------------------Leah Rene' Canales

Leah and Fernanda-Killing the Flesh

2011-03-14T21:01:00.000-07:00

Killing the Flesh, phew shoo huh.

Leah and Fernanda- Having Grace not SELF HATE

2011-03-14T21:00:00.000-07:00

having grace on yourself :)

Wash Me

2011-03-14T20:59:00.000-07:00

This is a song I just wrote about being washed with Gods truth, even when we dont feel like allowing him to come in and speak truth to us. We really have to be willing to give up our nasty thoughts and ideals in order to feel the refreshing rain God has to give!

SURETY

2011-02-12T07:31:00.001-08:00

Surety is...a real word.

Its also a real and tangible thing. Its something I am beginning to notice is becoming part of who i am. Last night I was talking to Fernanda, (an amazing friend and intern at provision international where i live) And i laughed saying, "I think my face is different!" She looked at me with a smile, knowing that I had some reason for saying that. And of course I did! Its because I am more sure than ever of where my hope rests. Where my courage and clearity comes from. God has begun gripping my heart stronger than ever before in my life. Thats why my face feels different, when one is unsure, they show it clearly on their face. Its obvious, insecurity and desperation, poor spirit and downcast demener arent things that you can hide. But last night I noticed my face felt as if it was on a mission, that it walked in grace. Of course i mean my countinence basically. But because our faces display so much of whats happening inside us, Its where i noticed the change. As i have questioned as to how I got here, I realized these things took place:

1. I´ve been repenting. Big time.

Its walking into your room of weakness and really looking at what you´ve stored up in there, then ASKING God to clean you out. All the filthy things, Judgements, unforgiveness, bitterness, fear, anger, pride. I have walked through bits a pieces of healing from each of these things, and daily, even hourly, I am humbled with more. It is not overwhelming, its beautiful. Every time I see the problem and hand it to God, I feel SUCH release!

What keeps us from being freed from our issues?
Fear of the unknown is one. We are sheltered inside our issues, we get comfortable, they are awful yes, but somewhat predictable. You will be tempted. you will give in. thats the cycle. But many fear, as I have and continually choose to overcome, that if they really DEAL with something, they will have to be open for surprises. They will have to walk through the valleys they have run from their whole lives. They will have to have some people reject them, some people hurt them, some people become friends that they may not have wanted to befriend before. Its scary. But its not the bad choice. Just because something is hard, doesnt make it bad. Let me tell you, choosing to walk through the valleys of repenting and getting clean before God, has been the one thing that I have seen the most fruit in. No amount of crying, yelling, writing, reading, memorizing or counciling, can change you like TURNING FROM THE OLD WAYS, And seeking God and LISTENING to Him for the new.

2.I stopped trying to do things alone.

We need wise coucil in our lives, once we see the places we need to change and start taking steps. Its wise to have council from those who God has put in your life to guide you with wisdom and truth. I have finally begun asking leadership around me, the questions i never asked. Asking for prayer, guidence, wisdom. And its saved me SO much time already. We must be teachible, we must ask questions, we must be willing to listen. And I have begun finally getting over my pride and rebellion, by Gods grace alone, and seeking to gleen from the wisdom around me!

3.I took things piece by piece.

I stopped trying to take on the world all at once. I started making small goals for myself, then accomplishing them! How? I asked God what was priority in my life, then i did my best not to add to what he said, but just be faithful. Then I began by making a list (THIS IS AWESOME, IT HELPS SO MUCH, i learned it from a bible study) Make a list of the top five things you need to do in a given day to get to your ultimate goals. Then accomplish all you can STARTING with number 1. Then the next day, whatever you didnt get to, begins the new list. And just WATCH as you accomplish and take ground. Its so satisfying to know that our lives are totally managable, and if they arent, maybe our priorities are mixed up and the Devils trying to distract us from our purpose and destinies!

Those are a few things I have been learning and they have been changing who I am! OH MAN, I NEED GOD! I am seriously a mess without Him. YOU DONT EVEN KNOW! But just know, that God is not too big or damanding to give your whole life to. He is not asking you to be perfect in your own strength, he is not asking you to stand strong with all your power. He is your father, friend and love. He is the strong tree you lean against, he is all you need to stand steadfast, in His will.

You face changes when you seek to see Gods face.

THANK YOU GOD!

I TRUST IN HIM, He is my surety

2011-02-12T07:28:00.000-08:00

Leah...haha shes still alive

2011-02-09T18:32:00.000-08:00

The season of wild growth...has begun...

I got my ears pierced for the first time, I thought it would be fun, and it is!

These are my apartment mates. they are WONDERFUL woman of God, and i LOVVVVEE THEM

Hello all my Friends and Family!! I have been lagging behind in blogging for sure! But I will do my best to get you up to speed. I am currently in my second year interning at provision international! Its a beautiful ministry, multifaceted in many ways, I am part of prision ministrys, weekly worship, children ministries, public relations, yearly mission trips and out reaches, not to mention meals for the homeless every week. Its a busy and rewarding life to be sure. I am so thankful for every bit of what God is doing here. I am learning SO much and look forward to sharing my songs, revelations, ideas, and adventures on this blog! so keep your eyes out! I am determined to keep everyone in the know, as God is truly up to big things in my life. But more importantly, God is up to BIG things all over this world! And I know its not about me, its so big, so big, we are all going to see victories this year, i am sure, as long as we trust in God, ask him about every choice and choose the hard but good things over the things we necessarily want to choose. There is ground to be taken, without appologies this year. Oh its good. WHEW! SO GOOD! THANK YOU JESUS! WOOOO!!!

Home on the Range!

2010-08-09T12:48:00.000-07:00

I went home to VIRGINIA! For a week or so (IN JUNE, i have a lot to catch up on, i know!), and I did the following, and some:

I got to see some incredible people, including my OSS (operation shore storm) people (a youth rally i was part of in 2009, it changed OUR lives :D )
We got together and worshiped and prayed, and it was STINKING BEAUTIFUL! I am so thankful i got to see them all!

I went to the beach and enjoyed its beauty, more than i ever did while i was living there. We need to take all the joys of every place we are, or we will look back and regret not living it up more! I learned this too late, look at this beauty!? ahh!!!

Kari Jardine ( a friend i stinking adore!) and I went on a little walk down a driveway (yes, this is a driveway! haha) And got completely soaked. Good times. I love it. simply love it.

How many times do you see a frog like this? He is calm, even though a bug is like "let me eat your eye!" It taught me something. Not to sweat the small annoyances. Just close your eye lid and let the bug crawl over. :D haha

Us Girls got all Maskara face drawn up and scared my brother and cousin. It was beautiful bonding time really...

This horsefly is beautiful, it just sat there and let me snap a billion pictures, then it grew tired and decided to go home. hahaha

FAMILY--is beautiful. This is my Mom, Dad, Grandma, Sister and I :D

Pizza-was thicker than normal but perfectly memorible. It was my first time tossing pizza too :D my cousin knows how its done. haha

JELLY FISH--first time i ever picked one up. After the seven degree burns I recieved, i hobbled to the hospital and they replaced my hands with fake ones. ( Well that didnt exactly happen)

BEACH MUSIC in the morning. Brianna my cousin, and Linda my sister and I all went to the beach in the morning to praise God~! We sang, we danced, we fell to the ground and laughed. It was lovely. One morning we sang to some construction workers on our way home too. Ahhh good times.

So I took a trip home to Virginia! It was incredible. God is good.
I was blessed to see those I love so deeply, and see the hand of God in their lives. He is moving, though its hard times, he IS GOOD, FOREVER AND EVER! This folks is a brief update, I have more to come, of course! :D

Update on My Life!

2010-05-17T11:52:00.000-07:00

www.wix.com/leahrenecanales/Kiwi-Me

Check it out!

Knives in Knapkins

2010-05-17T10:19:00.000-07:00

Sarcasm. Its the most "comfortable" way for people in general to communicate. It seems on the outside like there is no actual danger in being candid and evasive. I mean, its all in Jest, right? Wrong. Allow me to give you a little narrative to explain what I think about sarcasm.

Once upon a time, two friends met for dinner as they had grown accustomed to doing each Friday afternoon. Mr. Leery Betrayed and Mr.Offensive Pride were their names. Though sometimes they had other friends join, such as Mrs. Alone Victim and Mrs. Constantly Cornered . Usually Mr. Leery, or Lee for short and Mr. Offensive or Offe for short, always met. The dinner would begin with a cautious hand shake, a tentative smile and a motioning to sit at the table for tea. A napkin sat near each one of the friends on their laps. Each man would make small remarks, kind for the most part, until one would gather his napkin up and lunge across the table with a knife protruding from its innocent white folds! "BAH! I HAVE YOU NOW!" He would scream, in a mincing and terrifying way. Then with laughter, the attacker would return to his seat and proclaim the action innocent and make light of the situation. While the victim would clasp his not so empty napkin and smile nervously. wondering when he should attach back, and prove he was not so much the victim. The near attacks where regular for such dinners. And though no visual blood was drawn. Not a moment of peace settled on either of the mens minds while in eachothers company. In their minds they would think things like, "is he about to attack right now? Should i prepare myself? will he actually stop or will he really slice me...will i die?" Now you can imagine that such thoughts would cause a major amount of riff between friends. So it continued until one day, Lee attacked Offe with such vigor that he sliced Offe on the cheek. Wide eyed and shocked, the two of them ended the dinner promptly and decided that it was all completely fine and jest, of course. However the next week, when Offe attacked Lee, he was shocked to find that Lee didn't venture to attack him back. A bit confused he asked, "Lee, why are you so solemn today? No fun left in your bones I see?" Lee looked down at his napkin and picked it up, against his better judgment, Offe flinched a bit. But was shocked to see that napkin unfold, with nothing inside. "Why Lee!" Offe exclaimed. "Where is your weapon? Why are you unarmed?" Lee set the napkin down and looked up with a tears brimming in his eyes. "I realize now" said Lee quietly, "That there is no joy in jesting this way, I dont want to continue threatening you, i dont want to hurt you." Offe laughed awkwardly, "H..hu..hurt me? Dont be crazy! This has always been pure fun, when has it ever hurt anyone?!" And that ended the conversation. However they both knew the truth. They had been hurting each other. They never had dinner together like this again. However they did have entirely different dinners, because neither brought weapons anymore, and their friendship, i am thrilled to report, became something of a strong friendship, rather than one full of defensiveness and uncertainty. One of trust and faithfulness, all because they put away the knives in their napkins.

Sarcasm causes you to be afraid of being hurt. And intern, you hurt others with your supposedly nonchalant words. Lets not be so afraid to come to dinner without knives. Lets drop the fake persona, and take a stand for a deeper way of speaking to one another. In a way that can be trusted.

I actually have a few friends who i never assumed i would be close to, because all we did was joke around sarcastically. But when i put my knife down, so did they. And our friendships grew so much stronger and real. I know it works, and i encourage you all to try it out! Its hard to be vulnerable. And say things with pure intent, because you will get scratched. But lets not be afraid of that, its better than a fake friendship, full of pride and insecurity! TRUE FRIENDS ARE WORTH EMPTY NAPKINS.

WELL HELLO!

2010-05-05T10:34:00.000-07:00

Its been a few months, the more i realize how much i have not documented here, the more i see how much i need to get started! Here is a SUPER fast update to where I am NOW. I'll tell you about the past, later...or will i? haha! I am in a season of rest after a wild intense season that we just passed through, conferences and the like have been wild, but so have the revelations! God is SO MIGHTY! AHH! I am hoping to go into more detail as to what I am actually learning, instead of just what I am up to, because Im up to TONS....here is a few updates:

1.) Nashville is flooded right now, i want to take a boat out and go float around the stadium. haha. Its a blessing that we just had a few leaks and soaked carpet. We are blessed indeed. Just down the road a street or two over is totally flooded. Its wild!

2.) I have officially posted a painting website! And I am believing that God is going to provide for my rent and food through it! I am believing in $10,000 dollars coming in, call me crazy, but God is bigger than my dreams, this I know! I wont allow myself to worry over finances, though I will do my best to be faithful in what I can, I know God is big enough. :D
CHECK IT OUT!: www.wix.com/leahrenecanales/Kiwi-Me

3.) My brother and sister got in a car accident, but are totally fine, however it shook up my world and reminded me how important it is to speak. To tell people you love them, to tell them the truth, to not shrink back in fear, time is too short to count on it being there tomorrow! No more wasting life!

That is my super fast crazy update! I hope you all can forgive my lax of communication! I am actually going to be able to catch up more now! I love you all!

Random Trip to Primm Springs!

2010-03-15T16:38:00.000-07:00

So it was a beautiful adventure that took place for me last Sunday! Ben-John called me a few days before Sunday, (Ben-John is like a big brother of mine, he is a really Godly and awesome guy.) And asked if i would like to go to Primm Springs for
a church service at the magazine that i used to work out in 2007. I was feeling homesick and lonely for family, so going to see them was the best thing ever!! It was a beautiful time! I am so thankful!!!! The entire service was about abortion and praying against it!

John driving with Ben-John in the passenger seat!

Zach and I in the back seat on the way to Primm Springs for Sunday Church at the Campbells!

This is the Campbells downstairs room they have church in, I love it! The children prayed (as they do every sunday) and this sunday they prayed against abortion! it was POWERFUL!

Fred and Sharon Chunn are such a sweet influence on my life, they run a prison ministry. Its beautiful!

Breeze Amber is four months old, i saw her when she was 5 days old, its crazy to see how much she has grown. she was SO tiny 4 months ago!

Emily Rowland happened to be there and I was surprised to see she was still there after 5 months!!! She was there volunteering at above rubies with me in 2007!

Here is the sneaky sky as we traveled home to Nashville. Ever so gradually, the air thickened with the congested city as we drew closer.

Theme song of the year

2010-03-01T07:43:00.001-08:00

I'll drag you through the battle field. Ok? :D

2010-03-01T07:11:00.000-08:00

INTERCESSION! IS INTENSE.

(Check out "more than you'll ever know" on my song play list, it goes to this post :D you can read this while you listen to it, fun aye?)

The picture above is of Courtney and I, we had just had a deep revelation of what it means to pray for our family and friends. It means you are literally battling with them. So you cant just start praying for someone and figure you'll be ok. We need to realize that you dont casually walk into a battle field, say nice things and walk out. No, your army crawling and rolling, and crying and snotting and screaming when you touch a random body on the ground. Its ugly and intense sometimes. Thats why we need full armor, and full awareness of the situation we are headed into. Courtney and I were doing some battle for the same person, through prayer. And we both realized we were feeling drained and couldnt finger point it. Its not that you can always avoid feeling the pain of those you pray intensely for, but in realizing that it was backlash from prayer, we were able to pray for endurance for eachother, and strengthen eachother. No more going into battle un-prepared. Pray is SO DIASSENTIAL! SO POWERFUL. I have only BEGUN to dive deeper into this place of strengthening one another through prayer.

So put on your armor, fling your brother/sister over your shoulder and start pulling! Work out your abs today, to have more endurance tomorrow. This. is a lesson I am learning, in February 2010.

Snow Day :D

2010-02-02T16:20:00.000-08:00

This video was BEFORE worship and the snow ball fight:::

And this is in the beginning, ish, of the epic battle of hard balls of frozen water that decievingly look like cotton. So not cotton.

OH wow, i love snow...
So after friday night worship, we all went outside and hit eachother with snow balls...out of love. :D It was pretty fun, we had some neighbor kids come and play for a bit too. it was like 10:30/11pm! The super excited people that were left over ended up going around the neighborhood until we found a tall hill to slide down with cardboard boxes! It was a blast :D 4 inches of snow can bring a heap of fun, lemme tell ya. :D

A rather nifty night I must say.

Oh Tuesday, is everything double today?

2010-01-30T08:47:00.001-08:00

Tuesday! Mondays we are on brake, so our week begins Tuesday, I cant say Im every upset that tuesday has arrived, its always got some sense of adventure attatched to its name. I mean, if the goodness is in TWOS (get it, tues, twos...) then it has to be great eh?!

Its a rather dark and chilly morning this tuesday, but Its all the better for getting my brain up and awake!

There is something happening the more i do this...time begins to fly faster and faster like when you pull your legs in on a tire swing, and you start picking up speed instantly. There isnt enough time in the morning anymore, it just flys past like burry dizzy images...

Somehow this reminds me of planet of the apes. Somehow we caught some shifty figures lurking in the shadows....of a blurred camera lense that is...

here Kassi (who just joined us in working out!) Kristen and i are doing improve workout....where we make stuff up for a picture for two seconds then get back to our fast walk. haha

Here is Dia and I before we begin our Tuesday TEST. yikes is right. we have to memorize a verse a day, and then tuesday we write them down by memory. I like it a lot! It is awesome to have Gods word in your mind, and to be reminded to get it in there through this kind of accountability!

test time...

Pastor Scott and Pastor Sarah got back today! And they told us about Brazil and the amazing things that happened there! They got to spend time with Benjamin Moses the 5 year old boy they have been trying to adopt sense he was 6 months. And we are all hopeful that they will get him very soon!

Courtney and i in the second harvest truck. I also help with inventory and we go get food from the food drop, load it up and get it back home. Its a good workout sometimes, I enjoy it, Courtney and I always have great convo during the whole ordeal. You know something? thats what so cool about having brothers and sisters that love jesus soo much...you can have SUUUCH in depth convertation and learn and sharpen eachother, any old time of any given day! :D

we got home and did some more work learning about excel. And it was good.

this my friends, is, well courtney and leah in everyday life. haha

Time to rest for a bit. ITS SO IMPORTANT, to rest and make time to do it. this is something i am learning about daily.

we have begun this 12 week series on tuesday nights led by Dawn and Phil, they are amazing and are taking us through the entire bible and how its organized and what is where and history and..i CANT WAIT! This is the first introductionary night!

Here I am cutting Todds hair, its the first time i have cut any guys hair before, and uh...well i kinda messed up a bit. HOWEVER...i dont make the same mistake twice. so thats...good. haha. He is like a dad to us, and it was pretty cool of him to let us practice on his head! I paused and my eyes widened when I did a bit of a mistake and he said "its only hair, it'll grow back" and I swallowed and said "yeah, but you havent seen it yet..." hahaha he has been wearing a hat ever sense...I uh...hear its because its cold outside? um...haha

Then its time to read a bit, I am reading the confessions of st. Augustine, we have to read a book a month and its crazy finding time. But there is time, its just wisdom to use it that i need to pin down.

So there you have it folks! one full and i mean FULL week interning at provision international! I havent the time or energy to document in such detail for the duration of my internship. But I wanted to give you a taste of week to week life, i will continue updating with thoughts and random adventures though. And I am thankful for each and every one of you! YOU ALL CAN COMMENT BENEATH THIS THINGS BTW! I dont need it, but i wanted to let you know that its an option! :D

My love to you darling world changing people in my life.

--Leah Rene' Canales

p.s I am currently creating a blog for the general public that is less personal and more about things I am learning and desire the world to know! I will let you know when its ready for its debute!

Lovely Monday...sorta like Sunday...

2010-01-25T19:26:00.000-08:00

MONDAY...I hardly took any pictures...as the events i did we're rather much, not events! Monday is our day off... So I took it off, and took very few pictures...more like, one. And a video!

I woke a bit later than usual, like 9:00am, and went and spent some time with the Jesus!

Then I got some time with family, on the phone. And also managed to catch up on all emails. Now It is getting late and tomorrow begins the last all day photo journal. And I must be ready for what it has in store for me, so with that, I am going to sleep.

Its so bright it must be SUNDAY....hahaha OI.

2010-01-25T18:51:00.001-08:00

So Sunday! Its Kassis birthday! So we have a rather different sunday in mind...one of celebrating our 24 year old sister, who we all love dearly...and this is how we did it...

At church it all begins at 9:30 with intercession, we pray for what we feel God has put on our hearts, and for God to move in mighty ways. For healing and for strength. We pray for individuals and the church as a whole. Its so necessary, and so beautiful. GOD JOLLY LOVES TO HEAR OUR PRAYERS AND GET THIS, "ANSWER THEM!"

Kassi the Birthday girl on the Bass!

we worship Jesus!

We normally have things set up differently, in rows not tables. But this sunday was special and different. However the people jumping and dancing and just praising Jesus, thats normal :D

For church we wrote Letters to God. Marco and Natalie are the leaders beneath Pastor Scott and his wife Sarah. And they are the ones that told us about writing letters to God, making requests and committments and then reading the letter a year or two later after the fact. Its cool to hear stories of families being saved and dreams coming true, from handing them to God in a letter and trusting in faith that He will bring said things to pass. :D sweet.

This folks, is a cool table of ppl, eating food together...and simply savoring the company of one anotherness. :D tis good.

This is the face you make, when you have eaten at Chili's--- and decide to make a strange face for a picture. haa.

Here we are waiting for everyone to show up so we can play at the park...haha yeah....

This is the park! We decided to surprise Kassi and go play at the park with her, this was an amazing park...makes me glad Im a kid! I am pleased to say that all the people you see in this picture are there for Kassi's birthday, and it was a treate, we arent too old to fool around at the park! never!

How long has it been sense i climbed around on a jungle Gym you ask? TOO LONG. (maybe like. a week...)

We are infact, sitting on a massive dragon made out of this cool mosaic stuff. yes..its full out cool...

The clouds looked a bit like a dragon, though its hard to see here. Interesting...we just left dragon park you know...

Then we went to Cafe' Coco which made Kassi super happy, this is me and the birthday girl. we packed the place out! We had a pretty big group of us for sure :D
I just drank water, as that is my traditional drink of choice. haha

Getting in my car after Cafe' Coco. I was a bit afraid i might catch my skirt in the wheels while pitter pattering home. But no worries. I had no fatal plastic cracking situations. all was well. :D with me and my darling car...haha

Music practice with Charla (behind me) because she is having her CD released this coming saturday! So she wanted me to play drums, violin, and sing...non of which i do to incredibly well, but all of which i am improving on! haha :D

We gathered in the devo room for eating cake and watching "cloudy with a chance of meatballs" to top off the night, and can i just say, that movie...so great. :D I laughed like...hard enough to spit out my food if i had been eating it while laughing...

This my friends was SUnday! normally i dont go out to eat, I like to save my money and eat at home and just relax and catch up on things, however this was a special day and I do believe it will go down in history. Now that its all documented and such. It was a day of spiritual warfair and liberating victory. A day of planning and praying, playing and laughing. It was a full day indeed. And I feel blessed to know each and every person I spent it with. :D

Oh Silly Saturday, THERE you are...

2010-01-25T18:06:00.000-08:00

Saturday, oh the bliss. We get to sleep in and meet at around 10 usually. And thats when we either do an activity cleaning the facility, or an outreach. This saturday, we had the morning to do work at the foundry, then we met at 1pm to go and Clean a house. But first thing is first...

Its time to really dig deeper...Its about the private place not the public eye...and in this world, its so easy to forget that...you can be a bright red m&m but have no chocolate inside...Ooh I want to have rich chocolate in my shell...:D

Philip and I before devotions got started, reading the bible and memorizing verses. I am doing Philippians 4:4-8 and James 1:9-10 this week, and I rather enjoy them I must say...:D

Devotions...Gotta love devotions...

We had some work to do on Lynda.com learning more EXcel stuff, we are getting rather excited i must say...I JUST MUST ORGANIZE SOMETHING IN LIST FORM! AHHHH!!! haha ok maybe not that dramatically...ok totally not that dramatically ;) but almost nearly.

We got in a circle and prayed for Lisa, Natalie our Dorm mom's Co-worker. Whose house we were about to go clean for our outreach that day. We put on the armor of God and prayed for wisdom and encouraging words for her. Its a battlefield you know...and I like that we dont take it lightly! :D

THE office/library/craftroom/storage room/tuppawear collection/ hair salon? BEFORE we got started...Kassi and I took it on as a challenge, and I must say, i think we won. Sure there was wounds...haha

Oh...it is beautiful...I love that surge of accomplishment you get after diligant working and sorting. :D BOOYA.

Here we are with Lisa, the lady who's house we cleaned, she was great!

After cleaning, while driving home, we decided to do some amazing videos. We really enjoyed cleaning btw. I know our preformance is rather convincing...but believe me...its just acting. No matter how amazing and believable :D haha

After getting home and getting comfy I decided that I would stretch and work out. Stretching is GOOD YA'LL! stretching like this..uh...well...umm...haha

After getting home Kristen and I did about half an hour of workout, and I am super glad we did. we sweat the dust out of our systems! (from cleaning...However, we dont normally hold dust in our systems...just incase you were worried! haha)

We watched Nickleous Nicklebee, one of my favorite movies to chillax for a bit. I didnt end up watching it all though. But i do like it majorly! You see i got a call from Callie...

Callie had an idea to go to trader Joes to get some things for Kassi who is my room mate and who was having a birthday the next day. So I jumped up and went with her, and we had such a great bonding time. I truly Love Callie, she is a big sister to me, as is Kassi, God is great in putting big sisters in my life! :D

And that folks, is what I call saturday :D

Why Hello Friday! Whats FRI'N? teehee

2010-01-23T20:59:00.000-08:00

Good Mooorrrnnning FRIDAY! This morning I am normally getting ready for a real exciting day, Fridays are rather fun. Today we had a treate in store, we are planning on going to GLEN GARRETTS recording studio. So I woke and walked over to worship the Jesus with wild anticipation...

Its neat to see whats on Gods heart...and hear what He has to say...

I felt like this was a proclimation over the day, choosing to give it all to Him< no matter what! It needs to be brought to my memory time and again, just how important it is to have Jesus in my bloodstream...every time my heart pumps...

it was a fairly warm morning, and as it sprinkled ever so lightely... Kristen and I did our workout but also just talked and enjoyed the beauty of the morning. As we walked by the library/afterschool building, I smelled a strange waffely cotten candy pancake smell...but try as I might, I couldnt locate the smell on latter trips around the track to prove to Kristen I wasnt crazy. Appearently the cotten candy waffle pancakes were all in my head. bummer. haha!

I will never be too old to play on a jungle gym. I mean, seriously! they are so much fun!!!

After this picture my actual first sentence out of my mouth was "wow. i actually didnt know i cold hold myself up with one arm like that. COOL!" haha. Its interesting what you can do...when you dont even realize it. Makes me think of how God has created us to do things we dont even realize right now we are humanly able to do. If I didnt even know my own strength, then i better trust the Jesus to guide me I think!

Sooooooooo Yes...we are a bit cheesy, and full of the morning air (its got some kinda zing to it, ya know?) we broke down and did a little dance, singing thing. do enjoy...hahaha

This is a picture of my feet. (just in case you were confused, you know. ) We are doing devotional! Dia brought the word, and it was really neat. Shes fo izzle! So much good convo goes on, it usually has to be cut off and people told to hush so we can try and get to work on time! haha

As the meeting is let out, we all begin to scatter and get ready for our little trip! This, I must mention, is not a normal friday event, normally we would be doing a work day, septerating to do various jobs that we already know. But it is a special friday, and I wouldnt object to our schedule being interrupted in this manner ever so often...its invigorating to switch it up!

We are on the way to the Garretts house! Its foggy in Nashville...a neat thing to see, I do declare...Sometimes...i wish i could touch fog...and imagin it would feel like silky cotten...is that strange? hehe

We got to go visit Glen and Carolyn Garrett! At their home! It was a nice treat, we listened to his music, and even ended up recording a chior part right then and there! They love eachother so much, the Garretts!

Allow me to introduce Chicki. Chicki was a cat found in a dumpster behind Chick Fela'. She had been hit by a car and broken her hips and left to die. So after getting healed up and put in a rescue, Glen and his Wife adopted her, but not without praying for a few months on it. Seriously such a sweet cat! I have heard that orange cats are the nicest ones, and so far..thats totally true...

We had a great time at the Garrett house, but alas after Glen blowing a shofar, we had to get going. We love the Garretts though, and he says he wants to play with us sometime!

Gotta admit, we sounded pretty great eh? ehhh??

Here we are a'learnin Excel some more. We are going to be such EXCELant people when it comes to lists...hehe We wont be learning this every day, just until we get through all the training we need, then I will be devoting more time to the myspace for Thunder School and such. But for now...we will EXCEL...haha oh boy.

One of the most exciting things about Friday nights is painting, when I dont know what to paint! Because God always paints through me and I learn things from what i paint. Sometimes other people learn stuff too...thats super exciting to me :D

At this point i was like "oh boy, what in the world is this God? Its so weird!"
I reach that point a lot...and then i just keep going... and see what happends

Here is what this painting means to me, There are a few flowers poking out of the hole of white, which i consider the world. Thats all the world sees, like an iceberg there is soo much beneath the serface. The huge amount of green and flowers beneath isnt visible. Nor the fact that there is an anchor that holds the whole thing steadfast and the anchor is in the middle of a clock which stands for Gods Time. Its Gods way of telling me, that my time with him and the growth he does in me, is majorly in the secret place. And it doesnt need to be seen by the world. Its more imporant for me to focus on Him and His plan, in his time, steady and determined.

After Friday Night fire...we are literally exhausted. I discovered the next morning that I woke to the exact same position that i fell to sleep in! And I mean EXACT. That< is how tired i was. haha. Sleep was sooooo delicious :D

that my friends...was friday... :D

Much love! --Leah Rene' Canales

LINE RIDERS!

2010-01-22T14:53:00.000-08:00

THIS IS THE FIRST SONG WRITERS NIGHT OF THE YEAR! and boy oh boy was it fun...check out what I was up to...hehe

this little thing here..is a brilliant download from God. In musical, 80's. rockout, style...so yes. If you drive in the middle of the road in front of Courtney Benefield and Leah Canales you will most likely find us preforming some sort of balled to it that very evening...this is proof. hahaha

THIS IS WHAT I CALL THURSDAY...MAN.

2010-01-21T17:47:00.000-08:00

Thursday...i stinking love you. so here is your ode.

So like the morning before, Thursday i wake up as early as i can manage, so about five in the morning, and get some Jesus time...gotta love Jesus time. DELICIOUS.

Then I head back to the apartments to work out with Krissy dear...

This is an inside weight, crunching type day, we like to call these days "tiger lillie" Kristen arranges and figures out what we do and how long on these days, shes so hard core...avacados basically have a marshmellow for a pit in her presense..hehe

Thursdays I have laundry at 8 am, so Its a quick scurry to get all ready for the day and out the door half an hour earlier than normal. So I run...and then stop and smell the fresh sidewalk hugged puddles of rain. And take pictures...

And then i get caught in the beauty of the rain pipe thing...well, ok, so I like the rain! A really rediculous amount! hehe. Something so transporting and thought provoking about it...

And in bliss due to my little rain walk, I dump my laundry into the washing machine gently so that they may be beating like raw meat until they are pulverized to perfection and are ready to be dizzied into dryness.

Then we meet from 8:30 till 9:00am for devotionals, i forgot to get a picture with people still in the room...oops...

Then i start over to work, but i am caught by some follage. Stinking scenery distracting me from stuff! hehe well actually i dont mind at all...

Then I work on the Myspace for thunder School..if you know people interested in my school, gee you should hook me up and tell me names or better yet, have them add thunderschool as a friend on myspace! Gee that would be great. I am revamping it right now, so let me know if you think it looks professional enough or not. I seriously want this to be awesome looking.

Now its time for Kristen and I to eat SUPER fast, before we begin cleaning for meal of hope! So that is done in record time and we are off to set up for meal of hope, hoora!

Here we are wrapping plastic wear, Dia from Maryland to the left and Phil behind me from Ohio!

What can I say? hehe....it caught my eye...you know we catch Gods eye? thats exciting...

Kassy heading to meal of hope, we are getting ready to start, a few have already showed up to the left...

we are eating a real quick meal before we open the doors and feed the homeless...

this is the line for food...

It was going to storm pretty bad that night so we expected a possibly small group of people to show

But as you see, it was an alright size, though a bit smaller than normal!

And at the end of meal of hope we all pack up togo boxes and hand them out, then everyone on board for sweeping, putting tables, chairs and the like away, as well as mopping and dishes. Its pretty intense, but we work as a team and it gets done super fast!

At the end we get in a circle and we tell any testimonies of the night, ppl that got healed, prayed for, had praise reports or concerns. And then we pray and close out with shouting hallaluia! Its a beautiful day Thursday. Lots of work, but its amazing. :D

This is what I call---WEDNESDAY---

2010-01-20T17:50:00.002-08:00

Wednesday...the 20th of January 2010...a wild thing happened...I was stalked by the OPTP (obessive photo taking people) and then emailed all the creepy but insainly accurate photos documenting my entire wednesday activities...so I figured...i might as well share them with you all... i mean...after all...Im sure it'll be somewhat interesting for you to see what a normal wednesday looks like for me...:D even if its because i was stalked by the OPTP! (HAHA sometimes i just kill myself!)

LET THE ADVENTURE OF WEDNESDAY BEGIN!.........

This Wednesday began at 5 am...though i always shoot for five, i havent made it exactly< on the dot every morning...haha to be sure. I am standing in the Green room...where i like to go for some awesome Jesus time...

Another look at the green room, you can see my stuff all over the piano...all the things you need at five in the morning...water, flash light, phone, keys, blanket, bible, journal, and a pen. haha

Here Kristen and I just got back from a walk in the park, well it was pretty intense, we can keep a pace I tell ya what! We just got back and after this picture we got all stretched and then got ready for the wild day ahead of us!

Here Courtney and I are at a loading dock at one of our stops to pick up food, there is about four to five stops on wednesdays, we shop for all the interns and intern families. As well as for events we are holding such as our meal for the homeless, "Meal of Hope" every thursday. Its a big job, but someone has to bring home the bacon! haha

Kristen and I are, as you know, making some changes in how we eat, so by eating six meals a day we are finding its not only exciting to eat so often, but its helping us not eat HUGE MASSIVE MAMMOTH WILD CRAZY amounts of food. if that makes any sense. So yes, We have some point of planning food during the day, for the next day. We take sunday and monday off though, its nice to not plan for a few days!

Here we are learning EXCEL! from Lynda .com its a rather good resource for learning stuff. We have an hour or so a day set aside for taking notes and learning how to become more effeciant at our jobs! By making fantastic spreed sheets!

Ahh, and here it is the end of the day for the most part we are all relaxing and watching "Faith Like Potatoes" a rather good movie, i like the moral, the cinimatagraphy (sp!?) isnt fantastic, but its got rather good actors and a kick butt message. SOO there is the day...now I shall attempt to be in bed by 10 and get ready for Thursday! OH I LOVE THURSDAY! I'll tell you why, later...

Love to Yee...

-Leah Rene' Canales!

SIX MEALS A DAY BABY!

2010-01-20T17:50:00.001-08:00

We, Kristen and I are doing this new lifestyle thing, not a diet, but a LIVIT which is a cool new way to give ourselves the right food for the right strength for the fullest life ever! So we can fully LIVIT...(ahha! get it? live...it..chuckle)
bwaha! I like to share the exciting stuff i discover in life...I am a big fan of savoring the good stuff.

MY OVER THE TOP SANDWICH!

2010-01-18T13:12:00.000-08:00

OK...so I have created a new kind of sandwich, this being the first one to recieve air time. hehe. Its called "over the top" because i dont like top buns on sandwiches very much. oh I will still eat them at times. But this is how me likes it. Ahhem, so enjoy creating some over the top food, but make sure you let ppl know. I totally created this eating phenominon. :D Leah--the girl that God intrusted with the wisdom of knowing how to toss the top bun off and be free from its suffocating presence. :D

we had an adventure in antarctica!

2010-01-17T14:41:00.000-08:00

:D
-Leah Rene' Canales

a random old memory from christmas vacation...

2010-01-17T13:38:00.000-08:00

sometimes...you just have to sit back and watch...

p.s Micayla was a witness to this "adventure"...

JANUARY 16TH "unlovely"

2010-01-16T14:01:00.000-08:00

Hey Ya'll!!! I am in Nashville for izzle. We are all getting this place all cleaned up and organitized. Its great :D I am helping run the Thunder School Myspace so if i invite you all with it, its because i thought you might be interested in being amigos with and learning more about (AND MAYBE ATTENDING!?!?!??!) Thunder School!

1) this week I learned that I am an ALTO 1 AND SAPPRANO 2! COOL HUH? i never knew what that meant...haha

2) LYDIA ANN STEED IS ENGAGED! My Best Friend from when i was like 13. haha. so CONGRADULATIONS BABE!

3) I have been thinking about making a comic strip about the people I know, all being super heros..

4) I am officially attempting a healthier lifestyle by eating six meals a day and working out four days a week. so far so good. (its only been three days... but you have to start someplace!!!)

5) I ABSOLUTELY LOVE SWISS CHEESE AND FROZEN BERRIES. i just need the world to know. these foods are beautiful. Recently i have found myself reaching a perfect place while eating where the only thing i can do is just close my eyes and savor the perfect blend of tastes.

6) SAVORING. I am learning the beauty of savoring. Life, MOMENTS, people, FOOD. but most of all JESUS. He is so delectible. not ment for rash gorging and disregard. no way man! NO JOLLY WAY!

7) we are memorizing one verse a day here, and right now i am doing james 1:2-8, its the kind of bold teaching i need ground in to my ever softening skull. :D

Well! thats it for this here post!

My Love, Truly,

--Leah Rene' Canales

p.s i included a picture of my room and our living room, Kristen is my roommate and shes the bomb! We have to keep our rooms clean and beds made here, but it hasnt proved to be an issue :D

ALSO: The apartment building, ours is the wood screen door bottom left. There is four girls living in our apartment, i'll get a family picture up soon :D hehe. Kassi, Dia, Kristen and I. Kassi and Dia room together.

MY LITTLE NARATIVE:

"YAWN, 5:00am? should i get up? will i regret not getting up...yes...i know the answer is yes...now what will i do?" this is what you will find me doing in the morning...I tend to argue with myself the pro's and con's to getting up much earlier than necessary. As we usually dont meet until 8:30 in the morning for devotions. But even though I have not succeeded yet, its only the first week. And i can smell victory on the horizon. And it looks like a sunrise. After this i usually read the bible and discover new things i never realized or noticed before. Its usually and adventure, but always strengthening. I realized that Boaz is an example to all young men who have mothers who have been caught up in prostitution! He must have had a rough childhood, but obviously became a rather splended justice seeking man! As he married Ruth looked out for the best for others! I never really made this connection, that Boas had Rahab as a mother! Then after running through the verse i am going to memorise that day a few times. I will get up and go workout with Kristen from 6:30 till 7:30ish. Then we get our food ready for the day, as we are planning on eating six different types of meals. Some rather invigorating word is brought by an intern or a staff member, at 8:30 devotions in the old practice room. That has now been made into a lounge with a few couches and a table put inside. This thursday we had Glen Garrett come speak to us about digging into the word, and he invited us to his studio the following thursday to pray over his upcoming album. Phew...now we get to work! Usually I am glancing around as we walk to the our various jobs, at the people i live with, feeling a large surge of joy and thankfulness. Such great people, such huge destinies.

I do suppose this all seems a bit over the top, but i assure you, this is a morning as it would appear tuesday through friday in my life here. I havent reached the other parts of the day, they all vary so much. But I must say, dispite the rumor that no one gets angry, and no one gossips and no one is annoying, those things do happen. But we dont stay in those dirty places. Its a bad thought that comes and you kick out of your head right away. Yeah, its not about not having trash, its about taking the trash out. Thats a bit of my life in storyish form....

it all started this one day, with JAMES 1:2

2010-01-12T15:41:00.000-08:00

AHHEM. i am going to do my best to document stuff on this here blog that will somewhat enlighten you. Some how being beneficial to your life. I have a few rather faithful friends that i know would read this blog, even if i posted nonsensical life wasting, boring ME talk the entire way through. HOWEVER. i dont think you should read stuff that doesnt in someway edify you. So I will give you a brief update on me then something amazing i've learned and then i'll be OUTA here. sometimes i may include a "how to" video on some random benefitting thing. So i shall hopefully keep this going regularly. My other blog leahs rain, has come to an end. This is the place to go.

A BIT ON MY CURRENT LOCATION AND OCCUPATION! WOO!

THE PLACE I LIVE: is in Nashville, i moved into a cozy apartment with some super fiery God loving woman and i am blessed. FOR IZZLE. We have already had some sister prayer gathering moments and i am sure this year will be packed with them! I share a room with a girl named Kristen who happened to sleep above me on the bunk bed we shared during Thunder School (more info about what in the world that is at harvestsound.com)

CORNY REALIZATION: I AM WILD FOR SWISS CHEESE AND FROZEN BERRIES. i cant seem to find any way to discribe the joy they give me besides "mhmmmm THANK YOU JESUS~"

OCCUPATION!---I am interning at the school i graduated from and today we got an idea of what we will be doing, i will be doing public relations mostly and am excited to try this area out!

THE YES MOMENT: I have recently noticed that there often comes a moment where you can either say "YES JESUS!" or you can just roll over in bed and hit snooze on your alarm. I am "alarmed" to say (get it, alarmed...haha) that i have generally chosen the latter. Oh i have rather good seasons, but a lot of the time lethergy claims first place. AHHHH GROSS! ok so thats my confession. My battle plan? to say yes and then DO IT. The Yes moments occure A LOT. so instead of talking about how beneficial it is to say yes. I am at this moment, on a wild adventure to actually (gasp) do the things i so loveingly plan to do. haha. YUCK. done with the hypocritic life style.
So in getting my priorites streight and creating a plan...i am going to take some major ground this year! This concludes my first rather short and hurried but slightly enlightening post.

Until i type and you read agian...

-Leah Rene' Canales

p.s during internship we have to memorize a verse a day, today its James 1:2...for me... and I am going to say it until it becomes part of my DNA. :D

And then...it was 2010

2009-12-31T21:27:00.000-08:00

2010. I am happy to say that the good old new york ball dropped at exactly 12:00am January 1st as predicted. ;) After which my family proceeded to thank the Jesus and tried very hard to focus on prayer as my beloved sisters phone went off like a random radio station being flipped from channel to channel. We smiled. and snickered, but remained mentally at attention. naturally. ;) Then being as i have aquired this recent hobby of blowing my nose...i decided to trudge to bed while the family began watching a Jet Lee Film. I went outside, (as i live accross the street)the faint booming of fireworks fluttered about as I tried my best to get a wiff of the fresh air, my nose partually abliged. A light drizzel danced around and made me smile as I purposefully stomped on the puddles on the driveway. i am wearing at this time a couple super long nearly dress length shirts and leggings, with a pair of shorts over them loosely. I say loosely because they werent buttoned. The shorts. Due to my hands being simply too tired of ripping toilet paper from a roll to blow my nose. Somehow my shorts began to fall...and though i could have stopped and tried to grab them, somehow the fact that i was literally walking out of them brought me too much inward laughter to stop my procession. So nearly at the door my mom called out "Did you get in!?" because I wasnt sure as of yet if the door was unlocked or not. I tried calling back "my shorts are holding me up!" she asked me to repeat myself but i deteringly just said "nevermind!" because my voice was nearly completely gone and what i said made no sense whatsoever anyhow! Stumbling inside i managed to make it to my room and write this beautiful beginning down. I have a feeling this is going to be a delicious year, unconventional and stupendous even. Thank you Jesus!

One random thursday in Nashville TN...

2009-12-18T06:02:00.000-08:00

this is prior to loosing my camera chord and having no more room on my computer. SOOO my plans are to continue this "log" situation...in more excess...in the future. I know your SUPER PUMPED! :D

Once Upon A Time...

2009-12-15T19:35:00.000-08:00