Here is a video of what's to come in 2012 for the DeWitte family. Enjoy!!
We look forward to sharing this new journey with all of you! Let the blogging begin!!
Showing posts with label future. Show all posts
Showing posts with label future. Show all posts
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Praise God!
Now unto to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than ALL we can ask or imagine, according to HIS power that is at work within us.
So much to thank God for in this post!
Last week, I applied for an RN position at Yukon Integris in Labor and Delivery, where I did my Leadership. Getting to this point, however, wasn't as easy as it sounds.
Back up a few weeks...We were told back before Leadership began that the director was intending to hire us once Leadership was over. Well, here it was the second week of August, Leadership has been finished since July 11th, graduation is done, and we hadn't heard a single word. I was sending multiple emails just trying to get some answers.
Even out of desperation in one of the emails to the director, I wrote, "I am just really starting to get nervous because I want to have a job once I pass boards".
Still didn't get a response, even after that... My wonderful husband kept reminding to to be patient and that God will work everything out.
Patience...why is that word SO hard to live out??
After waiting two weeks (talk about patience!), I get a response from the director saying she was opening up two "new grad" positions and to let her know once I had applied. I applied last Thursday and that same day received an email saying my application was being moved onto the next step and sent to the manager for screening. Yes!!! Progress!!! Finally!!
Fast forward to this past Monday.....
Wes and I were walking into Target and he says to me, "Gosh, when are you going to be able to start working??" (And he is the one telling me to be patient!) :)
I calmly said, "Well, I am just waiting on a call to get an interview scheduled with Integris and of course I still have to take boards and I haven't gotten my "authorization to test" letter yet so still waiting on that too. So nothing can happen until those two things come through."
I'm not even kidding you when I tell you this but we were not inside Target for longer than 10 minutes when my phone beeps saying I have an email. I look at my phone and.....there's my "authorization to test" letter telling me I can schedule my NCLEX.
Already I am thinking....wow...how ironic is that? We were just saying that needed to happen and wa la! There is it! Crazy....
I barely had time to put my phone back up in my purse when it started ringing...I didn't recognize the number but answered it anyway. And who was it???
Human Resources with Integris wanting to schedule an interview!!!
I kid you not...that was exactly how it happened. Wow! There's no way to deny it...that was a God thing. It's amazing that we don't even have to stop and pray for the things we desire and/or need but God still hears us and knows our heart and He will answer. Many people think that if we don't pray for what we need, then God won't know what we need.
But God's Word says:
Psalm 20:3- "May He grant your heart's desires and make all your plans succeed."
Psalm 37:4,5- "Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart's desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him, and He will hep you."
God wants to give you the desires of your heart. He knows your heart without you having to say a single word. All he asks is that you seek Him in all you do and put your trust and faith in Him. It is then that He will begin to set things in motion before you even have a chance to ask.
My interview was Tuesday morning and as of yesterday afternoon, I HAVE A JOB! Praise God!!!
I want to share this worship song with you. This is a new worship song that we have been singing at church lately. I noticed my heart singing these lyrics after all the wonderful things that God has done in my life this week.
This is the prayer of my heart. That I will always remain confident in Christ because of the things He has done for me. I will continue to set my hope on Him for I know He holds my future and has wonderful plans for my life. God, you are SO good and SO faithful! I thank you today for the many blessings you have given me.
May this song be an encouragement to you and you will find strength and confidence in these words.
Ephesians 3:20
So much to thank God for in this post!
Last week, I applied for an RN position at Yukon Integris in Labor and Delivery, where I did my Leadership. Getting to this point, however, wasn't as easy as it sounds.
Back up a few weeks...We were told back before Leadership began that the director was intending to hire us once Leadership was over. Well, here it was the second week of August, Leadership has been finished since July 11th, graduation is done, and we hadn't heard a single word. I was sending multiple emails just trying to get some answers.
Even out of desperation in one of the emails to the director, I wrote, "I am just really starting to get nervous because I want to have a job once I pass boards".
Still didn't get a response, even after that... My wonderful husband kept reminding to to be patient and that God will work everything out.
Patience...why is that word SO hard to live out??
After waiting two weeks (talk about patience!), I get a response from the director saying she was opening up two "new grad" positions and to let her know once I had applied. I applied last Thursday and that same day received an email saying my application was being moved onto the next step and sent to the manager for screening. Yes!!! Progress!!! Finally!!
Fast forward to this past Monday.....
Wes and I were walking into Target and he says to me, "Gosh, when are you going to be able to start working??" (And he is the one telling me to be patient!) :)
I calmly said, "Well, I am just waiting on a call to get an interview scheduled with Integris and of course I still have to take boards and I haven't gotten my "authorization to test" letter yet so still waiting on that too. So nothing can happen until those two things come through."
I'm not even kidding you when I tell you this but we were not inside Target for longer than 10 minutes when my phone beeps saying I have an email. I look at my phone and.....there's my "authorization to test" letter telling me I can schedule my NCLEX.
Already I am thinking....wow...how ironic is that? We were just saying that needed to happen and wa la! There is it! Crazy....
I barely had time to put my phone back up in my purse when it started ringing...I didn't recognize the number but answered it anyway. And who was it???
Human Resources with Integris wanting to schedule an interview!!!
I kid you not...that was exactly how it happened. Wow! There's no way to deny it...that was a God thing. It's amazing that we don't even have to stop and pray for the things we desire and/or need but God still hears us and knows our heart and He will answer. Many people think that if we don't pray for what we need, then God won't know what we need.
But God's Word says:
Psalm 20:3- "May He grant your heart's desires and make all your plans succeed."
Psalm 37:4,5- "Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart's desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him, and He will hep you."
God wants to give you the desires of your heart. He knows your heart without you having to say a single word. All he asks is that you seek Him in all you do and put your trust and faith in Him. It is then that He will begin to set things in motion before you even have a chance to ask.
My interview was Tuesday morning and as of yesterday afternoon, I HAVE A JOB! Praise God!!!
I want to share this worship song with you. This is a new worship song that we have been singing at church lately. I noticed my heart singing these lyrics after all the wonderful things that God has done in my life this week.
This is the prayer of my heart. That I will always remain confident in Christ because of the things He has done for me. I will continue to set my hope on Him for I know He holds my future and has wonderful plans for my life. God, you are SO good and SO faithful! I thank you today for the many blessings you have given me.
May this song be an encouragement to you and you will find strength and confidence in these words.
Friday, July 29, 2011
A look back at what has brought me here....
This time tomorrow afternoon, I will officially be a nursing graduate. Wow.
If you would have told me about four years ago (right after graduating from OSU) that I would one day go back to school for nursing, I don't know that I would have believed you.
Not that I have or had anything against nursing at that time, I just really didn't see my life heading in that direction. I've told several people this story so if you have heard it already, now you get to read it! :) A little glimpse of "karma" in my life...
I will never forget sitting in my "office" during my Internship my senior year of college looking for a job. I had only one month to go until I was going to be kicked out into the real world. I needed a job, quick!
So I started to browse all the health related organizations I could think of.
Back up...for those of you who don't know, I have my undergraduate Bachelor's degree in Health Promotion. What can you do with a Health Promotion degree? Umm..good question!! Not as much as I had hoped!
This quickly became my attitude towards this degree that I had worked so hard towards for four years. Yes, it's great that I have a Bachelor's degree but now what do I do with it?? What CAN I do with it??
My original intention behind choosing Health Promotion as my degree of choice was wanting to go to into Physical Therapy. Long story short...that path didn't work out and honestly was not the right one for me.
So back to the job search.....
I eventually end up on a hospital website looking for jobs that I might be qualified for. I mean, I now have this fancy Bachelor's degree, surely there are numerous positions that I am qualified for just for having a degree, right...?
Wrong.
I quickly began seeing a theme in the medical world of job listings and here's what it was:
RN
RN
RN
RN Director
RN
RN Team Leader
RN
RN Case Manager
RN
RN Home Health
RN
RN
Does that get the point across????
All I could think of at that moment was this, "Wow, I really seemed to have picked the wrong field. Maybe I should have just gone to nursing school. Too late now."
Karma.
I remember thinking to myself that nursing didn't really interest me. I really had no desire to be a nurse. Even though the field of nursing looked like a great option as far as job opportunities went, it still wasn't enough to make me feel like it was something I could see myself doing.
Fast forward two years....I started working as Medical Assistant and was told by my boss at the time that I could go back to nursing school and finish in just 14 months. 14 months?? Really?? Well, I maybe could do 14 months of school but nah...not right now.
Fast forward one more year....I met my future husband and my life changed forever. I brought up the idea of going back to school for nursing to Wes and received nothing but encouragement and support to become everything he (and I) knew I was capable of. He kept telling me that I should do it and could do it.
He believed in me. That was all I needed to hear. I felt like it was now within my reach and I went for it. One year later, I got my acceptance letter and 14 months later...here I am....DONE!
What a journey it has been to get to this point. Many, many late nights studying and trying to finish up care plans while trying to stay rested for the next day. And many days that led to tears of stress and frustration.
But I made it through and I am so proud of the choices I have made. God knew what He was doing all along. Each one of those steps that lead me to today were guided by His mighty hand. It was all a part of His plan for my life and what a wonderfully beautiful plan it is!
If you would have told me about four years ago (right after graduating from OSU) that I would one day go back to school for nursing, I don't know that I would have believed you.
Not that I have or had anything against nursing at that time, I just really didn't see my life heading in that direction. I've told several people this story so if you have heard it already, now you get to read it! :) A little glimpse of "karma" in my life...
I will never forget sitting in my "office" during my Internship my senior year of college looking for a job. I had only one month to go until I was going to be kicked out into the real world. I needed a job, quick!
So I started to browse all the health related organizations I could think of.
Back up...for those of you who don't know, I have my undergraduate Bachelor's degree in Health Promotion. What can you do with a Health Promotion degree? Umm..good question!! Not as much as I had hoped!
This quickly became my attitude towards this degree that I had worked so hard towards for four years. Yes, it's great that I have a Bachelor's degree but now what do I do with it?? What CAN I do with it??
My original intention behind choosing Health Promotion as my degree of choice was wanting to go to into Physical Therapy. Long story short...that path didn't work out and honestly was not the right one for me.
So back to the job search.....
I eventually end up on a hospital website looking for jobs that I might be qualified for. I mean, I now have this fancy Bachelor's degree, surely there are numerous positions that I am qualified for just for having a degree, right...?
Wrong.
I quickly began seeing a theme in the medical world of job listings and here's what it was:
RN
RN
RN
RN Director
RN
RN Team Leader
RN
RN Case Manager
RN
RN Home Health
RN
RN
Does that get the point across????
All I could think of at that moment was this, "Wow, I really seemed to have picked the wrong field. Maybe I should have just gone to nursing school. Too late now."
Karma.
I remember thinking to myself that nursing didn't really interest me. I really had no desire to be a nurse. Even though the field of nursing looked like a great option as far as job opportunities went, it still wasn't enough to make me feel like it was something I could see myself doing.
Fast forward two years....I started working as Medical Assistant and was told by my boss at the time that I could go back to nursing school and finish in just 14 months. 14 months?? Really?? Well, I maybe could do 14 months of school but nah...not right now.
Fast forward one more year....I met my future husband and my life changed forever. I brought up the idea of going back to school for nursing to Wes and received nothing but encouragement and support to become everything he (and I) knew I was capable of. He kept telling me that I should do it and could do it.
He believed in me. That was all I needed to hear. I felt like it was now within my reach and I went for it. One year later, I got my acceptance letter and 14 months later...here I am....DONE!
What a journey it has been to get to this point. Many, many late nights studying and trying to finish up care plans while trying to stay rested for the next day. And many days that led to tears of stress and frustration.
But I made it through and I am so proud of the choices I have made. God knew what He was doing all along. Each one of those steps that lead me to today were guided by His mighty hand. It was all a part of His plan for my life and what a wonderfully beautiful plan it is!
Saturday, July 16, 2011
A New Chapter...
Here I am again, apologizing for my lack of blogging lately. I had started an entry on June 16th but it never seemed to get finished. So I've decided I am going to have to nix the idea on trying to get caught up on the last two months of happenings and just jump right back into it with what is going on now.
Not really a lot of exciting, blog worthy things have been going on the past two months anyway. In my last official post I had just started my Leadership and now it is DONE! And not only is Leadership over, but my entire nursing school career will be over in 3 short days. Can you believe it?!? I sure can't!! Graduation is July 30th but all assignments are done and grades are turned in by next week. Time has definitely flown by and therefore it is time to start a new chapter in our lives.
My Leadership experience was so great! I could not have asked for a better preceptor, awesome night shift staff, and overall good facility to be at. No official job offer yet but I hope to have that "in the works" within the next few weeks as final grades are posted and I am an official graduate. I still absolutely love Labor and Delivery and could not picture myself in any other hospital setting. I will just continue to put all my faith and trust in God knowing that He has the perfect job lined up for me. No need to worry when He is working on my behalf.
Other big news in the DeWitte household is related to Wes's job. His contract is up with the Post Office at the end of this month and we have made a big decision. Wes is no longer going to be working for the Post Office and is choosing to follow God's leadership in his life by pursuing a career as a full time Recording Engineer.
God has really been working in Wes's life lately and he feels lead to do what he knows God has called him to do. This decision has not come easy and is the result of countless prayers and sermons all giving confirmation that this is the right decision.
I will most likely not be starting work until September which means we will be relying on Wes's income for one more month until I am able to bring in a paycheck. To most people, this decision may seem crazy. But we are placing our future in the hands of God knowing He will guide us, protect us, and prosper us until the very end. We feel very strongly that this is a decision rooted in the Word of God and therefore we will stand strong in our faith and put all our trust in Him.
If you are a praying person, we would appreciate your prayers through this transitional stage in our lives. If it was not for the prayers and support of our friends and family throughout this past year, things might not have turned out as wonderful as they have. God has had and will continue to have favor over our lives and we are so grateful.
Big changes with amazing possibilities for our life are coming soon. I am excited to see this next chapter unfold. With God as our source, we will have a life full of happiness and hope.
I will finish up this post with some pictures from the last couple of weeks, maybe even some taken a few months ago. This will be my way of getting everyone up to date with what we have been up to. With school coming to a close, I hope that means plenty of time for blogging. :) The end is in sight!
Not really a lot of exciting, blog worthy things have been going on the past two months anyway. In my last official post I had just started my Leadership and now it is DONE! And not only is Leadership over, but my entire nursing school career will be over in 3 short days. Can you believe it?!? I sure can't!! Graduation is July 30th but all assignments are done and grades are turned in by next week. Time has definitely flown by and therefore it is time to start a new chapter in our lives.
My Leadership experience was so great! I could not have asked for a better preceptor, awesome night shift staff, and overall good facility to be at. No official job offer yet but I hope to have that "in the works" within the next few weeks as final grades are posted and I am an official graduate. I still absolutely love Labor and Delivery and could not picture myself in any other hospital setting. I will just continue to put all my faith and trust in God knowing that He has the perfect job lined up for me. No need to worry when He is working on my behalf.
Other big news in the DeWitte household is related to Wes's job. His contract is up with the Post Office at the end of this month and we have made a big decision. Wes is no longer going to be working for the Post Office and is choosing to follow God's leadership in his life by pursuing a career as a full time Recording Engineer.
God has really been working in Wes's life lately and he feels lead to do what he knows God has called him to do. This decision has not come easy and is the result of countless prayers and sermons all giving confirmation that this is the right decision.
I will most likely not be starting work until September which means we will be relying on Wes's income for one more month until I am able to bring in a paycheck. To most people, this decision may seem crazy. But we are placing our future in the hands of God knowing He will guide us, protect us, and prosper us until the very end. We feel very strongly that this is a decision rooted in the Word of God and therefore we will stand strong in our faith and put all our trust in Him.
If you are a praying person, we would appreciate your prayers through this transitional stage in our lives. If it was not for the prayers and support of our friends and family throughout this past year, things might not have turned out as wonderful as they have. God has had and will continue to have favor over our lives and we are so grateful.
Big changes with amazing possibilities for our life are coming soon. I am excited to see this next chapter unfold. With God as our source, we will have a life full of happiness and hope.
I will finish up this post with some pictures from the last couple of weeks, maybe even some taken a few months ago. This will be my way of getting everyone up to date with what we have been up to. With school coming to a close, I hope that means plenty of time for blogging. :) The end is in sight!
March of Dimes Walk: May 7, 2011: Nursing students got together to support one of fellow classmates who lost his newborn daughter in April. We had a great time and all for a great cause.
My bestest nursing friend, Hollie, and I at the March of Dimes Walk. Couldn't have made it through nursing school without her!
The new driveway that finally got finished in May. So nice to park more than one car in the driveway. Not to mention it did wonders for the curb appeal of our house.
One more of the new driveway.
Our front porch got somewhat of a new look too. New patio furniture and flowers. We would like to tile the porch in the future, but for now, it looks just fine.
My mom and I at a Mother's Day banquet at Wes's grandma's church. I know everyone says this, but I DO have the best Mom in the world. I am very blessed.
I am also blessed with wonderful in-laws. Here is Wes's grandma and mom at the Mother's Day Banquet.
Wes and Dave's 26th birthday was May 24th. I had to make my homemade carrot cake for them since they love carrot cake. The baking process went much faster the second time around. :)
The birthday boy's on their birthday. Love these two!!
Wes and I on his birthday. I am one lucky girl!
No blog post is complete without a few pictures of Lexi. :)
She is already needing another haircut. I think her hair grows faster than mine!
A look outside our backyard after yet another hailstorm came through the Village on June 14th. Both cars got damaged pretty good and will need to be repaired. Ugh.. Ready to have a garage!
Wes and I went to the Myriad Gardens on July 4th. It was their grand opening after doing renovations so we thought it would be fun to go to. It was pretty but it was SO hot! Wes looks a little bit Chinese in this picture since the sun was bright (ok maybe I do too!) :)
footboard. So I felt like the bed would need to be in a different place once they bring it to us. Here is what the room looked like before:
And now:
I really actually like it this way. I was hesitant because I thought it would take up too much room, but it works great.
That's all I've got for now. I'm trying to get back into the habit of taking pictures again. I think I have taken maybe 10 pictures within the last two months. So hopefully more pictures to come (and new posts of course)! :)
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Spring Break Days 2 and 3
I may not have gone anywhere this week, but it really has been nice to get to do things I want to do without having school getting in the way.
Tuesday I finally hung our signature picture frames from the wedding. The pictures sat against the wall without the glass in them for the longest time. It's funny how something so simple, that doesn't take much time at all, gets put off for so long. But I am so glad they are finally up on the wall. They turned out great! I am glad we made the choice to do this instead of having your basic guest book. This is so much more memorable and can be looked at every single day.
Tuesday night we had Wes' brother, Dave, over for dinner. He also brought with him a girl that he has been hanging out with recently.
Now that Wes is a married man, Dave has been anxious to find the one for him. He sees how happy Wes is and wants to experience that for himself. After going through some interesting relationships, he may have found a good one! She is very mature and seems really genuine. Definitely great traits to have.
Wes and I had only met her once briefly, so we decided it would be nice to invite both of them over for dinner. Even though dinner was at our house, Dave wanted to cook his shrimp scampi for us. It was SO good!! And I'm pretty sure he impressed his lady friend with his cooking skills as well.
We had such a good time hanging out together that we are planning a trip to the Zoo this coming Sunday. The weather is supposed to be a lot nicer than last Sunday, so hopefully those plans will go through.
Wednesday morning started out really well by getting an e-mail from our photographer. She has been working on our wedding album and now was ready for us to take a look at what she's done. This album will be such a great way of being able to look back and remember our wedding day. Finals edits won't be complete until I "okay" all of the spreads. Each book normally contains 28 pages but ours is going to have 38! I knew we had taken a lot of pictures but WOW! The only way to get everything in was to create more pages.
So I spent the entire morning yesterday going through each page and writing down any changes I want to make. I've decided to make a trip to Lawton and meet up with the photographer this Saturday so we can make sure all the changes I want to make are clearly understood. This way she can make the final edits and send it off for publishing!
Here is a "sneak peak" of one page of our album that she sent me a few weeks ago. Once everything is complete, I will post a link to the website to view each page.
Pretty handsome groom I have, huh? :) I am blessed!!
By the time I finished looking at pictures it was early afternoon and the weather was gorgeous outside. So I decided to get out and enjoy the weather and start working on the flower bed.
I have been to both Home Depot and Lowe's within the past few days looking at the different types of edging to put around the flower bed but haven't made any final decisions yet. But, even though I didn't plan on doing the edging part of it, I knew I at least needed to get it cleaned out.
I didn't want Lexi to have to stay inside all day while I was outside so I found a way to stake her leash to a pole in the front yard so she could sit outside with me while I worked. Here is a picture of my little helper.
She did such a good job just hanging out. Never once did she whine or bark at all. And since she was being so good, I decided to give her a little more slack on her leash so she could be closer to me while I was digging. And she decided the digging looked pretty fun and wanted to try it out for herself. I just might have found a good way to get my plants in the ground this year!
It was SO nice to be outside in such great weather. And I got my task accomplished. Now I just have to get my mom up to OKC so we can go flower shopping and get something planted!
I had to get all the old mulch out first. So gross and so messy.
Before
After!
That evening we went out to Wes' parents house. Wes had a vocal session at the studio so I decided to go and visit with his mom and let her see Lexi. And also so Lexi could play with Barkley, his mom's Sheltie.
They played SO hard that within about an hour they both had collapsed and fallen asleep. Lexi had a full, busy, tiring day yesterday. But she most definitely needs it to get all that puppy energy out so I welcome the chance to wear her out. :)
It was so good to see Wes out in the studio again recording. I love watching him in his "element" and doing what he loves to do. He has such joy when he gets to be in the studio. That joy doesn't come as easy with the post office work. And in just two and a half hours, he was able to make $100. Not too bad. Pretty good money for such a short period of time.
Ahh..one day our life will be just the way we want it to be. Wes recording music full time and me working in an area of nursing I love. It's so hard to not want those things NOW. We don't want to wait. But we just have to be patient and take one day at time. We know we are in God's will, doing what we are supposed to be doing, right now. And the only way to see our hopes and dreams come alive, is to continue to walk in His will and trust Him in all that we do.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your way acknowledge Him,
And he will make your paths straight."
Proverbs 3:5-6
Too many times we try to make sense of where our life is at the present moment. When all it comes down to is as long as we have peace about whatever it is we are doing, then we ARE in the will of God and He will provide a path if we acknowledge that He is the creator of our future, past and present. As long as we continue to seek His face and obey His word, He has promised us a wonderful future full of peace and hope.
My challenge to you:
"Fix your eyes not what is seen, but what is unseen.
For what we see is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
2 Corinthians 4:18
2 Corinthians 4:18
We face this challenge whether life is peaceful and prosperous or whether life is filled with multiple trials and hardships. The tendency is to fix our eyes on what is seen. Whether life is going well or is very hard we need to always remember “this too will pass.”
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Stop and Listen
Every morning while I am getting ready, I turn on Pandora. I can't imagine my life without music. I grew up in a home where music was and always has been the center of our home. My dad is a musician and is the driving force behind why I love music the way I do.
After majoring in music in college, he toured with a Christian music group called "Wings of Light" and now he currently owns a music store in Lawton, Oklahoma. All growing up, I always remember my dad playing piano at some event at least once a week. He played at church, weddings, community jazz ensembles and was also a part of a duo group with just him and a guitar player playing weekly at restaurants around town. I have never known a life without music and I am so grateful for that.
Wes also grew up in a home where playing music was a daily occurrence since he, his dad, and brother are all musicians. Wes's dad plays drums, as does Wes. And his twin brother, Dave, plays guitar. Wes and Dave were a part of a local secular rock band called, Stone Cold Sober, for about two years. However, as life changed for many of those in the band, they split up (still a sore subject with the twins). But that didn't cause the music to stop. Dave is currently playing with an 90's cover band and Wes is continuing to play drums at church. And of course, Wes's love for music runs deep with his love for music recording. There is no doubt that this family lives and breathes music.
God knew what He was doing when he brought Wes and I together. He knew our love for music would build such a strong bond with each other. To be able to understand the passion and joy of music is something we can share together and it is special part of our relationship.
When I listen to music, particularly Christmas music, I am always inspired. It has a way of taking ahold of your heart and takes you to an immediate place of worship.
This is how I want to start each and every day of my life; in a place of worship and music takes me to that place.
I have recently been listening to Bethany Dillon. She is a young, 20 year old, aspiring and very talented Christian artist. Her newest album, Stop and Listen, is wonderful. Her lyrics have blessed me every time I listen to them. I have noticed it is a great album to listen to as a new year begins. It causes me to think about my walk with God and the ways that it can be strengthened this new year. This album has simply said to me, just as the title says, stop and listen.
Wes and I always talk about how we need to spend more time in the Word of God. We know how powerful His word is and how much it can strengthen our faith in Him. Then why don't we do it?
Too busy...Right?
Yes, this is true. Wes works full time and I am a full time student.
Things are busy.
But in all the things we make time for during the day, why does time with God never seem to make the list? When we know how much it can change our lives if we make the commitment to Him?
We need to just stop...Nothing in our day can even come close to being as important as time with God.
There is time.
And we need to listen...
Wes and I always wonder: Where are our lives are going to lead? What does the future hold? Are we making the right choices? Are we doing what God has called us to do?
The answer to all these questions lies in our faith. And "so then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God". (Romans 10:17)
In order to hear from God, we have to listen.
We take on the challenge of taking more time to stop and build a personal relationship with Christ and to be still and listen to the things He is speaking into our lives.
So now I encourage and challenge you to "stop and listen". Take a moment to listen to this song and listen to what it is saying to you.
After majoring in music in college, he toured with a Christian music group called "Wings of Light" and now he currently owns a music store in Lawton, Oklahoma. All growing up, I always remember my dad playing piano at some event at least once a week. He played at church, weddings, community jazz ensembles and was also a part of a duo group with just him and a guitar player playing weekly at restaurants around town. I have never known a life without music and I am so grateful for that.
Wes also grew up in a home where playing music was a daily occurrence since he, his dad, and brother are all musicians. Wes's dad plays drums, as does Wes. And his twin brother, Dave, plays guitar. Wes and Dave were a part of a local secular rock band called, Stone Cold Sober, for about two years. However, as life changed for many of those in the band, they split up (still a sore subject with the twins). But that didn't cause the music to stop. Dave is currently playing with an 90's cover band and Wes is continuing to play drums at church. And of course, Wes's love for music runs deep with his love for music recording. There is no doubt that this family lives and breathes music.
God knew what He was doing when he brought Wes and I together. He knew our love for music would build such a strong bond with each other. To be able to understand the passion and joy of music is something we can share together and it is special part of our relationship.
When I listen to music, particularly Christmas music, I am always inspired. It has a way of taking ahold of your heart and takes you to an immediate place of worship.
This is how I want to start each and every day of my life; in a place of worship and music takes me to that place.
I have recently been listening to Bethany Dillon. She is a young, 20 year old, aspiring and very talented Christian artist. Her newest album, Stop and Listen, is wonderful. Her lyrics have blessed me every time I listen to them. I have noticed it is a great album to listen to as a new year begins. It causes me to think about my walk with God and the ways that it can be strengthened this new year. This album has simply said to me, just as the title says, stop and listen.
Wes and I always talk about how we need to spend more time in the Word of God. We know how powerful His word is and how much it can strengthen our faith in Him. Then why don't we do it?
Too busy...Right?
Yes, this is true. Wes works full time and I am a full time student.
Things are busy.
But in all the things we make time for during the day, why does time with God never seem to make the list? When we know how much it can change our lives if we make the commitment to Him?
We need to just stop...Nothing in our day can even come close to being as important as time with God.
There is time.
And we need to listen...
Wes and I always wonder: Where are our lives are going to lead? What does the future hold? Are we making the right choices? Are we doing what God has called us to do?
The answer to all these questions lies in our faith. And "so then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God". (Romans 10:17)
In order to hear from God, we have to listen.
We take on the challenge of taking more time to stop and build a personal relationship with Christ and to be still and listen to the things He is speaking into our lives.
So now I encourage and challenge you to "stop and listen". Take a moment to listen to this song and listen to what it is saying to you.
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