~Friends~

For those of you who know me fairly well, you know how much I care about people and how they are doing and what God is doing in their lives and how He is working through them.

Here's my view on friendships.....You can never have too many friends. There are some people who choose to just have a few close friends because to them, having a big group of friends takes a lot of work and effort. They're right when they say that, but it's also reassuring to have such a big group of friends to hold you accountable and to be there for you when you need encouragement.

My philosophy on new friendships is to "let everyone in". Give people a chance. They may surprise you.

I actually made quite a few friends this year. One in particular has been a real blessing in my life. Her name is Ashley Reese and she is a very interesting person, but she's a real encouragement to me. She gives me Godly advice, and she doesn't point me to any other source of hope and comfort apart from God.

I have made many friends this year like Ashley and if I lived with the philosophy of "only having a few good friends" then I would not have all of the friendships that I have now.

Some new friends that I've made this year so far are: Katie Brown, Amanda Ely, Lorenzo Baylor, Travis Page, Zach Walter, Andrew Shupert, Taylor Webb, Kahlyn Slominsky, Ashley McRoy, Megan Caratachea, Taylor Duggan, Rachel Rittman, Lauren Maniaci, Melanie Slates, Ashley Reese, Megan Long,Jen Trapper, Elysha McAdoo.....

God has blessed me with many friends and I wouldn't trade them for the world.
God's Word even says that "a friend sticks closer than a brother" (Proverbs 18:24).

My encouragement to you is to not shut more friends out. Let them in. Give them a chance. You may be surprised at how God will bless you through those new friendships :)

Blessings,
-Liz Hitt

The Cross

I'm sitting in the Perk Coffeehouse with nothing to do and no one is around. Maybe that's a good thing? I don't know....anyway, for some reason I'm just beginning to think of The Cross that Jesus Christ died on for my sins and what The Cross truly means to me.

Knowing what it means to be saved and to be forgiven is very important.
There have been so many times when I have sinned against my God hardcore and I lose sight of how much He loves and how deep His love is for me.
And because I lose sight of that so often, I continue to beat myself up for what I've done to rebel against God just to satisfy myself. What a selfish mindset!!

God created me to glorify HIM...not to seek pleasure in this world just to satisfy my temporary desires. My purpose in life is set my gaze on God's eternal desires for me. To put all of my effort into HIS will...not mine.

Why do I so often lose sight of what Jesus Christ did on the Cross for me? Why do I keep seeking pleasure from this world?

The Cross should mean so much more to me than just a piece of wood that some man died on. The Cross is something that I should compare myself to. The Cross is the place where I need to lay everything down and completely surrender. Not surrender a little bit of my life....ALL of my life. The sins, mistakes, hurts, inappropriate behavior, wrong heartsets, wrong mindsets, songs, talents, burdens, pains, selfish ambitions, possessions, relationships, and just all the good and bad things in my life.

John 19:30 says, "So when he had received the sour wine, Jesus said, “It is finished,” and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit." What is so humbling about this verse is that Jesus willingly gave up His Spirit. It was not taken from Him; He freely gave it away just so that we could live.

Christ dying for my sins is the humbling portion of His crucifixion. The most amazing part of it all is that He rose again in three days time.
It says in Luke 24:1-12, " 1On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' " 8 Then they remembered his words.

9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened."

Jesus died on The Cross to save me and you from the neverending pain of Hell. He covered us in His blood so that we can be His and so that He can be ours.

He died for me, so I need to live for Him.
You should do the same!

-Liz Hitt

What Being Shown Up Has Taught Me

So I went to Guitar Center with my brother the other day. We love going there to see what new guitars they have in stock and stuff like that.

Well my main places that I go to check things out at Guitar Center is the Acoustic Guitar area and the Keyboard area. I was pretty bored with the acoustic guitar area because there wasn't really anything new and exciting to play.
But when I went to the keyboard area I found all of these new Yamahas, Korgs,etc etc...
I try to play each one at least once to get a good feel for them.

Well I was playing this $3000.00 Yamaha, and this black guy comes in to the keyboard next to me and starts playing off of what I was playing. I looked at him and was like "oh okaaay". I continued to play. Then his friends came in and they also played off of what I was playing...They started playing all of these jazz chords and nonsense that I can't even begin to fathom.
So I reached a point where I couldn't hear myself play anymore and I raised my hands and said "Ok you guys win". They laughed and we got to talking. They complimented me on how beautifully I play and I returned the compliments to them. These guys were incredibly talented.
I don't mean this as a racist joke or anything like that, but black people always get the talent. I wish I was black....like for real.

My whole point in this story is that I was tremendously humbled. For the longest time I thought that what I was able to play was good enough for the career that I intend to pursue. These guys showed me that there is much more to playing the piano, then embellishing simple chords. It's about learning my art to the point where I can be as free as I want to and still make my music sound fantastic.

God gave musicians specific gifts and abilities for a purpose. I personally believe that He gives us those abilities to glorify Him and to share His love through our music.

If you're a musician and you think that you're good enough for the career you intend to pursue....don't let that get to your head. There are always things to improve on and perfect in your art.

Silence is our canvas and it is our job to paint that silence with music :)

That's my story and thought for the day.
Hope you enjoyed it,
-Liz Hitt

How I deal with frustrations is dangerous!

I am so so soooo frustrated at myself right now. Last night in SpiritWing practice, I didn't do so well on the song that I sing called "Healer" and I know that I shouldn't beat myself up over something like that, but I couldn't stop myself from being angry with myself for not doing my best. So that's one thing that I'm really kinda frustrated about.
I am also frustrated with my music courses! Oh my gosh! For some reason today kind of threw me over the edge with music. I actually started to hate it.....HATE it! That's never happened before.
I'm thinking that the main reason why I get frustrated with my music courses is because....well....I don't exactly understand it as quickly as my professor would like. I feel like I'm behind, like everyone else knows what they're doing, etc etc...

Whenever I don't think that I don't do my best at something, I get irritated and frustrated with myself and beat myself down. I don't feel like being around anyone because I don't want to spread the bad feeling of frustration to my friends and family.

You'd think that I would pray hardcore and just listen for God....but I honestly don't do that as often as I should. Instead...I find an open practice room and start pounding my emotions on a piano. Even after I'm done on the piano...I don't feel satisfied.

It's crazy to me how easily I can become frustrated with something that I truly love, yet it's even more crazy/sad that music takes the place of comfort for my frustrations instead of having God as my comfort.

I normally don't do this, but I need your prayers badly. Having music become more important than God is NOT a good thing at all and I need to realize that God is the One who gave me a voice, who gave me talent, and who gave me life. I need to praise His name even in my frustrations....not go off by myself and play piano for 3hours.

I'd greatly appreciate your prayers.
Thanks,
-Liz Hitt