Convicted: the lines have been drawn

I am convicted. 


I have never been more convinced in my life that underaged drinking is a sin.


No blurred lines, excuses, questions..
It is a sin. The lines have been drawn.


Satan might try and get you to believe that it's normal to try it, experiment, but I am convinced that it is against God's will for our lives and giving something like alcohol that amount of power to influence your choices is wrong.


A friend of my mother's died to alcoholism in October and I saw firsthand how drinking can wreck a life, a family, and a promising future.  You may be sitting there thinking you can have alcohol "completely under control" but you can't.  It is one of the ways Satan can attack you at your weakest point and manipulate your sense of right and wrong.


The way I see it, if you're thinking about drinking and you have faith in God, look at it this way.
Would you be able to look in God's eyes and tell him your decision to drink? 
Would you feel that you were honoring His name? 
More importantly, do you think He would be proud..?


God calls us to a higher standard of living and living with faith in God is setting yourself apart, but in that you must see that underage drinking and abuse of drinking simply does not fit into that way of life.


Drinking twists reality.
It brings in an unseen darkness that lies beneath the surface "fun" and winds its way around your heart until it has power over you.
Alcohol can bring out the worst in you, putting you in dangerous and damaging situations that cause you deep and long lasting pain in the here and now along with in your future.


You could say words of regret, words that severe relationships, scar another person emotionally. You could end up doing things with a guy or with a girl that could cause you regret and sorrow.
With alcohol, the control is lost.
You surrender control to a substance.


It is known that even the strongest of Christians can fall.  


"The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts."
-C. S. Lewis



It only takes one decision...one night to begin the slow and steady path to a life rationalizing bad decisions based on others around you instead of God's standards. 


In my life, wearing the badge of Christ is an honor.  
If I am upholding the image of Christ in my life with other non-believers and believers looking at me and I choose to drink, what does that reflect about Christianity? 


^{[1 John 2:4-6]}
"Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. ⁵ But if anyone obeys his word, love for God^[a] is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: ⁶ Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did."


If you are claiming to know God then accept the responsibility His name carries.  Claiming to know and follow Christ makes yourself a visible symbol on your campus, your work, with your friends, and out in the world of who Jesus is to those who don't know Him.  It makes you a symbol also to those who do and sometimes that can be worse.


[1 John 2:6]
"Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked."


If we claim to be abiding in Christ then that would be transformative.  Then our lives would be ones given as offerings to God instead of ones following our own authority and forging our own path through a life so many have yet to understand the meaning of.


[John 14:15]
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments."


Loving God means obeying His word in full...not just bits and pieces. If you love God then let  your life be a reflection of that by holding true to His word and His laws.


God also calls us to submit to authority and to obey.


"Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. ²Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. ³ For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. ⁴ For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. ⁵Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience." -Romans 13:1-7



Friends, I am not telling you this to condemn you.  
I am not telling you this so that I may seem like this perfect Christian who has it all figured out and obeys every single one of God's commandments every single moment of every day...because I definitely do not and am not flawless. 


I have felt personally convicted since coming to college on my stance on drinking and I have seen God pushing me towards speaking out about this issue.  To speak the truth, you need to be going about it in the way that Jesus would have with humility and grace.

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. -Ephesians 4:15

I am trying to tell you this truth out of love so that you may experience in full the type of life God intended for you to have.  God has given us His law so that we may be protected, our hearts guarded and safe from the wicked darkness that draws us near.  Our heart is the most valuable aspect of who we are and allowing sin to freely enter through the floodgates of our hearts is not the way to true fulfillment, but the way to emptiness and pain. 


 He has not given us these boundaries so that we'll never have fun, never be happy, but to surround us with His protection against the unseen pain lurking beneath every sin both big and small.  He gives us lines not so that we blur them but can distinguish between what is right and what is wrong in  the sight of God (see "Lines of Love" blog from the summer for more).

Our job here on Earth is to sharpen one another.  We are called to help, encourage, inspire, and uplift people and especially our friends in their journey.  


Proverbs 27:17 says, "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." 


Sharpening means speaking the truth and not backing down.  If you know that something is NOT right and is a sin, then speak that truth humbly with grace.   God hasn't given you a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7).  We have the power to influence others by being a light, being an example, wearing the badge of Christ with reverence and honor to God.  


In my walk, I am striving to carry the banner high and seek His ways. Christians must declare truth to others in their lives so that they may see Him and it will set them free of the chains in their life (John 8:32).  If Christ's laws dwell in your hearts then they will flow freely out of your mouths because they personally convict you.


"Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word." -Psalm 116:12-15


Everybody has times in their life when the lines between black and white are blurred and someone may feel ready to cross that line.  I pray that if its a friend of yours, you would step up and draw that person back from the line gently.  If you are struggling, going back and forth, then stop and ask yourself this.


Where is my identity found?
If my identity is found solely in Christ and with God, does drinking fit into that?
Will I regret a devoted life lived dwelling in the commandments of Christ? 
Will I regret upholding the image of Christ, true and pure, in my life when that final breath is taken and I am sent to stand in His presence?


Can I withstand the peer pressure to drink through God? YES. He has given us the power from His spirit to flee from sin when we pursue Christ. It is what He deserves.


We were bought at a precious price and this life is not our own to mess with.  This life is meant to honor and glorify God.
Wearing that cross, bearing that love, following His name is a privilege and blessing we never even deserved but God gave it to us out of love.


Doesn't he deserve to be honored and loved with everything that we have 100%?  
We wouldn't be alive without Him.  He truly deserves our everything.
   
Let us be the type of Christians and believers that illuminate God's truth in life to shed light on the boundaries which have been set in place with the purpose of keeping our hearts safe.  
May we dwell inside God's love for us and allow that to expand our hearts to a point where we are convicted to speak of God's truth. 


If you are about to pick up that red cup, look up.
Look Jesus straight in the eyes and tell me what you see.


You will see in His eyes a God who wants so much more for you than cheap amusement,
a God whose heart breaks with every step you take away from Him,
the One who desires for you to lead a life in the light.

[ "You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." -Psalm 16:11] Don't settle for a life living by the world's standards. Love God with all that you are and keeping His word will become a way of life.

The lines have been drawn and fixing our eyes upon Him will lead you down a path. Look to God and you will find a life richer and fuller than what you could have imagined.

I may be weak

Weakness.

How do you define it?

Soft spots, failures..?

My weaknesses are not something I ever felt proud of...

In fact, I became good at skillfully concealing areas of weakness with a forced smile and an "I'm fine" for the majority of my life.

• Issues with self-image
• Self-doubt/self-confidence
• Unrealistic perfectionism
• Doubting God wanted me happy (good one, right?)
• Taking life too seriously

I could probably go on and on for pages as could many of you in describing weaknesses.  Sitting at coffee with a new friend of mine, Hannah, it hit me yet again how Jesus has come to shine in a lot of my darkest moments and experiences.

2 Corinthians 12:9 says, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me."

These days, looking back on the difficulties I have faced thus far, I smile.  

Not a typical response right?

The thing is that as I reflect on the darkness that shut me down, I can with clarity see God using those to shape me here and now. To sharpen me into a deeper Christian and someone who can testify to God's healing in those areas of my life.

If I hadn't gone through the pain of feeling like a consistent outsider in my own life,

If I hadn't gone through the deep rooted self-confidence issues,

If I hadn't been hurt or set aside by certain guys in my life,

If I hadn't been hit with friendship losses that cut me deeply,

If I hadn't lost hope in Jesus in certain low points of my life,

then I wouldn't be who I am,

I wouldn't be able to relate to those who have also faced the same or even point to God as I glorify Him for His work in me.

I wouldn't be somebody who could testify to Jesus' healing power in my own life. 

His hand is at work in my life, weaving certain people into my life who have or are dealing with similar struggles.  

My faith may not have grown as much as it has in these past 6 months.

My love for God may have remained stagnant without the challenges I faced because through it all I realized a few critical things...

I need God.

God is not an option for my life.

He is my life.

Not someone I go to at night before bed with a wish list of prayer requests, but the One I run to with my praise, my worship, 

my passion, 

my joy, my sorrow 

my love, 

my life as an offering.

God is so much more than what I made Him out to be.  He was a huge part of my life before I faced the issues but after them, He became my fundamental reason to persevere and my beautiful hope for the work He could do through me. Jesus became my love.

Through our shortcomings God brings light to others by bringing others to Him.

In a book I highly recommend called "Courage and Calling" by Gordon T. Smith, 

he writes,

[ "When Paul speaks of his own weakness, indeed boasts in it and in the glory of God evident in it, he is not speaking of toleration of mediocrity.  Rather, Paul makes clear in 2 Corinthians 12 that his "weakness" is the difficult--the obstacles and setbacks--that is inevitably a part of his ministry.  And clearly it his conviction that this difficulty is the vehicle by which God brings life and grace to others" (145). ]

Hear that?

Our pain has a purpose.

Not only does it bring us closer to God, but it helps us to bring others to Him.

It brings us to a place where we realize that God is our stronghold of salvation and the unshakable rock of our lives amidst the pain that rains down on our lives.

A song I listened to recently sings this:

[ "I may be weak, but Your spirit is strong in me. ]

 -Elevation Worship

You may be weak.

You may be a girl who suffers from the plight of self-image issues,

You could be the parent who struggles to see how they're going to pay their bills,

You might be the guy who always seems to get it wrong with girls,

You may be the one everybody thinks is perfect and has it all together but you are slowly breaking down inside and nobody seems to notice,

You could be the one who doubts their life could ever amount to anything.

God has made it clear, but many of us fail to see it.

[ You may be weaker, but the spirit of God is stronger. ]

The unique story of your life carries moments in the darkness where you feel completely alone and misunderstood and yet these moments can be the ones to change and transform us, the ones that can help you bring others closer to God.

You may be furiously trying to erase the past mistakes and painful memories scribbled in the margins but STOP.  It is not possible and will only leave you frustrated and bitter. 

The whole "time heals all wounds" line also doesn't hold very true in my book...in fact, I think time deepens wounds if you want to know the truth.  Leaving my self-image issues locked up in the confines of my heart, I kept them there untouched and "hidden away" from God all the way from the beginning of middle school through the end of high school.  Sure, I had good days where I would finally feel okay with myself and then Satan would come the next week and assail me yet again with self-doubt.  Only when I unlocked the key to my weakness did God illuminate all of the pent up issues I had shut away in the darkness, sure they would disappear and heal all on their own.  Finally, I could see that all of the attempted erasing, hiding and ignoring only deepened the pain and that God had been trying all along to soften my unwilling heart.

My prayer for you is this,

Dropping the shards of glass of the broken pieces of your life, may you allow His light into your hearts and to shine on you as you glorify God in those areas of weakness in your life.  May you recognize the undeniable power of His grace to change your life and transform your heart into one centered on peace, forgiveness, wisdom, and fullness of joy in place of bitter darkness.  May you boast of your weakness to glorify your Creator and the work He has done in your life.  God, give me the courage to spread this wisdom to everybody around me so when trials come and weaknesses penetrate my confidence, myself and others would stand mature in Christ before God, honoring and glorifying Jesus.  

In Your name, Amen.

God, have your way in us.  
I desire for You Lord to use my weaknesses to breathe the truth of life to others. We may be weak, but we don't have to be strong enough because the God of this world is and always will be. 


Remember that today.
Spread His love always.

A Spirit of Patience

I'll confess. 


I have a spirit of fear and of doubt.


Though faith is the solid rock of my life, I step off of that onto shaky ground where I find myself relying on my power alone to balance instead of Christ.
With a glance away from the God I love that leads my life, I falter.
I fall victim to the doubts that dance across my path.
The doubts that take my heart captive and blur the path God puts beneath my feet.


I think to myself:
Wouldn't it just be easier to be like everyone else...to receive "blessings" quickly and settle? 
Not to wait your entire life and possibly pass up perfectly good options because you're holding out for the best? The best husband, the best job, the best life..?


And then...I remember.


Sitting in the Pine Grove today, I remember all that Jesus has been doing in the past six months in my life and I pause.
The people, the experiences, the healing...how drastically my life has been changed through His Divine entrance in my life, the unbelievable transformation of my heart in Him.


Bestowing on me the privilege to serve Him with this one and only heart, Jesus has provided.
Providing me with people in need of someone to bring them to healing in His arms and finding such deep fulfillment in this.
Setting certain people in my path who reflect God and make me want to strive for better, to not settle.


I came into Hope College expecting for things to change...and they have, just not in the way I expected them to.
I have found myself renewed by the gift of His presence, trusting His will above my own, and finding my confidence in the beauty of His love, not in a guy or physical appearance.  My identity is becoming firmly rooted in the Creator and His power in me, not my strength to be the perfect girl.


His love is steadily burning away the fears of inadequacy I held so tightly to all of my life as he builds a spirit of patience and love.


I have seen glimpses of what God has in store for me if I wait, if I continue loving God with my whole heart and nothing less...God has shown me not to settle for less in this life because I know I deserve more
Here at Hope, Jesus has shown me glimpses of a beautiful love in store for me with a man He has written on my heart since the day I was born and I trust in that, whether I find it here or someday in my future. My trust is found in Him.


"I'll be the protector of your heart. 
The front lines of your guardian angels 
We will build our love upon a rock 
We'll not fear the trust in times of danger. 
You my love can be my great companion 
Through the storms our love will never run 
Shine like the morning, 
Unveil a story 
Something so much bigger than us "-Steve Moakler


To live into the story God writes with the man or woman meant for only you, who truly loves you for who Christ has made you to be is what I want.  I know beyond a doubt that this is what God desires for you too.


 Surrender your life to His will and He will begin chipping away at a spirit of impatience to replace it with a spirit of honest truth ready to shape you.  In waiting on Him and His plan you will find Grace waiting to wrap His arms around you and quiet you with His love.  He will whisper of the great wonders in store for you if you continue seeking, continue loving, continue serving.


You're single...so what? God can use this time in your life to teach and empower others. Your love is out there waiting for you...and potentially feeling the same way! Don't let this world tell you there is something wrong with you if you aren't "in a relationship" on Facebook...because *excuse my language* that's a bunch of crap.


This year, the most beautiful thing I have discovered thus far is the gift of giving to others.
Jesus has revealed to me the fulfillment of living for the Kingdom every single day and the unspeakable joy of pouring into others.  Sometimes I literally can't stop smiling because I can see Christ moving in others and even in myself to come to the needs of others.

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." -Phillipians 2:2 If I was living by the standards of the world, being alone should and would bother me. I should be completely dissatisfied with walking this time alone while the majority of the people around me walk in twos...but then I realized something.

As Christians, we are not of this world, nor are we called to blindly follow lies.  I am a child of God, set aside to live for Jesus Christ and chosen to aid in mending a hurting world in need of the breath of God in so many ways.  If God's will for my life is to help those around me as I live here at Hope, then that is His will! Why would I fight that?
  Using my time here for God is something I will never regret in the future looking back.  It is an investment in eternity and the story of my life that will be presented to Him after I take my final breath and that is fulfillment worth pursuing at this point in my life.

"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline." 2 Timothy 1:7


He gives us truth, wisdom, patience and the fire to spread the light even in periods of waiting. Never forget that.


Lord, I pray you would give us spirits of hope and of love towards Your beautiful name.  When our hearts condemn us Lord, I pray you would remind us You are greater than our hearts (1 John 3:19-20).  Your power for healing, restoration, and a new vision for this life is unfathomable and I lift my hands in praise to You.  Every single day that I am alive I can see with clarity Your hand at work in people and through your servants.  Remind us that in waiting, we have a spirit of patience for Your glorious plan for each one of our lives.  Take away worldly fears and heartache when we look to the things that others may possess because one day we will understand.  We will see how a spirit of patience produces fruitfulness in our stories.  We will see how our time serving Jesus here at Hope or wherever your followers are is further deepening the roots of grace on this campus and everywhere Your spirit touches. Give us hope when we falter and shut our eyes to Your beauty Jesus and remind us of the world we are fighting to transform for You Lord. In Your name, Amen.

Trusting Where You Are

I shut my eyes. 
The darkness seems to close in again.
I remind myself of the Kingdom I fight for.


All this pain.. I wonder if I'll ever find my way. 
I wonder if my life could really change, at all. 
All this earth.. Could all that is lost ever be found? 
Could a garden come up from this ground, at all?
-"Beautiful Things"


How could it be God? Why must I wait?
Why is it never my time?
Why am I always waiting on my life to "take off"?
How come change has come for everybody else but I'm waiting here...still...by myself?


These are the things that Satan used to wound me and still uses.


 These are what he haunts me with every single time that I take my eyes off of God.  Even if for a moment I glance away, Satan shouts lies at me. 
I have to remember who I live for with every new day and whose will I follow for my life. 


I read this verse this morning and I was struck by truth.


"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." -1 Thessalonians 5:16-18


Where you are right now is God's will for you.
Striving to emulate Christ and to walk in His ways, I am falling into step with Christ.  


There is a reason I have met the friends that I have-to inspire, encourage, and strengthen them in Christ.
There is a reason I was in the classes I was in-to meet the people I did, gain insight into the world, and be inspired to change it.
There is a reason I am not in a relationship with anybody right now because God is showing me that I can use this time to inspire and help others in their struggles.


I am striving to live out the love of Christ in deepening my friendships at Hope and in my life.  I am slowly realizing how Christ is shaping my life to follow Him and His will for me.  And that's greater than anything I could wish for my life right now.


Chapel this morning once again reminded me of who I am and what I have devoted myself to follow for the rest of my days.


I am a follow of Christ, one of many people of God.
We are the people of God.  
We have the privilege of serving Jesus, the beautiful Author of our lives and this world.
We have devoted our lives to following the will of an unseen King who is greater than anything this world could ever offer us.  


More beautiful and full of grace than our minds can possibly fathom, Jesus breathes life into our empty bodies and has given us hope and a future.  Carrying this healing truth we must quiet our restless souls and remember that in following Jesus we are exactly where we need to be if we continue following Him.


"For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him, according to the purpose of Him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will, we who first hoped in Christ have been destined and appointed to live for the praise of his glory."-Ephesians 1:8-12

  

These are all a part of God's plan for this world and we have a part in His plan and His glorious will.


Disappointments, heartbreaks, lost love, closed doors.
Sitting with a new good friend of mine, I showed her a song entitled "This" by Darius Rucker which covered all of these things.  


"For every stoplight I didn't make
Every chance I did or I didn't take
All the nights I went too far
All the girls that broke my heart
All the doors that I had to close
All the things I knew but I didn't know
Thank God for all I missed
Cause it led me here to
This"


Like this song, we must recognize that all of the mishaps, chaos, heartbreaks, and rejection lead us into our futures where we'll be able to see the reasons.


You'll see why it didn't work out with that boy you were in love with and swore you'd marry when you meet your future husband and see he wasn't the right one for you after all because there was somebody God had written on your heart from the beginning.


You'll see why you got differed from that college to be led to a school you'd sworn off when you meet amazing people with beautiful hearts there to encourage and support you.


You'll see why you were put in certain classes when you meet certain people and gain insight into the brokenness of this world and what you can do to fix it.


You'll see why God allows darkness into your life so that you learn to fix your eyes steadily on Jesus to be the light that guides you away from the darkness.


He is the God who lights our darkness, unveils our eyes to see truth, and has blessed us with a hope worth so much more than this world.  


He is why we wait patiently in hope for our futures and for His coming. 
His perfect will in this world overpowers the doubts, the confusion, and the anxiety we are plagued with. Live to walk alongside Jesus and trusting His will becomes a part of who you and the hope we are filled with.  

Do not lose faith in God because you aren't at a place where you feel you want, need, or deeply desire to be.  He has a reason for you being right where you are and once you accept and embrace that, God can use you in more ways than you know.  All those who wisely choose to hope in Jesus must hold out faith for the richness of life, fulfillment, and joy that comes in serving a King even when you can't understand His plan.

We must learn for Him to have His way in our lives. 

And that is truly God's will...

believing in an unseen plan more beautiful and grand than our imagination can create.

"You never said the road would be easy But You said that You would never leave And You never promised that this life wasn't hard But You promised You'd take care of me So I'll stop searching for the answers I'll stop praying for an escape And I'll trust You God with where I am And believe that You will have Your way Just have Your way, just have Your way" -Britt Nicole ("Have Your Way")

I'll fight for love, for You

Lately, I've been feeling really torn.

The past three months of my life have been amazing.  God has cracked my frozen heart, so deeply focused on my unworthiness that I had been missing out on so much of His plan for me. In seeking Him, I have truly found the treasure of knowing Christ in deeper ways that I didn't know I was capable of.  The past year and a half has been a period of tremendous awakening in my life and I am so thankful for that.

Accepting Christ into my life was the best decision that I have ever made and will ever make.  Knowing Christ has completely changed my perspective on this world, my life, and everything in it...

But along with Christ comes pain.

The pain of not feeling understood, 

not feeling accepted, 

being questioned, 

feeling boxed in by a world that can sometimes seem so pointless,

feeling spotlighted by the world that turns their back on Him and points at you for stepping out.

I have realized that in accepting Jesus into my heart, I have not accepted an easy thing.  Just take a look around and what do you see?  

People that would rather watch "Jersey Shore" than have a deep conversation.  High schools like my own where expectations exist for people in new relationships to have sex within a few weeks.  A place where celebrities in the media are glorified and divorce is almost expected within a few months of marriage.  A country where the cross of Jesus is worn on necklaces but forgotten and pushed aside in their actual lives.

I shake my head sometimes and sadly look around.

Maybe it isn't possible God...so much hurting, so many fallen, where do we even begin?

Where can I even begin Lord?

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world." { John 16:33 }

I have accepted the love that challenges me to spread the news of Him no matter what.

No matter what family members say.

No matter what friends say.

No matter what people think of me or say about me.

No matter what the cost to my reputation or image.

No matter how far against the grain of this world I go, Jesus is worth every ounce of who I am and the life that is within me.

Thinking about this, I found a quote that describes it well, only in a different context.

"So it's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be really hard. We're gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, for ever, you and me, every day..."-The Notebook

Noah and Allie are the picture of what so many of us want: somebody who loves us so dearly that they are willing to fight for love, fight for us.

The amazing thing is that God's love for us is so much bigger than any brand of human love.

His furious, deep, passionate, and searching love seeks us in our brokenness, unrelenting and consistently.  God loves us, broken and scarred through our pain.  The thing is His love is not a one-way street.

Is God worth it? Is he worth the effort of loving back?

Is knowing God worth the criticism, the struggles, the jokes, the questions, the challenges that many of us face every single day?  Should I just turn away from His call for me because the going gets tough and people shell me with criticism?

Is Jesus so deeply rooted in my identity that His love is enough to persevere?

In my heart, God is my everything.  If this is true, then I am willing to lay these things down at the throne and take the hits. 

I'm willing to testify for Jesus, showing to this world the most precious gift my heart has or will ever receive.  He deserves to be fought for.

He deserves the highest spot above all things in my life and I am going to continue fighting for that day in and day out.

God is worth it.

He's worth every heartache, every blow, every single tear that falls to the ground.

I have felt so alone in my faith at times and you are NOT alone if you have.

Following Christ means entering through a narrow gate, only to lead to the rich and beautiful expanse of God's kingdom (Matt. 7:13)

The darkness of sin in our world may threaten my heart, but God's love overcomes it no matter how many times it overshadows my faith.

"The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." 

{ John 1:5 }

Are you willing to fight to bring light to this world? To speak the truth no matter how much it stings?

What about to your friends, your family, your boyfriend/girlfriend, your team, your campus?

I am. 

And I'm willing to fight to bring the Kingdom with every last tear and fight that is inside of me.  The people here deserve to know truth, to know God, and they will never know unless we show them.  Every day when challenges arise, remember that Christ has overcome on our behalf.  

1 John 4:19 says, "We love because he first loved us."  I dedicate myself to loving this world with a fire on Christ's behalf because we are the candle flame destined to reignite this world for Christ.  This world will know the goodness of God through the Christ followers who step up and take a stand. We are the light.

I'll fight for love, for You.

In Your name, Amen.