3 Ways to Get Out of Your Slump

There are some days when you feel like you just have to start over. Those days can extend to weeks, months, and maybe even years. Slumps are tough. There are times in our life where there is a 3-2 count, bases are loaded, and you just strike out.

And then you think about that strike out for a long time. You picture that moment, that last swing, and you think about all of the things you could have done differently.

I've been there, several times, and I am sure you have too.

The thing is, when we consume our thoughts with all that we have done wrong, and all that we could have done differently, we lose sight of every
good work that has been done through us. We forget about the people around us, and we focus on our troubles, instead of rejoicing in our triumphs.

That is not okay.

Go ahead, focus on yourself, and see how far you go. And why is that? Because we are human and we have a certain capacity. Believe it or not, we will peak at a point. We can only grow to be so many feet tall, until we stop. We can only do something right so many times before we do it wrong. Face it, we peak when we operate on our own strength. We make to the top, only to roll all the way back down.

Thankfully, there is good news.

We can make it out of a slump. We can overcome the strikeout. We can make it through the time we said something we didn't mean. We can move forward when we made the choice we knew was wrong.

In Mark 9, Jesus was approached by man begging him to heal his son. He said "If you can do any thing, take pity on us and help us!" Jesus replied and said "If you can? ALL things are possible to those who believe."

So what does this have to do with anything?

This family had a son that had been possessed by an evil spirit. There was nothing the family could do. They were helpless and burdened for their son. So they bring him to Jesus, and Jesus is quick to tell the doubters that all things are possible for those who believe.

You could be the one suffering from depression, the person with major insecurities. You could be someone that completely screwed up and never actually recovered from it. You could be the parent of a child who has wandered far from the path you intended. You could be in a slump.

So here are 3 ways to get out of your slump and into victory:

1. Take your problems to the feet of Jesus. Tell him how you feel, talk to him as if he were sitting right beside of you.

2. Give him control. Don't just give him some because he wants it all. When you can't surrender something to Him, you are practically forcing yourself to carry a load you cannot bear.

3. Thank Him. Rejoice in your triumphs. Praise Him for all of the times that you hit one out of the park, and praise Him for that strike out, because he could have just saved you from breaking a leg on the way to first base.

Friends, life stinks, but Jesus rocks. You can't win this game on your own. Choose Him because He has so graciously chosen you.

John 3:16

Check Your Ticket

As I listened to Spotify while I was studying earlier today, I heard a song that said "Heaven is for good people." I just kinda laughed because if that's the case then about 98% of the world is doomed (myself included).

I am definitely not writing this to argue with the lyrics of a song from the twenties. I am writing this to give you hope.

Heaven is not a place for "good people." Christianity is not a religion of "good people."

This guy named Paul was put in jail for being a disciple. One night as he stayed in his cell, there was this huge earthquake that practically tore the whole jail down. The prison guard was about to commit suicide (because all of his prisoners had escaped) and Paul told him to stop. His own prisoner told him to STOP before he harmed himself. The jailer turned to Paul and said, "what must I do to be saved?" and in verse 30 of Acts 16, Paul said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved..."

This man who had practically tortured two innocent men, believed in Jesus and he was saved. Just like that.

"Heaven is for 'good people'" HA.

The world tells you that you must be this and that, or do this and don't do that. The world tells you that you are not good enough. The world tells you that you can't love Jesus and be awesome. The world tells you to do what "feels good." Wrong. Are you ever completely satisfied with that?

I fell in love with Jesus two years ago in July. I said yes to Jesus and all my shame, hurt, and guilt flew out the windows of a high school auditorium. I did not earn that, it had been given to me. I did not buy that one way ticket to heaven, Jesus bought it for me.

I was not a "good person." I had hurt people. I had pretended that I had my life together. I said some bad words, and I even thought some bad things about other people. I was a sinner saved by grace. I definitely had not earned salvation.

Things changed for me, and they got way worse before they got better. Why? Because I was being remade to fit the purpose of the King and not myself. Being consumed with yourself gets really tiresome and lonely. Being consumed with Christ changes your life.

So what's the point? The point is that you understand that you have been bought. He chose you, all you have to do is choose Him.

Another fun fact is that God did not choose "good people", He chose the ordinary. He chose a man that killed thousands of Christians (Saul), and changed him to become one of the biggest gospel speakers throughout the nations (Paul). He chose the ordinary to do the extraordinary.

Check your ticket, friend. Where are ya headed? You can turn it all around. Just say "I am Yours. Forgive me. My life is in your hands." Done.

You can throw away all the lies that make you believe that you are not good enough, because there is nothing you can say or do to make Him love you more or less.

You cannot earn what has been given to you, friend. Take it. 

The Man in My Life

I think it is safe to say that we all desire or have desired that someone be put in our path that we can love and cherish.


There have been moments in my own life when I have all but begged to have "my person".
It hasn't been until recently that I have accepted being just me. Wow, what a concept.
So I will wait.

What exactly am I waiting for? Well, I'd love to tell you. 

1. I want to love Him above all else.
That's right, my sweet sweet Savior. Sorry daddy, you have been placed as the #2 man in my life (but who wouldn't want to come in second to Jesus?).

Why would I ever seek an earthly relationship until I have fallen head over heels for someone who gave their life for me?

There is a saying that goes something like this: Dance with God and He will let the right guy cut it.
So for now, I choose to dance with my Lord.

2. I want to be the best version of me.

Proverbs 31? Yes that is real, for me anyways. I want to be a woman of virtue. Period.
If I want to attract a man of virtue, shouldn't I be virtuous myself?

My favorite verse of that chapter is verse 30. It says, "charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord is worthy to be praised".

I could be the most beautiful woman in the world on the outside, but if I am wretched on the inside then all that beauty is for nothing because guess what? When I am 100 years old and look like a bag of wrinkles with a side of gray hair, I'm probably not going to be all that good lookin'.

And the good news? If I am a woman of virtue that fears the Lord, then the beauty and the charm will never matter because He will be enough. And it is only through Him that we might attain a beautiful soul.
3. There is a time for everything. 

Except for bronchitis... Ain't nobody got time for that. (If you didn't catch that joke then you need to watch Sweet Brown on YouTube).

That's all I need, what about you?

On the real, Ecclesiastes 3:1 says "There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under the heavens." Right there it is.

He has planned the time, place, and season that I will find my mate. So I'm just going to leave that to Him and continue dancing.

The writer goes on to say this in verse 11, "He has made everything beautiful in its time..."
____


We are told to prepare our hearts and minds, just like a farmer is supposed to prepare his field for the harvest. Without proper plowing, sewing, and nurturing there would be no harvest. Just like if we don't prepare ourselves for the things He has in store for us, then how will we ever expect to produce fruit and grow?

I don't want the easy way out. I don't want to settle, and I definitely don't want someone settling for me. I want to be someone's prize. I want to be loved like Christ loves His church. 

I don't want to have a set of requirements that "my person" should meet, because I trust that God has made him exactly how he is supposed to be. Standards are conditional. Jesus didn't say "Abby I will love you IF", He just said "I love you". And better yet, He never even said it, He showed it. That is unconditional love. 

As hard as is it to fathom loving someone for their soul and spirit, it is crucial, because remember charm is deceitful and beauty is passing. I didn't say that, He did. 

So if you ask me if there is someone special in my life, my answer is yes. He is my friend, my Savior, and my rock. And I will dance with Him until He decides to let someone else cut in. 

If you are lonely and feel as if you are constantly searching, try dancing with the One that will fulfill your spirit and you will never feel alone. 

I Just Found My Purpose and It's Not Even Mine

This post could actually take me years if I wanted to express to you all the ways my heart has been blessed in the last 48 hours. Oh, and the title will make sense by the end. 

Whether young or old, I would love for you to take a moment a see through my eyes and listen to my heart.

I attended a conference this weekend put on by Summit Church of Raleigh-Durham called Advance College. The theme of the weekend was: leverage your calling.

I had seen this conference advertised several times in the spring and throughout the summer and I wanted to go, but I wanted someone else to sign up before me so that I could follow them... Yeah you caught that? I have a fear of getting out of my bubble. Well, had. 

I finally committed to the conference a week ago today, and I committed on my own. I decided I was going to fly solo to this thing. Little did I know, I would be in for a massive turning point in my life. 

This weekend I have never felt more apart of a biblical community and family, and I went to the place by myself. I know, right? Awesome. 

Anyways, the purpose of this weekend was for college kids to understand that we have been called to do something, and whatever we are called to do, we must do it for the glory of God. 

With an introduction from DA Horton and Trip Lee, I was reminded about God-given gifts(say that three times fast). Before this weekend, I saw my gifts as something to do on the side for my enjoyment. That's right, my enjoyment. 

It was in that moment that I recognized selfishness, and self righteousness. Our gifts were not given to us for our own self glory; they were given to us for God's glory. 

We then moved to Louie Giglio. He talked to us about how our calling, fits into the story of God. He made an incredible point when he talked about going through a crisis of faith; which is basically when you become spiritually stagnant. We often times give up on our faith or "fake it til' we make it". Louie brought the good news when he said "the mantra of Christianity is being able to say,  'I can't live this life, but You can. I can't make promises, but You can. Jesus was pretty great at living the Christian life considering it was named after him'. That is truth my friends. 

The most freeing part about that message came from Colossians 3:17. This is where God gives us all that open door that we wait our whole life for and he says, "Whatever you choose to do, work hard and do it for the glory of God" There it is. God has given us a choice! 

Its no longer about the stable career, the amount of money you make, or the retirement home you want to build, its about doing what you love, doing it well, and more importantly, doing it for the glory of God. This is worshipful work. 

Elyse Fitzpatrick, author of so many books, brought the next message, reminding us that we did not come to Christ, but He came to us. She talked about seeking the kingdom of God and she told us that when we worry, that is us seeking our own kingdom, our own desires. She brought up the justification of us by Christ and that because of His willingness to give His life, we have been justified. This frees us from self-righteousness and constant self approval or disapproval. 

My best take away from her message was this: God is able to use all of my weaknesses and sin to make me contagiously grateful for grace. 

Tony Merida, author and pastor, talked about community and the importance of investing your heart and time into the church. He made the argument that many of us love the idea of community but never act on it. He brought it when he said that Christ lived a life of love, and died as an act of love. Our culture has successfully destroyed the meaning of love giving us endless, meaningless uses of "love". We "love" Netflix. No. That's not okay. We love through action. Sympathizing for someone does NOTHING when we do not act to help them. So love is cross centered. 

Nik Ripken brought a gut wrenching message when speaking on international missions. This guy has an awesome testimony. He has seen more death, murder, poverty, illness, and starvation than anyone I know because of God's call for him to go into nations such as those. He made evident, the power of following God's call even when we don't want to listen. Nothing I write could do Dr. Ripken's testimony justice. 

Lastly, one of my role models and my pastor, JD Greear, gave the final sermon. His topic was: whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. He mentioned key points from earlier speakers and he elaborated on our willingness to share the gospel. His main point was "God changes the world through ordinary people, filled with the spirit, willing to suffer"

He ended by saying, "every saved person on this side of heaven owes the gospel to every unsaved person on this side of hell" Now that is powerful my friends. 

If you have made it this far down the page without giving up on me, thanks. 

Maybe you already knew half of these things that changed my life this weekend, and if that is true, I hope this was an encouraging reminder. If you didn't already know this stuff, you are not alone. 

The most beautiful part about this weekend was the realization that I don't have to live some try hard life maintaining a "success checklist", because my identity is in Christ Jesus. So whatever I choose to do, I want to be great at it, and I want that greatness to impact everyone around me for God's glory. 

Life is so empty when you try to fulfill yourself through your own selfish desires. Submit to my friend, Jesus, cherish Him, love Him, seek His kingdom, and you will never go wrong. No matter what profession. 

Thanks to Summit Church, and my Savior, for filling my cup this weekend. My heart has been truly touched, my mind has been equipped, and I cannot wait to continue living for some(One) so much greater than myself. 

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ~Galatians 2:20

Kicking and Screaming: A Fight With Life

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be in a rink with Rambo, or what I would do if I was guarding Lebron. I wonder what it would be like for him to score on me 100 times and I score on him once, maybe twice.

I think its safe to say I would never score on Lebron, or take a hit from the worlds greatest boxer and get back up.

Have you ever felt this way? Do you ever feel like you're in a rink and you keep getting punched, or kicked, and every time you try to get up you fall back down.

I think its easy to feel this way. I think its even easier to lay down and choose to never get up again.

So my first question is this, for what or whom do you fight for daily?

Your job? Kids? Your future? Your boyfriend/girlfriend? Your GPA? Success?

My next question is why?

I think we all have this part of our brain that works like a planner. We have all these plans or things that we make top priorities in our life because we think they will fulfill us, or make us feel like cool people.

And then what happens is something goes wrong with this thing that you have made a priority.

Say its your job. You have made it numero uno. Something goes wrong, and you are instantly in the rink with your job.

Please use your imagination for what I am about to say... You are now attempting to fight with your job and knock it out, until all of a sudden it comes at you with a right hook and you go down.

Your job just punched you in the face.

And it keeps punching and kicking until you finally hit the floor and surrender.

This tends to happen with so many things in our life. We make success, futures, or plenty of other things in our life the top priority. When this top priority fails us, we find ourselves surrendering, giving up.

I wonder what would happen if we all made our relationship with Christ our top priority instead of our own agenda. 

Would we be more compelled to serve others rather than ourselves? Would we rest on His love daily rather than depending on opportunities to fulfill us?

I can tell you this, the only time you'll ever find yourself in a fight with Jesus is when you're the one throwing the punches by denying a relationship with him.

He didn't crucify us, we crucified him. And he took it. He surrendered for you and me. He took every punch, every kick, for us.

Why can't we let that be enough? Instead of fighting for our jobs, or our own opportunity, why can't we fight for the one who fought for us? 

What an encouragement it is that someone took the blame for all my screw ups and said "it is finished". The fight was finished, right then and there. Think about it. Would you do that for a friend?

So I'll ask you again... For what or whom are you fighting for daily, and why? 

He fights for you...Will you fight for him?

Identity Thief

I think it is safe to say that we have all at some point or another had an identity crisis. We feel that our hair must look a certain way, or we have to wear a certain brand of clothes. An even greater example is the shape of our bodies.

During this crisis we look to things that will give us some sort of identity. This could be a boy, a job, a college major, clothes, youtube, internet, and the best one yet, social media. That's right, my friends. This generation seems to be one that drifts towards the "Insta" identity.

Social media makes it so easy to recreate yourself into the person you want to be, rather than who you are. Its easy to hide behind a computer and be whoever you want to be because you think that its okay. Well, its not okay.

I have news for you. You are not beautiful based on the selfie you posted on Instagram, you are not awesome because you got 50 retweets on Twitter. You are beautiful and you are awesome because you were made in the image of someone much greater than any of your followers.

Genesis 1:27 says, "God created man in His own image..". Believe it or not, God didn't throw you into a mold to make you just like everyone else. He took the time to hand craft you, to make you you. 

Take your fingerprint for example. NO ONE has the same fingerprint as you. Identical twins do not even share the same finger prints. No matter how hard you try, you could never be anybody better than being yourself.

Social media is an identity thief. It allows you to mold yourself into someone that you're not. It permits you to hide your flaws. It gives you the capability to say things you don't mean. While you may not believe it, you are essentially creating a false version of yourself.

I say this not to bring you down and make you feel guilty for have Twitter or Instagram, because they can also be used for good things, I say this to encourage you.

You are exquisite, unique, priceless, beautiful, and most importantly you are you. You were given your own fingerprint because you aren't supposed to be any other person but you.

So stop looking for self worth in the number of followers you have, forget all the retweets, and remember that you were made in the image of God.

He loves you for you, and I guarantee that other people love you for you too. 

This One's For You, Mom(s).

To the moms who have a hard time letting go:

Whether your child has gone to college, left you to be with the Lord, or left for whatever reason, I would like to let you see through our eyes for a moment. 

You were the first person we loved, the one we called for, and depended on. As a kid, you have one image in your mind when you think of "mom". You don't see her size, what clothes she wears, her hairstyle, or her makeup. None of that matters. All you see is your momma. 

We see what you do, how you treat us, how you train us, and how you love us. We watch every move you make. 

We remember who took care of us when we were sick, and we never forget the one who yelled at us when we didn't make curfew. We feel the warmth of your hugs, and we will never forget all the times you said "be careful". We remember those things. 

We remember all the long text messages, or the letters you wrote us. 

We remember all the times you told us no; and all the times we did it anyways. We remember thinking in our heads, "she was right". 

We remember all the times that we were hurt by other people; and all the times you knew before we even told you. 

As you think about how much you love your child, think about how much they love you. 

You were given time. Time to train up your child in the way that they should go so they would not depart from it. Well, now's the time to reap what you have sown. 

We love you, for you. The older we get, the more we realize how much we love you, and the better our relationship becomes. 

So thank you, for training us, loving us, and saying no when we had no idea what we were about to walk into. Thank you for pushing us past our limits. Thank you for showing us unconditional love. Thank you for forgiving us even when you didn't want to. And thank you for giving us the example that we one day hope to give our kids. 

Its okay to miss us; in fact, I hope you miss us, but never forget how much we miss you too. We think of you every day, and remember the tears you shed for us, we shed them for you too. 

I love you, mom.