pennies

I do most of my greatest thinking on my morning runs.  I have no distractions, no real goals ever, and no real train of thought.  But I think. This is going to seem completely unrelated, but I promise it will make sense in a minute.  The last few days I've found several pennies on the ground outside.  They've been everywhere, and I have no idea why.  But now I look for them.  So, on my run this morning, I saw six.  Six pennies on the ground. I just passed them by. And what do I do on my runs? Think.  I went to a middle and high school retreat this weekend called Disciple Now.  I had an awesome opportunity to hang out with seven incredibly encouraging tenth and eleventh grade girls.  There were about 300 students total at the retreat.  I started thinking about how when we plan retreats like this, we automatically cater to the numbers, and assume there's going to be a huge revival of every student in the place.  I'm proud to say this weekend wasn't like that, and that those in charge knew the value of each student's salvation. It's awesome that we know the capabilities of the Holy Spirit, and that that is a possibility.  However, we forget sometimes to rejoice in the one student that gave his or her life to Christ.  It was worth all the time and effort to save a life.  We see parents and families of kids that have life threatening illnesses that spend their lives trying to raise and save money for treatment for their child.  To save a life.  It's like the pennies.

When I saw just one penny, I thought, "It's only one penny. It's not worth it." If it were a twenty dollar bill, however, I would've picked it up immediately, and probably let out a slight yelp of excitement, and told all my friends about how I saved this twenty dollar bill from the treacherous happenings of the world. When one student is saved, it's worth telling the world.  It's a life. If I would've picked up all the pennies on the ground I've seen this week on the ground, I would be half way to a quarter by now.  A quarter is a fourth of the way to a Mickey D's sweet tea.  One life can save another life.  That's two lives.  Two whole lives that have been saved.  Those two lives can save two more lives. We're half way to an encouraging small group.  Building the body of Christ isn't always about huge groups of people becoming believers at once.  Sometimes it's the slow building of a community.  The saving of our pennies.  But when we're talking eternity, that life is worth far more than just a cent.

chick flicks

Being brokenhearted is every girl’s nightmare.  It’s the humiliation of thinking you weren’t good enough. We watch chick flicks so that our hearts flutter with every happy ending.  And when our situation isn’t a happy ending, we feel we have failed. It’s incredible how worldly views can affect how our heart’s break.  They break for a boy, or because we didn’t win the crown, or because we didn’t graduate with honors, or because we didn’t get that perfect car.  Once again, we’re selfish.  When we’re heartbroken it’s about our own failures.  There’s a line in a Hillsong United song that says, “Break my heart for what breaks Yours.”  God’s heart breaks for others.  Never for His own selfish agenda.  Yet, all we can do is focus on our own failures and feel heartbroken.  God also paves a way for us never to fail.  He sent His only Son to die for us.  Talk about heartbreaking.  He opened a door for our failures to be opportunity for challenges: obstacles in life which bring us closer to Him.  Often, it’s a way for us to help bring others closer to Him as well: for our hearts to break for those who need Him most.  I want to cry for those who need Him.  I want to feel the pain of their hearts yearning and breaking for the Holy Spirit to consume them and reign in them.  I don’t want to feel heartbreak for myself, because I know I am desperately in love with the Man of my dreams that will never leave me or forsake me.  He’ll never leave me brokenhearted.  But do they know that? Do they know that He can take their hearts and make them full and satisfied? Do they know that their broken heart can be put back together by letting go and letting God glue it back into one piece? Lord, break my heart for them.

cardigans

Girls. Girls. Girls. I lived in a sorority village type situation.  A 14-story apartment building, all girls, all sororities.  Each chapter has a different floor.  Move-in day was every father’s nightmare.  Just picture about 700 J. Crew outlet stores moving their entire inventory up fourteen flights of stairs.  Not to mention the shoes, toiletries and furniture (that’s cuter than the provided furniture) that all had to make it into 330 rooms.  I admit it freely.  I was one of them.  My monogrammed duvet cover had to match perfectly with the pink lamp shades.  Between my roommate and I, Ann Taylor had made enough money to stay in business for at least 3 seasons nationwide.  Living on the 11^th floor, I had 52 other closets to live out of, but yet I was always in the mood for shopping.  I am never satisfied.  It comes with being a girl.  And a woman.  It’s a constant battle between need and satisfaction.  “Julianne, do you NEED that adorable, embellished cardigan?” “Julianne, do you NEED those charming Coach flats?” 

Nope, I never do.  But sometimes I feel like society tells me I’m not good enough.  I need that Louis Vuitton handbag so that people will notice me.  Pay attention to me.  Isn’t that what it’s all about? Attention?  We want the cutest room so all of our friends will come sit and admire, and want to spend time in it.  We want those cute flats so that everyone will compliment them and ask to borrow them.  I’m not even sure it’s about the flattery. But I’m positive it’s about the attention.  We throw ourselves at that boy regardless of whether he tells us we’re fat or ugly, because at least he’s paying attention.  Too many girls, and women, forget that they’re never  forgotten.  They feel forgotten because they’re not the mold.  We’re told constantly we have to be a certain way.  And when we’re not that way we feel no one pays attention.  That’s why girls often purposely attract negative attention.  We’re all like Britney.  Any attention is good attention.  We’re selfish.  We want all the attention.  We want all eyes on us.  We want to be noticed.  So, that’s when I have to tell myself, “Julianne, is that spray tan really going to be bringing attention to the things you want to bring Glory to?” Why don’t our actions want to bring attention to God’s light instead of to ourselves? 

• 1 Corinthians 10:23: “Everything is permissible”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible”—but not everything is constructive. ”
• Romans 1:21: "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened."
• Revelation 4:11: "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."
• Isaiah 43:7: “Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.”
• Philippians 1:9-11: “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ. Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God."

sorority

I’m a Christian. And I’m in a sorority. I’m so used to people saying it the other way around. I’m in a sorority. And I’m a Christian. It’s almost like the fact that I’m a Christian is the surprising part.  It’s sad, really. I’m defined by my Earthly involvement. It really upsets me when people see me wearing Greek letters and think that I have to fit some mold as a party girl.  But it upsets me even more when people think that because I’m a Christian, I have to fit some mold of really conservative and judgmental.  Isn’t that exactly what God calls us to do? To break the mold and make a new one in His name that anyone can join and be a part: A mold that is accepting and loving no matter what you do with your Friday night? Sure, as brothers and sisters in Christ we should keep each other accountable, but if we're truly living in Christ's image, wouldn't we reflect the mercy and grace that He so freely gives with that accountability instead of making an exclusive group that only people with socially acceptable sins can be a part of?  One day, I was riding in a car with my best friend from college and her mother, who might be one of the most comical people you’ve ever met with the biggest heart.  Robyn, Shelby’s mom said, “I think if Jesus were alive today, He’d be a sorority girl at a state university.”  We laughed.  What in the world was she talking about?  Then, I realized she was talking about how Jesus didn't fit the mold of what people thought were the stereotype of the religious.  I often get judged by other Christians for spending some of my nights at mixers or hanging out with frat boys.  I’m not saying I’m anywhere near the perfection that was and is Jesus, but Jesus hung out with people that fit a stereotype. But He showed how they too were God's children, and individual people that God had created in His image.  He didn't just turn away and say that their sins weren't as acceptable as others.  He showed them His Father's grace, mercy and love in order to gain credibility to keep them accountable in their faith in the future. There's a story of Christ in Mark 2 that talks about Christ eating with the sinners and tax collectors.  The Pharisees saw Him, and immediately judged Him for His associations. His response :"They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." He walked this Earth breaking barriers, and looking past stereotypes.  He came to be a light of God in a world full of sin that needed it most. When I joined a sorority, that’s the burden God put on my heart: be a light in a world that gets a bad rap for stereotypes,  learn to look past those stereotypes, and be a part of the world, but not of it by doing His work despite what people would say about me.  Not to say that every sorority girl meets the stereotype, but let’s face it: stereotypes come from somewhere. Which means, that stereotype that bothers me most about what people think of me when they hear I'm a Christian has to come from somewhere, too.  It's about time we break the barrier past that stereotype, and be the light in the world He created us to be: showing our faith above all else. It's about time we make our own mold in Christ’s name by being a reflection of Him in a world that needs it most, despite what stereotype you get stuck with along the way.  I will always remember Robyn's quote, and get a little giggle out of picturing Jesus walking around in Greek letters, pearls, high waisted skirt and cardigan.    

• Romans 8:1: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
• John 15:18-21: "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me." 
• 2 Corinthians 2:14-16: “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?" 

cupcakes

Now, you may be asking yourself, why cupcakes? Let me tell you. Besides the fact that I love cupcakes for their novelty and brilliance, and the fact that I have served them at every social event I’ve hosted during my entire life, I find that young women are like cupcakes.  We were all made from similar batches, but the Baker made us to be individuals. We may have similarities in flavor, maybe more to one than another, but we were all made to be unique.  We’re sweet. We can be simple. We can be complex.  Cupcakes bring a little bit of joy, even if just for a moment.  Women have this encouragement and endearing factor towards the people they care about.  They can bring joy.  I also think women resemble cupcakes, because, for the most part, they were born to be in social settings.  Sure, there are those cupcakes that are made just for you and your chick flick, but most the time they come out for parties.  Women are social beings.  It’s finding the balance between being in the world, but not of it that is our challenge.  We have to find the ability to be at the party bringing joy, but reflecting the capabilities of the Baker through our flavor. 

• Romans 5:1---"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
• 1 Corinthians 12:27---"Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."
• 2 Corinthians 1:21-22---"Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come."

a social light

Girlhood. Womanhood. There’s a fine line we cross when making that leap from child to adult and from girl to woman.  We are expected to go from a child with frivolous desires of ponies and lollipops to graceful and poised.  If we want the frivolous things as we grow older, we’re superficial and greedy.  I’m not saying that all those shoes and handbags in your closet are 100% necessary, but where is the line drawn? At what age do we stop being daddy’s little girl and become strong, independent women? And when do we stop striving to be a "socialite" and center of attention, and start being a "social light" for Christ in the world? I’m documenting my 20 something years: to attempt learn the life lessons God to teaches us in our quest to become WOMEN of God. To show it’s not about the things: it’s about seeing God in them. And to prove as daughters of the King, we’re always Daddy’s little girl.