Singing In The Sun
Hi everyone! I just got back from an unforgettable weekend in Myrtle Beach, SC. Singing In The Sun was held this past week. If you dont know what that is, let me tell you! It is Wed. - Saturday packed full of the best in Southern Gospel Music! Concerts, worship, music, fellowship, ice cream, and good ol fried food! Testimony and I sang on Wed night on the showcase stage, the presence of the Lord was so strong! Every night was fantastic, but the saturday matinee gripped my heart. The peace and Love of God was so strong that afternoon, I know someone was being touched by God! If you missed this great event, dont worry because on Labor Day weekend Abraham Productions and Ray Flynn Promotions are doing it all over again, except this time in the mountains of TN. All of the best in Southern Gospel will be there and you dont want to miss it. Check out THIS link for more info!
Turn, Turn, Turn…
Its been said that there is a season for everything. A season to laugh, a season to cry. A season to love, a season to hate. A season for this, a season for that. In thinking upon this truth, I cant help but think I am in the “moving season” of my life!
Seven months ago I set out to Lumberton, NC with no family, friends or even familiar faces and places. Like a stranger in a foreign country, I settled in and tried to ease into this “other world” of life. The motivator to move was the job I took as morning show co-host for a full-time 50,000 watt Southern Gospel radio station! Also sales during the day time.
What an adjustment it was to try and move from one “life” to the other. It was an adjustment that I didn’t take very well. Actually I don’t think I ever really even took it at all! I loved the freedom of living on my own and fending for myself, but I missed the familiarities of my small town life. I missed going to Wal-Mart and seeing 347823 people that I knew! I traveled back and forth on the weekends to come home to see everyone. I was so scared of becoming “unattached” to my “home.”
Eventually the driving began to wear on me and I knew I had to make a change again so I began thinking about school. I decided to move back to Lincolton, my hometown, and continue my education there. Again the Lord proved himself to me and I have a great job here also! Eventually I would like to have a music business degree, and I am working toward that as we speak!
I do not regret one minute of my time spent away. I learned a lot. I changed some and I grew even more. My point of all this is to say that THINGS… in life, they all happen for a reason. For a reason and season! That should be our motto. Life is too short to have regrets, and sit around wondering why you go through certain things or why this or that didnt work out for you. If we have put our faith and trust in God Almighty then we should know that it is not in our hands anyway. He is guiding our steps. He is making a way. Be encouraged tonight. If you are going down a path that you know the Lord has taken you on, and it feels like a dead end....just remember....he always has your “red sea” and he will make a way!
In The Rain…
Isaiah 55
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the LORD’s renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed.”
I had to give you the scripture for you to understand about the rain. I have been praying about something that was a HUGE burden on my heart. It seems that I have been in a desert place. I couldnt feel the Lord or hear his voice very clearly. I had been praying ernestly about a situation. I didnt know when the answer would come but I knew that it would. And not even really an answer. But I needed a peace in my heart that no matter how this situation was resolved, nor when it was resolved it would be okay. I knew that God was in control, but I just couldnt get it across to my heart. So last night I was reading my book and I decided to go outside and read! It was GREAT! The fresh air, the cool breaze, the sound of distant thunder, rolling clouds, birds chirping in the air, the smell of rain in the distance and fresh cut grass, and the whisper of the wind in the trees (yes I’ve been reading too much) So I got out my purple and white tiedied umbrella chair and read! It was GREAT! Pretty soon the clouds were getting thicker, and the thunder was getting closer. But that did not deter me from my scenic library! I read on. The thicker the clouds got, the prettier the scene was the late afternoon sun shown through the clouds on the trees in front of me while the dark ominous clouds loomed above, and pretty soon I couldnt read because I was so distracted by the beauty of the picture God was painting right before my eyes. So I laid my head back and just watch the clouds swirlling their way along above me. I prayed that God would have his will in the situation I was so burdened by. I didnt know how or when but I knew that in HIS time He would grant the peace I needed. It had been a while since the Lord spoke to my spirit with A WORD and so I knew it may be quite some time before he spoke. I just knew I had to keep an ear open at all times. So before I knew it the sun that once splattered on the trees in front of me was now covered by the thick dark clouds and the thunder was not the only evidence of the storm that was fast approaching. The lighting flashed from time to time but I kept reading, outside, in my umbrella chair. Thats when I heard it the gentle splattering of rain. This forced me to take a backseat view of the storm, but I stayed outside, just under my carport...beside the stang! 
Oh, I almost forgot, I was sitting there reading, minding my own business and a little fire ant bit me on my big toe!!! IT HURT!!! And my toe swelled up, and is still swollen! Anyway...back to the storm. By now I was sitting in the car port, the storm was well underway and the rain was pounding the already moist ground. Soon there was a river at my feet on the edge of the carport and when the wind blew I felt a fine mist of rain on my face and arms, very similar to that of the mist in the tunnel on top gun @ carowinds! I miss that ride, I want to go to carowinds!!!!! The front row is the best though. If your gonna ride it you have to ride it in the front because thats the best, the rest of it is just a rip off. Once you’ve ridden in the front it seems like a kiddie ride in any other seat. K...ADD is kicking in back to the storm. So I continued to read and all of a sudden as I turned a page to continue reading it struck me. And I felt like I was sitting in the rain and peace was flooding my enitre body. I cannot describe to you what I felt, nor do I expect you to understand unless God has also given you peace before. But as clear as I could hear the thunder clapping in the sky, I heard Isaiah 55:10&11. Praise the Lord it was sweet release, and it was so unexpected. You know its one thing for the Lord to give you peace @ church in an alter with a half dozen of your church family memeber pressing and seeking God on your behalf right there with you....but for the Lord to just seemingly stop time, clear my clouded mind, and speak peace to me right there under my carport in the midst of a litteral raging storm with no one but me and him and the cats...and the stang of course....God spoke peace, me and him. He then spoke a lot of other things to me. Assurance that I had needed for quite some time, and conformation as to what the Holy Spirit spoke at church on Sunday. There in my carport I lifted my hands and thanked God for the word in due season. I couldnt stop thanking him. I cant tell you how good it felt to feel him speak to me. It was like rain on the sand my soul just soaked it in. It felt so good to have peace, and just like the rain it showered down on me. Like I said before, I dont expect you to know how it felt unless you have felt it too. Nor do I expect you to understand.... My situations are the same, nothing has visibly changed about them. I still dont know what the outcome may be...but!!! I have a hope and I know that whatever happens Gods word will NOT return unto him void! Praise the Lord! But they will go forth and do what they were sent to do, just like the rain waters the earth! Its not just something pointless and unneeded but it has a purpose and wether we think that purpose is being fullfilled or not God sees the big picture he sees what the rain is doing to the earth and that is exactly what he sent it to do!
But....if you are in a storm....if you are dry and thirsty...there is freedom! Hallelujah!!! If your TIRED and hungry....there is freedom!!! Just lift your eyes to heaven! There is freedom! Give your all to Jesus! There is freedom! Wait on the Lord.....Stand of his promises....dont give up....there is hope, there is joy there is peace there is FREEDOM!!!! I cant urge you enough to just HOLD on because deliverance is coming. God will speak that word to you in due season and you too will have peace in the midst of your storm!
Gospelfest Fest 2006
We had an awesome time of fun and ministry at Gospelfest 2006. Chosen Generation, The Locklears, The Pierce Family, Laura Ashley, and The Crabb Family performed at the Indian Culture Center in Pembroke, NC. Check out the pictures in the photos section! Thank you to everyone who came out and supported this event! God Bless You!
New Design!
My webmaster Doug Henderson is tediously working on getting new pictures and a new design up for the site so that when you see me on here and in person you dont say..."thats not her..” ha ha!! I do look a little different now, so hope you enjoy it and keep checking back for more updates!