Song of The Year.

Every year I have a song that I like to say has completely defined my year .. previous years have been Strongtower by Kutless (2007), Bring The Rain by Mercy Me (2008), and In The Waiting by Shannon Wexelburg (2009). I think I may have even blogged about In The Waiting last year. It’s an amazing song. This year though, it was hard for me to just pick one .. but I finally have narrowed it down!

This past year was interesting for me. I feel like I’ve grown a lot as a person not only on a mental/emotional/just plain growing up level, but also on a spiritual level. The trip to Haiti in October truly changed my life - in more ways than I could ever even begin to write about.

So, my song for 2010 is Walk On The Water by Britt Nicole. The title in many ways explains the song. The story of Peter walking on the water is one of my favorites. There was chaos all around him (which is how life can look sometimes) but he kept his eyes on Jesus and he was able to walk through the chaos. I often times wonder what was going through Peter’s mind as he stepped out of that boat .. I wonder if he was excited, nervous, scared or maybe even a mix of emotions. I guess it doesn’t exactly matter how he felt, because he obeyed Jesus and did step out of the boat. However, as we all know, Peter took his eyes off of Jesus and began to sink. This is where he went wrong, and this story serves as a reminder that we must always keep our focus on Jesus .. and not on the storm!



Blessings,
Hannah

Day Three: Give God Your Best, Part 2.

"For on My holy mountain, on the mount height of Israel, say the Lord God, .. There will I require your offering and the firstfruits and the choices of your contributions, with all your scared things." - Ezekiel 20:40

Priorities are so important, because they truly determine how our lives run. Having our priorities in the right places can result in a happy, calm life. However, having our priorities in the wrong places can result in nothing but chaos.

We should constantly be sure that God is involved (as a top priority) in all of our daily activities. From waking up, to brushing our teeth, to driving through the McDonalds .. . When we allow Him to direct our steps we will walk into situations that He has already made provisions for us in, because the righteous man's steps are ordered by the Lord. He knows where we need to be and when we need to be there, to be a blessing or maybe even to receive one. We just have to be willing to listen, and then *deep breathe* OBEY!

Blessings,
Han

Day Two: Give God Your Best, Part 1.

"I trusted in, relied on, and was confident in You, O Lord; I said, You are my God, My times are in Your hands." - Psalm 31: 14-15

Trust. What a powerful five letters. When I think about trust the first thing that comes to my mind is love. Something about trust and love go together. As I type this, I am thinking about people in my life who I truly trust - and each of them I love dearly.

Trusting God to me though, is different than trusting a person. When you trust a person, you trust that they will keep your secrets; do whats best for you; be honest with you; and love you unconditionally. Ultimately though, you still have control.

When you choose to trust God, 100% and no matter what .. you are relinquishing control. You are giving Him your plans; your desires; your goals; your dreams and so many other things. I'll be honest and say that, in my experience, that is not an easy thing to do.

When it comes to trusting God, love is important (obviously because God IS love) but faith is also important. Often times in life the circumstances around us make it hard to trust God, but that is when we have to be reminded that we walk by faith, and not by sight. God knows the end from the beginning and He has it all planned out - we just have to trust Him.

Blessings,
Han

"The earth is filled with His glory .. !"

I love this song, and I love it even more in Creole!

Day One: Be Christlike

"God said, Let Us [Father, Son and Holy Spirit] make mankind in Our imagine, after Our likeness" - Genesis 1:26

The goal of every Christian should be to become more Christlike everyday. To handle situations how Jesus would, because after all - He is the greatest example that any of us could ever have. We should strive daily to be more like Him, and to develop our character to be identical to His.

However, this is -like most things in life- easier said that done. I have often heard the saying that "To do what Jesus did, you have to do what Jesus did." Jesus lived His life as a life of purity, love and selflessness .. and as a result He did many great things. It is hard (and to an extent impossible) for us, as humans, to live lives such as Jesus did -- but it is what we are called to do. We are called to be like Him!

In John 13:15, Jesus said to His disciples after washing their feet like a servant would do .. "For I have given you this as an example, so that you should do [in your turn] what I have done to you." Jesus' leadership style was that of leading by example. He showed us how we are supposed to live, love, pray, serve, and do so many other things.

In my opinion, to be Christlike is to be like a servant. Jesus served in more ways than I could even name, but the most important way that He served was when He served as payment for our sins when He (who knew no sin) became sin for us on the cross.

Today, and for the rest of this year, I am going to do my best to be more like Jesus .. to truly pick up my cross daily no matter how hard it seems some days. We are called to be light in the darkness beacuse we are a chosen people and I think that it is time for us to act like it!

Blessings,
Hannah

New Day = New You.

Let me start this off by saying that I don't really like the idea of resolutions for a new year because I think in many ways they set people up for failure. I guess in a way though I have one this year, and that is to blog more. I have a devotional book by Joyce Meyer titled "New Day, New You" and each day I plan to do a devotion (there are 365 of them) and blog about it.
Who knows if I will actually do it for the entire year, but we will find out.
I hope you guys have a blessed 2011!

Blessings,
Han