That Time I Turned 20...

It's hard to believe I'm out of the teens and into the 20s... But it's here. I'm officially 20. I thought I'd share some pictures from my various birthday celebrations this year. Virginia, Cheesecake Factory, Ice Skating party that my roomies planned. It was a good birthday = )



First I celebrated in Virginia with the Reynolds!


Nuryia was pretty stinkin' excited I got Toy Story 3 hahaha


Birthday dinner at Cheesecake Factory with the family! (and Abbey haha)


Ashley Lynch (the girl who disciples me) and I!


Me and the roomies = ) (Koby and Rachel)




Me, Julie, Koby, and Rachel


Pretty much the whole crew = )

The Body of Christ

The body of Christ is beautiful. One of my favorite Bible stories has always been that of Moses having his weary arms held up by his friends Aaron and Hur. What a picture of community! When we get too weary to press on by ourselves, the body is there to help us keep going. I love it. Today at church we got together and held each other's arms up and prayed over each other. Absolutely beautiful. I felt the Spirit sweeping through the auditorium. Abba, thank you for the body of Christ...

My Sweet Community

One of the biggest blessings God has given me this past year was the community I found within Antioch Community Church. I can not say enough good things about the people I have met there and the leadership of the church. We recently moved from Sooner Theater to the Norman North performing arts center. Here are some pictures of our first Sunday along with some sweet times with my lifegroup so far this year = )


Koby and Heatherrrr

I don't know... Rachel being Rachel?

Bo being the Antioch poster child

Me and Julie!


Heather and Kevin making pancakes and eggs at Lifegroup = )

It was really cool because our lifegroup played kickball one Saturday and some other people joined us. That's Acts 2:42-27 in action = )



Jenny and Payton

My Roomies

Thought it was about time to introduce you to my sweet roommates Koby and Rachel. They mean the world to me, and I am blessed beyond belief to be living with them this year. That's all for now but I wanted to share this picture and give a quick introduction! = )

Undivided Heart

As I sit to write this post, my heart is full of so many emotions! First, I am still overwhelmed with joy over how much fun it was to get to have Chandler, Alex, Nicole, Jake, Spence, Evan, Hunter, Kaci, Lindy and SO MANY MORE with me at church this morning. I LOVE my community and it makes me giddy to share it with others = )

At church this morning, my pastor, Chris Bennett, spoke on loving God. Man, did the Spirit use it to get to a crevice of my heart that needed getting at!! I'm going to hit on a few points that really got to me BUT if you want to listen, go to the following link (if it's not up, it will be soon... It's called "Four Loves").

(1.) "2 I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent" (Revelation 2:2-5)

In this passage, Christ is talking to the church of Ephesus. He tells them that He sees all the amazing things they are doing for the Kingdom BUT they have forgotten their first love. We exist to MAKE THE LOVE OF GOD KNOWN. We can get so caught up doing good things and going about our good business, surrounding ourselves with other likeminded people, that we forget to focus on our LOVE and our PURPOSE.

Why does this happen? We claim to love Him and do all the right things, but where do we go wrong??

(2.) "Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name." (Psalm 86:11)

UNITE my heart to fear your name... Make my heart UNDIVIDED towards You.... We may love Him sincerely but also love a list of other things that divides our love for Him. Our question should always be, "Does this help me love God more??" We love God, but become far too easily pleased and content because of our love for other things!!

I know that for me, I get so caught up in my love for other things (books, music, movies, etc) that I'm willing to divide my love and live in the gray... An area that doesn't necessarily help me to love God more.


So the question must be asked, Does my life reflect my confession of loving Him with my whole heart as Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and numerous other passages command? If not, how can I increase my outward expression of my love for Him?? Firstly through obedience as John 14:15 says. Second, starting my day in His presence!! If I start my day with anything other than Him, a million things will get my attention and divide my heart. Starting my day with Him, helps me to start my day with a heart undivided in my love.

A good thing to remember:
Anything I want to do for God will come out of intimacy with Him (John 15:5)

Lord give me a heart of flesh in the areas that have been hardened by a divided heart (Ezekiel 11:18-20)! May I walk out in that love. May I bind it to my heart and may it drip from my mouth as I go about my day! Let it be!!

Perfect Sunset

Yesterday Koby let me tag along to Weatherford with her. I had SUCH good time. After dinner we went out to one of her favorite spots between Weatherford and Clinton. It's called White Horse Hill I believe? But I could have gotten that a little wrong. We were going to have dinner there, but there were two rehearsal dinners, so the owner said he couldn't fit us in but we could come back for sweet tea and the sunset. That was good enough for me!! I caught some pictures of it that I just had to share. I hope you enjoy!





[If you want to see any of my other photography, you can go to makenzihargrovephotography.blogspot.com]