Young Adults – Two Typing Vessels

Hey guys, I know it’s been a while since you’ve all heard from me. I mean it’s been like over a year, so I hope y’all didn’t miss me too bad…just kidding. Anyway, I finally have an idea of what to write about, and I think it’s important that I say it, especially to people in my generation. RELATIONSHIPS ARE TOUGH! I’m telling you guys, don’t be fooled by those Hollywood movies like I’ve been. It’s not all just meeting someone, falling in love, having a slight falling out, and then the comedic relief character makes the guy realize that he really wants the girl, so the guy does some big gesture to get her back and then, just like that, happy ending! I am sorry to break it to y’all, but it’s not like that at all. I’m a hopeless romantic myself, so you can imagine how upset I was when I figured this out. I’m not saying relationships are bad, because they’re certainly not, but I’m learning that a long-term relationship is way more hard work than I ever thought it would be.

The reason I bring this up is because, in this society, we’re taught that we should leave when it’s hard, because all of those movies make it look so easy. But, when you look at the way relationships are in the bible, it’s not like that at all. The relationship Jesus had with us, and the relationship we’re supposed to have with the Father is not easy at all. That’s why I think marriage is so sacred in the Bible. The love you promise to give your partner for the rest of your life is supposed to be a reflection of the love that God has for us. Not necessarily romantic love, but something deeper. When you look at the way Jesus loves us, and how he was treated here on Earth for us, love begins to have another meaning. Jesus has taught me recently that love is sacrifice, commitment, consistency, patience, it doesn’t always feel good, and it isn’t always gonna be easy. I was watching a sermon from Pastor Mike Todd, and I think he said it best. “If you study the scripture, love comes after the sacrifice. It comes after the commitment.” He even asks, “How much did you love God before you committed to him?” (I’m gonna be really honest with y’all, before I committed to getting to know God, I didn’t care for him nearly as much as I do now.) Jesus gave us his life because he loves us so much, knowing that we may never want to love him. What’s also incredible to me is that he knew what suffering awaited him. He told the disciples what was going to happen to him too, and he continued to get up every day and choose us and them – I mean can you imagine the sorrow he must have felt inside knowing that was going to happen to him, and he still did that for us? The disciples endured pain and suffering because of their love for God. Christians today are still oppressed all over the world (oops…sorry but it’s true). Didn’t mean for this to seem like all doom and gloom, but the story isn’t over! It actually has a really happy ending. Jesus comes to save us, we get to spend eternity with our Father in Heaven, and there will be no more pain and suffering ever again. That’s worth it to me, and it was worth it to Jesus too.

Now, I’m not condoning people to stay in an abusive relationship. I’m talking to those that are coming from a healthy relationship that may be in a little bit of a rut right now. To those that may be in the stage where it just doesn’t feel like either of you can agree on anything right now. To those where life just kinda got in the way, and you both are trying to relearn the new person that they’ve become. Mike Todd also said in his sermon, “If you’re frustrated and you don’t see how it’s gonna work, invite God into it.” If you both love each other, why should you give up because it’s hard? If you can’t fix it, God definitely can. I believe there is another side to whatever this rut is that you may be going through, and when you get there, I believe that you both will have a deeper understanding and appreciation for one another. I kinda envy old married couples because of that. They’ve gotten through life together, maybe had a few kids, a bunch of jobs, and a whole lot of disagreements, but because they woke up every day and decided to choose each other, they’ve become best friends and know each other better than anyone else. I said earlier that I’m a hopeless romantic, but I like to think God is too. I like to think he watches our love lives like how we watch those romantic movies. In the end, you’re rooting for the people that genuinely love each other, and you want so badly for them to make it in the end. God put you and that person together for a reason. Choose them, never go a day without praying for them, and God will take care of the rest.

Some scriptures about love:

1 Corinthians 13:4-8
John 3:16
Colossians 3:14
John 15:13
1 John 4:19
Ephesians 5:25
Ephesians 4:2
Ephesians 5:33
Proverbs 18:22

Some Christian songs about love:

Broken Together by Casting Crowns
God Gave Me You by Dave Barnes
Jesus and You by Matthew West
You’ve Got Me by Steven Curtis Chapman

June 23, 2021

The years 2020 and 2021 were full of events, and a pretty big one for me was starting college. In about a month and a half I’ll be a sophomore, and while reflecting back on my freshman year I remember the bad relationship with food that I developed. I’ve always been a “bigger” girl. I’m 5’8 and have been that way since I was in high school. I was never described as “petite”, “small”, or “little”. I was always “strong”, “broad”, or “tall”; and while those are not negative descriptions in any way, they were not the ones I wanted to be attached to my body.

In my junior year of high school I got on birth control and as a result of that (and later quarantine snacking) I gained around twenty pounds over three years, and I could not shake the weight. The feeling got worse when I went to the doctor for a check-up right before I left for college, and the big, scary letters of “overweight” stood next to my BMI. Then, I gained 5 more pounds while at school during my first semester, which is better than the “Freshman 15” everyone talks about, but I still didn’t like that I had gained weight.

Fast forward to the second semester and I start losing weight (which was mostly the result of the exercise I was getting walking around campus, and also due to my birth control not functioning correctly – which I’m off of now). I had dropped seven pounds and I was THRILLED. Those seven pounds turned into eleven pounds gone in just a couple weeks and I notice that I’m not as hungry as I used to be. I’m eating one, maybe two meals a day and maybe some snacks if I’m really “feeling it”. I started shedding more pounds and suddenly, the feeling of losing weight is starting to outshine the gnawing feeling in my stomach. Then I’m going to only eating an apple a day, and then going to work. I almost pass out one day walking to my car to go to work, and I realize that I need to stop treating myself like this.

At this time I’m in a small discipleship group with four other Christ following ladies and we were going through “Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life”, by Donald S. Whitney. A book that covers and elaborates on 10 disciplines that we as Christians should adopt to live for God fully (bible intake, prayer, worship, evangelism, serving, stewardship, fasting, silence and solitude, journaling, and learning). That week we were reading about fasting and one line in the book hit me like a truck.

“Those who eat too much and intentionally eat too little are looking for satisfaction in something other than God.”

I went back in my prayer journal and found this written from the day I read that line,

“I just read in my spiritual disciplines book about how intentionally eating less is destroying the body you worked so hard on creating. The body you made that needs food to survive. The body you made – that in your eyes – is perfect. I’m realizing how I’m going against everything that you laid out for me to do when taking care of my body. I pray Lord that you will give me strength to combat my self destructing thoughts. Amen.”

I mean holy cow. It all clicked.

I’m looking for satisfaction in a smaller pant size, not in God. I’m looking for happiness in a flatter stomach, not in God. I’m looking for content in a bathing suit that will always look better on the model – no matter how skinny I get, not in God.

I was looking for satisfaction in MY reflection, not in God’s.

I started realizing all the things God has given me to further His kingdom that I never paid attention to; my two feet for walking and reaching others to tell them about Christ, my eyes and ears to read and hear more about Him, my fingers that are typing this at the moment, and so many other attributes I have that aren’t comparable on social media.

I started challenging myself to look at my body as God would, and I pray you will do the same. We are incomparable in His eyes and that’s because He made us exactly how He needed and wanted to.

One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations”. Before we were even conceived God knew his plan for us. He knew precisely know we should look, act, talk, and feel in order for us to fulfill His plan. He is bigger than our insecurities, our anxieties, our stressors; and He always will be.