Surprise?!

Because I needed more excitement in my life....


 Sunday evening I was sitting on my couch, trying to decide what to do that night and Monday because I have the day off.
My options: 1. Go to Elevation (the college service) and come back and sleep
                    2. Go to Mississippi...why? you ask? Why not?

So I called up my grandma and asked if they were doing anything tomorrow and if I could come over...I was on the road 30 minutes later. I decided to not tell Danielle (my cousin) that I was coming and just show up at her apartment and surprise her. (I like surprises)

Now every time I decide to leave town either to go to my parent's house or my grandparent's house, it seems to rain. (No joke, the last 4 times I've road tripped, God has decided to open the heavens and unleash a torrential down pour of rain on the route that I happen to be traveling.)

It was raining pretty hard the whole drive. But I was determined to not let the weather slow me down and keep me from getting to Danielle's apartment in a timely fashion. She was going to be going to bed soon and I didn't want to wake her up from too deep a sleep.
I was driving pretty fast; as fast as I could go and still be able to see with all the rain. Then it started to rain harder. And of course all the other cars on the road slowed down dramatically which just frustrated me more. I started pleading with God, "please make the rain stop!" I even tried a, "In the name of Jesus, I command the rain to stop!"

...Nothing happened....

Just more rain...

I started to hear the words, "You need to slow down."

"No, just make the rain stop!"

"You need to slow down."

"No God, You just need to make the rain stop like I asked!"

"You need to slow down."

Rather than try to win a battle of stubbornness with God I decided to let Him win. 

"Fine...."

I slowed down to 55 or 60. (I hate driving that slow on the interstate) And I kept driving that speed for a while. (I had a great attitude about it too)

Then around 11:15pm, I'm honestly not completely sure what happened because it all happened so fast. But I do remember a burst of water hitting my windshield and then spinning.
In what was probably only a couple of seconds, my thought process went something like this...

"Oh crap"(I give myself points for not cussing)

"This is going to mess up my car"

"I'm not going to make it to Danielle's on time"

"Dude, I could die!"

"Ok Jesus, I'm ready! Take me now!"

The car eventually stopped. I was in the middle of the grassy wet median.

After the disappointment of not being in heaven passed, I tried to drive back to the road. Aaaand I was stuck. I got out of my car and walked around to take a look. (It had been a good idea to wear skinnies and trail runners because it was very muddy) The median was lower in the middle and it was just steep enough and just wet and muddy enough to prevent the necessary amount of friction needed to drive out...

Cali's (my car...yes I named my car) front bumper popped off a little on the drivers side but that's been messed up for a while. Other than that she was completely fine. Well, other than being stuck in the mud that is...

After a few minutes of trying to decide what to do, who to call, etc. A man in a truck pulled over and asked if I needed help.
Yay!
He tried to pull Cali out but snapped both of the straps he had. We needed something stronger. So he called roadside assistance to send a tow truck. (Did I mention that it's still pouring down rain?)
The tow truck finally came and pulled me out and then followed me to their shop to check Cali out and make sure she was ok to drive the rest of the way.
The guy zip tied some stuff that came loose on the underside of the bumper and she was good to go.

Then it was time to pay....

Apparently my bank thought it odd that I bought gas in Memphis and decided to freeze my account to make sure it was really me. Yes, of all times to make sure there is not fraud happening on my card, this would be the night!
So I try and give him my parent's credit card. Of course Discover chose the same night to do the same thing to my parent's card, because of some unusual charges they made in the last few days.

So there I am, in the middle of nowhere Mississippi, $2 cash, two frozen credit cards, a check book that does me no good because they don't take out of state checks, and a $225 bill to be paid for getting me out of the ditch...
So I did the mature, grown up thing to do...
Called my Mommy.
Through a long drawn out process that is really stupid and frustrating so I'll spare you the details, my parents were able to convince Discover that there wasn't fraud happening on their credit card and that they really did want to charge $225 to their card in the middle of nowhere Mississippi and I was finally back on the road by 1:30am

By this time, my whole Mississippi family along with everyone they know in the area are aware of what happened because they all tried to find someone to come pull me out, including Danielle...

3:00am I pulled into her apartment and there she was standing at the door waiting for me....Surprise?!

Venting and Cliche's

Cliche' - anything that has become trite or commonplace through overuse.
Trite - lacking in freshness or effectiveness because of constant use or excessive repetition; hackneyed; stale: 


Common cliche's 
-Beggars can't be choosers
-Bigger they are, the harder they fall
-The early bird catches the worm
-Sread like wildfire
-Better late than never


Just because something is a cliche' doesn't mean that it is no longer true or relevant. 


For some reason, when we hear something or see something over and over again it loses its effectiveness in our brains and we check out. It loses it's value to us. 


Think of the first time you saw the ocean. Or the first time you saw real mountains. The first time you heard a song you really like. The first few months of a dating relationship. Your very first cell phone. 


After a while we get used to these things and they're not as incredible as they were at first. They become normal. They've lost some of their value; their effectiveness. 


The problem is that this is not only the case in these instances but also in our relationship with God. 


For a lot of us, God is now a cliche'. Or maybe not God Himself but church, or worship, or praying, or having quiet time. 


Especially for those of us who grew up in church, we've heard all the sermons, seen all the illustrations, heard all the analogies, read all the famous Bible stories, used all the Bible sayings. And to us they've become "commonplace through overuse."


We've been to so many church services and read our Bible so many times that it's began to "lack in freshness of effectiveness" It's become stale. 


Phrases like, 
"God is in control"
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"
"Jesus loves you"
We say them all the time but do we really believe it? Do we really live like it's true to us?


When things become familiar to us, we get comfortable and we start to go through the motions and coast. 


One area that I see this a lot that I am so passionate about is worship. A lot of our worship songs have become cliche's. Think about the song Amazing Grace. Everyone and their dog knows this song. You could probably sing it in hundreds of different languages in hundreds of different countries and they would be able to sing along with you. We've heard it over and over. Some of us are probably not the most excited when we hear it on a Sunday morning. 
"Ah, this song again?" 
You know you've had those thoughts don't act holy. 


But think about the words in that song. 


Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now I'm found
Was blind but now I see


That is incredible! 
Think about those words for a second without humming the tune in your head. Forget it's a song for a second and think about what those words mean. 


There are so many worship songs that have incredibly powerful lyrics but after we've heard them so many times we don't think about the words anymore. 


How great is our God
How great is our God
Sing with me, how great is our God


Amazing love how can it be
That you my King would die for me?


I'm so guilty of this. I will get tired of a song and every time I hear it I cringe. "Please not this song again." I forget about what the words are saying. I forget why we're singing it. 


I think that's why God put things in His Word like, 

Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy. ... Sing a new song of praise to him; play skillfully on the harp, and sing with joy- Psalm 33:3

Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song - Psalm 149:1

Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them.- Isaiah 42:10

He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. -Psalm 40:3 I think God knew we would have this problem. That we would get bored with songs and need something new.

That's why I love when bands come up with new versions of old songs. Because the words are still amazing. But it lost its effectiveness because we got so used to it. So you change it up and bring it back. 

That's why I love different translations of the Bible. When you've heard the same verse a bajillion times and it's just words, check it out in the Message version or in the New Living Translation or even in the New King James version. Hearing it a different way makes the same verse new. 

We have got to find ways to keep ourselves from looking at God and the things of God as cliché's. 

I never want to feel or think in the back of my mind that my relationship with God is "lacking in freshness or effectiveness, because of constant use and repetition and become stale and commonplace"

Really think about it...

The God that created the universe loves you. You. The person who stands there joking around with your friends during worship and paying no attention to what's going on. You. The person who stares at the worship team with a blank stare and your hands in your pockets. You. The person who smoked pot before coming to church. You. The person who slept with your boyfriend/girlfriend last night. 

Me. The person who got frustrated about what songs we were singing for worship because I was tired of them. Me. The person who had the thought of getting up to read my Bible this morning but decided to sleep in instead. Me. The person who says that I will do anything and go anywhere for God but doesn't tell the lady at the check out in WalMart about Him because I'm too busy. Me. The person who yells at the person who cuts me off going 60mph on i40. 

He. Loves. Us. Anyway. 

And what do we do when we come into His presence for worship? We stand there and check out because we heard this song last week. 

We will go to concerts and go nuts when the band starts playing but stand there with a blank stare at the worship team. 


It's not just about how good or bad the band is. If the band was terrible it doesn't mean that we don't need to enter into worship. If they're not playing your favorite song it doesn't mean that we don't need to enter into worship. If our favorite worship leader isn't playing this week doesn't mean that we don't need to enter into worship. 


I've been on missions where the church is a room with a dirt floor and the only instrument is a guitar with 4 strings and the worship leader is singing the song in 3 different keys and none of them match what he's playing on the guitar. 


I've been to a conference at a ginormous church with thousands and thousands of people where the band was incredible and the lights were awesome and the chairs were so comfortable and everything looked good and sounded good. 


We should worship just as hard at the church with the 4 string guitar as we do at the conference!

God is the same in both places! 

We should respond to Him with the same amount of reverence and excitement in both places!  


What if we approached worship in a church service as if we were actually going to encounter God instead of as the background music for you to walk into church late to?

What if when we sang songs in church, the words were our prayers and thanksgiving to God because that's how much we need and love Him? 

What if we didn't just go to church to go to church but we went expecting God to do something? What if we went to church because we just love to be in His presence? Because we can't get enough of Him.




I realize this post is kind of all over the place. Just needed to get this out before I exploded. Feel free to leave any thoughts you may have.

Where do I begin??

I feel like I have so many passions and desires inside of me that I have no idea how I'll ever be able to do them all in a lifetime. 

             Here's a few....

I want to explore, see the world, take photos of it and bring them back to show people at home and tell them the stories. 

I want to lead people on mission trips so that they can have a total perspective change on life and God can rock their world. 

I want to make coffee for people that is better than they can make for themselves and make them happy.

I want to disciple people and watch them go out and disciple 

I want to know God so intimately that it causes me to see people the way He sees them and love people the way He loves them, and because of it people will want to know Him more intimately too. 

I want to play music that draws people closer to the heart of God and creates an atmosphere for them to experience Him. 

I want to ride elephants 

I want to start a school where young people can be discipled, learn discipline, leadership, worship, and then go out and change the world. 

I want to live in another country and own a motorcycle as my form of transportation 

I want to become so familiar with the Bible that I actuality live out, believe, and can speak from experience to people about its truth and power. 

I want to write things down so that maybe, just maybe, someone won't have to make all the same mistakes I made and can instead learn from them and do better. 

Now where to begin....

The Greatness of Our God

I feel like God has been showing me so much the past couple of months that my mind could explode.

First of all, I discovered that one of the main reasons I have a bad day or just plain am in a really bad mood is when I am in the flesh; when my focus is all on me.

As soon as I get the focus off of myself it's like a whole new world!

A couple of months ago a good friend of mine asked me to be her intercessor this year.

At this point in time I was experiencing a very dry season with God and couldn't figure out why I wasn't passionate about reading the Bible or spending time with God. (something I usually desire everyday) So I started to pray for her everyday. That was the beginning of my revelation.

I'm not the best at praying for people. I've always wished I could be one of those great prayer warriors that can pray for hours and hours and it's their prayers that kept someone alive or something like that. But I've never been able to do it consistently. I will get bored 5 min into prayer or run out of things to say or fall asleep. But I was determined to keep my promise to pray for her every day.

I knew it was going to take trying something I hadn't done before if it was really going to happen.

So I started reading scripture out loud over her, changing the tense or a few words here and there to make it apply to her. And I would just go through a book of the Bible picking out verses and praying them (out loud) over her.

As I prayed scripture over her every morning, I began to get more and more passionate about spending time with God. I started to be in a much better mood most days. And I started to become more and more passionate about intercession and learning all I can about what exactly it means.

So I started reading a book called Intercessory Prayer and it has been rocking my world.

I really wish I could explain the change that has taken place in me and in my relationship with God. He feels more real to me now than He ever has before. And the funny thing is, I have hardly prayed for myself at all in the last 2 months. The more I pray for other people, the closer I feel to God. It doesn't make any sense to my brain at all but it's true.

My God time used to be all about me reading the Bible for me and praying for me and what I can get from God and what God can reveal to me.

And theres nothing wrong with having times of that. I think that there are definitely seasons where we need a touch from God and we have to cry out to Him for ourselves before we can fight for anyone else.

But for me, it was time to go deeper, and having God time every morning for myself wasn't cutting it.

I think that if we will just get the focus off of ourselves and fight for the people around us, God will take care of us.

This is the first of many revelations I will try to share...

Hi My Name Is ZuZu And...I'm Addicted to Music and Caffeine

Why are all addictions so expensive?!

Yes, I admit it, I'm addicted to music and caffeine...

I'm currently getting a hold of my mountain dew addiction. It's been 4 days since my last sip of sweet nectar from heaven...

Coffee has been limited.

Music....oh music...

Some girls go crazy about shoes

Some go crazy about purses or other accessories

For me it's music.

I have to have music.

And it's not enough for me to just listen to it online.

I need to own it and have it on my computer for use any time and place on any device.

The problem:

This costs money. And as my parents have always tried to tell me, money doesn't grow on trees.

In conclusion, I need to either marry a very rich man or have a very rich relative die and leave me a hefty inheritance.

The future can be scary or exciting...Or BOTH!

It's been almost a year since I wrote on here last...

So much has happened in one year.

I've been thinking about the future a lot. Which makes sense seeing as this chapter of my life is quickly coming to an end.

I've been thinking about where I could end up, what I could be doing, who I could be meeting. Some days I get excited thinking about it. Some days I'm so scared I could pee my pants.

I know God is going to do something big. But I also know that it won't be anything like what I think it will look like. He's already started opening doors I never thought or dreamed of going through.

It's humbling. Knowing that I can think of about 30 people off the top of my head that are more qualified and deserve more to do what I want to do and might get to do.

But the funny thing is that God likes to choose the least likely person to do something huge. That's what scares me. Because I know that I'm not qualified at all and it would have to be God.

It's just crazy enough to be His plan...

Someone once said, "the path to your greatest potential is often straight through your greatest fear."

God's ways are not our ways...

It's humbling...

Change happens

There is no growth without change; there is no change without fear or loss; and there is no loss without pain. Every change involves a loss of some kind: You must let go of old ways in order to experience the new. We fear these losses, even if our old ways were self-defeating, because, like a worn out pair of shoes, they were at least comfortable and familiar.

Adam Roth posted this as his status on facebook a while back and I saved it and just found it again tonight.

I am so not good at change.

But this makes sense to me why I don't like it. It's why growing up and going into new seasons of life is so hard for me. I'm not a fan of loss or pain or new things.

I will wear a pair of shoes until they disintegrate into nothing because they are comfortable and familiar and easier than finding a new pair and having to get used to them and make them work with my outfits.

I kind of feel like it's time to throw away all the old shoes and get new ones. Not just settling for the old shoes or even being barefoot because it's easier.