"Welcome to the Kingdom."

My friend Marleah and I got to say this to two ladies last night.  Well..really...it was 12:30am (ish) on December 1st.

I am overwhelmed with joy and praise for God Almighty.  These two young women have been on serious spiritual journeys this whole semester and so many people in Cru have had an impact on them.  God blessed Marleah and I immensely to allow us to be a part of their moments of faith.

One of the coolest things about this whole story is that these two girls are best friends who have been on this journey together.  In one night, they both surrendered their lives to Christ.  They are new sisters in Christ!  My joy and excitement cannot be put into words.  Marleah and I just keep smiling goofily at one another that God would invite us in to this very personal and intimate moment. 

¹¹ As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” ¹² For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³ for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  Romans 10:11-13

 God is so good.  He can and will do immeasurably more than we can hope or imagine. 

Grace and peace,
Shayla M.

I Used to Think I Was Beautiful...

...And then I fell beneath the world's standards of beauty. 

Warning: I am about to be terribly candid.

I used to think I looked pretty enough that men would be attracted to me...then I gained weight.  Enough to make me feel terribly uncomfortable in my own skin.  Enough to change my whole perspective about my appearance.  Enough to make me feel...well...ugly and fat.

A plea to my man friends:  Help the women in your life believe they are beautiful.  . The media yells at them enough that they're not.  That they're too round, they have unsightly "muffin-tops," that their skin is not perfect enough, that their stretch marks are ugly.  Pray for the women in your life, give honest complements when merited,  love them well.

A plea to my women friends:  The negative self-talk has to stop.  The self-hatred has to stop. We need to believe that no matter what this twisted world says about beauty, it's just not true. We were fearfully and wonderfully made.  We were created with purpose.  Our Creator loves us deeply. 

Now the challenge is to believe deep down that I am beautiful, that we are beautiful.  That even though I am not the "perfect" size or weight for my height anymore, I am worth loving.

Easier said than done.  But to be truthful, it's the road I'm trying to navigate right now.

Thanks for reading.
Shayla

Five Years Later

November 4th, 2006

That was the day I first believed that Jesus is my Lord and Savior.
Like Paul says in Romans 10:9:

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

I declared with my mouth that I was a sinner, that I could do nothing to earn His love and my salvation, and my life as a Born-Again Christian began. I don't know that I can even begin to put the past five years into words.  I wrote a facebook note several weeks after I took this step of faith, and I thought I'd share it.  I think I describe the experience and the excitement of beginning a new life in Christ quite well:

I love God. And He loves me. He always has. A few weeks ago I got down on my knees and told Him I was willing to give up my life to Him. I have never felt better. God is so good. I finally understand that He is all I need and all that I will ever need. I am so happy and grateful that I am His. I have been reading His Word and trying everyday to grow under His watchful care. And because of His amazing love I am saved forever by His grace. How wonderful is that? How truly amazing and incomprehensible is a God who loves you no matter what you do, who knows you're sinful and always will be. And that's why He sent Jesus, His Word, down to earth as a sacrifice. A living sacrifice. God is so good. He is the truth, the way, the light. That's all there is to it.

Looking at it now I realized I misquoted Jesus when he said in John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life"--but I don't think it matters much because He IS my light now.

I'm in love with Jesus. That's all there is to it.

Thanks for reading.
Shayla Marie

C.S. Lewis is Quite Quotable

Food for thought for the day from C. S. Lewis:

Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted in spite of your changing moods.

When I read this, I was surprised at how much it revealed about my wavering faith...and how I often don't hold to the faith when life gets tough, when my moods change.

What do you think?  How have your changing moods affected what you think to be true about the world? About God?

Grace and peace,
Shayla

Grace

A stranger steals your laptop. You don't think you're ever going to see it again, then you catch her using it at the local coffee shop.  There are plenty of ways you could respond, let's entertain two of them:

If you responded with mercy the conversation might go like this:
You: "Hey, so I'm pretty sure that's my laptop."
Stranger: "Oh. This is awkward. I thought I could totally get away with this."
You: "Hm. Well now that we're here, I'm going to ask you to give it back.  You really deserve some sort of punishment, but I'm feeling particularly merciful today, so...I'm going to just ask you to give it back."
Stranger: "Whoa, really? I thought you were going to call the cops."
You: "Nope, I just want my macbook back."
Stranger: "Ok." then she gives you back the laptop.

Now what would happen if you responded with grace?
You: "Hey, so I'm pretty sure that's my laptop."
Stranger: "Oh. This is awkward. I thought I could totally get away with this."

You think to yourself: Well this IS awkward, but I think I'll respond with grace.
You: "How about this: even though I don't know you, and you are a stranger and now my enemy, I'm going to extend grace to you.  I am not going to punish you.  Also, I am going to let you keep the laptop. And you know what? I'm also going to give you my iPhone, my iPad, my iPod, and my iCar."
Stranger: "....oh my....Wow, I totally don't deserve that!! I don't know what to say! ...What's an iCar?"
You:  "I know you don't deserve it, but I'm going to do it anyway. Oh, an iCar? Well they don't exist yet, but I have a good feeling Apple's going to come out with them someday, and if they do, I'll buy you one."

Ok if you guessed that this is a (slighty cheesy) analogy for God's mercy and grace, then you've guessed correctly.   We used this analogy to explain the concept of grace to young people in the Middle East.  For me, it was a strong image of what God has done for us.  In Ephesians 1:7-10, Paul writes:

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

So not only has God forgiven us of all of our sin, past, present, and future, but he also continues to lavish his blessings and grace upon us. This is the promise he extends to each one of us. Cool, right?

I think so.
Grace and peace,
Shayla

My Symphony

I recently became a part of the eclectic group of women of Alpha Chi Omega on the Utah State University campus.  I am so excited! It should be a great way to get involved and gain new leadership skills during my last year.  The women's fraternity (one of the first of its kind) was created by seven women in 1885.

From the official AXO website:

The real, strong women who founded Alpha Chi Omega were music students at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. As musicians, our founders included three pianists, a cellist/violinist/bassist, a composer and two singers. As collegians, they sought “friendship, artistic society and advancement of the ‘principles of true womanhood.’”

 Alpha Chi Omega has what is called its "Symphony," a memorized poem-like phrase that encapsulates the beauty and vision of the women's fraternity.

During a lecture of psy 1010 (which I assure you is quite interesting, but was not catching my interest at the time), I decided to try and write a symphony for my life.

Here's what I came up with:

To be a faithful servant and follower of Jesus.
To live selflessly, thoughtfully, and intentionally.
To be open, vulnerable, teachable, moldable.
To live a life more pleasing to a Holy God.

It's short and sweet, and it may well change as I do--but I hope that I can live this way.

Grace and peace,
Shayla M.