call me maybe

If any of you know my latest song obsession...this is funny! ;)

give me faith

"Give Me Faith"

by Hillsong United

I need you to soften my heart
To break me apart
I need you to open my eyes
To see that You’re shaping my life

All I am, I surrender

Give me faith to trust what you say
That you’re good and your love is great
I’m broken inside, I give you my life

I need you to soften my heart
To break me apart
I need you pierce through the dark
And cleanse every part of me

I may be weak
But your Spirit’s strong in me
My flesh may fail
My God you never will

Oh how ever true is this of my life right now.  I first heard this song on vacation in late July and listened to it non-stop after I got back.  One night we went out on the lake around midnight, anchored in, and just sang this while the boys played, purity!

soon and very soon

"Soon"

by Brooke Fraser

Soon and very soon

My King is coming

Robed in righteousness

And crowned with love

When I see Him, I shall be made like Him

Soon and very soon

Soon and very soon

I'll be going to the place He has prepared for me

There my sin erased, my shame forgotten

Soon and very soon

I will be with the One I love

With unveiled face I'll see Him

There my soul with be satisfied

Soon and very soon

Soon and very soon

See the procession

The angels and the elders round the throne

At His feet I'll lay

My crowns, my worship

Soon and very soon

I will be with the One I love

With unveiled face I'll see Him

There my soul with be satisfied

Soon and very soon

Though I have not seen Him

My heart knows Him well

Jesus Christ the Lamb, the Lord of heaven

I will be with the One I love

With unveiled face I'll see Him

There my soul with be satisfied

Soon and very soon

Soon and very soon

Soon and very soon

i surrender to you

"I surrender to you"

by Jeremy Camp

Lord, you live in me

You're my best friend

You're the King of kings

The beginning and end

Now that you have my eyes

I see your spirit inside of me

All that I am is for you

My Savior

I live by your word

And surrender to you

Here where I stand in this moment father

My spirit has been renewed

I surrender to you

You hold the key to my life

In your loving hand

Always by my side

I offer all that I am

So glad I realize

You are the truth and the light

In my life

Everything I need I find in you

I believe your promises are true

I will lift my burdens up to you

Your loving grace will see me through

I listened to this song countless times while transitioning from college to the "real-world", life as I know it!

tis the season!

let your light shine

"Let Your Light Shine"

by Bethany Dillon

The Calmer of the sea
Here in this room with me
So gently welcoming
The weakest things in me
You are the blood over
The door of my heart
What pain You spared me from
How could I know it all?

Oh wonderful love, You died for me
The power of Your life is in me

Father, let Your light shine down on me
Father, let Your light shine down on me
No matter what the day or night may bring
Father, let Your light shine down on me

Oh Jesus, You became what was my deepest shame
That at Your very name
My calloused heart would change
How could You, oh perfect One
Love me, when I have done nothing that's worthy of
My freedom You have won

Oh wonderful love, You died for me
The power of Your life is in me

Father, let Your light shine down on me
Father, let Your light shine down on me
No matter what the day or night may bring
Father, let Your light shine down on me

Open up the heavens
Poor down Your Spirit
Home me God
Jesus, wherever You lead
I'll sing harmony
Hold me God

Father, let Your light shine down on me
Father, let Your light shine down on me
No matter what the day or night may bring
Father, let Your light shine down on me

Matthew 5:16

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

i celebrate the day

"I Celebrate the Day"

(Okay, so we may have been a little pitchy at times, and off on some words, but still kind of funnny!  I would describe this as pretty "typical" sister interaction.)

by Relient K

And with this Christmas wish is missed
The point I could convey
If only I could find the words to say to let You know how much You've touched my life
Because here is where You're finding me, in the exact same place as New Year's eve
And from a lack of my persistency
We're less than half as close as I want to be

And the first time
That You opened Your eyes did You realize that You would be my Savior
And the first breath that left Your lips
Did You know that it would change this world forever

And so this Christmas I'll compare the things I felt in prior years
To what this midnight made so clear
That You have come to meet me here

To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me
In the hope that what You did
That you were born so I might [ really ]live
To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me

And I, I celebrate the day
That You were born to die
So I could one day pray for You to save my life

dessert song

"Dessert Song"

by Hillsong United

This is my prayer in the desert
And all that's within me feels dry
This is my prayer in the hunger in me
My God is a God who provides

And this is my prayer in the fire
In weakness or trial or pain
There is a faith proved
Of more worth than gold
So refine me Lord through the flames

And I will bring praise
I will bring praise
No weapon forged against me shall remain

I will rejoice
I will declare
God is my victory and He is here

And this is my prayer in the battle
And triumph is still on it's way
I am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ
So firm on His promise I'll stand

All of my life
In every season
You are still God
I have a reason to sing
I have a reason to worship

This is my prayer in the harvest
When favor and providence flow
I know I'm filled to be emptied again
The seed I've received I will sow

I remember singing this song with my dear friend JessEE :) Hanson in Haiti at a Voodoo temple.  (I might add our singing was quite good! ;)  It was so neat to experience the power when you pray in Jesus' name!  Looking back at our trip now, the Lord was totally watching out after us.  

If you know us at all, we are both loud people in general, and when you get the two of us together, I like to say we are one bundle of energy packed fun!  Our venture to and from Haiti as far as transport goes is quite the story.  On the way there we were cooped up like chickens on a bus and crammed 6 to a row while "driving" on roads that weren't roads but rather like going on speed bumps every other second while going as fast as the driver possibly could go.  

For the first 7 hours, Jesse and I were laughing and having a really good time.  We then stopped for rest and got out of the bus, only to discover everyone else was nauseous, puking, not feeling good, and wanted to slap us because we were constantly laughing.  I share this because we both recently talked about this and how the Lord heard and answered prayers for us to be joyous and completely allowed us to be oblivious to the outside surroundings.  

Some of the gang.

Tortuga

Oh dang, we look finnnnneeee!

My stellar small group!

JESSEEEEEE!

"You have cookie at mission?" BAHAHA!!! :) :)

On the smallest plane of my life!  We runway consisted of dirt, no lie!

how we got around

"Cooped up like chickens."

To see a video Jesse and I made up and sung, click here. (Keep in mind we had been traveling on a bus type thing, a very small plane, a charter bus that broke down, then mini-buses, then another charter bus.  We were SEVEN minutes late to cross the border and were stuck literally between Haiti and the Dominican Republic overnight.  Jesse and I practiced all night long, didn't get much sleep in a hot and sticky bus.  So, we don't sound the best at all, but let me tell you we had FUN! :)

mighty to save!

"Mighty to Save"

by Hillsong United

Everyone needs compassion
Love that never failing
Let mercy fall on me
Everyone needs forgiveness
The kindness of a Savior
The hope of nations

Savior
He can move the mountains
My God is mighty to save
He is mighty to save
Forever
Author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

So take me as You find me
All my fears and failures
Fill my life again
I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in
Now I surrender

Shine Your light and let the whole world see
We’re singing
For the glory of the risen King
Jesus
shine your light and let the whole world see
were singing
for the glory of the risen king

Mark 9:23 "Everything is possible for him who believes."

This song is special to me because it reminds me of TeenStreet.  TeenStreet is a Christian Youth Conference that meets in 7 different places across the world.  I attended the conference that met in Oldenburg Germany summer of 2008 along with 4,000 other youth from all over the world and led a group of seven girls from the UK.  A song we sung several times was "Mighty to Save".  This song was also one of our youth's favorite which was neat to learn.  I loved these girls dearly and am so thankful to have had the opportunity to walk beside them in life, invest in them, and discover new truths together.  How true is the chorus?  

Savior
He can move the mountains
My God is mighty to save
He is mighty to save
Forever
Author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave 

My God, our God, is mighty to save!  He can do the impossible!  He rose and conquered the grave!  How sweet it was to be worshipping through song with different languages and cultures.  

My UK girls!  I ADORED how they talked as did they for me! :)  

Where we worshipped each day.

Team Mauritius!

Sisters!  We were thee only Americans there, no joke! 

Where I slept along with 2,000 other girls.  What fun! :)

sing along!

Sing along now!! :)

Oh, we will fight, fight, fight for Iowa State 
And may her colors ever fly. 
Oh, we will fight with might for Iowa State 
With the will to do or die! 
Rah, Rah, Rah 
Loyal sons forever true 
And we will fight that battle through. 
And when we hit the line we'll hit it hard, 
every yard for I-S-U! 

Fun fact: After the 2009 Insight.com bowl game my fellow Iowa State friends and I made news Channel 13 for singing this song while celebrating the win!  Without a doubt one of the FUNNEST weeks of my life!

made to love

"Made to Love" 

Toby Mac

I first heard this song on my sister's computer while studying abroad in Mauritius (rhymes w/delicious).  I cannot tell you how many times I played and replayed it!  I loved the melody and how true the words of the chorus are.  I will forever associate with song with my time overseas.  During my time there, I was able to help lead a Mauritian High School Youth Group of about 12-15 individuals.  I LOVED THIS!  It was such a special group.  After school and my internship ended and I moved back home, I got to meet up with them a few weeks later in France to sight-see and then headed to Germany to attend a world-wide christian youth conference.  Oh boy did we have some good times! 

The dream is fading, now I'm staring at the door

I know its over cause my feet have hit the cold floor

Check my reflection, I ain't feelin what I see

It's no mystery

Whatever happened to a passion I could live for

What became of the flame that made me feel more

And when did I forget that...

I was made to love you

I was made to find you

I was made just for you

Made to adore you

I was made to love

And be loved by you

You were here before me

You were waiting on me

And you said you'd keep me

Never would you leave me I was made to love

and be loved by you

The dream's alive with my eyes opened wide

Back in the ring you've got me swinging for the grand prize

I feel the haters spittin vapors on my dreams

But I still believe

I'm reachin out, reachin up, reachin over

I feel a breeze cover me called Jehovah

And daddy I'm on my way

Cause I was made to love...

Never would you leave me I was made to love

and be loved by you

Anything I would give up for you

Everything, I'd give it all away

We landed!  Hello warm weather! :)

"God created Mauritius first, and then made a copy which he called Heaven." - Mark Twain

Get at me Indian food!

Culture - Maha Shivaratri

Yes, while there I donated my hair...trying to explain what I'm doing in the little English they spoke and French I spoke! 

Thanks Jane!

Couldn't have asked for a better friend to spend my time with!

What cuties! 

"Helping" Carly teach...only to take a nap in the afternoon from pure exhaustion!  Good thing I am NOT a teacher! ;)

Yes, we did go to school occasionally! ;)

Our visa's finally came about the last day of school, ha!

This was AWESOME!  I'm the little blurb on the left up top.

Celebrating my birthday!

Getting Amanda's tat!

Group project - miss these girls!

Team Princess!

Upassna, Jane, & Weshna

riding scooter style!

LOVE THIS!

KEBBIE!! Our "family"!

Youth Group!

FRIENDS!

Spending 4th of July at the US Embassy.  Carly even got to sing the National Anthem - VERY SPECIAL!

Leading worship at the Church of the North.

Teen Street 08

Crazies!

All dressed up!

songs

I LOVE CHRISTMAS MUSIC!  

I listen to it at home, in the car, at stores, and even while at work!  

"The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!"

Name that movie?!

ELF! :)

Recently, I am getting more into music.  

I'm actually listening to the lyrics.    

If you knew me growing up, this was not the case.  

All I would remember or really pay attention to would be the melody and rhythm.  

My sister and I always shared a room.  When we'd clean it, she would always want the music on.  I would not.  It was too distracting.  And what's funny is looking back, this makes perfect sense.  Carly is in love with music, being a music major and teacher.  And I cannot study or get anything done when with another person or even listening to music, as it distracts me and I cannot focus.  We even had "codes" that correlated with how many times we tapped our bunks.

1 tap =  No

2 = Yes

3 = Good night

4 = I'm mad at you 

...and so on.

I remember knocking 4 times a time or two, ha! ;)

I've recently purchased 2 CD's in the last few months, which is something I never do!  

I don't even know how to work itunes, let alone download anything.  

I know, I'm "out there" in that regards.  

Although I do have an ipod I listen to while running.

My bestie, Jenn, downloads everything on it for me (thanks Jenn!). 

 Getting back on track here.  

Songs have spoken to me in different life stages.  

I'm just excited for this Christmas season as well as thanking my Savior for His absolute incredible graciousness and love He has for me, and yes, for YOU!  COOL!
I am constantly blown away by His provision and pure faithfulness.  

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 

Romans 12:12

For the next few days I'll be posting some songs that have really spoken to me since studying abroad in Mauritius (yes, rhymes with delicious) back in 2008.  

Wow, I'm getting old!