the matts:

Let’s all pray the monsoon goes away by garage sale day… hip hip hooray!

Beginning tomorrow, Children’s Cup will be hosting 40 days of prayer for the children, particularly those in southern Africa. Check out the website, get a free devotional, and commit to pray for these beautiful kids. The world may have forgotten about them, but Jesus certainly hasn’t! Get yourself signed up and spread the word! 42% of people in Swaziland are HIV positive, people in Zimbabwe eat bark off trees because they have nothing else… the worst parts of America can’t even compare. Over 7300 prayer guides have been given out and over 100 people have committed online to pray. I don’t know about you, but this is one bandwagon I want to jump on!

Thank you, US Court of Appeals, for helping Louisiana finally get something right!!

Check this out!

We had a meeting from 9am-2pm today at Ms. Ann’s amazing home. Johnny really empowered all of us and charged us up for the upcoming fall season at HPC. Here’s a picture of him displaying his wonderful improvisational skills- using some paper towels as a white board:

As the Late Nite team was discussing how we can improve outreach, I got a really slammin’ text message from my mom. She has a friend who is immobile, in a wheelchair, who relies on others to get her places. Apparently there is a church who takes her to and from her appointments, but today the guy didn’t show up and she missed a doctor’s appointment that can’t be rescheduled until November. My mom text me and told me she wants to be the HPCer who helps get her to places she needs to go. She saw a need and wants to sacrifice her time to help fill that need. Is that HPC or what? I am so pumped… while I see the importance of the big, scheduled, organized outreaches, I am so much more touched by the small acts of service like this one.

I love my mom! And I love that this church has shown her the importance of outreach! I pray that I see opportunities like this and lay down my own schedule to help others.

We are having a garage sale August 4th to raise money for our mission trip. If you or anyone you know has items to donate, we would so greatly appreciate it. We are believing for big bucks, so we need lots of stuff to sell! Please let me know if you have anything you would like to get rid of so that we can bring the Gospel to Europe!

Also, the little Hamanator is about to arrive, so keep the family in your prayers !

Often times- as I am living my daily life- I sit in awe of the abundant blessings God has given me. I think it’s really important to remember how blessed we are; I think it’s vital that we take some time to be grateful and actually list things we are thankful for. I know this is often a Thanksgiving tradition, but with tradition often comes monotony… I want raw gratitude in my heart. So, here it goes:

*I am thankful for my best friend, my love, the one whom God created me for, the most selfless and incredible man on the earth, my favorite person on the planet, the one who can put a smile on my face and make me laugh in any situation, the one who serves with his whole heart, the man who shares my dreams…my smokin’ hot husband.

*I am thankful for the people who have stuck by me through thick and thin, who have put up with my “junk”, the ones who loved me through my crazy teenage years, the ones who believed in me when no one else did, the people who have given up everything so I could have a better life… my amazing family.

*I am thankful for the church who saw something in me that even I couldn’t see, the church that welcomes sinners (all of us) with open arms, the place where people run to escape their mundane, self-centered lives, the people who will travel to the ends of the earth to love on the unlovable… my home away from home- Healing Place Church.

*I am thankful for the people who God has put into our lives to bless us and keep us strong, the people who welcome us into their hearts and homes, the people who we love to share our lives and our faith with… our fantastic friends, new and old.

*I am thankful that I have a bed to sleep in every night, food in the fridge, running water, a plethora of clothes and fabulous accessories to wear each day, a car to get me places… things I often take for granted, but that I realize that most of the world doesn’t have.

*I am thankful for the dreams that God has placed in my heart: to have many children, to adopt kids no one else wants, to change the world, to impact Africa, to see lives transformed worldwide by the crazy-powerful grace and love of Jesus, to be a Proverbs 31 wife and mother, to care for people… dreams that no one would believe just a few years ago.

I challenge you to take a moment to take inventory of your blessings… to think of what God has entrusted you with on this earth. Ultimately it isn’t about what we have, but what we are doing with it. I pray that I am honoring all that He has given me, multiplying it, and pouring it into others.

The tongue can bring death or life;
those who love to talk will reap the consequences.  Proverbs 18:21 NLT

I just thought I’d share that with y’all cause it hit me like a ton of bricks when I read it earlier this week.  This is basically the thought I had after reading it:

What consequences am I reaping from the use of my tongue? 

The tongue is such a powerful tool we have at our disposal at any time to use to bring life to any situation.  Unfortunately, we (especially me) get caught up in our day-to-day and let the flesh take over and don’t use this incredible resource that God has blessed us with the way He intended for us to use it. 

So, remember next time you open your mouth:

What consequences am I going to reap from the words I’m about the speak!?

Be Blessed. I’m out. 

–C Matt–

P.S.  Don’t forget to keep all the missions teams out there in your prayers!!  One group in Cambodia and another servin it up in LA.  Read more about those on Dan’s Blog or Dr. Tweeze’s Blog.

God continues to hook it up in ways and through people that I would have never imagined. While we are still far off from the money we need for Italy, He is slowly and surely bringing it in. I have been praying and thinking about why this has been so hard for us, and what keeps coming up is that He is testing our faith. Today, I think I have finally made the breakthrough! (‘Bout time, eh?) I also think maybe He is preparing us for the time we will one day spend fund raising to go on mission trips to Africa. Our heart is so planted there, and I know that God will use our experience now to give us faith and fruit then.

Please don’t forget about the wonderful HPC lady selling Mary Kay and giving us all the profits for the trip. Check it out here and here. We will also be having a garage sale August 4 to raise money, so be in prayer for that (…and donate stuff, too, if you want!)

Lastly, Dan Ohlerking has had some really amazing posts lately with updates from our missions teams all over the world. Go there… just do it… you know you want to!

IF YOU GET RID OF UNFAIR PRACTICES, QUIT BLAMING VICTIMS, QUIT GOSSIPING ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE’S SINS, IF YOU ARE GENEROUS WITH THE HUNGRY AND START GIVING YOURSELVES TO THE DOWN-AND-OUT, YOUR LIVES WILL BEGIN TO GLOW IN THE DARKNESS, YOUR SHADOWED LIVES WILL BE BATHED IN SUNLIGHT. I WILL ALWAYS SHOW YOU WHERE TO GO. I’LL GIVE YOU A FULL LIFE IN THE EMPTIEST OF PLACES.

 childrenscup.org/v2/mylife 

We, as a staff, are all reading the book of Ephesians together in the month of July… We have to read chapters 3 & 4 by tomorrow, so I sat down this morning to read over them again and try to take it all in. Is it me, or is Ephesians 4 the most incredible chapter in the whole bible?! I mean, maybe it’s not, but it’s so full of wisdom and just simple, wonderful, life-giving lessons to live by. My favorite verses are 1-3, 11, 14-15, 22-30, 32… Check out the chapter and see what the Lord speaks to you!

And speaking of the Holy Ghost, don’t forget about Children’s Cup awesome movement: 40 Days of Prayer for the children (from August 1-September 9). There’s also a devotional you can get that will totally rock your world. Children’s Cup has a lot of great projects coming up to raise awareness of the tragedies in Africa… check out their website ASAP, but be prepared to be changed forever.

I just want to take a minute to thank all of you who have kept my spirits raised during our time of fund raising for Italy. My faith rises each day as you encourage me with your words and prayers. Ms. Sheila (Pastor Dino’s sister) prayed over me last week and since then, my perspective has been different. To add to my faith, that very same day an awesome lady who I had never met offered to sell her Mary Kay inventory and give us all the profits for our trip.

I remember when two months into Elevate full-time, a woman in the church offered me five-thousand dollars to help cover my tuition. I remember when Elevate was ending and someone anonymously gave me & Chris one-thousand dollars to bless our new life together. I remember a couple months ago when a man who doesn’t even go to HPC walked into the office and gave me a check for forty-five dollars for our trip because God had laid it on his heart. I remember many months when I had no idea how our bills would get paid and the numbers didn’t add up, but we always seemed to have enough.

We haven’t received as much money as we hoped for yet… I have worked my fingers to the bone raising money for this trip… I have spent hours crying out to God wondering why this has been so hard for us and so easy for others… All I can think is that God is stretching my faith. He has delivered before in ways no human could have ever guessed, and I am believing He will do that again. Two people have told me in the last week that they believe a big check is coming, so bring it on!!

Stand with us in faith that God will deliver on His promises and supply our needs!! He will strengthen your faith as He shows Himself to us!

The Day at the River is now free, so come meet us at the Highland Campus tomorrow at 9:30am for some fun!!!

Also, you gotta check Katherine’s mom’s blog… she is overcoming breast cancer right now, and every time I read her posts she blows my mind. Not only is she strong in her faith, but she really finds positivity in everything. She defines “seeing life through the eyes of Jesus.” Katherine is taking such good care of her mama, and I find myself praying for her often. If anything like this happened to my mom, I don’t know if I would have the courage and strength that she has. We both have very close relationships with our mothers, so I admire her a lot for taking this trauma and turning it into triumph. I love those girls!!!

So, when Mike said God’s giving us the Italy money little by little so I could experience little miracles along the way- that was SO true!! I keep having these moments of weakness and little faith, and then God reminds me that He hasn’t forgotten about us. This morning I got an email from an amazing lady in the church who told me-in a nutshell- that God had laid upon her heart to help us raise money for the trip. Through church life and the blog world, she had heard about our need for funds for Italy and wants to help… even though we have never even met! Due to her work, her family, and her volunteer work at the church, she has not had time to keep up with her Mary Kay business, leaving her tons of inventory in her closet waiting to be sold.

Here’s the deal: you can buy Mary Kay from her and ALL of the profits will go to me and Chris until our money is raised. Click here for her MK website, or contact me for a catalog. If you order online, you can pay with a credit or debit card.

God bless this amazing woman of God who is obedient when He calls her to give. She is not doing this to raise her customer base or make contacts, nor will she receive any money from it. She is simply obeying the call of God on her to help bring the gospel worldwide to people who would never hear it otherwise. Thank you, Lord, for reminding me that despite my unbelief, you will deliver on your promises!!

This Saturday a group of Late Niters will be heading out to False River to chill, eat, fish, play, and lots of other fun stuff! We will meet up at the Highland Campus at 9:30 am to carpool! Bring 10 bucks cash to cover the cost of food… It’s going to be so fun!

In case any of you are wondering, Mike is back from his 3 week hiatus from the office. Yes, he was still doing the Lord’s work…. working really hard in terrible places like Destin, FL and Sydney, Australia with awful people like Kevin Mawae, Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin, Scott Steelman, Brian Houston and Nick Caine (please know that I am being very sarcastic when I call those terrible people and places).

I am glad I took a vacation last week, because things around here went from 0-60 in about 2.3 seconds flat! Mike is the best guy to work for- we have so much fun and I am so honored to get to work with a man of such high integrity and grace… plus he teaches me about 10 new lessons everyday, so I kind of feel like I’m in Elevate all over again!

And finally, I just wanted to remind everyone that my husband is the hottest, smartest, servingest, most wonderful man on the planet. The end.