Editor's Note: Jenny Tokheim currently lives in Spain where she is part of a program called G42 Leadership Academy. She gets to look at the Mediterranean Sea all the time (that's what I gather from her Facebook photos) and grow and learn and hang out with really sweet people. I met Jenny when I spent the summer after my freshman year serving alongside with her with an organization called TeenServe. In the past four years, she has been an immense encouragement to me and my walk with Jesus. Jenny blogs over at Jenny4Jesus, where she has tons of neat ponderings, poems, and photos... check it out for more about her life in Spain! - HB
Love God and Do as You Please
When HB asked me to write a little ditty for her lovely
blog, I wasn’t quite sure which direction to run in. I like to share about what
Jesus is up to in this heart and mind of mine, but honestly, God has been
shaping me in such crazy ways in this current season that I don’t recognize
myself from week to week. It is a good thing to be shaped by the love of God.
I’m in a season of life and a place where Kingdom dreams get
hashed out and brought to life, and in the spirit of that dreaming and planning,
I wanted to issue a little challenge. It isn’t going to be long, at least in
print, but if you really take some time and search that heart of yours, I think
you’ll find some hidden [or not so hidden] treasure.
Over the past year, a quote from St. Augustine has been
brought up numerous times, and I believe it’s worth some consideration. It’s
seemingly a bit controversial, but I don’t believe it has to be too
complicated.
“Love God and do as you please.”
Now that’s a loaded statement. Set aside what you think you
know for a moment. Take a deep breath.
What if God has placed, in that very heart of yours, a
Kingdom dream, a Kingdom purpose for His glory that would cause your heart to
jump up and down with excitement? What if the outcome of your life with God was
not only full of holiness, but also really exciting?
Friend, here’s the challenge:
Ask Him. Ask Him how He’s made you. Search that heart of
yours that longs to serve Him, and I think you’ll find a beautiful dream for
His glory. Reading this blog posting of mine won’t change your life, friend,
but interacting and dreaming with the Living God certainly will. You can take
my word for it.
So go! Right now! Pull out some paper and a pen, go for a
walk, start playing some tunes---do whatever it is you do to meet with God, and
ask Him to show you what, “Love God and do as you please,” means in your own
life. Perhaps He’s given you a passion that you never thought was “spiritual
enough” to be used for His glory. Maybe you’ve forgotten a part of your heart’s
cry in order to be successful or accepted. Or, maybe you just need to be
encouraged by the truth that God cares about that heart of yours.
Because I love you all so much, I am telling you- check this out. FREE music. And it's good too! :) This group is giving away all their albums in the month of March... which includes ELEVEN albums! A bunch of their albums are hymns that are re-done. So legit. Here's a taste.
Can I just say how stinkin' excited I am for this summer?!
Yes, it will be warm, and sunny, and snow-less. But what I'm really looking forward to is spending the summer in the Wisconsin Dells with 50 college students and 6 other Nav Staff for our Summer Training Program. So, if we haven't talked lately, or you just need a little life update, you can play catch-up here:
Basically, I'll be moving to the Dells for a couple months [mid May through the end of July]. During this time I will be equipping students in discipleship and leadership training, reaching out to the many international students that come to the Dells every summer, and helping the program run smoothly. I'm not really sure what my summer will look like... except that I know that where 2 or 3 [or 50-some!] are gathered in His name, God is there. And I know that when young people gather to know Him better, He works. It's going to be hard. I'm probably going to cry on a weekly basis. But it's going to be so good!
As you can imagine I may be blogging about this from time-to-time. Especially this summer when I'm in the midst of it and have all kinds of stories to tell. So I hope you'll excuse me if I get really excited, because I just know that it is going to be a powerful summer, and I'm expecting the Holy Spirit to move in some big ways.
And maybe you'd like to join me in this adventure? Prayer is so needed! Here are some really practical things you can join with me in lifting up to our Father:
Affordable, clean housing for the staff (2 families, 2 single guys, and myself)
A place in the Dells where we can meet for big group events
That I am able to reach 75% of my next year's budget for EDGE by early May since I won't be able to support raise over the summer [If you feel led to give, you can visit my staff page]
Thank you all so much for all your prayers and support. And excitement along with me! I'll make sure to keep you all updated. Until then...
Got back from Les Miserables at the cheap seats and was feeling artistically inspired... so I've popped these babies our for ya'll... what better way to spend a Monday [super-duper-late-for-me] night? Enjoy!
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 2 Timothy 1:7
*This past Sunday and Monday The Navigators hosted a Sexual Health and Wholeness Conference out in Colorado. Unfortunately, I didn't get to attend in person, but I did watch a good portion of the live streaming. Ironically, the Lord has been placing quite a few young ladies in my life recently dealing with lust, sexual immorality, and the like (pornography, masturbation, same-sex attraction, etc). It seems like this happens in seasons, where God just dumps a bunch in my lap all at once, and I'm not going to lie, I kind of love it (the fact they all pop out of the woodwork at once, not the fact that they are struggling). And it just so happens that with God's perfect timing, after listening to Michael Cusick (counselor, author, speaker, and president of Restoring the Soul Ministry) talk about his story and give lots of helpful advice on how to deal with sexual addiction, I received an e-mail from one such lady, and what follows came mostly from my reply to her.
Dear child of the King,
Jesus loves you. He sees you in your deepest, darkest hour, but yet He still chooses you. He knows the worst about you, but sees the best in you. There is hope. Jesus meets you in the broken places and brings resurrection, hope,
freedom, and joy. This is the first step in a journey with many steps. You're not just changing a behavior... you're becoming a new creation! You are holy, blameless, forgiven, adopted, chosen, loved, victorious, clean, reconciled, blessed, and NEW in Christ (Check out Ephesians 1)! When you begin to see who you really are in Christ, you can begin to live the life that He has for you.
Imagine a year from now, five years from now. What do you imagine it would look like if you were whole; if you were free? What would it look like for Jesus to be using your story, your struggles, to bring healing and freedom to others?
Go deeper than the behavior when thinking about how to combat this sin. Yes, you are acting out. But WHY? Triggers and circumstances can be a good place to start, but they aren't the end goal. WHY, deep down, are you acting out these behaviors? As humans we are always asking: “How can I get to a place where it is well with my soul?” Every idol promises that it will make it well with my soul... that's really what this sin is... an idol. Satan is lying to you and telling you that it will make it well with your soul, and so you run after it. Satan wins when he can get us distracted from God by worshipping other idols. And then he wins again when he can get us to feel shame about it. But GOD WINS when we turn to Him and make Him central in our lives. He wins when we can stand naked and unashamed before Him and allow Him to sing over us, to call us beloved. He wins when we repent from worshiping idols and turn the other way- “Jesus please forgive me for worshipping that idol.” And He DOES! He forgives us the first time we ask! Beating ourselves up is offensive to God because He already beat up his son for us. So believe that you are forgiven, believe that you are loved, and start walking in the other direction!
Some questions to think, journal, and pray through:
Right now God feels _____________ toward me or with me. (Why do you think that?)
How do I feel about myself in regards to this struggle?
How's my heart? My inner being? My soul?
How am I trying to make it "well with my soul" when I am going to this behavior?
What might God be doing in me through this struggle?
What makes my heart come alive?
What do I need right now?
What are my deepest desires, and how does this behavior relate to them? Does it fulfill those desires?
What are my triggers?
What are the lies I believe when I am by myself?
To get you started- here are 4 core lies that addicts often believe-
I am basically a bad or unworthy person ( I don't measure up, I’m not good enough)
No one would love me as I am
My needs won’t be met by depending on others
______________ is my most important need (fill in blank with sin or addiction)
Remember: it's all about a relationship... and it is a spiritual war for your soul. God wants you to be wholehearted for Him and satan will do whatever he can to get you to be half-hearted.
Suit up! Since this is a war, you need to be properly protected and prepared. Go through the armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-18 and pray through each specific piece of armor - "Lord, I am putting on the belt of truth today. Give me the strength to believe your truth and not the lies of the enemy. Help me realize when I am given lies and protect me from believing them." etc.
Jesus specializes in redemption. His heart beats for you to be made clean and new. He yearns for you to come to Him just as you are. Run to Him. HE LOVES YOU!
Editor's Note: I know Caitlin Elmore from EDGE Corps... we met out in Colorado at training back in May and have definitely been "social media" friends since- inspired by each others blogs, instagrams, etc! She serves at the University of Akron. (That's in Ohio... don't worry, I had to google it too) and has something like a bajillion siblings. Caitlin blogs over at Engraved. Her blog is deep, silly, snarky, and filled with DIY, music, and life. She recently asked me to do a "10 Things I am Loving Right Now" post for her... make sure and check it out (after reading her post of course)! Without further ado, I am SO excited for you all to read this... it's a real gem! - HB
CREATED BY THE CREATOR OF BEAUTY
So when I was asked to write this I panicked a little bit. In a
good way. I just could not figure out what to write on...a lot of things make
me tick! Gold glitter, Beyonce, knitting, kittens, infinity scarves...
But in all seriousness, I feel pretty passionate about a lot of
things and I was having trouble deciding what to write this precious guest post
on. And then, I was scrolling through Hellogiggles this morning and one of the
headlines stuck out: Creating the “Perfect” Man. What? This seemed out of character
for their site. I had to know.
So I click on it and there is this hilarious picture of Viggo
Mortensen with all these photoshopped body parts and such. Ah, I’ll just show
you: here.The picture was in response to an article from Men’s Health magazine. Based on the passion stirring up in my
heart, I knew I had to write about this.
I am about to tell you a dumb story about high school. It’s 2005 and I am 15 years old. Every
year in marching band we would have silly awards for our class. That year I won
“Best Butt”... which some of the guys in my class took as an open door to make
comments. They never said anything
mean... they were honestly trying to flatter me. But I was 15, growing into a
new body, and very uncomfortable with the attention my body was getting. I was
born into a family of women with child-bearing hips. I am what magazines called
“Pear shaped.” When puberty hit and things started changing, I noticed, but now
I knew that other people did too.
I was also a dancer at the time which meant that I was in a
leotard and tights three to four days a week. Standing in front of a giant
mirror. With ten other girls and their unique body types. It was then that I became an active
player of what I like to call “The Comparison Game.” And now, with the comments
the guys were making at school, all I could look at during ballet class was my
giant butt (I wore a 4...) and how wrong my body was.
This is not the first time I struggled with body image. And this
was definitely not the first thing to put the idea in my head that I had to
look a certain way, but it’s a very vivid, awkward, and sometimes painful
reminder that like most women, this is a deep issue in my heart that goes way
back.
Honestly, I can’t handle that Men’s Health article. And I really
can’t handle the picture that accompanied it. But I will say, I was encouraged
to see comments from men saying the article was inappropriate, offensive to
women, and offensive to MEN. So kudos guys. You rock.
Who has seen the Dove beauty campaign ads? While the campaign
itself could be controversial based on conflicting messages from Dove and their
media team, I do really enjoy the ads. This one in particular:
Ok so the “he” in the video is this young man who apparently has
a crush on Amy. But what if Amy is us (because she is, isn’t she? Quick: name
twelve things wrong with your appearance.) and “he” is God.
So, I’m not going to talk about how we need to show more “average
girls” on tv or how “curvy is beautiful.” Yeah those things are true, BUT if I
am going to claim to be a daughter of the King, then I am not going to tell you
that you are beautiful because you have “real” curves, but because YOU ARE ALSO
A DAUGHTER (or son) OF THE KING. We are beautiful because we were created,
beautifully and wonderfully, by the creator
of beauty.
To our Father’s sorrow, we chose to redefine beauty. And we’ve
kind of gotten to a point where those redrawn definitions of beauty and
perfection are just accepted, even among Christian women.
I would look better if I
lost 10 pounds. My skin is too white. I have cellulite on my thighs. My hair
doesn’t ever look right.These are all lies. And they aren’t limited to appearance. I am too loud. I am too quiet. No one thinks
I’m funny. No one wants to be around me. If I were just more gentle. If I were
just more bold.
Stop. Breathe.
What does God say?
“All beautiful you are, my
darling; there is no flaw in you.” - Song of Songs 4:7
“The king is enthralled by
your beauty; honor him, for he is your Lord.” - Psalm 45:11
“He has made everything
beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they
cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” - Ecclesiastes 3:11
“God saw all that He had
made, and it was very good.” - Genesis 1:31
Honestly, this is just scratching the surface of why we are
perfect in Christ. We are beautiful (men and women included) and we are worth
SO MUCH MORE than society has led us to believe.
Because I believe strongly in applications, I will leave you with
a list of things that you can do to start to reverse the effects lies about
beauty have had on your heart.
Stop filling your mind
with junk. You be the judge of what is “junk” and what is harmful for your
heart, but here are some quick examples. Beauty and women’s interest magazines,
music videos, the Victoria’s Secret fashion show, The Bachelor, A LOT of
movies. I am not saying that you are bad for watching movies and tv shows, but
if you are really struggling and want to be really serious about focusing your
heart on truth, get rid of the junk that feeds the lies.
Fight with truth. Write down every lie
you are believing and everything that is “wrong” with you. Now get out your
Bible and do some serious reading (and some serious praying). For every lie your
wrote down, find a truth that proves it wrong.
Take care of yourself. I don’t mean
counting calories, and dieting and exercising excessively. I mean finding
clothing that is modest and makes you feel beautiful in the right way. Also, staying active in any
capacity that will give you energy, keep you healthy, and give you a more positive
outlook.
Find a network of encouragement. Are
you interacting with a group of people who tear you down or build you up in
things other than truth? Get out of there. Solid Christian community will build
you up in the right ways. Also, seek accountability. Find a woman (or if you
are a man, a man) who you can tell everything to and (this is key) who will
speak to you truthfully.
Incorporate some cheesiness into your life.
Leave a love letter from God next to your mirror. Let Scripture remind you who
you really are in Christ.
Most
importantly, spend time with your Father.
Who better to remind you of your worth than the one who deemed you worthy
enough to come into existence? Focus on your identity in Christ. Focus on what
is true and good.
You guys, we are beautiful. We are so beautiful. God calls us
lovely. He calls us his beloved. He did not intend for us to operate out of
these lies of unworthiness. “Finally,
brothers [and sisters] whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable –if anything is
excellent or praiseworthy– think about such things.” - Philippians 4:8
I wish I had pages and pages to talk further on this issue. This
post doesn’t even begin to go deep enough, but I hope it was at least an
encouragement to you. You are in no way alone in your struggle with body and
self image.
I will leave you with this song. What a powerful message of
truth!
Live Loved (because that’s what they say here and I think it’s
super awesome),
Last night Tenth Avenue North came to town, and although they have great music, they have even better teaching! Mike Donehey, the lead singer is basically a traveling preacher, with all his concert-goers being his church. This man speaks truth with such passion, you can't help but let it change you. He even got down into the crowd and stood on the chairs at one point [as shown below]. So naturally, at a concert, I took notes! :)
Mike challenged us to have at least one relationship in which we are getting nothing back- one relationship where we are doing all the pouring out, and there's no way the person can or will repay us. He argued that this is how others will know we are followers of Jesus... by loving with no return on our love. People will see our love and it will point them to Jesus, who first loved us. They will say 'You're not getting anything out of this exchange' and then we can say 'Yeah, I know. It's what Jesus did for me and I can't help myself.'
100% of Christian action is simply reaction.
Mike also talked a lot about the gospel- how it allows neither sniveling or swagger- "When you really believe the gospel, it robs you of your right to be miserable and it robs you of your right to think more highly of yourself than other. When we really believe God's love for us, we can't think highly of ourselves or low of ourselves... we just think of ourselves less."
Mike ended with talking about his story- how he broke his back in high school in a car accident and that's when he started to learn how to play guitar- when he was on his back for 2 months. It was so cool to hear him talk about pain and struggle and our circumstances. One line that really caught my ear was this- "the pain between the pictures." He was talking about how although he could have albums filled with hundreds of pictures of happy smiling memories, it was the events that happened between all those photographical moments that really shaped him and that he is really grateful for today- the pain between the pictures. He talked about how often we pray for the hard times to go away, for everything to be easy. But God responds- "It's not your circumstances that need to change, it's you."
I'd like to end with a few lines from their song, The Struggle:
Hallelujah We are free to struggle We're not struggling to be free Your blood bought and makes us children
So children drop your chains and sing
P.S. If you haven't read yet about how Tenth Avenue North inspired the "live loved" sign-off, you can check it out here.
