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Good golly I have been wanting to write this all out for a long time. I’ve wanted to vent out every last thought in my head and even scream a little bit. But my desire was to complain and have others be angry alongside me, and that is so wrong of me.

So here I am. Humbled and in need of a reminder, a reminder that I’d like to share with you. Let’s chat…

A quick rundown on life right now, it’s a good 4/10. Which sounds bad, but it’s better than it was, slowly but surely.

It all started in early December, I started having some health issues, health issues that have caused me to change my entire diet, be careful about what and when I eat, and have cut cheese fries out of my weekly dining plan (big sad move right here). This was in the midst of finals, which went better than I suspected. Then I went home for break and I was in much need of rest. No, not sleep, but rest…soul deep rest.

That need for rest changed quickly when I encountered some unexpected tide changes and felt like life was swallowing me whole. I spent a lot of time in bed, a lot of time avoiding allergies, a lot of time figuring out what exactly I could eat, and too much time asleep and hiding away in my room.

For about 3 weeks I was in a deep pit. The only words I can think of to describe those weeks are confusion, loneliness, and sadness. Then I came back to school. It was okay, my classes are stressful and difficult, but that’s life.

Then, I was so blessed to receive an internship that the Lord had so evidently ordained. (Yo De’maria, God is cool, thanks for letting him use you to introduce an epic opportunity! Love u brother!!!!!!!)

I was convinced I was on the other side of the valley and now approaching the highlands.

Then I was driving back to school from a friend’s house when I encountered some car damage. No need to fret the details, but let’s just say that it has almost been a week and the sound of things being dropped or of a kick drum still send chills down my back.

I’ve called my mom every day, no matter what it was that was messing with my head and my heart, she’s talked me off the ledge and covered me in prayer. My dad checks in every day to make sure I’m all good. I am very grateful.

But something that I’ve had to come to terms with is that no matter how many people I surround myself with, or how much time I spend in bed listening to sad songs, my soul wasn’t going to find peace apart from the Father.

It may seem weird to you, but in the midst of all of this, one of the hardest things to do has been to pick up my bible, get out my favorite pen, and ask the Lord to surround me and teach me.

But Carrie, don’t you love God and trust Him??

Yes, but when in the pits of anxiety, loneliness, and possibly a ‘lil bit of depression, it can be really hard to trust the One who is in control.

That may seem like a conflicting sentence but bear with me…

Shamefully, I didn’t truly get back into the word until I attended Passion Conference 2020.

When I finally realized that I was incapable of healing myself, I turned to scripture to remind myself of God’s faithfulness.

I turned to Exodus 14, the deliverance of the Israelites. But woah, woah, woah, did the Lord reveal something to me.

The first verses of Exodus 14 consist of the Lord telling Moses to tell the Israelites to turn around, and to go back towards the Red Sea.

Scripture reads, “Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you must camp in front of Baal-zephon, facing it by the sea.”

If I was Moses, at this point I would’ve stopped the Lord and said, “Hey now, that’s a super dumb idea, that’s going back towards where we’re trying to run from.”

But instead, Moses kept listening. The Lord said, “Pharaoh will say of the Israelites: They are wandering around the land in confusion; the wilderness has boxed them in. I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them. Then I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh.” So the Israelites did this.

[Italics mine]

So wait a minute, you’re telling me that God commanded that the Israelites go back, and camp by the Red Sea, while the Egyptians pursue them on all sides? How is this going to go well? How are they going to escape? Why would God put them in the path of death when He just rescued them?

Let me tell ya what Jesus taught me.

When the Israelites obeyed the Lord and literally put themselves between a rock and a hard place (or a sea and an army), the Egyptians thought they were stupid and figured the Israelites would either drown or die trying to fight. When actually, there was a third option.

To trust in the Almighty God who had already delivered them once, and have faith that He will do it again.

But the Israelites didn’t fully follow through with that third option, instead, they began to doubt and tell Moses that he never should have made Pharaoh release them.

But then The Lord spoke, He instructed Moses to lift his staff and then put it into the water, and then the sea split.

The waves didn’t just get smaller.

The waters didn’t just become shallow.

No. The entire sea. Split. In. Two.

Two walls of water, with dry land in between them, open and waiting for the Israelites to pass through.

So let me break this down for you.

1. No, I do not believe that this recollection of this story is directly related to my current situation and can be directly applied. I am not going to gather my problems into one place, shove a stick in the middle of them, and then expect them to split up and claim the victory.
2. I believe this story reminds us of the faithfulness and steadfastness of God.

I am so between a rock and a hard place right now. Sometimes it truly feels like the enemy is coming at me on 3 sides and on the 4th is a giant body of water, that if I try to cross, it will drown me in an instant.

In reality, I am exactly where I need to be for the Lord to deliver me and receive all of the glory.

I am not able to win the victory for myself.

I am incapable of defeating my giants on my own.

I am 100% lacking the ability to split the sea, and reveal a path of deliverance.

and the same goes for you too.

No amount of deflection, lack of acknowledgement of the situation, and walls can save you.

But guess who already has the victory in His hands, and deserves all the glory for the victories to come?

You guessed it, The Lord God Almighty.

So, yeah, life could be better, and I’m sure yours could be too.

But will you choose to focus on the surroundings, or turn your eyes upward?

Will you choose to be desperate and hopeless, or to have faith that the One who is higher than you has it all under control?

Will you fight your own battles and lose, or rely on the One who has already won?

I don’t know about you, but there is way too much evidence of God’s power, strength, ability, and faithfulness for me to, even for a second, doubt Him.

Turn your eyes up my friends, take them off of the battle at hand, and focus on the One who holds it all in His hands.

Your deliverance is coming, but not for you, for the glory of God.

So that all the world will know, that HE is YAHWEH.

 

 

I have one day until fall break, and I could not be more thrilled for some time-off.

You see, Sophomore year has been a whirlwind of a journey…and I am only one-fourth of the way through.

If I am honest with you dear friend, I have been keeping my distance from this blog and sharing with you because I am not one to show my weaknesses proudly. I don’t like to broadcast the fact that I am in the midst of a struggle. But here I am, in the midst of struggle, choosing to share with you, because you just might be there too. So here we go…

The holiday season is approaching, and I am learning how to enter this season with only three grandparents.

I am becoming an adult, I have to solve my own problems and prepare myself for a future career path that is full of uncertainty.

I am lonely.

I am surrounded by engagement rings and bridal veils.

The only one who holds my heart right now is Jesus.

I am anxious and stressed.

I struggle with getting out of bed.

I am broken, hurt, and untrusting.

I am comparing myself constantly to people I don’t even know.

I am as put together as the unfolded pile of laundry on my floor.

Everything and everyone around me seems so organized and on top of things. It constantly seems like everything around me is so neatly folded and in its correct place, but me.

I am in a season of seeming so out of place, unraveling, and low on fuel.

I have a desire to go above-and-beyond expectations and to conquer the world, but some mornings it is a little too hard to get out of bed in order to do so.

I spend a lot of time in my dorm room on this very computer doing homework.

I have experienced many things, many emotions, many tears, and many joys. I was talking to my mom on the phone yesterday, around 2:04pm, and she allowed me to complain. She sat in the frustration and sadness alongside me, and she also rejoiced in the good alongside me. But most importantly, she reminded me that it was not just me and her sitting in the midst of these things, but that the Father was right there with me. He is holding my hand through it all and leading me even when I feel blindfolded.

I called her again at around 11:41pm, and my attitude had completely changed. I was rejoicing in my season, I was grateful and proud of how the Potter is shaping me in this time.

So what do I do when the enemy is reminding me of everything I listed out earlier?

I rejoice, and I enter the Lord’s presence with thanksgiving.

Here’s the thing, I may be the unfolded pile of laundry. I may feel like I have been neglected and ignored. It may seem that everything and everyone else is being used over and over again, even though I am just as useful. But that does not determine my worth. In fact, the Lord is folding me, molding me, putting me into my correct placement in His own sovereign timing. Let’s turn to scripture for a reminder of this…

In 1 Samuel 1 we find the story of Hannah. Whatta woman.

Hannah was one of Elkanah’s two wives. Elkanah loved Hannah very much, but Hannah felt so ignored and forgotten by God because she had yet to have a son. Elkanah’s other wife, Peninnah, had many children and rubbed this in Hannah’s face.

While at the yearly sacrifice, Peninnah took this opportunity to remind Hannah that she was childless. In verse 10 we read Hannah’s prayer to the Lord.

“Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the LORD and wept with many tears. Making a vow, she pleaded, ‘LORD of Hosts, if You will take notice of Your servant’s affliction, remember and not forget me, and give Your servant a son, I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut.” 1 Samuel 1:10-11

Hannah cried out to the Lord, she prayed so deeply and so passionately that the Priest, Eli, thought she was drunk. In verse 16 Hannah says, “…I’ve been praying from the depth of my anguish and resentment.”

If I may be vulnerable for a moment, I have been resentful towards the Lord in this season. I have asked and asked for things that have not been granted even though they are not unbiblical. They are things that I desire so that I may glorify the Lord with them, so why, like Hannah, does it seem as if I have been forgotten?

Just four verses later, Hannah conceives a child. Now, that doesn’t mean that in the time it takes for one to read those four verses, Hannah conceived. But instead, we read in verse 20, “After some time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son.”

Hannah named this baby boy Samuel, which means requested from God, or heard by God.

Let’s add all of this up — This was not the first time Hannah had begged the Lord for a son. But, if the Lord had given Hannah a son when she asked for him, Samuel’s role in biblical history wouldn’t have been established. In fact, “…the timing of his birth was so imperative because Samuel was destined to play an integral role in the transition from the time of the judges to the eventual establishment of kingship for the Israelites.” (Lisa Turkeurst, Embraced, 175)

This is just another proof of the fact that God is sovereign and we are not.

But also, Hannah did not cling to her son with greed. When he was old enough, She took Samuel to the Lord’s presence and she left him there, just as she said she would.

Our girl Hannah had real faith. It was not based on her circumstances, but instead based on what she knew about her God.

So what do I know about my God in the midst of my season of struggle?

I know He is faithful, He is good, He is constant, He is safe, He is guiding me, He is sovereign, He is outside of time and space, He is untouchable by sin and darkness, He fights for me, He loves me, He has chosen me, He has a plan for me, and He holds me in His big ‘ole hands.

So yeah, I may be broken, untrusting, hurt, lonely, adulting, grieving, anxious, and single.

I may be an unfolded pile of laundry in the middle of a carpet that really needs to be vacuumed.

But I have been chosen, I have been bought at a price well above my value, I have been washed, I have been cleaned.

And I will be folded and put into my correct place at the holy and sacred timing of the LORD of Hosts. I will be creaseless, I will be used over and over again, and I will always be loved. I will never be alone.

Since the day that I proclaimed Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I have never been alone, and I never will be.

So, what if this season isn’t fun? I will choose to love and rejoice in this season. Because this is the season of being folded, formed, and taught.

This is the season of getting rid of my wrinkles.

This is a season of patience.

This is a season of trusting and choosing to remain faithful to the One who always is.

I am grateful, I am blessed, I am loved.

I am not alone.

And neither are you.

2000 years ago, on a Friday, three men were crucified. The ones on the right and left were criminals, and the one in the middle was a completely innocent man, who had never sinned, who was the Son of God, the messiah, named Jesus (Luke 23).

Let’s talk about the man in the middle.

This man, Jesus, was considered by the public to be a prophet, a teacher, a healer, a miracle worker, and so much more. But most importantly, He was (and still is) the Son of God. He lived a human life that was blameless and perfect, unlike any of us. He did prophesy, He did teach, He also healed and performed miracles. But the reason He could do this is because of His mighty power.

So Jesus was beaten, mocked and scorned, and crucified. But not quite in the same way as the criminals.

You see, when His death occurred, He didn’t die in order to pay the consequences for His own sins and wrongdoings. But for mine…and yours.

When Jesus died on the cross, He became sin who knew no sin. He held the weight of all of our sin, and took The Father’s wrath upon Himself so that we may be found blameless in the Father’s sight when we find salvation in Jesus. (1 Corinthians 15)

Cool right? Let’s continue.

So Jesus dies on this cross, becoming the atonement for our sin. But the story doesn’t stop there, because Sunday’s coming.

He was crucified on Friday, and the people who loved Him and followed Him grieved all day Friday and Saturday.

They were confused, hurt, and probably felt a little betrayed.

But then Sunday morning, a woman named Mary Magdalene went to the borrowed tomb where Jesus’ body was buried. But to her shock, He wasn’t there. She was greeted by an angel who told her that He had risen! She then saw Jesus and then ran into the town and told everyone and Jesus appeared to over 500 people that day.

Woah. Super cool.

You see Jesus rose from the dead in order to conquer our sin. The punishment for our sinful ways is death, eternity separated from Christ. But through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we have a way to obtain eternal life with him! (John 20)

Jesus then ascended into Heaven where He sat down at the right hand of the Father. (Mark 16)

This is a super cool story. Let me rephrase — this is a life-changing story.

So why keep it to ourselves?

Crucifixion Friday came, a Saturday full of grief came, resurrection Sunday came, and then Monday came.

This Monday, Charleston Southern University’s campus, along with 20+ campuses all over the U.S., will be full of students attending FUGE Camps. My fellow staffers and I have the opportunity to share this incredible story with some of these students through Bible study, rec games, worship, and one-on-one conversations and interactions.

Some of these students haven’t experienced salvation through Christ yet, and my prayer is that His love will become so evident and the Holy Spirit will reveal Himself to these students so that they may see and understand the great sacrifice He has made for us. But also that these students will grow in their love for Him, His word, and serving Him.

So yeah, Friday-Sunday happened, and I rejoice that it did, because it gave me and you an opportunity to know our holy and sacred creator, but Monday’s coming.

So I’m here, and you’re wherever. So when tomorrow(or Monday or right now) comes, how are you going to share this story with those that you interact with?

I ask for prayer as FUGE staff all over the states plunges into these next 7-9 weeks of camp.

But i am praying for you! I pray that you take every opportunity to share this story. I pray that you are unashamed in your proclamation of Jesus and that He does mighty things in and through you. I pray He grows you. I pray you run to Him.

Monday’s comin’.

What are you going to do about it?

In His Love,

Carrie Liz

I don’t always like myself — on the inside and the outside. On the easiest and best day, my mind will always find a river to flood with insecurity. Especially in today’s world.

For my girls, our bodies are always sexualized by the media and public. We tend to think that everyone works out and eats healthy, but ourselves. For Pete’s sake, there’s even specific ways to do our makeup now. Outer image and “likable” traits can become an addiction to us girls and will tear us apart from the inside out. Even picking an outfit and looking in the mirror is such a process before we leave the house.

For my fellas, there is such lesser public attention to male insecurities. But they are so stinkin’ important! Guys, maybe you’re struggling with the world’s standard of what a “man” is. Bodily image is also a thing, the publicity of the “importance” of a 6-pack, ripped biceps and whatever other muscles there are (I’m a political science major, I don’t know these things). Maybe it’s the need to bottle your emotions, to be skilled in every way, to be athletic, or to be competitive. Here’s the big one. Maybe its your struggle with how the world views women. Lust is a massive struggle for all men and it has become so common to take these thoughts and turn them into derogatory actions/words towards women in order to impress.

It is so easy to fall prey to all of this in our world. It is so easy to tear ourselves down, to destroy our confidence in who we were created to be.

For me, one of the hardest things, is walking into a place full of people. It could be a football stadium, a boutique, Was-Mart, or a classroom. I’m always concerned about the people in the room, what they’ll think of my outer appearance, how they will react to my personality, and what they’ll say about me when I’m not there. Maybe you relate to this, maybe it’s something else that gets you, I don’t know. But what I do know is that we all struggle with this. Whether you want to admit it or not.

But here’s the deal. I don’t want to focus too long on these insecurities. I don’t want to allow a foothold to be created in your head for Satan to grab hold of while you read this. Instead, I pray that I can be a vessel for the Lord to communicate His encouragement and intense love for you.

I’m not going to use many of my own words from here on. I want to share with you some of the most faithful promises in the world, God’s Word.

1. God created YOU in His image – Genesis 1:27 – Scripture repeats the word “created” three times in this verse. Reminding us that we were not a happy accident, we were not improvised. God created man and women in a way that only He can do. Which leads to my next verse…
2. He knit us together, and He loved us since before then – Psalm 139:13-14, 16 – We are fearfully and wonderfully made(vs.14) and verse 16 remind us that He knew us when we were formless. Before any of our days began, He had them planned and knew these plans well. Which leads to the fact that…
3. Before we could even choose Him, He chose us – John 15:16 – Before you and I were even a thought in our parents brains, God loved us, He choose us, He desired a relationship with us.
4. When we were(are) broken, He makes us whole and shows us forgiveness – Psalm 103:8-12
5. When we are lost, He finds us, rescues us, and shows us that His mercy prevails – Luke 15
6. When we are disappointed, He teaches us that disappointments can bring us to appointments that He has ordained – Romans 8:28

Friends, God does not just want you to follow Him. He wants you to know that He created you, He has loved you since before time began, He has carefully planned your days before the sun and moon and HE CHOSE YOU.

We are talking about the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace, Yahweh, the Creator of the Universe, and the One who loves you unconditionally and molded you with His own two hands. The same hands that hold the world in place and hold your past, present, and future.

I believe that insecurity is our body’s, mind’s, and spirits’ cry out for Jesus. It’s cry to recognize it’s creator.

This world teaches us to be so concerned about who and what we are. But that has already been defined for us. We are children of God. Children of the One True King.

So while, as humans, we will always struggle with insecurity and feelings of being less than, I hope you can see what I’m trying to communicate to you, what The Lord wants to communicate to you.

You were fearfully and wonderfully made. You were created in the image of God. You were created to be in relationship with Him. You were created for a higher purpose.

You were created by the all powerful, all knowing, outside of time and space, Creator of all.

So today, when you feel discouraged in who you are, run to Him. Feel His peace. Accept His words. Remind yourself that you were created by Him, for Him. And that He loves you more than you could ever imagine.

 

I love you guys and I’m praying for you all. Run to Him, always. His arms are open.

Live today like you were created to, fearfully and wonderfully, for Him.

 

In His love,

CarrieLiz

I have now been in college for almost a month. Wow. Time has flown.

Since my arrival at NGU, The Lord has taught me very much. For that, I am eternally grateful.

In my junior year of high school, I truly decided to follow Jesus with all of my heart, soul, and mind. Since then He has pruned, grown, and molded me – but this process continues daily and will never reach an end point until the day that I humbly get to fall onto my knees at the foot of His holy throne.

When I arrived at NGU, my relationship with Christ was becoming stagnant. I had not been persistent about being in the word and spending intimate time with Him throughout the summer. I arrived at college and my world was flipped – PRAISE HIM FOR THAT!

The day I moved in was the day that I began Joyful Sound rehearsals. I was immediately surrounded by a group of around 23 people who loved the Lord with everything they were. These people’s presence began to pour into me, even though they don’t even know it.

The main point that the Lord has taught me recently is that a personal and intimate relationship with Him enhances and changes our daily lives in the simplest and most extravagant ways.

In Hebrews 12: 2 the scriptures tell us to

“Keep our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne.”

The Message version translates it like this:

“Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in.”

You see, as followers of Jesus, we are called to run this race called life. Now, there are two different tracks to this race: a narrow one, and a wide and straight one (Matthew 7: 13-14). The path that you choose is your decision, but we were created by God to live in relationship with Him ( Genesis 1:27, 1 John 4:19) and the narrow path is the one we are called to choose.

In Matthew 7, the narrow path is described as the path of LIFE. The path that leads to eternity with Jesus. This path begins with salvation and continues by pursuing an intimate and personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

My relationship had become stagnant, but in Psalms 23 it speaks of the Lord setting a table in the presence of our enemies, or the temptations and trials of this world. God doesn’t set this table for us to admire from a distance or to look pretty in the dark valleys of our lives. But instead He sets this table to give us an opportunity to sit down and dine with Him – to LIVE LIFE with Him!!

I’m speaking to my fellow teens and young adults here: your life may be going exactly how you want it to, or maybe, in your eyes, perfect. For my christians, you may know you need God, but don’t want Him right now. For my unbelievers, you may know you’ll need a higher being one day, but not now. Let me tell you how I feel.

Do not be afraid of change (read my last post if you are 🙂 ). The Lord does not desire to take away things from you that are good and that glorify Him. He does not desire to strip you of the gifts that He gave you – He desires to ENHANCE and CHANGE your PERSPECTIVE on those gifts.

A relationship with Jesus Christ transforms happiness to joy, guilt to shamelessness, fear to boldness, darkness to light, dirty to CLEAN. The Lord blesses us with so many beautiful gifts, for example – the breath you just took, and that one, and the next one!

He desires for us to live ABUNDANTLY (John 10:10). The only way to do so, is to live life with Him!

His word gives guidance, His presence brings peace, His love brings comfort, and a relationship with Him brings you closer to Him.

For example, my fabulous roommate (shoutout to you Maddie <3) and I would not have established such a great relationship with each other if we had not taken the time to get to know each others hearts and minds.

God gave us His word so that we can get to know His heart for us.

So my dear friends, I want to encourage you to DIG IN. Don’t you dare say you don’t have time because we are blessed with every second and every breath.

So figure out what works best for you! If you want to start simple, I highly request a morning devotional like Jesus Calling or UNSHAKEABLE ( I will link below!!).

Begin a reading plan! The YouVersion bible app, and if you look online, has LOTS of easy plans that will help you to pick up your Bible and know where to start!

My desire for you is that you fall in love with your relationship with Him and in His word. It is the word of God and the stories of the God of the universe and how much He loves us and how He chooses US over and over again.

So, to my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, and to my beloved friends who don’t quite yet understand Jesus, start searching. He’s seeking you out and calling you home to Him. Answer the call. Start somewhere! He loves you, and He created you to be in relationship with Him!

Don’t turn away.

Jesus Calling Devotional

UNSHAKEABLE Devotional

If you have any questions or comments about the above post or prayer requests, please feel free to contact me! I’d love to pray over you, get to know you, and help you in any way that I can!

In His Love,

CarrieLiz

 

If you go on any social media page and look at the profile of any 16-20 year old girl, you will see a carefully placed contour/highlight and long, beautiful hair.

I struggle with this. I struggle with conformity. My entire life I have been a people pleaser. I have always been ready to do and to sacrifice for the possibility of being good enough or worthy of someone’s desire to have me in their life. Because of this desire, I’ve struggled with making other people my gods instead of Jesus. I want so badly to be wanted that I choose to become like them instead of striving to live a holy life.

You see, it got to a point where not only did I want people who knew me to be pleased with who I was, I wanted people who simply saw me walk by to be satisfied with what they saw. Now, I do love getting ready, doing my makeup and hair, and going to do something fun with friends or family. But in this case, I literally wanted anyone, and everyone, who saw me on a Monday afternoon in T. J. Maxx to think well of me because I looked like every other girl my age does.

But somedays, getting up is hard and makeup is too much of a hassle. Cute clothes aren’t fun on a rainy day so I’d throw on leggings instead. So what would I have that could help me to look how I felt like I desperately needed to? My hair. So I grew it out long, longer than I ever realized it was. I kept it long for about two years. I used different shampoos, conditioners, oils and other hair products to keep it looking “healthy”. I also blow dried or curled it everyday.

There was one ‘lil issue with that though. The bottom approximately five inches of my hair was dead and dry. I had the frizziest split ends and nothing could tame them. I wanted to cut it off. Start over. But, I pushed it off for the longest time though because I was so scared of how others would react and what they would think.

But then one day–more specifically Friday, July 28, 2018–my friend and cosmetologist cut around eight inches off of my hair as I tearfully sat quiet in the chair.

The Lord dropped a truth bomb on me as I listened to the snips of her shears.

The split ends of my hair took over the majority of the length. I tried out so many new heat protectants, oils, and others but all it did was cover it up for a little bit. But after about an hour or two, they would frizz up and become stringy and gross.

When we make a choice to want to conform and look like the world, we are welcoming dead ends into our life. We are accepting and holding the door open for sin and temptation. When we try to cover up the dead, gross, sinful parts of our life — it works at first. And then it doesn’t. You can try everything to cover up your split ends, but how much peace and joy does it steal from you? My split ends were my insecurities.

I could go out, be so confident and so happy to be there. Truthfully the whole time, in my brain I would be so worried about my image, how people were seeing me. But at the end of the day, I’d come home and have too many harsh comments to make about the image in the mirror. But I’d happily hang out the next day too. We can do whatever you want to do, I don’t care!

The cycle would continue on and on. But I kept the split ends around, because that’s what everyone has, long hair.

You see, so often I choose the security of conformity instead of the peace and courage of a Christ-centered life– and yes, it stretches farther than just hair.

Me having this long hair was my cover up. It was my choice of conformity to a social and physical image I so wanted to have.

Now, I’m not saying that if you have long hair your an image of conformity– but what I am saying is:

What if everyday, when we see “barbie” on social media or at school, we didn’t say “Why don’t I look like that?”. What if we rested peacefully and joyfully in the scriptural fact that God, the king of kings, created US in HIS IMAGE.

Check out these verses:

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” — Romans 12:12

^“14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. ¹⁵ My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. ¹⁷ Sanctify them by^[a] the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.” — John 17:14-19

In the first verse – the apostle Paul is writing a letter to the romans. He is advising them to not fall prey to the consistent patterns of the fleshly earth but to instead be made new by the transformation that Christ is in them.

In the second — Jesus is speaking. If you read carefully, Jesus states that he does not want us, as christians, to be stripped of this world, He created it for us in the first place, but He instead wants us to be given the strength and willingness to be able to withstand the sins and temptations of this world.

SOOOOOOOO SUPER LONG STORY SHORT:
“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” — Genesis 1:27

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” — Psalm 139:14

God’s original purpose for creating us was to be in personal relationship and to glorify Him all the days of our lives. He created you, me, and every other person in His image. With purpose. With intention. With love. So next time satan tells you that you need to be, look like, or do something that isn’t you, tell him to shut up and flee. Declare who you are and whose you are. Praise the Lord for creating you exactly how you were supposed to be. He created the stars with His words, but He chose to form you with His own hands. What an honor.

Thank you Jesus for loving me. Thank you Jesus for pursuing my wandering and insecure heart. I praise You for creating me how You desire for me to be. Thank you for knitting me together. Thank you for cutting off my split ends and making me whole.

In His Love,

Carrie Liz