Journey With Me

I've been alive for 23 years now. I don't remember what it was like to be a tiny human until the age of 5ish. One of my very first memories is laying in bed and across the room, my sister was laying on her bed. We whispered back and forth, but were soon told to go to sleep by my mother. I remember wondering what life would be like when I was older, as I drifted off to slumber-land.


In September, I start the program for my Lay Counseling Certificate. I have been preparing for it by reading the book assigned and reflecting on the content. The book is called, To Be Told, and it is written by Dan Allender. So much of this book is about {my story}. It's about coming to grips with the God-breathed story I have been living. But it also delves deep into my hurts, pains, anguish, and tragedy. I'm not one for the dramatics. I am very in-touch with my emotions. This allows me to feel deeply, in pretty much any situation, whether it is about me or someone else.

As I have been reading this book, those same deep emotions have been tapped into, exposed and left in the open. Which is incredibly painful. Along with all of these emotions, it seems that Satan is trying to come at me with every possible distraction. It has taken everything in me not to just scream my head off! I know that God is good. I know that this path is unknown, but it will be so worth it in the end.

{I want to invite you on this journey with me.} 

God is moving in my heart, my mind,

and all throughout my life. 

It is overwhelming.

It is unfamiliar. 

It is exhilarating. 

It is God-breathed!

One Short Thought

What gets me is the way people are moved by tragedy. It's the details, the story, and the emotions of it all. There is no simple way to deal with tragedy. If you deal with it right away, then you begin moving forward. If you stuff it away, it could stunt your emotional growth. I'm moved by tragedy. It makez me think, ponder, and hope that it is not the end. But more than all of that, it draws me closer to my Savior. He is the only hope. He is the only one with the strength to help pull us through. Lean on Him, for everything.

The Burn in My Soul

Have you ever felt that you needed to do something so deep in your soul that you know nothing can ever stop you?

For some reason, that is happening to me again. This is not the first time.

I'll let you in on a little secret, I was the little kid who played sports so passionately that the other kids would get angry with me. When I was in 6th grade, I played on an all-girls basketball team. The girls would all complain that I would play too aggressively. I was just passionate the game. I wanted to win. I HAD to win. You might think I'm too competitive, but I'm not. I had a passion for the sport.

People still tell me that I'm passionate about things. To this day, when I go on a rant and start talking about Jesus, I get so worked up that I laugh and move around like a crazy person.

God has been showing me so much about myself. The way I'm wired. The things that make me tick, the things that I cry about and the things that will move me to take action.

These past few months, God has been reigniting the passion that I have had since I was a young lady in high school. It was something that I never thought would be a defining role in my life. And yet, here it is.

I must work with young women. 

I need to show them they are valuable. 

I need them to know they are loved,

they are cared for,

they are understood. 

I don't claim to know everything about life. I really don't know much about it, but I do know that each young woman is unique, loved and valued beyond words. My mission is to show that to every young woman I come in contact with. That is what I shall do. 

But it does not stop there. It continues with writing books, speaking and telling the world that they can't keep us down! The insecurity, pain, brokenness and trauma that every young woman has experienced does not need to be kept in the dark. It needs to be dealt with! It needs to be talked about! God wants those things to be out in the open so that he can walk with us through those things. 

PHEW! I had to get that out. There is more and more that God is doing. He has been working in this since I got back from Thailand. I know that going to school will only increase my passion in this, because I will be discovering my story and working through it. I want the same for every young lady I meet.

Listen To The Story

What is it about a person's story that can capture our attention so wholly? 

Why do we listen intently to great storyteller's? 

What is it that draws us to hear powerful stories from people just like ourselves? 

If you read, The Story That Has Captured My Heart, then you've heard me talk about how our story is not our own when we live for Christ.

God has truly been showing me how to listen, truly listen, to someone's story. He's showing me what it looks like to see past all of the exterior walls that people build, and see someone's heart, even when they don't want you to. It is intriguing for me to watch an audience engage with a speaker as they tell a story. Just the other day, I was sitting in a meeting and as one of my pastor's told a story it gave me goosebumps. When we are watching movies, which are stories, we are wrapped up in them. Sometimes we laugh, sometimes we are moved to tears, sometimes we are angry, and sometimes we cringe. But we are entranced by the story.

What God has me pondering is why we only listen to some stories. Every story is unique and every experience has a story. My encouragement for you, and for myself, is to listen to people's stories. You can learn so much about a person by allowing yourself to listen, truly listen. That story may show you something you didn't realize about that person. If you let it, it could move you to tears.

God gave us the ability to relate to others for a reason. Do it. You may see God in a different way through someone else and their story.

Justice For All?

I think is easier for me to just think when there's a lot on my mind. I'm not exactly sure why. But for one reason or another, I just can't seem to write when there's a lot on my mind. And that's how this these past couple months have been. At every turn, it seems like there's something new. Some problem arises, or some issue presents itself. Whether it be physical, emotional, mental or spiritual. At almost every turn, there is something new. 

I'm not sure why. I don't know the reasons. But I do know that God is with me. 

In women's Bible study, we have been learning about justice. In case you don't know this, I graduated with my degree in Criminal Justice and Criminology this past December. I have been learning about justice for some time now, and it still fascinates me. This study has proven over and over again, how much I enjoy learning about justice. Justice is my passion. Learning about it this semester has been so different then the classes that I took in college.

I know why it's different, it is because we are learning about it from a Biblical perspective. We have been pouring over scripture these past few weeks to understand what God intends justice to be. Actually, we've even come up with some definitions!

Justice is God's design for restoring us into right relationship with Him and others. 

When God administers justice it is founded in love and is fair, impartial, perfect, restorative, generous, and on time. 

If I am obedient to God's command to do justice, it should include humility, impartiality, generous care of those in need and righting the things that are wrong as we reflect the heart and character of God.

My favorite passage has been Micah 6:1-8.

6 Listen to what the Lord says:

“Stand up, plead my case before the mountains;
    let the hills hear what you have to say.

² “Hear, you mountains, the Lord’s accusation;
    listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth.
For the Lord has a case against his people;
    he is lodging a charge against Israel.

³ “My people, what have I done to you?
    How have I burdened you? Answer me.
⁴ I brought you up out of Egypt
    and redeemed you from the land of slavery.
I sent Moses to lead you,
    also Aaron and Miriam.
⁵ My people, remember
    what Balak king of Moab plotted
    and what Balaam son of Beor answered.
Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal,
    that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.”

⁶ With what shall I come before the Lord
    and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
⁸ He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly^[a] with your God.


This passage has been such an encouragement to my heart. It is a reminder of the things that God has done for us. He is proving his love, justness, and ways he moved throughout this chapter. Then after he is done saying these things, we are face with the question, "And what does the Lord require of you?" I don't know about you, but I have been faced with that question over and over in my lifetime. I want to be sure that I am doing exactly what the Lord wants me to do. But it is spelled out so succinctly in verse 8. This passage has transformed this question for me. I love the reminders that God has moved so tremendously and that he tells us exactly what is required of us! Have faith, friends! Know that God is with you and he will bring justice, but it is his own time.

He Gets It, He Just Does

JJ Heller

Last week, I listened to a song that brought me to tears.

For Easter, JJ Heller came and performed at The Grove. It was so amazing to listen to her music and meet her in person. She is such a beautiful person, in so many ways. I bought all of her CD's and have been listening to them non stop in my car. Driving home from the movie on Friday night, her song, If You Fall, was playing.

If You Fall 
JJ Heller

You are a house that’s broken down
You are a house that’s burning
And everything in me wants to run
But that’s not love
If you fall, I fall with you
If you hurt I feel it too
Even if my heart turns black and blue
I will love you
I planted seeds down in the ground
Not every one is growing
When I am tempted to give up
I choose love
If you fall, I fall with you
If you hurt I feel it too
Even if my heart turns black and blue
I will love you
Beauty and light will fight for you
Goodness will rise
It shines for you

For almost 3 months, I have been sick. Not the puking my guts out, internal pain constantly type of sick, just the normal stuffy/runny nose and a horrible cough. I don't understand why it has been like this. I have tried so many different medicines. I have been to the doctor multiple times. And now I'm just taking supplements and it's helping...FINALLY. What I forgot though, was that God feels our pain. The part of this song that brought me to tears was the line, "if you hurt I feel it too." Those words made me realize I wasn't alone through all of this.

When you've been sick for that long, people stop asking what's wrong and they just accept it. But few people ever asked how it made me feel. How I was doing with being sick. Cause I wasn't doing well. I was sad and so frustrated. But I didn't know what to do differently. Even now, I'm still sniffly and coughing. The change in my heart has to do with God feeling my pain. I forgot, I just forgot that he gets it. He understands completely. I felt so alone. But no matter the kind of pain we have, God is with us. We are never alone. NEVER.

Remember that. God is with you. You are not alone. And he gets it, better than anyone else.

Representing SIN!

I hate being sick. This is my 9th week of being sick. I got a little bug early January, then by mid February I went to Urgent Care and got some antibiotics because it was a sinus infection. It is now March, and I am still sick. I am so sick of being sick and tired. My energy is gone. My enthusiasm is diminishing, and I just don't feel like Bre. I know, I know. I am Bre. But I don't feel like Bre.
I'm not one that rests very often. Most people, like my mother, attribute this to why I am still sick. I don't fully understand what resting means. Granted, I have gotten better at it as I've gotten older. But I'm still not great at it.

Usually, when I get sick, I think God is trying to tell me to rest. He wants us to rest. He wants us to be healthy and well. He's given us our bodies and he tells us that they are temples. I forget that.

But what I also think he is trying to show me is a picture of what sickness represents.

We, as humans, live on earth, obviously. As I sit, coughing and feeling so weak, I think of God. In his infinite wisdom, he is allowing me to be sick. He knows that I am a terrible sick person; he knows I'm not pleasant to be around. He knows that I hate blowing my nose and coughing constantly. He knows that I like to be energetic, and I'm not, when I'm sick.

To me, this is a representation of what sin is. We battle sin and temptation every single day, just like I have fought this battle with sickness for the past 2 and a half months. When I'm sick, I take vitamins, medicine, and other things to pump my body full of things to fight off the sickness. It's the same with fighting our spiritual battle, we have to read the word, listen to worship music, and fill ourselves with Jesus. How appropriate this lesson is on Easter week.

Today is Good Friday. Today, we remember so many years ago that Jesus hung on a cross for our sin. In just a few minutes, so long ago, the sun went down and pitch darkness filled the earth for three hours. Then, because of his love for us, Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know what they do." It is a Good Friday. Jesus took the punishment for our sin.

The veil was torn.

Jesus died for us. 

He is with us, 

now and forever.