New Year's Night in the Land of Israel

It was New Years night, and I found myself in the land of Israel, hosted in a Bedouin tent with countless cups of coffee and sweetened tea, among my close friends and a couple of family members, on my last school trip. We were touring the Holy Land, naturally, because we are a Bible collage. But what we experienced was far from natural, and took us all by surprise. We experienced the supernatural. 

This night was one of those nights. 

Jew and Gentiles, from all across the great sea

Gathered in a desert, intermingled

Under Bedouin hospitality

Cultures collided, in the same tune and key. 

Voices around the campfire

We sang in perfect harmony. 

Hour after hour, we sang songs old and new. 

Ancient Hebrew, Taylor Swift,

Jason Maraz, too.

And we sang our songs of worship, our praises filled the air.

The atmosphere changed - you could feel it 

God's presence was there. 

Oh how He loves us...oh

How He loves us

How He loves us oh

A God of love? They didn't know Him

For His greatest act of love

Was never shown to them

When all was done, our friends and fire dissolved

But there were some that lingered

I know they wanted resolve 

Our light lit that dessert dark, and everyone could see

But only the curious and courageous sought answers

And one sought it from me...

Yes it's true, I got to share my Jesus with an Orthodox Jew 

She saw something in me - in all of us

And she had to have it, too. 

She asked me, why do you sing about God's love? I've never heard that before...

The God I know is angry, condescending

But can you tell me more?

And that's when I got to share, my encounter with His love. 

Here eyes fixed on mine

She couldn't get enough.

I explained that God is angry, so angry at sin.

That's why He sent His only Son

To pardon us through Him. 

She asked me how this worked, I felt God take over my description 

I used the Torah, the Old Testament 

And Abraham as explanation

God stopped Abraham, from sacrificing his son! 

Because God had a better way

And it would include salvation for everyone 

But Jesus was a Jew

And He came, He's here

Ariana, He's coming for you. 

This is how Christ changed me, all it takes is to believe

And after many wow's 

She finally hugged and thanked me

 

Our guide, Richard, talked with us about the journey - his journey, our journey, and their journey of finding Jesus. Everyone is on a journey, and not one journey looks the same. Richard encouraged us to look at people through this filter - that we are all in different places, but we're all on the same search for our Savior. 

I don't know where she was on her journey, but I did know that now I was a part of it. And now I intercede for her, for Ariana, for her journey to continue and that she would meet Jesus for herself. 

Yes, this night was one of those nights. Doubters became believers, and blind eyes became see-ers. 

"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (‭Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭14-15‬ NIV)

-BJM

Forgiveness

Forgiveness by brianna-jenelle on Polyvore

happily {Ever After} and my return to fairy tales

As most of you know, my two best friends and I started an online Christian community for women called His Ladyship. Our mission is to inspire women of all ages to embrace their royal, God-given inheritance through discovering their limitless value and extraordinary destiny. Our first series we were so ecstatic to introduce is called "Return to Fairy Tales," and here's a little of how I've found my own.

Just a couple nights ago I had this out of the ordinary impulse to watch a movie (since college, I've completely neglected anything projected on my TV). But not just any movie, I wanted to watch Ever After. Entirely unknowingly, I had forgotten that this movie was my very first "grown up" movie I watched as a child. And my, I did not prepare myself for what I would experience watching this as now grown woman (so weird to say!).

While watching this movie, I had the strangest sensation. I was not only having funny memories of rewinding my favorite scenes (the ball and engagement scene) over and over again, countlessly choosing this movie over others at family movie nights (poor daddy), the time I locked myself in the bathroom crying because my older sisters were having a sleepover watching Ever After with their "older" friends and I was not allowed to join because it was past my bedtime, and reenacting the whole movie from start to finish with my three imaginative sisters. While (most) of these memories are sweet and sentimental, I was most intrigued with the way I was remembering my thoughts I used to have, as a seven-ish year-old-girl, throughout the duration of the movie. Ever have those moments? I was literally transported, as the film was unfolding Cinderella's story, to the mind of a little old me.

I had thoughts like...

"People kiss with their mouths open? Gross!!"

And...

 "I think the prince is so handsome even though Whitney and Taylor don't!"

Oh, and this one!

"How did she manage to get ready so fast from servant to Countess when she went on that date with the prince?!" (Cosmetologist for life ;) )

I remember the scenes that I would privately act out in my make-believe world, where I was Cinderella and her world was my own. I remember picking up old and adult-looking books and sitting by my fireplace, just as did Cinderella, pretending to read because I scarcely knew how.

How fragile are the things of our childhood. The thoughts, delights, wonders, thrills, questions, scares, and the "anything is possible" spirit. So this was my return, and it was a beautiful one. I remembered the old me and compared it to the knew. And I have to admit, I sorta miss that bashful, sensitive, worry-wart of a little girl. She had an imagination that inspires me!

Just for fun and to celebrate you, I challenge you to flip through an album, read an old book, or watch an old movie from your childhood that will trigger those memories. What fun it is to remember and revisit the old you!

As for me, Ever After, you will ever have my heart and hold the fondest memories of the little me.

-BJM

My Return by brianna-jenelle on Polyvore

Remains and Resolutions

God recently brought this phrase to my mind in the quiet of a run through my neighborhood. It was a few days before New Years, and I was prayerfully considering the new year and all that it would bring.

Exit to the Entrance. 

I searched Scripture to better understand the Word God spoke to me. I thought it had to mean, "when God shuts a door, He'll open another." But much to my surprise, this phrase is nowhere found in the Bible! Instead, I found the following passage and what I believe to be the root of what the Lord was trying to show me on my run that day.

 "I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent" Revelation 3:1

It wasn't too long before I realized that God was not trying to tell me some flowery idea that the closing of a door (or year) was an opening of another (although there is nothing wrong with that thinking). On the contrary, the Lord was trying to wake me up! He was urging me to take inventory of my deeds, and to strengthen what remains. He was showing me my unfinished business, my potential, and the state of my heart.

So before I make my exit to my entrance, a new year full of resolutions, dreams, and a string of opportunities, I have to settle with my exit. I have to revisit the unfinished deeds, strengthen what remains, and repent before I move forward.

You'll be happy to know that in this same passage, just verses below, God then makes the promise, "I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name" Revelation 3:8

See? God was promising open doors after all! He just took me the round about way. God wants to open doors that wow me beyond my wildest imaginations. He wants to roll our the carpet and scream "go!" But I have clean up my remains before I walk out that destiny.

So, before you make your exit, what is your unfinished business of 2013? Yes, I know it's a few days into the new year, but maybe God wants to speak to your heart just as He has spoken to mine. Don't let the close of a year close your mind and heart to the things God might be still trying to show you. Settle your exit before you bolt to that entrance. Then and only then, He will see your deeds - the finished ones - and place open doors before you. Open doors that no human, no circumstance, and no Satan can shut!

-BJM

Treasures Inside

A flawless man, whom can find?
Peel back the layers
Find the treasures he holds inside

Trials, triumphs, and pardoned sin
Truth, depth
From deep within

A good man, not too good to be true
But one who could be wicked
If wicked he did choose

But chose to be faithful and chose to be true
Chose to love
To cherish, to woo

One who will fall, fail, and falter
But is a friend of forgiveness
And comes back even stronger

A man who is stubborn in all the right things
Who lives by his convictions
And laughs at the small things

One who sings in octaves below
So that laughter is promised
The brunt of a never ending joke

One who at first didn't check each mark
Because God's weaving a story
The tapestry of grace and two lives thus far

A man of integrity and the purest intentions
Eyes for only you
And does not withhold his affections

A flaw-full man, I have found
With treasures untold
And grace that abounds

Because all that glitters is not gold
His heart is tenderly tainted
And the one I cherish and hold

-BJM

Expressions of the Advent

Expressions of the Advent is a compilation of many things. Coming out of a season of learning and God speaking, I feel as though to adequately usher in this next Christmas season, to slow down and stay in the story, this physical act will force me to dwell of the Advent - the coming, the waiting, and the unwrapping of the greatest gift of our Lord.

God showed me the still, secret joy of eucharisteo in November, and I was even successful in participating in 28 days of photographed thanks! But in the midst of this Instagram trend coming to an end, I came upon this realization:

how can I stop counting, proclaiming blessings when the best gift has yet to come? 

So this Advent, my first recognized Advent, I resolve to make my gratitude exceed that of Thanksgiving. These twenty-five days leading up to Christmas will mark a series of artistic expressions in order to prepare my heart to soberly recieve the Gift freely, but weightily given - Jesus Christ. In the scramble of shoppers and frantics of final exam papers, I promise I won't miss Him this year. And hopefully, you won't either.

I invite you now to participate in our own expressions of Advent! Whether it be collaged, written, journaled, sung, or hand-crafted - make them your own! Anything will do, so long as it compels you to stop, still, and be moved by that silent night.




For further inspiration, visit Ann Voskamp's blog to follow along with her expressions of Advent. http://www.aholyexperience.com

-BJM

Advent by brianna-jenelle featuring holiday decor

Limitless

If there is one thing I have learned in this life about my gender, it is that we want to feel valued, loved, and cherished.

Value. What if it wasn't measured by how others perceive us? What if it wasn't about how talented we were at our professed passion, whether or not we had a good man (or any man at all), or our self summed up scale of beauty? 

If I was being stark honest, it's my own struggle to find value that has lead me to write. And somehow, I know I'm not the only one. The trouble is we are trying to find value in things and in people - but these measurements always fall short.

The very very beautiful thing is that no one can appraise our value, not even ourselves. Would you believe me if I told you that your value can't change based off the listing above and that it can't be evaluated on a scale? Measurements pertain to limits, but your value is limitless.

Value, in business terms, is determined by demand. So, what if we as fragile female creatures don't feel like we are in high demand...or in any demand at all? That we are useless, incapable, undesirable, and unnoticeable. But did you know that there is such a high demand for you that Jesus died so that He could intimately know, love, and cherish that beautiful soul of yours? And that because He did this, we are now able to shed our failures and fears and become new creations in Christ? Oh yes, heaven has a high demand for you. You were bought, purchased, at the highest cost, and you are not up for the bargain.

What we need to come to realize is that God has put a price tag on you! 

It reads: immeasurable. exquisite. chosen. priceless. worthy. redeemed. loved. free. child. daughter. beloved. beautiful. 

Ladies, you are prized at the highest of worth, far too costly for God to let go. Every spec of unlovely, hint of shame, or singe of pain has been redeemed so that no one can sum up your value but He - because He became sin, ugliness, chagrin, insecurity, and fear when He gave His life for yours on the cross.

Now that we've captured our limitless value, I want to pose a question I often ask myself: are you stripping value from people or are you bringing value to people in the way you engage or don't engage them? Are you a value giver or a value stripper? What if we treated others as if we had the lens of Christ, seeing them for their true value of worth? 

So how can we live in such a way that celebrates others? A few ways in which I feel God is teaching me is to listen intently, speak truth, encourage one another in love, rejoice in the dreams of others, and be attentive to those God puts in our path. If this lifestyle is as challenging for you as it is for me (especially when it comes to those test-ies), ask the Holy Spirit to help you in this way and watch how the fruits of the Spirt seep into the way you love others.

All my love,

-BJM

Limitless by brianna-jenelle on Polyvore