For His Glory

A lot of people look at my life from the outside and say that I’m doing well. I’m working full time in my field straight out of college, I’m also a dance teacher, I do some freelance editing, and I still train and take dance classes on a regular basis. That right there is a lot to be thankful for. So why has this past year been the hardest of my life? Before I graduated, I had a vision of what my life would look like post-graduation. I would have moved as far away from the south as possible, been living on my own, dancing in a company, teaching dance, making new friends, living my best life, etc. I didn’t know that a year later I would be living with my parents back in Nashville and working a full-time office job. My senior year and the summer afterwards were filled with many unfruitful auditions which resulted in a lot of rejection. When I came back home to Nashville, I decided to take an unpaid position with a small local dance company. I’ll just say that the starving artis...

I've wanted a relationship for a longgg time (like since 7th grade long). I wanted to be wanted, I wanted to be appreciated, I wanted to be valued. I wanted to be loved. That desire to be loved landed me in some uncomfortable and sometimes hurtful situations. I found myself repeating the same cycle with different people. Each time running back to God wondering why I kept falling into the same situations again and again. Eventually I sat down and made a list of what I was ultimately looking for, and it boiled down to a few things: love, value, worth, and affirmation. Growing up, I've always heard that God is supposed to be your first love, but in writing that list, I finally got it. All that time I was thinking a guy was going to give me love and validation when in reality, I should have been looking to God to fill that void because that's a job no man can do. The process in which I let God heal me was a satisfying one. I spent a lot of time in prayer and in the script...

Recently, I had the chance to go to a concert for a very well-known rap artist. During the breaks between songs he took the time to continuously brag about himself: how he’s traveled all around the world, has his own private plane, several number one albums, lots of beautiful women, etc. While everyone was shouting his name and the girls in front of me were falling out as he jokingly extended an invitation for a few ladies to ride back with him in his plane, the Scripture Matthew 6:2 popped into my head: “I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get.” As I looked around at the roaring crowd, it suddenly became clear that this would all pass away — the celebrities, the fame, and the money would come to an end. When I got home that night I read the rest of Matthew 6, and in verse 19 Jesus tells us to “store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.” I started thinking about treasures and how ...

When I thought about glorifying God in my life I would often think about what I can do in my schoolwork, on my job, in my friendships, or in a future romantic relationship to bring Him glory, but I never stopped to think about how I could glorify God right now in a state of singleness. Of course I had constantly heard the single woman’s encouragement verse, 1 Corinthians 7:34, “The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world—how she may please her husband.” but I never took that as a way to glorify God, it was more of an advantage of being single that I read whenever I needed to feel better about not being in a relationship.  One definition of the word “care” means to attach importance to. So you could read verse 34 as, “The unmarried woman attaches importance to the things of the Lord.” Whatever you think is important is what you give first place to. If you want...

Today, being in a relationship has become a god in our society. We idolize romantic relationships; making movies, TV shows, and songs about it. We plaster the words “relationship goals” to every cute couple on social media. And we even get bitter when we see our friends dating while we’re still single. The desire to be in a relationship isn’t necessarily bad, but when we start to settle just for the sake of being in a relationship then we hit dangerous territory. In times of singleness, it’s often tempting to settle for someone less than God’s best in order to satisfy our desire of being in a relationship. When we choose to settle, we’re telling God we don’t really believe that he will bring us the person we really want. As hard as it is, if they’re missing something you find crucial, then it’s best to let them go. We all have a dream of what our perfect mate would be. In the qualities we look for in our significant other, there are things that are negotiable and things that a...

My freshman year of college, I had lunch with a friend of mine who wasn’t a Christian. We were just getting to know each other and I was telling him about some Christian organizations I was a part of. “Oh so you’re a church girl, huh?” He asked “Yeah, but I mean, I still want to go out and party.” I replied. He shook his head and laughed, “No, if you’re going to be a church girl, be a church girl. You can’t do both.” I was speechless, and his response has stuck with me ever since. I think a lot of young Christians live where I was during that conversation; in a position of straddling the fence with one foot in the Church and another foot in the world. I believed in Jesus, but I wasn’t quite ready to give my life up and completely live for Him. I could act like a Christian when it was convenient; when I was at church, or at a youth conference, or I needed a nice inspirational verse to post on twitter. But if you saw me in real life, you might not have been able to t...

For the majority of my life, I tried to hide the fact that there was something different on the inside of me. See, I didn’t just grow up in a regular church, I grew up in a tongue talking, spirit filled, laying on of hands, casting out demons, speak to your situation, use your authority type of church. As a kid, when you know that much Word, it requires you to live your life on a higher standard. However I wasn’t ready to do that. I wanted my salvation and to walk in my authority as a believer, but I also wanted to fit in with the crowd. Eventually, I got to a point where I was all God’s on Sunday, but Monday through Saturday I was busy trying to figure out how I could blend in with the people at school. People at school cussed, I cussed. People at school smoked weed, I wanted to smoke weed. People at school got drunk, I wanted to get drunk too. I saw the lifestyle that everyone lived that looked so fun, and even though I didn’t have access to things like alcohol and weed in high scho...