• …. His Hill and all the memories associated with it…
• Charlie McCall & his preaching, friendship, encouragement… but especially his preaching this week.  I miss getting to hear him!! and his words were so good
• my Bible – what a privilege it is to be able to read it in my own language and in freedom!!
• my family.  I am so grateful for the family I was born into (or not exactly born into, but you know what I mean)
• Aaron Reimer… i AM thankful for him muchly in fact!
• my friends at the hill – new and old, staff and students…
• all the good food I ate – without wondering IF it would be there when i got hungry (except once ) or if it would be good…
• pie! i actually at pie at this thanksgiving conference and it was goooood… mmm
• Codie Cox – even though she wasn’t here, I still am thankful for this bestie.  She always is there for me, listening to my rants, raves, and complaints… and is the best of friends!

THE PRAYER

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, “Woe to those who call evil good,,” but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.

We confess:

We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it Pluralism.
We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism.
We have endorsed perversion and called it alternative lifestyle.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.
We have abused power and called it politics.
We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.

Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent to direct us to the center of your will. I ask it in the Name of Your Son, the living Savior, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

(source)

I’m so excited about tomorrow!! I love you tomorrow! Hehe

But tomorrow markes the beginning of the next thanksgiving conference. it’s been 21 years since i went to my first one, haha.

But what made me think to write a post was the fact that i have a HUGE privilege of growing up in a Christian family. i’ve always have been exposed to Bible teaching. Yes, those first few years were at His Hill, but even after we moved away, i continued to hear the word preached. (Not that i was really paying that much attention that first thanksgiving conference – haha… i doubt i was even in on the sessions).   After we moved from the Hill tho, we continued to go to the Thanksgiving Conferences.  Actually, MOST of my thanksgivings have been spent at the hill – I honestly only remember maybe 1 or 2 that we didn’t go up.  MAYBE 1 or 2.  I remember the year i was like.. 10 probably and made a wager with myself that I could attend ALL of the sessions — without getting bored and having to go to play with the kids.
This is another year, and now i’m 21. Sonny Westbrook will be teaching this year. Now there’s no chance of me having to go be with the little kids – unless of course Gracie & Bella come, then i might have to be pulled away from them to attend the sessions, haha. But seriously, i’m so excited to spend the week with CHRISTIANS! and my friends!  I’m so excited to hear what Mr. Westbrook has to say!

What a privilege it is to have grown up in a climate where CHRIST is the center. I am blessed! I am THANKFUL!

I must also reflect on the verses that talk about to him who is given much, much is expected of him. And 2nd Peter 2:22 – a verse my testimony is “built around” which says, “For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.”

Thank You, Father, for this privilege of growing up in a Christian home!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Well, here goes!

• Getting this far in Nursing School
• Graduation is so close!
• I haven’t really been sick this year (unlike other years)
• My family!! (they are the best!!)
• My church… again… this family is the best!  They’ve been here this whole year during ALL my various trials!
• CODIE COX …
• my car – or dad’s car
• my friends in school…Pam, Lindsay, Bryan, Kelly, Amy…
• my laptop… yup, definitely a blessing :p
• JESUS CHRIST! (these are obviously not in any certain order, because this is definitely NUMBER ONE on my list)
• the possibility to go to the Dominican Republic in January for medical missions and then His Hill next summer
• my Hill friends: Laura, Denise, Gale…
• all the food that God provided this year for me! (Taco Casa, haha, Buzzies, Schlotzsky’s Deli’s pizza, Subway)
• i only fainted 4 (or was it 5?) times this year and i never got hurt… and we found out WHY i faint!
• the ability to do IVs!!!
• Getting to go to Florida and Georgia to see both sides of the family
• Gramps and Grandma AND Aunt Lydia coming for my VN graduation!
• Dad buying me a ticket to go to North Carolina for Christmas!!
• the trip to New York City for a mission trip over New Year’s Eve!
• Emma getting a banjo so i could hear one again
• Emma directing the kids from church in the play The Pilgrim’s Progress – and everyone doing an amazing job!
• my sister has been here every day and listens to me (um… well usually ) and has been the best sister one could ask for!
• the songs What Faith Can Do and all the songs on Francesca Battistelli’s CD
• going road tripping with Sarah Spindler!
• seeing my desktop pic every day that says, “Wartime Living: treasuring Christ above all things” with a picture of a soldier in Iraq behind it…
• those soldiers who ARE fighting for MY freedom … wherever they are stationed… away from their families.. denying themselves… i think specifically of Jake Leicht… Mathew Golic…
• Al Mohler’s tweets
• my camera
• mom’s cooking!!
• Cameron coming to the Hill as a bible student
• contacts! glasses!!  even tho i don’t have perfect vision, I can see because of these provisions, definitely a blessing
• good neighbors
• my friend Daniel
• LISA KRAUS!
• my phone
• warm water in the pipes… indoor plumbing for that matter!
• GOING TO THE HILL FOR THANKSGIVING!
• allll the clothes i have! :O
• the piano in my home
• the ability to write – ledgibly – however that is spelled!
• my little brother
• Rebecca Miller

I honestly can’t think of anything else at this point… but if I do, i’ll add them later!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I am going to make a list of some of the thing i’m thankful for! i shall post it as soon as i finish it!

Two more days !!

I’m so excited about going back up to His Hill for the Thanksgiving conference in just a few days. I love being up there for thanksgiving! I love being with everyone. I have several good friends who are up there now that haven’t been at other Thanksgivings i’ve been to, so I’m very excited to see them and be with them all week!!

Today I was working a make-up-hours’ shift at a nursing home in Kerrville with one of the other guys in my class.

While I was there, a series of events took place that caused my mind to totally reject any other thoughts except extreme deep and mind-boggling subjects… meaning, I couldn’t grasp much of what people said to me, I couldn’t focus on what I was doing… I had absolutely nothing to say – it wasn’t that I was trying to hold my tongue, but I honestly couldn’t even think of anything to say.

Bryan commented on how I got really quiet so I tried to talk to him, but again, as I’ve said (twice ) no words came to mind.

I cannot tell you what thoughts were going through my head. I don’t remember what they were. All I know is the feeling I had was an overwhelming sense of falling towards the bottom of pit that seemed to be bottomless and then suddenly slamming into the ground and just staying there. I have often felt in the past year that things were not turning out and my world was falling out from under me and that feeling of “Nothing-Else-Can-Go-Wrong”, but through everything that happened, I never felt like I came to the bottom… the hard bottom where I knew there was not more sinking to do.

Today I did – do – sense that. It is a mixed feeling of being so far down I can’t even rise, yet since I’m at the bottom I can only rise!

“I’ll Praise You in this Storm!”

Once upon a time, in far off land, there lived a princess. One day this princess found herself a nice, tall tree. She decided to build a treecastle. She worked all day long building herself this beautiful treecastle.

As dusk began to set, she looked up toward the horizon and said,
“I should go back to the castle to eat my dinner with my mummy and papa.” But as she began to make her way down the tree, she realized that she hadn’t left a way to get out of her treecastle.

“Oh no!” she cried. “I built myself a castle with four walls and no door, how will I ever escape from this prison?”

She sat down in the middle of her newly constructed room and began to cry.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps of a large creature approaching the treecastle. Then a voice came out of the deepening darkness.

“Repunsel, Repunsel, let downnnn your long hair” came the voice of a dragon from below the tree.

“No! Not by the hair of my chinney, chin, chin!” she cried with great courage and fortitude.

“Well then! I’ll huff! and I’ll puff! and I’ll bloooow your house down!!”

She was glad the dragon could not see her, as she was terrified of what he might do. But instead of crying or even replying, she decided to wait for a moment in case something better might come to mind.

As she paused, she heard yet another two pairs of footsteps approaching. It was the sound of horse’s hooves. Next she heard the voice of a prince saying,

“Stop ye insolent varlet or I shall run ye through!”

She felt a rush of excitement and pride in this prince for wanting to save her, but instead of nothing happening suddenly the whole treecastle burst into flames which lept for the starry sky. She found herself falling in quite the opposite direction.

The next thing she knew she was on the back of the horse with the prince heading off towards her parents’ castle.

The rest of the story, I’m sure you think you can guess. However, when the prince came to her and knelt on one knee before her with an outstretched, closed hand, things turned rather differently than one might expect. She turned his offer of marriage down.
Instead, the wedding celebrated just a few days later at her parents’ castle was between her and the dragon! She was heard to say that she admired his boldness and adventuresomeness.

Three weeks later, it is told, that she remarked to her dragon, “What long teeth you have, my dear!”

His reply, at least, so it says in the chronicles of our lord the king, was, “So much better to eat you with! ahem… I mean, eat with!”

The End.

Note: Don’t read into this! it’s just a story… no hidden messages! :p

“What Faith Can Do”

Everybody falls sometimes
Gotta find the strength to rise
From the ashes and make a new beginning
Anyone can feel the ache
You think it’s more than you can take
But you are stronger, stronger than you know
Don’t you give up now
The sun will soon be shining
You gotta face the clouds
To find the silver lining

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do

It doesn’t matter what you’ve heard
Impossible is not a word
It’s just a reason for someone not to try
Everybody’s scared to death
When they decide to take that step
Out on the water
It’ll be alright
Life is so much more
Than what your eyes are seeing
You will find your way
If you keep believing

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do

Overcome the odds
You don’t have a chance
(That’s what faith can do)
When the world says you can’t
It’ll tell you that you can!

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do
That’s what faith can do!
Even if you fall sometimes
You will have the strength to rise

“Kimberly Munley does not look as if she would be much of a match for a heavily armed US soldier on a murderous rampage. But the slightly built 34-year-old civilian officer was first on the scene” = Inspiration!!

Read more here: Story- Click to Read