Exsolemn's Expressions

:]

(via everyelixir)

Love <3

(via iwillnotbe-defeated)

On the fourth of February, in the year two thousand and twelve, I got my first tattoo. Many people are against tattooing for one reason or another. Whether you agree with my tattoo or not, I am here to explain the symbolism behind it.

A few months ago, I watched my fiancé mourn, as his grandfather passed away. In December, I stood in disbelief as I watched my grandmother take her last breath. Watching a lady that I loved and looked up to for the past 18 years of my life, breathe her last breath here on earth, was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. As I stood there in the hospital room, tears blurring my vision, and singing her favourite hymns as her breath slowed, I could barely believe what was happening. Was this real, Or was it another one of my terrible dreams of family members passing?…..This….Was…Real…. I loved my grandmother ever so dearly. I realized after she passed, that a lot of my interests and desires were those of my grandmother’s: art, photography, God. My grandmother was THEE most God-fearing woman I have ever met. 

A few months earlier as I saw Joseph’s heart breaking for his Grandmother and for himself, I experienced death on a personal level. I had never had anyone close die, and although he wasn’t my own grandfather, it affected me a whole lot more than I had anticipated. However, experiencing the death of my fiancé’s grandfather, in a way, prepared me for the passing of my own grandmother.

What Does My Tattoo Mean To Me, you may ask. Well, it means a plethora of things.

First of all, Revelation 21:4 says

He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.

 This verse is speaking of Heaven. Oh what a day that will be when I can see my God face to face, where there is no suffering, pain, heartache, worries, temptations. Everything is PERFECT. Knowing that my loved ones are dancing with Jesus is the only thing that keeps me sane.

This verse reminds me that they are in heaven, and I do not need to be sad, but rejoice in the legacy that they left behind, and rejoice in that everlasting joy that they have up there with God.

The verse is a constant reminder to myself to never take anyone for granted and love like there’s no tomorrow. Life is short, and it can leave us instantly. Never take for granted those who are in your life.

Why Birds? It’s quite simple. The bird was my grandmother’s favourite animal. Birds are also a huge symbol in the Bible for hope and freedom. The two birds are flying up my arm toward heaven, where I know they are singing and dancing with God. They are free of any pain and free of sin. 

What next? I plan on adding a bird, as more people I love pass away. I will continue adding birds as I see fit. I will never forget those I love and I will always live like there is no tomorrow.

There is power in the name of Jesus, there is power in the name of Jesus, there is power in the name of JESUS….to break EVERY CHAIN, break every chain, break every chain!

“Break Every Chain” by Jesus Culture

I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life today. I spent the night at my friend Erin’s house so I could come with her to church today. I dont remember the name of the church we went to, but it was a very small pentecostal congregation of about 20 people. Don’t let the numbers fool you, because these people were the most God-fearing and adoring people I have ever met in my life! 

I walked into their church and they instantly poured out love on me, they accepted me as a part of their small family and brought me in and and the Holy Spirit just poured out everything on me in that service. 

We started out the service with the Pastor welcoming everyone and then we started worship. My initial thought was, “where are all the instruments, how are we supposed to worship without any instruments?” but they played a few songs on the computer and put up the lyrics on the screen and that’s how we worshipped. I was a little apprehensive at first, because I had never worshipped to just a soundtrack playing from a computer in a corporate setting such as this, so it was very different for me, but instantly I began really appreciating and falling in love with the simplicity of our worship in that small congregation.

I am used to a worship team up on stage playing their instruments and things like chapel band and youth conferences and things such as that, but I found such a beauty in the simplicity of the worship. When you take away those distractions that worship teams tend to cause and you just have you and God and the music left, there is such a beauty in the rawness of your worship. I really enjoyed taking the worship band aspect out so I could focus on God and Me and worshipping him, not looking at anyone around me not watching the band and wishing i was as good as them (I find myself comparing myself to the band when im in a worship service and that really takes away from my experience while worshipping God). 

There was a point in the service where the pastor told us that God was telling him that we needed to get up and dance, and OH BOY WAS THAT FUN. We put on the song “Dance” by Jesus Culture and everyone in that room started throwing off all sorrow and everything negative and just dancing for God and as an act of worship. DANCING IS NOT EVIL! David danced naked in the streets in Glory of the Lord! 

Something I’ve been learning this year and even more today is that worship is everything that we make it, we can live a life of worship. Worship doesn’t just have to be the songs that we sing in church. You can worship God through poetry, through art, through the way that you do things. Worship is a LIFESTYLE, not just the songs! 

After we worshipped, we had a few “testimonies” as we would call them at my home church, and a lady shared with us her vision that she had earlier in the week. And in her vision there were four teenagers, 2 of which she had never met, Me, Erin, Jared, and Naomi. She had met Jared & Naomi the week before but she had never met Erin or I, and as she was telling her vision she distinctly remembered Erin and I. I thought that was amazing and spectacular. A lot of people might be skeptical to things like that, I being one of those skeptics, but there was just something about this lady that made me believe every word that she spoke.

Anyway, after this lady shared her vision, we had a few more testimonies and then we went on to the pastor’s message.

I didn’t have any other feeling in that place but a feeling of Joy and the Holy Spirit’s presence was so real and thick that if anyone in that place DIDN’T feel him, then they have a hard heart and were closed to letting God move in them. I don’t see how anyone couldn’t have felt God’s presence in that place, it was so strong that it literally took my breath away, took away every worry I had walking in there, every pain I had. God’s overwhelming presence filled the room, filled each and every person in there, and I have never experienced something so powerful. 

It is very difficult to explain how you know that the Holy Spirit is with you, but the only words I can think of to describe it is: electrifying and peaceful. Have you ever been standing in a church, in your home, in school, wherever you are, and just feel an overwhelming feeling of PEACE? That is the Holy Spirit. I don’t see how you can have that peace unless the Holy Spirit gives it to you. This world is filled with tons of worries and distractions from what is really important: a relationship with the one who made you. I have only felt the Holy Spirit a few times in my life, and this was by far the most memorable experience.

After the pastor ended his sermon, we laid hands on a woman of the congregation who had been having back problems. Now, I am one to believe in the healing powers of God, but I have never actually seen someone healed with my own eyes until this weekend. We prayed over this woman and we prayed healing on her back, twice.

The Bible tells us: 

For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.

-Matthew 18:20 (NIV)

I believe that when two or more are gathered and praying for healing, and every single person there believes it will be done, God will heal that person if He so pleases. God wants us to ask for his help, including being healed. If a person is being prayed over for healing, but they don’t believe God will heal them, what’s the point of praying for it to be done, we need to have the faith of a mustard seed, for if we have faith, we can move mountains. Faith goes a long way, and without faith, a lot of things in Christianity will not make any sense. Not everything in life can be boiled down to a science. Some things in life just have to be taken on faith, and Christianity is one of those things. If you don’t like just believing, then take a look around you, you have faith in a lot of things, you have faith that your car will start when you turn the ignition, you have faith that the chair won’t break when you sit in it, you have faith in a lot of things, so next time you think that Christianity is too hard because you just have to have faith, reevaluate your thinking.

It seems like for so long I’ve been ignoring God’s tugging at my heart. I’m sick of doing what I want, I’m sick of not being totally and completely at peace and filled with God’s mercy and grace. As many of you know, I’m getting married to the man of my dreams on June 6, 2012, and I couldn’t be any happier! Satan has been getting his grimy little fingers on us and pulling us apart and away from God but I’VE HAD ENOUGH. Long distance relationships suck, and they’re hard, but nothing is impossible when you have God. So I’m here to tell you all, I’m throwing off my burdens and worries and chains and just running after God. I’m not going to let fears, doubts, and worries get in my way anymore.Satan, GET BEHIND ME, YOU HAVE NO POWER OVER ME.  Joseph, if you’re reading this, I love you ever so much and I cannot wait to journey this world with you, walking hand in hand with you and our Saviour, my two men by my side, we are sure to succeed if we just keep our sights on our Heavenly Father. Let’s take this world by a storm and show the world just how amazing our God is! I cannot wait to spend eternity with you and my God….talk about living a perfect life.

I’m so in love with you God <3

Bri

Sometimes people mess up, and its understandable… I mess up literally ALL THE TIME. If you know me well, I can get pretty hot-headed with a very strong temper and opinion. I have been struggling lately with friendships and reconsidering my friendships-which I shouldn’t always do-because sometimes I end up over-thinking. I let myself get hurt over something that I shouldn’t have, because I hadn’t fully understood the extent of the situation. Now that I know the extent of it- I understand fully where this person was coming from… what I’m trying to get at is: don’t let friendships get ruined, fight for the relationships you truly care about, because if they care about you, they will respond to your efforts.