Lyrical Friday - Crags and Clay

Happy Friday! 
I am so excited to announce a new Heal group. This is the first adult Heal group that I do. It is  definitely way different that leading a youth only group. It was a very sweet time. So what more appropriate song than Crags and Clay by Gungor. 
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You are wonderfully made.
You are wholly and dearly loved by God. 
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Crags and Clay, Gungor 

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Standing up from crags and clay
The peaks of earth
In full display
They break the lines
That break the sky
That's full of life
Full of life

The chaos of creation's dance
A tapestry, a symphony
Of life himself
Of love herself
It's written in our very skin

All praises to the one who made it all
Who made it all
All praises to the one who made it all
And finds it beautiful

Soil is spilling life to life
Stars are born
To fill the night
The ocean's score
The majesty
Of sculpted shore
Mystery

All praises...
Fearfully and wonderfully and beautifully made

heal journey, group two

Hey!
This weekend was a bittersweet one. An AMAZING group of girls finished the HEAL Journey. This is the second group that I host and lead... and definitely not my last! It's incredible how unique each group has been. This group responded completely different than the first, but none the less, each group walked away fully clothed in the splendor and glory of God.

As for me, the Heal Journey was, is and continues to be a faithful companion that leads me to the one who created me so wonderfully. This year would have been a disaster had the Lord not crossed my path with the girls at Wonderfully Made . My first time doing the study, I for the the first time understood and accepted God's grace for me. I am more in love with my Savior since rediscovering the wonders of His grace. This time around, He revealed to me how deeply rooted fear is in my heart. I am amazed at how faithful God is in my weakness. He doesn't despise me, nor does He leave me to fend for myself- He delivers my soul from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies (Psalm 103:4). I'll write more about this Psalm 139:23-24 revelation at another post.

Here is a shameless plug: This study is more than just a self-help/self-discovery/recovery book; this study is Jesus holding you by the hand and saying to you, "My beloved, let's sit under the shade of this tree and allow me to reveal to you your value and worth in me, through my word." If your desire is to draw near to God than I encourage you to order yourself a copy... buy one for you and a friend and do the study together! Or start a Heal group yourself. Get the creative juices going. For a copy click HERE .

This will be the last small group I lead this year. But come January, myself and another youth leader will be sharing the HEAL Journey with more wonderfully made girls. That's two small groups in our church. The Lord has given me vision for more. Be in prayer for this. I leave you today with a quote from Lesson 6. Ciao for now friends. 

"As we lose ourselves in Christ and take delight in his love, his living water overtakes our souls. We slowly lose our thirst for things the world claims to offer, and we begin to thirst for a deeper relationship with Him."

beauty

I hope you had a great Monday!

This past Saturday, we finished the HEAL study. There was a creative activity at the end of the lesson. We formed two groups. One group cut out words and phrases that represent the life that the world offers. The second group went through the Bible and wrote down scriptures that represent the abundant life God promises. We did this on construction paper, very easy to do. After 10 minutes, we read them. It is increadible how much garbage is out there. Even today as I went over the list of the cut outs from two somewhat innocent magazines I could not believe what you and I are exposed to.

Here are the two lists we made:
Cut outs from Magazines

• Perfection Perfect
• Fashion
• Men, Men, Men
• Go Shopping
• Smooth legs
• Beauty
• Independent
• Real Remedies
• Upgrade
• Love in this Club
• SHOW YOUR SKIN
• Weight Loss Supplement!
• Experience what Paradise feels like
• Relationships
• Tough Bisexual
• BAD GIRL
• STD
• Budweiser
• LOVE
• "I need some cleavage"
• Secrets
• Juicy Goodness
• Catch up with the latest chisme (gossip)
• What makes you kissable?
• Flirty
• "I don't see the point of marriage. But when I need love, I get my love."
• DIY Abortions (Do It Yourself) <--freaked me out
• You want a prettier what? Belly button? Toes? Va-jay-jay? You won't believe the parts some women are tinkering with in their quest for so-called perfection.
• Women abusing prescription drugs
• Sleeping Pill Junkie
• Men, Sex & Love
• "We had sex in an airport bathroom."
• ACNE
• Need ade prevention?

Bible promises

• Psalm 37:4 // Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.
• 1 Timothy 4:7-8 // But reject profane and old wives’ tales, and exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
• Proverbs 31:30 // Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.
• John 10:10 // I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
• John 10:28 // And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
• John 12:25 // He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
• 1 Peter 3:3-4 // Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— 4 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.

This was an awesome activity, a real eye opener. What are you exposing yourself to? Examine your life. It's crazy the things that we read in magazines, the lyrics to the music we hear and the shows that we watch. The empty promises of this world are everywhere and rather than making us "beautiful" they contaminate us. I encourage you to remove yourself from them and open God's Word. In it you will find an endless list of promises that will wash away the lies we have believed. The abundant life found in Jesus will produce in us an incorruptible beauty. I leave you with this amazing verse and one of my favorite short films:

You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD's hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God. Isaiah 62:3

HEAL- Lesson 3 Healing your Hunger

Hi Everyone!

This past Saturday I met with the Youth Discipleship group and we covered lesson 3 from the Heal Journey. I have to say, that as we go deeper into the study I am enjoying more and more the group time as each girl, myself included, shares not only their struggles but their spiritual insight as well. It is awesome to witness God doing an amazing work in each of these lovely lilies.

Here are a few quotes from Lesson 3:

"For some of us, our heart hunger has been awakened by abuse, hurtful words, painful experiences, tradegy, absent parents, or... I'll let you fill in the blank. Often we are hurt by people we love or by intruders who have trespassed into our lives. No matter how big or small we percieve these heartaches to be, they are no small matter to God. For us to become free of our brokenness, we must be able to acknowledge our heartaches and give them to God."

"We cannot experience permanent authentic healing apart from God. And we cannot get past these hurts by relying on something other than God."

"As God brings to light the things that are not pleasing to Him, we are presented with the opportunity to become the women he wants us to be. We bring our utter brokenness and humanity while God provides us with his redemptive power, his redeeming love, and his healing grace. It is in the quiet place of surrender, when we lay our brokennes before him, that God mysteriously works in our lives and changes our hearts."

We learned about the three types of hunger and how to recognize each one:
1. Head Hunger: is associated with a compulsion to eat or indulge in a certain food that looks appealing when your body isn't hungry; desire eating.
2. Heart Hunger: is a compulsion to mismanage our feelings and emotional moods with food.
3. Stomach Hunger: is usually recognized by a growling sensation (aka real hunger) or a slight burning sensation in your stomach; stop eating when you feel satisfied.

I loved this chapter... well, I love all of them. This book/study is so timely for me and the girls have expressed the same feeling. It is truly wonderful to be free, and that is what the Heal Journey is all about.

The Goodie Bags this week included 1 item: seeds! Each girl received a bag of seeds to plant a variety of flowers. I am excited to see their gardens grow and flourish just as they are being transformed from glory to glory into God's perfect image. Read the verses attached to their seeds here (Isaiah 5:1-5, Isaiah 17:10-11, Jeremiah 17:5-10, Psalm 1:1-3, Psalm 107:35-37 & 1 Corinthians 6:3).

I have to confess though, that in knowledge I understand and am determined (based on the facts) to not regress and relapse but my thoughts, such as skipping a meal here and there, are what entangle me.  But praise be to God who always provides a word of encouragement and a way of escape. Continue to pray for the girls and myself. Thank You for joining me on this HEAL Journey. Without even knowing it, you keep me accountable.
God Bless YOU.


Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. John 8:36


Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14

HEAL Journey- lesson one

Time sure flies. Yesterday I met with the Youth Discipleship for our HEAL Journey study. We finished Lesson One: You Are Wonderfully Made. Personally, the study was challenging, convicting and liberating. Here is a glimpse:

“Being wonderfully made means that you have a Maker- a Maker who made you and made you beautifully; a Maker who loves you and knows you, has amazing doe you, and longs to reveal to you your value and worth as His daughter.”
“We are God’s little miracles… his children… wholly and dearly loved.”

“As daughters of God we are made to live in the light, but too often we opt for the darkness either because it’s familiar and safe or because we’re ashamed of our secrets. When it comes to interactions with food, many of us are experts at hiding things. But the reality is, while we might be able to hide our secrets from the people in our lives, we can’t hide from God.”

Last quote… “We live in a world that threatens our relationship with God. We are surrounded by counterfeits that claim to be the answer to what our hearts are seeking. But He is the only One who can truly satisfy our hungry hearts.”

Good stuff, huh?!

Going back to the group, we had an awesome time. We were extremely blessed with an incredibly delicious breakfast provided by one of the Moms. Our guest speaker was none other than my best friend Andrea aka Nana (you can read our story here). She shared her “wonderfully made” story with the girls and encouraged them with two great verses: Ephesians 2:10* and 2 Corinthians 12:9*. I asked each guest speaker to prepare an activity and Nana taught the girls how to prepare their own homemade facial/body scrubs. The girls enjoyed that so much. We then dived into our group study. I am in awe of God’s goodness and faithfulness towards us as I read Psalm 139*. Each girl shared what being wonderfully made means to them. It was a time of both boldness and healing as we each shared our weaknesses. It was also a time of refreshing as God’s precious Spirit filled us afresh and anew with the promises found in His word.

Goodie Bags!
Gift giving is definitely my love language, so naturally I prepared them another goodie bag. This bag included two items:

1. Play-Doh: to paint the picture that God holds us in His hands, molding us to be all that He created us to be.

2. Gel Eye Mask: (double meaning for this one) A. Incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit is produced resting and waiting on the Lord. B. These eye masks can be used either hot to help relax or cold to help refresh but left to be used lukewarm would do absolutely nothing, therefore the application is to be either hot or cold but not lukewarm.

Keep praying for these wonderfully made youth girls as they embark on lesson two of their HEAL Journey. Have a beautiful week. Enjoy your life, the abundant life found in Jesus Christ.

* Click here for Ephesians 2:10, 2 Corinthians 12:9 & Psalm 139

HEAL Journey - New Beginning

Hi Everyone.
This morning was the first HEAL Journey meeting with six girls from Uth Nation. We opened up with Psalm 139 and discussed what this Psalm spoke to us. I shared with them my testimony over bagels and tea. It was a very sweet time. I prepared goodie bags for each girl. Each bag contained: Book- for their Heal Journey, Candle- because we are the aroma of Christ and the light of the world, Lip Gloss- we reflect God's beauty, Loli Pop- to keep us sweet for and like Jesus, Greeting Cards- to give the gift of kind words and encouragement like we recieve from God.

Each girl has an accountability partner for the next two weeks. Also, each one has a secret prayer warrior (basically, a mystery woman at church is praying for them and will be sending them a card each week). Likewise, the girls will be praying for their prayer warriors and sending them a card with me, the messenger. They will meet eachother at the end of our study.

Keep this discipleship group in prayer. We will meet every other Saturday. I'll keep you posted each time we meet.

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You. ~Psalm 139:17-18