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Sharing links that are encouraging, inspiring, or just plain fun! Lobby Jam I love a good instrumental. This is one of my favorites by a group that I love, Keith and Kristyn Getty! I like tapping around my basement to this jam. A New Perspective: Alyssa Guest post on my friend Chelsea's blog. I wrote for this series, and this is the newest post. Alyssa shares about life as an artist in an airstream camper full time. Two-Word Summaries of Every Bible Chapter This is a short post that links to a blog series in which a man summarized every chapter of the Bible in two words. Scars: A Blog on How To Share Your Faith There’s no formula. But there is being real. There are no magic words, but there are words of power that bring hope. 
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I love encountering music that just brings my heart joy! It has to have a good beat, encouraging lyrics, and be something that I can dance to. Most of Rend Collective's music does this for me. I recently listened to their song "You Will Never Run" for the first time, and it brought me a lot of joy, so I thought I would share it with you! Check it out! Click on the picture to be taken to the lyric video!   I am tickled to introduce you to my dear friend, Chelsea. She's my soul sister from Louisiana, and she just recently married the man who is her best friend. A month ago, Chelsea gave me the opportunity to write a post for her blog, Go Giver, and we loved partnering in blogging so much that she's now guest blogging for She Laughs Without Fear in a new series called Modern Women of Faith. Kindly lend an ear (or an eye) to Chelsea's honest words about being a woman of faith.  Woman of faith. Such a simple term and thought, yet so much harder to put into practice. At least, it is for me anyway. When Madi asked me to write a blog post about what it means for me to be a woman of faith rather than fear, I was so excited! Then, as I began thinking of the topic, I honestly started to become a little nervous and worried... I feel very inadequate and almost like an impostor talking about this. This year for me has been such a hard struggle with matters of my faith in the Lord. Some of my biggest fears became a reality for me this year: loneliness, not finishing university on time, and losing touch with who I thought God was. Loneliness. My biggest fear, ever since I was young was that I would be alone or without anyone who cared about me. This is a common fear among many people and became real for me this year with my time off of my normal activities (My Year Off From Titles). My friendships were abandoned and I felt forgotten and unwanted by many. This was the beginning of my spiral in my lack of faith. I could not trust that people who claimed to love me with Christ's love would be there for me. I felt alone in my struggles and very afraid. With this lack of trust in the Lord and many months of doubt, my health and my school life became an added pressure. I started gaining weight and could not seem to have self-control to be the healthy girl I used to be. My grades fell behind, and I had no drive or passion for school work. I was just floating through life... and no one knew about it. I was living in sadness and fear. It was hard to go out. It felt impossible to go to events where my old friends were because of the awkwardness that pursued. Loneliness. My year hit its lowest during the middle of April. My wedding was approaching quickly, I had several issues with my professors and classes, and I was losing my mind. One morning before heading to meet with my then fiancé, I found myself struggling to breathe. I had just gotten in the shower and all of a sudden my chest became extremely tight. Tears streamed down my face and sobs escaped my lips as I tried desperately to suck any air that I could into my lungs. My stress and fear had entangled me and was suffocating me. Trying to think of what to do, I looked up, and there on the wall of my shower I saw the answer. "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." -2 Timothy 1:7 Earlier in the school year I had placed a sheet of paper with this verse on it in a paper protector in my shower. While my intention had been to memorize the verse and commit it to my heart; I had completely ignored this sound encouragement. ALL YEAR. Repeating the words over and over in my mind, I slowly started to control my breathing. The way I felt laying on my floor, repeating these simple words, was the most peaceful and strong I had felt in months. I no longer felt alone. The problems of school and worry of the future melted away. Since then, my life has not been easy. It is a struggle to form good habits and find strength everyday. But when I seek for these things in the Lord, they come much easier. When I search for goodness and strength in myself, it is impossible. Friends, absolutely nothing is impossible with God. He brought me to a place of absolute need for Him in order to feel free; and He does this repeatedly in my life. Because of His consistency and the desire He gives me (that I pray for often) to learn about Him.... I can laugh at the future without fear. Without loneliness. Without doubt. And with unfailing love.
Chelsea is the founder of the blog Go Giver where she talks about life as a new wife, what she's learning about life, and how to be a go giver instead of a go-getter. Her blog is like a breathe of fresh air on a misty Saturday morning in the summer. Share the love and visit her blog!
I am a wuss. I haven't used that word since middle school, but if I'm honest, I'm a wuss. And that's okay. I'm in the middle of an impossible task... well almost. It's a difficult task, and it's requiring me to trust God whole-heartedly to provide, and it's forcing me to be brave in many ways. But all I keep seeing is just how much of a wuss or cowardly person I really am. Long gone are the days when I thought I was brave because I went away to college or for starting a blog or for sharing my thoughts on the interwebs. I have my moments, but when push comes to shove, I'm more prone to cower in fear than move forward in faith. But that's okay. I don't have to be brave all of the time. I don't have to be strong all the time. I am free to fail. I am free to be weak. Even when I am a wuss and I choose to act out of fear instead of faith, God will still be glorified. He doesn't need me to be strong in order to be glorified. In fact, His power is made perfect in my weakness, in my "wussiness". But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. {2 Corinthians 12: 9-10} How refreshing. It's like a tall glass of water on a humid summer day. Paul the Apostle. THE Paul. THE man that wrote half of the New Testament had his own weaknesses. He was human. But he could boast in his weaknesses because of the glory of God. When I am weak, then I am strong. I'm free to be weak, because when I am weak, the power of Christ rests upon me, which makes me strong. I can then be content in hardships and suffering and those little moments when I want to cower in fear. If God's grace is sufficient for Paul, it's sufficient for me, and it's sufficient for you. His power is made perfect in our weakness. He can use our weaknesses, but He can also use them to make us strong. I don't know about you, but that encourages me in the moments when I feel like a wuss or fearful or weak. I don't have to be strong all the time, but I can trust that God's using my weaknesses to glorify Himself and to make me stronger.  You Don't Really Know Who Your Friends Are Until... A post filled with a lot of truth by a blogger I follow, Tim Challies. Let's Be Honest: Reasons Why We Don't Read Our Bibles In the spirit of honesty, I've used all of these reasons, and this article is pretty challenging but also encouraging. The True Hero After seeing a dramatic retelling of the story of Mary and Martha, I've been thinking of these two women a lot. This post by Tim Challies hits at the heart of who the true hero is. When the World Doesn't Recognize Who You Really Are They Know I'm a Princess. This sweet little post brought a whole lot of joy to my morning. If you're in Christ, you are an heir with Christ. You are royalty. But the world doesn't recognize us.  |
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