This is AMAZING!!

Okay so I took this from my friends Website but you have to go and check this out. It is so funny!

Sweet Sweat!

What is this thing?

Well I am going to tell you!

It is the machine that I love best! It is the machine that I actually look forward to using! It is the machine that research says will help with many things in my life by just using it! It is an elliptical. It does amazing things.

I HATE running! I always have. But I Love this! This thing gives you the running motion without all the aches and pains and crunching of the bones as running does! ( maybe a little dramatic) Whats great is it gets your heart rate up too! Depending on how much you actually challenge and push yourself you can get a great cardio with this sucker!

So I joined a gym.

This is new and crazy! I have always danced growing up, so I was never around a gym, I was in a studio. But now that I don't dance any more have haven't for a few years I needed to get back into some sort of physical activity. I do miss dancing ALOT and I have been saying for about a year that I want to dance again and that day might come but not right now.

The Lord has been laying on my heart that I need to be more active for a while and I would walk around my neighborhood , but that was only once in a blue moon! So through pray and questions i joined Gold's.

I was very intimidated walking into this place for the first time, but I did it. I faced that fear that was holding me back from doing it. Even better I got a student discount! WHOOP! Thank you Texas A&M!

I thankfully have a partner to go with. My roomie Jessica has a membership there and we are keeping each other accountable in this and pushing one another. It has been great. I have been a member for a week and have gone 5 times now. That is huge! I am actually enjoying it too. Not only is it going to keep me more healthy but it is going to give me more energy.

Our bodies are to be temples. We are also called to not be lazy. I have been lazy and i have not treated my body as a temple in a while. The Lord has gotten a hold of me and I am excited about what this is going to bring.

Yay for Golds, yay for lifting weights and biking and ellipticals! Praise the Lord for clearly convicting me in this! I am excited to see how this will effect my future! :)

Where My Heart Is

I have to be completely honest. I MISS ZAMBIA. Seriously I was talking to this girl at church the other day who I just met who did camp LIFE and is going back this summer and I started crying in front of her. I was so excited she was able to go back but I was so sad that I won't be able to do the same thing. I don't really cry in public like that, but I so long to be there that I am excited that people get to go back and continue to love on these kids.

I wish right now more than anything that I could hop on a plane and go see my girls. If it weren't for the 3000 some odd dollar plane ticket I would probably book right now.

I miss the transformation of their lives.

I miss their joy.

I miss there voices.

I miss their aroma (which is big because it not always pleasant. :P)

I miss their huge smiles.

I miss them wanting to hold your hand everywhere.

More than anything, I want to feel like my life has a huge purpose. I am not saying that my life doesn't have purpose here because it definitely does, but I see more of the results there. Not sure why God did it that way, but he did.

I want to know what they have been doing, what they have been learning, what is new in their lives. I want to see their beautiful faces and hold them.

My prayers and thoughts for the past few weeks have been Zambia. Why is that? I know the Lord lays things on our hearts, but this has been so strong.

I want to go back this summer and I know that I cannot and it is really hurting me. A piece of my heart was left with these girls in Zambia and I want to join it again. I want to be in this place again. But why has the Lord laid these girls on my heart so much the past few weeks?

The only thing that I can come up is they need your prayers. They need my prayers. So I am asking you to pray for my girls. It is the rainy season right now in Zambia so pray for health and safety and that ultimately that they will come to know the Lord.

You can also help and support a child. I know I have talked about this before, but not enough. I want my girls safe and I know the Lord will protect and comfort those he loves, but he allows us to financially help as well. It is only 36 dollars a month, seriously not that big of a deal. I thought it would be hard but I hate to say it but I don't notice when it is gone. These children need help. They need food, shelter, clothing, medical assistance, love and so much more. If you go to this website https://fathersheart.legacymissions.org/
under Ambassador search you will type in my name (Becca Hines) and my girls will come up. Pray over who you want to sponsor. Then do it.

Pray for my girls. Pray for their lives. Pray for transformation in Zambia, and pray for souls to be won for the Lord.

"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:14

I have been meditating on this verse over the past few weeks and let me tell you it has not been easy. Words can hurt people so much.

They pierce the heart.

They can affect your witness.

They can affect people around you.

They can affect your personal relationship with Christ.

"The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." Luke 6:45

The Lord has been refining me. He has been teaching me and he has been challenging things in my life. There have been several instances this week where I have failed. I was not lifting up people with my words. But I praise the Lord that the second I said something hurtful or wrong He convicted me of it. What is even a bigger praise I sucked up my pride and apologized.

That is huge. First of all recognizing it but then considering others better than myself and apologizing for it. This is an area in my life that the Lord will continue to work on me in my life. As my mom has told me "it is not what I say but how I say it." I don't want that to be the case.

I want to be a woman who builds up people. Not destroy. Psalm 14:1-3 says "The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.2He whose walk is upright fears the LORD, but he whose ways are devious despises him.3 A fool's talk brings a rod to his back, but the lips of the wise protect them."

I want the cycle of being careless with words to stop with me. I don't want my sin to affect those that are close to me. I don't want my words to hurt others.

Then this weekend at church Allen talked about Philippians 2 and what really spoke to me was verse 14. You ready for this? "Do all things without grumbling or questioning."

Ugh... i fail again.

Do ALL things.

Not just some things.

You can't complain about headaches, you cant complain about dishes, or laundry that is piled up.

We are to not complain about ANYTHING. Now if thats not convicting I don't know what is.

I realized how much I complain. This is NOT ok. We are commanded to not complain. It is not a suggestion. There are no loopholes. You cant work around the system.

Our words are so important. What comes out of our mouth should be of the Lord. So that means no complaining, no coarse joking, we are to be edifying. We are to be listening to the Lord and patiently waiting for what He has to say.

I will continue to ask to Lord to show me and to help my words be pleasing to him!

Just some food for thought!

2008!

So I decided it would be neat to have a little recap on the past year! The Lord has done so many amazing things since last January that it is neat to go back and remember the Lord is Sovereign over all.

So where do we start?

To start it off I was honored to stand next to one of my best friends Rachel for her Wedding!
After I got back to A&M I began to get plugged it at Living Hope. The first place I started was hope group at Barney and Joanna Phillips.
Hope groups started another tradition. Sunday night pancake dinners! This was a weekly occasion that everyone looked forward to! Now I know this picture was during the day but we had to change it up this week!
Then began the weekly baseball games to support Darby. If you ever have a chance you must go to an Aggie baseball game!
In March I had the amazing chance to go to New York City. I miss being so close to the city. I went and saw Wicked (the most amazing musical) and Hairspray.
I took fun bluebonnet pictures with some amazing girls! I love yall!
My brother popped the question! So I got to take their engagement pictures!
We finished the school year off at Bowen Elementary. Only the Lord knew that I wouldn't be working there this fall.
Then I went to ZAMBIA!!! My life and perspective have changed forever. I first went to Victoria Falls. The picture doesn't do it justice.
Then I got to spend two weeks with beautiful girls.
Then there was a scandal at the Hendricks house! They totally blamed it on some one else! Find it here!Then Riley Jane Owen was born! :)
Then the Lord placed me in the most amazing house with the most amazing roommates! Garden Acre Girls!
We have some amazing "Send Me" by Lecrae dance parties!
My roommates and I took some goofy pictures in Downtown Bryan!
I carved a pumpkin for the first time ever!
My brother Adam got married. Sorry I don't have any pictures of them on their wedding day. That night after the wedding my oldest brother Heath and his wife Lindsey told the entire family that they are pregnant! I am going to be an aunt to another niece or nephew in June 2009!

Kelly and I through Bekah and Chelsi and dual birthday party on Halloween! It was a costume party!
My niece turned 3! I cannot believe it has already been three years!
I finished the first semester of my junior year! :)

It snowed in Bryan! It was actual snow too.

The Lord had molded and shaped me so much in the past year. This year has flown by. I am so thankful for what the Lord is and will continue to do in my life. Some praises: The Lord provided financially for Zambia, the Lord gave me fellowship when I was in isolation the most, The Lord continues to show me His love, I was able to spend time in Zambia sharing the Gospel, The Lord so graciously provided amazing roommates that I Love so much.

"The Lord is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you in singing." Zephaniah 3:17

I can honestly say that I look forward to 2009. I am excited to see what the Lord has in store!

Garden Acre Wonderland!

What does this mean?

I will tell you!

I never thought that the forecasters would ever be right when it came to this. They have said things like this before and it has never happened.

Oh but it happened! And it was amazing!

It SNOWED!

and it was not sleet. It was legitimate snow. I am talking about huge snowflakes that you catch on your tongue! There was no ice in the amazing flakes.

Because I lived in Pennsylvania and grew up a lot around snow there it makes sense that I went crazy when I saw the snow here.

I woke up and there was snow on the ground. It was cool but it wasnt the most amazing snow I had ever seen. I just grabbed my camera and took a few pictures.

So I got a few shots for record sake, but then I went to work and it started snowing again, but this time it didn't stop for a few hours. The Lord allowed me to get off work early (the parents were freaking out and picking up their kids early.)

So I went home threw on my ski coat and glove and went outside. Bekah and I built a snow man! Meet Snowquarious
I wanted to build him a little bigger, but we had dinner plans and we had to leave! :)

Here are just a few pictures!

That snowball just got bigger and bigger! It was amazing to have so much snow!

Talking to each other

Please take note that Kelly is holding a boys hand! :)

I'm Sorry?

So last night a group of people went to dinner and then migrated over to our house. Well we were in the middle of playing a game and all of a sudden we hear all watch alarms go off at the same time.

9:45 on the dot.

So what did we see?

All of the guys literally running out of the house.

They were running to the car, climbing in, almost forgetting Dustin, and driving off.

Like most girls, or anyone, left my roommates and Rachel Waters seriously confused!

We didn't know what just happened. We all kinda stared at each other.

Then we were creeped out so we went and made sure all the doors locked. We didn't know if our house was about to get raided, if a bomb was about to go off so we wanted to stay safe.

So after standing there for 5 minutes puzzled we decided to have a dance party.
I love my roommates! We were trying to have fun without thinking of what in the world just happened. Well, we were dancing and having a good time, and then we heard a knock at the door.

We knew who it was but it was actually really creepy because our porch light was off. So Kelly was brave enough to go answer and this is what we get! :)


Groveling? Asking forgiveness? Being boys? I don't know but lets just say this prank didn't go as well as they were hoping. :)