Time To Prepare

Yay for Sam letting me borrow her computer while she's borrowing my bed tonight!

This past Thursday's Life Group (which was only my 2nd one) definitely wasn't my night. The teaching really didn't have much to do with me... but it made me so happy! I feel like this week has been my "relaxing time"; I'm preparing for what's about to come (which God has already told me is going to come). God is strengthening me up this week.

I know without a doubt battles are coming down the road, but until then, I'm going to enjoy the time off God has been giving me. I've needed this. God knows I have. I told Him so. : )

I believe I might have until Sunday... which would now be tomorrow.  : /

But I could be wrong. I'm hoping I'm wrong. I need more time!

I'm way too sleepy to get into this. Kinda sucks cause I won't have a chance like this for another little while.

Good night/morning!

The Story Of My Baptism

Yay for having a computer for a day! : )

Beach baptisms were awesome! While I was watching others get baptized in the ocean, I couldn't believe that I was one of them two years ago! That was the last time I actually went in the ocean. More than I am afraid of being in the ocean, I'm pretty grossed out by being in it. That's why I'm so surprised that I got baptized in it!
Now that I'm already talking about it, I feel like sharing my story of my baptism.

I'll start off by saying that July 15th, 2006 was one of the worst days of my life (yet good did came from it later... ). I had never been baptized before, but I wanted to really bad. When I was about 9 or 10, I remember asking my mom "Mom, when can I get baptized?".

So exactly one year later, July 15th, 2007, I had only been going to The Vine for a month and a half, and they were having Baptisms at the Beach that day. I hardly knew people, and my dad had just gotten back from a 3-week trip to Greece, so I didn't plan on going to the baptisms... plus I hated the beach at the time... Though I did want to get baptized on that specific day.
Well, after my youth group service ended, I was sitting in front of the church waiting for my dad to pick me up when one of my friends/former youth leader called me, asking me if I wanted to go to the beach baptisms.
So I ended up going.

Though I didn't like the beach, I was happy to be with the few people I did know, instead of being at home remembering the horrible day I had exactly one year ago that day.
I'm not sure how, but even though I was still afraid to do it, Pastor Danny convinced me to get baptized. Three people baptized me: Marty (who was one of the few friends I had at The Vine), Robert Norris (who was my youth pastor I happened to know before I found out he was a pastor ; ), and Pastor Danny Furukawa (who had been helping me with a few things that summer). So not only did I ignore my fear of the ocean and get baptized on the day I wanted to, but the three people who did it were meaningful people to me!

And that's the story. : )
I had one of the best days of my life exactly one year after I had one of the worst days of my life. What a perfect day to be baptized.
Thanks for not getting me baptized earlier, Mom. ; )

I totally wasn't planning on telling my story. I had other other thoughts I was going to post, but my mind got distracted by it.

Tomorrow is July 15th! It's been two years!!!

My Dream Last Night

Earlier today I went walking around Sonoma a bit. While I was walking, I remembered my dream last night:

Every time I hear this one song that reminds me of someone, I always stop what I'm doing to pray for that person. I figure it must remind me of them for a reason, right?

So last night in my dream, I heard that song come on, so I prayed for that person it reminded me of.

It's funny cause lately I've felt like giving up on praying for them. My prayers for them have really been "God, give me a new hope and a new motivation to keep praying."; I've just been so tired of praying lately.

So now all these funny, interesting little things keep happening that make me want to keep praying. Giving me new hope to keep praying. Last night's dream was a pretty funny one to have. God knows that one way to get my attention is through my dreams. Seriously. I always look really deep into my dreams to try to understand them.

So apparently... GOD WANTS ME TO KEEP PRAYING FOR THEM! DON'T GIVE UP JOHANNA! I've been praying for them for too long to give up now...