Thirsty Thursday...

As part of the New Year & trying to live a more healthy lifestyle (also during my fast). I tried out making a juice drink this morning.. I am a HUGE texture person so I was really nervous about how it would turn out...

It actually turned out pretty good! I finished it :)

Here's what I made (it's a combo of a few different pinterest ideas) :

2 cups of water (Yay that helps my H2O intake too)

Few handfuls of Kale (iron, I need that!)

Few handfuls of spinach

1 pear

1 apple

2-3 stalks of celery

1 banana 

1/2 of a lemon squeezed

& then I added 1 big spoonful of natural peanut butter but that's because I am obsessed with pb ;)

I am also trying to make better choices when it comes to sweets... Which for me includes coffee since I tend to put wayyyy to much sugar & creamer in my coffees. 

So my new coffee routine includes:

Coconut milk instead of creamer

Like a 1/4th of the raw sugar cane sugar as usual

Cinnamon & Nutmeg on top

DELISH!!

Anyone have any good dairy free juices/smoothies I should try out?! Or coffee tricks of your own?! Share them I would love to know :)

Sunday Musings

Today we got to have the first worship experience of 2013 at LifeChurch.tv Broken Arrow... What an incredible day it was!!! We had over 800 kids come into LifeKIDS at our campus over 6 services and 50 kids check into LifeKIDS for their very first time! Man, that just never gets old!! Getting to see new faces, the excitement on kids faces coming in for their first time or leaving after their first experience & hearing them say "When can we come back?!?!" It is truly an incredible thing to get to see God do! 

...And still some Sundays I catch myself thinking "it's just another Sunday..." or "two down, four more to go..." UGH. I hate that my mind can even go there. It's not a countdown.. It's a privilege!! But, I always love the little tiny ways that God takes those moments to remind me, not just that what He is doing is amazing, but that HE is amazing!

It may feel like just another Sunday to me, but not to the Mom who came back to a second service today after she already attended one just to bring her 21 year old son & his friend back!! Or the 6th grade girl who has been BEGGING her parents to bring her to church because her friends keep inviting her & her parents "FINALLY" agreed to come check it out & left today with tears in their eyes & "What's Next Kits" in their hands! Or even to the family who has been seeing it all over their facebook about LifeChurch.tv Broken Arrow so they brought their whole family to check it out!

So when I feel like I'm getting tired & my feet are hurting, because I am too stubborn to not wear 4 inch heels when I'm going to be on my feet for 13 hours... Or it feels like "another Sunday" the Holy Spirit so sweetly reminds me that it's not about me, not even for one second, but that it's about the incredible stories that He is writing in so many more lives than I can fathom. And in that moment I am reminded of my thankfulness for His grace and mercy in my life each and every day :)

and that... it's never "just another Sunday"!

Grow It Out!!

I've been trying to grow out my hair for about a year.. I always go back & forth cutting it & growing it, but I've really wanted to grow it long the last year. I've read so many links from Pinterest & some of the tips worked, while others not so much. Here's the 3 things that helped me go from Dec '11 - Dec '12:

Biotin. 3 more Inches. & Moroccanoil.

I could tell a huge difference in my ends after using the 3 more inches product, which helps me not have to get them trimmed up so much!

Other helpful tips I've loved are waiting 2-3 days between washes & using a protection serum before hot styling tools.

Im not done growing it yet, but I couldn't have grown it this far without my incredible stylist, Jen! She stopped me from continuing to damage it so much with bleach, she knew I wanted to grow it so she only trimmed up what was necessary & helped find products to protect it! Definitely tell your stylist so they can help!

Continue in Prayer...

That is my motto for 2013: "Continue in Prayer." 

No matter what this year brings, good, bad, or indifferent, I will continue in prayer. One devotional I started this year is from Charles Spurgeon. It is an iPhone app that has a morning and evening reading for each day. I am a big fan! I read some from it last year & I always get a lot out of the short readings. Yesterday he wrote about prayer and through that I realized that is what I am focusing on during my fast & throughout this new year. Spending more intimate time with God in prayer. When I am fasting I LOVE to have a scripture that reflects what I am focusing on, this time it is:

Colossians 4:2 "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful & thankful."

Here is the Charles Spurgeon Devo:

Continue in prayer.

Colossians 4:2

It is interesting to remark how large a portion of Sacred Writ is occupied with the subject of prayer, either in furnishing examples, enforcing precepts, or pronouncing promises. We scarcely open the Bible before we read, Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord; and just as we are about to close the volume, the Amen of an earnest supplication meets our ear. Instances are plentiful. Here we find a wrestling Jacob-there a Daniel who prayed three times a day-and a David who with all his heart called upon his God. On the mountain we see Elias; in the dungeon Paul and Silas. We have multitudes of commands, and myriads of promises. What does this teach us, but the sacred importance and necessity of prayer? We may be certain that whatever God has made prominent in his Word, he intended to be conspicuous in our lives. If he has said much about prayer, it is because he knows we have much need of it. So deep are our necessities, that until we are in heaven we must not cease to pray. Dost thou want nothing? Then, I fear thou dost not know thy poverty. Hast thou no mercy to ask of God? Then, may the Lord's mercy show thee thy misery! A prayerless soul is a Christless soul. Prayer is the lisping of the believing infant, the shout of the fighting believer, the requiem of the dying saint falling asleep in Jesus. It is the breath, the watchword, the comfort, the strength, the honour of a Christian. If thou be a child of God, thou wilt seek thy Father's face, and live in thy Father's love. Pray that this year thou mayst be holy, humble, zealous, and patient; have closer communion with Christ, and enter oftener into the banqueting-house of his love. Pray that thou mayst be an example and a blessing unto others, and that thou mayst live more to the glory of thy Master. The motto for this year must be, Continue in prayer.

New Year. New Reading List.

Welp, it's a New Year & this year one thing I want to do more of is read. 

So, I complied a little "wish list" and decided to share it with y'all :)

If you have some suggestions that I should have I would LOVE to hear them!