worship wednesday - noel

Christmas. 
is. 
8. 
weeks. 
and. 
2. 
days. 
away. 

I am so ready. Recap of our Christmas holidays since we've been married. 
2010 - Newlywed bliss. I lie. Newlywed- not sure if being newly married to me resulted in bliss for Chris. 
2011 - Pregnant. 
2012 - Brand new city. Boxes everywhere. Not how I envisioned Hutton's 1st Christmas. 
2013 - Miscarriage. Yep, I'm a downer. 
2014 - New job for Chris. Baby at home. Not how I envisioned Mills' 1st Christmas.

Goals for this year:
Be done shopping the week of
Try to enjoy every moment
Do fun crafts with the boys
Watch lots of Christmas movies 
Throw away the expectations and realize that some of the above things may not happen. What's most important:

Enjoy my family and help them to make room for Jesus in their lives this Christmas. 

Now - to the point. 

This song. Yall. Just enjoy the magnitude of how awesome it is. Come. Listen. Be prepared this Christmas to truly come and see and soak in what God has done. His son. Here. For. Us. O come let us adore Him. 

Thank you Lauren Daigle and Chris Tomlin for making this song my 2016 Christmas anthem. And for people like my friend Hannah who are just as obsessed and don't think I'm crazy when I've listened to the song 10,000 times. 

Love incarnate, love divine
Star and angels gave the sign
Bow to babe on bended knee
The Savior of humanity
Unto us a Child is born
He shall reign forevermore

Noel, Noel
Come and see what God has done
Noel, Noel
The story of amazing love!
The light of the world, given for us
Noel

Son of God and Son of man
There before the world began
Born to suffer, born to save
Born to raise us from the grave
Christ the everlasting Lord 
He shall reign forevermore

Noel, Noel
Come and see what God has done
Noel, Noel
The story of amazing love!
The light of the world, given for us
Noel

 

happy friday - adele is back

Most people know that my husband is the music know it all guru in our marriage. But, I'm a pretty big music lover myself. Yesterday, I found out the best music news in all of 2015. 

adele. 
is.
back. 

November 20th. That's less than a month away. I had to repaint no bite nail polish on my nails from biting my nails in excitement. Not only that - she made a video to remind us that she hasn't lost her touch. 25 was good to her. I just love the fact that the song is called "hello". Well here I am saying hello to you too Adele. Welcome back. Words cannot describe my excitement. 

p.s. Hutton was a pretty big Adele lover himself and at the mere age of 6 months "rolling in the deep" was his favorite song. Mills is excited to follow his brother's footsteps and become Adele's next biggest fan. 

p.p.s. Adele please go on tour and inform my husband that if he does not take us to the closest concert that he will sorely regret it. 

flourish

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree. Psalm 92:12 

We came to Clearbranch a little over one year ago. Shortly after, God really placed this dream on my heart and thanks to the support of our amazing pastor and many incredible women - flourish came to be. 

We kicked Flourish off in April and just held the sixth event this last Tuesday. The idea is a monthly gathering of women. No series. No major agenda. Just God's stories told through His women each month. God has blessed this dream so much and connected me with other women with the same dreams. Dreams of a safe place. A place to worship. A place to fellowship. A place to receive a word from the Lord. A place that points to Jesus. A place to flourish. 

What a gift it has been to see this ministry flourish over the last six months. We meet again November 17th - join us will you? We will be hearing from Cristin Dedmon who is the director of programming for the United Methodist Children's Home. 6:30 - be there. 

what's in a name

Consumed 

Years ago I had (and there are parts of me that still do) a dream of opening my own store. I dreamed that this store would be filled with gifts, clothes, jewelry, journals & more made by people in other countries to help them support themselves and thrive. I dreamed of a store that held weekend nights of worship. I dreamed of cozy sitting areas where people could talk and pray. I dreamed of a revolving library where people brought books, took a book, read a book. I was going to name that store Consumed. 

Why Consumed? I had seen this quote... 

I've always been one who struggled with being consumed with things. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want new clothes, nice cars, a pretty home. But I'm continually walking this line where my desire is to be consumed with the creator but my flesh gets in the way. 

My heart desired a place where those created things led and pointed to Jesus. 

So I've renamed my little corner of the Internet Consumed. When you hear consumed most people think of eating or drinking. Or using all of something. One definition of consume is to absorb or engross. We can be consumed with so many wrong things. Ourselves. Our money. Jealousy. Pride. What if we were that consumed with God our creator? What if we found ourselves engrossed in Gods word? I pray that we find ourselves seeking God and being consumed by His love and less consumed by our earthly desires. May this be a place that encourages us all to sit and become more engrossed with our Father, Creator.

Lord help us to love you first. Let us be consumed by your love. 

worship wednesday - shepherd

What do you think of the new look and the new name? Lot's more to come with this and I'm excited to be taking different pieces of our lives and laying them out for you here. Tomorrow I'm planning on explaining the name change. There are about three people in this world who know where it comes from. (Ahem... Rachel) Thank you for indulging me reading my blog - that's why we're friends. My favorite part of this little or minute corner of the internet to me has always been sharing worship songs with you on Wednesdays. So I thought the best way to debut the new look was with worship. 

Right now I'm living through Amanda Cook's new Brave New World album. It's tempting to list every song on here but I'm going to stick with this beautiful song Shepherd. I just can't get over that line - so walking on water is just the beginning. It's no secret that Chris and I lead very busy lives. We always talk about how to make our lives less busy and we just stare at each other realizing that there isn't anything that we can or want to let go. But, God is with us through all of that busyness and he arranges our steps. With him, ALL is possible and walking on water is just the beginning. 

Or how about - "you're making melodies over me." Yall, I can't even. God- singing melodies over me. Tears. Worship. Rest. See y'all tomorrow! 

In the process, in the waiting 
You’re making melodies over me 
And Your presence is the promise
For I am a pilgrim on a journey

You will lift my head above the mighty waves 
You are able to keep me from stumbling
And in my weakness
You are the strength that comes from within
Good Shepherd of my soul 
Take my hand and lead me on

You make my footsteps and my path secure
So walking on water is just the beginning
Cause my faith to arise, stand at attention
For You are calling me to greater things

Oh how I love You, how I love You
You have not forsaken me 
Oh how I love You, how I love You 
With You is where I want to be

Fears

This morning I began my commute into work my mind consumed with all going on around me. It seemed like there have been so many storms lately for people. I've taken Facebook off my phone and slowed down on watching the news and other TV from being overwhelmed with all the bad. All the bad that was going into my head was causing me to have awful nightmares and wake up emotional. This morning though, my mind was consumed with the pain that a precious family I know is going through. Saturday I have a friend that was told her Daddy has cancer. Such a nasty word. I've tried to find words that I know haven't been enough but those words and prayers are all I have.

But, then this morning I was listening to music on my phone and the song "No Longer Slaves" from Bethel came on. Tears filled up my eyes as I realized that so much of our pain comes from fear. Fear of a diagnosis. Fear of the future. Fear of the unknown. We hold onto fear that keeps us captive. When Moses was leading the Israelites and they saw Pharaoh's soldiers coming after them with a sea in front of them they were full of fear. BUT GOD. Don't you love the BUT GOD points of our lives? They were full of fear but then as Bethel puts so eloquently - "You split the sea so I could walk right through it. My fears were drowned in perfect love."

For my sweet friend and her family - cancer is an ugly word - BUT GOD.

For my crazy self and my fears and nightmares and struggles - BUT GOD.

For sweet friends trying to have a baby but repeatedly take negative tests - BUT GOD.

BUT GOD split the sea. BUT GOD brought him back to life. BUT GOD rose from the dead.

Worship Wednesday

It's Wednesday which means it's the day I post songs - that is when I'm blogging. You never know what you might get from me! Anyway, last night were the Dove Awards which I've always wanted to go to. The Dove awards recognize Christian music and last night the Best New Artist was a huge favorite of mine - Ellie Holcomb! Congratulations to Ellie!

Ellie Holcomb is a solo artist but has in the past written music and toured with her husband, Drew Holcomb, and his band, Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors. Without obviously knowing it, their music has intertwined some huge events in Chris and my lives.

- Funny story about her husband Drew is that YEARS ago, Chris played the same Open Mic night as him at a place called Eddie's Attic in Atlanta. Drew won the open mic night that evening and continued to pursue music after that.

- Then Chris and I went to see them do a show literally right after we got engaged. It was a special time and they played their song "Fire and Dynamite" which has always been one of our "songs" you could say. Give it a listen- love it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RnGqjSWNEk

- Also, last year Ellie was the guest artist for Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb tour. First- know that Behold the Lamb is an incredible experience at Christmas and you need to make plans to go. They will be in Valleydale this year on December 14th. Chris knows that my dream is to go see it at the Ryman in Nashville and I hope to one day! But, we went to Montgomery for Behold the Lamb last year to announce to our parents that we were pregnant, only to have our miscarriage the next morning. One of the songs that played in my head over the next weeks was her song, "The Valley." Give it a listen- it's worth it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqhVjJ_YFRE

All in all- you should be listening to both Drew and Ellie's music as they're both incredible lyricists, musicians, storytellers, etc. On a side note- she has the best Nashville style! She did a Kick starter campaign to help fund her solo album last year and it is incredible. I thought today I would share with you one of the songs from her album, "As Sure as the Sun." This song is My Portion and My Strength... enjoy!

My Portion and My Strength

Your voice calmed the wind and the sea

Can you calm these storms inside of me?

Help me to stand

on the promise that You are holding my right hand

Help me to know

that even when I lose my grip You won't let go

Help me believe

that You will be my portion and my strength

Your voice gave the blind the gift of sight

Can you take my darkness and turn it into light?

Help me to stand

on the promise that You are holding my right hand

Help me to know

that even when I lose my grip You won't let go

Help me believe

that You will be my portion and my strength

Your voice called the man out of the grave

Can You breathe new life into this mess I've made?

Help me believe

that You will be my portion and my strength

Help me believe

that You will be my portion and my strength

You'll be my portion and my strength