Your image isn't your mission

Hellllllooo blog reader friends! It has been quite a while since I've been on here but I am glad to be back with something important to say!

So up until a few days ago I felt like I just couldn't stay focused on God. I wasn't very motivated to spend time with Him and kept using my busy schedule as an excuse as to why I was neglecting my quiet time. Every time this happens and when I finally break the routine, I remember how precious and important that time spent in prayer and in the word is! I also realized something that always happens whenever my eyes are not fixed on Him.

When we give our hearts and our lives over to God, our entire purpose in life changes. Before, we are focused on what will make us happy and how we can make life better for us but once the truth of the Gospel is clear to us and we accept it, life is about something totally different. It isn't about us at all anymore. We know that our home is in Heaven and one day we will get to start our eternity there, so not much on earth really matters anymore. Our mission is simple...serve God and serve people. "Me, myself, and I" are nowhere in this equation. Life is about bringing glory to God in all we do and devoting ourselves to whatever He calls us to do. This is awesome to me and I love being reminded of it, because living life this way is so much better. It's actually kind of ironic, when we spend all of our time trying to please ourselves and make things better for us, we end up feeling empty. There is no greater way to live life than to live for something bigger than ourselves and to get to play a part in this incredible, intricate, mysterious, beautiful plan God has for the world.

What sucks are the times when I forget this and start to live for myself. A lot of the time, however, I'm not even really doing what will make me happy...I'm doing what I think will make the people around me happy because in turn, I think that'll make me happy. I am a HUGE people pleaser which is more of a curse than a blessing a lot of the time. When my eyes drift away from my sweet savior and my best friend, I get obsessively preoccupied with my image and the way that I appear to other people.

Sometimes, this means I am very critical about the way I look. When somebody around me calls somebody else pretty, I get upset that I don't look that way. When other girls talk about how "eyebrows can make or break you" I get obsessed with my eyebrows and get upset that they don't look the way ideal eyebrows look. I could go on and on, but the point is I get upset over something as silly and unimportant as eyebrows.

Other times, the image I work so hard to build for myself has to do with my personality and beliefs. Sometimes I get so caught up in looking like a Godly woman from the outside that I don't even think about what that really means and how I should really be acting. Sometimes I think people see me as ditzy and naïve but I just get comfortable with that image and don't want to break character. There are times when people are shocked to hear me voice my opinion because I'm a "shy girl" so I get scared to speak up. Again, I could go on and on.

Images are important to this world, and when I get caught up in things of this world, my image becomes important to me. I think part of it is because I care so much about what the people around me think of me and if they're pleased with me; it'll get to the point where I create several different images for myself and only portray the one that I think the people I'm currently with will want to see. It's easy to be comfortable in an image, even if it isn't necessarily that good. Just feeling like I know who I am and where I belong makes me feel secure and safe.

But I am not called to be secure and safe...I am not called to be gorgeous or to appear to be a Godly woman or a shy girl. Because of what Jesus did for me, I can call myself God's Daughter and I don't have to pretend! That is exactly who I am...God's broken, flawed, beautiful creation and THAT is something to celebrate. It still isn't my mission to feel great about who I am...obviously, that just comes from embracing God's love for me but His love for me isn't just supposed to make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. It should drive me to live everyday in pursuit of Him and His calling for me. His love for me should inspire me to love others that way and to sacrifice my time to serve them. It should push me to try new things and enjoy life on earth because I won't be here long. My mission is not to have the perfect image, it's to serve my perfect God!!

My prayer for myself and all of you is that we will lay down our desire to have the right image and the right appearance. In addition, that we lay down our views of everyone else's image around us. I don't want to be scared to show love to "the Christian-loathing atheist" and I don't wanna feel like I can't have a conversation with the "judgmental hipster." People might not be the way the appear on the surface, which is something we will never learn if we keep putting so much value in our image.

Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Love, Mary Catherine

 

Painting I did for someone that was fitting with this post :)

 

 

Daniel Fast

I've been wanting for the longest time to connect with God in new ways and to learn more about Him and who I am in Him. But the silliest thing that I didn't understand was that in order for new things to happen, I needed to do something I hadn't done before! There's no way anything would change if I kept the same habits and kept living the same way.

A little over three weeks ago, my church challenged it's members to participate in the "Daniel Fast," a 21-day fast modeled after the way Daniel fasted in the bible. After being stubborn and selfish for a little bit, I accepted the fact that fasting was the next step I needed to take in my relationship with God and I am SO glad I did.  The only reason I even want to share with you guys about it is not because I am proud of myself for doing the fast or want you to be proud of me; it was by His power and goodness alone that I was able to do it! There is just no way I could not share with y'all the things God did for me and through me during this time. The most important thing that this experience showed me was how awesome life is when I simply depend on God rather than myself. It's still hard and the problems I have don't just magically go away, but it's so much better to know I can trust Him with everything and that He will take care of me. Learning to depend on Him was the main thing I learned, but each day He taught me something new either through scripture, someone else's words, or a personal experience. I wrote down the main thing I learned each day in my journal and thought I would share! (p.s. I am aware that some of them are very similar...God knows how forgetful I can be but thankfully He makes sure to remind me of things He once taught me when my actions don't show that I remember it)

1. A fast (or any spiritual discipline) isn't meant to make Him fall more in love with you, but to make you fall more in love with Him. Don't be in this to try to make up for recent or past sins.

2. Spending time with the ones God gave you is one of the most fulfilling things; don't take that time for granted (or spend it on your phone).

3. Self-control is vital to living a fulfilling life. What we want in the moment isn't always best for us in the long run.

4. Don't be discouraged by weakness. Let your weakness highlight God's mighty power within you!

5. Complaining or having a negative attitude does no good for you or the people around you. Joyfully submit to the Lord and express that joy to others.

6. Don't spend so much time dwelling on the days ahead of you. You are not promised another day so put all your energy and effort into making the most of the present.

7. Don't turn to worldly things when you feel weak. Christ is the only thing that will give you the strength you need.

8. It isn't silly to say that Jesus Christ is your best friend. He isn't just some larger than life, all-knowing judge. He's someone who can make you smile after long day, someone you can count on, someone who would do anything for you, and someone who accepts you exactly how you are...what more could you want in a best friend?

9. When you want something to change in your life, you have to be willing to do something you have never done before.

10. Forgiving yourself is just as important as forgiving others. God doesn't want you to live in guilt and self-pity.

11. Don't take the opportunity God has giving you to have an intimate relationship with Him for grants. It is the most beautiful gift you could ever receive.

12. Being honest with the Godly people in your life about what you're dealing with is vital. We need those people to encourage us and hold us accountable. but we will never get that if we try hide our struggles and our feelings.

13. Don't act based on your ever-changing emotions, act based on the un-changing, solid Truth you know about Jesus.

14. Loving people is the single most important thing we must do on this earth. Simple as that.

!5. Don't start to love the things God can give you more than you love Him. He alone is worthy of all of our praise and He is the only thing that remains the same.

16. Any day has the power to be extraordinary and waking up giving praise to the Lord and surrendering your day to Him is the best way to ensure that it is.

17. The more you read and discover about Jesus, the more you're going to want to live like Him.

18. One of the best ways to be a light is simply to be positive. When people are used to being surrounded by negativity, they'll want to know what it is that makes you so joyful.

19. Most of the time what the world tells us and what God's word tells us are total opposites. Following the patterns of the world does nothing to further His kingdom, which is the only reason we are even here.

20. Always ask yourself the question, "Who am I living for and what am I chasing after?" If the answer is anyone but Jesus and anything but being His servant, you have lost sight of your purpose.

21. God's got your back. You're silly for thinking He'd call you to do something and not provide for you.

Thanks for reading y'all! I hope some of the things God taught me made an impact on you. Have a great weekend!

 

 



a bird's eye view

Hellllooo blog readers! What do ya know? 2013 is coming to an end. Already? It feels like just yesterday I was telling you guys what my New Year's resolutions were and expressing my excitement for the new year to come. Well, here I am to do it again!

I just love New Year's Eve. Not because of the parties and TV extravaganzas...in fact, I'm spending my night eating hot cheetos and writing this post. I love it because it is a time to reflect on all the good and bad times that made up the past year and to set goals and get excited for the year to come. I have always been a fan of making resolutions, but I've also learned that it's foolish to make an ideal plan for how you want your year to turn out. You never know what life could throw at you, in fact you don't even know if you are promised another day! A resolution shouldn't have to do with what events you want to happen in the coming year but instead the kind of person you want to be and the way you want to react to the things that might happen throughout the year. I've already thought of tons of little resolutions for myself but I wanted something solid, something I could ooze into every little crack and corner of all the different aspects of my life. Earlier today while I was looking out an airplane window, it hit me. I decided that my general, most important resolution that I want to remember every single day of 2014 is to look at life from a bird's eye view.

What exactly does that mean? I haven't quite figured out yet. Honestly I just liked the sound of it! I was leaving California after an incredible week-long trip and I decided instead of reading or sleeping, I would enjoy the view and reflect on my year. I'm glad I did because I love looking at the world from that perspective. It makes life seem more manageable. Then I got to thinkin'...what if we could look at life from a bird's eye view? I mean obviously we can't actually ever do that, it's God's job to see the map of our entire life. And I don't want to literally see what my entire life will look like, I just want to look at things from the view that there is a bigger picture. Whether I have 5 more minutes to live or 80 more years to live, my life is not just some random series of events that make me feel all different kinds of emotions. Each thing that happens has the potential to further my relationship with God and essentially the potential to further His Kingdom. But only if I let it. A friend told me the other day that it's crazy how God is dependent on us and that all we have to do is run to Him, let Him know that He can have control over a situation and He will do wonders with it. It doesn't mean that He will make it all better and make life easy again, but He will weave the situation into His master plan for your life. He'll teach you from it, help you grow stronger and wiser, reveal to you something new about Himself, or simply just comfort you. So back to the bird's eye thing. Instead of looking at failures as, well, failures and instead of living in a cloud of self-pity when something bad happens look at it from a different perspective. Life is so much more than a rough day or a breakup or a rejection letter from a school. The things we think are a big deal when they happen are really just like a little pond or hill in the big map of life. They're important and add excitement to what would be an otherwise flat, easy life...but they aren't worth obsessing over.

So that's what I've decided I want to do in 2014...look at life from a vertical perspective rather than horizontal. Instead of worry and stress over little things, I want to surrender every situation up to God and just enjoy living life with Him. He's crazy about me (and you) and wants us to have fun in our life! He doesn't want us to feel guilty or hurt or disappointed or anything. But in our time here on earth, all of that is going to happen. So the best thing to do is just hand it over to Him, let Him take care of you because that's what He does best! He takes care of the whole earth, every little person in every city...just look out an airplane window and try to wrap you brain around that. It's mind blowing how powerful and incredible He is. So why not take advantage of the fact that a God that awesome would wanna walk through life with you? I promise you that nothing is better...I just need to remember that myself when I'm worrying about the silliest little things.

Just for fun and because I love making resolutions, I'll share some more of my little ones...
1. Take more risks! Again with the idea that I want to simply treasure and enjoy life more, I think taking more risks will be an important part of that. I can get scared and shy and worry about every possible thing that could go wrong but I don't want to let that hold me back from experiencing some awesome things that this world has to offer!
2. Respect Myself. I get so caught up in pleasing other people sometimes or finding a quick fix to a problem that I lose sight of what is best for me. I don't want to become more selfish by any means..in fact I could definitely shed some selfishness in 2014. But I also don't want to live for other people or for anything other than God. He took precious time and effort to create me and I should respect & love myself enough to do only what pleases Him and if it lines up with what He wants, what pleases me, even if it isn't always what the people around me want me to do.
3. Less technology, more living. I've said this in my posts many times before, but I'll say it again. I love technology and social media and all that as much as anyone in this generation, heck I'm spending New Years Eve typing a blog post! But it has had some very negative effects on me before and in 2014 I want to be able to limit how attached I am to all my gadgets. Too much social networking has caused me to compare, to obsess, to envy, and simply get distracted or detached from the beautiful things around me. I have a love/hate relationship with it but in 2014 I would like to limit it enough so that it's only a love relationship and I don't let it negatively affect me!
4. Embrace my dorkiness. Yes, that's really one of my resolutions...a friend helped me think of it after a dorky conversation we had about how much we love vocabulary and words and stuff. :) But seriously, it's so easy for a shy girl like me to get embarrassed about things and to hide parts of my personality...especially in high school where there is so much pressure to be cool. Not that I'd get bullied for expressing my love for English or something but I still do feel the need to suppress my quirkier personality traits. But where's the fun in that? In 2014 as I finish high school and enter college, I want to show my true self to everyone I meet, because the people that want to be around me when I'm actually being me are the people who make life the best anyway!

Well I hope you all had a fabulous NYE and more importantly, an incredible 2014! Thank you for reading and again, thanks for you support. This blog has been one of my favorite parts of 2013!

Happy New Years!

"No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us." Philippians 3:13, 14

"In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps." Proverbs 16:9

“But forget all that— it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland." Isaiah 43:18, 19

Beautiful view from the airplane. I love how you can see the mountains, beach, and city all in one shot. 

 

My sister and me in Cali

 

My cute parents ringing in the New Year!

the gift we cannot live without

Have you ever wanted something so badly for Christmas? You just felt like you could not live without it and that if you did not unwrap this certain thing on Christmas morning, you'd feel like something was missing. A few years ago all I wanted was a puppy. Every time my parents asked what I wanted I said "a puppy pug." When they told me I couldn't have that, I said I didn't want anything else for Christmas. On Christmas morning I walked downstairs to find a stuffed animal pug sitting on the couch. I was full of disappointment, almost to the point of tears. It's ridiculous to think about now because I had so many other great gifts, and even more importantly, my amazing family. It's even more ridiculous because they ended up surprising me with a precious, REAL pug later that morning. Once I got to hold my very first puppy, I felt like Christmas was complete and was truly content. My sister did the same thing with hermit crabs. Every year from when she was like 2 to 6 she asked for them and when she didn't get them, she cried. She finally gave up on that dream and realized there was more to Christmas than hermit crabs.

That's what we all need to realize....there's more to Christmas, more to life actually, than just gifts and worldly things. I've had to learn this truth the hard way, but there wasn't a more perfect time to learn it than right before Christmas- the day that so many believe is all about themselves but those who grasp the true meaning of it realize that we are meant to celebrate one gift and one gift only. I've recently been caught up in a certain sin that I just couldn't let go of. I wasn't happy living in it, but I was comfortable and didn't want to have to deal with it, especially during all the craziness of Christmas. Once I was forced to deal with it, not on my own terms, I realized that I was hurting a lot of people, including myself. It wasn't fun dealing with it, in fact it was miserable...but I am so glad I did because it made me realize so much more about Jesus. When I was feeling alone and terrible for hurting people I love, God reminded me that He is ALL I need. It'll be a journey forgiving myself and getting other people to forgive me, but I have to trust that God will take care of me through it. Although celebrating Christmas with my family will be amazing, I realized that all the presents I'm about to receive wouldn't make the situation any better.

There is only one thing I truly need...the gift that Jesus gave me and all of us when He came to this earth and died a terrible death for us: freedom. The gift of freedom that comes from knowing Jesus Christ includes:

• freedom from our sins and past mistakes, whether they happened five minutes ago or five years ago
• freedom from worrying about the people we love because we can trust that God will take care of them better than we ever could
• freedom from trying to make our own plans and figure things out ourselves
• freedom from the titles this world gives us
• freedom from guilt and self-pity
• freedom from everything bad about this earth because our citizenship is in Heaven

This Christmas, I've realized that the freedom that Jesus gave us when He came into this world and gave up his life is only gift I will ever need, the gift I could never live without. This freedom is what will make Christmas, and my whole life, feel complete. In the midst of my brokenness, Jesus is the only thing that can bring me peace and I am so humbled that He would give up everything just so I could be free from my own sin and my own mistakes. My prayer is that you experience the freedom that Christ has given us and that you realize it is ALL you need. 

Merry Christmas everybody, thank you for reading!

"So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free." John 8:36

"So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law." Galatians 5:1

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." John 3:16, 17

"I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin." Romans 7:22-25

My beloved pug, Janet

Wonderfully Made.

Hello all! I hope everybody had a wonderful, restful, joyful Thanksgiving break. I am so thankful for each of you who takes the time to read my blog and for all of the encouragement you give me via twitter, facebook, or through comments on my blog! I am also thankful that the Lord knew what He was doing when He prompted me to start a blog because each post I write at least one person tells me it impacted them in some way and that is all I wanted when I started it...for God to speak through me to at least just one person :) Anyway, sorry you have not heard from me in a while but I'm back and cannot wait to share with you!

Eh, well that last sentence was a little bit of a lie. I am not all that excited to write this post because it requires me to be extra vulnerable. But I feel the need to write it because I don't want anybody else believing the same lies that have been dragging me down lately.

Insecurity in the way we look is something that has been around for ages, or at least since mirrors were invented. But I'm pretty darn sure it has never been as bad as it is in this day and age. Now I love instagram and twitter and Pinterest as much as the next girl but I believe they are very much to blame for this issue. That's because these sites allow us to compare every little thing about our real life self to other people's edited, beautified, filtered selves. I'm guilty of this on both sides, which makes me so frustrated that I let it consume so much of me. If there is an instagram effect that will make my skin look better, you bet I'm going to use it. But then I'll look at somebody else's post and feel so defeated that my skin doesn't look like theirs. Don't get me wrong, I don't think there is anything wrong with editing your pictures but it's the comparing that I cannot stand.

Why can't we just accept that God made us exactly how He wanted to and that we are his most treasured creation? It'd be easy for me to say that I have accepted this truth and wake up just absolutely loving myself every morning but this is so far from the truth. To be completely honest it is very difficult for me to believe that I am "wonderfully and fearfully made" (Psalm 139:14) when I wake up with a giant zit on my face or I'm having a bad hair day. But I don't think that God expects us to feel beautiful all the time, or at least not physically beautiful.

My obsession over image and physical appearance used to be one of the major things I was a slave to before I gave my heart to Jesus. And sometimes when I drift away from God I let them consume me all over again. For the past few weeks, my walk with God has been hindered because of my obsession over meeting the world's standards of beauty. Thoughts such as "I'd be so much prettier if my nose was shaped differently" or "If only I had better skin I wouldn't have to wear so much makeup and people would consider me naturally beautiful" or "Once my hair is a certain length I'll be satisfied with my appearance" just fill my brain all the time. I am laughing at myself as I'm typing these things and I'm sure you're laughing as you read them (especially if you are a boy) because it really is so silly that these types of thoughts have been consuming me, but I told you I was going to be completely transparent so there it is.

As I said I don't think God expects us to feel just absolutely beautiful all the time. He desperately wants us to see ourselves the way He does but He knows that it won't always be that way, and that's okay. I think what is truly important on days that we don't love the way we look is to remember what actually matters. We are more than just a body or a face covered in clothes and makeup, we have souls and minds and hearts. We have potential and ambition, we each have talents and skills and unique features that make us who we are. We each have a specific role in God's greater plan, a specified position just for us if we are willing to take it. Most importantly, we have a mighty, powerful, creative, wise God who is living within us and walking through every moment with us.

This world makes us believe that life is meant to be all about us and that the way we look, the way we act, the possessions we have, and the things we have accomplished will determine the way we end up. But as Christians, we must remember that we already know the way things will end. We are already citizens of Heaven and when it's all said and done, that is where we will spend all of eternity. Life on earth is not about us, it is about the God we are following. It's our mission to use the tools and gifts HE has given us to make our mark on the world. To let HIS words and HIS truth speak through us. To follow the creative and beautiful path HE laid out for us. To let HIS beauty shine through us.

Knowing this, I can go through life not having to worry about the way I look. My God did create me exactly how He wanted me to be and to Him, I am more beautiful than sunsets and mountains and gardens. I don't always believe this, but it is not the point of life. God did not create me to just be pretty, He created me to be a powerful woman of God, which is essentially the most beautiful thing a girl can be. When I used to hear sermons on beauty, I used to think I was expected to wake up and feel so great about my appearance every single day and I would get so discouraged when I couldn't do it. But what really matters is that I focus on what I'm truly here for. When I remember the God who created me and the plans He has made for me, one little zit or some split ends seem like the dumbest thing to care about.

My hope is that the next time you are feeling down about your appearance,
1. you remember that your extravagantly creative God, who made the bluest oceans and peacocks (my favorite animal) and forests of evergreens and snow-tipped mountains and cute little lady bugs and pretty white cats with one blue eye and one brown eye and whatever else you find beautiful in nature, considers you His most treasured creation. You are wonderfully made and you are His masterpiece.
2. you don't let it consume you. There is so much more to life than the way you look. Some days this is hard to believe, but if you take a step back and look at the bigger picture, it is a ridiculous thing to care about. Our mission is to bring glory to God and to tell as many people we can about HIS beauty and who HE is. That is truly all that matters.

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalm 139:13, 14

"But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

"You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you." Song of Solomon 4:7

These things make up true beauty.

Five of the most beautiful girls I know, inside and out.

My family makes me feel oh so beautiful

One more bit of truth.

Unchanging

Hello everyone! I am so excited to finally have time to sit and write (or type a should say) about all the things God has been teaching me and showing me lately! Instead of my usual long intro, I'm just going to jump right into things! :)

Something I have learned recently is that as believers, we often go through so-called "seasons" in our relationship with God. There will be seasons where we feel very clear about where the Lord is calling us and we are passionate about submitting ourselves to His plan. There will be seasons where we experience immense heartache or suffering and God is the only thing that we have to cling to. There will be seasons where God is just rocking our world with one blessing after another and everything seems to fall into place. Unfortunately, there will also be seasons where we try to do life on our own or cannot seem to turn away from a certain repetitive sin. There will be seasons where we have grown to be content in our relationship and can't seem to find the passion to reach for more. Sometimes these seasons will only last a few days or weeks and sometimes for a year or longer.

The point is that we, as humans whose attitudes and moods are constantly affected by the craziness of this world, waver in our relationships with Christ. But He never ever ever changes. From the time our God created the universe and breathed life into man, to when He sent His only Son to carry the burden of our sin, to this very second, He has remained the same. His power has not strengthened nor weakened over time, His love for us has not increased nor decreased, His creativity and His beauty has not faded. He is the God who was and is and is to come. He knew the plan for this world and for every single person in it before it all came to be. And this is why He is the strongest foundation to build our lives on.

Reading stories like Jonah and the whale, or Noah's Ark, or the parting of the Red Sea, it was always hard for me to comprehend that the same God who worked all of those miracles is the same God who loves me today. Those stories seemed ridiculous to me and I never thought that miracles like that could still happen today. Obviously God is not going to flood the whole earth or part a sea any time soon, but He is working miracles all around us that make it so difficult for us to deny His power. Let me just describe to you a few of the miracles I have gotten to witness recently...

A few weekends ago my church did a three-weekend long series called "Unashamed." In this series, people who had committed their lives to Christ but had not been baptized yet were challenged to get baptized in order to show the world that they are unashamed that their heart belongs to Jesus. The cool thing was that people could get spontaneously baptized along with the people who had already signed up in advance to get baptized. There ended up being 842 people baptized at the three campuses of my church over just two weekends! It was truly a miracle that God was able to speak through our pastor to that many people, and that all of those lives were forever changed in just two weekends. Getting to play the honorary role of a "towel girl," I had the privilege of getting to see people's immediate joy when they came out of the water and I got to personally congratulate all those who took this next step with Christ. The most special part of the experience for me, however, was watching my little brother and parents get spontaneously baptized. They were there to support my sister and I when we got baptized so it was amazing to get to be on the other end and support them. I consider a miracle in itself how much God has moved in my family, individually and as a whole. 

"This messenger was John the Baptist. He was in the wilderness and preached that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. All of Judea, including all the people of Jerusalem, went out to see and hear John. And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River." Mark 1:4-5 

In the same way that God spoke through John the Baptist to the people of Judea and Jerusalem, convincing them to repent of their sins and get baptized on the spot, God worked the same type of miracle at my church. It's so beautiful that the stuff we read about in the bible is happening today and God is using people like you and me, even if it's just as a towel girl, to play a part in His miracles.

This past Wednesday FCA's annual "Fields of Faith" was held at Texas Tech's Jones AT&T Stadium. Thousands of middle school and high school students from all different churches and schools in Lubbock and the surrounding areas came to worship and to hear students, athletes, and pastors give their testimonies. When the last speaker was finished he called for every student who wanted to commit or recommit his/her  life to Christ to come down on the field. There have been at least a thousand kids receive the gift of salvation that night but the even cooler part was the way the other kids in the stands cheered and even shed tears for their new brothers and sisters in Christ. Thousands being saved in one night is no doubt a miracle, but it doesn't stop there. The fact that a bunch of students from competing schools, belonging to different groups of friends, all involved in different activities could come together and lift praises up to Our Father in a division 1 football stadium is also a beautiful miracle and proof of God's glory.

Whatever season you are going through in your spiritual life, I hope you are encouraged by the fact that God never changes. He never gives up on you and never changes His glorious plans for you, no matter how much you drift from Him. He makes all things work together for your good! No matter how messy your life is, He wants you to play a part in the miracles He is making happen today!

Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. James 1:17

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8

Pictures of each of my family members being baptized

My sweet family

My friend, Georgia Beth, also got baptized! So happy for her :)

All the kids who were saved at Fields of Faith

My friends and I at Fields of Faith

Choose Truth!

Hello all! Over the past few weeks, I've been praying for guidance on what to post about next and was, honestly, just kind of hoping for God to reveal to me something my readers needed to hear. Instead, He gave me a huge reality check and shook my brain. I felt convicted and challenged and definitely humbled so now I would like to share about it with y'all!

This is my best attempt to paraphrase what The Lord was trying to tell me: "Mary Catherine, you cannot hold onto worldly thoughts and desires any longer. This world tells you the complete opposite of what I tell you. Worldly thinking and heavenly thinking cannot coexist."

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9

Ever since my senior year started, I've been trying so hard to live a life based on worldly desires and to satisfy opinions of worldly people while at the same time trying to seek out what God wants of me and to please Him. Let me tell you...it's exhausting. Absolutely exhausting. Don't try it. What I've discovered through this is that this broken, fallen world is the complete opposite of the Kingdom of God. It sounds silly saying that I didn't realize that until now; it's such an obvious fact told to us over and over again. But it's not so much that I didn't know it to be true, it's that I didn't live in that truth.

I'd like to take this post to compare some of the lies that the world tells us to the truth that God has shown us over and over since the beginning of time.

What the world tells us:

• Titles, labels, status, and stereotypes matter. Try to be someone who impresses people and who people feel cool to be around.

• If you cannot please the people around you, you are doing something wrong.

• You must do everything you can to try and find someone who will love you and make feel important. Life will be better with a significant other to lean on. If you cannot find one, lower your standards.

• Beauty is a clear face. Beauty is a cute, skinny body. Beauty is pretty long hair. Beauty is a cute nose, good smile, tan skin....(I could go on forever). Beauty is important, people must not see your flaws.

• Don't ask for help. Don't be vulnerable. You cannot trust people and you cannot look weak. You must rely on yourself to keep it all together.

• You have your whole life to figure things out. If you're young, make mistakes and don't worry if you feel like you're doing the wrong thing...you have so much time to do the right thing when you're older.

• Do whatever you can to make yourself happy. Your happiness is what matters most and if that means the expense of others' happiness, it's worth it.

• Gossiping is normal. It's okay to talk about people who you believe aren't as good as you or seem to make mistakes more than you.

What God tells us:

• You are His child. That is the only title that matters. All other titles and statuses that seem to be important now will fade and God's children will be exalted.

"But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then." Matthew 19:30

• He loves everything about you and is completely pleased with who you are, after all He made you. Instead of exhausting yourself trying to please people whose attitudes and opinions are constantly changing, spend time doing what is pleasing to God whose plans for you are solid and unchanging. 

"Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant." Galatians 1:10

• An intimate relationship with your Creator is the most precious, fulfilling thing. One day He will provide someone who will love you in the best way a human could, but no human love will bring the satisfaction God can. Singleness is a gift. Spend time falling in love with Him. 

"Your unfailing love is better to me than life itself; how I praise you! I will honor you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy." Psalm 63:3-5

• Beauty is exactly how God made you. A beautiful person is one whose heart belongs to God. That is the beauty that lasts and that is the beauty that matters.

"You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you." Song of Solomon 4:7

"But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." 1 Peter 3:4

• We must surround ourselves with people we can lean on and we must reveal to them our struggles and our flaws. We are not designed to do life alone and we are not designed to be invincible. Humans are weak and our lives are messy; the only way to survive is to let God speak to us and comfort us not only through our relationship with Him but through our relationship with others.

"As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend." Proverbs 27:17

• We are not promised another day. We cannot be selfish and put God on the back-burner for when we are older so we can have "fun" and make mistakes now. We must surrender each and every day to Him, not just the future.

"How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, 'If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.'” James 4:14, 15

• Loving on others and serving them will bring you more joy than you could imagine. God's two greatest commandments are to love Him and love others...loving yourself isn't part of the equation.

"We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters." 1 John 3:16

• We tend to gossip when we are insecure about ourselves. But slandering our brothers and sister breaks God's heart, because we are insulting His precious creations. Everyone is equal in His eyes and it is not our job to judge those around us. Focus on your own shortcomings and love others in spite of theirs.

"Does anyone want to live a life that is long and prosperous? Then keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies!" Psalm 12, 13

These are just a few examples of the lies the world tries to tell us. I could give you more, but my guess is that you have probably picked up on the fact that most everything the world tells us is completely the opposite of what The Lord tells us. The difference is that the word of God is truth and this truth is the way to a fulfilling life. I knew a lot of these things before my reality check, but selfishly, I caved into the world believing that it could bring me more joy than living righteously could. Now I have made the choice to live in the Truth. I'm going to stumble and I'm going to stray, but I have faith that my God will pull me right back like He always has. I pray that you will desire to live in the Truth and will find tremendous joy in doing so. Thanks for reading. God bless you all :)

"And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?" Matthew 16:26