You, Me and Axheads...

The other day I was reading 2 Kings and I came across this awesome story called “An Axhead Floats.” Funny name, huh? Well, read on!  “The company of the prophets said to Elisha, ‘Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. Let us go the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place for us to live.' And he said, ‘Go.’ Then one of them said, ‘Won’t you please come with your servants?’ ‘I will,’ Elisha replied. And he went with them. They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. ‘Oh, my lord,’ he cried out, ‘it was borrowed!’ The man of God asked, ‘Where did it fall?’ When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. ‘Lift it out,’ he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it.” - 2 Kings 6:1-7

I absolutely love this story! This story perfectly illustrates that God cares about anything and everything in your life. The big and the little. We always hear that nothings too big for God, but nothings too small for God either. This guy’s borrowed axhead popped off his stick and fell into the water! God could have looked at it and been like, “Whoops! Too bad for you. I have bigger things to take care of.” But no! God saw this guy’s little issue and took care of it for him. Why? Because this thing was so big to this guy, God wanted to help and fix this problem for him.

This applies directly to our lives too. I think sometimes we, especially as girls, look at our small problems, like when our feelings get hurt, and just push them aside with the mindset that God has other problems to handle and doesn’t need to add our “small issues” to his load. But let’s ask ourselves this question: Is this issue a big deal to me? If the answer is yes, then it’s a big issue to God! God is more than happy to fix our problems for us. All God needs us to do is ask.

Much love,

Brittany

P.S. I will do my very best to update this blog once a week… but I am so extremely busy, that I am literally squeezing this in. Seriously, I’m sitting waiting to get my haircut while typing this! But I’ll do my bestest!! :)

Because He Made Me This Way

 The other day at a track meet a little girl, I had no idea who she was, came up to me, stared for a bit and then said, "You're pretty." Well, I sure wasn't feeling very pretty that day... all sweaty, red from the sun, exhausted, and my hair in a mess!! I just thought it was adorable, told her she was pretty, too and went on with my day. But the more I think about it, the more I relate this story to how God thinks of us. He thinks we are beautiful no matter if we "feel" like it or if we think we look beautiful or not, because He made us that way! Thinking you are pretty is more than having a good self-image about yourself. It's more than being confidant in who you are . This is about allowing God to come in and change our hearts. Today so many girls think they are ugly. Just ask a few girls and I'm sure more than one will say there is something they don't like about themselves. But let's get past the whole, "I'm not pretty," spill. Let's go further into the real root of this problem. The world tries to fix this problem, but still more and more girls are becoming miserable. I truly think this is sad. It really is sad that we, as Christian girls, can't be content how GOD made us to be. WE are the daughters of the Most High King, and yet we dare to basically say, "God, You did a horrible job making me. Why are my eyes so small, my skin so blemished, my hair so thin/thick, my hips too big...?" Do you see now what we are really saying to our Creator? We are just plainly telling Him we hate how He made us! This is more about just being beautiful. This is more about being content in our bodies. This is about saying, "God, I love the way I am because You, my Heavenly Father, made me this way." This doesn't mean we won't ever feel disappointed by how we look. But we have to get past wanting other people to like us so much. There is one thing that girls strive for when they long to be "pretty." Getting noticed. Think about it. We want guys to notice us. We want people to notice us. It's truly all about attention, attention, attention!! Every girl wants attention! But why? Usually to become friends with a certain person, or to get a certain guy or to become popular. It's true! It hurts me when I see Christian girls say they aren't pretty because they long for attention. But how much more does it hurt God to see His daughter discontent with how He especially created her?! I know that when I put on my make-up, I wonder if people will notice me more. But then I have to stop and re-evaluate myself. I have to tell myself, "So what if people think I'm pretty or not. Why should I care what they think? I don't need make-up to be the person God made me to be, despite my flaws." I need to stop worrying about myself and how I look on the outside and worry more about what they see on the inside. Besides, if people only like me when I look my best, they don't truly like me. It's really as plain and simple as that. So, how do we learn to be content with how our Father made us? We must put our identity in Him, and that starts with prayer. Ask God to help you stop worrying about what other people think. Ask God to help you stop feeling the need for attention. Ask God to help you change on the inside. Ask God to help you to stop caring so much about yourself and help you to start caring more about others.
 We are beautiful, ladies. Not because we have pretty eyes, or beautiful hair. We are beautiful because we have learned to be content; saying that God made me this way and He thinks I'm beautiful. We are princesses, daughters of the King. Therefore, we are beautiful.
Much love,
Brittany(:

Highlights of Retreat 2011 sermons..

So, this year at Realife Retreat 2011, our speaker was Jeremy Johnson. He was absolutely hilarious, yet God used him in powerful ways. I really enjoyed him, so I thought I'd put some of my favorite parts of his stories and what God spoke to me through his sermons here. Even if you didn't go to Retreat, I'm sure you'll enjoy them!! Of course, they will be in my words.
"One year, as a kid, I wanted to go trick-or-treating. I told my mom, "I wanna go trick-or-treat and dress us as a smurf." But my mom said no. She told me we were attending an alternate Halloween event at my church called the 'Hallelujah, Jesus Has Risen Harvest Party.' But I didn't want to go to the 'Hallelujah, Jesus Has Risen Harvest Party', and have some teenager behind a black curtain put a tootsie roll on my fishing pole and tug on it. I didn't wanna throw a ring around a bottle neck for candy, I wanted to go trick-or-treating with my friends. Not having a choice, I said okay, I'd go the the 'Hallelujah, Jesus Has Risen Harvest Party', but I still wanted to be a smurf. But then my mom told me I had to dress up as a Bible character.  But who can tell the difference between a Shepard and priest. They both wear their dad's bath robes and carry a stick! But really, there are a lot of Bible characters you could be! How about the 7-headed beast out of Revelation? Or the naked, demonic man? Those are clearly in the rules, right?"

"Stop fighting small, useless fights. Focus on your own spiritual battles to prepare you for God's calling and to fight the big, eternal fights."

"When I was 5, my dad asked me, "Why are you so fat?" I just looked at him and said, "I'm not fat! I'm just hard to kidnap."

"You don't have to be accepted to be accepted. You don't have to be chosen to be chosen."

"Normal is overrated!" (;D I like this one, haha)

"You can ask God to change you, but just like you can change in and out of a shirt, you can "change out" of what God did in you. But, just as a butterfly changes from a caterpillar, inside and out, we should ask God to TRANSFORM us. Because you can't transform out of something."

"We are valuable because we are Loved."

"'Oh, Sammy-poo! Tell me the secret of your strength so I can kill you!' And Samson, until the last time, lies to her. And so, she says, 'Sammy-poo!!!!! How could you?! You lied to me about how to kill you! Tell me the secret, Sammy-poo...' (How stupid is Samson?! Of course, this is paraphrased, but still!)
And every time Samson defeated the Philistines, it was SNAP, CRACKLE, POP. SAM-SAM!!"

"Your dream will be a curse until you start fulfilling it."

"Create an environment to live for God."

"Your personal life will make or break you."

"Whatever gets my attention gets my direction."

"Daily feed the Spirit. Daily starve the flesh."

"It will cost you a lot to live for Christ, but it will cost you more not too."

I hope you enjoyed!!!

Much love,
Brittany(: