Thank you all for your tremendous support!
The Benefit Concert was SUCH a SUCCESS and I cannot thank you all enough.
OVER $2,000 was raised- Praise the LORD!
Thanks to all of who helped, thanks to all of you who came, thanks to all of you that wanted to come, thanks to all of you who sent me encouraging messages, thanks to all of you who financially supported me, and thank you to all of you for your continual prayer and support. That covers ALL of you!! I am overwhelmed by the support I am receiving from all of you.
Many of you bought CDs last night (THANK YOU) and many of you have talked to me and ordered CDs. If you would still like a CD ($5 each), please contact me (m-coxon@hotmail.com OR comment on this post) and we can figure out how to get a CD to you.
I leave in 2 weeks! I will be in Saskatchewan for a few days for a wedding and then I will be off to Guatemala on July 11! I appreciate your prayers throughout these last few weeks of prep as I have MUCH still to do.
Keep checking out my blog as I will continue to update it.
Here are some current prayer requests and praise reports:
-Praise the LORD that the Benefit Concert was such a success and for the support so many of you have offered
-Prayer that I will use wisdom in how I spend the little amount of time I have left before my trip
-Prayer that all the last-minute preparation details get figured out
-Prayer as I work on other things I need to get done at home before I leave for the summer
Thank you again for your continued prayers and support.
Blessings,
Love,
Michelle
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Benefit Concert=THIS Wednesday!
Hello dear ones!
As many of you know...I have a benefit concert coming up VERY soon!
TWO DAYS!
I am getting very excited about it so I just wanted to remind all of you about it so you could be excited with me:)
Here are the details again:
It is this Wednesday, June 23 at 7pm at Southwest Community Church. It is a minimum donation of $7 to get in and children ages 10 and under are FREE.
ALSO:
Something very exciting:
Recently, with the help of a great teacher and friend-Mr. Sandro Cuzzetto-I have made a CD of 5 of my original compositions. I will be selling them at the concert for $5 each-so bring money for that!
If you are unable to come to the concert but would like a CD, let me know, and we can work something out.
Blessings to you all!
Thank you for all your support.
PEACE.
JOY.
LOVE.
As many of you know...I have a benefit concert coming up VERY soon!
TWO DAYS!
I am getting very excited about it so I just wanted to remind all of you about it so you could be excited with me:)
Here are the details again:
It is this Wednesday, June 23 at 7pm at Southwest Community Church. It is a minimum donation of $7 to get in and children ages 10 and under are FREE.
ALSO:
Something very exciting:
Recently, with the help of a great teacher and friend-Mr. Sandro Cuzzetto-I have made a CD of 5 of my original compositions. I will be selling them at the concert for $5 each-so bring money for that!
If you are unable to come to the concert but would like a CD, let me know, and we can work something out.
Blessings to you all!
Thank you for all your support.
PEACE.
JOY.
LOVE.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Benefit Concert-June 23
As many of you know: I love music.
I really love it.
A lot a lot a lot.
I love it so much that I have chosen to study for (at least) 4 years (I just finished my first year!) at Trinity Western University in Langley BC.
Anyways, my point is that when I was thinking about fundraising for this trip I was trying to think of what I have to offer that people would be willing to pay money for.
Haha.
Odd way of putting it, I know, but I thought that it made sense to do something I love and share it with others and in doing so raise money for my trip!
So, I am putting on a BENEFIT CONCERT!
Yes I am!
Here are the details:
When: June 23 @ 7pm
Where: Southwest Community Church [700 Hugh Allan Drive], Kamloops, BC
It will be an evening of music and sharing about my trip. I will be playing and singing as well as some other great musicians will be performing. It should be a really lovely evening. It would mean so much to me for each of you to be there. Entrance is a minimum donation of $7/person and children ages 10 and under are FREE. 100% of the money raised from the entrance donations will be put towards my Guatemala trip.
I am very excited about this concert and I hope that you can join me.
Please invite anyone you know who may be interested!
And feel free to ask me for more information if you need.
Blessings to you all.
I really love it.
A lot a lot a lot.
I love it so much that I have chosen to study for (at least) 4 years (I just finished my first year!) at Trinity Western University in Langley BC.
Anyways, my point is that when I was thinking about fundraising for this trip I was trying to think of what I have to offer that people would be willing to pay money for.
Haha.
Odd way of putting it, I know, but I thought that it made sense to do something I love and share it with others and in doing so raise money for my trip!
So, I am putting on a BENEFIT CONCERT!
Yes I am!
Here are the details:
When: June 23 @ 7pm
Where: Southwest Community Church [700 Hugh Allan Drive], Kamloops, BC
It will be an evening of music and sharing about my trip. I will be playing and singing as well as some other great musicians will be performing. It should be a really lovely evening. It would mean so much to me for each of you to be there. Entrance is a minimum donation of $7/person and children ages 10 and under are FREE. 100% of the money raised from the entrance donations will be put towards my Guatemala trip.
I am very excited about this concert and I hope that you can join me.
Please invite anyone you know who may be interested!
And feel free to ask me for more information if you need.
Blessings to you all.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Glorious rain.
I live in Kamloops which is considered to be a semi-desert. Which means we get very little precipitation. Which means we get very little rain.
I love the sun, but I actually don't mind the rain. It is beautiful.
Especially when it rains hard. Really really hard. The kind of rain that you think will make the roof cave in.
I used to be so scared of storms when I was younger. Ask my family. I was scared of rain, wind, waves, thunder, lightning. It was a paralyzing fear. So much so that it inhibited me from living my life.
I can remember one time when my family was visiting South Africa (I was about 11 years old) and we went to this fantastic ocean-side restaurant. I think it was called the Brass Bell. Now, this restaurant was not your typical ocean-view restaurant. It was so close to the water that during high tide the waves crashed onto the massive windows that took up most of the wall space. The waves were taller than people! It felt like at any moment the windows would shatter and the sea would engulf you. It was incredible.
But not for me.
This absolutely petrified me. I could not for the life of me understand why my parents brought me to a place where I could die at any moment. Not only did we go to this restaurant, but of course my family had to sit RIGHT beside the window so that we could actually feel the waves shake the windows. My family knew I was scared, so to take my mind off things my kind sister Anthea decided to take me to the second floor where I could watch the waves.
Great idea Anthea. Let's WATCH the waves kill us. That will make it far less scary.
Well, you probably guessed that this just increased my fear because on the second floor I could feel the whole building shake and my natural assumption was:
Shaking building: I am going to fall off and die.
Super rational Michelle.
Once Anthea realized this was only making me more scared she took me back downstairs. I then proceeded to spend the rest of my time at the restaurant sitting as FAR away from the ocean as I possible, which happened to be the bathroom.
I let my fear of the waves completely ruin my time at the Brass Bell. I could have enjoyed my time with my family but because I was so busy being scared I had no time to appreciate the beauty (or the food!) around me.
I have long got over my fear of extreme weather and I look forward to going back to the Brass Bell and standing on the second floor and delighting in the fact that those waves no longer have a hold on me.
But I am realizing more and more that I have so many other fears. Most of these fears are not as noticeable as the fear I just spoke about, but there are often just as paralyzing.
For example: when God asks me to go pray for a person, my first response is to freeze up. I get scared.
But then I think: what's the worst that could happen?
Here's a list of possible bad outcomes:
1. They don't want prayer.
2.Or maybe they think I'm weird.
3.Or *worst of all* THEY DON'T LIKE ME.
Uh oh.
That would be terrible.
I know it sounds ridiculous, but that is honestly a fear that holds me back from so many things. The fear of not being liked.
Why do we as humans so long for human approval?
Think about that for a second.
Oh Jesus: I want to live for your approval only.
Help me take your hand and face the storm.
I want to dance with you in the glorious rain.
I love the sun, but I actually don't mind the rain. It is beautiful.
Especially when it rains hard. Really really hard. The kind of rain that you think will make the roof cave in.
I used to be so scared of storms when I was younger. Ask my family. I was scared of rain, wind, waves, thunder, lightning. It was a paralyzing fear. So much so that it inhibited me from living my life.
I can remember one time when my family was visiting South Africa (I was about 11 years old) and we went to this fantastic ocean-side restaurant. I think it was called the Brass Bell. Now, this restaurant was not your typical ocean-view restaurant. It was so close to the water that during high tide the waves crashed onto the massive windows that took up most of the wall space. The waves were taller than people! It felt like at any moment the windows would shatter and the sea would engulf you. It was incredible.
But not for me.
This absolutely petrified me. I could not for the life of me understand why my parents brought me to a place where I could die at any moment. Not only did we go to this restaurant, but of course my family had to sit RIGHT beside the window so that we could actually feel the waves shake the windows. My family knew I was scared, so to take my mind off things my kind sister Anthea decided to take me to the second floor where I could watch the waves.
Great idea Anthea. Let's WATCH the waves kill us. That will make it far less scary.
Well, you probably guessed that this just increased my fear because on the second floor I could feel the whole building shake and my natural assumption was:
Shaking building: I am going to fall off and die.
Super rational Michelle.
Once Anthea realized this was only making me more scared she took me back downstairs. I then proceeded to spend the rest of my time at the restaurant sitting as FAR away from the ocean as I possible, which happened to be the bathroom.
I let my fear of the waves completely ruin my time at the Brass Bell. I could have enjoyed my time with my family but because I was so busy being scared I had no time to appreciate the beauty (or the food!) around me.
I have long got over my fear of extreme weather and I look forward to going back to the Brass Bell and standing on the second floor and delighting in the fact that those waves no longer have a hold on me.
But I am realizing more and more that I have so many other fears. Most of these fears are not as noticeable as the fear I just spoke about, but there are often just as paralyzing.
For example: when God asks me to go pray for a person, my first response is to freeze up. I get scared.
But then I think: what's the worst that could happen?
Here's a list of possible bad outcomes:
1. They don't want prayer.
2.Or maybe they think I'm weird.
3.Or *worst of all* THEY DON'T LIKE ME.
Uh oh.
That would be terrible.
I know it sounds ridiculous, but that is honestly a fear that holds me back from so many things. The fear of not being liked.
Why do we as humans so long for human approval?
Think about that for a second.
Oh Jesus: I want to live for your approval only.
Help me take your hand and face the storm.
I want to dance with you in the glorious rain.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Impact Ministries
Here is the link to the website of the ministry I will be working with in Guatemala:
http://www.impactministries.ca/
I will post more details later about what I will be doing while I am down there.
http://www.impactministries.ca/
I will post more details later about what I will be doing while I am down there.
Never doubt.
Here I am.
June 1, 2010.
Excited and amazed at what God has done in me over the past few months. I cannot believe what God has brought me through and taught me as I journey with him, hand in hand, learning to trust my Father. If you had told me 6 months ago that I would be going to Guatemala this summer I would have told you that the idea was completely unrealistic.
Oh dear- how I love to be realistic. And careful.
But God is teaching me to grab hold of his hand and jump. It is scary, but so so exciting.
Here is some of the story.
As many of you know, last spring I was in Guatemala working with Impact Ministries through Kamloops Christian School. I was a grade 12 leader with my school's grade 10 missions teams and it was my second time doing missions in the country as I had gone in grade 10 through KCS. While I was down there the Peters asked me if I would consider coming down to Guatemala fall '09 and working in their schools. As much as my heart wanted to say yes, I was at peace with the fact that God wanted me to go to Trinity Western University in the fall. So I told them no, but that I would think and pray about coming spring/summer '10.
Once I was at Trinity I didn't really think it would be realistic to go back to Guatemala in the spring (yet another example of my love for being realistic), so I put the thought out of my mind. Well, God had other plans, and over Christmas break I really felt burdened to e-mail the Peters and ask if I could come and help in the spring or summer. I didn't really want to e-mail them but God put that feeling in my stomach that I can't get rid of unless I do what God is telling me to do. You know the one I am talking about? Well it nagged and nagged at me, so after trying to push it aside I decided I would just e-mail them. I mean, what harm could it do to e-mail them? I wasn't committing to anything...
So I e-mailed them. And then I waited for a reply. And then I started to get really excited about the idea. And then I waited some more. So then I e-mailed again (just in case they didn't get it the first time). And then I waited. And then I gave up on the idea. I figured that if I was supposed to go they would have e-mailed me back.
So then I looked into other spring/summer opportunities. I looked into jobs, volunteer opportunities, travelling...but nothing was working. Everything I tried for fell through. I was so confused and frustrated. I didn't understand what God was trying to do. I was giving up.
But God wasn't.
Then, one night I was sitting in Starbucks studying for my English exam with some friends. Because I was studying so hard I decided to check my e-mail (everyone knows that checking one's e-mail multiple times during study sessions helps the brain retain more information. and if you didn't know that just be thankful for the free advice).
I opened my e-mail and there was an e-mail from Rita Peters of Impact Ministries! At this point, my heart was racing. I was so nervous to read what this e-mail contained. I opened the e-mail and (oh man I can feel the same emotions coming back again) as soon as I read Rita's invitation for me to come to Guatemala this summer, I knew that this was exactly what God wanted me to do. After I explained to my friends that were sitting with me what the e-mail said, I said to them: "EVERYTHING makes sense now". Everything that God had been teaching me made sense. I understood why God had brought me to the place I was. He had to bring me to a place where I had no idea what I was doing in the summer. I was at a place where I had to rely on him completely. I was ready to listen to him.
God you are so good.
I just sat there in utter amazement and gratitude.
But then the doubts started rushing in. I started to think of all the reasons why I couldn't go to Guatemala. But before I could doubt any further, one of my dear wise friends looked me right in the eyes and said: "Stop thinking-you know this is what God wants you to do". And so I sat there. In stunned silence. Letting the wonder of it all sink in.
And so, after just over a month of planning and e-mailing, I am going to Guatemala. I still cannot believe how God made this all work out, but God just says to me with a smile: "Why do you ever doubt?" Ahh- our God is so so gentle.
All year that is what he has been saying to me over and over: "Why do you ever doubt Michelle?" He says it in such a gentle voice as he holds me close.
"Why do you ever doubt Michelle?"
I am reminded of a quote I have loved for years:
"Put your hand into the hand of God, for that shall be to you better than a light, and safer than a known way."
Yes. yes.
I am trying to remember this.
I am so grateful for how gentle and patient our Lord is with us.
So, I am so excited for what God has in store for me as I walk hand in hand with him on this journey.
I would covet your prayers as I continue to prepare for this trip and continue to ask God to ready my heart for what he has.
Thank you for joining me on this journey.
I am excited to see where God will take me, and you, as we walk hand in hand with him.
Never doubt that God is in control of YOUR life.
Never doubt that God has amazing plans for YOU.
Never doubt that God is holding YOU close to himself.
Never doubt.
June 1, 2010.
Excited and amazed at what God has done in me over the past few months. I cannot believe what God has brought me through and taught me as I journey with him, hand in hand, learning to trust my Father. If you had told me 6 months ago that I would be going to Guatemala this summer I would have told you that the idea was completely unrealistic.
Oh dear- how I love to be realistic. And careful.
But God is teaching me to grab hold of his hand and jump. It is scary, but so so exciting.
Here is some of the story.
As many of you know, last spring I was in Guatemala working with Impact Ministries through Kamloops Christian School. I was a grade 12 leader with my school's grade 10 missions teams and it was my second time doing missions in the country as I had gone in grade 10 through KCS. While I was down there the Peters asked me if I would consider coming down to Guatemala fall '09 and working in their schools. As much as my heart wanted to say yes, I was at peace with the fact that God wanted me to go to Trinity Western University in the fall. So I told them no, but that I would think and pray about coming spring/summer '10.
Once I was at Trinity I didn't really think it would be realistic to go back to Guatemala in the spring (yet another example of my love for being realistic), so I put the thought out of my mind. Well, God had other plans, and over Christmas break I really felt burdened to e-mail the Peters and ask if I could come and help in the spring or summer. I didn't really want to e-mail them but God put that feeling in my stomach that I can't get rid of unless I do what God is telling me to do. You know the one I am talking about? Well it nagged and nagged at me, so after trying to push it aside I decided I would just e-mail them. I mean, what harm could it do to e-mail them? I wasn't committing to anything...
So I e-mailed them. And then I waited for a reply. And then I started to get really excited about the idea. And then I waited some more. So then I e-mailed again (just in case they didn't get it the first time). And then I waited. And then I gave up on the idea. I figured that if I was supposed to go they would have e-mailed me back.
So then I looked into other spring/summer opportunities. I looked into jobs, volunteer opportunities, travelling...but nothing was working. Everything I tried for fell through. I was so confused and frustrated. I didn't understand what God was trying to do. I was giving up.
But God wasn't.
Then, one night I was sitting in Starbucks studying for my English exam with some friends. Because I was studying so hard I decided to check my e-mail (everyone knows that checking one's e-mail multiple times during study sessions helps the brain retain more information. and if you didn't know that just be thankful for the free advice).
I opened my e-mail and there was an e-mail from Rita Peters of Impact Ministries! At this point, my heart was racing. I was so nervous to read what this e-mail contained. I opened the e-mail and (oh man I can feel the same emotions coming back again) as soon as I read Rita's invitation for me to come to Guatemala this summer, I knew that this was exactly what God wanted me to do. After I explained to my friends that were sitting with me what the e-mail said, I said to them: "EVERYTHING makes sense now". Everything that God had been teaching me made sense. I understood why God had brought me to the place I was. He had to bring me to a place where I had no idea what I was doing in the summer. I was at a place where I had to rely on him completely. I was ready to listen to him.
God you are so good.
I just sat there in utter amazement and gratitude.
But then the doubts started rushing in. I started to think of all the reasons why I couldn't go to Guatemala. But before I could doubt any further, one of my dear wise friends looked me right in the eyes and said: "Stop thinking-you know this is what God wants you to do". And so I sat there. In stunned silence. Letting the wonder of it all sink in.
And so, after just over a month of planning and e-mailing, I am going to Guatemala. I still cannot believe how God made this all work out, but God just says to me with a smile: "Why do you ever doubt?" Ahh- our God is so so gentle.
All year that is what he has been saying to me over and over: "Why do you ever doubt Michelle?" He says it in such a gentle voice as he holds me close.
"Why do you ever doubt Michelle?"
I am reminded of a quote I have loved for years:
"Put your hand into the hand of God, for that shall be to you better than a light, and safer than a known way."
Yes. yes.
I am trying to remember this.
I am so grateful for how gentle and patient our Lord is with us.
So, I am so excited for what God has in store for me as I walk hand in hand with him on this journey.
I would covet your prayers as I continue to prepare for this trip and continue to ask God to ready my heart for what he has.
Thank you for joining me on this journey.
I am excited to see where God will take me, and you, as we walk hand in hand with him.
Never doubt that God is in control of YOUR life.
Never doubt that God has amazing plans for YOU.
Never doubt that God is holding YOU close to himself.
Never doubt.
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