Tag: Bible

See You Soon

It’s hard to believe that ELK is almost a year old! What a crazy year it has been- the launch of ELK, our decision to move across the country, our actual move across the county, and all of the craziness and adventure that met us in our new home of Atlanta- just to name a few things! It feels a bit strange to have the title of this blog as “See You Soon”. I have been very distant the past couple of months here on the blog, and even on Instagram. There are a couple of reasons for that absence, including the worst case of writer’s block ever, as well as just simply trying to adjust to our new life here- work, friends, family, etc. Many of you may remember that last year around this time, God placed it on my heart to take a month off of social media to seek Him and what it was that He wanted me to do with ELK. Coincidentally, that lined up perfectly with the month leading up to my 21st birthday. This past week as I was praying, God placed something similar on my heart. I felt Him telling me that I needed to do some refocusing and reprioritizing before entering into my 22nd year of life.

That being said, I will be fasting for the next month leading up to September 12th- my 22nd birthday. My goal with this fast is to do just what God said I needed to- refocus and reprioritize my life. I will be fasting from a few things, one of which is social media. I will more than likely share more about my fasting experience once I’m back online. I am so looking forward to what God has for me and for ELK in this next year, and I am so excited to see what is revealed to me during this time of fasting.

My next blog will be posted on September 12th. I am not sure what it will be about, but I’m sure it’s gonna be good!

Thank you so much for all of your continued support! See you soon- when I’m feelin’ 22!

XOXO

ELK

 

The Future is NOT Female

I was scrolling through Instagram the other day, and I saw an image that truly saddened my heart. It was a picture of a young girl, no older than 6, wearing a shirt that said “The Future is Female”. I was angry and sad that this young, impressionable baby girl’s mind was being so polluted with such a false idea. We are living in a day and age full cultural confusion and deception. One of the biggest lies our generation is currently facing is feminism. By definition, the word feminism means the advocacy for women’s rights on the basis of equality of the sexes. Before we really dive into this, let it be known that I am ALL FOR equality. Women should be treated with the same respect as men, and we should have the same rights as men. That is, after all, what the very definition of feminism states.

All throughout history we see the mistreatment of women. We were seen as second class citizens that needed to stick to cleaning, cooking, and baby making/raising. We were degraded and disrespected, and told that our opinions didn’t matter. Things like owning land, having a will, having a bank account, and voting were strictly off limits for women in the United States up until the 19th century when the first strong wave of feminism hit the US. That wave would continue up until 1920 when women finally gained the right to vote. The Kennedy administration in the early 1960’s used women’s rights as one of many platforms for campaigning. Unlike the first wave of feminism, the second wave would bring to light more personal topics such as sexuality, issues in the workplace, family and home life, reproductive rights and marital rape. This would be followed by a third wave that would hit in the 1990’s, which was fueled heavily by the media and pop culture. All of these movements would give way to where we are now- hot and heavy in the middle of the fourth wave of a new “feminism”. This is an unprecedented movement, the likes of which we have never seen before. It seems as if the issue of feminism is quite literally everywhere. We will find issue and offense with basically anything at this point. In this movement, feminists are still fighting for reproductive rights- the use and coverage of contraception, affordable and good quality reproductive health care, education on sexually-transmitted disease, and abortion. That is another topic for another time, but I will leave it at this- the “right” to terminate, or kill, a baby because you don’t want it… okay. They are also waging war on “wealthy, white men” and every conservative citizen in the United States because their beliefs don’t match up with their own . Now look, I get it- a lot of wealthy, white men have abused their power in horrid ways. But does that really mean that it’s necessary  for a woman to dress up as a giant vagina and march up and down the street asking for the government to use tax-payer money to cover the cost of a woman killing an unborn baby? Modern day feminists have set standards of disrespect, vulgarity, and self-glorification. This brings me to my main point- one of the main driving forces behind the feminist movement is wanting equality and respect. My question is, how on earth do you expect to ever be respected when you are offering nothing to respect? Any good that could possibly be brought about through the movement is being tarnished by the radical and obscene displays of “feminism”. Well, my friend, if being a feminist means marching around with vulgar messages on a poster board and wearing explicit costumes, I can guarantee you I will not be signing up any time soon!

Moving right along. Many of today’s women are so concerned about what their male counterparts are doing and getting, that they have been blinded to another, much larger and more harmful epidemic tearing apart the female culture… girl-on-girl hate. From the outside looking in, most people would think in this day and age that women are all pro-each other and for women rising up in the ranks, but have you ever read some of the comments of girls social media pictures? It’s absolutely cruel! Our automatic response as women when we see another woman’s success is to say, “Oh, well that’s great, BUT… I could do better.” or “Awesome, but why would you wear that?” We constantly look for something to lessen the value of what another woman has done in order to make ourselves look better. This is something we are ALL guilty of- myself included. So once again, we are expecting something from someone else that we aren’t even giving to one another!

The saddest thing, in my opinion, is that society as a whole has lost sight of the beauty of being a woman. They have been so busy chasing after what they “don’t have”, that they have forgotten what we do have! Women are beautiful, strong, sensitive, and complex beings. We have the incredible ability to function in logic and emotion at the same time. We can grow and carry a human being inside of us for 9 months. We can raise children, keep a household, work our dream job and be a support system for our family all at the same time. Women are amazing! God has gifted women with so many beautiful attributes that only women have yet, somewhere along the line we decided that wasn’t enough. God has placed extreme value on every person, male and female. He has created us to be equals yet, individuals. Men and women were created physically, mentally, and emotionally different from one another with the sole purpose of complementing one another. This means that there should be a mutual respect from one to the other. The fact of the matter is, man needs woman, and woman needs man. Equals, but individuals.

Rather than trying to be the “supreme sex”, we should be focused on honoring and respecting each other. I believe that God is restoring women to their rightful place in society. He wants us to be successful, powerful, wealthy, functioning members of society. Because of the way modern feminists act towards and think about men, I believe feminism is the “fake version” of the life God intends for women. God will never upgrade your life by degrading someone else’s life. That would imply that He wants a better life for one person that he does for another. This is the main reason why the words on that little girls shirt saddened me so much. My belief is that the future is NOT female. A future that is female is a future that cannot sustain itself. The same is true for a future that is male. The only route to a prosperous future is for this world to realize the true meaning of equality- that no man or woman is above anyone else, regardless of income, race, sex or religion. My prayer for this world, and especially for the next generation of young ladies to grace it, is that they would understand this concept better than those who came before them. I pray that they know their worth, and that they would never let anyone convince them otherwise, but I also pray that they would know the worth of those around them. We, as women, need to do better.  We need to bring ourselves above the line of disrespecting ourselves and others. We cannot control what others do, but we can control how we respond. I know from personal experience that it can be exhausting to experience the continual bombardment of hatred, complaining, and negativity, but rather than allowing that to stir up those emotions in ourselves, allow it to fuel a fire for positive changes. Mother Teresa once said, “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.” That’s where it all starts. Raise up your young girls to be strong, independent, self-confident, and self-respecting without making them believe that they are above anyone else in this world. Teach them to be gentle and kind, because at the end of the day, it often takes more strength to be kind and loving than it does to be hard and callous. Raise up your young men to be strong, yet sensitive; to respect and protect women. Teach them that, though they may be the physically stronger sex, there is a strength in women that this world needs. There is nothing wrong with knowing your strengths, but being able to acknowledge other people’s strengths and how they complement your weaknesses is a game changer. It’s called humility, and this world could you a healthy dose of it. I challenge you today, especially the women who are reading this, learn to exemplify humility. It doesn’t make you a weak person to acknowledge your weaknesses. In fact, it makes you stronger.

XOXO

ELK

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I want to talk about a relatively hot topic right now. It is a controversial subject, and I understand that not everyone is going to agree with my stance. That is totally fine by me. I wrote majority of this blog a few months ago in an effort to release some of my frustrations in a healthy way. In fact, it was not intended to be released, however I later felt the urge to release it, and I believe that the one year anniversary of last year’s election is appropriate timing!  It is absolutely impossible to go anywhere without hearing something negative about our government and its leaders. Whether it’s the president, a congressman, a senator, or a police officer, negativity is quite literally everywhere. News headlines are “This person is a racist bigot”, “So and so had an affair” “Someone can’t seem to keep their mouth shut”, etc. Very rarely do we see a positive headline. When you are constantly flooding your mind and heart with negativity, especially toward one demographic of people (in this case politicians), eventually you begin to exude negativity yourself (Matthew 12:34) This is why God told us in Proverbs 4:23, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for out of it flow the springs of life.” In other words, the environment you allow your life to soak in will be absorbed into your heart, and you will begin to live like that which you surround yourself with.

Back to the topic of our leaders. I understand completely if you disagree with what they say or do. Just as an example, for the most part I like him, but I do not always agree with everything President Trump says, or how he says it. If you allow that disagreement to fester into anger, and you start secluding yourself into groups that only feel the same as you do, you begin to soak in an environment of negativity.  Negativity exudes from you and you begin to only speak negative things against the person you disagree with or have even been disrespected by. My question for you is, does the Bible not say to love your enemies? (Matthew 5:44). When you love someone or something, you naturally show respect towards it or them.

You may not like the leadership we have in place as a nation today. You may not like certain aspects of our functionality as a nation today. I know there are areas I don’t like. And that’s okay, because there is always room for improvement. You may not like it, but you should respect it. I want to encourage you- If you are a Bible believing, God-fearing Christian, God has commanded that you respect the leaders He puts in place. Romans 13:1 says: “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.” There is so much in this! Let’s break it down:

  1. Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities: No one is exempt from what Paul is about to say!
  2. There is no authority except from God: God- our amazing God- is in charge! He is over every leader, and He alone puts them into their respective leadership role. Be it a parent, teacher, employer, policeman or president, God has put them there for a reason.
  3. And the authorities that exist are appointed by God: God put all our leaders in place. You have to grasp this concept. Paul is literally writing this to the Romans who had one of the most corrupt, tyrannic, cruel governments ever! And he is telling them to respect their leaders! I mean, we are talking murders, incest, slavery, and huge injustices from the roman government, and Paul is telling them to respect their leaders. And you thought our government was jacked up.

A lot of people would argue respecting government officials with, “Well, they don’t respect me, or my race, or my religion, so I am not going to respect them.” But if this is a command from God, who are you to say who deserves respect and who doesn’t? Just as God commands to respect leaders, He also gives several other commands such as, “Thou shalt not lie, steal, etc. And, love thy neighbor” So if we apply the same, ”He doesn’t respect me, I’m not respecting him” principle to those, it would look like, “He stole from me, so I’m stealing from him”; or “He lied to me, so I’m going to lie to him”; or even worse, “He didn’t show love to me, so I’m not going to show love to him”. Ultimately, you cannot fight disrespect with disrespect. By all means, stand up for injustice, speak up for those who don’t have a voice, and love those who need love, but do it in a respectful manner. When you disrespect someone, you are ultimately disrespecting God. The same is true for the opposite- when you honor someone, someone created in God’s image as a child of His own, you are honoring God. If you truly cannot find it in your heart to respect someone, I would challenge you to, at the very least, respect God enough to give Him the benefit of the doubt that He might actually know what He’s doing. I am fully aware that we have some big issues to fix in the country. I know and believe that racism still exists today. It breaks my heart to see it. I have, believe it or not, experienced it myself. I think it’s disgusting and ungodly to the max. I cannot wait to live in a world where we define each other by our actions and not by our skin color. But you cannot fight racism with disrespect. Instead, prove them wrong. Show them that they are the ignorant ones, not you. Real change can only come about through radical love. Love everybody, even your enemies. Respect everyone, even those that disrespect you. The Bible says in Romans 12:1 (MSG), “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.” Would you honestly present a life to God that’s littered with judgement and disrespect just because someone may or may not have done it to you first? God did not call us to live according to how the world treats us, but according to the call on our lives. (Eph 4:1-3 MSG, I Peter 3:8-12 NKJV)

My heart breaks at the state of our Nation. There is so much division and hatred from ALL sides. But we were not called to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewal of our minds (Romans 12:2). Renew your mind! Try to see things from a new perspective! I may not like the state of our beautiful land- the land that so many have worked and fought and died for; I may see a million things that need to change and improvements that could be made, but it doesn’t worry me. It doesn’t stress me out, because I know that we are and always will be ONE NATION UNDER GOD. He has never failed us, and he never will. I also know that God has appointed the proper leaders for such a time as this. He is in control. He knows what he is doing. Now it is our job to pray for our leaders (I Timothy 2:1-2). Regardless of if you like or dislike your leaders, you should pray for them. Below are some scriptures to pray over our leaders:

The Fruits of the Spirit:

  • Galatians 5:22-23 “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

This is pretty much all-encompassing. Pray that your leaders would walk in the fruits of the spirit. That they would not only portray them in their own lives, but that those they come in contact with show them as well.

 

Wisdom:

  • I Corinthians 2:16 “16 For ‘who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.”
  • Proverbs 3:21 “My son, let them not depart from your eyes— Keep sound wisdom and discretion;”
  • James 3:17 “17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.”
  • Proverbs 2:11 “11 Discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you,”

Our leaders need wisdom. They are making countless decisions every day that not only affect them, but their nation, as well as the rest of the world. The wisdom they need is one that only God can give.

 

Rest:

  • Matt 11:28-30 “28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Stress, anxiety, and restlessness should probably be included in the job description for any government leadership position. Pray for your government officials to have supernatural rest amidst the craziness that is their lives. When you are rested, you are more likely to make sound decisions.

 

Protection:

  • Psalms 59: 1 “Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; Defend me from those who rise up against me.”
  • Psalm 91

Threats are made against our government officials every single day. Whether they are empty or legitimate doesn’t matter. The fact of the matter is there are legitimate enemies of the United States, both foreign and domestic, that would love to bring harm to any of our head honchos.

 

Health- Spiritual and Physical

  • 3 John 1:2 “2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers”

In order to do their jobs effectively, our leaders need to be healthy, both spiritually and physically. Plead the blood of Jesus over them and their families. Declare that no weapon formed against them shall prosper.

I truly hope you hear my heart through this. I do not want this to be the start of a political debate. We get enough of that from the news media and social media, and quite frankly, I’m exhausted from hearing it all. We never know if what we are being fed is fact or fiction when it comes from those sources. But the one thing that will always remain true and constant is the Word of God and what it commands us to do. As Billy Graham said, “It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, God’s job to judge, and my job to love.” Stay in your lane. Love. And where there is love, there is respect.

XOXO

ELK

What’s Love Got to do with It

Love is an amazing, beautiful, wonderful, mysterious, adventurous thing. It instantly changes an atmosphere. It creates a safe space and a warmth. It births intimacy, both physically and emotionally. Love is empowering- when you know you are loved, you feel as if anything is possible. You feel strong and beautiful and at peace. Love means trust. I honestly don’t think you can have love and not have trust. When you love someone, you will go to the ends of the earth to make sure they are taken care of- that they have everything they need and that they are safe. When someone you love is happy, it makes you happy. When they are hurting, you hurt. When they are sad, you feel sad. When they are angry, part of you feels angry as well. There is such a special bond between people who love each other- be it family, friends, or lovers. Growing up, I loved love. I could sit and watch romantic movies or read romantic books till the cows came home. It was just so beautiful to me. I loved the feeling I got from seeing two people so in love that they would do anything for each other. I loved seeing real life love, too. I had and continue to have a beautiful example of love between my parents and grandparents. I loved seeing couples interact with one another. Seeing true friendships with a foundation of love made my heart happy. Watching a parent’s unwavering love for their child warmed my heart. As I’ve grown older and become married myself, I, too, have been able to experience the wonder that is love. It’s hard to think of a love greater than the love I have for my husband. But I know it’s out there. In fact, I get to experience it every day.

See, when I think of how much I love my family and my husband, and how much I am loved by them, I can’t help but think of how much more God loves me. The love between God and his children is the greatest love story of all. Even when we go back to the old testament, before grace replaced the law, we see His love for us. We see it in His creating Adam and Eve. Again in his warning to Noah, and the promise He made after the flood. Abraham experienced it with the birth of Isaac. Moses saw it time and time again, even in the wilderness. David saw the love of God at every turn in his life, from shepherding as a young boy to being king of Israel. Daniel saw it when he was delivered from the lion’s den, and Jonah from the belly of the whale. Then we move on to the New Testament, and right off the bat, God gives us the greatest show of His love this world will ever experience. He loved us so much that he sent His only Son to endure all of the sin that had ever been and will ever be, and to die on the cross for us. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we get to experience an abundant, grace filled, love filled, everlasting life! How crazy a love is that!? We not only get the amazing examples of love that the Bible gives us through the old testament and the new testament in Jesus, and Paul, and Silas, and Timothy, and John, and all of the miracles that Jesus performed, but we get to experience this love and greater on a daily basis. Every second of every day is filled with the extravagant, unending, unwavering, love of God.

Even more so, when we think of the effects of our love on other people’s lives or vice versa, how much greater, then, is the effect of God’s love in and through our lives? God’s love is what raises the dead to life. It heals the sick and broken. It brings joy and peace and strength and healing, and salvation. In His love we find hope, and vision, and restoration. When being examples of God’s love becomes our sole ambition, we become unstoppable. As a result, when we offer ourselves to be the vessels and conduits of God’s love on the earth, we possess the power to change atmospheres through the power of His love.

Why then, do we feel we have the right to disregard this love? We fear things and become anxious as if God isn’t in control. We become depressed as if we don’t have an unending supply of joy. We feel alone as if we don’t have the Holy Spirit that sticks closer than a brother. We act out in anger as if Jesus isn’t our peace. We mistreat others as if God hasn’t called us to love one another.  Worst of all, we become prideful and think we can do this thing by ourselves, when in reality, we desperately need the love, grace, joy, and peace of God. Can you imagine what we would accomplish as a church if we fully grasped the concept of God’s love for us? We would be able to set aside our selfishness and our prideful ambition, and fully chase after the things of God. I believe our generation is one encounter with God’s love away from a total and complete reckless abandon of our selfish ambition and prideful ways. We are one encounter away from an abandonment of our own wills and saying, “God, I don’t care what it looks like, or where you take me, or what I have to go through.” This is because we know that our God’s love is so vast and beautiful that it will carry us through even the darkest and lowest places. Our revelation of God’s love is so very crucial. It is the key to unleashing Heaven on earth. Our being yielded to God’s love is the key to His Kingdom come, and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Today I would encourage you to take a look at your life. Look at the people you come in contact with and influence. I don’t care if it’s for 5 minutes on the bus or train, or if it’s someone you live with. Analyze your interactions with them- have you really been showing the love of God? Trust me, I know this can be difficult, because life isn’t all cotton candy and gumdrops. People can be mean and nasty, and you don’t always want to show them the love. But ask yourself, what do you stand to lose by loving people? I can guarantee it’s nowhere near what you have to gain.

 

XOXO

ELK