A friends battle…….

When Travis and I moved to Charlotte we got involved with a small group throw Elevation Church. The leaders Jim & Shawna have a daughter that just turned 16 & they are so wonderful. They have really took us in & tried to help make Charlotte a home away from home, if you know what I mean.

But this family has come under a battle that needs everyones prayers and support. Like I said their daughter Shelby turned 16 about three weeks ago. However, she has been very sick since around the middle of February. She was running a fever, muscles where sore, and she was always tiered. The doctors ran lots of tests checking for all the normal things you would think a teenager would get. As she got better the doctors just thought that she just had a viruse that just needed to run its course and that she was on the way to recovery. And it seemed that way.

Then about a month ago Shelby started running a fever again and this time the side of her face hurt. So her mother took her to the dentist and found that she had an infection under one of the teeth and that was the liking cause for her not feeling well this time around. The tooth was pulled, the infection was cleaned out, and the fever went away. Three days later Shelby celebrated her 16th birthday.

One week later on the Saturday of Easter Shelby began feeling sick again and on April 3 she was back in the hospital having tests run again. Shelby and her parents found out on Friday that she has Pre B-cell ALL which is a leukemia that effects mostly children and teenagers. You can imagine that this news was hard to deal with. But this is a very strong Christian family. They know that God, in all of His foreknowledge, has a plan in all of this and that He must have something very special for Shelby. They are not letting this disease kill them. With God on their side they are fighting it.

On Monday, Shelby had a portcat put so that she could have her blood drawn easier and for the chemo that she would be starting that day. So on Monday Shelby had her first round of chemo. And from my understanding she is doing VERY well. She is doing so well that the doctors are going to let her go home for the weekend. Praise God!!!! She will have to continue to go back to the hospital for treatment but her parents have everything worked out.

I have chosen to share this with all of you because I know you will join me in praying for this family. They only want God to be gloried in this journey. They are a very strong and loving family.

As you can imagine, even with insurance, treatment can get very pricely. Especially since this will be about a two year treatment, that’s if God doesn’t chose to heal Shelby before that time. That said if you can do more by donating to help this family I am going to give some links you can go to in order to do that. If you are only able to pray for them, know that means just as much to them as any other gift, if not more.
http://www.cafepress.com/shelby1997
https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/7U4i3?fb_action_ids

If you are interested in keeping up with Shelby’s progress, her father has set up a page on Caring Bridge.
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/shelbypurvis

Thank you all in advance for the time you have taken to read this and for your continued prayers. It always sucks when we see children that seem health get sick, but it is also comforting to know that we have a God that can heal any sickness and can be our strength when we go through these battles.
It is also wonderful to know their are people that stand with you as you help your child fight this dark time.

Blessings,
Heather

The Purvis Family

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

God Leads Me!

Hello again. I know it has been a few weeks since I last wrote but I am getting use to this whole blogging thing. LOL.

Anyways, today I would like to share with you a struggle I have been going through, as well as the wonderful things God has spoken to me through some sermons by Pastor Steven Furtick.

So about two years ago God called me to go to school to be a Christian Family Counselor. For most people this wouldn’t have scared them. But there was a reason that at the age of thirty I had not already gone to school, gotten a degree in something, and started a real career in my life. That reason is because I hated school. I have always disliked school, was never good in school, and most of the time the teachers didn’t like me. I was always more occupied with what was going on with my friends. If they had a problem I thought that as a friend that cared for them I needed to help them. This is life, we have to help each other through it. School won’t teach me anything that will really help me get through life. You could ask my family, I would skip class, give away my money, stay up all night on the phone, do whatever my friends needed to help them get through the tough times. So needless to say with that kind of desire to help people most of my friends and family would tell me I should go to school to be a counselor , I responded with the same answer. I hate school, I wasn’t good the first time I went to school and that means I will never go to school. Little did I know that ten years later after giving my life to Christ, He would call me to use my gift to help further His kingdom by counseling people.

All I could think was, NO WAY, I CAN’T DO THIS!!! I would be horrible I would never make it through school. But God kept pressing on me that this was part of His plan for me. So I did it. I started online college classes. But every semester I get anxiety (which my husband can attest to) and worry about how I will get through the research paper, or memorizing dates, and events, and definitions, etc….. And every semester I come out on the other side with God’s guidance with a B average. However, this semester is different. I still have anxiety but that anxiety is heightened because I am taking Algebra and Physical Science!! In case you don’t know Physical Science is basically a math class. So I am taking two math classes. I don’t understand equations and replacing letters for numbers and all that stuff. But my husband understands it. Which is great….. Most of the time. Since he understands it he keeps wanting to show me short cuts before I even understand what I am doing, which confuses me, and we just don’t communicate well so this has caused a few bumps.

Those bumps gave me a day of depression. I closed my computer, closed my book and told my husband that I was quitting because I didn’t understand this stupid stuff, I would never understand it and would never need to use it. I went to sleep and the next day I did not feel better. It wasn’t until later the next night I snapped out of my funk. What snapped me out of it. My husband… He kept reminding me that I was doing this for a reason, I was doing what God had called me to do. Of course I didn’t want to listen to him but I know he was right.

So now we get to the good stuff.

Here I am, answering part of God’s calling on my life, and I keep bringing myself down. Thinking I can’t do this, letting the words of someone from my childhood tell me I am too stupid to succeed. But that’s not what God says to me or about me.

Pastor Steven just finished a sermon series called The New Rules of Resolution; changing the way we change. It was great! If you can watch the whole series it has so much insight. But the one I want to share from it is the last sermon. It’s not what you would, it’s what you can. He talked about how growing up we all used the saying, “Would if I could, but I can’t, so I wont.” That is pretty much what I was saying just a week ago. Sorry God, I would if I could, but I can’t, so I won’t. And you know what, I can’t, not on my own. Which brings me to a sermon of Pastor Steven’s I just watched today.

This sermon was from January of 2011 where Elevation had just got done making a documentary about how the church got started called “This is How We Change the World.” The week before the documentary was shown to the church Pastor Steven shared with the church what he called The Five Mistakes I seem to Make Over and Over Again. This sermon was not long but it spoke to me so much that I am going to run through the five points.

#1: I worry about a battle that God has already won.

I mean really. If we think about it and just realize that God has won all of our battles past, present, and future how much easier would our daily lives be? Pastor Steven Read from Joshua 10:7-8 where Joshua and his army set out for Gibeon and God told Joshua not to be afraid because He had already given Joshua victory. GIVEN Joshua victory over a battle that he had not even fought. What should that tell us? That God has already given us victory over the things He calls us to do. Why do we worry about something He already knows the end results of. God doesn’t always do things the way we want Him to do them (actually He doesn’t do things our way often) but He always wins the battle. Another thing he said was something that Joyce Meyers said, “Worry is a down payment on a problem you may never have.” Yeah, think on that for a moment…..

#2: I think that when people leave me I have lost or failed in some way.

This point is not the same for me as it is for pastors. I don’t have a flock to lead but I felt as though it gives good insight in life and the career I am working towards. I have issues with worrying about why people are no longer my friend and why someone doesn’t call me as much as I call them. But not everyone in our lives are meant to be with us till the day we die. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven.” Some are with us for a season because they have something to teach us, or maybe it was something we were teaching them and now they have moved on to teach others. But Pastor Steven said to remember that your destiny is not determined by the people who leave your life. Maybe that person was poisonous to your walk with God, maybe you were leaning too much on that person and not enough on God so he took them out of your life so you could learn to depend on Him instead of on a person. For Jeremiah 17:5 says, “cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord.” But verse 7 says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is in the Lord.” Also in John 15:2 Jesus said, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.” So no matter how you look at it, if someone leaves your life because they were toxic to you life or because God had more growing for you to do somewhere else, it is all for the greater good of God and your life.

#3: I wait on the destination instead of celebrating in the journey.

How many times do we just want to get to where we are going without the wait. We don’t want to wait for anything. We honk our horns in traffic, we tap out foot when the person in front of us at the store has too much stuff, and I don’t really want to do the schooling in order to get my degree. We want God to tell us where He wants us and put us there and end of journey. Now we can do some work, right? But the journey is all about what we do when we get where we are going. You follow me? How can we give a testimony if there is nothing to testify about. BORING!!!!! We need to Celebrate what God has brought us through so far. Celebrate the successes we have had instead of looking at what we don’t have yet and may never have. Celebrate what God WILL do in our lives even though we are not sure exactly what it is.

#4: I let swagger jackers still my joy.

That is the person that likes to bring us down. It could be someone in our live right now but it could be someone who is no long in our lives but their words still echo in ours ears from time to time. That is what happens to me. I had someone in my life that spoke a lot of negativity into my life at a very young age and I fight with those voices at least once a week. Do not listen to those voices. Pastor Steven share Nehemiah 6:2-4 where Nehemiah was working on rebuilding a wall and some men where not happy about it and stop him and Nehemiah thought they might even want to hurt him. So he told them that he was to busy with his work to bother with them.

Sometime that’s what we need to do. When someone is trying to derail us from what we know God wants us to do, we need to just tell them, “Sorry I am too busy to deal with your nonsense.” This may sound harsh and mean, but we need to stay focused on God’s will not on others opinions or feelings.

Pastor also pointed out that there are people who sometimes think they are prophets, but they are just pessimists.

#5: I think that I have to fully understand God’s calling in order to completely obey Him

And this is where it really hits home for me. I think all the time how I don’t understand why God wants me do something or understand why He is taking me in a certain direction and I definitely don’t understand math and science, but Pastor pointed out that I don’t have to understand how it works to work it. I think he means that God will give me the understanding that I need when I need it in order to pass my classes. That’s life. If I am willing to go, then God will show me as I am going. God will bless your obedience.

WOW!!! I hope you are looking at this and can relate to at least one of these points. This has given me hope. I know that I cannot do school on my own. But with God leading me, encouragement and heartfelt reminders from my husband that I’ve got this, I know I can make it though school. At times I may want to quit, but I have to trust in the Lord, His ways, and not my own feelings. I choose to obey Him as He leads me down the path to better His Kingdom.

Hope this wasn’t too long for anyone. And if you would like to watch the sermon and documentary that I watched, here is the link:

http://elevationchurch.org/sermons/changetheworld

As always, I hope this gives someone the encouragement they need and I pray everyone has a blessed week.

P.S. If there is anything you would like me to pray about and don’t mind sharing it in the comments, please feel free to put them below.

Teaching Angels by Jentzen Franklin

On January 15, Elevation Church started something called Code Orange Underground. This is kind of like a revival for the people of Elevation Church that are leaders and volunteers. Pastor Steven Furtick wanted to take eight nights, spread out over the next year and invest in and reward the leaders and volunteers of Elevation Church with uplifting, encouraging, and inspiring messages from different Preachers.

And let me say, the first of the eight Underground experiences was AMAZING!!! We had a double-header; Pastor Perry Noble of New Spring Church in Anderson, South Carolina and Pastor Jentezen Franklin of Free Chapel in Gainesville, Georgia. They were both on fire that night; however, I want to talk about what Pastor Franklin shared with us that night.

Pastor Franklin was sharing with us about praising God during our storms and why we should do so. He said that when we are praising God in our pain, in our storms, in our sorrows, that angels are watching us. That when we worship God it is not about “look at me”, it is about Him and to use our lives as a form of worship in everything we do as well.

But what does it matter that angels are watching us, you might ask? Good question, because it is one I had never though about until Pastor Franklin brought it up. Pastor Franklin talked about how angels were made to worship God, that they really don’t have much of a choice. But we humans, on the other hand, have a choice. Everyday of our lives, from the moment we wake up to the second we lay our heads down to go to bed, we have a choice of choosing to praise and worship God in everything we do. I mean if we wake up in the morning then that is the first thing we can thank God for because we never know when our time will end. And if we have a job, even if we don’t like it, we should praise Him and thank him because there are people out there who have college degrees and cannot find work. At the same time if we have a bed to lay our head on we should be praying for those who are on the streets with no roof over their head while they rest. If we think about it, there is so much to thank and praise God for. And if we learn to praise God when we are not in a storm then it will be much easier to do so when we are in the storm.

We go to the book of Job where a man, named Job, had been blessed by God greatly. He had a wife, seven sons and three daughters, friends, he had plenty of live stock and servants; so much so, that his children would throw feasts and the next morning just in case his children had sinned and/or cursed God, Job would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of his children to purify them.

But while all this was happening, Satan went to God and God was telling Satan how Job was upright and blameless and feared God. Satan began to explain that Job was not as wonderful as God thought. That the only reason Job feared God was because God had given Job everything and put a hedge around him. So God told Satan that he could do what he wanted to Job except touch his flesh and that Job still would not curse God. Of course, Satan disagreed and thought Job would curse God, so he gladly accepted the challenge.

Then the unthinkable happened. Job’s live stock died, he lost pretty much all of his servants, and all of his children died in a house fire. How would you feel if you lost everything you had? What did Job do? He tore his robe off, shaved his head and fell to the ground and began to worship God saying:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.[c]
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised.” (Job 1:21)

And then God let Satan inflict more pain on Job as long as he did not take Job’s life. So Job was afflicted with painful sores and his wife wanted him to curse God, but Job refused.

WOW! I just mean WOW!!!! This man loses his live stock, his servants, his children, and his wife ended up leaving him, his friends were not much comfort, and in all of that he praised God knowing that God was in control and that God would take care of him. I go into all of this because sometimes we have things happen in our lives that are not as bad as what Job went through and sometimes things are worse. But you know, Job believed in the word of God. Not in the sense that we believe in the word of God. We have the Bible to guide us, and yes I believe that people today still hear God speak too. But all Job had was hearing from God. Job did not have the Bible, but he believed. He chose to live his life for God no matter what came into his life or was taken away from him.

But here is what I really learned that night.

So in case you did not know, Satan used to be an angel called Lucifer. But not just any angel; in Ezekiel 28:14 he is called the mighty angelic angel. He got to be in God’s presence everyday, he had beautiful clothes with different types of jewels on them. Lucifer had a life of peace, of praising and worshiping God everyday, in a perfect environment, with no sin, no Satan to tempt him, and no fallen angels. Interesting isn’t it. We fear Satan because he tries to condemn us by showing us that we are fallen, that we are not perfect and can never be perfect. But what about him huh? He couldn’t do it either and he got to be with God in Heaven. We are still here on earth, trying to follow Jesus by faith. At least we are trying. When Satan keeps bringing up your past, it’s because he is running out of new material. So the next time you feel condemned by Satan, because God won’t condemn you He will convict you so you can repent, remind him that he couldn’t even live for God before there was even sin. Mind blowing huh!!!! That you are trying to live for Jesus when Satan couldn’t.

So let Satan tempt you, let the storms of your life come. Lift your hands high, praise Jesus for laying down His life for yours. If that is all you can think of to praise Him for, then that is a good start. Show those angels around you what it looks like when we GET TO CHOOSE to praise and worship God. Trust me, I have been through some storms that I have had a hard time praising through, and it can be hard, so I am preaching to myself. But God is there with you. Praise Him as much as you can because He does love you.

I hope this gives some encouragement to someone. Be blessed and keep PRAISING HIM!!!!!

Hello world….

Hello world…
So let me introduce myself. My name is Heather and I am 32. I have been married for 11 years to wonderful man. Actually, my loving husband is the reason I am starting this. He keeps telling me I need to put my thoughts in a blog, so here I am.

We currently have no children but pray that one day we will have some little ones of our own running around and/or will adopt some beautiful children one day.

I am also a Christian and currently attend Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. My husband and I just moved to Charlotte in September of last year from Georgia. It was a BIG move for us because we let a lot of great friend there. However, God has blessed us so far with some pretty awesome people since we have moved.

Okay, so what is this blog about? A little bit of everything. I will talk about my believes on religion, my faith, my family, friends, government, pretty much the world in general. I will be posting stuff about how to make your own homemade stuff like shampoo, laundry detergent, deodorant, etc., food, clothes, EVERYTHING.

Wow, that’s a lot of different things going on right. I would love to hear everyone’s thought but please keep in mind to be respectful. So blessings to everyone. I am looking forward to sharing my thoughts with all of you. I hope you enjoy the craziness that is me… 😉