Twerkin' 9 to 5

As many of you probably know, I'm a stay at home mom. In these long winter months, cabin fever is something I battle on a weekly basis. How do I combat this deadly condition? I'm a walker... a mall walker. Some weeks I'm at the mall three or four days for a few hours at a time just walking and talking (my sister or mom usually accompanies me on these trips). Mall walking also feeds one of my other habits: people watching.

The early crowds are the adorable elderly people who are there for exercise followed by a cup of coffee and good conversation. As the hours go by, the crowds get younger and eventually the majority of people fall under the category that I fear the most: teenage girls.

Uh-oh....was I like them??

I watch these young girls and most of the time, for one reason or another, I find myself wondering, "Where are their parents????" or wondering if, indeed, their parents are fully aware and okay with how their daughters are behaving and dressing. I've seen the shadiest looking grown men leering at these underage girls in a way that their foreheads may as well bear a sign that says "I'm imagining you naked....and it isn't difficult."

I'll just say it. I fully believe society is on a fast, downward spiral of not bringing up children to have respect for themselves or others. There is a "never say 'no' to a child" attitude that is producing nothing but entitled brats that are running the show when they have no business even being in charge of a goldfish.

We live in a world where a barely covered teenager who is rude, crude, and promiscuous is a 'role model'. "Wrecking Ball" is quite an appropriate title if you think about it.

Young girls are being told that their power is in their sexuality.
 "Do what you feel is right! It's all about you! Show off what you've got!!!"

You are worth so much more.
We need to get back to some 'old fashioned' values. STAT.

I think about the future for these young girls. I pray for my son's future wife. I pray for my unborn niece. I pray for any future daughters I may be blessed to have. I pray for them to know the truth.

"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

I'm about to say it....the 'M' word.....

MODESTY.

Have I got you gagging? I know, I know, but seriously; just bear with me for a minute.

What is true modesty? Does it mean we all need to throw away our wardrobe and invest in a closet full of shapeless, colorless, head-to-toe outfits that resemble the angel costumes everybody had to wear in their elementary Christmas pageants? If that's what you feel is right for you, go for it. I personally believe there is more 'wiggle room' than that.

First and foremost, modesty should be exemplified in your character.
What does the Bible say about the ideal woman? Say it with me....

Proverbs 31: 10-31!

 

 It says she's super sexy, a great time at parties, and has the best clothes money can buy, right?

NOPE!
The virtuous woman is...

• trustworthy
• good
• hard working
• willing to work
• a good provider
• a good steward of money and time
• not afraid of adversity
• wise
• kind
• etc.

Wanna know what it says she is clothed in? v. 25 has the answer.

 

"STRENGTH and DIGNITY".

 

To me, these things fall under the category of 'heart issues.' The condition of our hearts is far more important than anything else.

 

Aren't all of our hearts longing for something? Acceptance? Confidence?  Peace? Joy? Love?

Spoiler alert: they can all be found in Christ. If you're finding these things in anything but Christ, I guarantee it will not last.

 





Matthew 6:33 says "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

Christian, you were bought with a price. Jesus died for you because He loves you. How can we repay Him in any way? We can give Him back our lives. It doesn't even come close to what we were given, but it is all that is asked of us.

How do we live for Christ? Show Him we love Him.

How do we show Christ we love Him? Obey Him.

If your life is categorized by living for God and loving Him, modesty of character will come easily.
He's given us a ginormous "how to" book of lessons and examples on it :).

I'd just like to add that this does NOT mean you cannot be fun! God is not interested in taking away the vibrant, beautiful, unique personality that He gave you!!!
Remember: "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." John 10:10

As a result of living with modest character, I believe physical modesty comes naturally.

All of these young girls leaving so little to the imagination break my heart. I honestly just want to hug them and tell them how beautiful they are and they don't need all of these things that society says are necessary.

I've done lots of research as of late and I feel God pointing me in a new direction.

Inspired by my research (specifically by Jessica Rey and her crusade for modesty...look her up! Watch her YouTube video!!!), I've developed a presentation that I hope to one day be able to give to young girls in a classroom/Sunday school type setting. The presentation gives spiritual inspiration towards modesty of character, as well as practical ways to implement modesty in shopping and creating outfits.

I firmly believe that as women of God, we need to be influencing the next generations to desire to become women of God as well.

I'm excited at this new challenge and where God may take me with it. It isn't for my glory, it's for Gods glory alone.

In closing I'd like to take this opportunity to challenge you to do some research of your own. Watch the Jessica Rey Bikini video on YouTube at the very least. I think your research could change your perspective and opinions on a few areas....I know it did for me.

Thank you :)
Lauren

My Story: Lauren Edition

On Sunday, March 2nd, a man named Ying Kai spoke at our church (Lifesprings Church in Bellevue, NE). He has reached hundreds of thousands of people for Christ and has developed a simple way for others to try to do the same. The challenge is actually doing it.

He said to write down your testimony and share it to people.
Three paragraphs:
1. Life before Christ.
2. How you came to Christ.
3. How life has changed after you came to Christ.

He said, "People don't have time...keep it small!"

We were challenged as a congregation to try and tell our story to at least five people. This is the best way I could think of to do it. I'll try to keep it small...maybe not three paragraphs small...but "Lauren" small :).

I grew up in a Christian household and I went to Church every Sunday morning, evening, and Wednesday night. We went to VBS (vacation Bible school) every summer and I went to a K-12 private Christian school. I think just about everybody I knew was probably a Christian as well. I accepted Christ as my savior at VBS when I was 2 years old...as you can imagine though, I didn't have a big life change at that point. I still disobeyed and hit my sister and I think I even stole a magazine from a hardware store. I didn't fully understand what being a Christian meant other than I didn't have to go to hell when I died now.

 

I didn't really start living for Christ until the end of my senior year of high school. I attended an amazing Bible study with some of my fellow classmates the summer after graduation. I'd never felt so close to God! I was truly happy. I realized that instead of going to the college I'd originally planned on going to, God was calling me to go to a Bible college in another state. It was hard for me to have the courage to go off by myself but I wanted to do Gods will so I followed His call. I was very excited because I thought Bible college would be exactly like my amazing high school friends Bible study all day every day! I quickly found out that wouldn't be the case. I now understood why the world hated Christians. They weren't all accepting and nice. It was a social/emotional/spiritual beat down every single day. I hadn't felt like such a despised outcast since junior high. I didn't fit the mold of what they were saying a Christian was 'supposed to look like'. At the end of the year, I decided if they were what a Christian was supposed to be, I no longer wanted to be one.

 

Skipping ahead a few difficult years (that included marriage and moving), I was more miserable than I'd been in my whole life. One day I realized that everything was falling apart: My health was bad, my job was unpleasant, our finances couldn't have been worse, and the cherry on top of the day was my best friend didn't want me anymore. Broken to nothing, I turned to my cousin Jessica for help. She told me I needed God. That was the starting point of rededicating my life to Christ. I reached up to God and He pulled me out of the dark and lonely pit that I was in and showed me that with Him, all things are possible and that I didn't have to be alone and broken anymore.

 

After that pivotal point in my life, there have been good times and bad times, but I always know that the only thing I can look to for true peace and happiness is Christ. I have purpose, peace, and joy. I have strength that can only come from God alone. He has helped me be more than a conqueror and doesn't despise me when I mess up. He never abandons me and is always quick to open His loving arms when I call on Him. He's helped me through addiction, marriage trouble, anger, insecurity, infertility,  and loss. He's guided me through endless situations, big and small, and sometimes I don't even realize it till after the fact! A life surrendered to Christ is the only life worth living for me. Period.

 

Now: here's the part I'm really excited about...

What's your story?

I mean it. I want to know. For the rest of this month I want to post other peoples stories of salvation. Write/type it out and send it to me and I'll post it as a special blog post. How many people could we reach for Christ???

Even if there is just one person out there who can identify with your story and be pointed to God...isn't it worth it???

 

Living Beyond Your Years

I'm a worrier. Many of my family members are worriers. It's what we do.
Needless to say, for me, the thought of a whole new year can be a bit overwhelming.

"What's going to happen this year? When I look back on 2014, how will I see it? Will I even be around to look back on it???"

I think back to 2013. For me, it was challenging, but good! For others, maybe not so much? I know people who've had crummy years. Specifically, people who are entering this year with fewer friends or family members than they started with last year.

To me, that's the worst I can imagine: illness and death.

Death is a path my brain has the potential to take, leaving me heartbroken and in tears....over my worries! These are 'what ifs'! Not even true.

I read somewhere that 85% of the things we worry about will never happen. I'm wasting a lot of energy on that.

The only positive way I can think of to approach the new year and also, I guess, life in general, is to try and think about what actually matters.

Everybody dies. No exceptions. Unless Christ returns, we're all gonna rot. (I don't mean to be flippant about death. It hurts to have a loved one die. It's a huge part of sins curse on us.) I guess the question is what are you going to leave behind? What are you spending your time and energy on with the life you've got that's going to matter one bit when you kick the bucket?

The only things that are eternal are the things we do for the Kingdom of God.
My mom calls this "living beyond your years." She is a wonderful example of the concept as well.

I'm absolutely not talking salvation by works. I'm talking we were put on this earth to glorify God and let our light shine. Are we just a waste of space? The Bible basically says that lukewarm Christians aren't just worthless, they're offensive.

Revelation 3:15-16

"I know your works; you are neither hot nor cold. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth."

 

 

Some translations say "vomit" instead of "spit." Yep.

 

In our small group at church, we're reading an amazing book (I've mentioned it on this blog before) called "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. It's really hitting me right between the eyes. I don't know if it's possible to read that book and not be severely affected by it. Get it. Read it.

 

The book does an amazing job of opening your eyes to what actually matters. What do you spend your time on? Are you giving God your leftovers???? Ouch. That hits me close to home.

 

I get distracted easily. "My son is a hot mess!" or "I have so much laundry and cooking to do!" or "This level of candy crush is so addictive! I must beat it!!!" Yeah, I'm lame.

 

The last chapter I read in the book (ch. 6, I believe) talks about loving God. Really loving God. Francis Chan used an illustration of heaven to kick me in the face.

He posed the question (I'm not quoting verbatim, just paraphrasing) that if we could go to heaven for eternity and experience it's perfection; i.e. no war, no illness, no conflict, no famine, no death, no darkness. But God isn't there....would you be okay with that?

 

For me, that's a good 'check yo self' moment. If you think you love God and you answered yes to that question...I don't think you're being completely honest with yourself.

 

Here's my honest answer when I first read that question. Yes. My Grandma's would be there with no pain or sickness. My saved family members and friends would join us there too!

 

New Years, nay, LIFE resolution #1. Love God enough that the answer to that would change to an emphatic 'no.'

 

A relationship with God involves reverence and intimacy/love. Some people struggle with the reverence side of the relationship. Personally, I struggle with the intimacy.

 

Why is it so difficult to truly love God?

I think for me it involves fear. I'm afraid of what may happen if I jump all in and follow God and love Him with all of my being. I feel silly typing that, but it's true. I'm afraid of suffering. I think to a certain extent most people are.

I think it also stems from an inaccurate view of who God really is. My husband pointed this out to me and it made so much sense:

We've both been involved with a particular group of people that believe things like, "If you're not wearing a suit and tie to church, you don't love God very much." or "Listening to anything but old hymns is a sin and means your relationship with God clearly isn't as good as someone who only listens to old hymns." (There is nothing wrong with wearing a suit and tie to church and listening to hymns. However, those kind of statements or attitudes makes a relationship with God a dictatorship instead of what it truly is; a loving relationship between a perfect Father and His flawed son or daughter.)

 

God loved us enough to give us free will. This does not mean that we can do whatever we want and it's ok with Him. Loving God back is a choice. Our small group leader and his wife likened it to a marriage relationship: If you truly love someone, they are on your mind, they affect your decisions, and they affect your actions. Simply put, if you love Him, it will show.

 

I think so many times, we get caught up in Christian 'tradition' that is masquerading as Christian principles. Does the Bible actually say "Thou shalt not wear jeans"?  Why do we pick certain sins to get all upset about but chose to ignore the fact that God sees them all the same?

 

I tend to be opinionated on this because I'm a Christian who recovered from 'giving up' on being a Christian because other Christians said I wasn't 'Christian' enough. How many people are we turning away from Christ by 'forgetting' to spread His love in addition to their need of salvation from their sinful nature?

 

So what  now?

I want to love God the way I should. Not because of some 'order' I've been given. Because when it comes down to it, He loved me first. He gave His only son to die for my sins in my place. He rose again and prepared a place for all believers to spend eternity! He saved my life. He saved my marriage. He's blessed me beyond measure. He's sustained me when times were bad, and will continue to do so in the future. He wants only the best for me.

This one is so simple but so overwhelming to me: He wants me.

 

My husband was talking about certain people he has heard talking on a Christian radio station. He said, "They talk with such passion and respect for God. The way they talk, it's like God really is their best friend. They know Him that intimately!"

I want that for me. I want that for my husband and son. I want that for my family and friends.

 

I want that for you.

 

2014: Here's my resolutions-

 

• To store up treasures in Heaven instead of on earth.
• To put God first in everything that I do.
• To reach out to others with God's love.
• To love God with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength.
• To think about and pursue what matters most (spoiler alert: it isn't material).
• To learn and grow in the knowledge of who God is and what He wants from me.
• To let go...(this is difficult)...and fully surrender my life to God. Even if that means losing someone, including myself.

I'd greatly appreciate prayer for my resolutions. Especially the last one.

 

Living life for myself is worthless....and offensive.

 

2014 will not be lukewarm.

 

Love,

Lauren