If you are like me, then you have probably asked God, "What is going on? Why is all of this happening to me?" And most likely you have asked God than once. 

The truth is, God loves you so much. He really, truly, and genuinely wants only the very best for you and He has an amazing plan for your life. 

Suffering is inevitable for the believer.

We will all experience hardships. Trials and tribulations. Storms. Sadness. Heartache and pain. Loss. Jesus tells us in John 16:33;

"I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world."

But He follows by encouraging our hearts to, "be courageous! I have conquered the world." How amazing is that? If we are in Jesus Christ then we can rest in knowing that everything will work out. God's got us! Remember, that although life is not always fair, God is always just.

Have faith and trust that even in the most painful of circumstances, God can and will turn it around for our good and for the good of those around us.

If you are having a difficult time trusting God in your current circumstance, my prayer is that my 7 life verses will speak to your heart. 

Psalm 118:8-9 // It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. 

Proverbs 3:5 // Trust in the LORD with all your heart...

Isaiah 12:2 // God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid.

Isaiah 50:10 // ...Trust in the name of the LORD and rely upon His God.

Nahum 1:7 // The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him.

Mark 5:36 // "Do not be afraid; only believe."

Philippians 4:13 // I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.



What verses or promises help you to trust and abide in Christ during your hardest times?

As the release of Fifty Shades of Grey nears, my social media feeds become much more shorter as I obsessively click the "hide feed,"option in the hopes to stow away the gross displays of thirstiness from needy women all over, and in the process guard my heart, mind, and eyes.

No offense, but for the non-believer friends and family of mine this does not some to a surprise. But for the Christian women that I follow, I was pretty amazed at some of your obsessions with this movie.

I have been known to make comments about Christians watching shows like Scandal, where every Thursday the mistress, Olivia Pope is praised for being an independent, strong woman although she is having an affair with a married man. Then we have ABC's provocative series, Mistresses which follows four girlfriends who support each other in their journey to self-discovery all the while carrying on illicit relationships with married men and such.

Please, understand my heart. I am not saying that watching these shows or movies is a sin. But let's be honest with ourselves for a minute. Are these types of movies healthy for our walk with Christ? Is it glorifying God or the flesh?

One of the biggest things I hear from Christian women justifying their poor choice of entertainment is:

"It's only entertainment. Christians don't have to be boring."

Right.

I want to go back to this movie, Fifty Shades of Grey and share with you some lies Christian women are telling themselves to justify watching  it, and why it sounds ridiculous!

1. "It's just a movie." This lie has to be the BIGGEST. I have an honest question to ask you "godly" women. Would you watch this movie with Jesus sitting next to you? Seriously. Would it be just a movie then? The MPAA, in rating this movie used the phrase, "unusual behavior" to describe the movie's content. The Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5, that it is God's will, for our sanctification that we abstain from sexual immorality, so that each of us knows how to possess our own vessel in sanctification and honor, not with lustful desires, like the Gentiles who did not know God. Do you really believe that watching this movie will not fill your mind with lustful desires? And how is a movie containing torture, sexual violence, domination and submission to someone who they are not married to honoring to God? God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous (Heb. 13:4).
   
   
2. "God doesn't want us to live a boring life." I am sorry, but when did you get the impression that the Christian life was boring? Tell that to the Christians being martyred everyday for their faith. It is not fun, but far from boring. This walk is far from boring! True, genuine enjoyment, pleasure, peace, and hope is found in Jesus Christ. Walking with God is not easy, therefore it cannot be boring. Got Questions said it best; "One writer describes growing in the Christian faith as being “on a never-ending downward escalator. In order to grow we have to turn around and sprint up the escalator putting up with perturbed looks from everyone else who is gradually moving downward.” Christ never deluded anyone into thinking it would be easy to follow Him (see Matthew 10:34-39). It’s not easy, but the hardships help prevent boredom." The world offers enjoyment, pleasure, and peace, but it is temporary. Lasting joy is found at the Cross.
3. "I am married, so there isn't anything wrong if I watch the movie with my husband. We can get ideas on how to make the bedroom more creative" As a wife married to a man that struggled with pornography and sexual sin for many, many years this statement has to be the saddest of all. Every single day I counsel women and wives whose lives have been completely shattered by sexual immorality. This particular statement also offends me. Marriage and sex were created by God to glorify God. How can Hollywood make your marriage better, when Hollywood marriages end daily? If the fire has burned out in your marriage, girl, you better get on your face and pray. Ask God to reignite your marriage. Pray for creativeness and an increase in your sexual drive. God created sex to be fun, intimate, sexy, inviting, steamy, etc... with your spouse in the context of marriage. Ask and it will be given to you (Matt. 7:7).  It is God's will that we enjoy our marriage and enjoy having sex with our spouse. There is no need to go and pay for filth to attempt to spice up your life. Often times wives in their desperate state succumb to desperate measures by introducing pornography and sex toys into their marriage in the hopes to set ablaze their sex life. But be careful that this right of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block to the weak (1 Cor. 8:9). My husband's pornography addiction and struggles with lust nearly destroyed our marriage. As his wife—his help-meet—there is no way that I could ever put him in a situation where his sexual sobriety could be compromised. How is watching a man sexually torture a young woman make me want to have sex with my husband? Thanks, but no thanks!

Over 30 percent of Christian women are addicted to pornography and struggle with lust and other sexual sins. Fifty Shades has been coined as "soft-porn" for moms. Statistics also show that women, more than men, are likely to act out their behaviors in real life, such as having multiple partners, casual sex, or affairs. A study conducted at Michigan State University found that young adult women who have read this popular erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey are more likely to exhibit symptoms of eating disorders and to have verbally abusive partners than women who haven't read the book [sott.net]. 

These are our Christian leaders, mothers, wives, teens that are not just struggling, but addicted to pornography. 

Pornography is considered to be more addictive than crack cocaine, because cocaine can be excreted from the body. Pornographic and sexual images cannot. Those explicit and lustful images neurochemically and permanently stay with a person, forever. 

So before you take your husband to watch FSOG consider this; If you get back home and have wild and passionate sex after the movie, how would you feel in knowing that he was turned on by from watching another woman have sex, and not from being turned on by his own wife.

That my dear, is adultery! And to think... you allowed it.

I will not act like I have not watched movies or shows that had sexual content. I have. But even in some of the shows I watch, when the sex scenes come on and I notice that it does not sit well with my spirit (and you will know), I will change it. The last thing I want to do is offend The Holy Spirit that dwells inside of me just to satisfy my flesh. If it makes me, or my fellow brethren uncomfortable, scared, etc., then it isn't worth it. The Spirit of God lives in each and everyone of His children and it will urge, and lead you into making the right decision. Don not ignore it.

Ultimately, follow your own convictions. 

But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:28)

When we think of how it looks to "surrender it all to God," we think of the term, letting go and letting God, right? And that is good and all, but oftentimes God will use our current circumstance to bring us to a state of surrender.

God wants us to not only surrender our situation to Him, but to surrender ourselves to Him. [Tweet this!]

If you struggle with surrendering it all to God, my prayer is that these steps will help you:

1. Ask God to make you willing. Oftentimes this is the most essential step. If it just that hard to find the willingness to give it all to God, then pray and ask Him to change your heart in that area. Ask God for a willing heart and mind.
   
   
2. Be aware of your enemy. Remember that this is exactly where Satan wants you. The very last thing he wants is for you to completely surrender every area of your life to God. Pray and ask God for wisdom and discernment  to be able to recognize your enemies lies.
   
   
3. Surrender it all, little by little, step by step. A lot of times we are hesitant to surrender all control with fear that we will have to make drastic changes, and honestly, sometimes we just are not ready. But God is so kind and loving that He will move at our pace. As long as we are obedient in what He asks of us, He will lead us through step by step as we go along. 

Remember, only when we move out of God's way, can He begin to move in our life. [Tweet this!]

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." (Proverbs 3:5, 6)

Is there something you need to surrender to God today?

In the midst of our loneliness we often try to fill the desires of our hearts with the things of this world. But Jesus longs to fill our hearts with Himself during this season.

Even when you are feeling lonely, and feel as though you have no one, God is always with you. He thinks about you all the time. Do not give up on yourself, because God has not given up on you. It is easier to just abandon every relationship, because of all the past failed relationships. Doing this will only further discourage you and leave you feeling sorry for yourself. This is not what God wants for His daughters.

How can God help me when I am feeling lonely?

[Read the rest of this article at Whole Magazine.]

"Did you see what Sheila was wearing at church this morning?"

"Did you about what Tom did to his wife?"

I can remember many times people have tried to start conversations like that with me. Even worse, I remember starting conversations like that myself. Gossip is that “secret” sin that people try to conceal with superficial concern and erroneous motives but really it does nothing but stir up conflict because it comes from an impure place. 

Gossiping has two sides to it; first gossiping is when you say something that is true but with the wrong motives causing them to look bad to others. Secondly, gossiping is sharing information with others who were not meant to know such personal details even if without evil intent.

Now let us look at God's perspective on this gossiping. Proverbs 26:20 tells us, "Without wood fire goes out; without a gossip a conflict dies down." When you choose to not listen to gossip or to not spread it you help quench the problem. But when we listen to or partake in gossiping our words do nothing but add fuel to an already burning fire.

[Read the rest of this article at Whole Magazine.]

Growing up in the Catholic church one thing I always remembered and appreciated was the beautiful churches we attended. They looked imperial, with amazing stories woven in the walls and vaulted ceilings. But the one thing that always caught my eye was the classic stained-glass windows. When the sunlight shined through the panes of the glass a beautiful picture appeared and let out a mosaic symphony of colorful praise portraying parables and some of our great heroes from the Bible—most often Jesus. It was just glorious.

But have you ever looked through those same stained-glass windows at night? You don't see much. You might be able to catch a glimpse of each outline, but that is all.

The process to creating stained glass windows is quite painstaking, and involves soldering together individual panels of stained glass, sometimes in the hundreds. The pieces of stained glass are cut into various shapes and arranged, and the Artisan must have a good idea for how the window will look and feel when it is complete. The pieces are slowly attached to one another and then confined into a larger frame which will hold the window rigidly in place once it has been installed.

Did you know that our lives are like those stained-glass windows? Before we walked with Jesus, our windows [lives] were dark. But when we came to know our Saviour [the artisan], His light pierced through within each of His children and a beautiful picture appears with such brightness. He took the many broken pieces of our heart and soldered it together to create His version of beautiful. As we continue to grow in Christ, His light brightens, and our life's testimonies shine forth a rising beauty that intensifies through every test to testimony.

Can the people around you attest to the light shining through your life, especially when the storms hit?

When they look at your life do they see evidence that the Holy Spirit dwells inside, or has your sin and self-righteous heart created a soiled fabric that hangs, blocking His light from your witness?

Can they catch a glimpse of God's footprint's in your day-to-day conversations with your children, spouse, mother, or sister, friends. . . maybe even a stranger?

As we allow Jesus Christ to direct our marriages, our families, our relationships, and our lives, the result is a light that shines with such increasing power that every window around enlivens displaying a foretaste of what Heaven will look like.

Today, determine that you will live in God's brightness and reflect the Light in your life—that those around you will clearly see the testimony of your faith every moment they are in your presence.

The path of the [uncompromisingly] just and righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines more and more (brighter and clearer) until [it reaches its full strength and glory in] the perfect day [to be prepared] (Proverbs 4:18).

Can I be honest with you? As a young girl I had no problems making friends. I could get around a crowd of girls and just fit right in. But as I got older and experienced hurt and betrayal from other women, I became less quick to fit in. I will admit that at times I still tend to pull away with the fear that a friend may hurt me.

What I looked for in my worldly friends was completely different from what I want and desire from a godly friendship. I believe that the gift of friendship was one of God's greatest ideas. I also believe that just how God picks our our husbands to compliment us, He does the same with our friends. It has been said about marriage that where one lacks the other makes up for it. I know Jesus made friendship to work the same way.

I spent a good part of my life searching for genuine friendships. I always would get sad when I would hear women say, "We have been best friends for over 15 years." I thought, wow. That would be nice to have. I had close friends, but those were all worldly friends. Things happened that caused us to go our separate ways, and with others we just grew apart. Temporal friendships don't stand a chance when they are built on a temporal foundation. The slightest disagreement can wash away even 20 years of what you thought was an unbreakable friendship if it was not built on solid foundation. God, The Rock.

[Read the rest of this article at Whole Magazine.]

We are so excited to introduce to you our new friends over at Faithfully There. I discovered their hip and edgy clothes line while perusing on Instagram recently.

The name Faithfully There came from the never ending love, grace and mercy that the Lord continues to pour out on our lives. Faithfully Their purpose is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ through fashion and outreach. 

The aim is to create fashion that encourages conversations that lead to the Gospel, thus opening up a door for sharing the Gospel to others. We pray that Faithfully There will be a vessel to inspire others to live and share the Gospel.

[Read the rest of this article at Whole Magazine.]