day 39.

once in darkness, now in light;
once blind, now you see;
once a sinner, now a saint;
once bound, now free.

once a stranger, now a child;
empty, now filled;
once condemned, now reconciled;
broken, now healed.

once a prodigal, now home;
once lost, now found;
once an enemy, now a friend;
once poor, now crowned.

that's the power of the Cross;
see the chains fall.

see the chains...see your chains fall.
- natalie grant.

this song is SO powerful.

-and she's just so good.

if you need somewhere to worship tomorrow for Easter sundaaay...

COME TO MISSION CHURCH!!

*and as a response to the latest gay-rights dispute, read this blog post. seriously--read it.

"can you hear it?"

make a joyful noise...

create the sound of hope.

ps-i adore the fox & the hounds.

here in the power of Christ, i stand.

"what heights of love, what depths of peace, when fears are stilled, when strivings cease; my Comforter, my All in All...
here in the love of Christ i stand.

and as He stand in victory, sin's curse has lost its grip on me.
for i am His, and He is mine.
bought with the precious blood of Christ.

no guilt in life, no fear in death; this is the power of Christ in me.
from life's first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny.

no power of hell, no scheme of man could ever pluck me from His hand.
till he returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ i stand."
- in Christ alone.

(Christina Grimmie.)

REVIEW: Christmas Albums.

from the day after thanksgiving till we celebrate our second extended family's Christmas on new year's day...we listen to Christmas music, and that's it.

no sooner, no later...but constantly during those 40 days. (and 40 nights. haha.)

having done so ever since i can remember, we are quite the Christmas album connoisseurs.

this list consists of the never-skip-a-song albums that the foster family have come to love over the years...

1965--A Charlie Brown Christmas OST: Vince Guaraldi Trio

(my mother loves the peanuts with all her heart.)

source.

1970--Jackson 5 Christmas Album

(we're big time jackson family/michael jackson music fans. as a child, i would belt out their version of santa claus is comin to town to my imaginary audience.)

source.

1986--Ray Charles: The Spirit of Christmas 

(get it, ray.)

source.

1994--Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas 

(classic. and hand's down the best Christmas album of all time. don't even argue.)

source.

1994--A Very Merry Chipmunk 

(folks may disagree with this chipmunk choice...and maybe rightly so, but this is the one we grew up with.)

source.

1997--Hanson: Snowed In 

(obviously. isaac, taylor, and zac treated 1997 well.)

source. (and this album cover is hilarious.)

2000--One Silent Night 

(this album consists of powerful Christian female vocals...with rachael lampa's "i choose you" and crystal lewis's "oh holy night".)

source.

2003--Relient K: Deck the Halls, Bruise Your Hand 

(relient k, fo lyfe. "i celebrate the day". nuff said.)

source.

2003--Michael English: A Michael English Christmas 

(he is a foster-family fave. of course the best "mary, did you know?" around...and we love "go tell it on the mountain".)

source.

2005--Natalie Grant: Believe 

(i just love her. period.)

source.

2008--The Hotel Café Presents Winter Songs 

(sara, ingrid, fiona, colbie, kt, brandi carlile, kate havnevik, laura jansen...need i say more.)

source.

2009--Ben Rector: Jingles and Bells 

(cause i mean...it's ben rector.)

source.

2012 albums that will soon join this list:

Blake Shelton: Cheers! (when you duet with miranda lambert, kelly clarkson, pistol annies, and michael buble...you've won my vote. and his Christmas special last night had me rolling.)

Christina Perri: A Very Perri Christmas (speaking of love.)

Colbie Caillat: Christmas In The Sand (she duets with brad paisley, gavin degraw, michael buble, and jason reeves.)

Ceelo's Magic Moment (this is definitely a guilty pleasure. haha. kind of like ke$ha.) (featuring christina and the muppets. i'm a sucker.)

Single Songs that deserve Honorable Mention:

Judy Garland: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (i don't know why, but the sound of it always makes me cry.)

Mahalia Jackson: Silent Night, Holy Night (so soulful, so powerful.)

Elvis: Santa Claus Is Back In Town; Santa Bring My Baby Back To Me

Elton John: Step Into Christmas

Slade: Merry Christmas Everybody (so fun.)

Mannheim Steamroller: Deck the Halls (when i was young, i loved this album-and especially this song. i used to just dance around the living room like an idiot to it.)

Whitney Houston: Do You Hear What I Hear? (possibly the single greatest Christmas song of all time.)

Celine Dion: Happy Christmas-War Is Over (a best-of list is not a list without celine. i love me some john lennon, but this version hasn't been as overplayed.); Don't Save it All For Christmas Day (great message; great vocals, obvi.); Oh Holy Night (my favorite Christmas song.)

*NSYNC: Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays (duh.)

Point of Grace: Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

Christina Aguilera: This Christmas

Charlotte Church ft. Billy Gilman: Dream a Dream (seriously LOVED this song when it came out back in 2000. i would blast this with my door locked and just wail to hit those notes.)

Avalon: Jesus Born On This Day; We Are The Reason

Little Isidore & the Inquisitors: Christmas of Love (this song is from the grinch, with jim carrey...and it just makes me laugh. haha. love it. "the faaarrrsss of looove.")

Kelly Clarkson: Oh Holy Night (did i mention this was my favorite Christmas song?? ha. and she kills it.)

Richard Marx: Santa Claus Is Back In Town (great, bluesy cover of elvis' version.)

Brad Paisley & Sara Evans: New Again (this is such a powerful song to me.)

A Fine Frenzy: Blue Christmas; Winter Wonderland (love her.)

Little Big Town: Go Tell It On The Mountain; Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

The Honey Trees: It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

Michael Buble: White Christmas (a great cover of a great classic with a buble/shania twain twist); Jingle Bells (jazzy version with the puppini sisters)

She & Him: I'll Be Home For Christmas; Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Sara Bareilles: (no surprise here.) Love Is Christmas; Baby, It's Cold Outside-ft. Ben Folds

Grace Potter: Please Come Home For Christmas; Naughty-Naughty Children-Better Start Actin Nice (i have loved her since the moment she came on one tree hill.)

like i said...connoisseurs. we love our music.

you can find all this music on amazon or iTunes.)
new december playlist comin your way soon.

what's YOUR favorite Christmas album, artist, or song...??

- keep your head up.

"it's better to feel pain than nothing at all.
the opposite of love's indifference...."
- the lumineers.

(for some reason...i hate when bands i love, whom no one else knows, suddenly become popular. i am happy for their long-earned success, but i just love listening to them as a secret. however, seeing as how they are now on the radio...i am no longer capable of keeping them to myself. but they should definitely be congratulated on reaching this great milestone; please don't let the radio/fame&fortune go to your heads...nor your music.)

count your blessings.

"it is not happy people who are thankful...it is thankful people who are happy."
- anonymous.

source.

my mother has always encouraged me to keep a grateful journal, a journal of every blessing i have...of every, single thing i am thankful for.

one of my favorite songs when i was young was 'count your blessings' by the martens. it's about the story of job in the bible, and how he literally lost everything but never doubted God-and kept thanking Him for what He did have. it is an amazing story. seriously, go read it if you haven't. and if you have, read it again.

a blessing can be anything. it doesn't have to be a characteristic you are glad you have...it can be the fact that you have a warm house when it's below freezing out...or food to more than fill your belly...or that one day you get to sleep in...or the fact you have a job in this economy...or even just that ONE person you know you can go to about anything.

"rejoice in the Lord, always; i will say it again: rejoice!!"

- phillippians 4:4, NIV.

source.

(we got a design event goin down tonight for mission church. :) come on out, yall, and see what we're all about.)

my friends are talented.

this might be my favorite segment.

it's just so true.

and warms my heart so much.

(you can find the background on it here.)

today's post is dedicated to my dear-dear friend, stefanie morgan.

stef and i grew up together at college church of the nazarene.

we've spent looootsss and looootsss of time together, from caravans to wigby, to His kids choir, to holiday parties, to retreats, to church camps, to mission trips...and not to mention nearly every sunday.

then come second semester, freshman year of high school, she went back to her roots and joined me at blue valley.

this was definitely a blessing. (for many reasons.) most everyone at church went to the same three schools...or at least had one other person. i had had no one for almost ten years, and i always yearned for that affirmation and accountability. just to be able to make eye-contact with a person, knowing you share a deeper bond and more-significant meaning for life than those many searching-high school kids. (not that we had it all figured out as adolescents, but you catch my drift, right??)

stef and i both did choir throughout high school, and were privileged to be in its traveling show choir, chambers. we went all over the kc metro area, LA, and NYC. (stef also got to go to orlando because she made it the year before me. but i'm getting ahead of myself; i'll show you how amazing she is in a minute here.) stef almost always got the solos in our kids' choir, she was on the praise & worship team in junior/senior high, she almost always got the lead in our high school musicals, she almost always got the solos in our choir/chambers numbers, and she always did ridiculously well at competitions...we always knew we could count on her to get a 1.

since the age of ten, stef had incessantly impressed me with her musical ability, (she's an amazing pianist, as well,) but i don't think it was until our spring show, senior year of high school had i heard her sing and play a song she had written. the song was "love won't."...which i'm pretty sure is still, to this day, my favorite. (i know you'll think that is funny, stef. but it's true!!)

she not only has the raw musical talent and ability, but she has the passion, and emotion, and ability to relate that song writers long for and need.

stef recently wrote this song and performed it at the uptown arts bar for "MBird's writer's showcase". (sadly, i could not attend this time around...but i have had the privilege of attending similar performances.)

source.

you can listen & watch her in these videos too!! (courtesy of: kathleen dunn.)

Black and White. (circa 2008.)

Rainy Days. (circa 2008.)

she also has her own etsy account: unlock the creativity. check it out!! (i tollld you...talented.)

God has blessed me with stef's friendship and her ability to inspire and brighten up any-and many-of my days.

this might be my last chance...

Father, hear my prayer::

i need the perfect words--words that he will hear and know they're straight from you.

i don't know what to say;

i only know it hurts to see my only friend slowly fade away.

so maybe this time, i'll speak the words of life with your fire in my eyes,

but that old familiar fear is tearin at my words;

what am i so afraid of...??

cause here i go again, talkin bout the rain and mullin over things that won't live past today,

and as i dance around the truth, time is not his friend;

this might be my last chance to tell him that You love him,

but here i go again...

Lord, you love him so;

You gave your only Son.

if he will just believe, he will never die.

but how then will he know what he has never heard??

Lord, he has never seen mirrored in my life...

so maybe this time, i'll speak the words of life with your fire in my eyes,

but that old familiar fear is tearin at my words;

what am i so afraid of...??

cause here i go again, talkin bout the rain and mullin over things that won't live past today,

and as i dance around the truth, time is not his friend;

this might be my last chance to tell him that You love him,

but here i go again...

You love him.

You love him.

what am i so afraid of...??

how then will he know what he has never heard??

my friends are talented.

So. i'll let yall in on the know...

the people i know are really talented.
like really.
friends and family.
it's ridiculous really.
musicians, writers, athletes, artists, actors, photographers, chefs, designers, models, caregivers, comedians, theologians, philosophers, geniuses.
i love it. they truly inspire me.
i love how many different and unique gifts God allows people to have...and how differently each individual chooses to use them for His glory. it's just amazing to me the daily run-in with such the variety.

i'm not quite sure how to embed this, (so if somebody knows, hit me up,) but this is ross wooten's video of kelly & jordan-her man, singin their pretty-little hearts out on a song that jordan wrote. i lived with kelly for two years in college in a suite of six girls altogether; yes, living with five other girls can get a little crazy at times...but you get to know those people better than you ever could otherwise. you emote on such a deeper level. and you learn so much.
i loved those four years. i got to live with some of my very-best friends, and i wouldn't trade that time for the world. :) now we are at that stage in our lives where everyone is getting married, (and literally everyone is getting married,) so we won't ever live together again, but i am so thankful for that quality time and all those little moments--and i am so incredibly blessed to have them all in my life. they have helped mold me into the person i am today.
there is no doubt God knew what He was doin that day my cousin-lauren and i "randomly" got placed in spindle 205.