Radical Missionaries

So on Monday we met at Lime Park at 9:00 am to have our devotional, prayer time and time of sharing. We started our singing devotional and here comes a small school of 3-5 year olds. They started singing spiritual songs and it was so amazing to see the innocence of those children loudly singing songs to God. We all smiled and watched. Once they finished, it was obvious that we were invading THEIR normal territory so we walked to the Botannical Gardens on what I think was the University Campus. We get in the Gazebo and their are several people there already and all leave but one young man who ended up staying the entire time doing his school work. We all shared our stories of how we got there and it was just amazing to hear how God worked through so many obstacles to get us all there. It became obvious to all of us that God hand picked us to be there and it was an incredible bonding time. Paul named us Radical Missionaries. At the end, we shared with the young man; we each prayed and then went out two by two...some three by three (smile) to share our faiths with the plan to return to the park at 4:30 PM to study with anybody that committed.

I partnered wtih Rasean and then we followed another group of three just to be safe. It was an incredible time of opening our mouths with everyone that was in our paths. We met back at the park at 4:30 PM and while nobody came, we prayed together at 5:30 pm for all the people that we were able to plant seeds with. When we got back to the hotel, one of the man that we shared with in our group showed up at the hotel to talk. One of the brothers ended up sharing with him and studying a few scriptures with him. God is AMAZING! It definitely reminded me of Acts 17:24 -From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole Earth and he marked out their appointed times in History and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him,though he is not far from any of us.

God's love is inspiring and motivating!

In Him,

Terronda

Grenada - Mission Minded?

My travels to get to Grenada were uneventful (thanks Daddy). Lennie picked Lisa and I up from the Airport and we were so grateful! We get to our hotel and both Lisa and I do a double take. Our room to say the least was substandard. We were both unhappy and I pointed out everything I saw wrong in the room from the dirty towels, no air, no hot water to the fact that two double beds meant to beds pushed together in a cramped room. From sheer exhaustion we both crashed but when I awoke at 5:30 am in a sweat the IMMEDIATE scripture that I heard in my mind was "Do Everything without complaining or arguing". I thought ok God I hear you and started praying. "God help me to focus on the MISSION ALONE! Please help me to see through your eyes because if I look through my eyes, I willl only see me." I asked myself if I knew these were the circumstances before hand, would I still have had the heart and focus to come? In all honesty and to my shame, I hesitated. Do I truly not have the heart to go anywhere, do anything for the sake of advancing the gospel? Then I thought about what Paul said in Philippians 4:11-13 " I have LEARNED to be content WHATEVER the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do EVERYTHING through him who gives me strength.

As I contempleted these scriptures, I reminded myself that I decided I wanted to give myself away for God...whatever way that was and while I needed to address our room situation I simply could not and would not allow it to steal my focus.

So today as I fellowshipped with the Grenadian and Trinidadian disciples at a most amazing service of 25 plus disciples and 3 visitors, I smiled. In view of eternity the hotel situation really won't and does not matter but those lost souls and the three disciples here in Grenada that need our encouragement do.

Thank you God for an incredible first day and life changing lessons.

In Him,

Terronda

Headed on my FIRST Mission Trip

God is so incredibly amazing! I went to a New Year's singles Conference in Miami entitled In Your Wildest Dreams! I was blown away by it because it truly did bring Ephesians 3:20 to life for me. I knew that coming back home I just wanted to focus on giving myself away for God and I knew that I wanted to do more outreach and to serve in the community more. The very same week that I returned one of the Elder's announced that there was going to be an Evangelistic mission trip to an Island Called Grenada and that the ministry there consisted of only three singles. As soon as I heard the announcement I KNEW I wanted to go. But how? I just came off of a mini vacation. My job is exceptionally busy and there was just NO WAY my boss was going to let me go on an 8 day vacation in just TWO months to go on a mission trip.... So I prayed to God and said God if it is your will for me to go please let my boss give me the time off. If she does, than all the other financial arrangements and details will be worked out by you and I will plan in faith. Now mind you my boss tends to weigh out all the details and takes a few days to give feed back so I sent my vacation request the very next day FULLY expecting her to take a few days to evaluate my projects and ask me a few questions (as is her protocol). Well to my surprise, my boss APPROVED my vacation the VERY SAME DAY I asked for it! I was in awe and KNEW from that moment that no obstacle would keep me from going on my first mission Trip!

Now you do know that satan wasn't going to make it easy for your sister right? I started looking for flights and could not find not one. The ONE I did find was over $800. But I said "God I know you already have this worked out. You will help me find a flight and $800 is like a penny to you. You will provide! A few days later I got a Facebook message from a near and dear friend communicating that God laid it on her heart to give me $300 to go on my mission trip. I was so encouraged and grateful. I even said to her you know based on my prayer, I am not surprised though incredibly grateful.

Now back to the flight dilemma.. Two weeks pass and I finally ask one of the Elders to help me and he enlisted his Travel Agent to help me find a flight. Down to the wire---meaning one week before my trip my flight was booked to the tune of $996! No worries because my God has got it. Flight booked...budget tight and I do mean TIGHT! Then here comes another blessing because another resource gave me $250 to help me go on my mission trip. WOW!!!! My Daddy is amazing!! And as if that wasn't enough I got $1,000 MORE than I anticipated on my tax refund! Hmmm.. coincidence?.. I THINK NOT! MY DADDY is amazing!

So here I stand this Wednesday night, half packed, already introduced to my room mate and planning to have a prayer conference tomorrow night with the four sisters that I know are coming from the USA. I KNOW God is going to do amazing things in spite of me! I pray to see him glorified and I pray to see my faith increased beyond my wildest dreams!

GRENADA HERE I COME!!!!!!!

PS - Thanks to Cynthia Ellison as she inspired me to blog about my experience while in Grenada but hey I figured I would get a head start!

Extreme Makeover: ME Edition

Well I have been off track with doing this but week Amber had a focus I just did not want to miss! Thank you Amber for your blog and inspiration! I love it!

This week's question:

What's your favorite beauty secret?
I know this has nothing to do with losing weight, per se, but on the other hand, it has everything to do with feeling good about yourself. So, in a sense, they go hand in hand.

My favorite beauty secret is DRINK LOTS OF WATER! It works miracles for the skin!

Extreme Makeover--Me Edition

This week's question from Amber:

Show us your inspiration picture. Of yourself skinny, of yourself fat, of a celebrity that inspires you to keep going.

Firstly I joined a weight loss group at my church. The condition for joining is to start by paying $20. We weigh in weekly and if you gain you have to pay $2. If you MISS a weigh in, it is $5. The group meets for 12 weeks and at the end of that twelve weeks two people split the money in the pot. The one that has lost the most weight and the one that has lost the most inches. Before this group I actually lost a good amount of weight from August to December doing a HCG diet that my entire office was doing. It worked great and I plan to engage in it again. However it is EXCEPTIONALLY expensive i.e. $250 a month. I stopped when I got laid off from my job in December, started eating loads of

carbs and as a result gained all but 10 lbs back!

Not sure if any of you have ever heard of Dailplate.com but it is a great site that allows you to track your weight loss and is TOTALLY Free! It has the caloric count for just about any and everything you eat! It also has great support groups online too!

Now where I am today? I have not had a disciplined week at all. I have been eating only twice a day, only worked out ONE day last week. In spite of all of that, I lost 2 lbs – YIPPEE!!!. Now, I am deciding to be exceptionally open and share my weight. I want this journey to be open to all so you can share my victories and my defeats

. I weighed in at 230 lbs today during our weigh in.

This is a progress pic of me from when I was on HCG Weight Loss Program October of Last year!

Goals for this week:

Cook my lunch for the week on Sunday

Work out 4 days a week

Drink 100 oz of water a day

Log my progress on dailyplate.com

Extreme Makeover--Me Edition

I introduced my BFF Tecia to blogging and she has taken off with it! So proud of her! She met an online friend named Amber and I really like her blog so I am following to do the things below! Come join me!

Directions: Every week, you'll do a specific post on your blog in regards to Extreme Makeover--Me Edition.

----Pretty much, just update us on your progress. How did your week go? Did you struggle? How were you successful? Do you have any great tips? {I think it's also important to celebrate even little successes}

----Answer the specific question or topic that I pose each week.

After you've finished your post, view that specific post {either view your blog & click on the title of that post, or go 'edit posts' and 'view'}. Grab the url and post it into Mr. Linky. Simple as that!!

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This week's question...

"We're all here at EM:ME because we're unhappy with our bodies, or our health; there are things that we are trying to change.
But today you must share one thing with everybody that you absolutely love about yourself"

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT ME!

• MY SMILE
• MY ABILITY TO ENCOURAGE
• MY OPTIMISTIC SPIRIT
• MY CREATIVE SKILLS
• MY LOVE FOR PEOPLE

REFUSE to Entertain it!

Release the hurt.....

Release the fear.

Refuse to entertain your old pain.

The energy it takes to hang onto the past is holding you back from a new life!