Dreamin'

Today started simple. It started out to be an awesome day.
As many of you know, last weekend I was at YC Manitoba. It was an amazing time! You would think that you would look most forward to the big band on Saturday night, but this year, I found myself being so excited for the praise and worship bands. It was amazing to be in the midst of hundreds of teenagers, giving themselves to God, praising him, singing to him, giving everything to him without caring who was beside them! Nothing could ever erase this image from my mind. Disciple was great (Kevin Young took a video of the crowd, check it out! http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2029498659156.122988.1294778022#!/video/video.php?v=10150170629888527 I was IN this!!), Remedy Drive was absolutely insane! Bluetree was awesome, as per usual. Unhindered helped us be united and really worship. Awesome people. The Panic Squad was so funny. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. You had to be there. Matt Tapley, incredible speaker. My cousin, Faith, was saved this weekend during an alter call!!! Praise God! She came to YC for a reason, God knew what was going to happen!! Oh man, her being saved made the whole weekend. Not the bands, not the speakers, not the lights, but the fact that one more person in this world is praising the King, as it should be.
Anyways, I knew that I would come off of my spiritual high hard and be into battle this week. That happened on Monday. I'm not going to give specifics, but I was so broken. I got into it with my parents about something that I wanted to do. Being a teenager, of course I wanted to do what I wanted to do! Duh! Well, of course, I was reading my bible that night, and I come across the verse "Children, honor your parents, because this is what is good." Ahhh, oh God, the ways you work. So, I calmed myself down. I had a conversation with my parents, and we worked it out that we would revisit the issue in a few months. I have to remember that this is God's rule, that I respect my parent's wishes. Although I may not, and do not, agree with it, I have to honor it, and I'm at peace with that.
This whole week has been a lot easier than I would have guessed. After the initial testing of faith, I feel so much stronger in God! God is just so good. I learned at YC, that I'm going to be tested over and over, it's never going to stop. A quote I love: "I want to be the kind of person that when my feet hit the floor in the morning, satan says, 'Oh crap, she's up!' " Haha :) I love that! And it's so true! I want satan to be threatened by my personal relationship with my Father, Savior and Lord.
So the main point of this post is that...drum roll please!! MY DREAM IS FINALLY BECOMING REALITY!!!!! I got an email today from a booking agent I had contacted a while back. He told me that we could get a deal for the Letter Black, Write This Down, I Am Empire, Icon For Hire and Nine Lashes to come to town on their tour! How awesome is our God?!!! I never could have done this without him putting everything together. It's going to be a lot of work to put together, but I am so ready.
So, my request to you: PRAY! Pray, pray, pray! The power of prayer will work. Pray for the people organizing it, pray for the bands, pray for the people who will attend the concert, pray for everyone. Also, we will gladly accept donations. We need to raise approximately $1500-2000, which is very cheap, trust me! So please contact me if you are looking to get involved in any way. (xo_arial_xo@hotmail.com)  Thanks much guys! Love you all.
God bless,
Ariel