really?!...

i know it's a bit random, but i saw this picture of me and my freckles and i thought, what is the purpose of freckles? does anybody know? I know what they are and how they are formed (Melanin), but why did God give us freckles? Interesting! i guess its just something He wanted to do. i'm not upset about having them. just curious... thats all.

one of the best things about my Lord:

 ... He knows my heart even before I tell him.

     Psalm 73 starts off saying, " Truly God is good to Israel." As you may or may not know, Israel is used as a picture of us as God's Children. So it would really read (for me) " Truly God is good to Allison!"

      vs.2) My feet had almost stumbled. My steps had nearly slipped.

      vs.13) Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long i have been plagued, and chastened every morning.

      vs.16- 17) When i thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me- Until i went into the sanctuary of God...

      

   I know i can testify to this. Every time i try to understand what God is doing, it's too painful for me. Everything on the earth in my situation says, its over! there is no hope! EXCEPT my God...  It is in the Times when i set my mind and my heart to praise God, to direct my attention to Him, it isn't until i go into His sanctuary that i have a peace that passes understanding. Praise the Lord!

      vs.21-26) Thus my heart was grieved, and i was vexed in my mind. I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel. whom have I in heaven but You? and there is none upon earth I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 

I love the picture here. when i tell Elliott to hold my hand to cross the street, he grabs on. But i'm not just letting him hold on to me thinking he will be safe. NO! I wrap my hand around his wrist so if i need to intercede to protect him, i can. so too, the Lord holds me by my hand, as if to say, though you hold on, i'm holding on even tighter so that i may intercede when I need to. I'm going to guide you! I'm going to make sure you are safe! 

       vs.28) But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all Your works.

a nice day of fellowship

                                                  COUGH DROP?.. Jesus saves!

so this morning i woke up and my voice was thrashed. This was so exciting ( sarcasm)! i was to lead worship with John Randal at his church in San Juan. WONDERFUL! 

       The whole way there i was praying and hoping my voice would come back. it did but not as much as I would have liked. Still, it was a blessing to lead God's people into worship. After worship, a friend i hadnt seen in a long long time came up to me. It was so cool to hear and see what God was and is doing in Peter and his wife's life. It's funny, he told me that as soon as i got up to sing he knew who i was because i looked like my brother, Robert. I never get that... ever! it's always dave i am told i look like.

After the study maggie and i drove back up towards Laguna Hills to have lunch at CPK(danyelle's work). once we were done eating we made our way to san Clemente to go to the beach. That was a joke. coast hwy just keeps going and going and going. there is never a place to go to the actual beach and when there was, we would have had to pay a butt load of money. so we left and went down to Oside, Carlsbad, Vista, area.

    maggie and i made a stop at a 50% off sale at SurfRide and then we were gonna head to the fwy to go drop some capos off at a church in Vista.
                                            

just as we were trying to find our way back to the freeway, we saw a street fair (in Carlsbad). it was cool for the most part. It had your usuals: glass jewelry, paintings from local artists, lots of dogs, food, etc... but while we were there, we saw a table that we had never seen before. It was a table that had animals, and just weird things made out of spoons... i dont really know what there purpose was or what they even were.  As we were looking at these things we came across some really cool rings. 

      we paid ten bucks for them. Now i realize that we only got the handle of the spoon, and these people are making tons of money off of people because they are probably just buying silverware from thrift stores. but ... it was wonderful and i love my ring. 

       After the street fair maggie and i made our way to NorthCoast to find Andrew and Jen. once we found them we drove down further to San Diego to go to the " Loud and Clear message" at Horizon. When we got to Horizon, nobody was there. we thought maybe they had cancelled the study, but much to our surprise it wasnt the Loud and Clear message. It was a quaint little fellowship held in the courtyard. hahahah. so we left! apparently maggie and i dont do quaint. 

     We couldnt think of anything else we needed to do and we didnt want to waste gas... ok, I didnt want to waste gas, so we just drove home. But the View was amazing!

God opens up a door of hope in the valley of trouble

August 5th- strength

 the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with His hand." Psalm 37:23-24

       i opened Jon Courson's footsteps of the flock today. Everything is ordered by God: situations at home, events in your life, in your heart, they are all from God. If you stumble along the way, God wont cast you away. " He'll just pick you back up and keep you going with His own hand." 

      " Lord save me!" Peter cried as he sank beneath the waves. And Matthew says Jesus stretched forth His hand, lifted a drenched peter out of the water, and plopped him back in the boat.( Matthew 14:30,31) Thats a strong hand!"

         "Riding an unbroken donkey, the hand of Jesus was able to control the animal (Matthew 21:7) Thats a strong hand!"

          "Jesus was able to overturn tables and throw out the money changers (John 2:15) thats a strong hand!"

          

         you may think you are the only one who knows what's going on in your heart. physically, that may be true, but spiritually Jesus knows. you may not be able to confess what you have done aloud (even to God), but He knows. Jesus says, "My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." Let Him shoulder the problem. there is nothing you can do with it anyway. what appears to be a problem is actually an opportunity. an opportunity to get us thinking differently. the problem gets our attention and focus on God. Maybe God has previously given you a vision, but He has taken you out of this circumstance for clarity. Our vision is too small. we didnt realize all that the Lord would be doing until the problem got us praying. Ask God, " what is the opportunity?"  

                                  "IF IT IS A MATTER OF STRENGTH, INDEED HE IS STRONG!"

                                                                        job 9:19

August 5th

"If it is a matter of strength, indeed He is strong." Job 9:19

Meditate on that one today. And allow yourself to be distracted by the person of Jesus Christ.

                           Make it a habit of saying, "Yes" to Jesus.

everyone, meet josiah

currently i am sitting in front of the office up at camp. Andrew decided it was a good idea to make me sit here, in the dark, with bugs... that at this moment i choose not to see, or hear. anyways i am sitting here trying to download bewitched off itunes. originally it was phantom of the opera because, andrew, lauren, and jeff are obsessed and they figure i should be too. not true..  so bewitched it is(andrew's choice- he loves chick flicks!)

just as i was setting up the laptop, this little boy walks up to the pay phone (Josiah). he called his mom and is telling her of his eventful day. "Today, No Today! so i got my wallet back today (apparently some kid named john stole it) and i got baptized today! when he told her this she asked him what it means to get baptized. He replied, " it means to show everybody that you know God."( so cute)

and For Cryn... i know im a little late on telling you so... here it is!.. i declare at 9:24 pm that today is blog rediculous  Myspace pictures of yourself... as we have previously discussed. JUMP ON THE BAND WAGON!...  its kinda like tag so i have decided to tag , CRYN. have fun love!