Week in Review

Last week was another busy week. This time it was so busy, we never even ate dinner at home which is not like us during  the week.

I hosted my third Book Fair at my school. PTO helps out greatly and they do an awesome job. It was a fun week and I love seeing kiddos excited over new books. However after packing it up on Friday, I was exhausted! 

But I didn't have much time to rest Friday and I was okay with that because of a special event at church that I got to be a part of: Girls Night Out. I had been looking forward to it ever since I helped last year. At this event, the leading ladies of Elevation host a night of fun for girls from three organizations in Charlotte (One7, Right Moves for Youth and Safe Journey). Along with my friend Emily, I was able to mentor 3 young girls. Several activities were planned including time in a photo booth.

My favorite part of the night was hearing our Pastor's wife, Holly, share a message with us about how often we look to "things" to fill a void in our life. We were all born with that void feeling because it is meant to filled only in Christ. We must learn to depend on him as our source for joy and help. It was such a clear message and I'm so thankful these sweet girls were able to hear about Jesus and an opportunity to surrender their lives. Afterwards, we ended the night with a big dance party (my second favorite part) and then sent the girls back on their way in a large party bus. How cool is that?! What a great night! I'll be thinking and praying for "my" girls for a long time. When I worked at a camp during my college years I mentored teenagers a lot and I didn't realize until Friday how much I miss investing in teenage girls. I want to start doing that again more often.

Saturday was a nice day of rest. We slept in but then had a crazy idea to spruce up our backyard. We worked all afternoon and even had to make two trips to Lowes. I wish I had taken more before pictures but this is all I have:

It was bad y'all! So bad that I hated even going out there. Even though we are just renting, we still love to host people often so we knew we might as well tackle it. We didn't want to spend much money so we had to get creative. This is what we ended with: 

We bought some cheap mulch, trimmed all the bushes back, cut the grass, added pea gravel rocks and flowers. I spray painted the flower boxes red and I love the way it turned out!

After the hard working day, we grilled some burgers and enjoyed the night outside.

Today (Sunday) has been a day of rest too and I'm very thankful. Five more days until I'm off work for a week with Spring Break. I CANT WAIT! Excuse my enthusianm. I love my job but it sure is time for a little taste of summer and R&R.

Can I get an amen from any other teacher friends? ;)

That's a wrap folks!

-Sara 

Fear

God is teaching me so much right now. I'm constantly absorbing his goodness around me. I know it has always been there but I'm more alert than ever before. I'm so thankful for all the relationships that are placed in my life in this current season. Without going into details, I have really wrestled this past year with fear and anxiety. Why? Tough to say. It's really strange. The mind does weird things. I have a good life so why fear? I'm very grateful for my husband, my job, my health, my family and friends.

At church we just started a message series based on Pastor Steven's newest book Crash the Chatterbox and tons of scripture. Such perfect timing for me. The concept behind this book is hearing God's voice above all others. The book is so SO great and I recommend you pick up a copy and listen to the messages as well. Something that gave me a new perspective today during the message was the fact that the chatterbox will always be around. I can't stop the chatter…you know…those negative voices in your head, but I can change the channel. I must learn to redirect that chatter towards truth and not engage in the conversation. I don't live by what I feel or by my exhaustion, I live by God's promise. Praise the Lord for that truth of freedom!

-Sara

So God Sent a Savior

Over the past 8 weeks, our church has been learning about some of the greatest stories ever told from the Bible. During the conclusion of the Easter message, our Pastor shared something he wrote along with the help of Amena Brown detailing some of those stories. It's written in poetic form and very powerful. I was excited to see that Pastor posted it on his blog so either check it out there (www.stevenfurtick.com) or view it here...




I heard it a few times that weekend but even today I have listened several times truly reflecting on those words. Thank you God for sending a Savior!

-Sara

The Greatest Story Forever Told

Our Easter weekend was amazing. We feel so blessed to be a part of a church that brings God our very best every weekend to worship Christ with thankfulness and reach our city for those that need a Savior.

Today I wanted to post a short recap of the Easter weekend we had at Elevation across 8 locations including our newest in the Greater Toronto Area. As most of you know, Todd is on staff with the Video team and they worked nonstop this past weekend to capture footage and edit the recap all by Monday morning. Whether you go to our church or not, I encourage you just to watch it just to be blessed to see the kingdom at work. It always inspires me to see God at work all over this world and it just fires me up.

Jesus is ALIVE!




We are all about the numbers. Every number represents a life change. Praise God!

Tomorrow, I'll be back to share with you a segment of our teaching message that spoke volumes to me.

Have a great Wednesday!

-Sara