I will exalt Thee...

So the last time I talked to you I was visitng family in Louisville, Ky, Thanks for all the prayers! I had an amazing time hanging out with my family, and writing some songs, and I even went shopping at my favorite vintage store called The Nitty Gritty. If you're ever in Louisville go check it out :) http://nittygrittyvintage.com/ I got home safely (although EXHAUSTED) after a stressful trip home. My sister ended up driving to Louisville and my other sister was out of town so I had no one to scoop me from the airport upon my return however, my awesome friend Chris came to get me so, disaster averted. YAY! So here are some highlights of the past two days:

*I got some much needed sleep!

*I'm officially playing a show at the end of this month (March 27th)...I'm so nervous

*I talked my amazing musician-friend David into playing at the show with me :)
*I started a new job!

Yes, it's true ladies and gents! That job that I told you applied for at the mall, well I got it and I had my first day today. And much too my surprise, I actually really love it! I get to meet new people, spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, and pray for people, and not to mention the amazing people I get to work with who are so encouraging. I couldn't ask for a better job, God is good! The only downfall is that my feet SERIOUSLY hurt...womp. But while at work one of my co-workers told me that some of the local resturants do dine-to-donate for non-profits and he suggested that I do it to raise money for Russia! It is so amazing how God keeps putting things before me, just like the verse that has kept encouraging me "I know your deeds. Behold, I have set before you an open door that no one can shut." (Rev. 3:8) God continually opens doors for me to get to Russia. Money can be the downfall for so many mission trips, it's crucial and the lack of it can often leave those needing it less encouraged and more concerned. And even though I currently have no money for Russia, I have faith which is even better :) God has put before me an awesome lady named Lauren who has been such a blessing, she created this blog for me so that I could gain awareness for this trip and Russia in general (you should check out her blog called "Living by Faith" at http://laurenalexis1.blogspot.com/, it was just voted one of the top 100 best Christian women's blog of the year!). God put in my path an awesome friend who offered me her house so that we could put on a show where we could ask people that come to see David and I play for donations for Russia. (In fact she double-blessed me, with the chance to recieve donations, and the chance to play my music in front of people) And now He placed me in that conversation to hear about the resturant-donations. Wow, that's alot in such a short amount of time. But I just realized that once again I have written a blog that is equivalent to a small novel, so I will end with a reminder that I got today, God is grace and where He is, it will be endless. So stay in Him, remain with Him, abide with Him and there His grace will too abide. I love you all, and many blessings!

Bluegrass City

I've walked these streets before

I know this town by heart

Every sidewalk says hello

Goodmorning Louisville, how are you?

It's been a while since I been here

Every sign reminds me

Of what I'm walkin' to find

A place of peace, a resting place

So come be the only one who knows me

And come be my hiding place, my safe refuge

Oh Bluegrass City....

That's a few of the lyrics from a song that I wrote about Louisville :)

So I've been here for a little over a day and it's been great! It's nice to just escape to that place where you can be a kid again and have Mamaw take care of you. My mamaw has already made me some southern home-cookin' (yummmm) and I played her the autoharp today (she's convinced I sound just like Doris Day) and she gave me these old Hymnals that were my Great-Grandmas from the 30's (AHHH!). But I'm honestly just enjoying the whole "being home and not doing work feeling." I'm currently listening to Elvis and watching my whole family playing hula-hoop with my little cousin Gracie. I spent all day with her and it was sooo fun and I couldn't help but think about all those little kids in Russia who don't get to have a childhood. I was hugging and kissing on her and I was wondering if they get hugged enough, or if they've ever even been hugged by someone that loves them. And the Lord broke my heart all over again.

Well, I don't have much to say, other than to ask all of you to take a moment, right now works, close your eyes and just feel our Heavenly Father embrace you, let Him hug you, remember how perfect it feels to be wrapped in His love. Go ahead.......

I want nothing more than for all those babies overseas to know and expereince that feeling. Well I'm going to go to bed, but here is a quick reminder: "The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him.' The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him." (Lamentations 3: 22-25)

Oh the prospects of tomorrow!

Blessings friends,

I'm really bad at this....

So I'm really bad at this! I promise in the future I will be much more diligent on posting daily! It's just been a crazy week, trying to do midterms and get stuff ready to go. I'm going to Kentucky to be with my family for Spring Break, so that's taken up a lot of my time. But I did want to write an encouraging post, because in all honesty my heart has been hurting the past couple weeks, but God has been so good to me, always lifting me up and reminding me who I'm living for. I wanted to share with you guys about what He is teaching me:

I'm a Young Life leader, and for those of you who don't know what that is, I would encourage you to find out at http://www.younglife.org/us. So I was at Young Life club and I had to give the talk Wed. night and I felt God was leading me to talk about His Love and how unfathomable it is. There is no comparison to how deep His love is. It's funny how I was intending to teach these kids about His love, when I realized I don't even fully understand it. So God decided to teach me through my teaching. Here is what I learned: God says in Isaiah 43 "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine....you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you." WHA???? Now read it again, and insert your own name in place of you, and remember this is our Heavenly Father speaking :)

That is a love greater than any love. So I mentioned earlier that my heart has been hurting for many reasons, but I said to a friend last night that I felt as if I were drowning and God was the only thing keeping me coming up for air. So awesome is God's love that after saying this, I went home and I began to re-read Isaiah 43 and this is what it says, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;" (verse 2) God speaks to us, everyday if we just listen. He loves us and He has written an entire book that is simply one giant love letter addressed to me and to you. I just want to encourage each of you to soak in His love, because it is a perfect place to rest in.

RUSSIA UPDATE:
Here is a weekly update on Russia info, I'm trying to decide between All God's children International and 24/7 prayer movement. So please be praying that God would lead me to one of the two more specifically or reveal to me another option. I'm beginning to get a time frame for when I should go, I would personally love to go in June but I'm really feeling that God is leading me more towards August sometime. I have to meet/talk with my pastor on March 3 so we can discuss my options further, so please pray that God would be present in our conversation and guide me in His direction.


Well, I have a midterm to work on so I shall end here, but I'm asking that you guys would pray for me to have safe travels tomorrow morning as I fly to KY and that I would have a refreshing Spring Break and that during this week our Father would speak to me more about Russia and His plans for this country that has captivated my heart. I love you all, be blessed and please comment with prayer requests so that I can be praying for you all as well!

Free-Spirited. Apparently that is what I am, which is basically a nice way of saying "Brittany, even though we love you, you are extremely irresponsible." And I have discovered that this Characteristic does not go hand-in-hand with a career. Problem? some would say yes, I say absolutely not! Since I currently only have four followers on here and all of you know my extreme desire to play music like a nomadic hippie for the rest of my life, would agree that a typical career is just not a realistic possibility for me. So anyway, I'm saying all this to disclaim the fact that I QUIT my job. shew. I said it, it's official. So anyway, I have spent all day trying to relish in this new-found freedom...a day in the life of a recently unemployed "me":

My oldest sister, Lyndsey came to visit and we decided to blow our money in my favorite upscale resturant....Chic-fil-a. After a completely uneventful meal we made our way to the mall, discovering that we are both too poor to actually enjoy the mall. So I did the complete opposite of what I had set out to do....I APPLIED for another job. Apparently I have not learned my lesson. Then after this fascinating day (I'm hoping you all have caught on to my sarcasm) I came home to find that my PC hates me. It caught a virus or something and just died. No more computer. And no money to fix it. :( However despite the uneventful reality of my life, my day is ending on a high note. I'm sitting here drinking my favorite Organic Chai tea and listening to Bob Dylans "Freewheelin" on vinyl, it doesn't get much better than this. I also talked to a friend of mine and I'm recording some of my music on friday, which is pretty exciting and offered a much needed silver lining.

But all in all I realized a pretty important thing today, that despite the reality of the world I live in, I have something so much greater to cling to, my Father in Heaven. He loves me so much that He has planned a future, a purpose for me, that is far greater than I can even begin to fathom. He loves me so much that even amidst that blah-ness of a bad day, He makes my heart leap for joy with the beauty of His words: "As you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 2:4-5

mmmmm....such a perfect reminder, He always see's me as more precious than I feel :)

Well friends, keep me in your prayers and please if you have any prayer requests or if I can be praying for you in anyway, leave me a comment and I'll be doing that! I love you guys, so take care and remember "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJ)

A Day Well Spent

Today is my beautiful goddaughters birthday, so....HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILY! (Isn't she adorable???) Lily you are amazing and such a blessing, it's unbelievable watching you grow and I pray your second year is even better than the first, love you!!!!


I feel like there are so many things I'm supposed to talk about, like well Russia for example. But I'm not even sure where to start, so I'm just going to give a brief overview of what I know for sure...which is not much :) Obviously I have felt this insane calling to go, so after an intense battle with meekness, the Lord filled with me the boldness to pursue going....cool...but I had no idea where to go from there. So when all else fails, seek someone much wiser, which in this case was my Young Adult pastor at my church. We met one day and he blew my mind with crazy wisdom and gave me, what else? deadlines. gulp. I suck at deadlines. BUT I guess this will give me a chance to practice all that diligence I've been praying for....So Here is the rundown: because there are no missions going from my church I have to find a way to go, so by March 3rd I have to have a list of groups/missions/organizations/movements that I might possibly feel a pull towards to go with. Guess what? It's Feb. 20th and I have 1. I'm great at this. (heavy on the sarcasm). I feel an intense pull to work with the 3.2 Million children that flood the streets of Russia annually. So I've been looking into working with All God's Children International. If you have an suggestions please feel free to let me know. The other deadline is April 3rd, I have to have contacted all the groups on the list and prayed about it and narrowed it down to one. *sigh* This is going to be a long two months. Keep me in your prayers friends!


In other news, I had an amazing day spent with a wonderful new friend of mine named Danielle. She lives in this sweet loft in Ghent (it's like the cool artsy area of Norfolk) and we walked to get brunch at this cute diner. We thrifted and walked and talked and had coffee and it was honestly just nice to be with someone my age who is clearly in love with the Lord and encouraged me so genuinely. She said two things today that really stuck with me, first she told me that I "radiated what it is to be a daughter of God", which is crazy because last night I was asking God what it means to be His daughter (God is good!) and she also told me that she felt I was "ripe for the picking". So awesome, definitely something to pray about! All in all, it was a day well spent!

peace.


"The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." Romans 8: 16

And the Journey Begins....

"Missions aren't always about a 'heart-tug' but sometimes they're just about obedience...." Those were the words my pastor spoke one thursday night and I knew, I just knew that God was speaking to me. I've been in love with Russia since I was 8 and I've felt a calling on my life to go there and I always said "one day" but that night God spoke to me, and I realized there is no such thing as "one day". It's here and now, it's just about being obedient and going. So in the past month I have been searching in my heart to find the boldness to go to this country that I have fallen in love with. (Can you fall in love with a place you've never been to?) So with the help of my pastor and a ton of encouragement from the Lord I have embarked on this journey to be His hands and feet in a country that knows very little about His faithfulness. So needless to say this is just the beginning, and I hope you will continue on this journey with me....

I've never written a blog before, so it might be rough starting out :) BUT....I shall do my best! I'm going to keep this post short, 1) because I'm at work and the office is about to close (oops) and 2) I don't want to scare anyone off with my overwhelming excitement about Russia and this crazy journey I'm experiencing. I promise to elaborate much more on the point of this blog next time, but until then...

Many Many Blessings,

"Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared." Exodus 23:20