Lauren

I had the opportunity a few months back to talk with this amazing, inspiring person named: Lauren. I got to ask her what the biggest lesson is that she's learned so far in her life- and here's what she said=) I hope her words inspire y'all as much as they inspired me.


"It sounds cliché to say... but the biggest lesson I've learned is to never give up, to persevere.
Don't just live with what you've been handed.

If you have some medical problems don't just think that's it. If you have some financial problems don't think that's it.
There's always a way if you work hard and believe in yourself. 
 
I lost 120 pounds 6 years ago and up to that point I had been heavy my whole life.
One day I just decided I'm gonna do it.
When I first tried I could only run like 10 seconds at a time- but now I've gone on to run 2 full marathons and tons of half marathons. 

You just got to believe in yourself and don't let anyone tell you that you can't.
I had never been Athletic; I had always been chubby- but I believed in myself and I got it done." 

 

The Girl Who Will Change The World

Brielle's eyes sparkle as she hears the praise of her outstandingly gorgeous personality being

announced to all within hearing distance.

Her smile tells the whole world the story about the beautiful heart she has. 

God has blessed this young lady with the gift of making every person she even makes eye contact with feel like they matter most to her.

If you ever wondered if you could really see just by looking at a person if they truly love God, then you haven't met Brielle before.

When you meet her and see the sparkle of true, pure life in her eyes, you know, without a doubt that she knows what life is all about. 

When you come to my church you will undoubtedly see her as she worships God in a way that every christian should learn to worship. 

When you watch her worship you can't help but notice that she Knows who is the giver of life and she Thanks Him. 

We need more Brielles in this world.

Brielle has a gift that changes her world. She looks at people and sees their heart. 

Never does she look at the way someone looks on the outside and discounts them or says they're not worthy of love. 

Brielle is a brave young lady that will stand up for what is right. 

Brielle will change this world.  

I believe in Brielle and am truly honored to know her. 

God has absolutely the hugest plans for this young lady's life. 

I love you Brielle, my sweet, sweet friend.
 

You Matter

Hey Y'all!

Just wanted to send a reminder that y'all are world changers!


It doesn't have to be big to make an difference.

Love ya all!

Perfect Day

Well Hello long lost friends! 

How's life been? Can't hardly believe it's been almost two months since the last post. 

Let me take a minute and let you into my little world where I go to watch the sunset and pray most every night possible. It's the most beautiful place. I go to the very top of the hill where all I can see is trees and the sky. As far as my eyes can see it's the beauty that God has put there {maybe just cuz He's awesome and that's how He rolls} 

I'm always in awe at the breath taking sunsets and the beauty of just being able to look out and see nothing but Gods creation. 

My sweet cousins, Annie and Abbie came up with me one evening to watch the sunset and we had the perfect ending to the perfect day. Just sayin' Annie and Abbie make life better and I couldn't be more thankful to have them in my life. God has the hugest plans for these young lives. 

Annie, you have a beautiful heart. You're so amazing at making everyone feel important. Never stop showing people that you care about what matters to them. Also, you're a great listener and have a big place in my heart! I believe in you Annie, you're gonna move mountains kid.

Abbie, you've taught me a lot through the way that you always stick up for "the little guy".  

Sweet pea, my heart's always just a little happier and my day's always a little brighter whenever I see you running across the yard to give me one of your amazing hugs. You, Abbie, are a difference maker. I believe in you.

I love you girls to the sunset and back

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Expression Of Thanks To The People I Will Never Meet.

"Nothing of importance happened today."
 Wrote the Regal King,

Yet across the ocean Liberty's Bell did ring.

The King's arrogant presumption,
Of life being in resumption.

It seems to me, that he might have established a common standard of existence.
Or maybe those words, it is fair to say, were only because of his natural distance.

Those words I hope will help you learn that something of importance happens every day.
Whether you learn of it now or a lifetime away.

Every day your life is shaped by thousands of people you will never meet.
The King never met his soldiers who died with the sound of his drum's beat.

Yet his life was changed forever on July 4th, 1776 and though I never met the rebel soldiers of long-ago, 

They changed my life for the better and so my thanks on them 

I bestow.

 ~By Mariah Y. Howe

Us-Ie: Getting Outside Our Selfie

This morning I sat at our kitchen table with my little brother, Moses as we each had a bottle of Coke and talked about life. As we were sitting there I saw a box filled with questions so I got it out and started asking Moses the questions.

"What global problem do you care most about?"
Moses thought for a moment and then said: Selfishness.
Wow. Think about it, selfishness. If no one was selfish then there wouldn't be war or abortion, huger, homelessness, slavery. Oh my goodness and that's only the beginning. 

  

Right now my church is going through a series called Us-Ie. Talking about getting outside our selfie. It's crazy to me to think about how very selfish and self-centered we have become. 

Think about it, if we were truly unselfish then every day we would be telling people about Jesus. {{Every day}} 

I know, we can come up with so many reasons (excuses) why we don't need to or shouldn't tell our neighbor or the cashier, bank teller, hotel clerk, waiter, pilot or stewardess about Jesus. We think, it will just make them feel awkward. Not to mention the knot you get in your stomach when you decide to tell that person about Jesus.  

 

 It's time for us to stop talking about love and actually start really loving people. We can say we love people as much as we want but it doesn't mean a thing to say that if we are just sitting by watching people die every day that are going to Hell forever. We don't want them to be uncomfortable or awkward so we don't tell them how Jesus died for our sins and then rose from the dead. He defeated death. Y'all, that is HUGE.

 

Have you ever seen an usie with so many people that half the people in the back were cut off? That's an example of someone who has gotten so far outside their selfie that they can't even get all the people they've reached and touched and loved into their usie. Let's become those people that get So far outside our selfie that we can't even count all the people in our usie. 

Y'all are difference makers. Keep up the great work.

Ps. go get the ThreeLife Church App and listen to the series Us-Ie. You will love it. You can also listen to it on the ThreeLife Church Website :-)

Be Present

Being present seems like such a hard thing for me. I'm always looking forward to tomorrow or next week or even next year. I like to think it's because I'm a forward thinker;-) But mostly I think it's just cuz I day dream too much.

I've asked many, many people the question: if you could go back and change anything or tell yourself something when you were my age, knowing what you know now, what would it be? So many people have said "I wish I had learned earlier to live in the moment." or, I would have told myself "Remember, you only get this today once." 

A few weeks ago I was on a plane coming home from a trip and I asked the lady next to me that very question. Without hesitation she said "Live in the moment." and than she went on to say "When I was growing up I was always waiting for the next moment. If I was with my friends, I would be thinking about being with my family, and if I was with my family I would be thinking about being with my friends. That's just how it always was. It took me till my 40s to realize that I was wishing my life away as I wished for the next moment. I can't change my past... But if I could go back and tell myself something when I was your age, I would tell myself to live in the moment. To be present."

A saying I've been thinking about is  "I have a feeling these are the best days of my life." I think a lot of times when people say that it's cuz they're living in the moment... When you're living in the moment you start noticing things you never noticed before. That's when you realize what an amazing life you really do have!

Be present. Live now, don't wait for tomorrow. Hug a little longer. Smile a little more. and Always remember: You only have this today once.

Michael

I had the honor of meeting this amazing gentlemen named Michael who was selling household cleaners at a flea market. The passion he had for telling people about Jesus was so beautiful and the sparkle in his eyes could’ve told the whole story.

Thank you Michael for enriching my life and many others by simply being the man that God has called you to be. 
You shine His light so brightly. Keep being the amazing person you are. 
 
_______________


“I have a dream job and it’s to serve. Ya can fire me from selling this cleaner, but nobody can fire me from servin’ God and lovin’ people. It ain’t easy helpin’ people cuz that means ya gotta push yourself outa the way.

I’ve been a minister for four years and I gotta tell ya a secret.

If ya bound in mind or if ya have a broken heart, God can set ya free and put ya heart back together.

All ya gotta do is just ask. Ya don’t need nobody to send ya no holy water. Ya don’t need nobody to talk to ya on the phone.
All ya gotta do is just ask.

If ya sick, if ya in pain, just ask.

Matthew 7:7 says: “ask, and it will be given to ya; seek, and ya will find; knock, and it will be opened to ya.” 

I never knew how hard the flesh was to control till I met God and everything changed. I had to retrain my mind and everything I’d learned cuz I needed to be more godly with my thoughts and what I did. Our flesh is powerful but our God is more powerful.”

~Michael (NJ)

The Story of Many Lives

There’s this beautiful old house out in the woods near my home.
It looks like a set from a movie. It’s amazing and really doesn’t even look like real life.
The wood is weathered just perfectly to where it looks almost like it's a painting.

The closer you get the more you see that you don’t want to go in. You know that if you go in, there’s a chance that you'll fall through the rotten floor to the cellar. That doesn’t seem to matter though when you’re right there looking at it. It’s so beautiful and feels as though it’s calling you to explore. It’s not very big and you know that the pleasure won’t last long because it’s empty inside.

There's no sign of life there, in fact there's a cow skeleton in the cellar that you can see through the rotten boards. I promise you, it didn't go there planning to die.

Maybe you think it's okay just to step inside, after all, it's not that big. But once you're in it you'll walk around because that's just how it works. Sooner or later, you'll fall through that floor even if all you thought you were going to do was explore. Once you're down there the only way out is for someone from outside of the cellar to help you.

If you’ve fallen through the floor. Don’t wait to call for help because the longer you wait the more used to it you become and you don’t notice that you have no food or water. You become okay with it when really, it's killing you.  

Don’t go near that house no matter how small it may seem. Listen to me, if you’re already there, if you’ve already fallen in,  I’m here to tell you that it’s not to late. Yell for help while you still have the breath to. A semicolon is placed in your life the very moment that you say: I can't get out alone; I need help. 

If you've gotten out of the house. Break the Silence of your story because the possibilities are great that there are people out there that are in the very same house you were in. They have so much fear they can't call for help because they know that they should've never gone near the house in the first place. They're scared of judgment because you've covered up your tracks so well that they think they're the only one.

Maybe you came out of the house before you fell through. But every time you look at it you want to go back. Don't think that it being something not very big makes it okay to do.
Listen, it hasn't changed, it still looks beautiful from the outside but still has the power to kill you. To kill the family you have. To kill the church you pastor. To kill the impact that you're going to make.

This was not just a story about an old house... It's the story of many lives.
Maybe it's your story.
Maybe right now you're just looking. Stop looking and run as fast and as far away from it as you can. 
Maybe you're in the house, walking around... Listen to me, no matter what your house is, Get. Out. Of. It. Now.

And maybe, you were just looking, you thought: it's not that big. But you stepped in just to look around... But now you're in the cellar and see no way out. You try to pull yourself out but the rocks from the foundation start falling every time you reach up and try to get out. Now you're scared that the whole building will fall in on you if you make one more move to get out of the cellar you've found yourself in. You think you're the only one so you won't yell for help....

ThreeLife Church has some courageous and brave people that are standing up saying, not in our lifetime will we leave you in the "cellar" to make ourselves look better. This series Break The Silence will change your life forever no matter where you're at in life. I challenge you to take the time to listen to these messages and reach out for help if you're in the house before you reach the seemingly hopeless cellar. If you're in the cellar, there is a way out even though you can't see above the falling rocks, there are people on the outside that if you call or even whisper for help they will come running and pull you out before it all falls in. Where there's life, there's hope. And if you've been there but covered up your tracks, I ask you to remember this: When you break the silence of your story it will tie you to someone in your world that wanted to quit before they heard what you had to say.



Break The Silence

Quotes

Hey Amazing People!

It's starting to feel like spring and I'm lovin' it so much! My windows are open and I've been taking walks with my little cousins every afternoon. It's simply beautiful out.

I've had the very best few weeks of my life this last month and hopefully I'll find time to write all about it... But for now I just wanted to say hey and share some quotes with y'all that I love.

Have an Amazing weekend!

 

 

 

Break The Silence Of Your Story

I’ve always wanted to try to be everyone’s “Sunshine Girl” and I’ve thought up until now that would mean that I couldn’t be real about my pain and my story.

But I’m learning there are people out there who need to know they’re not the only one that isn't as strong as they’d like to be.

You see, the fact is this, it doesn’t make me any stronger if I don't share my pain and weakness with y’all... And since my heart is to be a hope giver I'm going to do this even though it's very hard for me.
I know that there are so many people that are going through things behind the scenes....
I promise you, you’re not the only one.

Listen y’all, a lot of my friends didn't even know I was sick for several years simply because I hate sympathy and more then anything I wanted to be strong and I didn't want anyone to ever see me as weak or "the sick one".

I've been trying to write this post for a few days (and I've thought about it for months) because it's really hard for me to write about this but I've known for a long time that God gave me my story to encourage others...
But it's still super hard to write about. (I cry every time I read the book When Life Hands You Lymes that my sister, Lydia is writing.)

Last night Pastor Josh put on his Twitter:
"When you break the silence of your story it will tie you to someone in your world that wanted to quit before they heard what you had to say."

So I'm here to say,  keep going, you're going to get through this.
Listen to me, no matter how dark it is right now... The sun always comes out after a storm.
I know that some storms can be so super stinkin' long, but listen to me, the sun WILL come out.  I believe in you and know you can get through this.
Remember this, Where there's life, there's hope.

In April of last year (2014) 6 months after I was told I was Lyme free... I started feeling sickish again, we were traveling so I thought I was just worn out from everything.
But by July I was feeling so sick that I had to go another doctor only to find out that my Lyme was indeed back and that I had to go back on all kinds of medicines that I had thought were out of my life forever.

August, September, October, November and the beginning of December were the worst months I'd had in a long time. Many, many days I was too weak to get out of bed until around 2:00 or so in the afternoon...
So many times I would go downstairs and then was too weak to walk up to my room so I would sit on the floor and pull myself up the steps, sometimes I couldn't even do that so I'd just sleep on the couch.

I'm still not as strong or energized as I will be soon:) but these last almost 7 weeks have been the best of my life! I never ever remember feeling this good. I'm learning what well feels like, and may I just say, WELL FEELS AMAZING!!!

So, I’m about to share something with y’all that I wrote back at the beginning of December of 2014 (two months ago). Looking back and seeing how horrible I was feeling compared to now is just incredible to me and gives me hope everyday to keep going. Where there's life, there's hope.

"Exhaustion.
Why is it such a familiar word to me? I know it all too well for only being 17.
Unless someone has truly experienced extreme exhaustion, there's no way to fully understand how it feels.

My brain feels bruised and every sound I hear or every word someone speaks seems like a million minutes long.

Someone excitedly talks about what they see outside. I want to see it so I try to open my eyes but nothing happens. My eyelids are heavy as bricks. My eyes ache and are sore. 

I want so much for the noise to stop. But I can't say anything because I'm too weak to open my mouth.

The best way to escape all this noise is to leave the room.
Why haven't I thought of this before?
But as I go to stand up, I can't remember how to move my legs. MOVE LEGS! I want yell, but people think I'm stronger than that so I just sit back and act like I never wanted to get up in the first place."

Happy Birthday

Today was a very special day. My Pastor from ThreeLife church in Georgia turned 33!
If you ask me, I think that’s kinda like a golden birthday for him considering the fact that he pastors
3Life church.

I’m so thankful to be a part of this church even though I live so far away. Listening to messages on the ThreeLife app has helped me through many things and is an encouragement to me every single day.

Happy Birthday Pastor Josh!

Helping People

Thank you Hunter for being the awesome person that you are. You’re gonna be a great doctor. 
Keep up the great work and don’t lose sight of your dreams.

“My dream is to be a doctor. It’s good money and I want to be able to help people.

I going for my pre-med. I have 7 or 8 years until I’ll actually be a doctor.

I’m from Connecticut and I’d like to be a doctor there or Massachusetts.
I might even go overseas to Germany or England.”

~Hunter (CT)

Brad

Thank you so very much Brad for sharing your story. You are such a great inspiration. God has some huge plans for your life. Keep being who God has called you to be.

“I was put in foster care at age 3.
I was in many foster homes all my life and then I was adopted at age 16.

At 15 I got really sick and spent a lot of time in the hospital. That was pretty hard because I was just getting to know a new family and they never really knew if I was just faking it or if I was really sick.

After a while I was diagnosed with lupus. I went through nine months of chemo.
As a result of the chemo, my lupus is in remission and I’m doing pretty good.

What I've learned most is just to live a life that I'm proud of and that God's proud of.

Someday I want to adopt a kid.”
~ Brad (OH)