The new blog is written specifically for the ladies. It’s for you college girls and 20-somethings out there who think about who God and wonder how He fits in with your life. Maybe you know Him, maybe you don’t, but you are curious about what it might look like if you lived the kind of life Jesus talked about, full of love and fully alive. Basically, if you’re a girl and you’ve ever thought about your spiritual life, the new blog is for you!

I will post a few times a week on the following topics:

• Beauty
• Body image
• Eating
• Femininity
• Perfectionism
• Worth

I also will post monthly about a girl in my life who inspires me by the way she’s living her life and changing the world. The new blog is hosted on Blogger, and you can find it at www.nataliehorne.com

Enjoy!

Dear Friends,

Realizing that it’s been 20 days since I last posted something, I feel the need to apologize. It’s been a busy month, full of wedding planning, weekend traveling, and weekday commitments, and I confess I’ve been feeling less-than-inspired in the writing department.

Don’t get me wrong–I’m craving to explore and write and create–I just can’t seem to get anything on paper (or on screen, rather). My creative juices are welling up inside, but they can’t seem to escape in the way that I want them to. These days, there has been much more experimental cooking going on than creative or inspirational writing.

Because having this blog page keeps me accountable to consistent writing, I want to be accountable and honest with you. For the rest of the year, I’ll be taking a short blogging hiatus in order to allow space for those creative writing juices to flow freely. Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.

Thanks for understanding!
Natalie Lynn

On Saturday while getting ready for a Halloween party with my roommate Becca, I opened an old box to discover a piece of my past. In the box I found two small hair ties, no bigger than the kind of rubber bands I used to wear on my teeth when I had braces.

I looked at Becca and said, “Can you believe this little thing used to hold all of my hair?” Instantly my mind flashed back to the days when the small amount of hair I had on my head was contained with that tiny hair band. Then, I looked up and looked at myself in the mirror. Long, shiny, full hair draped over my shoulders. I smiled.

I confess, sometimes I take too much pride in my hair. It becomes the source of my femininity, rather than my Creator who made me the woman I am; however, that day my hair took on a much greater value in my mind, and began to represent so much more than my womanhood. 

• My hair represents the years of healing I’ve been through.
• It represents every day that I’ve honored my body and eaten enough food to sustain myself.
• It represents my health, which will take me into old age, God willing.
• And most of all, it represents the faithfulness of a loving Father who has carried me every inch of the way on my journey toward wholeness.

Praise you, God, for your desire to heal us and restore us to wholeness. Thank you for holding my hand along the way, and for the beautiful reminder of your grace and faithfulness I discovered this weekend.

Question: Have you ever stumbled upon something in your past, only to realize how far along you’ve come?

Today’s post is from RelevantMagazine.com. Having a few friends who have considered and even attempted suicide, I was immediately drawn to this article when I saw it posted on Twitter. Whether you are struggling with depression or have been touched by depression or suicide of a loved one, I hope you find encouragement in this post, and in knowing God’s true heart for his children. You are deeply loved and your life is cherished by the one who knit you together in your mother’s womb.

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I remember coming out of church one Sunday morning, after the pastor had delivered a rapturous sermon describing the joys of heaven. A friend, a devout believer who has made several suicide attempts, asked me quietly, “So why shouldn’t I go there now?”

It is an excellent question, and one the pastor had not even thought to anticipate and answer—and if we’re honest, most of us wouldn’t know how to answer this question either. Suicide and depression are in the news more than ever—it seems barely a week goes by without a mention of a teenager who committed suicide over questions of sexuality and identity or other issues of brokenness. You might not be suicidal (or depressed) yourself, but chances are, someone in your life or someone who will be in your life will hit a point of despondency. And they may even ask why they should continue living. So what would God say to a person weary of life and eager to end the pain, one for whom heaven is not merely a hope but a compelling temptation?

Breath of Comfort, Breath of Life
First, I think He would respond as He did to the broken city of Jerusalem:

On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised.Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, “Live!” (Ezekiel 16:4-6)

In this prophetic story, the newborn, a little girl, receives no parental love, none of the care and affection that are every child’s natural rights. She is despised, unwanted, regarded as “abhorrent and loathsome” (v. 5, Amplified). From a human point of view—in the eyes of the broken and corrupted people who should have been her guardians—she is an unwanted burden, just so much trash. So they discard her, dumping her in a convenient vacant lot where she will either die of exposure or become the helpless prey of wild animals.

This little child has not been welcomed into the world, made much of, loved, and comforted. Already, for her, life is only a problem. She is described as “kicking about” in her blood; years later, her blood will still be “clinging” to her (v. 9, Amplified). “Blood” speaks of family and nation. Like so many of us, she is struggling with what amounts to a generational curse; she must contend with inherited addictions and cravings, and also with toxic and loveless relationships. Truly, a dispassionate observer might say, this is a miserable specimen, and the best thing for everyone concerned would be to put her out of her misery.

But the Lord, the Creator, is never a dispassionate observer. Before the wild beasts can come, He passes by. He does not happen along; He sees, and goes out of His way. He stands over her, and He speaks a single word: “Live!” (In most of our Hebrew manuscripts, He says it twice, which adds emphasis.)

To us, this may not seem like much. Talk is cheap. But God, who spoke into being the heavens and the earth, utters no empty words. When He says, “Live,” He imparts life; His word has the force of an irresistible command. To Him no life is worthless.

Don’t Harm Yourself!
Another passage that shows us a glimpse of God’s heart toward those who consider suicide is found in the Book of Acts. Paul and Silas have been beaten and thrown into prison for preaching the gospel in the city of Philippi. Yet they sing praise to God, and, around midnight, He sends a most peculiar earthquake. No one is killed or injured, but every cell door opens and every chain is broken. All the prisoners are set free.

This is good news for everyone except the jailer. Jolted awake, he sees the doors standing open. He will be held responsible; if even one prisoner escapes, he may be executed, perhaps after torture and humiliation. He draws his sword and prepares to kill himself.

Paul’s voice rings out: “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” (Acts 16:28). Paul is not speaking calmly, but shouting (NIV), yelling (Living), crying with a loud voice (KJV, RSV); literally, he “sounds a great sound.” It is vitally important to Paul that he be heard. Shortly before, this man was allied with his enemies who wished to silence the word of God; it might seem as if his death would be one more sign of God’s victorious power. But Paul does not see it this way, and apparently neither does God. The Gospel triumphs when the jailer believes and is saved—saved not just from suicide but from sin and Satan’s dominion.

Perhaps you have already been “saved,” have believed and prayed the prayer and been baptized, and yet feel like killing yourself. Still, Jesus cries to you with a loud voice, “Don’t harm yourself!” Everything that you think you have lost forever is here, right here, in His hands; and He is working now, not to destroy, but to open doors for you and to loose your chains. Like the jailer, you will be “filled with joy” (Acts 16:34; Amplified: leaping and exulting) again in this life. For the Lord does not desire that anyone should perish (2 Peter 3:9).

The Eternal Outcome
We close with a picture that comes from the Book of Revelation:

Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads … And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. (14:1-3)

We do not know exactly who these 144,000 are, and opinions differ as to whether their number is exact or symbolic. But they are people, and they have suffered (in 7:14, the 144,000 and others “have come out of the great tribulation”). Now they sing a song, which no one else can learn. This seems odd.

Why should this be? I can only think that it is because angels don’t have to go through suffering, and walk by faith, in the same way people do. This would also explain why Jesus the Lamb, who did suffer and walk by faith, stands with the 144,000. Perhaps He sings with them.

I want to go one step beyond the text, building on this powerful picture. John speaks of one great chorus, a united song. I want you to imagine, instead, a series of solos.

Each of us has a song to sing, not with words and music but with our lives. And one day all of heaven, the host of glorious beings and the Father Himself, will fall silent, listening as the song of your life is played. Perhaps the great Church of God will provide background vocals, and Jesus Himself will sing with you; but it is your song, which you and everyone else will hear, complete and perfect, for the very first time. Don’t cut short your song. If you end your life before the last verse planned by God, I fear it will leave a gap, a silence nothing can fill, because no one else can ever sing your song.

I don’t know how the song of your life will sound, but I can promise you that, when you hear it, everything will be worth it. The last verses will be the sweetest. But the part that will rock heaven will be the passage when the music almost stops—and then the voice of God is heard, declaring, “Live!” and the song takes wing once more.

John Espy is an instructional writer who lives in Kansas. You can find the original posting of this article on RelevantMagazine.com.

Courtesy: Wordle.net

Over the last couple months, I’ve started reading Michael Hyatt‘s brilliant blog on leadership, productivity, publishing, and social media. As the CEO of Thomas Nelson publishers, it’s no surprise that he’s an excellent writer; but more than just a good read, his blog is a source of practical, valuable information for enhancing blog readability and connecting with blog readers.

Today’s post is inspired by something that he does every month, which is a list of top posts from the past month. It’s something I’d like to continue to do not only so that you all can see what others have found valuable to read, but also so that you can go back and re-read (or read for the first time) some of the more popular posts.

Thus, without further ado, here are the top 5 posts that you girls were reading last month:

1. pumpkin spice victory.
2. wonderfully made: a short film.
3. girls gone bare.
4. an alabaster jar.
5. the mirror of God’s word.

Question: What was your favorite post from October? What would you like to see me write about in November?

It’s no secret that Psalm 139 is my favorite chapter in the Bible. So you can see why I was so excited when I first heard that we were making a Wonderfully Made short film based on that very scripture. I imagined it would be powerful, as God’s word always is, but when I saw the final cut of our new video I was absolutely blown away!

Check it out on our website (and YouTube and Vimeo) and be encouraged today by the truth of God’s deep intimacy with and love for you. Don’t forget to share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter too–after all, don’t we want every girl to know that she is fearfully and wonderfully made?

Question: What sort of thoughts and emotions does this video stir up in you?

Me: “I hate how I know how many calories are in everything. It’s so frustrating. It sucks the joy out of eating.”

Erin: “I know! Sometimes I just want to get a muffin or a pumpkin spice latte and fully enjoy it.”

Me: “Agreed. In fact, I’ve never even gotten a pumpkin spice latte for that exact reason.”

This is a snapshot of a conversation Erin and I had over breakfast one morning, and that final statement I made about never having a pumpkin spice latte before has remained true since then. Until this morning, that is.

When I showed up for work today, I was greeted with two beautiful orchids, birthday cards from the girls on the marketing team, and a tasty little coffee beverage from my dear friend and co-worker Ashley. Yep, you guessed it–it was a pumpkin spice latte.

I’ll admit, even after all of the years of healing I’ve experienced and the freedom from calorie restriction I now live in, I second-guessed whether I would drink it. Maybe I shouldn’t have it. Maybe I should only drink half of it. Or, maybe I should just leave the past where it belongs, and enjoy the delicious treat on my desk.

I’m thankful to say, I decided on the latter option. I told that little voice in the back of my head to be quiet, and reminded him that he had no place to speak into my life anymore. And then, I took a sip. It was scary, I’ll admit, but it was absolutely worth it. Then I took another sip, and another, and 30 minutes later I found myself finishing off the very last drop.

Little did Ashley know, this morning she would give me far more than just a birthday coffee. Instead, she became a vehicle for God to declare freedom in yet another area of my life. As I said before, there has been so much healing from bondage to perfectionist eating that has taken place over the past few years, yet every once in a while I come across a food or drink that I realize is still on my “unsafe” food list. And when that happens, I take a bite or a sip and it’s so much more than nourishment for my body; it’s nourishment for my soul, because it’s one more taste of freedom that comes from the Lord alone.

Praise you, God, for the freedom you give us from the bondage of the sin of this world. Thank you for being a God that brings things full-circle, and who makes good things from nasty little things in our past. Thank you for working through Ashley and pumpkin spice lattes. Thank you for victory through your Cross.

The world tells me who I am–and who I am not–every single day. Sometimes I find it difficult to navigate through the negative, and I get bogged down by expectations that have been established for me.

You’re not as pretty as that girl over there. You’re not as intelligent as that coworker over there. You’ll never be able to run as fast as that girl who just passed by you on the trail. You don’t know God as well as those other women at church.

These things are not true, of course. They are little lies that steep in my mind–getting stronger each day like a tea bag that has been left in the mug for too long–shaping my view of myself. Like a carnival mirror, they reflect a poor image of who I am, and easily leave me believing my eyes. But God’s Word is true, and it shines back at me with a perfect reflection.

A few weeks ago while I was in Malibu launching our new chapter of Wonderfully Made at Pepperdine, I ran into a woman at Malibu Presbyterian Church who I adore and greatly admire and she gave me a copy of Nancy Stafford’s “Beauty by the Book: Seeing Yourself as God Sees You.” Today I want to share with you the truth that God shines back at you through the mirror of His Word, as taken from Nancy’s book. I hope that it will be a firm reminder of your true identity, and how deeply loved and valued you are!

• I am His own. (1 Samuel 12:22)
• He sees my heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)
• He heals me. (2 Kings 20:5)
• He makes me glad with the joy of His presence. (Psalm 27:4)
• I will gaze upon the beauty of the Lord forever. (Psalm 27:4)
• He will never forsake me. (Psalm 27:10)
• He is near me. (Psalm 34:18)
• He is enthralled by my beauty. (Psalm 45:11)
• He rescues me. (Psalm 91:14)
• He crowns me with love and compassion. (Psalm 103:4)
• He satisfies my hunger with good things. (Psalm 107:9)
• I am wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14)
• I speak words of life to others. (Proverbs 15:4)
• I belong to Him (Song of Songs 7:10)
• He bears my pain. (Isaiah 53:4)
• He gives me a crown of beauty instead of ashes. (Isaiah 61:3)
• He wraps me in a robe of righteousness. (Isaiah 61:10)
• He calls me by a new name. (Isaiah 62:2)
• He crowns me with splendor. (Isaiah 62:3)
• I am His workmanship. (Isaiah 64:8)
• He knows me. (Jeremiah 1:5)
• I bear His name. (Jeremiah 14:9)
• He loves me with an everlasting love. (Jeremiah 31:3)
• He speaks tenderly to me. (Hosea 2:14)
• He dresses me in rich garments. (Zechariah 3:4)
• He takes me to a quiet place and gives me rest. (Mark 6:31)
• He gives me treasure in heaven. (Luke 12:33)
• He does not judge me by appearances. (John 7:24)
• He sets me free. (John 8:36)
• I am chosen. (John 15:19)
• I reap holiness and eternal life. (Romans 6:22)
• I am accepted in the Beloved. (Romans 15:7)
• He sees me as I am. (2 Corinthians 3:16)
• He turns my hardship to glory. (2 Corinthians 4:17)
• He clothes me with Himself. (Galatians 3:27)
• He delivers me. (Galatians 5:1)
• He gives me power. (Ephesians 1:19)
• He redeems my past. (Philippians 3:13)
• He gives me hope. (2 Thess. 2:16)
• He encourages my heart. (2 Thess. 2:17)
• He sympathizes with my weakness. (Hebrews 4:15)
• He gives me everything I need. (2 Peter 1:3)

Does any of this resonate with you? Which mirror are you looking into?

This post can also be found on the Wonderfully Made blog.

The conversation continued this morning with my roommate Becca. While talking about entitlement, she asked me if I’d ever seen the “Everything’s Amazing and Nobody’s Happy” video on YouTube. I hadn’t seen it, but as soon as she showed me I knew it would be a perfect intro for today’s post!

The video is so funny, mostly because it’s so true! Why do we feel so entitled to our comfortable lives? Why do we feel like the world owes us something?

It makes me think of store discounts. Until yesterday, I’ve been working at an athletic clothing store that gives discounts to members in the community who are trainers, fitness instructors or professional athletes. It’s called the Research & Development program, and it exists for two reasons: (1) so that people who are excellent in their sport can test out the clothes and let us know what worked and what didn’t, and (2) as a form of inexpensive marketing and PR for the brand. It’s a great program that is such a gift to the athletes in our community, yet it so easily becomes a thing of entitlement. Just last week, I had a guest come up to the register with a pair of shorts and a tank top. She said, “Hi, I’m in your R&D program,” so I started typing in her name to apply her discount. Then she said, “I’m just going to gift these items.” I really wished she hadn’t said that. My integrity got the best of me, and I decided to stick to my guns.

“Oh gosh,” I said. “Unfortunately I won’t be able to give you the discount on these items if they’re not for you. You see, the reason why we have this program is to get feedback from you about the clothes since you’re in the fitness community. I’m sorry about that.”

She wasn’t having it. Her entitlement swooped in.

“Well, they are for me then.”

“But they’re not your size. Your purchase history shows that you’re a size 6, but these are size 12,” my co-worker Chris chimed in.

“Well then, let’s say I’m pregnant and I’m going to wear them in a bit once I gain weight,” she said, with her size-12 friend standing next to her, sheepishly looking away.

She was a sassy one, but like I said, my integrity was keeping me in the game. I wasn’t going to yield to her demands.

“I apologize, but I really can’t give you this discount. This same policy applies to us who work at the store–I can’t even buy things for my friends with my discount, let alone give you one for items that are for someone else.”

“Fine then, I guess I won’t purchase them,” she huffed. She walked away with her friend, no doubt griping about the terrible service she felt she received. A part of me felt bad, but the rest of me knew that what I did was right. You see, the R&D program at the store is an added bonus–it’s a gift, not a right! Yet she (like many others) had come to expect that she deserved anything in the store at a discounted price. God forbid she paid what everyone else had to pay!

Not surprisingly, Scripture is filled with stories like this. The most evident one is The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard in Matthew 20:

1″For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

3″About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5So they went.

“He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. 6About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

7″ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

8″When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

9″The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. 10So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12′These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

13″But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

16″So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

The workers agree to their wages, yet they were so quick to demand more when those who worked less were paid the same. Had those other workers not come, their pay would have been sufficient, but instead demanded more out of their feelings of entitlement.

In what ways have you seen others (or yourself) act with entitlement?

The Lord is good and faithful indeed. That is all that can really sum up just how we feel about what God is doing with Wonderfully Made recently! Allie and I are at Pepperdine University in Malibu this week during their New Student Orientation (NSO), getting the campus excited about the brand new WM chapter.

Nothing to do with this chapter has been of our own efforts–all of it has to be attributed to the Lord. He has prepared the way in so many ways…

Allie founded Wonderfully Made while she was a student at Pepperdine, and I first got in touch with Allie and learned about Wonderfully Made because of a poster I saw on campus during my sophomore year at Pepperdine–a time when I had to leave my overseas program because I was struggling with an eating disorder. Although at that time it didn’t work out to have a chapter there, Allie and I stayed in touch and Wonderfully Made was always in the back of my mind. The Lord brought me back to Malibu after graduation to be in ministry to the Pepperdine girls through Malibu Presbyterian Church’s University Ministries, and through that He connected me with the godly women who he later would have in leadership for our chapter on the campus.

I joined the Wonderfully Made team in January, and during our first team retreat, God made it clear to us that we needed to start a WM chapter at Pepperdine. In His faithfulness, he has continually paved the way through the willing and eager hearts of students and faculty at Pepperdine to make this chapter possible. Wonderfully Made is now a student-led ministry on campus, and we have a full team of wise female mentors to support the girls as they create safe, loving community at Pepperdine.

While Pepperdine was once a place of darkness for both Allie and myself (as well as many of our student leaders), He is now redeeming it and shining His light upon it. With Wonderfully Made on campus, girls will now have a community where they can be free to be honest about their brokenness, and resources to help them discover their true value in the Lord. On a beautiful campus where so many feel hopeless, God is tenderly calling us into His arms, providing a door of hope for all who are weary.

“Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. ‘In that day,’ declares the LORD, ‘you will call me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master.’” (Hosea 2:14-16)

To meet the team and learn more about the Pepperdine chapter of Wonderfully Made, please visit our new website here.