Check it Out!

Office Inspiration This set of photos collected by Oh, Hello Friend got me thinking of things I can do in my currently disastrous office. I have to find time to get working on it!

It's a Boy! My favorite photo shoots to work on were maternity sessions. There is something truly amazing about capturing such a complex and wonderful thing on film. Evie shares beautiful photos from her past pregnancy

Hanging on to Hope Suzanne explains how she got through her single years without losing hope, a lesson that applies to any difficult situation you may need to go through.

1/3rd of Women in US Military Raped There are a few people in my political science class who have served in the military and have spoken about their first-hand experiences discovering its flaws. Its truly saddening that our military is such a terrible place for women and no one seems to do anything about it.

Photo of the Week

Its remarkable how peacefully babies sleep while their little bodies work so hard at growing. This is my niece a few days after she was born more than four years ago.

Persecution

Last Sunday, a man sat alone as the congregation lined up to support the latest fundraiser. He looked tired and out of place. My husband approached him and, despite language difficulties, found out he's a refugee from Eritrea. According to Persecution.com, Eritrea is a communist country on the east coast of Africa where Christians are arrested and tortured. I've read stories about large groups of Eritrean brothers and sisters being locked into metal shipping containers where they had to endure unimaginable living conditions in oppressive heat. Knowing that the person who sat a few feet away from me knew what persecution is like served as a reality check.

I went back to school this quarter and am closing my third week. Something I've known for a while is that colleges and universities and art academies tend to not be enthusiastically tolerant of true followers of Christ. So far, this seems to be true of my school. No one has said anything regarding my faith yet, but the environment was put into clear focus when most of the class nodded in agreement after my political science instructor said the only people who oppose gay marriage are the ones who "think its a sin and all that crazy stuff."

Wouldn't we all love to say that our commitment to Christ can make it through anything? We rejoice in the story of Peter's restoration but don't want to relate to his denial of the Savior. We shake our heads at his naive determination," Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!" and sigh when in Matthew 26:70 he does, indeed, deny Christ.

I've asked my youth group kids before if they think they would give in to the demands of a torturer asking them to deny their faith. Some make Peter-esque statements and others humbly stare at the floor. Isn't it funny that in a country where our freedom of speech guarantees our safety from physical harm, we're more afraid of speaking our faith than China's underground churches, North Korea's missionaries, and Eritrea's evangelists? I don't know if I could hold on while I'm being beaten to a pulp, starved, given electric shocks, and not allowed to sleep. I don't know because the miniscule things I have to endure at school already seem like so much. I don't know because I realized I don't even have the courage to walk to say that yes, the car with the huge Bible verse on the back window is my car. I don't have the courage to walk up to it after class, so instead I pretend I can't find my keys in front of a religion-neutral car. How shameful is it that thousands of men and women in Eritrea suffer physically for their faith in Christ but I can't suffer mere embarrassment?

I hope I get to see the man from Eritrea again. I need these reality checks more often. I need to see how saddening the weakness of my faith is so that I can pray more earnestly for God's help and seek him in his word more eagerly.

Style Idea 3

Fact: I have worn my favorite denim skirt at least twice each week for the past three weeks. I'm in love with it partially because I found it brand-new on a Goodwill rack for $2.50 but also because it is so versatile. It can go from casual to dressy in a matter of seconds, can be paired up with an infinite amount of colors, and is always super comfortable. Because denim skirts simply rock and I got my first pair of We Love Colors tights in the mail, I present this week's style idea:

Floral Tank: $29.99 Mod Cloth 

Denim Skirt: $16.99 (on sale!) Old Navy 

Casual Blazer: $27.80 Forever 21

Mary Jane Pumps: $19.99 Payless

Red Tights: $12.50 We Love Colors

IOU

I was in the middle of writing today's post when my computer decided to randomly close all my windows. I was surprised it could act on its own but frustrated that it did so in a completely unproductive way. Unfortunately, I have a lot of reading to do for a class that starts in just a few hours and today's post will have to wait until tomorrow. In the mean time, enjoy this pretty photo that I took in pretty California. I wish I was there now.

Proverbs 31 Challenge: Doing Good

She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.

Proverbs 31:12

A lot of things changed when my husband and I got engaged. For one, my stance on cooking changed from "I'll never go there" to "Can't wait to learn!" I knew that I had to give up a lot of the selfish tendencies I had so that I could be a good wife who does good things for her husband. Learning to do this is a never-ending process that for some reason never seems to get any easier.

The lesson doesn't just apply to married ladies, though. It's extended to all Christians when we're told to treat others as we'd like to be treated, go the extra mile, and turn the other cheek. Doing good for others is a part of every Christian's walk.

I think the hardest part of this challenge is the last part: "all the days of her life." Its not too difficult to do good things for someone for a short while, just like its easy to keep resolutions for the first week of January but hard to keep them the whole year. The godly woman is good to her husband not just during their courtship, engagement, and honeymoon, but until the very end of her life, even after he's died if she happens to outlive him. She is good to him when the bills are piled up, the money is short, the children are crying, and the laundry mountains are threatening to avalanche.

The real challenge is to be a reflection of God's goodness to people no matter what is going on: if you're so tired you're falling asleep at your work desk, if family issues have you completely stressed out, if someone has pushed your last button by saying you really shouldn't have that piece of chocolate (true story!), if everything seems like its about to fall apart. Could harming someone really make any of those things any better? Lets not aim to be good to people sometimes, but all the time, and maybe we'll at least be able to do so most of the time.

Check it Out!

Mommy, Are You Happy? Many people treat depression like its merely a mood issue that you're not willing to risk. I know firsthand that depression isn't sadness you can just push aside to make room for sunlight. Its a spiritual issue and disorder. If you think you suffer from depression and don't know how to handle it, please seek the help of someone you trust.

Caring Too Much About Failure How many times have I not even tried to do something for fear of failing? Probably too many to count. This is good encouragement to kick this fear to the curb and take some risks!

Public Passion VS Private Devotion Although this is written by a church leader for other leaders, I think its common for all Christians to fake being alright through struggles. Why do we do this?

Like An Electric Current Warning: this is a bit graphic and extremely heart-wrenching. Kevin DeYoung comments on a story in which former abortion workers explain why they are now pro-life.

Spare the Spanking, Spoil the Report Card? The Wall Street Journal (yes, really) features a story on why spanking may after all be a good thing.

Why Are Professors Liberal? Rethinking the question provides a good answer.

Seen But Not Heard? Back in my punk-rock rebellious teen years, I was sure my voice was powerless and considered insignificant. How wrong I was and how right this article is! 

Photo of the Week

While the point is to post a photo I've taken each week, I couldn't resist the urge to share this photo by my lovely friend Susie of Solorio Photography. She was kind enough to shoot portraits of my husband, my brother and me and I couldn't be happier with her work.

What Faith Isn't

Last Wednesday I dedicated a post

to sharing some of the things God taught me about faith in reading from Genesis to Esther. The time I spent reading this section seems to have had plenty of challenges and many opportunities to have faith as the Word of God describes it. My mom went through her first major surgery, a particularly nasty sin was revealed in a family member, another close family member professed faith in Christ and then quickly denied it, a friend retreated into seclusion for a few months, problems arose in my church, and my husband and I struggled with money issues.

It is very important to know what faith is, but it is also important to know what it isn't. I've heard many Christians say things about faith that I've learned are not correct when compared to Scripture. These incorrect beliefs about what faith is leads them to false hope and a misunderstanding of who they are and who God is. They walk on dangerous ground.

Some things faith is not:

1. Faith is not believing that you will get what you want. Many times, faith is preached as believing that whatever situation you're in  will end in a way you want it to. When I recently told my mom that I may have a medical problem, she told me to have faith. What she meant, of course, was that I should believe that I don't really have this medical problem and that when I go to the doctor he'll tell me I have nothing to worry about. A year ago I would have nodded and thanked her for the encouragement, but I could not do that in light of what God's Word has taught me.  In 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 Paul gives a summary of his many troubles, including beatings, shipwreck, hunger, danger of robbery, and sleeplessness. This convinces me that although we always want things to turn out happily, it is not always God's will to fix problems for us. It may be his will that I be diagnosed with this medical condition and making myself believe that he won't allow it won't change that.

2. Faith is not more powerful than God. It seems that during difficult times it becomes more attractive to listen to those who say things like, "Declare it in faith and it will happen!" People are told to speak positive words because positive words will make positive things happen. A more subtle form of this Word of Faith preaching is present when we give in to the idea that if we believe God will do whatever thing for us, he actually will. This doctrine makes human faith more powerful than the Almighty God. Ephesians 1:11 says that God works all things according to his own will and Psalm 115:3 says that he does whatever he likes. Our faith doesn't have much to do with what God chooses to do. He determines his actions by his own perfect will, not by our faulty and sometimes misguided faith.

3. Faith is not useless. So if having faith doesn't mean I believe God will end everything happily and if faith won't change God's will, what is it good for? Faith is good for salvation (Ephesians 2:8), it is good for righteousness (Romans 4:5), it is good for testimony (Hebrews 11:1-2), and it is good for peace with God (Romans 5:1). As I wrote in the previous post, faith is knowing that whatever God does is best. I know that even if everything goes badly this year, God will use that difficult to bring good into my life. He'll use it for his perfect wise purposes even if I can't understand what he's doing at the moment. Knowing that my God means good for me gives me more trust and peace in him than I would have if faith simply meant I could change his will. How could I trust in a God so easily swayed? Praise God for what faith actually is!

Style Idea 2

My mom has always had a collection of framed photos on her nightstand and I always loved staring at one of her and my dad laughing together at a fancy dinner. I knew they were having the time of their life and tried to memorize every detail of it. My dad wore a nice grey sweater, radiant smile, and crazy curls. Mom looked gorgeous in a black dress, fur collar, and pearl earrings. After staring a the photo for a while, I would go to her drawer chest, dig through silky scarves and jewelry boxes and dig out that beautiful fur collar. As I modeled the elegant fur in front of the mirror, I always hoped and wished my mom would walk in and tell me I could have it forever.

A couple of months ago, right before her surgery, my mom called me to her room during one of my weekly visits. She dug through her chest drawer, through scarves and jewelry boxes, pulled out that fur collar and lovingly told me it was mine. After two months, I still haven't worn it; I don't know if that's because of the value it has to me or simply because I don't know how to wear it casually. Either way, I think I'll save it for a special occasion, an occasion on which I can pair it with a dress like this.

Hot Pink Wrap Dress: $84.99 Mod Cloth

Vintage Fur Collar: $22.00 Etsy

Black Flower Brooche: $23.13 Amazon

Classic Black Pumps: $49.95 DSW

Proverbs 31 Challenge: Trustworthiness

The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.

Proverbs 31:11

Whether or not you have a husband does not change the fact that this verse applies to your life. Yes, the husband plays an important role here, but that does not mean all you single ladies get a free ride on this verse!

Proverbs 31:11 is more about the woman's trustworthiness than it is about her husband - its main point is that she can be trusted by the person who has authority over her. He knows he can trust her wholeheartedly and is not afraid that she'll betray him or bring him to ruin. He is confident that she won't do anything he doesn't agree to, their home is safe while he is away, and he won't have to worry about his family's financial well-being because of her.

I can't help but think of the classic I Love Lucy plot line: Ricky goes off to work in the morning after warning Lucy not to do anything crazy, Lucy gets herself and her sidekick Ethel into loads of trouble, Lucy tries to hide evidence of this trouble before Ricky comes home, Ricky returns and finds Lucy's mess. No matter how many times I've seen each episode or how predictable the scenario is, I Love Lucy always gets me laughing. What's funny on TV isn't always funny in real life, though. What would happen to a relationship like that in real life? What if my husband always had to be afraid of leaving me home alone? What if my boss didn't trust me to even send a fax without getting into trouble? What if my mom had to always call me to make sure I hadn't spent my last penny on a useless piece of junk? What would those relationships look like?

The bottom line is, a godly woman has to be trustworthy. We are to reflect the God's character and one thing for sure is that God is trustworthy. We never have to be afraid that he'll go back on his promises, forget to take care of us, or do something evil. Let's work on being trustworthy ladies this week.   

Check it Out!

For My Good? from Ligonier A good reminder of how God works in even through difficult things in the lives of his children.

Guilt, Grace, Gratitude from Challies.com Stop and think about the implications of salvation.

An Unlikely Anti-Depressant from Boundless With so many people suffering from depression, this is a good call to seek the best antidote.

Acting surprised when God doesn't seem close from Stuff Christians Like This really hit close to home. For months I struggled to find out why God felt so distant.

Snow Crystal Photo Gallery How can man still deny the existence of God when faced with the marvels of even his simplest creation?

Dear President Obama #360 from AC360 Maybe what our response to Haiti lacks is the same as what our response to many failed challenges lack.

Pat Robertson's Remarks from Between Two Worlds Putting Mr. Robertson's unwise words into perspective.

Photo of the Week

I took this photo back in September when my husband and I took a trip to my beautiful Southern California to celebrate our anniversary. After my fist color theory class on Monday, I can see why this particular photo stood out to me from among the other beach photos I took: orange and blue are complimentary colors and there are a lot of blues and oranges in this shot! I really wish I could make the color pop more, but, alas, I have not taken a photo retouching class yet.

                                

Lessons On Faith

Faith is one of the most present themes in the Bible. Noah had faith when he believed God about the coming flood (Genesis 6), Abraham offered up his son Isaac by faith (Hebrews 11:17), Joseph showed faith when he told his brothers that what they had meant for evil God had used for good (Genesis 50:20). These stories are all found in Genesis and there are many more before you reach the Revelation!

Even though faith is found on practically every page of Scripture, it can oftentimes feel like a vague concept--like a mere idea instead of an actual attainable goal. I found that although I knew I had faith, I couldn't really explain what faith is. Last year, I challenged myself to read from Genesis to Esther, no matter how long it took, and I had no idea God would use these ancient books to teach me so much about faith. These are the lessons I learned:

1. Faith is trusting God more than you trust yourself. Out of all the amazing stories in the historic books of the Bible (Gen-Est), the one that captivated me most was the story of Saul, found in 1 Samuel 9 and on. Saul was the first king of Israel and I was excited to see him doing well in the first few chapters of his story: he seemed humble in his new position, defended the people and drove off invaders. His good qualities quickly faded, though, and he very soon turned into a God-defying, conceited, jealous, power-hungry, violent man. I tried to understand how a young man who showed so much potential could turn into a mean old paranoid bitter man and saw that I am very similar to him. I didn't mind at all seeing a small similarity between Moses and me, but I hated to admit that I was even a little bit like Saul. Being reminded of myself in Saul's fits of anger (1 Samuel 18:10-11 - don't worry, I've never thrown a spear at anyone) really showed me that there is nothing in me that can save me. I can't trust myself to be good enough to please God because sooner or later my ugly side will show. I have an ugly side that only God can make beautiful. I am dirty with sin and only God can clean me. I have to trust that he will be the one to save me and that I can't save myself.

2. Faith is knowing that whatever God does is best. Esther is probably the book I've read the most and every time I've read it I have come away with more knowledge of God. This time around, God's power really stood out. Esther was a Jewish woman living in the capitol city of the empire that ruled over Israel at the time. Instead of returning to the land of her people, she had stayed in the land of her ancestors' captors. After what seemed like a set of random events, Esther was chosen queen just in time to stop a wicked plan to destroy all the Jews. The story shows a God who is powerful enough to arrange a mess of insignificant, hopeless, scary, out of control events into something great and magnificent. When God allows painful or confusing things to happen and we don't understand why, faith is knowing that he is in control and that whatever he allows is what will be best. Looking back at the events of my life, I know that even when I felt like everything was falling apart, God was working something good for me because he knew I would someday be his daughter. That gives me comfort as I face new challenges and new obstacles in life.

3. Faith is believing that God will do what he says he'll do. Todd Agnew said at a concert that the word "promise" is not found in the Hebrew Old Testament. I should have written the quote when it was fresh in my mind, but he said that the reason is that God doesn't need to promise because what he says just is. His words are true always, no matter what. In Exodus, the pharaoh that refuses to let the people of Israel go has a little trouble understanding this. From Exodus 7 to 13, Pharaoh is warned about calamities to come upon his kingdom if he doesn't release God's people. Over and over again he refuses to believe, even when its plainly clear that God is going to keep his word. Pharaoh doubts God's word before the first plague and before the last. Whether we believe what God says or not, his word is true and nothing can make it false. If I refuse to believe, my unbelief won's make God's word any less true. He says I have sinned against him and broken his laws (James 2:10). He teaches that sinners will receive his wrath (Romans 1:18) but that his Son died on a cross to save all who believe in him (John 3:16) and that if I turn away from sin and turn to him instead, I will be safe. I know it is true because God's word is true. Next week: What Faith Isn't.

Style Idea 1

I admit it. I've complained way too many times about not having enough tights this winter. The truth is, this is my first winter not wearing jeans and cardigans every day. I discovered I can wear skirts and dresses if I layer tights underneath! What an amazing and liberating discovery! The only problem is I currently own exactly one pair of black tights and nothing else. I look at all my beautiful dresses each morning wishing I had magenta, mustard yellow, burnt orange, peacock-feather blue, and polka dot tights to wear them with. My husband looks at me like I'm from Mars (or is it Venus?) when I mention my desire for a rainbow assortment of tights, so this collage is partially for his sake - so he knows I'm not going insane and teal tights really do look amazing! His birthday is coming up and if I had teal tights I would put this outfit together.                  

                                 

Teal Tights: $12.50 We Love Colors 

Bib Necklace: $14.80 Forever 21

Birdcage Pumps: $29.94 DWS

Cardigan: $59.99 Mod Cloth

Perfect LBD: $36.99 Ruche

Proverbs 31 Challenge: Intro

An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.

Proverbs 31:10

The words of Proverbs 31 were written to a king by his mother. They are an attempt to pass on wisdom, to give instruction, to influence a son's life even after he's gone on to be an independent and powerful king. Verses 10-31 specifically address this king's choosing a wife and give the wise perspective of a mother who knows the inner workings of the world of women. Although we are far removed from the original audience of this acrostic poem (in Hebrew, the lines begin with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in order), there is a mine full of precious stones found in its content. Just like precious stones remain precious over time, so the wisdom found in these verses is still applicable today.

As we begin week 2.5(ish) of the new year, I invite you to adopt yet another resolution: to work toward becoming a Proverbs 31 woman. I don't expect us to reach Proverbs 31 perfection, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to improve as much as we can. After all, these verses describe a strong, beautiful, godly woman. The very first verse says that a woman who fits this description is more valuable and rare than jewels. Who doesn't want to become that?

Our world bombards us with challenges that keep us from striving to become godly women. It feeds us messages that say inner beauty is not as important as physical beauty. It fills our schedules and makes us far too busy to fulfill our responsibilities. It trains us up to be adamant feminists, wary of men and obsessively defensive of our womanhood. Lets put those things aside and let Scripture teach us to be the kind of women God wants us to be. If we work hard at this goal we'll at the very least find ourselves a bit closer to being  rare, precious, excellent ladies.