In His Presence

In the quiet of this hour,
as I kneel before you now,
I believe your promise to be faithful.
I don't always understand
what your perfect will demands,
but I've learned to trust you more
in your presence Lord.

In your presence there is comfort
In your presence there is peace
(in your presence we can find true peace)
when we seek to know your heart,
we will find such blessed assurance
in your holy presence Lord.

There can be such sweet reward
when we wait upon the Lord!
As we take the time,
he gives his perfect wisdom,
to be found in Him alone,
all our deepest secrets known.
We're surrounded by His grace
when we seek His face.

In your presence there is comfort
In your presence there is peace
(in your presence we can find true peace)
when we seek to know your heart,
we will find such blessed assurance
(an ever open door to know our Savior more)
in the presence of our Lord.

As this beautiful song filled the air in Railton Hall this evening it hit me...the word seek. Seek. It's a very simple basic word. The dictionary defines it as this. Seek- attempt to find...attempt or desire to obtain or achieve..search for and find someone or something.
Here is what the bible says about seeking.
Deuteronomy 4:29
But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.
1 Chronicles 16:9-11
9 Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. 10 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. 11 Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.
1 Chronicles 22:19
Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the LORD your God. Begin to build the sanctuary of the LORD God, so that you may bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD and the sacred articles belonging to God into the temple that will be built for the Name of the LORD."
2 Chronicles 7:14
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Psalm 9:10
Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Psalm 24:5-7
5 He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Savior. 6 Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, O God of Jacob. [a] Selah 7 Lift up your heads, O you gates;be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
Psalm 27:4
One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.
Psalm 27:8
My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, LORD, I will seek.
Psalm 34:10
The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
Psalm 63:1
[ A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah. ] O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Psalm 69:6
May those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me, O Lord, the LORD Almighty; may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me, O God of Israel.
Psalm 119:10
I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.
Isaiah 1:17
learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
Isaiah 55:6
Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
Lamentations 3:25
The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;

I could go on and on.....
Seek...Seek the Lord. Seek His face. Seek his truth. Seek his love. Seek his ways.
SEEK

Life's Great

Well as the title says life's great. I honestly don't have anything to complain about.

This past week I was accepted to the Salvation Army's Eastern Territory Hands ON Missions team. I will be going with 7 other people to Argentina for 6 weeks. We will be having an orientation at Star Lake Camp the week before and a debrief plus some work at the Old ORchard Camp Meetings in August. I am so excited! Pray for me!

More good news. For those of you who don't know my brother Tim he hasn't been to church in years. He left the army a number of years ago and hasn't been back. He still lives with us. Well anyway he asked me to shave all his hair off on Thursday. lol. I of course jumped to the opportunity (when I was younger I ALWAYS wanted to be a hair dresser) this was like my dream come true! Anyway as I was shaving all his hair off he said to me "Allison I think I'm going to start going to a church." I was thrilled. So pray for him, that he will stay true to his word and actually go.

MORE good news. I have been chatting a lot recently with a friend of mine. I hadn't really spoken to him in a long time but this past week I felt like God was telling me to talk to the person. So I did and it turns out there is a whole lot going on in his life right now and he is... well just a mess. So I've been trying to talk out all hiss issues with him and I actually convinced him to come to tonights Good Friday service. He showed up!!! It was great. Please pray for him too. He is going through a whole lot.

MORE GOOD news. My art teacher put one of my pieces in an art contest and I won! Haahaa I got a check and everything!

MORE GOOD NEWS. My parents are finally behind me with going to RAilton. I am almost done with my application and I am looking forward to spending two years in the Railton School for Youth Worker training. That is IF I get accepted :)

So life is going great. I praise God for the times like these when everything is running smoothly.

Happy Easter Everyone.

I just want to share with you a few verses that I have been concentrating on this week.

James 5:16 "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

Isaiah 61

The Year of the LORD's Favor

1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners, [a]
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,

3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

Philippians 2:14-16 this verse is very near and dear to my heart :)
14Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16as you hold out[a] the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.

FAW

So this past weekend was my last Future All Stars. I have been going since it started...man I'm getting old!! Well let me tell you about the weekend.

First I had the privilege to meet up with my former corps officers Major's Larry and Janet Ashcraft. It was so good to see them even though they interrogated me about everything!! haha I'm so glad that they are apart of my life. I love that they care and listen to what is on my heart and mind. I love them :)

Anyway after that we went straight to rehearsals. We rehearsed and had our prayer partner times. Lucky me I had the privilege of having two staff band prayer partners, Artie Henry and Scott Garman. I know both of them very well so it was very easy to talk freely. My delegate prayer partner was Jeanie, she is from Michigan. She was also my roomate. She is such a nice person and we had so much fun together. The Rocks led us in our devotion times. The theme of the weekend was Victory and in our devotional time we focused on prayer. Different ways of praying like listening prayer, praying the bible etc. It was good stuff and it brought up lots of conversation in our small group.

Saturday morning the NYSB had a mini concert along with some testimonies. My sister gaver her testimony :) Anyway the rest of that day was all rehearsing and prayer time. We did have some free time and I spent that with my good friend Lindsay who I haven't seen in ages.

Sunday morning was good. We were at the School for Officers Training. We had our worship time with the cadets and their families and the training school staff. During the meeting Mrs. Rock led a time of testimonies. You know when you just get the feeling and you know you gotta stand up and say what is on your heart? Well that was how I felt. I stood up, and began to speak about a piece that the NYSB played during their Saturday morning mini concert. It was called In Christ Alone which is one of my favorites and it was a Euphonium solo played by Aaron Vanderwheele. Throughout the weekend we focused a lot on the lyrics behind the pieces. It's all fine and great if you get the notes right but if you don't know the meaning behind it, what good is it? So I then read the verses to the song.

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
'Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost it's grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Brought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand

The last verse really struck me. No guilt, fear, power of hell or scheme of man can ever take me away from my Lord! How awesome is that! So yeah I just talked about that.

Then we had our big concert in the afternoon. I think it went ok. It's just hard to try and get it all right when you have less than two days to learn it all. I think we did really well considering the circumstances.

OVerall it was a great weekend!

His Provision

At the moment of my weakness,
When my need for pow'r is plain,
And my own strength is exhausted once again,
Then my Lord has made provision
For the day of my despair,
And His precious Holy Spirit hears my prayer, my prayer,
Then my Lord has made provision
For the day of my despair,
And His precious Holy Spirit hears my prayer.

Holy Spirit! Promised Presence fall on me.
Holy Spirit! Make me all I long to be.
Holy Spirit! Holy Spirit!
Give your pow'r to me,
O Holy Spirit.

When the darkness falls around me,
When bewildered and afraid,
When I feel the most deserted and betrayed,
Then my ev'ry need is answered
By God's providential care,
And His precious Holy Spirit hears my prayer, my prayer,
Then my ev'ry need in answered
BY God's providential care,
And His precious Holy Spirit hears my prayer.

Nothing now can rob God's servant
Of the peace that He bequeaths,
Nothing take away the strength His presence breathes,
Of the EVERLASTING ARMS OF LOVE I'M DAILY MADE AWARE,
And His precious Holy Spirit hears my prayer, my prayer,
of the everlasting arms of love I'm daily made aware,
And His precious Holy Spirit hears my prayer.

A few days ago in a Sunday evening concert at my corps Major Mack was praying for the Army music forces and I got a picture in my head. It was of Jesus and I. I was holding Him really tightly, it was like we were hugging each other. It was almost like the biggest relief ever. Personally I am a very social person and I am always hugging people but nothing compared to this hug. And then He had His arm around me like we were best friends walking and we walked all around Star Lake Camp. It was strange. It may have happened because I was deliriously tired that day from being at the corps all day but it was an awesome thing to experience. Then the next day in English class I closed my eyes (yes I was falling asleep in english, shame, shame) I got the same picture except this time we were walking around the city. It was as if I didn't have a care in the world. No worries no shame..nothing. Later on that day as I was walking home the lyrics to the song His provision (one of my favs) got stuck in my head. The lines from the final verse stuck with me all day.

Peace. It's something very hard to find in this world. But for those few moments when I saw that... I experienced peace. At least what I think peace is. It was awesome and very rare. I just thought I was share this with you.

Numbers 6:25-26 "25 the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace."

Psalm 29:11 "The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace."

Psalm 34:14 "Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it."

Proverbs 14:30 "A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones."

Isaiah 26:3 "You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you."

Haggai 2:9 "The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the LORD Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the LORD Almighty."

Luke 1:78-80 (New International Version) 78because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven 79to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace." 80And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel."

Argentina

I honestly don't even know where to begin. This trip was by far the most life changing trip for the entire group! Even members who have been in the band for years said that they have never experienced something like this before.

Well our flight was delayed over 6 hours on the way there so our first open air was canceled..and they overbooked the flight so they had to offer money and hotel accommodations to 10 people (luckily none of us). And in the process of taking the ten peoples luggage off they took Chris's Soprano. So he didn't get that till like two days into the trip.



Literally as soon as we got there, after we were greeted by the Nuesch's, we went straight to the BA Central Corps to do a concert..we were all dead tired and smelly lol but the concert went well. We were two hours late to it but everyone was so appreciative. After that we had a dinner at the hotel..still smelly and gross but the meal was delicious. It's all steaks down there. After all that we were finally aloud to take showers and go to sleep! We stayed in a nice hotel. And it was right across the street from the biggest mall in Argentina :)


Umm I can't really remember the next day specifically..we played a lot of open airs that were ridiculously hottt!!! But we got good crowds. We played in a building in Buenos Aires that actually doesn't allow religious groups to use but they let us..and the owner of the building came up to one of us and asked us to pray with her because she wanted to accept Jesus as her savior! It was amazing. Every concert we had people coming up to us asking us to pray for them. So powerful!



Most of us got really sick though. Like stomach issues. it was kinda funny how much going to the bathroom was talked about! Some people hadn't gone for days like Doug, Vic, and others and some couldn't stop going like Stephen, Chris, Felix, Ryan...It was funny with Doug though because he hadn't gone in like 6 days and when he finally did (on a three hour bus ride!) We were all cheering for him! hahaha..

Katherine joined us half way through the trip. Her grandma died like the day before we left and she was very close with her. She was really upset because she knew that she couldn't afford to change her ticket and then at the end of the funeral major Klemanski went up to her with a ticket and said if you are feeling up to it we got you a ticket. We were all so happy that she
came. She gave her testimony about it one night and she made me cry. She talked about her grandma and everything and then started talking about all her friends in the band and how loving we all were toward her and how we prayed for her and she started crying and she made us all cry! I love her.



Two days during the trip we went to the camp there. They have abandoned this camp for like 15 years. It was nasty!!!! but we were all put into work groups and assigned work to do in the camp. It was so amazing seeing everyone so willing to work so hard and in such nasty places too. It was awesome. There was an officers family who just got moved into the camp there and they had no beds for their children. So we as in the band and chorus not the leaders decided to collect money for their family. We presented it to them and they were so grateful. She started talking about all the work that we had done at the camp and all the money we gave her and she said "This is the Salvation Army" once again we were all brought to tears. I will never forget that moment...I'm crying right now just thinking about it.











We took a tour all around Buenos Aires even through the bad cities. It was so devastating to see the places that so many of the people there live in. Literally little shacks, some just made out of cardboard! It definitely made us all realize how much we have and how blessed we are.



As if all that wasn't emotional and life changing enough we had a little debriefing meeting with the Nueschs. There was an 18 year old named Lucas who helped us the whole week. He was so sweet. But he has some kind of cancer that the doctors can't really figure out. It keeps coming back and he keeps having to get surgery done to remove it. Anyway there is like no medical insurance or anything in Argentina so he's struggling to pay for them all. He's gotten a scholarship to go to TMI (territorial Music Institute) in the South but he didn't have money to pay for his next treatment so he thought he wasn't going to be
able to go.. So we, once again the band and chorus members not the leaders decided to collect money for him so that he could get his next treatment. We Presented him with about 4 thousand Pesos (his surgery is 5 thousand). Lucas couldn't even speak he was crying so much and major couldn't speak either. A silence came over the room and everyone started crying..I'm not talking like one tear I'm talking like full blown sobbing. It was so amazing. There was not a dry eye in the room.

Then we watched a video about the "Hidden City." It is probably the poorest and most dangerous city in Argentina and maybe the world! We were told a story about an officer who was working there. She goes a couple days a week to deliver food to the children. Well in this neighborhood, past 8 oclock you can't cross this certain road because you will get shot or stabbed but this lady had one bag of food left that she had to deliver to this child so she crossed it. She was immediately surrounded by a group of men and a gun was put to her head. They recognized the uniform and most of them ran off but the one with the gun was still there. She began telling him about Jesus and how much he loves him and that she loves him too and she wants to help him. The kid was scared and he shot her in the arm and stole the bag of food. She began running after him telling him that she isn't mad that he shot her and that she still has more to tell him about Jesus. She kept running for a while but then
became too weak from the loss of blood. She then went to the police station. Since it was past 8 the doors were all chained up. She kept ringing the bell to get them to open the gate for her and they didn't believe her. Finally they let her in and she told them that she was shot. The policeman said to her "This is why we should just kill them all..all they do is cause trouble." the officer got so mad that she got up, got into the ambulance and left. To this day she still delivers food to children in the Hidden city and she still searches for the boy who shot her. After the shooting the boy went into rehab. She tried to contact
him but they wouldn't let her. She wrote a letter to him and got it published in their war cry. The boy got hold of it and wanted to meet with her in rehab but couldn't. The letter she wrote basically said that she forgives him for shooting her and wants to help him and tell him about Jesus. To this very day she is still searching for the boy. Amazing right. That is true love..that is love like Jesus's love. Wow.
We then had a prayer time that ended up being like an hour long. We were praying for everything. For the Army there, for the "hidden city", for the band and chorus. It was awesome!

So it was a life changing experience. It makes me realize how much I have and how blessed I am. Well I think the devil was trying to steal my joy because I lost my digital camera on the plane. At first I was upset and then I realized that it isn't that big of a deal. I still have a roof over my head and food on the table. This trip has really put everything into perspective for me.


I experienced the true joy of giving to people in need and it changed my life!