Blog Archives

new blog!

12/27/2011

Hi, everyone! So, I finally did it. I made myself a blog with Blogger (I like it so much more than Weebly!)! I call it 'Forgiven Mess'...I saw someone with that as their user name in one of the forums at the Teen Missions International website, and I really liked it - so now it's the name of my new blog! ;)

Here the link: http://forgivenmess.blogspot.com/

I posted on there earlier with some cool stuff, including mentioning that right now Misty Edwards is leading the worship in the Prayer Room at IHOP (International House of Prayer), and you can watch it live here:
http://www.ihop.org/prayerroom/

There are more details about it on the post at Forgiven Mess. Hope you like it!!

So, I don't think I'll be posting on here anymore. I think I'll keep this site up, though, at least for a while, so that on my new blog I can create a link here so that people can see my older posts (hope that made sense).

So. Farewell, Weebly blog (this is going to be embarrassing if I end up posting again for some reason). Hope you don't miss me too much, because I won't miss you! ;) Hmm...that made me think of a song (see below). ;) God bless!!

4 Comments

happy birthday, Jesus

12/24/2011

0 Comments

So I was sitting outside earlier, reveling in the gorgeous weather that seemed like God’s wrapped-with-a-bow gift for Christmas, and had the sudden urge to sing. That’s what often happens to me when I experience God’s creation, just the simple beauty of the warmth of the sun on my head and the slight breeze in the air, rustling the leaves and tugging at my hair.

And so I sang. I think when God fills our hearts with His endless joy and love and grace, there’s just no way that we can keep from joyfully praising Him in our response to His Holy Spirit.

How blessed we are. Jesus came to us to save us. You. Me. To erase our sin. Completely, no strings attached, asking nothing in return. But how can we not give Him our lives? God has given us His very own Son as a sacrifice for our disgusting sinfulness – if He has done even this, how immeasurable is His love? What other greater thing can He do to show His love for us? If there is, He will surely do it, pouring His love out on us like no other being can do, like no other love in the universe.

“He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” --Romans 8:32

How can we, in our right minds, resist His love? Why would we? He’s not pointing a finger at us, berating us for our wrongdoings – far from it! We’re the ones who drown ourselves in guilt, believing the devil’s lie that God could never love or forgive us. God has given us His all, His very Spirit!! I stand in awe before His powerful love. It surges over me, in me, through me, with power unimaginable.

Sometimes the little things in life help us to remember God’s love for us. The small beauties, the wind whispering through the trees, the laughter with friends at church, the sun shining.

thank You, Jesus. thank You for loving me. thank You for forgiving my sin. oh, how i don’t deserve it! but Your love for me is greater than my unworthiness. thank You, my Savior, for loving me so much that You literally gave Yourself away, nailed to wood in sin and shame. thank You for rising again and saving me! i give you my life…please take it and use it in wondrous ways, to Your glory and in Your Name. thank you, Jesus.

happy birthday, Jesus. thank You for Your gift to me. my life is my gift to You in return.

i love You. thank You for loving me.

0 Comments

prayer

12/5/2011

2 Comments

I read this the other day, and when I did, I just let out a big spiritual and emotional breath, one filled with stress and anxiety and fear and feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness and un-forgiven-ness…and then I slowly breathed in some fresh, crisp, sweet, comforting love. What an amazing love He has for me, for you!

So…read this prayer slowly. This was written with love, and it’s meant to be received with love. Each sentence holds a richness the world could never offer. This is the kind of stuff I need to write on my heart, because it will lead my heart – God will lead our hearts.

"I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." --Ephesians 3:16-21

2 Comments

Church...God...People...Family

12/4/2011

1 Comment

OK. I admit it. I was putting off blogging again. Ergh! Me and my false promises to post more often (hey, a week and a half is more often than a whole month, right?). I’m glad God's slightly more faithful than I am. ;)

So, earlier this evening we went to an absolutely wonderful service at The Crossing. I feel like I should be calling it ‘family time’ or ‘God time’ instead of…‘service’. ‘Service’ just sounds a little aloof or something, especially considering the very intimate and moving time we had from 5ish to 6ish – ever wondered if you could have an intimate and moving time with several hundred people of whom you mostly do not know? I didn’t think so. But I did! It happened! (Did any of that make any sense?)

I think it seemed intimate because it was like God was letting me look past everyone’s appearance and just be like, “Hey – all these people are here for some reason, and they might as well go ahead and worship You, God. We all need You, so we’re all here just…needing, together. Sharing. Loving. Praying. Worshiping. Thanking. Pleading. Weeping. Praising. We need You.” Through everything. In everything. For everything. God is our all, our everything. These things are so clear when you’re in His Presence, lifting your hands high in awe of Him along with hundreds of other broken and healing hearts, being healed by the Healer, my King, my Savior, my Jesus.

That’s one of the things I murmured repeatedly under by breath while praising God…my King, my Savior, my Jesus, my King, my Savior, my Jesus, as well as thank You, thank You, thank You, thank You, thank You, and, while thinking about all the chained-up, frozen souls in the room…please God, please God, please God, please God, please God…please tear down the walls they’ve built around them and melt their stone-cold hearts with Your immeasurable love. That’s why I was crying…for all the people that don’t know Jesus. People at that service. Teens in my youth group, whom I thought about, “It’s nearly impossible for them to let go of the cravings of this world!” But our pastor reminded us that God is the Almighty God who can do everything, and we should not be timid in asking for the ‘impossible’!!

I’m listening and watching the service again right now, live, at http://live.crossingonline.org/. Please, if you can right now, I’d love for you to join! If you can’t, then I hope thatyou are either sleeping peacefully or at a service at your church. ;) God bless y’all!

1 Comment

Hey, peoples! :) I'm glad you found my blog - now I'm going to tell you to go to another blog! ;) This is my old blog (hence the post to the left over there), so you can go to my new blog (with Blogger) with this link: *Forgiven Mess*

A Lot about Me,
Nicole Gregory:

I am your untypical 13-year-old girl (well, I like to think of myself that way). :) I love my Savior, Jesus Christ, and I try my best to obey my awesome God. I like writing and enjoy reading even more. My favorite Christian author is Nancy Rue. My two favorite colors are teal and fuchsia. I love animals, especially dolphins, dogs, cats, and horses. My favorite Christian radio stations are JoyFM and K-Love, and some of my favorite Christian singers and bands are Francesca Battistelli, Britt Nicole, Chris Tomlin, Matthew West, J.J.Heller, Mandisa, MercyMe, Casting Crowns, Sidewalk Prophets...the list goes on and on and on. I am home-schooled and I love it! I lovespending time with the wonderful friends God has blessed me with! I love my family who I always thank God for. :) By the way, I am a TRIPLET, with three brothers, Nathan, Noah, and the youngest by a year and a half, Nicholas. God has blessed me abundantly, and I can't wait to see what He has in store! God bless!!

Awesome pic I took of Nicholas at the beach!

Here are some places that I posted from while we were on our road trip

RSS Feed