Concerts, Books, and Jesus

I'M BACK!

Sorry I've been out so long. These past couple of weeks have been pretty crazy.

Actually...if I'm being honest...

I've been reading a book series that was SUPER good. Finished it this morning. *Let the post book depression begin.*

I'll do another blog post dedicated to that series. For now I'll leave you with a link to where you can find them: Bailey Flanigan Series by Karen Kingsbury.

Moving on.

The last post I left you with was reflections on worship leading up to the Kari Jobe and Rend Collective concert.

I've yet to put my thoughts into words (besides my journal) because I didn't really know how to sum it all up.

Though I still don't have my mind completely around everything that happened (it was THAT awesome), I can say this.

Jesus was glorified.

He gave me healing.

As I stood beside two of my dearest friends and sang my heart out, I was beyond thankful for Him- for His love and grace and mercy.

We talked and laughed and made beautiful memories.

But most of all...we worshipped Jesus and stood in amazement of His oh-so-powerful Presence.

(The adorable Kari Jobe singing one of our favorites- Revelation Song)

See? It was such a beautiful, personal time with Jesus.

Just as we expected. 

It was nothing short of extraordinary.

The hotel folks asked if we were part of the American Girl Party. "Um," we paused to make sure they were looking at us, "No." But they gave us crowns and suckers anyway. It was fun.

All dressed up and ready for worship! (L to R, Jenna, me, and Caroline)

Kari Jobe and Chris from Rend Collective during the Q&A.

And that's Rend Collective. And yes, a girl is beating on the drums. She was awesome. 

At the end Rend Collective came back on with Kari Jobe and they had a jam session. 

So, there's the concert...

In words and pictures! 

I promise I'll be back soon.

Until then I'll be basking in the glory of the 70 degree weather we are currently enjoying. It's marvelous.

Keep trusting in Jesus and finding joy in His strength. 

Because He is so amazing. 

~Bailey

With Everything, All the Time

Tomorrow my mom and I, along with two of my closest friends and their mom will be departing bright and early to make our way down to Atlanta, Georgia.

And with five girls this road trip will probably involve more bathroom breaks than driving.

We're making this trek to go see Kari Jobe and Rend Collective- both Jesus loving bands who worship Him beautifully. (If you need new music they both have new albums coming out in the next two weeks!)

I'm sure it's going to be a sweet time with friends.

But I'm more sure that when we're gathered with a couple thousand people at a church in Atlanta Jesus is going to show up.

I'm absolutely sure that He's going to move in our hearts and honestly, I couldn't be more excited about worshipping Him alongside some of my dearest friends!

Now, each morning I try to read A Holy Experience by Ann Voskamp.

And when I opened it this morning...well, you'll never guess the topic...

That's right. Worship.

He has such an amazing way of speaking right to us.

Anyway- I began to read and I was captivated by her perspective of worship.

"It can happen — worship is the essence of everything. Worship is giving back to God what He’s breathed into us.

Worship happens with your hands and your feet and your heart and your breath.

Worship isn’t only what we sing; worship is only everything. Worship isn’t the add on to the Christian life; worship, praise, thankfulness, is the only language of the Christian life.

Worship is the thank-you that your whole body speaks.

'You need to sense God’s greatness and to be moved by it — moved by who God is and what He has done for you. And this needs to be happening all the time.'

And you can feel it spreading in the chest, the burning for Him who’s worth the whole blazing cost, who’s worth laying down everything for the investing.

You can feel the burning in the heart — worship that’s this burning ruby ember lighting the walls of everything…. burning the way out to fly free."

I encourage you to read the rest here: A Holy Experience, March 13th.

After reading this I realized that I don't have to be with Kari Jobe and Rend Collective to worship Jesus(although it's going to be amazing). I can be at my desk or on the couch or sitting on my bed.

Because He is everywhere waiting for me to worship Him with my whole being.

Soak in His Presence with the newness of coming spring.

I pray He creates in me a heart hungry for worship of Him...

A worship that needs to be happening all the time. 

~Bailey

Reflections.

This weekend was our annual youth discipleship weekend- D*weekend. It is always such an amazing time with great friends and awesome leaders. We {normally} spend Friday and Saturday night at host homes.

Sadly, this year was a tad different. The weather in NC has been crazy and we had an ice storm on Thursday night/Friday morning. Because we had no power Friday, it was delayed to Saturday.

We had three worship sessions on Saturday with incredible music and powerful messages.

God's Presence was SO evident and He moved in ways none of us saw coming.

People met Jesus and lives were changed.

I was reminded that Jesus needs to stick out in my life.

It hit me that healing comes in the most unexpected circumstances.

And once again I stood worshipping praising His name- His holy, pure, beautiful, redemptive, graceful name. I was in awe of His grace and glory.

In the end, it was a fabulous 24 hours full of Jesus.

I'm so grateful that I serve such a powerful God- a God who allows us to worship His name and draw closer to His heart.


Saturday before session #1- the picture started off with five of us and quickly grew! So thankful for all of these people.


Our host home was thirty minutes away so we went to a nearby park to have our small group. These times are so precious.


Then after dinner at Zaxby's we took selfies in the car. Emily Grace got to come for all of Saturday- so much fun.


And then this happened. Don't ask.


Because of all of the power outages the 7th grade girls bunked with us. These two girls are just about the sweetest.

And then three of us matched in an old D*weekend shirt. 

Group picture time for all of the 11th grade girls. 

What a beautiful weekend with beautiful people and a more than beautiful Jesus.

Grateful and full of love for Him.

~Bailey

A Beautiful Delay

What a surprising journey life can be!

The Lord has recently blessed me with an amazing opportunity- and I don't use the term lightly, it's truly amazing!

My dear sister, Sonia Grace, starting taking gymnastics a while back. After conversations with some of the moms during gymnastics, my mom and I figured out that one of these ladies used to be an editor for Harper-Collins Publishing.

Did you catch that?

AN EDITOR.

Then there's me, sitting nearby writing a book.

(Skip ahead a few weeks.)

The proof copies of my book come and I have an extra. My first thought is to give it to our editor friend from gymnastics and ask her to read it and see what she thinks.

I hand her the book and she is ecstatic. Naturally I am, too.

Days later my mom gets a text from our friend saying, "Hey, if she'd be interested I'd love to meet with you and Bailey sometime to talk about her book. I've gotten through the first two chapters and I have a few ideas. Just let me know when and where, etc."

A former editor wants to talk to me about my book? YES PLEASE!

This past Friday we met with her at Starbucks(in case you were wondering- I'm not a coffee person but their hot chocolate is sent from Heaven).

Honestly, I was terrified she was going to hate it. I had never had someone as professional as her read it, much less talk to me about it.

We got there and she said, "First, I love this story and where it's going, I can't wait to see what happens." Then she proceeds to tell me that I need more details here and there. A word needs to be changed in some sentences.

I began to become thankful that she was(and is) spending the time reading my book and putting thought into it.

The ideas she had were beautiful. The editing and the new paragraphs would be in my words and they would make the rest of the book so much stronger.

All of this being said, Saturday morning around 8:45am, I began the editing process for the 387th 4th time. If we're being honest- I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This sweet editor friend is going to go through the entire book with me a couple chapters at a time and I'm SO excited to see the end results.

So if you're sitting there reading this post you're probably thinking, "Well, won't this delay the publishing of her book?"

Yes. Yes it will.

But I would rather someone open my book and think, "Wow. I can't believe a 16 year old wrote this." Then think, "This is pretty good."

My goal for publishing(the book being for sale to the public) is now this summer around July.

Thanks again for walking this journey with me. Even though it may be a little later than I was hoping, I cannot wait for you to read this book.

Through this all He has shown me that His way is greater and that He has amazing things in store for me if I just wait for Him.

I know waiting for July will be hard and it will seem like the longest five months but I also know that He will make it beautiful. It will be a beautiful delay, a beautiful time of waiting and writing.

~Bailey