The Greatest of These is Love

I want to share with you guys one of my new favorite songs! I don’t know if you are a fan of MercyMe, but they really have some great songs (lyrically, musically, emotionally, etc.). The past few weeks I feel like God has been dealing with me about my purpose, my calling in this lifetime. The beautiful thing about this is how many confirmations I feel like I have seen recently regarding my next steps. This song is one of those. For some it is something beautiful to listen to, for others (like me) it is a call to be the body of Christ to our world.

This song is called "Won't You Be My Love" and as I have recently begun to understand more about God’s love, it really represents exactly what is meant by the many scriptures God gave to us about love.

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV)

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31 (NIV)
 
Here are the lyrics:
 

When you fall asleep tonight
In your warm and cozy room
Know that I'm awake
And I've got no shelter and no food
This verse is so moving because it really speaks to a big problem I think exists in the U.S. today, and that problem is one of comfort and through that comfort, a lack of awareness of the issues plaguing our world. (And not just our international world! These issues are right here, under our noses, on American soil. Hunger, poverty, disease, etc.)

I am not alone
My friends are broken and lost
Looking for someone to lead them to my cross
I need your help, I need your help

Won't you be My voice calling
Won't you be My hands healing
Won't you be My feet walking into a broken world
Won't you be My chain-breaker
Won't you be My peacemaker
Won't you be My hope and joy
Won't you be My Love
I just love this chorus. I truly believe this is what God meant when he said that we are the body of Christ and He has called His body to LOVE the world!

The other side of the world
She is just a few days old
A helpless little girl
With no family of her own
Personally, this verse is what first caught my attention listening to this song for probably the 20^th time in my car on the way to work the other day. It continues…

She is not to blame for the journey she is on
Her life is no mistake
Won't you lead her to My cross?
…and it just breaks my heart. None of us have chosen the lives we were born into. Whether we were born into wealth or poverty, this country or that, to a family or as an orphan, none of us made those decisions. But God sees us where we are and He loves us. He has a plan for our lives.

Won't you be My voice calling
Won't you be My hands healing
Won't you be My feet walking into a broken world
Won't you be My chain-breaker
Won't you be My peacemaker
Won't you be My hope and joy
Won't you be My Love
Again, that call to be His hands and feet, His love, is getting stronger.

To those I call My own
To those I've set aside
As spotless without blame
The chosen ones My bride
Hello Christians!!!! (It’s like He is screaming for us to wake up!)

We will be Your voice calling
We will be Your hands healing
We will be Your feet walking into a broken world
We will be Your chain-breaker
We will be Your peacemaker
We will be Your hope and joy
We will be Your love
And this is our response!!! Oh thank God for his beautiful love!

A Busy Weekend

So this post is a little overdue, but here goes! I had a wonderful time competing in the Miss White River Pageant on the first weekend of this month. Participating in Miss White River included attending the Miss Batesville Pageant where a made a new friend with Miss Batesville 2012, Norma Lopez, and spending the weekend with four other contestants. Each of the contestants were uniquely talented, which made for a very appealing pageant, and I enjoyed getting to know each and every one of them better. Here are before the luncheon honoring Miss White River 2011, Simone Mullinax!

The contestants for Miss White River 2012!

Courtney Welsh, Me, Brooke Ault, Helen Wisner, Dorothy Shepherd

I was delighted to be named 1st Runner-up and I'm very excited to congratulate Helen Wisner on being named Miss White River 2012! Also, a huge congratulations to my roommate for the weekend, Dorothy Shepherd on being named 2nd Runner-up! We were a very close-knit group since there were so few contestants so we got to know each other really well. Helen will make a wonderful representative of the White River pageant and I'm excited to see her back at the state level after she competed so well in her first year. Dorothy and I spent a lot of time together since we were roommates and I'm so thankful to know her even better now than I did at state this year. She is a wonderful woman of God and a wonderful competitor! I had the priviledge of getting to know Courtney Welsh over the course of this past year because she was my teen "sister queen" as Miss NEA Outstanding Teen. I'm SO glad that she has decided to compete in Miss Arkansas prelims and I can't wait to see her on the stage next July. Good Luck Court, I'm rooting for you (even though now we're competing together!!!) And finally, I'm so glad to know Brooke Ault. What a voice?!!! Not only is she a wonderfully talented vocalist (notice she won the talent award!) but she is also an amazing person off-stage! She kept me laughing the whold weekend and was a joy to compete with! Definitely another girl I hope to compete with again at state next July!

In addition to spending time with the contestants, we had the joy of being chaperoned by Miss Arkansas 2008, Ashlen Thomason. One of my favorite formers (It's kind of a given, she played the flute!!!) She has been so very helpful to me and I truly appreciate her sincerity! She is always available to help any contestant and is the true representation of what this system is all about! Thanks Ashlen! And thanks to our other chaperones and volunteers who helped make us contestants feel stress free all weekend! Here are a couple more photos from the weekend:

Miss White River 2011, Simone Mullinax and Me at A Formal Affair in Batesville

Riding in the White River Water Carnival Parade!

A Celebration Fit for a Queen

I also had the pleasure of performing at our Miss Arkansas Kristen Glover's homecoming in Stuttgart along with Bethany Bell and Bethany Whitfield. We were each given the opportunity to say a little something about our friend Kristen and then we performed for the gathered crowd. I chose to play Amazing Grace on the flute as it is one of my favorite songs and I thought to myself that there was no better way to honor Kristen than to play something that represents her faith. I am so glad that we have a Miss Arkansas who is a faithful, God-believing young woman. We share that in common and I am proud to call her friend because of it.

Saying a few words!

I snagged a picture with our beautiful Miss Arkansas before leaving!