Single and Ready to Mingle?

By Brittany Wallace

I was asked twice today “Britt, do you have a boyfriend?” to which I replied, “No, I’m single.” And then the usual follow up question comes: “So do you want to date or….?” 

What kind of question is that? I’m 27, with a stable career, finishing my education, no kids and an obsolete sex life. Of course I want to date, but not for the reasons that society thinks I should.  I want to date for marriage. I want to pursue a relationship with someone for the purpose of building something that is bigger and greater than the two of us. I want to change the world with someone who has even bigger dreams and goals than I do. Sounds great right? Here’s the kicker: the next time that I have sex will be on my wedding night and I will not compromise. That’s it. Done deal. No questions. Although I’ve been severely tempted and have struggled with complete purity, I have been celibate (sex free) for three years. This is the TOTAL opposite of the way I used to live.  I lived the young, wild and free life for years and after a while I realized that it wasn’t getting me anywhere except hungover on my friends’ couch, scrolling through embarrassing Facebook and Instagram photos/ text messages on my phone then marking those nights as “memories”.  I knew that I needed something more. 

So now that my dating life has done a 180, I’m able to see the plus side of celibacy until marriage. I can avoid the guys who are only out to get one thing from me, and easily weed out those who have such a lack of self-control that they think that it’s normal to be led on a leash by their sexual desires into relationships and one night stands. 

Do I get lonely? Of course I do. This is all coming from a girl who was a serial dater that didn’t like to be single EVER (*In my mind, because of patterns that I watched growing up, me + boyfriend = successful, me – boyfriend = failure). But I’m not sitting around waiting and hoping for a man to come into my life either. I’m focused on serving the Lord, going to school and maintaining relationships with my friends and family. So for now, its literal “Netflix and chill” in my apartment when I feel like binge watching a series, or having my girls over for a movie night.  

Please be clear, this post isn’t me saying “I’m single, happy about it and I don’t need a man!” But rather, a testament to how I’m feeling about being single in this phase of my life. My outlook could very well change with each passing birthday, and the constant reminders from Facebook friends that I am nearing 30 with no husband and no kids. But today, right now, I’m okay with where I am. I do believe that God has someone for me, and I trust that His plans for my life are good and perfectly designed by Him- and if that plan means that I don’t get married for another 10 years or so, I’ll have to learn to adjust and continue to trust in His plan for me.

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Love & Beauty

“Beauty has gone beyond the lip gloss and blush, the golden locks and cute outfits.”

By Sonia Rodriguez

As I walk along this journey of faith and beauty, I have begun to see beauty from a heavenly perspective. Beauty has gone beyond the lip gloss and blush, the golden locks and cute outfits. God began to show me beauty through His eyes. He began to give me a heavenly perspective. He unraveled the cloth from my eyes like a mummy being undone. I began to see beauty differently after each passing layer. I saw fields of flowers, wild horses, rivers of waters rushing down a mountainside, and moons and stars…It was marvelous! This beauty that God was revealing to me went layers deep and I was in awe of His creation. The unraveling was exciting as I saw beautiful images flash past me, what a rush!

We came to sudden stop and it was silent. I saw dirty, whimpering children. I said, “Father, this isn’t beauty at all. Why did we stop here?” I watched as a glorious warm light appeared and a young lady embraced the children and gave them water to drink. She brought the children in close and her gentle words pierced by heart violently, “I love you.” I knew at that moment, my wonderful Father was showing me that everything he created is beautiful, but the purest form of beauty is Love. The Bible says that God is Love (1 John 4:8); therefore, through our loving acts towards others, we are revealing God to the world.

“Love will look different for everyone.”

Beauty is the very act of loving others from an overflow of God’s love within you. As you accept who you are in Christ and accept His love for you, then you can love the way God has called you to love. Love will look different for everyone; God is calling you to love those He has put on your path.

We best represent the beauty of God through our faithful and loving acts. Take a moment right now to ask God to show you beauty from His eyes.

Pray: Heavenly Father, reveal to me beauty through your eyes. Remove anything in my life that is keeping me from fully receiving your love. I choose to receive every ounce of your love, so that my works may be a demonstration of your love to others. Allow me to do things from a place of love and not for love. I choose to receive your love fully so that I can do all things as an overflow of your love for me.

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Finding Meaning In Missionary Work

By Brittany Wallace

“Once I got settled in and asked God to allow me to experience Him in a way that I never have, every question floated away.”

The abundance of love, joy and laughter on the rancho is infectiousTraveling has always been a desire of mine, but I never gave missionary work much thought. Since the beginning of this year though, that desire began to beat louder and louder within my heart and this past week, I was able to visit an orphanage in Mexico called Rancho De Sus Niños.  While I was there, I served with seven others from my church and 250 others from all over the world that had all come to experience God and take care of His children.  When we arrived, I didn’t know what to expect and several questions swirled around in my head. Would I be homesick? Would I get sick? Would I enjoy it? Would I hate it? But once I got settled in, and asked God to allow me to experience Him in a way that I never have, every question floated away.  I was able to clearly see the heart of the people who run the orphanage, and the hand of God in every activity that was offered.  

Although we were only at RDSN for four short days, I recognize that I am forever changed.  My team was given the opportunity to conquer fears, to come together as a team through physical labor, to spend time with the beautiful children at the orphanage, and to pray for perfect strangers. This trip showed me how fortunate we are in the states for having access to simplicities that would be considered luxuries in Mexico. Carpeted rooms, air conditioning, roofs, insulated homes, and drinkable tap water are expensive and unnecessary elements for the people of Tecate, Mexico.  Many of us here in the U.S. cannot even imagine living in a home without any of these “basic amenities”, yet there are thousands of people who do so every day.

“The abundance of love, joy and laughter on the rancho is infectious.”

RDSN teaches their students about the love of the Lord, and engrains in them the truth that they can do anything though the power of Jesus Christ. These kids grow up knowing without any doubt that they are loved and cared for by God despite the fact that many of them were taken away from their biological families at very young ages.  The abundance of love, joy and laughter on the rancho is infectious and I left feeling like a piece of me will always be there.

If you have an opportunity to serve in missionary work, I would urge you to ask God if it’s His will for you to do so. If He says yes, jump at the chance to do it! Giving to others and taking care of God’s children gives you a chance to be an extension of Him – it allows you to do exactly what Jesus told His disciples to do in Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations”. In serving others in another country (or even right in your own community), you make yourself available to God so that He can stretch you and allow you to grow in ways you never thought possible. By saying “yes” to Him in any capacity, you say “yes” to the adventure of your lifetime, the abundant life that He’s always wanted to give to His sons and daughters.

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Taking a Stand for Beauty

By Sonia Rodriguez

“Beauty flows from a heart set apart unto God. He takes a heart of stone and gives us a thriving heart of flesh.”

— Ezekiel 36:26

I choose to no longer be a passive bystander watching girls get caught up with the idea that beauty is based on the color of their skin, the size, shape, the style of clothes they wear, the size of their boobs, and the list goes on and on and on. I choose to take a stand and take beauty back. I choose to be a voice for all girls… I will stand with you and for you… will you stand with me? Let us walk this journey of beauty together. Let’s stand together and reveal to the world Beauty as God intended. Let’s pave the way for young ladies all over the world. Ladies, it’s time to embrace the YOU that God created…embrace the shade of your skin, every freckle, every wrinkle, every birthmark because God loves and adores what he created… He chose the color of your skin, He positioned every freckle by hand, every wrinkle was designed for you, and that birthmark is exactly where God intended it to be. This radical redefinition of beauty starts with you and me taking a stand. Are you ready for the secret to taking your beauty back? Are you ready to discover how you can be simply radiant? He gives us a tender heart that radiates the beauty of God through the twinkling of an eye, the brightness of a smile, the touch of a hand. Ladies, that’s where real beauty begins.

Join us at Simply Radiant on this journey of discovering and redefining every aspect of love and beauty. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it’s a journey worth taking. Once you embark on this journey your world will never be the same again!

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Free To Fail (That’s Not your Name)

By Angel Cantrell

"How many people know?  Did anybody see?  My God!  I screwed up again?!" 

Have you ever felt this way?  I have.  I have become acutely aware of my failings – and yikes! There’s a lot.  I honestly have assessed myself and can see how my behavior has and does hurt others.  And yet, I have become more and more free to fail in Christ.  In Christ, I can look at my ungodly behaviors (from snapping at people to lustful thoughts) and not fear condemnation from Jesus.  I can now address my behaviors and thoughts, one by one.  Repent, apologize, and retool in Christ to learn from my sins and mistakes so as not to repeat them.  And if I do repeat them, I continue to reach out to God and others for help.  I don’t and won’t stop my pursuit of holiness and health.

I understand that failing at ‘whatever’, doesn’t mean I’M the failure; because greater is the One living inside of me than He who is in the world.

So, regardless of the laundry list of refinements and corrections that any of us need to make, as  daughters of the King, we are still His beautiful, deeply loved princesses. We are free to fail—forward.

“And in it all… know that you are free to fail.”

So if you have blown it and said something, did something to someone or yourself that is not of God – face it / own it.  Don’t over spiritualize it.  You can face yourself when you believe the Lover of your soul will never let you go and look at you with disappointment.  There is NOTHING you can do that would cause Him to leave you or stop adoring you.  You are free to ask for help. If you repeatedly struggle in any area of your life…get Christian counseling if needed.  Apologize to anyone you have hurt, even if you feel it shouldn’t have hurt them.  If someone says ‘that hurt’, don’t be afraid to own it and sincerely apologize. It is never our intent as Christian ladies to hurt anyone (even on accident).  No excuses.  With a broken and contrite heart… repent.  

And in it all… know that you are free to fail.

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Already Victorious – and I Still Struggle

By Jada Cantrell

“Three years ago, I began seeing a Christian counselor and I began the very slow and very tedious journey towards healing. ”

My name is Jada Cantrell and I’m the Department Editor of Health, which includes nutrition in the Simply Snacking portion of the magazine and fitness in the Simply Fit portion. But I can tell you, in all honesty, it’s one of the hardest things for me to do. I write about 20 pages of my random thoughts a week and I love to talk about life, about my struggles, about the news, about anything and sometimes too much. But the one thing I very rarely ever talk or write about is food and exercise although it’s on my mind every second of every single day. Both of these are things that I’ve obsessed with for six hard years and body image is something I’ve thought non-stop about for eleven years. My obsession has been so unhealthy that it made me sick physically and mentally.  And during these years, I’ve tried to keep it a secret as much as I could. However, some things became so public, it was humiliating. And others were so private, it felt like a torture that I had to endure alone. Three years ago, I began seeing a Christian counselor and I began the very slow and very tedious journey towards healing. Just recently, after multiple challenging incidents on my journey, I was advised to regularly see a doctor, a nutritionist and a psychiatrist. And today, I still struggle so much with my thoughts on body image, food and exercise.

But as I write my articles, I want to make it very clear - writing about food and exercise is not entirely a part of my struggle. It’s a different part of me that’s extremely passionate about the beauty of the human body and about true health regarding the body, mind and spirit. And these passions and joys are separate from some of the lies I believe about beauty. I’m sure this sounds very confusing and it’s a contradiction I don’t fully understand yet. I want to make it known that when I walk away from my laptop after writing a segment on nutrition or after writing an article about exercise and fitness, the battle in my mind is constant as I try to stop my thoughts and obsession. For those that are like me, that have struggled with eating healthy or not eating at all in order to achieve a standard set by society or by anyone around you - and for those that exercise purely to change the shape of your body, I would advise you to resist the temptation to indulge in my articles and to flip past my Simply Snacking and Simply Fit portion. For these people, it only worsens your struggles and temptations. I struggle in the same way. My health related articles about food and exercise are purely for those that are pushing towards health and health alone, which in itself can be a very difficult struggle. My articles are for those who desire a healthy lifestyle - body, mind and spirit, devoting the temple of their bodies to God and God alone - to be the best they can be. This includes hygiene and health - to simply take care of the gift of a beautiful body we were given.

“I struggle in the same way.”

My Department, Health, is only focusing on food and exercise. But I can assure you, health is not just that. Health pertains to body, mind and spirit; health is every article in this entire magazine and more. I have not yet figured out this health thing and I struggle every single day with the temptation of hating my body, not being comfortable in my skin, not feeling acceptable purely because of how I look. I struggle with an eating disorder and over exercising. And I struggle with social anxiety because of that.  Every day is a fight for me. But I’m on a journey towards recovery; I’m on a journey towards true health and true beauty. I’m on a journey with everyone that may be like me. And although it may not seem like it yet, we are already victorious in Christ Jesus.

What Treasure Waits Within Your Scars…

By Angel Cantrell

What does this mean?  It comes from a song called Touch the Sky by Hillsong and I love it!  But this particular line in the song touches me deeply.  Treasure and scars don’t seem to go together.

In this case, the scars being referred to are the ones Jesus received from being nailed to a cross.  And it was through these scars that I found my life – salvation; the ultimate treasure.  But what about my scars, your scars.  Is there treasure in them too?  Most of us find scars quite ugly and embarrassing and we usually try to hide them.  But a scar indicates that a wound has been healed.  As we live this life, it is only a matter of time before we encounter deep heart wounds. And a healed heart wound – scar – is our testimony to the healing.  This healing can only happen through Jesus.

Every scar I have is evidence of a fight or struggle that Jesus won for me.  He is stronger than the people or things that ever tried to hurt me.  My scars are my testimonies of the evidence that God’s hand was on me – touching and healing me.

My scars have treasure in them for others too; for those who need to know that they too can heal from wounds.  And Jesus is the healer.  Therefore, I will no longer hide my scars.   I will gladly share my healed wounds to whomever is willing to listen.  “I was blind and now I see” and have to tell what my God has done for me.

Ladies don’t be ashamed of your scars.  If God has healed you from anything…tell it!  Don’t hide it.  Someone else needs to know what treasure waits within your scars.  

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Speak Up!

By Brittany Wallace

I’d like to think that I’ve always been an outgoing girl; I make friends pretty easily and I don’t mind sharing my opinions on conversation topics. But when my relationship with Christ first began to grow, I noticed that it was easier for me to talk about pop culture or celebrity gossip than it was for me to share my faith with others. Whenever the “what religion are you?” question came around, my heart would start beating and my palms would start sweating because I wasn’t sure if it was okay to say that I was a Christian. I would usually wait until someone else spoke up and said they were a Christian before I would agree and say that I was too. Why did I need someone else to say it first? Why couldn’t I just be bold and say that I loved Jesus? The truth is that I didn’t want to say anything that would hurt someone else’s feelings, or worse (at least in my mind at the time) be deserted by my friends because I talked about Jesus.

“So I did what I always did—I talked to God about it.”

Those questions kept going back and forth in my mind and I started to feel pretty convicted about them. So I did what I always did- I talked to God about it. I told Him how sorry I was for avoiding the topic of faith in conversation with others for fear of offending them, and I asked Him to give me boldness to speak up.

Eventually, I learned that because I am in Christ and He is a part of me, my conversation will naturally gravitate to Him. It just happens. It’s the same way with a best friend or a boyfriend; when you spend a lot of time with someone, their name or something about them will come up in conversation at some point. But it’s so much more than that. So many people in this world haven’t had the opportunity to get to know Jesus, and we as Christians in America have the privilege and the mission to tell everyone about Him. Romans 1:16 says “For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ.  It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes-"(NLT). There are probably people at your school or at your job who have never gone to church, or grew up without going to VBS or having youth group. God placed you where you are not so that you can quietly mind your business, but so that you can share the Good News of Christ with them and show them what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

“For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes.”

— Romans 1:16

My challenge to you: Speak up! Say something. Take a stand for Christ and be unashamed.

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BE YOUR OWN KIND OF BEAUTIFUL

By Rubi Z

Am I the only one who has gone through so many identity crisis’?  Am I the only woman here who in the corner of her eye glances at those magazines on the racks at the store thinking… “wow look at her body?!  That is so not fair!”  I am a photographer and I surely know how much work goes into making someone magazine front ready, but it doesn’t dawn on me at the moment.  At the moment of sight there is a lot of comparison going on…a lot!  

“Just a song to think about that conveys this message - know that this is how God sees you and the way you should feel about yourself… “Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars. ”

As ladies, we sometimes struggle to see the real beauty within ourselves.  We begin to very mildly form and shape ourselves into what television and magazines say is beautiful.  It is not even the magazine that is wrong…it is our perspective that is wrong.  There is something inside of us that is not satisfied with who we are.  

Can you look at a beautiful person and applaud their beauty?  Can you look at a successful person and applaud their success?  Why or why not?  Is there something within you that feels a need to impress or change to adapt to what the world around you says is “beautiful?”  Do you often look at yourself and think, “I am not pretty enough, I don’t have the right nose or the right skin or the right body?”  Do you often think that you aren’t Spiritual enough, sporty enough, brave enough, bold enough?  Do you look at media such as Facebook and Instagram and leave feeling less than?  

If you can relate to any of these thoughts or answered yes to any of them you have to dig a little deeper…why do you feel this way?

I urge you my sisters to awaken to the fact that God made you JUST THE WAY YOU ARE.  No matter who thinks it or not…YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL.  You are fearfully and wonderfully made!  Meaning God took time making you PERFECT!  Embrace yourself because you don’t need to wait for the approval of others. You have something very unique to offer the world around you.  There is no one created like you!  So ladies…. BE YOUR OWN KIND OF BEAUTIFUL!  

CHALLENGE: Do not compare yourself to another person in ANY WAY for ONE WEEK!  Don’t you dare wish you had another body, different hair, and different eyes!  Don’t you dare wish you had their life, their career, their family lifestyle etc etc!

And on a side note… Later I might share on the way I feel about the good ol’ “selfies!”… Don’t get me wrong… I take them all the time (lol) but I think there is something to dig into with this topic! Stay tuned. Xoxoxo. ~Rubi Z

Psalms 139:13-14

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