Precious

Tonight Chris and I watched Breanna's swim meet. She swims for the Brook Valley Country Club Swim Team aka the Barracudas. You can tell she really enjoys it! Bre even placed 2nd in her free style heat, Go Bre! One thing that I learned, is that in swimming there is a lot of down time between heats. Well that's okay with me, because I enjoy the social factor of being sport spectator. In between heats I overheard Bre's friend and her talking. She was telling Bre about her friends "concerns" about her grandfather's heart surgery. Her friend was worried about Jesus falling out during of her granddad's open heart during the surgery! Too cute! Don't you just love how a child's brain literally imagines Jesus hanging out inside of our hearts.. love it! She didn't want Him to fall out of her Grandfathers while in surgery. In this girl's mind she pictures Jesus (Jerusalem cruisers and all) hanging out inside our hearts after we get saved!

If only us adults understood what this girl does.. If only we recognized that Jesus is with us all time (dwelling in our hearts). With that mindset, just think how we would act different.. hmm. Sin would be a whole lot easier to turn down ..we would have no doubt and believe..we be a lot nicer, kinder, never feel alone, gossip less, talk bout Jesus more, maybe worry less and pray a whole lot more, be courageous and have no fear. Well if you do remember Jesus is fan of child like faith.

Matthew 18:3 "unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven"

Child like faith... hmm so is Jesus is in your heart? If so please remember Hes there and make sure He doesn't fall out. :)

Update!

Wow, I can say that I have been horrible about updating this, but life has been crazy these past couple of months! Well let me give you some highlights of what has happen thus far this summer:

May 28th - got engaged to my high school sweet heart Chris Smith! (yay) at the Biltmore Estate in Ashville, NC. It was the perfect place and the perfect proposal! We are getting married August 6th 2011!! We are just now starting to get all the wedding stuff together. Ginny Corbett is going to photograph our wedding.. so exciting. She does amazing work and she loves Jesus, how could it get any better? So far we have not picked a place to have the wedding or reception.. we want a nice place, without having to pay a fortune for it!



Us on our engagement day, in the Biltmore Gardens!



Chris and I after a long day of Mt. Biking


June 4th and 5th - Hope House orientation! The next weekend I went back to Ashville again, this time for my Hope House orientation and to spend some quality time with Dad. Hope House is a home near Ashville, NC that restores domestic (meaning from America) minor (under 18) girls, who are victims of sex trafficking/prostitution. Through the power of Jesus these girls are brought to full rehabilitation! The girls at the home are from America and are both under 16! I am going in just a few short weeks to serve at the Hope House for a whole month. Sex trafficking is growing problem world wide, it happens right here in our home town of Greenville. Sadly restoration homes for the victims are few and far between, just a couple years ago there was only 50 beds in America for victims! Yikes!



Dad at Cragmont, he said that he always wanted to go, so I took him!

June 18th - Georgina's shower! Mary Beth, Jenny and I threw her a wedding shower! What fun that was! One of my best friends Georgina McGlawhorn is getting married July 17 to Alex Greer and I could not be more happy for her! They truly make a great match! It is just soo hard to believe that one of best friends will be married in less than a month, wow how time flys. It just a reminder that we are all growing up and no one is getting younger.

So that's the latest update of what's been going on in the life of Anna, not too interesting but it's fun! I'll be sure to post some more before I leave for Youth Quest and Ashville!

Spontaneous

Ever heard the saying the best and sweetest experiences in life are often unplanned and totally unexpected? I personally LOVE surprises. For example just last Monday my wonderful boy friend, Chris showed up at my house and SURPRISED me with flowers. :-D Totally made my day and best part was I had no idea until he showed up. Now, I say that I love surprises, but at heart I am a planner. My calender and agenda for the most part is organized with times, dates, and places to be. Last night I had the privilege along with Mary Beth, Jenny, and Karla Williams to plan the Youthquake girl's sleepover/going away party for Sam and Hayli (two amazing girls who are part of the Youthquake family). Needless to say the sleepover was a blast! We played Bunco, made desserts, learned the "Hoe Down Throw Down," made up our own music videos..ect. After all of those activities it was only 11:30pm and by then the girls were hanging out, chatting and listening to music. When a couple of girls starting singing and playing worship music in the living room. I walked in thinking to myself, "okay so what are we going to do next?" My previous thoughts for the night were just to hang out, let the girls bond and not really have a devotional. But if the opportunity persented itself Ms. Karla was going to share her testimony. Haha, I was wrong. Before I knew it the couple of girls singing, turned into the entire group spontaneously worshiping Jesus! We spent about an hour sitting together in the living room with nothing but an IPod, simply singing to our King! Following worship Ms. Karla shared her beautiful story of how Christ transformed her life, and we were all deeply touched. The best part about this whole experience was, it was totally and entirely unplanned or expected. It was a surprise. The best and most rememberable memories are not planned or rehearsed. It's the unrequested and spontaneous moments that leave a lastly impact on our heart. We had no idea Jesus was going to show up in such a sweet way until he was already there! Thanks Jesus, for being spontaneous, you know us girls love surprises. :)

'just praying to god that don't believe in'

Lyrics of the hit song Breakeven by The Script

This is a popular song that can be heard on Bob 933, the top 20 Countdown.. ect. More importantly this song describes the cry of a generation.

The lyrics of the song remind of a story found in Acts 17:16-32
In the story, Paul's ministry has led him to Athens, a city he describes as full of idols and dedicated to many different gods. During one of Paul's debates with some philosophers concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he was pulled away to Council of Philosophers who wanted to know more about his strange claim. As he opened his statements to the council, he noted that among the many alters and shrines in Athens, there was one alter dedicated "to an unknown god." Paul recognized that they had been worshiping God without knowing who he is and it was his job to tell them!

This generation, longs for the real experence with God. Humans are designed to commune with God and our soul will never be content until we do so. Most modern Americans are like the people of Athens, praying to an unknown god. They recognize there is a God, but they don't believe that he is able or willing to touch their life's. They know they are missing something, but know one has told them what. Many want to believe, but do not know how. God is very real and alive, but are his people? The reality of this is, God will remain unknown to many, until his people realize it is our job to tell them the Good News.