Things I Learn on Twitter

Aside from being a wife, mother, singer, songwriter, traveling worship leader, speaker, writer, and newspaper editor, I have another job. My official title is Business and Community Relations Director. It's a fitting title as I love building relationships and I love the organization, Extreme Faith Productions, that I get to work with.

One of the biggest events that we do is this week! It's called ELEVATE and it's a three day music festival in Prescott Valley, AZ, with some of the top artists and bands in the Christian Music Industry. It's a blast and extremely exhausting. As part of the planning team, this event can also test the limits of one's patience.

This past week I came across a powerful quote on one of my favorite social media platforms,Twitter, and it has been running through my head like a tape recorder. And honestly, the playback feature on these words have made me a much nicer person to be around.

If you are struggling to be patient with others this week (or anytime in the near future) may I share these words with you.

"Patience means adjusting my speed to someone else's pace. 

It's another way to show God's love to another."

I have found that when I want to move faster with the vendors and businesses that I am dealing with frustration subsides when I simply slow myself down and adjust my pace. When we walk at the same pace it is miraculous how in-time we are and how well we communicate. That's the pace where harmony happens.

May you hear the sweet melody of patience this day, the harmony as you slow your speed to another's pace. And through it, may you show God's love in simple and magnificent ways.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ~ Colossians 3:12

I love you in the Lord, Mia

GREAT! Another Made Up Holiday

If you know me fairly well, one thing you've found out is that I am anti-Hallmark Holidays and anti-made up holidays. I'm not a fan of Valentines day in the respect that people are made to feel like they "have to" buy cards, presents and chocolate. I love my Mom and always call her on Mothers Day, but I have no desire for people to go out and spend money on me to tell me they love me. I already know they do.

So, when June 8th rolled around and my friend sent me a very celebratory text message telling me that it was National Best Friends Day, I thought to myself "ok", but then I started to reflect on the friendships God has weaved into my life. So many.

Then it happened, I got all Verklempt and started posting pictures of those gals that were my lifelong BFF's (Best Friends Forever).

But here's the thing, I call many people friends. Friends because God has in someway connected me with them. I call you who read this, friend, as we are connected through words, hearts and prayers. I have several dear friends who I have spent countless hours with, struggled with and rejoiced with. Then I have a very small group of friends that have been so instrumental in my life that I truly do call them my Best Friends Forever, my BFF's.

Ironically these are also the women that I see the least amount of time, have the fewest selfies with, live the farthest from and talk to less than most. Yet, these are the women who love me and whom I love through time and distance. These are the women, that when we get together after MONTHS/YEARS of not seeing each other, do not miss a beat. These are the women who know they are loved by me and the women I know love me, NO MATTER WHAT!

My sweet friend Margaret, who I lived next-door to since I was six weeks old has never left my side. She has been there through it all. Loved me even when I was crazy off my rocker. It has been the sweetest of friendships that has spanned my entire life.

My precious high-school friends Ellen and Lori are the two girls who took me in when I abandoned my regular lunch-room table (high-school drama) and loved me. Two girls that pretty much taught me most of what I know about music and ministry. Above that, they both lived life with me during those crazy High-school years and beyond.

So in honor or this completely sappy made up holiday, I encourage you to reflect on the friendships you have been given...life long, or simply so deep it feels like you have know each other forever (I could list several more like that.)

Take time to pray for these special people or that special person in your life, that God would continue to guard your relationship and bless it for the years to come.

Love you in the Lord,
Your friend,
Mia

Rumors-My Heart on the Chopping Block

As I sat down to write this blog, I had a completely different focus until my fingers hit the keyboard. I was going to share a funny little take on rumors that I thought would encourage you, but instead, I find myself standing in a place of tension. On one side, I hear a whisper of what I am to write and on the other side, I hear my flesh saying "Don't share that, it's one of the secrets that no one knows, the one you have kept hidden for so long.

Yet, as I sit here, I wonder......I wonder if anyone else feels this way...so I write.

Before we jump in, here was my original post. "I heard a rumor, God can do all things" and then I was going to tell you how some rumors are true and aren't we glad this one is, but instead, a shift happened and this is where we are left. Rumors... they have the power.

It is no secret that I was very reckless in my past, emotionally, physically and sexually. But, there are vivid moments in my life that I remember as turning points. Today, I am going to share one of those pivotal moments with you.

As a senior in high school, I sat confidently at the chemistry lab table talking with friends, minding my own business and doing my work. Then, I heard the whispers. I saw the way the girls looked at me and I found the note that someone had written. I remember it like it was yesterday. It said what a slut Mia was. It listed the names of certain boys that I had sex with and all the things I had done with them and it labeled me a whore.

That note crushed me. That note wrongly confirmed all the things I believed about myself. The only thing was.....I WAS a virgin. Now I am not saying I was holier than thou, I repeatedly put myself in situations that allowed boys to make up stories about me, but what I did know is that the words in that note were not true, but still, I allowed it to speak to me. I allowed it to change me.

I remember at that moment giving up. I consciously decided to not try anymore and just become wholeheartedly what everyone else already believed about me. I allowed it to become my truth and I set out to act on my new identity.

I turned into what they said I was. And for lack of better words, I was "on a roll" and I didn't know how to stop. I remember keeping track of all the men I had been with, writing their names in a secret place in the corner of my closet wall, clinging to a (false) truth that a "real whore" wouldn't know how many men she had slept with, but this too became tangled and hard to manage and I would spend years sinking down into a false identity, self destruction, unplanned pregnancy and adultery.

Now, I share all of that (even though I didn't want to) not to say that all because of that one note, I became the way I was....and to be honest, I don't know why I am sharing this at all.

But maybe, if we realize that the words we say have the power to build up and also destroy, we will be a bit more attentive as to what comes out of our mouths and more importantly what is in our hearts. Maybe, we will realize that rumors, gossip and slander, can really hurt the spirit of a person. Maybe we will even realize that rumors (most of the time) are not even true. And maybe, just maybe, we will realize how powerful we truly are.

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits." 

Proverbs 18:21

Or perhaps, we will realize that rumors DO NOT define us. Perhaps someone will be reminded that no matter what the world says about them, God speaks a truth into us that can not be tangled, distorted or disproved. Perhaps we will realize that sometimes people are just mean, but God is good.

Maybe, my friend, (who this is specifically for) you too will realize, 

as I now realize, that "I am who the Great I AM says I am!"

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17 

 "I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Psalm 139:14

I sign off, with a rock in my stomach, nervous to post this, but more nervous not to.

I love you in the Lord!

Mia

My sweet friend Rachel Barrentine sings it perfectly. Take a listen HERE: SAYS I AM