I had been thinking about exploring my creative talents for such a long time and making sure to keep mental notes of the ideas God was giving me about things I wanted to create. That ranges from photographs, to sculptures, and even home décor items and concepts that I had images of inside my head that were pounding their way out through my busy schedule and intense lack of sleep.

One day a close friend of mine asked me to go to a thrift store with him to assist him with picking out some things for his new apartment, and I actually fell in love in the thrift store. No, not with my friend (I love him already) but with all the creative potential I could see in other peoples little pieces of discarded life. There was my dream, my vision, randomly scattered across this dusty and unorganized warehouse of a thrift store and I absolutely loved it!

I scoured through the aisles feeling sort of bad for not paying closer attention to my friend and his needs, but I felt like I could multitask and help him while totally helping myself. I kept thinking of my bank account and then looking to see the prices when I was repeatedly shocked over and over again as I thought “this is only $.99?” I felt foolish every time I had this epiphany, but it did not stop my mission.

Eventually, after two shopping days and about four, okay maybe six thrift stores, and a bit less than $100 later, operation creativity was complete. My friend got most of his items and my whole life seemed to change after this escapade. Through the process, I learned some things about good finds I would love to share so pay attention! 
this could change your life.

Thrift Shopping Tips

1. Do not pass on things that can be reborn if they are washed or easily fixed. Many times you will find dusty, old, broken, and dirty things that just need some love and care to make them like new.
2. Allow your imagination to be free. Try to look at things in your own unique way. Maybe you see a table that looks pretty good but the paint is an odd color, but that is okay because I am sure a local retailer has the perfect color for you to repaint it with.
3. Stay within your budget! Overspending can quickly turn a euphoric shopping experience into a painful nightmare if the lights get turned off so be mindful that those small dollar amounts add up quickly if you are careful.
4. Do not leave something you want at the store unless you have paid for it and asked it to be held upon your return. Good things fly off the shelves in a matter of minutes; I have seen it happen!
5. Test electronics before you purchase. They cannot be returned and have no warranty.
6. Frequent your favorite stores. They usually receive shipments every day with all types of goodies!
7. Try to go to the thrift stores located in more affluent neighborhoods. I have learned that wealthy people throw out the best things by donating them for a good tax write-off.

I encourage you readers to explore the things you enjoy, and share them with others. Do not count off the things you do well with the thought that it is just a hobby and not a true talent. Everything we have in us was given by God and is divine and can be used for a divine purpose. What better a premise to work from? If you acknowledge the fact that God is in you, then shouldn't His work be what comes out? So maybe you like the idea of thrifting and this is how you can manifest the glory of God on earth, or maybe it is in your sense of humor, or your ability to write or teach; use what God gave you to give life and light to the rest of the world as you know it.

It's mind boggling to consider that God is interested in the details of my life, of our lives. That he not only met my need, but granted and surpassed my desires at the same time. It's so easy to file away your desires isn't it? As a minister or a mom, a friend, a business woman, a prayer warrior, a sister or a church usher; you grow accustomed to caring for the needs and wants of others and yours easily get pushed to the side. 

Don't panic, I have everything under control. 1 WEEK later and albeit more sore than I've EVER been in my life, I've  made some significant head way! I've made some great new friends at Home Depot, where I go at least once a day for a shoulder to cry on and a new tool that I thought I "didn't need". All in all, I'm still feeling pretty good about this! I think. I mean, at this point there is no turning back. Here's my progress:

I mean, come on Lord, in this barn with these animals? really? just right here on this dusty floor in this barn? And yet, we know that God provides. We know that his character, his very essence, who he is is Provider, Jehovah Jireh (Yahweh- yireh) the Lord who provides. That IS who God is. Who are we to say what that looks like?

So how do we stay the course? Lord help us to be willing vessels. Use the experiences that we are currently encountering as a tool to increase our faith. Help us to wring these experiences dry and do not allow a drop of the lesson to stay behind. Give us a portion of your grace and mercy that will sustain us during these times. Imanu'el, You are with us, and we thank you. We are grateful that you have not and will not ever leave us in this thing alone. You will finish the work that you started. Develop our gratitude and align our expectations with your will. 

If you were as lucky as I was growing up, you had a wonderful woman of God in your life, a mentor, a teacher or someone who cared about your life with Christ.

I was so blessed to have my Grandmother show me the way.  Not by preaching to me from my childhood until her passing in 1993 but she was someone who LIVED the Life.  She lived the life from the 60’s until her death.  She was a mighty woman of God.  I remember her big black bible and she would have that book in her arms stomping through the house in prayer.  She woke up praying to God and go to bed yelling at the devil.  All of hell shook when her feet touched the floor.  It is hard to find women like that these days.  

One of my youngest memories is her homemade chicken and dumplings.  They were the BEST.  As my husband would say, “they were off the chain.”  She made them and southern sweet tea and you had to sit all day and smell it cooking.  Then the moment came when you are called to the table.  We all sit down and in an instant, the phone would ring.  All of us children would look at each other because we knew…..we knew it could be THAT call.  The prayer chain was in full swing.  Now don’t get me wrong, it’s a lost art that does not occur much anymore but as a child who is on the verge of starvation, you knew, this was going to be a VERY LONG phone call.  Everything stopped until Grandma finished with her call, her prayer and her time with God.  If ever there is a time for prayer chains it is now.

We have recently moved to Denver, Colorado and although the landscape reflects the finger prints of God with its breathtaking views, the enemy also has his finger print on the city with drug and sex trafficking, gangs and homelessness.  This is where God wanted us to do His work.  By Devine appointment we met with Pastor Isaac Olivarez who heads up Urban Outreach of Denver.  They minister to an area in the city called “the 5 points neighborhood.”  It is an area ravished by drugs, gang life and sex trafficking.  This is where our heart is and God brought us together to not just bring people to Christ in the neighborhood, but to help build them up to be ministers, evangelists and maybe even missionaries for God.

What is touching my heart about this neighborhood is the abundant amount of single mother’s. Some are homeless, some are addicted to drugs and some are involved in prostitution. My heart is to show them Christ so the single mother’s will know they are not single at all.  Once we connect with them, they will know that they are connected with something greater.  That greatness is our Lord Jesus Christ.

On September29, 2013 we are launching City Life Church in this neighborhood and we need all your prayers as we get closer to the launch date.

I am writing this to start my modern day prayer chain and I am calling you, asking you to join us in prayer for this great city and our new church.  The city of Denver needs your prayers.  There is an estimated 22,000 people for every one church.  We need your prayers as we head out and try to help those in need.  Please pray for wisdom, discernment and safety for us and pray that God softens the heart of the people of Denver as we try and show them the love of God. Your phone is ringing… will you answer?

I invite you to take a look at our website www.lovedenver.org for more information.

Prov·i·dence [prov-i-duhns] noun: 

• the foreseeing care and guidance of God over the creatures of the earth.
  
• God, especially when conceived as omniscient, directing the universe and the affairs of humankind with wise benevolence.
  
• a manifestation of divine care or direction.
  

We attribute so much credit to happiness. We desire it, we seek it at all costs, we feel a right to have it and we're angry when we don't. Happiness, we feel is just a human right and we are willing to go out of our way to get to it. 

In the game of Scrabble, players are given 7 random tiles at a time in order to make up words on the home board. (If you don't know how to play Scrabble, 1- shame on you 2- check out the rules here so that you can follow along.)
Each letter is worth a different amount of points, so making words is all about strategy. One would think that in order to get the most points you would want to make longer words, but a well thought out short word will often yield you a better result. Let's take the following words as examples: 

Making a 9 letter word like Happiness requires you to skip turns and hold on to your tiles, building a stock pile until the opportune time for you to play. Making a 3 letter word like Joy gets rid of the tiles that you currently have and leaves you with tiles to spare. Waiting to create a long word like Happiness means that you have skipped over 244 opportunities to make a different word. Creating a word like Joy requires only 3 of your tiles and allows you to pull new letters, giving you access to new words. Happiness can be made many times, as all of the letters have many multiples. Joy is a unique word that can only be made once, as there is only one J in every game.

Do you follow? 

SEEK JOY!!! Joy is the constant that opens up the doors for you to make new words; to make Peace, to make Patience, to make Endurance. Joy seems insignificant, but it's value is worth far more than it seems. Though it looks like happiness is worth more, the value of Joy exceeds it in abundance! Happiness is fleeting, it comes and it goes. Don't wait for happiness when you have access to Joy right now! There is only one Joy, only one Jesus and He left that to you by the power of the Holy Spirit according to Galatians 5:22. It's yours for the taking. 
Play your hand and move on to the next word. 

Have a great weekend friends!