To the Tough Girl - Grace Sutton

It's quite beautiful how this sweet soul and I met. The Lord worked in really cool ways to bring her into my life through my TooKnowYou Bible study that we have been having over the past 5 months.

Grace has some serious passion for her beloved Savior. I have very much enjoyed getting to know her and watch her life her life for the Kingdom of God!

 

Please enjoy this inspiring post that Grace has so beautifully written for us all!

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Howdy! I’m Grace. I’m a young lady who loves her family, brothers, cowboy boots, books, and cooking, amongst many other things. God transferred me from “the domain of darkness…to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13) at a young age, so I have a passion to know, love, and enjoy God as a young person. I am happy to join Kallie in this same passion and am honored to write this post!!

Are you a tough girl? I am. I’m not afraid of a lot of things (just don’t talk about snakes or tornado's). I’m always in the political debates around the Thanksgiving dinner table because conflict doesn’t bother me. I’m very driven to get things done. I like the smell of hard work. I don’t like to take breaks. I tend to produce harsh, blunt statements. I rarely cry. Emotions and I have a lot of wrestling matches.

Perhaps you’re a tough farm girl out there who can conquer the world in her boots. Or are you a tough girl that gets straight A’s on a concrete college campus? Maybe you live in the city and tell people like it is. I ask, are you a tough girl? If you are, I write this article for you. If you aren’t, praise God! Praise God the body of Christ is made up of more personalities then mine.

I may be a tough girl, but there’s nothing that shatters my toughness like a holy God and his word.

Recently, I read Ephesians 4 and came to verse 32: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted…”

“Tenderhearted!” I thought. “What does THAT mean? It sounds repulsive! And sappy!” My tough girl didn’t like this command.

But it is God who has revealed to me my own sinfulness and need of a savior.  He has turned me to Christ, my only hope for redemption. He has made me new (1 Corinthians 5:17). The word of God shows me how I ought to live a life transformed by Christ because I still have this old nature with me—a tough-girl mode—that has to be conformed to the image of Jesus. Paul said it right: “I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand” (Romans 7:21). Whenever I want to act for God’s glory I find my own pride blinding me and telling me to act like the tough, perfect, fearless, emotionless girl instead. That’s what I felt when I read Ephesians 4.

Whatever the length of my repulsiveness, I had to take this verse to heart just like any other passage. I couldn’t ignore it. And I don’t want you to either, fellow tough girl.

When looking up the Greek word, I found that this tenderheartedness seems to imply compassion, identifying with the sufferings of others, and bringing another person’s heart into the picture. It might mean crying with someone hurting from cancer. It may mean that you let yourself become deeply moved about an unbelieving heart.

Maybe it means holding the hands of grief or sitting with another’s shame and regret. Maybe it means yelling a “whoo-hoo” at a friend’s exciting news. Compassion has to seep through the tough girl’s stalwart face. Romans 12:15 says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” Above all, this tenderheartedness means that I have to lay down my personality as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1). I have to drop my own agenda in order to minister to another’s needs. My priorities have to be broken and my to-do list reversed.

Being a tough girl is reproachable, not simply because Ephesians 4:32 says to be tenderhearted, but because it is not ultimately Christlike.

I say “ultimately” for a reason. Jesus had to be tough sometimes. He yelled at the Pharisees, “You brood of vipers!” (Matthew 12:34) He had to bear the cross, “despising the shame,” and that had to take some guts (Hebrews 12:2). Christians have to take up their crosses, endure sufferings, and do hard things. Toughness isn’t entirely ruled out. It just has to be directed in a Christlike way.

After Ephesians 4:32, the apostle goes on to say, “Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children” (Ephesians 5:1). This is what must motivate the rearing-in of the tough girl. I want to be an imitator of God because I am his child. I want to be Christ-like. Christ wrapped himself in the form of sinful flesh to identify with my weaknesses—yours, too. He bent down from glory to be with the sinful and the hurting. Jesus wept when he came to Lazarus’ tomb. Jesus rejoices whenever those he bought with a price have been freed from bondage to sin. That’s the image I’m being conformed to. That image is more glorious and joy-filled than anything else.

So, tough girls, join me in being tenderhearted and cultivating compassion. Let’s be imitators of God, children washed in the blood of the lamb. And let’s be tough for his sake alone.

P A S S I O N

The season of life between our teenage years, and our "adulting" years can be super frustrating. It's a season of unknown steps... It's full of moments of uncertainty... It's smothered in tears, confusion and sometimes regret.

Most of us have a passion, but it's in this season we have to step out and figure out how to live out the passions in our hearts.

In these seasons, we can be tempted to do what our selfishness wants, or we can choose to follow in the footsteps of Christ.

I really think Satan uses this season of life to discourage young people. It is a battle that so many people in this generation are facing right now.

I want you to know... Everything we do in life is completely worthless without Christ, but with Christ, everything we do becomes full of worth.
Even when all we're doing is going to work every day, or doing school that seems never ending, or just living in the midst of the confusion that so easily entangles our hearts whenever we're not seeing clearly what God has in store for our lives.

These things are part of His faithful, purposeful plan. The ultimate goal is to discover His radiance and fall more in love with Him. If we do that, He is going to use our lives for a great purpose.

Let your Christ centered passion lead you to a purposeful life serving Jesus, no matter where you end up!

Tattered and Stonger than Ever

Pages; crisp and new. Unread and unseen. A new bible lay freshly unwrapped. The beholder, the girl, holds her new bible for the first time, knows not the power, the might, the glory, in which she holds loosely in the palm of her hands. 

She opens it to read. She reads the stories, but does she know it's real? 

Her heart wonders if what her eyes are seeing are simply a fairytale, or the greatest truths her eyes will ever see.

She reads. And she reads. 

She begins to see Gods hands in the many workings of the Lord. Noah and his ark, Moses and the Israelites, Esther faithfully coming before the throne uninvited; Job, oh yes, Job. A man of character. A man whom the Lord allowed Satan to seek to devour, yet in midst of the greatest heartache that could ever be held, Job stayed faithful. He persevered. 

And then there were the Psalms, full of hymns and prayers used to praise the King. 

The girl sees sin at its darkest. But she sees the Lord use the most evil of men to bring forth the greatest glory of all; Jesus. 

As she reads, the pages start to get wrinkled. She's realizing she is falling in love with Jesus. 

She feels sick the first time she spills her morning coffee on those crisp white pages. After the third and forth time, she realizes that unfortunately, spilling coffee is just gonna be one of those mistakes she will always make ;) 

As her bible wrinkles, her heart grows stronger. As the binding pulls away, her life pulls even tighter. As she reads of Jesus' life, her excitement and desire to fall into a deep love with Jesus magnifies into something she can hardly stand to contain inside of her being. 

So she goes, and she tells. She tells of His healing hand; she tells about how the power of the Lord has and continues to answer her prayers; she tells of His love for the sinner. She cannot and will not keep this to herself. 

See, in her hand she holds a book; a book packed full of glories; packed full of truth. 

She wants you to know what Jesus has done in her life. She wants you to to experience the wonder of a tattered bible, and a heart solid as the Rock. 

Her love for Jesus spills over; it spills over into the hearts of her parents, her little brothers & sisters, her friends. She builds relationships built on the foundation of Christ. Little eyes watching her, she brings little children to know Jesus, which blossoms into adults who bring more children to know Jesus. She touches generations and generations. She is a woman of strength and self discipline. She is a mighty warrior for Christ because she digs deep into the word and prayer, every day.  

Years gone by and she sits in her rocking chair; she's now 83 years old. She holds her precious bible, close to her heart. Her eyes can no longer see well enough to read the words on those pages. Sometimes her great-grandkids will come and read to her. 

But as she rocks in that chair, she doesn't need to read the words. She already knows them. She knows them because through the many years, she read them over, and over, and over again. She cannot read her stained white papers any longer, but because of the years of pouring her heart out to Christ, tears dripping on the pages, coffee spills, laughter, glory, joy, peace, sharing His truth with loved ones...she has those pages etched into her very being. 

She knows Jesus, and she wants to tell the world; one tattered page at a time. 

It's Who He Is

I've been studying the characteristics of Jesus lately and I highly recommend you do the same. Have you ever taken the time to dig deep into the heart of Christ to truly understand where His heart is, and why He is the way He is? It is truly amazing and humbling. Think about it this way. Our flesh, it is weak. It is so easy to give way and let our flesh win over our hearts; even if it's something small, sometimes we take the "easy way out." Jesus, His character, His life and the way He did things was as natural as your desire to cave to the flesh. Do you understand me? In our natural state, we lie, we cheat, lust, covet, whatever. Those are the things that make us fleshly human beings.
In Jesus' natural state, He loves endlessly, forgives no matter the circumstance, He is the ultimate servant, He is full of gentleness, patience and self-control. Those are the things that make Him perfect; set apart, different. Jesus cannot be anything but perfect. He cannot sin, it's who He is. He is what good is.
He calls us to be like Him. Anything and everything good in our lives is because of Jesus. It's the Holy Spirit living in us.
Jesus never did and never will look away from people; He always has and always will look upon people with compassion and grace. He understands your real needs. He understands your physical, mental needs and He knows your spiritual hunger and thirst.
This perfect man, Jesus, He actually takes the time to care fully about you. Breathe that in for a second.
The one and only perfect One, cares about y-o-u. And He wants you to be like Him.

E N D L E S S • P U R S U I T

Here's a secret: I like getting results without the process. 

I want to be able to run 5 miles without having to struggle through the first 4. I want easy. 

I want to be able to have the voice of an angel, but I don't want to have to go through the process of learning how to use my voice. 

I want easy. I want amazing. And I want it now. 

Lately, I've been spinning. My heart has been wondering why I'm not "there" yet in my spiritual walk. 

I read and read and pray and read and pray and worship and pray and then I read some more yet the more I do this, the more I realize how much I really have to learn and how far I really have to go. 

I believe this is a reality a lot of us face. We want what we want, when we want it, how we want it, and while we're at it, we want it served on a silver platter of beauty and ease. 

Life just isn't like that. 

It's messy sometimes. 

A lot of times its 3 pumpkin pies burnt in the oven, 2 with too little spice and 1 that's just to runny before we finally make the perfect pie. 

It's learning. It's growing. 

But you know what? It's also not giving yourself the option of getting discouraged. 

With all situations in life, if it takes a long time, our natural response is to just throw our hands up and walk away. 

Friends, Jesus doesn't do that to you. He doesn't throw up His hands. To do that, He would become unfaithful to His promise to remain faithful, therefore, He would cease being God. (2 Thessalonians 3:3-5; 2 Timothy 1:11-13; Deuteronomy 31:6)

Why give up on Him? Why throw your hands up to the One who loves you more than anyone could even comprehend?

Even when you're understanding isn't where you want it to be, don't give up. Please, please don't give up. 

What you're going through now is what is going to make that moment of perfection so much more glorious. 

The moment the gates of understanding open into a flood and you're just like "OH!"; that's worth it. 

Jesus is worth it. 

It's an endless pursuit. But a glorious pursuit. Press on. 

2 Thessalonians 3:3-5

But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. May the Lord direct your hearts into Gods love and Christs perseverance. 

2 Timothy 1:11-13

Here is a trustworthy saying: 

If we died with Him, we will also love with Him. 

If we endure, we will also reign with Him. 

If we disown Him, He will disown us; 

If we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself. 

Deuteronomy 31:6

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. 

C H A O S

I woke up this morning to some very loud noises outside my window. I looked 
out to see about 6 or 7 trucks literally destroying our road at 6:30 in the morning.
Not my kinda wake up call, that's for sure.
I tried to go back to sleep on my sleep-in morning, but without much success.
I climbed out of bed and headed to the kitchen for some coffee.

As I got ready for work this morning I started feeling very overwhelmed.

Not because of the road, if that's what you're thinking.
But because of the road in my heart. 

There is so much change and messiness in my life at the moment.
We haven't had a kitchen for a long time now, we've been working on the
basement for a year now, meaning our home is, honestly, {un}organized chaos.
A ton of really close friends moved away, I'm working full time, and I don't see the
dear people in my life nearly like I used to. I'm learning {slowly, ha!} how to adult. ;)
It's a big season of change for a lot of people these days. All the people in my life are
experiencing change; some good, some hard, but all for the chance to learn and
grow in our walk with Jesus. 

As I was thinking about this messiness, it hit me... That road outside isn't
going to fix itself. In fact, someone has been in long thought process to decide
it needed redone. They didn't just wake up one morning and decide to tare up
an entire street. It's been a work in the making. 

On the contrary, it's not going to fix itself. Someone is going to have to put a lot
of work into it. And most of its not easy work. It's going to cost a lot of people
sweat, time and energy. But the product at the end, will be so worth it. 

My life, your life, can sometimes be a mess. Just like this morning when it hit me
how much change is going on in life, that didn't mean all that change happened
right then. It's been a work in progress. God has been working His plan.
He saw I needed some re-doing, some personal maintenance. He knows what and
why He is bringing me through so much change. 

I have the power through Christ to decide today to embrace change and move full force
into it. I have the power through Christ to work through the baggage I have carried.
I have the power through Christ to completely own-it beautifully in this season of
life through worship and praise rather than sulking and pouting. I don't have to
worry. I have the power through Christ to overcome what hurts, no matter how
bad it hurts, or how hard it stings.
I can step out and look forward to the beautiful masterpiece that He is creating in me. 

W H A T • A R E • Y A • G O N N A • DO?

Let's get real for a second. 

I wish I could go back. 

I wish I could go do the past year and a half over again. 

It's not that I didn't learn or grow from it, because I truly truly have. 

If I could go back, I could do so many things differently. 

I would listen harder. I would hug tighter. I would be a little more crazy.  I would talk to Jesus way more and dig even deeper in His words. I would love more, and cherish my loved ones more than ever. Instead of staying inside, I'd go dance in the rain. I'd sing a little louder and definitely SMILE much much brighter. 

I expressed this to a friend yesterday and she asked me 9 simple words.

"So what are you going to do about it?"

The truth is I cannot go back. It's impossible for us to relive our life experiences and walk them out differently. 

The good news is, we get to heed our past experience and use it to grow us. That experience can change our outlook on life and help us to do it a little better next time... And the next... And the next. 

The truth is I wish I could change a lot of things. 

But I can't, and that's ok. 

So what are YOU gonna do about your regrets? The things that you wish you could have done better? 

We can sulk. We can have a little party of pity... Or we can choose to move forward and learn from our past! We can choose Jesus in the morning when we wake, all through our days and before we go to rest. 

I don't know about you, but I want to choose the latter. In fact, that's what I'm gonna do. 🙌🏼