Not a sprint......

It is a MARATHON!!!

Sixteen years ago, I began a great adventure. Back then I probably thought it was just for a short time....a sprint maybe. Then God pierced my heart for young people and showed me that this was a life long journey. He called me out of my sin, saved me and then used my stained baggage to help others find hope in Christ. It sounds so "spiritual" and looks simple but it's not really. Walking alongside young people is a daily battle that is repeated over and over. It's messy and I get dirty. I get discouraged. I get fired up! It's one of those amazing privileges in life that few words can even touch. I love and adore teenagers!!! I see girls on the street and I want to ask them how they're doing! Like truly "how are you???"...."how is your heart today?"....and I want to take them to The Loft (a ministry for teen girls)!! I don't actually do that because I know how freaked out they would be! Hee hee!!

"We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak...." Romans 15:1

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." Ephesians 4:2

No matter how messy this life is, we are to "bear with" one another. We are to uphold each other in a loving way. Teenagers have such a difficult road that they are trying to navigate. They are young adults who are still children. Each day brings about some adult responsibilities yet they are kids on the inside who just want to be loved and cared for. My heart aches for them when they fall. It aches for them when they know the Truth and walk away from it. Bearing with one another is not a simple task. It's not easy but it's not optional. It's not quick. Bearing with one another is committing to God's people....God's children....and walking alongside them in the valleys and the mountain tops.

What is the secret into a teenagers life? It's RELATIONSHIP. That's it. Building trust, love and sincerity with them. They won't open up to just anyone. They are private and they protect their hearts with an iron gate. If we want to break through, we have to put in the time.....and it take a lot of time. Some young people that I've mentored are still in my life today. One girl back in high school accepted Christ as her Savior at 15. God poured her life right into my heart. She's now 25 and married......we still have a wonderful friendship. It's a beautiful marathon for sure.

God never intended for us to walk alone. Teenagers often times feel this way.....and that lonliness turns into hopelessness. Let us, who are older and wiser in our faith, reach out to our young people!! Let's show them victory and hope in Christ. Let's get dirty and messy in this journey walking alongside them. God will give us everything we need to do so.

This life is just a blink of an eye but Eternity is forever. Let's fight for our young people and point them to the cross that will save them forever. Christ is our salvation!!

It's Okay To Leak....

Don’t ya just love it when you get ready in the morning, put on your NON-waterproof mascara…..and then end up crying your eyes out later with no warning? It’s seems that I don’t wear waterproof mascara on the days I truly need it...like this morning during bible study! ARGH!!

I have been going through a Bible study on the life of David, a man after God’s own heart. I absolutely love this study on being “Anointed, Transformed, Redeemed”. As we are diving into God’s Word each week, God is tilling up the soil of my life. He is refining the fragmented places in my heart. He is addressing the things that have been hanging there waiting for healing and transformation since my Mom passed away almost two years ago.

Listening to Beth Moore speak from 2 Samuel on David’s life hit me like a freight train. SHE SPOKE MY HEART and I LEAKED!!!! Not just little tears dropping down....but like full on crocodile tears gushing down and a snotty nose to go with it! I like to cry in private, as most of us do.....but I could seriously not control each drop.

 

2 Samuel 7:8-10 pierced my heart:

 

“…I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men of the earth. And I will provide a place for my people Israel….”

 

 

 

Now, I am not saying that I am like David or that I can relate to being a mighty ruler. I can, however, relate to God bringing me THIS FAR in my life. I shouldn't be here. Not even close. In my natural born life, I should be divorced several times, choosing poorly over and over....an adulterer really. I should be sad and depressed that my life hasn't gone the way I thought. My friends should find me fickle and flaky; a woman with no clear direction. After my Mom passed away, I should have sank into a deep hole and withdrew from the world. That pain should have caused me great bitterness and resentment toward God.....leaving me with nothing to give.

 

BUT - as God told David, "...I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel....," God has told me that my circumstances and my flesh do NOT make up the person I am today. I leaked and leaked this morning as I heard a dear woman share that GOD wants to "mark our lives with His glory". He doesn't allow hard stuff in our lives to watch us crumble. He doesn't want us to be devestated forever. God wants to empower us to stand strong.....to reveal His glory to the world....and to transform us from weak, fleshly people to strong godly women!!!!

 

God also told David, "I have been with you wherever you have gone..." Oh Lord, thank you that you are with me always!!! The last two years of grieving have changed me. It has been the most intense, life altering time....AND YET, God has been with me every where! When I couldn't see straight, He was there. When I cried myself to sleep, He was there. When I moved forward in obedience, even though it scared me.....He was there. When He asked me to do thing out of my comfort zone.....He was there.

 

AND...this morning when He spoke into my face....and told me it's time to not be DEVESTATED anymore.....HE IS HERE!! I need to continue moving forward in my new life, trusting the promises He has given me. Friends, if your hurts have caused you to be frozen or barely moving forward.....it is time to not be devestated anymore. It is time to trust that God is with you wherever you go and you seek Him. Go to Him. Tell Him what's hurting you. LEAK!!!!! and Trust that He will make your name great for His glory!!!!

 

 

HE is worth fighting for....

"Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world." James 4:8 NLT

This verse in James, cuts my heart wide open! I read the first half and think....awwwwww, isn't that so sweet of the Lord? If I come close to Him, He will also draw into me. Awwwwww.....

But read on....."wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world." UGH! That's the part that gets me!! We are divided! I am divided!!! And that is not what God wants for us. He wants all of us....every bit. We were bought at a price. We are HIS!

(1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

Last weekend, I was at a retreat where our speaker asked the question, "What relationship to you need to fight for?" She was asking us what relationship do we need reconciliation? Who have we set aside, given up on or been ignoring. As I sat all by myself on this beautiful hillside.....NO ONE came to mind. I sat and I prayed. Still nothing. Then the Lord's beautiful voice spoke, "Me, Treva. Me. You love others. You fight for others. You chase after others... making sure they're okay.....but what about ME!? Are you willing to fight for your relationship with ME?"

This is life changing to me. We all go through seasons of drawing close to the Lord and seasons of pulling away or becoming dry. I haven't thought of my time with God as a desert. Not at all. BUT, fighting for Him is a whole different story! That takes passion, committment, determination, deep love and discipline. What would my relationship or yours look like if we FOUGHT to walk side by side with our Savior? What would happen if we set aside the cares of this world and passionately studied His Word? I can tell you that my life would look so different. Deeper. More meaningful. More intentional love. Washing my hands of sin and letting Him purify my heart would change so much!!!

I believe that we need to recognize the seasons we are in with the Lord. Right now, the Lord is calling me to dig deeper in His Word......to come super duper close to Him!! Not accepting less than what He's willing to give. As I get ready for another year of ministry in Girls Nite In.....The Lord needs to refine me. He is chiselling off all my dead, gross stuff and making me new once again. He has plans for each one of us and He desires to walk intimately with us through life.

Will you join me? Will you dig deeper in your relationship with Him.....and FIGHT for the very relationship that saved you? Let us "come close" to our Lord and Savior and watch Him come close to US!!! Amen!!!

God Must Think A LOT of YOU!!

Ever had those moments in life, where you wonder just how much more you can handle? Or you look at someone else's life and think, "Wow! How are they still smiling?"

Recently I told my sister...."God must think a lot of you because He keeps allowing crazy hard things in your life." It's amazing to me the stuff Tina has had to endure. A year and a half ago, she didn't just bury our mom....she discovered the body. Four months ago, she had to send her teenage son to a boarding school in Missouri. He was so lost in his own grief over losing grandma, he began self destructing. Tina had to save him from himself. Three weeks ago, her precious husband lost both of his parents within 24 hours of each other. Again, Tina did what she had to do and stood by her husband's side as they said "goodbye".

My sister has always been a rock. I am the ooey-gooey one and she is the calm, level headed one. She's the one I would go to if someone was messing with me in school. Let's face it, she was the scary one (kick your butt kinda girl) and I was the welcome mat. I would let people walk all over me.... and sometimes invite them to! LOL!!

I have seen things in my sister lately that are jaw dropping! How does ONE person handle all these tragic things, find the blessing in them and walk forward with some type of smile? How do you not have your son with you everyday and yet know that it is OK? How do you go through these things without your mom, mother-in-law or father-in-law for guidance? Sometimes I think she should be in a corner, sucking her thumb and rocking back and forth. She doesn't live in a fairy tale nor does she have a naive notion that life is just great no matter what. It's so much more. There is something STRONG and AMAZING inside of her! Something that keeps her feet moving forward and not dwelling in the past! I see her as a ROCK....strong, secure, grounded.

She is a ROCK because her LORD is HER ROCK!

His Spirit dwells within her and because of that, she can withstand all things. Tina trusts Him. She relies on Him.

Psalm 18:2......

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Tomorrow, Tina gets to see her son! For the first time in 4 months she gets to hold him and squish his guts out!! She hates flying.....quite frankly she gets very anxious on planes and has to read scripture over and over to get through the flight. She could definitely stay home out of fear....but she continues to TRUST her ROCK, her God and believe that He will protect her. She is getting on that plane tomorrow to see her son....and there is NOTHING that's going to stop her. Not fear, not anxiety, not hardships.

Thank you sis for being an example to me of what it means to NEVER GIVE UP!!! To know that God never gives us more than we can handle. I know that God thinks a lot of you, Teen, but simply because He delights in you.

LOVE YOU!!!!!


Me and my sis!!

I love him!!!

Those who sow with tears
will reap with songs of JOY.

Psalm 126:5

 

Over and over I have told the teens in, Girls Nite In, that...."life is messy". It just is. We live in a world that is not perfect and everyone knows it. It's not God's original design. It is a fallen world with imperfect people. At every GNI meeting, I tell the girls that we (the leaders) are here to help them navigate through this messy life. I wish I had someone to mentor me and help me through my teen years. But I didn't...so I crashed and burned around every corner. The Lord has created me with an undying passion for these girls!!! I want them to know HIM....to walk with HIM....and to let HIM love them with an everlasting love.

 

This past weekend, we finished our last meeting for Girls Nite In (for this school year). Our topic was "Loss & Grief"....one that I know too well and could probably write a book about. I had so many things I wanted to share with the girls and just a ton of thoughts marinating in my mind. It was hard to narrow it down to just 30 minutes of a my heart poured out for them. We had a few girls who had lost their mom or dad in the last year or two. We had other girls who's parents had left them through divorce.....and still others that were suffering through so many changes in life, it just all felt like LOSS.

 

I was confident that the Lord had planted Truth in me to give out to them. It was a night that I will never forget. Tears, broken hearts, sweet faces looking up at mine. I will always remember how the Lord took my pain and His love....and gave them tangible, mind blowing HOPE. A hope that is like no other. It will never end. He gave them this Truth in

Isaiah 40:31...

"but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. "

 

In this life there will be suffering. We cannot avoid it. In the past 2 weeks, I have attended a double funeral, read a journal of a teen whose mom died of cancer, shared the heart of another teen whose dad died one year ago and comforted a friend whose dad died yesterday. Our grief comes in so many forms...not just the death of a loved one. But for me, this is the very thing that moved me deeper in my walk with God. Losing my Mom made me question my JOY, my HOPE and my LIFE. God answered my questions and spoke mightily into my life. He brought me Girls Nite In. He doesn't waste our pain. He uses it for His glory and to bring us closer to Him. I praise God all the time for the pain...for the grief...for the loss. Not because I have suffered....but through my tears He has brought me great JOY!

 

Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of JOY.

 

It is the hardest thing I have ever done.....To trust God in the midst of suffering; To believe Him at His word; To let Him move each foot forward when they are weighted down in darkness. BUT...when I did these things, He turned my tears to joy.

 

 

 

 

 

The Girl that God uses....

We have started a tradition for Easter....or as we like it, "Resurrection Sunday". We go to a new church  with dear friends and enjoy the annual community breakfast. It's cold, it's in a school gym and it's not fancy. But the people there are amazing! They start preparing breakfast for hundreds at FIVE in the morning!! (The non-morning person in me screams - Nooooooo!) The tables are set with eggs, potatoes, ham, bacon, fruit, cinnamon rolls, biscuits and gravy, and so much more. These people are servants. They work all morning preparing, serving and cleaning up. It blesses me so much!

This year, though, God gave me a bigger and brighter gift!! One of our homeless teen girls that goes to Girls Nite In each month was there! I was in awe. As I waited in line for my food, this precious girl ran up to me, hugged me and said "HEY!!!!" I was so excited to see her and surprised! Here's this girl who lives in a shelter and she's SERVING breakfast to hundreds. She is starving herself but not for food.....she is starving for love, acceptance, family and the Lord's mercy. Every month at Girls Nite In, this cute freckled face girl runs up to me to say HI.....she hugs me each time and she SERIOUSLY melts my heart. I am not supposed to have "favorites" but I do. How can you not favor a girl who is that precious?

God uses her in my life as a reminder. A reminder that all the studying, tears, time and work that goes into ONE Girls Nite In meeting is worth it........because she is there. God brings about 60 teen girls each month and a handful of them live at this shelter. There are not enough words to describe what that has done to my heart. It wrecks me. It melts me. It challenges me. God puts the girls' faces in my mind each time I prepare to speak. He has bound my heart to theirs and they have no idea!!!

You know how with each child you have.....you wonder "how will I have enough love to go around?" I think every mom wonders that. Yet, the Lord gives us a never ending amount of love. He IS LOVE and when we know the Father, we have LOVE to give. The teen girls are like my adopted kids.....they move my heart, they overflow my cup and God uses each girl to multiply the love I have for them. Not only am I in love with my three precious children......but God has blessed my life with countless teens who........seriously......if they knew how much I adored them, loved them and thought of them.....it would scare them!!! I am beyond grateful for this journey God has me on. Thank you Lord for your amazing gifts!

"But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love." 1 John 4:8

Naked For Jesus

I love Vintage T-shirts!! You remember t-shirts with old logos like 7up, Atari, Coca Cola or some memorable year stamped on the front? They're new but they're made to look old and vintage.....like they have been around forever. They bring back memories of my childhood and remind me of days passed. As I was sharing my life with a dear friend the other day......I mentioned how I want a vintage t-shirt that reads "Naked for Jesus" !!! As we cracked up laughing (like seriously couldn't breathe laughing) at the thought of wearing this shirt and the looks we would get.....I asked her "is that inappropriate"? But when you understand the great journey behind those words.....it is perfectly appropriate!!

One of my biggest fears is public speaking. It's the number one fear of people. Isn't that crazy? Speaking in front of people in a perfectly safe environment scares people more than snakes, heights or car wrecks!!! But I will tell you that I get sooooo fearful before speaking. So, of course God has called me to speak once a month at Girls Nite In (a ministry to teen girls) in front of one hundred people. He hasn't called me to speak on anything "fluffy" either. He has called me to speak on topics of sin and self destruction. At Girls Nite In we talk candidly about life with these girls...like sex, teen pregnancy, substance abuse, eating disorders, divorce, self injury, loss/grief....BIG things!!! Our goal is to help them navigate through this messy life and point them to their Heavenly Father! I am so passionate about this ministry and yet it tears me up every month.

"Humble yourselves before the Lord,

and he will lift you up"

James 4:10

On my face before the Lord every month, I ask Him to speak through me....to take away my fears....to make me bold through His Spirit....and to give me every word for these girls!! It takes all of me to submit to Him and to humbly do the very thing He has called me to. The ONLY WAY to be victorious in this....is to LAY IT ALL BARE BEFORE CHRIST!!! When I stand in front of these girls....my heart beating rapidly, full of cotton mouth and sweaty armpits....I am naked. I am transparent. I am laying it bare. I hold nothing back. God has shown me lately that He can use me best when I hide nothing from Him. Forget trying to look like I have it all together.....forget trying to use the right words....forget pretending at all!

Is God calling you to lay it all bare before Him? What would our world look like if we all got "real"....and stopped pretending? What if we did the VERY things that GOD has asked of us.....plowing through the fear, being humble before Him and putting ourselves out there for others!??

Be NAKED FOR JESUS!!!!