Intro to Beauty

Hi Friends. My fast is over but I plan on continuing this blog. There is something that has been weighing heavy on my heart, something that has been a theme among recent conversations with friends, & something that the world has ruined...
beauty.

I want to talk about beauty. And I plan on talking about it over the course of a few days & blogs.

"The king is enthralled by your beauty; Honor him, for He is your Lord." -Psalms45:11

Intro to Beauty
So lets start at the beginning...God created the universe. The UNIVERSE, kids, that's all inclusive! EVERYTHING. He created the earth, the sky, the land, animals and [wo]MAN. So, if He created man then it is GOD who gave us a brain. It is God who designed this brain.. and the way it can THINK. And it is GOD who not only gave us thoughts but also INTELLIGENCE. [this could go on for hours] My point is God created us & everything about the way we function is HIS design. This means God created the idea of language, which means he created words AND [this is important] there meanings.
This brings us to our word, BEAUTY [byoo-tee]

According to dictionary.com, beauty is defined as:
"the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest)."

According to marriam-webster, beauty is defined as:
"the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit."

Now, according to the world [aka miss universe] beauty looks like the woman at the top of this blog......
Miss Mexico.
Well, I don't know about you all but I look NOTHING like her or any of those women in the Miss Universe pageant.
Does this mean I'm not as beautiful as them?
And by who's definition makes Miss Mexico the most beautiful?
Did she "exalt your mind or spirit" or give your mind "deep satisfaction"?
No, not really is my answer.
Now don't get me wrong, I most certainly think she is beautiful ...BUT by who's definition should be judge true beauty?
dictionary.com?
marriam-websters?
societies?
your boyfriends?
victoriassecret?

OR
What about the CREATOR of beauty?
I feel like he would know better than any what true beauty looks like.

I want you to ponder.
And I plan on diving into God's Word tonight & tomorrow to see if I can better understand how GOD defines beauty.

Beauty Part II will be posted tomorrow..

So goodnight for now all my BEAUTIFUL Brothers & Sisters in Christ!

Love ya'll
-B

Mindless

So guess who mindlessly turned on the TV this morning while eating her breakfast.. oh that'd be me! It took me 20 minutes, TWENTY, before I realized what I was doing! How sad. This slip up made me realize how much of our daily routines are mindless and when we are mindless, we are def not spending that time with God. I realize I need to change my routine in order to truly spend more time with God. Instead of TV with breakfast, it should be Bible with breakfast.

Well, I'm still going to finish through this day with no TV or facebook, despite my slip up.
Hope everyone has an awesome day!

love ya'll
-B

Crazy Love

8:38 PM
So I used some of my free time to read more of Crazy Love [great book you should read if you haven't!] today. I want to share an excerpt with you that JUMPED out at me;
"The Rooted. The average Christian in the United States spends ten minutes per day with God; meanwhile, the average American spends over FOUR hours a day watching television. Perhaps TV is not your thing-maybe you don't even own one. But how about your time and your resources? How much of your money is spent on yourself, and how much is directed toward God's kingdom? How much of your time is dedicated to pursuing your life and your goals, and how much is focused on God's work and purposes? God doesn't want religious duty. He doesn't want a distracted, half-hearted 'Fine, I'll read a chapter...now are You happy?' attitude. God wants His Word to be a delight to us, so much so that we meditate on it day and night. In Psalm 1, He promises that those who do so are 'like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers' (v.3). People who are obsessed with God have an intimate relationship with Him. They are nourished by God's Word throughout the day because they know that forty minutes on Sunday is not enough to sustain them for a whole week, especially when they will encounter so many distractions and alternative messages."
Okay, so I read this a few minutes AFTER I wrote my last post. Basically, this passage put into Words what I was trying to convey in my last post. [Thank you God] It also brings me back to the whole point of this fast, to spend more time with God. Like the passage said, God doesn't want "religious duty" he wants you to seek Him with joy. He wants obedience out of love.
I'll be the first to admit that I don't always read my Bible out of love but instead out of duty AND sometimes my prayers are half-hearted & are said just because its that time to pray before sleep. This is not how God wants it to be, He wants us to be so in love with Him that we are STARVING for Him always, in every aspect of our lives, all the time.
So, if you are that person who spends 4 hours in front of the TV or endless hours on facebook etc consider how much better that time could be spent with God, your Father. I feel like there are so many times when we get caught up in our daily "to do" lists that we feel like we don't have time for God. God doesn't want to be on the "to do" list! We shouldn't be scheduling God around our busy lives but instead, scheduling our lives around God!
So even if fasting isn't for you, I hope that the next time you find yourself camped out in front of the TV or stalking your crushes pictures on facebook, you can remember this and maybe spend that time with your Father :)

So quick update on my personal fast!
I realized that no food means tired & slow brain, so I'm cutting my food fast down to 24 hours since I have to open at work tomorrow. [A slow brained waitress, makes for horrible service, which means bad tips] BUT I am sticking to my fast of TV & facebook.
I hope this doesn't disappoint anyone! I feel like eating will still allow me to spend time with God, since I won't have a TV on, so I'm totally comfortable with my decision :)

In other news, I'm hoping to be baptized soon! [again]

Alright kids, 21 hours in & I'm going to go study the Word some more.
Love ya'll
-B

You Can Take the World, Just Give Me You

"you can take the world, just give me you...the world is not enough for me"
[Take the World, Tim Hughes]
What a simple song, with such a powerful message. Although food, tv, & facebook are not my whole world they do make up a big part. So as I enter hour 13 of my 48 hour fast I am praying that God will take these things & just give me HIM.
It's funny, if I start to crave one thing my mind tells me to distract myself with one of the others.. FOR EXAMPLE, my stomach is growling so my mind tells me that I should just get on facebook or watch a movie to distract myself. That is the exact reason that I am fasting from all 3 things at once. I don't want to just distract myself with other things of the earth because then I would be missing the point. I don't fast to practice will power or discipline, I fast to have more time to spend with my Father. I fast to take my focus off the things of the earth & to give my full attention to God.
So here I am with some free time, normally I would be eating lunch & watching tv, but now I have free time to spend with God & with His Word. I don't have any plans for another 3 or 4 hours & its almost weird for me to think I'm going to spend this with God. I know that sounds bad, but its almost like I've gotten into this habit of scheduling God in at certain times of my day/week/month/year.
I spend time with God in prayer right before bed, I spend time worshiping & learning about Him at church on Sunday mornings & Wednesday evenings, I spend a little time in His Word [almost] every night before bed, & then the occasional conversation I have with Him throughout my day.
The thing is, God is ALWAYS there & He is ALWAYS wanting to spend time with us. It's not like a telephone conversation where our "amen" is the phone hanging up...God is still there, He never hangs up.
I think it is so crucial for us to recognize this in our daily lives with Him. He is not a genie who magically appears at your side when you rub the lamp, HE IS ALWAYS WITH YOU.
That's a pretty awesome concept in and of itself, God, the creator of the UNIVERSE, is always with you, wanting to spend time with you, wanting to teach you & love on you.
What an amazing gift, He is literally by our side, holding our hand through life. Every day, every up & every down.
Wow.
God is already opening my heart up so much & it's time for me to go feed my soul and spend some quality time with my Father.
I will post again tonight!

Love ya'll.
-B

A Content Heart is NOT a Starving Heart

I've hit a wall with my relationship with God. Actually, more like I've crashed into a wall. Truth is this last month God has really done some awesome things in my life; brought me some amazing new friends, helped me realize some powerful truths, & most importantly, brought me closer to Him. And I was on a spiritual "high" until this past week & then came the wall..
I crashed into it & with every day pieces of this wall continued to fall down on me.
So here I am, desperate for God.
My heart is starving for Him & I realize [now as I'm typing] that this wall is here for a purpose. God wants us to forever starve for Him & if we get to content in our lives & our relationships with Him, that starvation turns into more of a light grumble..
So after I cried for a bit & played spider solitare while listening to Starfield on repeat, I decided to listen to one of my favorite pastors, Todd Phillips.
He is a pastor at a church in the DC area & is really awesome & teaching God's Word.
Here is a link if your interested in checking out some of his sermons:
http://www.frontlinedc.com/pages/page.asp?page_id=122451&id1=412&id1t=c&id2=3753&id2t=i
ANYWHO, I ended up listening to his sermon about fasting and was very intrigued by it. As a Christian, I feel like fasting is something we don't talk about very often despite how often it appears in the Bible. As I listened, I immediately recognized that this is something I want to include in my journey with God. As you may or may not know, fasting isn't necessarily about not eating [as I had always thought]. We fast from things in our lives that tend to take up our time & focus in order to use that time to spend with God [whether it be reading & studying His Word or talking & praying to Him].
So midway through his sermon I started to think about the things in my life that I tend to spend time & energy that could be better spent with God and I came up with 3 things; Food, TV, & Facebook [sad, but true]. Once I decided on these 3 things, I decided I wanted to start with a 2 day fast. 1 day didn't seem sufficient but 3 days seemed impossible [at least to start].
Which then brought me to this blog...I truly want these 2 days to be spent with God & I want to allow Him to use me & mold me in that time. So I wanted to write this blog. I don't know that I'm writing it for other people as much as I'm writing it for me BUT I don't think it hurts to share my experience.
So starting at 12AM [52mins] my 2 day fast from Food, TV, & Facebook will begin.
And at 12AM[now51mins] my 2 day REVIVAL with God begins.

I truly pray that God will use these 2 days & give me that starving heart I once had.

Love You Guys.
-B