Amazing

tomorrow! PRAY!

Tomorrow is the day. I can't even believe it. My mom and my sisters will be in Austin Texas at 6:20pm.
wow.
The last couple of days I have been SO sick. It's not strep, it's not a sinus infection...just some sort of virus. So no antibiotics just decongestant and nasal spray (that doesn't seem to be working)
I've been laid up in bed and my body hurts and aches. The times that I've gotten up to move or do anything I'm completely wiped out.
This is NOT happening is it?!!? They come tomorrow and I'm still blowing my nose a million times, can hardly talk...let alone laugh without coughing up a lung...seriously.
God is good. His timing and His plan is perfect and I'm trusting Him that He alone can give me energy and clear out my body of all nastiness.
It's a big deal for me. Its the first time that my family will have come to visit since I've moved to Austin. I've been here almost 3 years and have an amazing life here and I finally get to show them!!! They will meet my friends, see my apartment, experience church, see Austin...I'm so excited. I just want to be well and I REALLY don't want to get them sick.
Please pray for a miracle. It seems silly to ask...but pray!!!
No matter what, we will enjoy each other, there will be laughter and even pant wetting. I just really want to fully enjoy it!

VOTE!

Vote for Things with Wings!!!! Here.

Spurgeon Devo

God's High Places

I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. (Psalm 91:14)

Does the Lord say this to me? Yes, if I have known His name. Blessed be the Lord, I am no stranger to Him. I have tried Him, proved Him, and known Him, and therefore do I trust Him. I know His name as a sin-hating God, for by His Spirit's convincing power I have been taught that He will never wink at evil. But I also know Him as the sin-pardoning God in Christ Jesus, for He has forgiven me all trespasses. His name is faithfulness, and I know it, for He has never forsaken me though my troubles have multiplied upon me.
This knowledge is a gift of grace, and the Lord makes it to be the reason why He grants another grace-gift, namely, setting on high. This is grace upon grace. Observe that if we climb on high, the position may be dangerous; but if the Lord sets us there it is safe. He may raise us to great usefulness, to eminent experience, to success in service, to leadership among workers, to a father's place among the little ones. If He does not do this, He may set us on high near fellowship, clear insight, holy triumph, and gracious anticipation of eternal glory. When God sets us on high, Satan himself cannot pull us down. Oh, that this may be our case all through this day!

You

Oh...My...Word

Um...this completely made my day.
This would be a picture of my mother and my sweet love, Lily Margaret. They were playing the "make silly faces" game. This particular face was "surprised".
Oh...my...word

1 Week Tomorrow!

1 week from tomorrow is when legendary starts.
I can't even believe it. My mom and my sisters will be in Austin, TX. It's a dream come true!
It's hitting my nephews that this is happening and they aren't coming. :( so sad.
Laura was telling me that Noah yesterday let out a huge sigh and said, "I guess I'll never know what Texas looks like." He also said with all seriousness..."Mom, are you worried about getting lassoed" I'm not exactly sure what he has in his mind as far as what Texas is like. I love it.
I'm trying to convince my sisters that they need to document on video every step of the traveling process...especially with my mom. (sorry mom!) It's gonna be hilarious! My mom flying on an airplane. It's gonna be great! I kind of hope that she gets randomly selected to get searched. Ok...sorry mom. I love you!

Recording

Tonight I went to the Ivey Casa to record some bgv's (background vocals) for Aaron's new record. We got through 3 songs. It was fun. When I do stuff like this, I realize how insecure I am. I don't like that about myself. It's like I'm not trusting that God is good and perfect in how He's created me.
Anyway...I could go on and on with that topic. But I won't.
Here is a pic of Bush and Aaron listening to some tracks.
It was a great night and was pleased with how things turned out. You all will be BLESSED by this record. Seriously. It's unbelievable.
One of the songs I did tonight was "It Is Well"... um...I had goosebumps the entire time we were doing this song. It has a raw sound to it. Like it's off but on. If that makes sense.
It has a The Swell Season feel to it.
I also got to listen to a song that we did gang vocals on last Saturday. WOW!
Aaron's songwriting is powerful. It will kick you in the pants, it will make you fall on your face, it will make you get off your butt and do something to make the world more beautiful.
Get ready for it.
All the guys did such a great job on this. I feel so privileged to get to work with these amazing musicians.
God is crazy.

Forever Love

I just got Francesca Battistelli's CD. What's fun about this, is that several years ago a friend of mine heard her sing at a conference in Florida...she sang a song called "Forever Love". He thought immediately that I needed to sing this song at my home church. So I learned it from an old version of the song that she had on her myspace page. I sang it at my home church a few times and have done it at a few weddings too. It's a beautiful song!
So when I first heard this song, she had just signed with a company and I don't think she had started recording yet.
Anyway, it's crazy to see where she's at now...new album, 5 Dove nominations, tours...
crazy.
So I listened to "forever love" on her new CD and I fell in love with the words all over again. (I think I like the rough version better though.)
Here are the words:

You are my Forever Love
You are my Forever Love
You are my Forever Love
You are my Forever Love

From the bottom of my heart I'll sing to You
From the depths of who I am I'll love You
With everything inside I'll run to You
Cause all that I've become I owe to You

Nothing in this world could ever seperate us
I will love You more than anyone on earth
Nothing I desire could ever satisfy me the way that You do

LIVE Videocast.

hey hey hey!! It's Friday and I'm REAL happy about that.

So tomorrow is going to be a sweet day. I will be joining the Choir for the City (Austin Stone Choir) and a few others to record some gang vocals on a few songs for Aaron Ivey's new record.
It's gonna be sweet.
You can join us! Aaron will be posting a LIVE videocast on his blog at 2:30pm CST! www.aaronivey.com
In Aaron's words: "It will be fun times with some singing, dancing, and possibly some juggling with fire batons."
Don't miss it.
Also...next week I am heading in to the studio to do some BGV's (background vocals) for the record! YEAH! So excited for that.

So check it out.... LIVE videocast Saturday (tomorrow) May 9th. 2:30pm CST www.aaronivey.com
Fire batons...just sayin'

What Do I Know of Holy?

I'm lovin' this song by Addison Road. SO good.

What Do I Know Of Holy

I made you promises a thousand times
I tried to hear from Heaven
But I talked the whole time
I think I made You too small
I never feared You at all, no
If You touched my face would I know You?
Looked into my eyes could I behold You?

What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are fire? Are you fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

I guess I thought that I had figured You out
I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about
How You were mighty to save
Those were only empty words on a page
Then I caught a glimpse of who You might be
the slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees

What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of wounds that will heal my shame?
And a God who gave life "its" name?
What do I know of Holy?
Of the One who the angels praise?
All creation knows Your name
On earth and heaven above
What do I know of this love?

15 days

15 days and the Wild Ward Women Weekend starts.
It's truly going to be an event. Get ready, it's gonna get crazy.

There will be squealing, snuggling, laughing, pant wetting, shopping, eating, late nights, sleeping in and who knows what else.
When my mom, sisters and I get together. It gets a little out of control.

I need to come up with a plan for when they are here.
Things to do.
So far we have a good list going of...FOOD. I think we have that taken care of.

Help me come up with some ideas!

Buy A Purse

But a purse. Do it.
Check out Maris' blog for details.
It goes to a GREAT organization.

Oh My Heart!

I told my sisters that they needed to record the kids for me because I was missing them. They did and it was awesome!
You can check out the Brown boys here.
The McCarraghers here. (Watch the 2nd video first)
Oh my heart.
I love them all. How precious are they?!
This pic made my day today of Mr. Sam Brown...look at those freckles!

Lily

This made my day! oh my sweet Lily Margaret! I need her. now.

In Your Atmosphere

Love me some John Mayer.

(HT: Zach)

Yearning For Heaven

I'm yearning for Heaven today and I'm missing my dad. I've been thinking about him a lot lately. It's funny how it goes in spurts where I will all of a sudden get to talk about him a lot. I love when that happens. God gives me opportunities to tell his amazing story.
I heard the new MercyMe song on the radio the other day called "Finally Home" and caught some of the lyrics and started listening and found myself with tears.
Here are the lyrics:

I'm gonna wrap my arms around my daddy's neck
And tell him that I've missed him
And tell him all about the man that I became
And hope that it pleased him

There's so much I want to say
There's so much I want you to know

When I finally make it home
When I finally make it home

Then I'll gaze upon the throne of the King
Frozen in my steps
And all the questions that I swore I would ask
Words just won't come yet

So amazed at what I've seen
So much more than this old mind can hold

And the sweetest sound my ears have yet to hear
Voices of the angels

Here is their video of this song:

There are so many things that I wish I could talk to him about. I wonder all the time what he would think about what God is doing in my life, the opportunities that God has given me. What would he say about it all!? What would he think of my fun crazy friends? What would he think about me worshiping and singing at church? How would he love me, like I am today? How would he love and play with my nephews and niece?
I wonder how He would have loved and lived for Jesus these last 12 years. He would have lived crazy for Him.
My heart hurts when I think of him not being at my wedding someday. My heart hurts when I think about him being goofy and doing funny dances...I miss that a lot.
At the same time, I wouldn't want him to be anywhere else. He is more alive and more crazy now than he ever was or ever would have been. His big smile is going non-stop and I'm sure he has some new dance moves. The thought of him with Jesus brings me so much joy, even when it hurts to miss him here.
The thought of him getting to worship with all of heaven in full view of Jesus is overwhelming. I love it.
There is a deep yearning for heaven in me. It's going to be sweet.

Thank You Jesus for loving me and desiring Your glory that You make it possible to have life here on earth, but also for eternity. It is by You alone that I will get to see my dad again and get to share Heaven with him and all the other saints. It is by You alone that I will get to worship You face to face. Thank You for the cross and thank You that it didn't end there. Thank You that Your power is complete and perfect and timely. I yearn most of all to see Your face, to talk to You, to sing with You, to cry out Holy Holy Holy with the angels, to see You on Your throne. It will be most beautiful.
Thank You Jesus. YOU are beautiful.

My Man Spurg.

Y'all know how I love Charles Spurgeon. He's the man.

I read this and wanted to share it...

Psalm 138:8 "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me."

He who has begun will carry on the work which is being wrought within my soul. The Lord is concerned about everything that concerns me. All that is now good, but not perfect, the Lord will watch over, preserve, and carry out to completion. This is a great comfort. I could not perfect the work of grace myself. Of that I am quite sure, for I fail every day and have only held on so long as I have because the Lord has helped me. If the Lord were to leave me, all my past experience would go for nothing, and I should perish from the way. But the Lord will continue to bless me. He will perfect my faith, my love, my character, my lifework. He will do this because He has begun a work in me. He gave me the concern I feel, and, in a measure, He has fulfilled my gracious aspirations. He never leaves a work unfinished; this would not be for His glory, nor would it be like Him. He knows how to accomplish His gracious design, and though my own evil nature and the world and the devil all conspire to hinder Him, I do not doubt His promise. He will perfect that which concerneth me, and I will praise Him forever. Lord, let Thy gracious work make some advance this day!

It's a Beautiful Thing

Wow...oh wow.

Yesterday was a powerful day at the Stone. Sunday's are incredible. Something that I love that we have started doing is after we sound check in the morning, we gather in the green room to have a little devo/worship/communion time before the service starts.

On Easter Sunday Todd Agnew led us in a devo/worship time...it was a sweet sweet time preparing our hearts for worship. We then took communion together. Matt went around with the cup to dip our cracker in and he got to me and looked me in the eyes and said, "Emily...this is the greatest thing that has ever happened in your life...this was done for you."
Oh my heart.
The GREATEST thing that has ever happened in my life...JESUS.

So yesterday Matt preached on the recession, suffering and trusting God.
(Isaiah 45:5-7)
HEAVY and GOOD.
You need to go and listen to it. now.
With a message like that and the set list that we did. MAN! Powerful day.
Here are some quotes from the sermon...
"In light of suffering...Sometimes trusting God means that we don't come down from the cross."
"As believers we have got to come to a place where we suffer well."
"Christians never suffer without purpose."
"God will bring us to the doorstep of death so we will turn our eyes to the only one who can raise us from the dead."

After the message we sang "It Is Well With My Soul".
It is humbling to be on stage looking out over the people worshiping. People with their hands up, light in their eyes, people on their knees, faces to the ground...and tears.
During one of the services there was a gal sitting in the front row right in front of me and when we got up to sing the last set I noticed that she was crying...hard. I heard her in my in-ear's. My heart moved as I saw her face and her body shaking from crying.
As we started singing It Is Well, she leaned over with her head down crying harder. Pretty soon people around her starting laying their hands on her back...praying for her...showing her that they were there, that she is loved & being prayed for. Her body continued to shake as she cried harder.
I immediately started praying for her as I sang "When peace like a river attendeth my way...when sorrows like sea billows roll...whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say...it is well...it is well with my soul"
God is glorified.

Another service I saw a mom and daughter sitting together. I don't know their situation but I know that she was hurting. The mom was crying hard and the daughter had her arms around her hugging her and kissing her cheek and wiping her tears away. I saw the mom's lips moving as she sang through her tears, "It is well...with my soul...it is well, it is well with my soul"
God is glorified.

I heard more stories and saw more faces with tears throughout the day and night. God broke through to a lot of people yesterday. What I love is that it doesn't end there. God doesn't work like that, He doesn't just work for a day and be done. He will continue to use the craziness that happened yesterday to stir in hearts and move people to live for Him fully and be conformed to His image.
God is glorified.

During the 7:00 service (I LOVE the 7...they go nuts.) after we sang It Is Well, Aaron went into "Our God Reigns" (not planned...love it!)...it was awesome. Proclaiming that God reigns FOREVER. In light of suffering, He REIGNS! We ended with Blessed Be Your Name. "...my heart will choose to say...Lord blessed be Your name."

We sat down at the end and Aaron and I looked at each other and gave the look of "what in the world just happened." and the nod of "that was crazy". In Aaron's words..."Things just got silly".
It was one of the most powerful days. So humbled and grateful to be in the midst of what God is doing.
It's a beautiful thing.

I Miss You

So I'm "missing" a lot lately. I'm missing my short hair, I'm missing my truck, I'm missing my family, I'm missing my nephews and my niece. Thankfully my personalized google desktop countdown says that there are only 29 days until the Wild Ward Women Weekend. I'm not sure if Austin is ready for it. As excited as I am about seeing my mom and my sisters, the kiddos won't be along :( Which will make for some late nights and sleeping in...that I KNOW my sisters are excited for...but no kiddos. :( I miss them. They grow up fast, when I'm not there to see them everyday. Laura has some amazing Noah stories on her blog. CLASSIC. Jill has a video of sweet Sam doing an amazing job on a song about John 3:16. There's all sorts of good stuff on their blogs. I'm thankful that they do a good job of updating it with stories, pics and videos. That helps. But sometimes you just need some hugs, snuggles and smooches. Sam likes to send me some "love" in the mail. That helps too.
Here are some recent pics of the sweet ones...
The oldest Jackson Davis...I can't believe how grown up he is! SO handsome!Noah Joseph...this pic is actually old news...he now has BOTH front teeth missing!My sweet lovely Lily Margaret giving the thumbs up! That's my girl!
William Parker, I seriously can't get enough of that smile...Samuel Asher...he's a stinker can you tell?!Little man Maxwell Thomas...his dimples are the best!
oh man...I need them all. right now would be great.