A Dream Come True - RTM Magazine

Today is a very exciting day for Real Truth Matters and for me personally as we just launched the new RealTruth Matters Magazine.

One of my long-time dreams of designing my own magazine has been fulfilled and my heart feels like it could explode in tiny little particles of joy and gratitude. I am so excited for this magazine and the opportunity to take God’s Word to the nations in a completely different avenue than I ever imagined. God is so good and may He receive all the glory! 

For the past several months, the Real Truth Matters team has been working on a brand new interactive web magazine that launched yesterday. RTM Magazine has a little something for everyone: a Christian living section, a pastors section, a missions section, and much more. This magazine is designed to equip, encourage, challenge and motivate Christ-followers around the world to a greater pursuit of Jesus Christ, who is the Gospel. 

As you open the first issue of the magazine you will journey on the mission field of Eastern Kentucky and Eastern Europe, read about God’s commitment to you, and discover the real definition of meekness. You will also meet a family with a heart for displaced children and a couple driven away from God and right into His arms.

Below is the promotional video for the magazine. Please watch and then share it on your Facebook and Twitter as a way to inform others of this exciting new publication.

Real Truth Matters Magazine from Real Truth Matters on Vimeo.

We are eager to share this new resource with you and hear your feedback. However, we need more than feedback, we need your help. We are asking you to send us 10 names and email addresses of people who would benefit from this exciting new magazine. 

In addition to the email addresses, we ask that you join us in prayer asking God to use this publication to spread His fame and glory among the masses.

Thank you for helping us spread the word about this new resource and the Gospel of Christ! Together we can join God in wrapping His arms around the nations. 

To access the magazine made ideally for the iPad, but also available for viewing online, visit: www.realtruthmatters.com/magazine.

Big News...

...that makes me smile real big.

It's official.

I'm going on a summer internship program with Dugout Media Baseball Youth Roadtrip. It's for the entire summer from Memorial Day (or sooner) until August 24th, at which time I'll join classes already in progress at Murray State University.

The internship is for writing and marketing experience as well as public relations and some sales. My major is journalism with a minor in marketing.

This is a God thing.

A big God thing.

The eight of us on a tour will be touring the country following Little League Baseball. Little boys 7-13 years old who love the game. I'm beyond excited. All expenses (travel, lodging, food, laundry, etc.) paid and in addition to that we'll receive a salary. 

I'm asking to be placed on the East Tour, but there is a chance I'll be on the West Tour.
East Tour stops: Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania.

West Tour stops: California, Texas, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Nebraska.

Some of the sponsors of the Roadtrip include ...

• Major League Baseball Players Association
• Disney Channel (Disney XD)
• Topps / Topps Attax
• Activision / Little League Baseball World Series 2010
• Louisville Slugger
• Atari / Backyard Sports Sandlot
• Fathead
• MLB Network
• Majestic
• New Era
• Major League Baseball teams

(We will be able to say we were employed by each of these sponsors on our resume's. Um, yes. God thing)

 This experience and mega-huge opportunity is something that God literally dumped in my lap, it is something that I never dreamed would happen (I didn't even know about it...) and yet, here I am planning my summer around this fantastic adventure.

Things I'll miss...

• My family. Duh. But seriously, three months is a long time. I've never been away that long, and especially from my little baby nephew that I adore with all of my insides.
• C & C. [Coffee & Conversation... this happens almost every morning with my sister, her husband and the baby (the baby doesn't drink coffee, don't worry)]
• My church family.(I will be keeping up with the sermons thanks to the podcasts available here, but I'll still miss the fellowship).
• Chiropractic adjustments.
• Singing at church.
• Waking up to notes from my dad.
• My bed.
• My shower.
• Shooting.
• Watching the Cardinals with my parents.
• Father's Day.
• Daddy's Birthday.
• Isaac's Birthday.
• Whitty's Birthday.
• A bunch of weddings. 
• A ton of things that haven't hit me yet.

Prayer Requests...

• First and foremost that God would protect us (physically, emotionally, spiritually).
• That He will use this time to minister to me and through me to others. This is a mission experience even if I'm not going to Africa.
• A laptop with a big HD. I'll be taking three online classes this summer while we're on the tour in order to graduate from the community college and go to Murray in the fall, a laptop is a necessity.
• That the people on the tour will be "good" people, and that there would be at least one true believer.
• That the online classes will go smoothly and that balance between work, school and free time will come easily.
• Not related to the internship but a prayer request nonetheless, that God will supply the finances for fall tuition (and every semester thereafter) at Murray. I know God wants me there so I know He will provide the means to make it happen. He never fails.
• Also related to finances in the fall, I pray that God would give me a good job that will work around school/newspaper.

Writing it all out makes it feel so much more official, and my excitement increases by the second. I'm so thankful for this opportunity from my heavenly Father whose ways are higher than mine, and whose thoughts are not my own... they are so much better. Thank You, God!
 

Ask, Seek, Knock- A Testimony of Answered Prayers

Ask, Seek, Knock- A Testimony of Answered Prayers

At the beginning of the year, my family had a “Family Meeting.” Daddy asked my mom and I what we would like to see happen this year- whether that be us, as a family, going somewhere or maybe something around the house that needed to be fixed. We compiled a list and have prayed for those items ever since. Here are a few things on the list:

That I would qualify for Junior Olympics
That Mom and Dad would be selected as volunteers for Junior Olympics
A new TV
Replacing the fuse box in our house with a circuit box
Going to at least one Cardinals Game
Competing in Nationals
A new vehicle
A new DVD player

I received my letter from USA Shooting that I qualified for Junior Olympics in not only one event, but both smallbore and air rifle. This is very exciting. 2009 is my final year of competing in Junior Olympics (you’re no longer a “junior” after you turn 20), and to qualify in both events is a huge accomplishment for me and something I haven’t done since my first year at Junior Olympics (2003).We didn’t pray that I would qualify in both events, just that I would qualify- God threw both events in as a bonus, just because He can! How awesome is He? Pretty awesome.

This past week mom and dad received an email from USA Shooting saying they were both selected as volunteers for the entire week of Junior Olympics. This is a tremendous blessing. It means they will also get to stay on site at the Olympic Training Center and they won’t have to spend the huge chunk of money on a hotel room for a week. Praise God!

Last Friday, while mom and I were riding to a Bible Study with our friends, Tina and Chandra, we were bragging on how God had answered our prayers concerning Junior Olympics. Tina asked what else we were praying for. Mom told them a TV and a DVD player. Chandra said, “You’re praying for a TV?” We said yes, and explained how our TV was over 50 years old and that the color was almost completely gone. She said, “If you really need a TV we have one that is sitting on our bedroom floor you can have. Jeff just bought me a new flat screen TV.” Mom and I were flabbergasted. Chandra called her husband, Jeff, to make sure it was alright and the next day he delivered this amazingly large TV with perfect sound and color. God is awesome!

The day after that, Tina and her husband, Bobby, gave us a new DVD player they weren’t using. I’m telling you guys- God is amazing!

When we lost power for so long during the ice storm, we had to get our meter replaced (a limb ripped it out of our house). After the electricians fixed our meter, they spent the next day and a half replacing our fuse box with a circuit box. We hadn’t expected our prayers to be answered so soon, but God just opened the door (to the fuse box…) and made everything happen. Amazing!

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” –Matthew 7:7-11

This has built my confidence in God so much. He does hear me. God has also shown me through this, why we are to tell our church family our needs. Spiritual needs and material needs. They might be able to help. I feel like this goes right back to taking off the mask and being real with one another. Letting ourselves become vulnerable, exposing our weaknesses, and trusting God to take care of us.

God answers prayers. Take encouragement from this. If there is something you’ve been praying about and have not seen answered- keep on praying! God is hearing you. He tells us to ask, seek, knock. So, ask Him until you can ask no more. Seek until you have been found. Knock until you beat down the door. But don’t give up. Take off your mask and become real with your brothers and sisters in the Lord. Tell them where you’re struggling, tell them what you need, and tell them how to pray for you. God can use them to help you.

Who knows, maybe they’ll have a TV or a DVD player laying around waiting for you.

“Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” –Psalm 37:3-5