His Whispers to the Good Girl. {Guest Post by Caroline}

(I see so many people talking about the incredible friendships they have made through blogging, and I feel like a broken record saying it too. But you see, its totally true.)

I have met so many sweet ladies through the blog world, friends who are such an encouragement even though we have never met in real life. 

I asked sweet Caroline to share with you something that has been on her heart lately. She only emailed this to me yesterday, but friends I couldn't resist sharing this post immediately. Because Caroline has put into words something I have wrestled with this past year. Something the Lord started speaking to me about through Emily Freeman and her book Grace For the Good Girl. The ugliness that surrounds my need for perfection =) 

Anyway, I won't ruin it, but enjoy! 

So head over and say hi to Caroline, she's a gem! 

Blog//Twitter//Facebook

I don't know you, but I'm going to take a risk & confess I have a problem.  I hope you'll understand, or at least nod and listen and not run away when I confess.  See, I'm a good Christian girl.  In the stillness of my own heart, I long to know Christ.  I long to be found near Him, for the Lord to look at me and say that I've been a good and faithful servant.  

My problem is that I like to be good.  You could say I'm addicted to perfection.

Some might say that that's a good thing.  For years I thought so.  After all, I could live a life above reproach and do all the right things without much effort.  It was natural.  yes, yes, I sinned, but I didn't deal with any of the "big" sins I subconsciously found myself judging others for falling into.

Yet, here I am, age 24, in ministry, a new wife, and I feel the Lord's subtle tug on my heart.  wait, no.  it's not subtle.  The Lord seems to be waving His arms in an attempt to finally get my attention.  He seems to be saying-- you're missing it.  He's not critiquing my outward life.  At this point, He doesn't seem to care about how I look to others.  He doesn't seem to be concerned about whether I'm "above reproach" or representing Him to all the interact with me.  He's concerned with something bigger.

He's concerned with something much much deeper.

my heart.  

in the stillness, it's as if He bids me to come to Him.  He has me look into my heart, which compared to my outward life, is pretty dirty.  He bids me to come not so He can fix me, but so He can tell me it's ok to not be fixed.  

He tells me not to scrub and clean up my sins, because He has already made me white as snow.  It's as if when I look into my heart & see dirt, that I am reminded that I need Him.  again.  Oh I used to know that-- before I got so caught up in trying to be so perfect, before I mastered being a good girl.  He wants me to stop being afraid of sin-- living in fear.  Instead of fearing sin-- living in constant fear & guilt & rules; He tells me to draw near to Him.

It is there that He reminds me that being near to Him is my goal-- not perfection.

perhaps He knows that for good Christian girls like me, when I stop focusing on what can be seen, I'll experience grace.  finally.  And then, everything will fall into place.  

Psalm 73:28.  but as for me, it is good to be near the Lord.

Him & only Him.  not perfection. not compliments. not an identity grounded on being good.

Him.  & that's only by His grace.

whew.  confessing makes my heart feel a little lighter.  thanks for letting me get that off my chest, new friends.

Sharing Our Stories: Oh How I Love Jesus, Because He first Loved me.

Many years ago, I sat in the pew of the church shaking a little as I listened to my summer camp group leader talk about what it meant to love Jesus. What it meant to become a ‘christian.’ I read through the little booklet in my hand and wondered what there was to question as I understood the bullet points it had.

• I Believed that I had done bad things in my life
• I Believed that God was perfect
• I Believed Jesus had died on the cross for me to restore relationship with God as I had done these bad things
• I wanted my life to change, to live my life for Jesus instead of me

I told my leader I wanted to pray the prayer that followed as I understood and wanted to make the commitment. I tried to make it not a big deal, but I sensed there was something big happening. She prayed with me and together we signed a date. 

I was only six years old at the time.

I was so fortunate to have grown up in a Christian home. I had two parents who introduced me to Jesus, took me to church and youth group. They were pretty strict about the upbringing of me and my sister and showed us we were loved. I never doubted the existence of God as a child, He was real to me. Looking back, I believe that I really did understand all those bullet points in the little booklet at six years old. But I still did not understand that last one. I signed that booklet and yet continued on as though everything was the same.

It wasn't until I was thirteen and realising how much I had tried to live life in junior high for my friends and for the acceptance of those around me, that I truly started to understand the concept of living for Jesus. 

That daily choice of choosing to do something to show His love to someone, instead of doing something because it makes me look good.

So one night during worship at youth group in a new city, with new people all around me, in a new place...this realisation came to me and I signed a commitment to rededicate my life to Christ. 

To Live for Him this time instead of me. 

At first it was effort to worry less about what people thought, to walk down the halls of my school and realize that as long as I was following Jesus, I probably would not be popular here. 

And over time that became ok. 

The Lord gave me an incredible sense of His love and peace. He brought friends into my life who shared my love for Him, friends who encouraged me and challenged me to grow in my walk with Him. Not many of these in my school setting.

Finally after a relationship with a guy that I desperately wanted to happen didn't work out towards the end of high school, I began to truly fall in love with Jesus. I began to no longer see him as just a good friend or a father figure to rely and depend on. I began to see Him as my first love. I made a commitment in college to read through the entire Bible, and His word came alive to me during those days as I read about his faithfulness in the Old Testament and his love through the sacrifice of His son in the New Testament. Graciously I even read through the book of Numbers and came away in awe of God and His character. If you've ever read Numbers, you’ll see how that must have been a God thing. 

The more I read about Him, the more I understood who He was. He became an incredible constant in my life, a foundation for my understanding of love. Even though once again I was surrounded by people who didn't know Him and didn't love Him, the Lord provided several people to encourage me, to challenge me....often these sweet friends were in a different geographical location to me. 

To this day, I am thankful for that challenging situation where a relationship with a guy I truly wanted, didn't work out. (At least not in my timing)

Because God had bigger plans, plans to show me how much He loved me first. Living life for Him is hard, but we don’t have to do it alone.

So friends, if I could encourage you in any way today. I would want you to know that no matter what situation you find yourself in, there is a person waiting to comfort you. He knows you and loves you so much! (see what he thinks of you)

Run into His arms and begin to fall in love. You won’t ever regret that decision.

Much Love,

L

(This post was first shared on a sweet friend's blog)

Gloriously Encouraged By Brit Willard.

Gloriously Encouraged is a series where I have asked several beautiful women to share their hearts with you guys. 
The purpose being to encourage you all.
I can't keep quiet about these ladies you guys, they are such gems!! 
Beautiful inside and out. 
I look forward to hearing what each of them shares on this topic. 

I have asked them to share with you guys every week leading up to Christmas, so you too can be encouraged by them during this season of thankfulness and grace. May their stories point you to the one each of them loves! 

I am so blessed to be able to call these ladies friends. 
I find such encouragement in hearing how the Lord is working in their lives and working through them. 
I hope you too will find their stories and hearts to be a blessing with where you find yourself on your journey with the Lord. 

 Much Love as always!
 L

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Hello. I'm Brittany & I blog at These Happy Times. I just love L & I'm sure you do as well. I was so excited to meet her in real life at Influence and actually spend some time with her. Today she has asked me to share something from my heart. Before I continue, let me introduce my little family. My husband & our sweet little man.

About a month ago life kinda began to get crazy. By crazy I'm referring to busyness of life, commitments, emotions, way of thinking & feeling.  There were way too many things on my plate and I really wanted to do all of them & do them all well. At the same time my little world began to get hit after hit all at one time. Life hand delivered two devastating pieces of information to me within 24 hours. At the same time my car broke down & my little family was all very sick with the flu. It was really not a pretty time in life.

I will spare everyone from all the details of the news that I received (for it isn't my story to tell) but I will say that I was broken. Like, really broken.

That next week I just kept trying to process information.
Asking the Lord what he would have me to learn during this time.
What did he want me to hear from him?

As I was driving in my car listening to this song, the Lord clearly spoke to my heart telling me I must learn to give grace in these situations. I ignored the Lord. I was still wanting to wallow in the crazy & not let him work in my heart just yet. Later that night I had coffee with a sweet friend who prayed for me saying, "Lord show her how to give grace in new ways." That prayer shook me hard friends. I decided to stop living in the crazy of life & start working to show grace through Jesus to get life back on track. To get the chaos out of my life.

For me I always thought I had an understanding of grace. Life has thrown me many curveballs in the past that grace was the only way to make it through. However, this last month of daily applying the gift of grace in my life, God has shown me a deeper understanding of grace. This is what I want to share with you.

Grace is a choice. God made the choice to show me grace from sin through the gift of salvation in the form of Jesus on the cross. (John 3:16) Applying this to my life, I make the choice to show others grace in their errors.

Grace is an action. Did you know that God forgets my wrongs & doesn't hold them over my head? (Isaiah 43:25) In this same way I want to strive to give grace out when it hurts, when my flesh really doesn't want to, and when it takes everything inside of me to let something go & to not be ugly instead. I must remember that grace is a gift so I must learn how to freely give it. Big gulp, because its hard.

Grace is calling us to be more like Jesus. It is true. As hard as it is to show grace sometimes, it is easier when we remember that God calls us to be more like Jesus. The Lord prompts us in Eph. 4:32, "be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you."

Some truth for you: Sometimes we can't control the things that come up in life. Others can sometimes make life crazy for us. However, if our response is grace, kindness, and love we can determine if we will live in the crazy or not. Grace doesn't remove the crazy in our life instead it just dissolves it enough for us to focus, breathe, and make it through as we rely on Jesus.

Sometimes it is a blessing to be broken. Broken means we are at a place to learn & receive. My question for you sweet new friends is, Are you showing true Grace? Are you living it out the way our God calls us to?

Be encouraged that if you aren't, you are for sure not alone & it is never to late to start. I am right there with ya & working to live it out with the help of the Lord. I would love to chat with you about Grace so be sure to come say hello.
Thanks again L for letting me share something from my heart.
~Brit

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