Has the Culture Influenced a Spiritually Ignorant Generation?

In an article entitled "Evangelical Christian Leaders Fear Teen Believers Abandoning their Faith", Laurie Goodstein writes, 

"Despite their packed mega churches, their political clout, and increasing visibility on the national stage, evangelical Christian leaders are warning one another that their teenagers are abandoning the faith in droves.  

"If current trends continue only 4 percent of teenagers will be Bible-believing Christians as adults. While some critics say that the statistics are grossly exaggerated, there is widespread consensus among evangelical leaders that they risk losing their teenagers."

Experiencing Rest in a Time of Busyness

"When we are crazy busy, we put our souls at risk. The challenge is not merely to make a few bad habits go away. The challenge is to not let our spiritual lives slip away." -Kevin DeYoung, Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book About a (Really) Big Problem

My life is crazy busy. 

I wake up at 5:00am every morning and work 8-10 hours a day.  

When I'm not sleeping or working, I'm squeezing time in my day for my family, talk to my boyfriend at night, and meeting up with friends for early morning coffee chats. 

Three Reasons to Choose Your Resolutions Carefully

"I said to a man who stood at the gate of the year: 'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown'; and he replied, 'Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than a light and safer than a known way!'" (quoting from a poem by M. L. Harkins)

It's January 5th. Assumedly most of you have already created your New Year's resolution list. Your resolve is high and it feels good to practice new disciplines and meet new goals...but what happens to that resolve by the end of the year? Why are we so quick to create a list of good things, only to fail by December 31st?

Is Facebook Stealing Our Time?

"The biggest deception of our digital age may be the lie that says we can be omni-competent, omni-informed, and omni-present." (Kevin Deyoung, Crazy Busy)

Whether I'm in line at Chick-fil-A, checking out at grocery store, or relaxing with my family, Facebook is a world where I can go at any second of the day. It has a strange pull to my heart because I feel connected to people. I get an adrenaline high when one of my new profile pictures has 50 more "likes" than my last one. My popularity hinges off of the volume of comments on how beautiful I am. This unrealistic virtual world influences my moods and behavior. 

When I Refuse to Give the Lord Control Over My Time and Priorities

"We don’t expect to be able to buy anything we want, because we know there is a limit to our money. But somehow we live as if time knew no bounds, when in fact time is much more limited than money. Wealth can be created, but no one has the ability to grow more time." (Kevin DeYoung, Crazy Busy)

I waste time. Do you? This post is a glance into my own heart and the realization that I don't "Redeem the time" in a way that glorifies God. Like most Millennials, I've bought into the lie that I can manage the high demand of social media, enjoy an active social life with my friends, keep up a busy schedule and devote time to ministry projects. Deceptively, I believed I could manage my life in this fashion but recently God revealed the blunt truth:

"It's time to grow up" 

10 Ways Teenagers Can Leave a Lasting Impact on the World

“Go after God-do whatever it takes. Don't give the excuse, ‘I'm just or teenager’ or ‘I'll do that later’. No, God wants you NOW.” - Rachel Joy Scott, martyred April 20,1999 during the Columbine High School shooting.

So you want to change the world, do you? I’d like to share with you some practical insights on how you can start making an impact for the Kingdom.

Before we go any further, there are some things you need to be aware of: the life of a “world-changer” also denotes a life of sacrifice, a life of discipline and a life that is fully in-sync with the heart of Christ. This lifestyle isn’t for the weak-hearted Christian. It is for those who are willing to leave behind the comfortable “American dream” and follow God’s plan (whether or not it includes a relatively comfortable experience!). 

How Can I Impact Society if I'm Just a Teenager?

“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.” - Joel A. Barker

Teenagers can change the world! Have you ever felt that your age group defined your behavior or potential? Think about this for a moment: society actually goes to great lengths to promote the idea that immaturity and rebellion are either acceptable or just “phases” that all teens go through at one time or another. This myth is mind-boggling (not to mention crazy)! This subtle mindset is, in reality, putting an entire subset of the world’s population in a box! 

Confessions of a College Girl

Imagine this: a college freshmen walks timidly on campus for the first day of classes. She doesn’t know anyone, but she hopes to soon… People are friendly enough, but I long for the deeper relationships that I shared with my friends from church back home. “It will come” I tell myself confidently.

A couple of days later I suddenly see the man of my dreams walk past me [insert your dream man here: tall, black hair… or…skinny jeans, skateboarder, black converse…or… athletic, strong, etc]. After picking my jaw up from the ground, I decided that I would watch this guy….closely. It didn’t take long for me to check off His spiritual state from my checklist. He seemed to love the Lord with all of His heart and it showed in His love for those around Him.

Materialism in The Church: Do We Really Pray for Needs or Wants?

The American church {side note: if you are saved you are part of the body of Christ, therefore when I refer to the "church" I am referring to you and me} is materialistically and spiritually obese. 

We pray earnestly for what we think we need but our lifestyle is one of careless spending and impulsive purchases. Could it be that we have lost the understanding of the drastic difference between a genuine need and a frivolous want? 

I've been guilty of praying for God's provision while simultaneously sipping on my Starbucks latte. How hypocritically is that!

Six Ways to Fight Discouragement

You give and pour into the lives of others. Epic victory. The trip ends. Your body crashes. Emotionally you feel zapped. Weeks later you are still processing all the amazing things God has done and yet deep inside you feel numb. 

You feel alone even when surrounded by people. Discouragement grips your heart and life seems burdensome.

Our weakest moments rarely come in the midst of our greatest battle but in the aftermath of the victory. 

When God Calls: The Step of "Yes"

“Whenever, wherever, however You want me, I'll go. And I'll begin this very minute. Lord, as I stand up from this place, and as I take my first step forward, will You consider this is a step toward complete obedience to You? I'll call it the step of yes.” -Brother Andrew (God's Smuggler)

The soft voice of an British accent quietly droned on as I packed my bags for Russia. Brother Andrew's story had always intrigued me but now with clothes and accessories scattered all over the floor, I listened to the audiobook with a different perspective.

Embracing Change

Changes of life. Some people thrive on it but others loathe it. I for one find change a rather difficult thing. I cried about growing up because I loved being little. (I remember being scared of wearing makeup because I was afraid I'd apply it wrong.) 

I hated to share my friends because I was afraid of loosing them. I was mad when my mom started dying her hair because I had a fear it would turn purple. I cried when my brother left home for medical school. I cried when my older sister got married. I even felt sad when they closed down a local store I'd shopped at all my life.

Life is full of changes. I'm sure after reading through my list of woes you must find my ramblings rather amusing. 

A Forgetful Heart is an Ungrateful Heart

Things weren't going my way. Driving alone in the car I desperately began to pray, "God, what are you doing? What am I doing wrong?" It was more of a frustrated plea to God as I questioned His timing and motive.

You're probably thinking Laurie, you talked to God that way? Yes, but God already knew my frustration and the thoughts that were running through my head. By expressing it to Him I was directing my "out of tune" heart back to the Master Musician who could then tune me back to Truth.

The Secret Place

"And now about prayer. When you pray, don't be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I assure you, that is all the reward they will ever get. But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father secretly. Then your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you." (Matthew 6:5-6, NLT) 

Imagine receiving an invitation to spend the day with someone you greatly admire and love. What would be going through your mind? Obviously you would probably be wondering, "What do I wear?!" A millisecond later you'd be pondering, "What are we going to do together? Where will we go? What will we talk about?" You and I have a need to be loved and cherished which is why I want to deliver a special invitation to you...the One who loves you wants to spent time with you today!

What is Wisdom?

The concept of wisdom is deep and yet simplistic. Wisdom is not attaining a vast amount of knowledge {academic understanding, head knowledge} nor is it merely the knowledge of right and wrong. For even the unsaved man can gain knowledge and understand moral conduct.

What then, is wisdom? The Psalmist defines wisdom as this: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” (Psalm 111:10) 

God is More Than Enough

"One thing have I desired of the Lord, That will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord ALL the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and the inquire in His Temple...when you said, "Seek my face." my heart said to you, "Your face, Lord, I will seek."" -Ps 27:4, 8

What has your heart? When you search for significance, acceptance, and love apart from God you are believing the lie that God is NOT enough. Sometimes we can even allow the good things in life to steal from the best thing in life. When we try to fill the empty places of our hearts with _______ (you fill in the blank) we are basically living in the lie that God + ____ = fulfillment.