I am pumped and really hope that I get that chance!

3. I was blessed with a hair cut/trim on Wednesday. I haven’t had my hair cut in 7 months. Well, I’m not actually cutting any length off, because I’ve been growing my hair out since I became an intercessory missionary in August 2007. I’m growing it out until IHOP-AC becomes 24/7. I have faith that its going to happen sooner then later! I just like getting it trimmed and layered when I get the chance! I had a WONDERFUL woman cut my hair who goes to my church and she just blessed me with her company! She loves Jesus so much and I got to share my testimony and talk about Jesus and the prayer room! Those are basically some of my favorite things to talk about! Glorious!

4. I got a VERY encouraging e-mail from someone who reads my blog. He just encouraged me concerning some of the things I had posted before. It really blessed me.

Actually I could keep going… but I’ll just say that God is so amazing! I really needed encouraging and of course He knew it (and I had been asking and telling Him that and He saw my need and filled it! I love Him so much! He blows me away over and over again with how wonderful He is!

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Also, starting on Monday, I’m going to do a week long posting theme. I’m going to put up a video of my favorite song and write how it has impacted me, a new one each day.  There are SOOO many good songs out there and SOO many that have impacted me in incredible ways! So I want to share them, and maybe let you guys find out about some new amazing music and where you can get it. And also listen to it and be encouraged and look to Jesus! So be looking forward to that and make sure to check back!

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I’ve got a lot of things to post about, and I’m getting out of this rut I am in and back in to the swing of things! Keep my eyes on Him and not on the circumstances and situations around me. It is WAY better when I do that!

I’ll keep my eyes, on the Prize, I’m looking at You, Jesus!

I don’t have much to write about that I haven’t already written about here and here.

So it seems to me like I’m a broken record lately.

It’s about Jesus.

It’s about love.

It’s about how I’m feeling about those two things.

It’s about life in the prayer room, as an intercessory missionary.

But its just like Chris commented on my How I feel…post. Emotions change, God does not. Amen.

Life has it’s ups and downs. I have my ups and downs. But God never changes. I can always count on Him, especially when I can’t count on myself to be consistent.

He has a perfect track record. In every instance of my life He has proven Himself faithful! He has proven Himself full of love. He has proven Himself perfect. I can trust Him, I can believe Him, I can give Him everything and He won’t take advantage of me. He doesn’t reject me or abandon me. Nope, He is always there. He never breaks His promises. Oh he is not a covenant breaker, He is a covenant keeper! Always, and forever!

I have to keep testifying of how great God is! I can’t keep it in, over and over again I will praise Him! I will tell about His goodness! Even when I don’t feel like it or it doesn’t seem like it. I will testify of truth. He is truth.

Bless the Lord!

Some days I don’t feel the Lord at all. I can’t live this life based off of my feelings. Most times I’m not having the encounter of a lifetime. Its me sitting in the room trying to commune wit the Holy God. Trying to not think about food, clothes, my hair, money, life in general. Continually bringing my focus on the One who I am here for.

Some days I hear the Lord speaking to me like a whisper in my heart, sometimes through His word. Most days I am meditating on what He has already spoken.

Some days I don’t feel like I can keep praying, singing, worshiping. I feel like I’m not doing enought.

If I was here because of my feelings, I wouldn’t be here. I would be doing something that I could see results from, I would be out doing what looks good to people.

But I’m not here to see results with my eyes. I’m not here for an emotional encounter. I’m here because I love Jesus! I’m here because this is where He wants me and I delight in nothing more then doing what He wants me to do! I’m here to be near to the One whom my soul loves. To hear what is on His heart and to partner with it in prayer. Even if I can’t see the change. Even if people tell me I’m wasting my time.

To tell you the truth, sometimes it feels like I am! But what keeps me here in this place of prayer and worship is love.

Even when I don’t feel anything, I rest in the confidence that I know who my God is. He is love. He loves me. This is truth. NOT what I’m feeling at the moment.

I am confident that partnering with His heart in prayer is the ONLY thing that changes things and brings about the action of change. Even when I don’t see it.

I am confident that I am not wasting my life. Because I know without a shadow of a doubt He’s worthy of ALL my time. He deserves me giving up EVERYTHING!

And I’m here praying for the world because He is worthy of every single person giving up EVERYTHING for Him.

Yeah, its love that keeps me here. There is this burning inside of me called love that has taken root and won’t let me go.

I’m not talking about feeling love. Love is here inside of me no matter how I’m feeling. It warms my heart when it starts to get cold.

When I’m sad or discouraged this love doesn’t leave. It makes me cling to my God!

And even though I am so weak, this love is growing inside of me every day!

This is why I live, breathe, eat, sleep, pray, talk, laugh…because this love I have for my God keeps me going!

Why do I love Him? Because He loves me perfectly. His love never fails me. His love covers my sins. His love is passionate and jealous. No one has ever loved me like this nor will they ever. He has given up everything for me. He has given me everything I’ve ever had. And all those times I’ve been unfaithful, He’s been faithful!

Do you see? How can I not love Him? I have to! He is worthy of so much more but I give Him my all, no matter how small it might be! I give Him my love. And this is why I live and do what I do.

I had a terrible emotional morning.

If I’m just going to be honest. Which I am.

I don’t know whats wrong exactly.

I just kept wanting to cry during church today. It wasn’t necessarily because of anything bad, maybe I think I just felt misunderstood.

Misunderstood with what I am doing with my life. Like people hate me or look down on me. Which, by the way, they do.

The pastor kept talking about how we need to encourage the young generation to be passionate about God and know that He has a calling on their lives and we can’t take them away from what God is telling them to do.

And I can’t ever stop what I am doing or my life would be TERRIBLE. Do you understand? Maybe not. People wonder why I am doing what I do, or wonder why I’m not in college or getting a job or doing something better. It is sooo discouraging! Why would you try to distract someone from doing what the Lord has destined them to do?

I am doing what I am doing because it is the MANDATE for my life. My life has a PURPOSE and a CALLING and if I did ANYTHING ELSE I would be failing at life. I would be someone other then who I am supposed to be.

I have to waste my life on Him or I would die!

So even if EVERY person in the WORLD came against me, or tried to discourage me, let me just tell you, I won’t give up. I won’t stop loving Jesus radically. I won’t stop living a lifestyle of prayer and fasting. I won’t stop being an intercessory missionary as my occupation. No way. Not on ANYTHING.

I would gladly give up my life for Jesus.

And I’m saying yes everyday to letting Him have His way with me.

And even if I feel misunderstood forever, its ok. I’m in love with God, and God’s in love with me. This is life. This is success. I wouldn’t trade it for ANYTHING.

I read a blog regularly called My Charming Kids. The author (MckMama) writes amazing and loves the Lord so much! Her son Stellan was diagnosed with a heart disease in the womb and was told he was going to die. Only by the Lord, he survived and was born and declared to have NO heart disease.

He was sick this weekend and they took him into the hospital and he went into SVT (Supra Ventricular Tachycardia=very high heart rate) They have been trying since last night to get him out of it and it has been unsuccessful.

Please join me in praying for the healing of this baby boy. That he will get out of SVT and have his heart rate return to normal! God is in control and we look to Him!

VISIT MCKMAMA’S WEBSITE TO READ MORE ABOUT THEIR STORY AND UPDATES!!!

My last traveling expedition landed me in Vernon, NY. Never heard of it? Me neither! I went to NY to visit my best friend, Allison. She just had a baby Feb. 2nd. Paityn Ashlie. She is so beautiful and precious. So I was able to fly up and visit for the weekend.

And of course, God is so faithful. I didn’t have the money to go the Tuesday before I left (which was a Friday). I called my best friend and left her a message telling her that I couldn’t come because I didn’t have the money. And then God gloriously provided that night around 11 pm. I had the ticket the next day, only two days before I left to go. And the ticket price wasn’t outrageous, and it was cheaper then it was last year when I went! God is so AMAZING!

So I flew in to visit my best friend whom I love so much, and always refer to as “my best friend” and I sign cards and notes to her as “your best friend”. I love it! Here are some pictures from the trip!

My best friend’s family owns quite a few four wheelers as well as 79 acres of land. So we had the most fun ever combining the two! We went four wheeling and it was MUDDY! We wore rain boots and coveralls.

We got stuck quite a few times. This is the result of pulling and pushing each other out. And when I tried to push one out the tires just splashed the muddy water all over my face! But it was so much fun! We even rode the four wheelers down a creek and up the bank.

This is PAITYN and me! We had lots of fun together. I got to feed her, and change her diapers and change her clothes and hold her and rock her to sleep. Oh it was so great!

This is my beautiful best friend and mother of Paityn! I love her so much! We have been best friends since we were in 9th grade. And that was 9 years ago!! Before she was dating or married or having babies.

I thought this one was so cute because she is yawning! I love it!

The Lord was speaking to me in the prayer room about how I am supposed to see other people. I’ve shared on here a lot that I struggle with loving people the way that I am supposed to.

Today, my friend Sam was singing a song by Tim Reimherr called More Than Ashes. It says “I’m the rose, I’m the lily, I am Yours, I’m Your beauty.” And it is just amazing when you have this revelation of how much you mean to the Lord.

But today the Lord was telling me, “Thats what I think about the others around you too.” Which I know, but I don’t usually think about. So I was beginning to journal about the revelation that the Lord has of others. Even the ones I get frustrated with, or think are so immature or whatever the case is.

The Lord wants us to have revelation of our identity, but He wants us to understand this is the identity of everyone. This thing called Christianity is so much more corportate then we think. We, the Church, are the Bride. All of us.

Something that Billy Humphrey always says is, “God really likes you, no I mean really likes You.” And so when that person is doing something you don’t like, or think they shouldn’t be doing, remember how much God really likes them. He really loves them. He really thinks they are awesome. He really delights in them.

This is why He said love our neighbors as ourselves. He wants us to know our identity and be confident in it, but He wants us to know others identity too. Because when we begin to see how God sees, just as we have to do with ourselves. We will begin to love them, just as we begin to love ourselves.

This really helped me with taking every thought captive. When someone is annoying me and I’m just thinking about what they said and blah blah blah, I can remember the things the Lord speaks over them! They are beautiful to Him, He says they are lovely even in their weakness!

I know I sure don’t see people the way the Lord does. Help me God! Give me Your eyes and Your perspective! Teach me to love others as You love them!

Ps. 139:13 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.
Psa 139:14  I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.
Psa 139:15  My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Psa 139:16  Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.

We usually use this verse the day babies are born, but we need to celebrate the fact that we are still able to have birthdays!

Today is my 24th birthday. Those pics up there are some of the things I received. An awesome yellow bag, a green scarf and some handwritten notes that are so sweet taped all over my bathroom mirror and on the doors by my lovely roommate Jess!

I praise the Lord that He created me and knew about me before ANYONE! He loves me so much! THank you God for giving me life! You are Creator! I love You!