New Posts – Page 13

Why I dislike the term “Good” Christian Girls

/ Relationship with Jesus / 10 Comments

I used to believe I was a “good” Christian girl. Now every time I hear this phrase, I cringe. Growing up, I believed that being a Christian meant being good, moral, and perfect, so I tried to be a “good” person. I failed, a lot.

It was not until college, that I learned that being a Christian has nothing to do with being good enough. Being a Christian is realizing that nothing we could do would ever be enough to cover our sins, and that is why we need Jesus.

I’ll never forget the day my high school boyfriend told me I was a “bad” Christian. I thought I was a “good” Christian girl for many reasons, but in regards to our relationship I thought I was “good” because we had never had sex. We were on our way to school and had been fighting the whole drive there. I told him that God had convicted me, and that I wanted to stop pushing physical boundaries. My boyfriend did not like or understand this idea. He wasn’t a Christian, and didn’t understand my conviction. I don’t blame him, because I did a bad job of living my life for Jesus. His response, “But we already have done these things, how can we just stop?”

Through out our relationship, I openly called myself a Christian, yet I wasn’t walking with God. I considered myself a “good” Christian girl because we weren’t technically having sex, but we were doing everything else. I was believing and living a lie and this would finally be brought to light.

We got out of the car. He slammed the door. I slammed the door. And as we walked up that hill to go to homeroom, he looked at me and said, “You’re a bad Christian.” (more…)

Every Bitter Thing is Sweet Book Review

/ Resources / Comments Off

I love being able to read books, and share with you all how this book could help your walk with God. I get to do the work for you, and you simply decide if the book fits with your needs.

Every Bitter Thing is Sweet by Sara Hagerty moved me to tears. Sara wrote stories about struggling to know and understand God’s love in a real and vulnerable way. Each page was so beautifully written. As I read her words, I pictured myself there in Sara’s shoes. Her descriptions were perfect.

In this book, we get to go on Sara’s journey to really finding God during the bitter times of her life.

This book is great for anyone who: (more…)

Take Off Your Crown – Jesus is King

/ Bible Study, Devotional / 7 Comments

We like to think that we are in charge of our life. I have a friend that is exploring her faith and she told me, “The biggest thing that is holding me back from making the decision to follow Jesus is that I still want control.” My friend wants to be king over her life. She understands that if she follows Jesus, she has to give up control.

Giving up control scares us, because the uncertainty freaks us out. But when we give up control, we gain freedom.

We want to be king. In our eyes, being king equates to having control of our lives and fulfilling the desires of our hearts. But there can only be one king. You or Jesus.

Taking off your crown and giving it to Jesus is not a one time decision, but a daily decision.

The word “crown” is mentioned 57 times in the ESV Bible. Here are a few of those verses and the importance of a crown.

“And he took the crown of their king from his head.” – 2 Samuel 12:30. David took off the crown and placed it on his head. What does this mean? There can only be one king.
“The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.” – Ester 2:17. Their can only be one queen.
“He has stripped from me my glory and taken the crown from my head.” – Job 19:9. If we don’t remove our crown from our own head, Jesus will.
“You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.” – Isaiah 62:3. When you give Jesus your crown, you become a crown of beauty in his eyes.
“and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ ” – Matthew 27:29. Jesus wore a crown of thorns. If we continue to make ourselves kings, we are mocking Jesus. Jesus wore the crown of thorns for us. He took on our sins for us. And what do we do? Take the crown off his head and place it on ours.

There can not be 2 kings.
We need to pray for strength to take off our own crowns and give them to Jesus.

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” – James 4:10. Humble yourself by taking off your prideful crown, giving it to Jesus, and then you will experience the true prize – being exalted by Jesus the one and only King.

What area of your life is it hardest to take off your crown and give Jesus control?

Bonus: Here are more verses about crowns you can read: Rev 2:10, 3:11, 6:2, 12:1, 14:14. 1 Peter 5:4, Jas 1:12

8 Symptoms of Habitual Sins

/ Devotional, Freedom From Sexual Sin & Shame, Pornography, Sexual Addiction, Surrender Life to Jesus / 9 Comments

Have you ever felt so controlled by a behavior that you felt enslaved to it? You may be experiencing the results of habitual sins.

Habitual sins are destructive. These are sins that feel addictive, controlling, and always present. Most of the time the sin remains in the dark and consequently the person experiences tremendous shame and guilt. Sometimes the sin even begins to define a person and becomes the main issue in their life.

Habitual sins destroy you emotionally and spiritually. Here are a few examples: over eating, lust, alcohol and drug abuse, fits of rage, dependency on a person, constant gossiping, pre-marital sex, watching porn, and masturbation. Regardless of the form of sin, there are many common characteristics one experiences when struggling with it.

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Even Jesus Spent Time with God + Book Review

/ Bible Study, Devotional, Resources / 3 Comments

Spending time with God is the answer to most of our problems, especially our trust issues. I realized, that the days I struggle trusting God most are the days I don’t spend time with him. Do you trust in God’s plan for your life? Do you spend time with God on a regular basis through reading the Bible or praying?

You will begin to trust God more and know God more, the more you spend time with him.

Often, we wonder why our plans for our lives are different from God’s plans for our lives. We question, “Why hasn’t God given me ___?” Then, we begin to think that God doesn’t love us because he has not given us what we want. This happens because we think our values are the same as God’s values. We think we share the same channel of thoughts as God. But If we don’t spend time with God, we don’t know his channel. This lack of time together creates miscommunication between God and us. And a lack of trust.

To know God and understand why he does things, we have to spend time with him. Even Jesus had to spend time with God, and he is God! It is that much more important that we spend time with God!
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Nervous about leading a Bible study?

/ Christian in College, College, Resources / 12 Comments

With the start of a new school year comes the start of new small groups/Bible studies! Small groups are the heart of every college ministry. Maybe it is your first time leading and you’re feeling a little nervous? I completely understand. I’ve been there!

The second semester of my freshman year I co-led a Bible study with 3 other leaders. I was the youngest leader and had never led a study before. Right before our first study, I sat with one of the other leaders outside the dorm where our study would meet. I said to her, “I can’t do it. I don’t want to do it.” Fear crippled my mind and almost stopped me from even walking into that building. My biggest fear was what people would think of me.

What if I messed up? What if they couldn’t relate with my story? What if I didn’t know an answer to their questions? (more…)

5 Ways to Make Jesus the Center of Your Story – Engage24

/ Christian in College, College, How to Share Your Faith, Your Story / 4 Comments

On day. One mission. To tell others about Jesus. I am engaging on 10.14.14, will you? `

The Bible tells us that God wants us to engage with Him and then to engage the world with the gospel of Jesus. There is a movement happening across the world, and I am so excited to be a part of it! Engage24 is a specific time set apart for engaging the world with the good news of Christ. While Engage24 is intensely focused on a single day of evangelism (10.14.14), the mission is to promote a 24/7 lifestyle of evangelism and engagement with the gospel.

Engage24 is a 24 hour period when college students purposefully engage their campuses with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The goal is to see every believing college student share the Gospel with at least one person that day.

On my campus, the University of South Florida, my campus ministry Cru is taking part in Engage24. We are wearing shirts that say ‘Tell Me Your Story”. The girls below are some of the girls in our ministry who rocked the shirts!

Our hope is that students at USF will see hundreds of students wearing the shirt and then will ask one of us what it is about. Here is our reply, “Today is Engage24, and we want to engage with the students by listening to their story. We would love to listen to your story and hear if God plays any part in it.” (more…)

Only Jesus can heal your heart.

/ Christian in College, Devotional, Healing, Love, Relationship with Jesus, Surrender Life to Jesus / 5 Comments

Jesus came to heal the sick and the broken. He came to save the sinner. In one of my classes, this thought came to mind as I heard sad story after sad story from my classmates. (Jesus, will my classmates ever know you?) This does not mean that he supports their actions, but his love for them will never change. Why is this? Because Jesus came to save the broken.

Jesus came to save my classmates, but they lack the realization that they need him. Maybe they think their lives are fine without him. Maybe they think they’re spiritually healthy.

While on earth, Jesus spent most of his time with the lost and broken. In Matthew 9:12-13 (NIV) Jesus states, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Healthy people don’t understand that they are sick, sinful, and in need of a savior. But the sick, they line up outside of the doctor’s office hoping for something to heal the pain. Do you realize that you are sick and in need of a savior? Maybe you are immune to the hurting in your heart. Maybe like my classmates, you think these feelings are a normal part of life. Or maybe you actually think you are healthy. (more…)

Do you believe God delights in you?

/ Devotional, Love / 2 Comments

Even when we sin, God delights in us. He cheers us on and is our number one fan. Always.

“There is a level of bond in love that a parent has for their kid that you don’t have for anyone else… There is something special about the parent-kid love.” – Jefferson Bethke

That is the kind of love God has for us.

God loves us even when we are struggling through seasons of sin. He loves us when we fall. At my church today, my pastor Aaron Proffitt said, “Even in our most sinful moments, God wants to be close to us and encourage us.”

Is this hard for you to understand? It is for me. (more…)

God’s Love Letter to You

/ Bible Study, Body Image and Self Worth, Dear Friend Series, Devotional, Love, Relationship with Jesus / 11 Comments

You know those nights where you feel so unloved and alone? When you wish you could have someone to hold you and tell you they love you? The love we experience on earth will never compare to God’s love for us. Our hearts have been made to cry out for a love that can only come from our creator.

A guy may seem like the best fix, but only God’s love is a lasting solution. This truth is written all over the Bible.

Did you know that the Bible is God’s love letter to us? Isaiah 43 is a great example of a love letter from God. When I study scripture, I like to read it and then write it out in my own words. This helps me better understand what I have read. For this particular chapter, I read the passage as if God hand wrote me a love letter in beautiful calligraphy. I wrote it in my journal in the exact same way. You can do the same thing. (more…)