Summer of Love :)

"The world did not create beauty, the world cannot define it." -Mike Glenn

This summer has been one of the biggest blessings to me personally. I've mentioned a few times on here that some friends and I have been going to Kairos (a college ministry, not a Greek restaurant for those wondering:) every Tuesday night. I cannot explain to you how much of a blessing it has been for me. Mike Glenn is the speaker and has been doing a summer series on love, relationships, beauty and all that falls into that. Mike's style of teaching is so different from anyone I've listened to. He is straightforward, blunt and completely transparent with us. There is no beating around the bush with him which I've come to appreciate a lot in a world where it always seems to take people 10 times as long to say what they're trying to say. He tells it like it is and has an amazing passion for it. anyways....I just thought I'd share a little about what God's been showing me this summer.

The Importance of a REAL relationship with Christ.
We started out the summer establishing the real foundation for all of this...a true relationship with Christ. I so often fall into the category of Christians who come to Christ only on a "need" basis. When things start falling apart, I run to Him to fix them but when things are going fine, I tend to leave Him be. This is one really big area in my life personally that I need to work on. Mike real drove in a point when he started talking about how we say "God is a big part of my life." when we should be saying "God IS my life."

The Importance of embracing where you are now.
God has each of us exactly where we are right now for a reason. It's hard not to wait anxiously for the future. I, along with almost everyone else my age, need to embrace my "season of singleness". God is preparing each of us for what we will encounter in the future....but if we are constantly looking at the future then how can we learn what He has for us here and now to learn?

The Importance of finding a Godly man.
"If you cannot see daily evidence of his walk with Christ, Leave." <-- Talk about being blunt! It's not enough to find a man who call himself a Christian. There must be evidence of his relationship with Christ. I've always heard growing up from different people to "not be too picky" when it comes to guys but for one of the first times I actually decided that I need to make a list of things I will not waiver on when it comes to a man I will spend my life with. I want a man after God's own heart and nothing less.
-The night we spent talking about Godly men, we talked about Joseph (Jesus' earthly father) and then people from his lineage. A big thing I'd never noticed about Joseph was how much he really truly cared for Mary even before he realized that she truly was carrying the son of God...It says that he "decided to divorce her secretly". Joseph, thinking that his fiance has cheated on him, did not want to embarrass her by any means. He still cared enough for her to not want to cause her any more pain and embarrassment than was already present. I think that speaks tons about his character. Not many people have that much character, myself included, that we'd let it go quietly.)

The Importance of being a Godly woman.
If I'm going to hold my future husband to high standards, I need to hold myself to the same. In all reality, a man seeking God's own heart is going to want a woman seeking God's own heart. I need to use the time God has given me to be preparing myself to be the woman I need to be. If I spend all my time focusing on finding "Mr. Right" and not focusing on getting myself to where I need to be spiritually, I won't be ready when he comes along.

The Importance of recognizing real beauty.
This is kind of where the quote at the very top comes in. Right now, our culture is so infatuated with what they call "beauty". Size 0, flawless skin, 5'8'', shallow as get out beauty. The quote at the top is so simple....but so true. The world did not create beauty, the world cannot define it. Our culture is driving woman into their graves with eating disorders and depression because the standards they set for beauty aren't achievable. Real beauty is something that starts from the inside. As Mike put it...."True beauty is something you can see even in the dark."


I guess that pretty much hits all the main points God's been really teaching me this summer. I hope it blesses you as much as it has me. Please send up a prayer for Kairos on Tuesday nights if you think of it. God is doing some amazing things there....we even got mentioned on a major "non-christian" radio station a few weeks back and have since been literally overflowing with people coming. The last 3 weeks people have had to sit on the floor...over 1,300 people recently!
Feel free to come with me sometime too! We have a group that goes each week of between 4 and 8 people. It's so much fun :)

Hope yall are having a great week.

Love. Love. Love.
Katie