What I've been doing in Amarillo

I made a promise that I would start blogging again to help keep everyone aware of how thing are going in Amarillo and what is going on in the world of me. That being said, this is blog #1 about Amarillo.

I have been here about a week and a half now. I have to say that there does not appear to be a lot to do in Amarillo. They do have a mall, Starbucks, and $2 movie theatre so that's good. One thing they have that I really enjoy is a House of Prayer. This is basically a church building. It has a coffee type area that has tables and chairs so you can study (they have wi-fi) or visit. This are also has a few Keurig coffee makers where you can have a cup of coffee for a $1. The building has designated prayer rooms for specific issues, and then the sanctuary is used for your personal prayer time. They have music playing in the sanctuary all the time and sometimes it's even live music. The building is open 7 days a week from 6am-midnight. I really enjoy going here to have my time with God. It is so important to have a place that is for you and God.

In regards to church, I went to a church called The Summit on Sunday. I liked it and I am planning on going again this Sunday. I went to coffee with the Associate Pastor's wife on Tuesday and had a good time. I have a few other churches in mind that I may go visit, depending what God says. I miss Kingwood though, for sure!!

The job is going good so far. We are planning on opening our mall location next week. A lot of what I have been doing is getting things ready for that. I don't want anyone to fall out when I say this but I have also been learning the baking side of things. I have learned to bake cheesecake, chocolate, winter white, champagne, red velvet, and strawberry cakes. On Fridays we have what we call cupcake Fridays. This is the one day of the week that we sell cupcakes from our kitchen location from 11am-6pm. Last Friday I made all the batters, baked all the cupcakes, and iced them all.

I also made cheesecake lollipops. They are so YUMMY!!

This what I have been up to since I've been in Amarillo. I will make sure to keep everyone posted as to what I'm doing and how I'm doing.

Much Love,

Dallas

ATLL

I have recently been introduced to the phrase atll. At first, I had no idea what this meant. I soon discovered it stood for as the Lord leads. Getting the response atll to the statement "Hey, let's get together for coffee sometime" kind of shocked me. I have never had someone respond that way about getting coffee. I mean it was just coffee, right? It surprised me to hear atll about a decision that little.

As I began to ponder this response I realized that I don't make decisions atll nearly enough and it has gotten me in a pickle more than once. I remember scheduling a trip to go see a friend for a weekend and as the time to go got closer, things in my world were difficult and going out of town for the weekend was the last thing that I needed to be doing. This was the worst time for me to be gone but what could I do; the trip was booked and paid for. I told my spiritual mom about the trip and I remember her asking me if I was sure I was suppose to go. As I thought about this I realized that I never even asked God what He thought about me going. I just decided I wanted to go and made plans to go. As I looked back on different situations in my life, I started noticing that I didn't ask God about a lot of the small things, it was mostly big and major decisions.

We are the bride of Christ. I wonder how many of us would go out of town for the weekend, buy tires, accept a job offer, make dinner plans with our friends, or buy a new car without discussing it with our spouses first. We wouldn't, so why do we make these decisions without consulting God. He knows what is around the corner and what's best for us. Listening to Him could be life or death for us or someone else. I am reminded of a story about a lady that was driving home and hit and killed a cyclist on the road. When interviewed about the accident she stated that she believed the whole thing could have been avoided if she had trusted her spirit and went to a store for a few minutes. She also said that one of the biggest lessons she learned from this experience is to be tuned into Christ and to make sure to stop and listen to what the spirit is saying.

I don't know about you but this is a lesson that I don't want to learn the hard way. I would rather just atll my whole life and avoid a situation like this lady endured. My challenge today for myself as well as you is to begin involving God in our day to day decisions just like we would our husband or parent. Consult the Holy Spirit about your plans and be tuned into what your spirit is saying.

Next week I will blog about my first week in Amarillo and what I've been doing with my time.