Basic Training... It Starts With A Heart Condition

This weekend, at DNOW, God was just everywhere! From Friday night playing dodgeball, to the last worship service of intense convictions and the awesome presence of our Maker! Man it was so blessed! 

Cassie and I co-lead the 7th grade girls group. Coming into the weekend we were both unsure as to what to expect. Freshman girls thought we were probably the coolest thing since sliced bread, but we had no idea what a bunch of middle schoolers would think. They said we were the coolest people they had ever met and wanted to hang out with us all the time! Such a blessing and so humbling to have a group of eight thirteen year old girls that hung on every word we said. 

One of our sessions was on the importance of baptism. I was kind of blowing through the lesson really fast, thinking they wouldn't really care and they just wanted to eat lunch. As I was going through it, I noticed the look of intense concentration on what I was saying. At the end of it I told them to come talk to Cassie or myself if they felt they wanted to get baptized. 4 our of my 8 girls came and talked to me and confessed they wanted to take the next step in their walk and follow in believers baptism. It was truly humbling to see these young girls have such faith in such an unshakable God!!

Saturday Night, we stayed up far too late prank calling people. I know, it's really immature, but it brought so much joy to them. Not that calling people was the joy, but just spending time with each other. One of them even told me they had never felt any older girls would ever want to hang out with them. I know it meant so much to them that we were just in the same room as them! Such a blessing to my heart!!

I could talk all day about what an awesome time we had at DNOW this year! I pray those girls would keep the fire going, and make a difference in their schools!

In other news, I fracture my foot about two weeks ago and I'm just now getting it taken care of... really good idea! It just makes me laugh at this point! I hope you guys are having an incredible Monday! I love you all more than you know!

Forever His,

EmilyJo

Prayer Warriors!

This weekend is our Middle School DNow!! Pray for a fun and exciting weekend! Pray for me and Cassie as we teach our beautiful 7th grade girls, that we might only speak truth and encouragement to our girls! More importantly pray that God would send His spirit and touch the hearts of all who are attending! May He be real to our students this weekend! Won't you pray with us? You won't want to miss out on what the Lord is doing! Please enjoy this video from our High School weekend! Stayed tuned for an update next week! I love you all more than you know!
Forever His,
EmilyJo

O The Love That Won't Let Me Go

Oh, love that will not let me go
I rest me weary soul in Thee
I give You back this life I owe
And in Your ocean depths its flow

May richer fuller be
Oh, light that follows all my way
I yield my flickering torch to Thee
And my heart restores its borrowed ray
And in Your sunshine’s blaze, its day
May brighter, fairer be

Rejoice my heart
Rejoice my soul
My Savior God has come to Thee
Rejoice my heart
You’ve been made whole
By a love that will not let me go

Oh, joy that seeks me through the pain
I cannot close my heart to Thee
I chase the rainbow through the rain
And feel the promise is not vain
That more shall tearless be

Oh, cross that lifts and holds my head
I dare not ask to fly from thee
I lay in dust life’s glory dead
From the ground, their blossoms red
Life that shall endless be
~Robbie Seay Band

To all Those Faithful FBCers!

I have an announcement to make, so grab a tall glass of sweet tea and have a seat.

For the past year and a half now, I have felt the tug to leave my home at First Baptist Church of Frisco. I desperately need to apologize. Shortly after I felt the Lord calling me away from FBC, I thought I could stop Him by getting involved in every ministry possible; Praise team, Choir, Youth and College and anything else I could possibly get my hands on. I figured if I got super involved, God would say, "You know EmilyJo, you can stay! You're doing awesome things for me and I'm proud! So stay... I'm not really worth it anyways". This is not the case. I got involved in these ministries for completely wrong reasons and I apologize for not giving all I had to them. I believe my efforts were still blessed, however think of how much greater it could have been if I was in it to win it!

I tell you all of this, not to make you feel bad or to say my time at FBC was in vain. These are simply not true. I tell you this in hopes that you would continue to support me no matter where the Lord takes me. I'm at a strange time in my life, where I am beginning to figure out who I am and who I want to be. It's a time or growth and confusion, and I truly believe my time at FBC is finished. God has been so good through the past three years. You guys have given me so much hope and more love than I knew what to do with. I could always count on The Choir for an extra boost to get through school when the weeks seemed to be getting longer. Praise Team was monumental in my growth this past year alone! The chance to help lead a congregation of fellow believers who, for whatever reason, looked up to me for strength when even singing a song was too hard, was incredible! Working with the girls in the youth group was the biggest blessing of all! I got to share life with them! I was able to aid in leading them through a path that I only wish I traveled in middle school and high school. This generation is the best one yet! They are girls striving to be women of a Maker that loves every inch of them! I feel so blessed to have been apart of it.

Who am I to limit God to my comfortable bubble that I have created for myself at FBC? I was so convinced that I could put Him in His box, only to be used and listened to when He has something to say that I wanted to hear. Starting Easter Sunday I will be starting a new adventure with Preston Ridge Baptist Church here in Frisco. Preston Ridge is actually the church I grew up in and where my dad still attends. I got involved with the young adult ministry. I have only attended a few Bible studies with them, and I can already tell a difference in myself. They challenge me to be a better version of myself and accept me just as I am. I feel so incredibly blessed to be apart of something so life changing!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for all your support! Thank you for always loving, always laughing, always ready with a hug and most of all, always challenging me to pursue a living God! I pray this would only be a "see ya later"! FBC has forever changed me and will always have a special place in my heart! I hope you see this as nothing but great! God doesn't do anything less than great!

I'll be fervently lifting up the Worship Arts Ministry, praying that our Maker would be nothing short of satisfied with your efforts. Being apart of something as big as WAM truly humbled me into a state of worship that I had not yet experienced, so thank you! Keep on singin!

I truly love all you FBCers more than you know!
Forever His,
EmilyJo

I Must Become Less

This past weekend our church had our High School Disciple Now Weekend! The weekend had a Basic Training theme where we learned that all basic training must start with your heart condition. The retreat started off crazy! We met our girls and hung out for a little bit and then off to midnight dodge ball. It was so funny to see these freshmen girls try to hide from the shots of the senior boys. They were so scared, and I can't lie, I was too! Those boys sure can throw a dodge ball! Staying up until 4:00 in the morning was brutal, but it made me feel like I was in high school all over again! Those girls were a HUGE blessing to me!

The last night of worship, the speaker had an alter call. He gave three different reasons to come to the alter. One being if you feel the tug to join the mission field. I noticed one of my girls up there, so I went to pray with her. I asked her what was up and this is what she said..."I want to share Jesus with everyone in the world, Emily!". So I asked her if she felt she was being called to do mission work and she replied, "I'm not sure, but I want to start with the kids at my school!". As I prayed over this precious girl, I was so challenged by her readiness to pursue our living God. She asked me to pray that God would help her to have strength to talk to her friends. It made me reevaluate my life. Am I that urgent to reach the people around me? Am I willing to be as obedient as her? I was so challenged by the faith of this beautiful 14 year old girl!

Man, God is so good huh? I just got back from a week in Nashville, so be expecting some posts about it! It was an awesome vacation!! I hope you're all having a great and relaxing spring break! I love you all more than you know!
Forever His,
EmilyJo