Lovely Lives

10/15/2021

Hello Lovely people!

First off, God has been faithful. What we intended to be a two week break from posting turned into the Lord giving us a lot of clarity on what He desires our ministry to look like.

We still have the same mission, values, and aspirations, but no longer feel called to share them through the medium of social media. There are so many amazing social media ministries, and we believe God uses many of them for His glory, but we feel God calling us to physically GO to people and be His hands and feet.

We still have a heart to bring the gospel to those in the worst of situations and we still want to encourage Christian pro life activists to make the gospel the center of their approach. We think the field God has for us to share His gospel in is our own local community.

We are so grateful for all of your support and love and hope that you have been encouraged during this time in some way.

We are thankful to our gracious Lord for being a God of patient guidance. We have loved sharing His gospel with you all in this season, and we still boldly believe and proclaim that the gospel does truly change everything. It is HIS gospel that we share and so we submit to His will of how we do so.

All lives are lovely in Christ Jesus. We pray that He would give us all the power to take His love into the world so that everyone may know Him and the transformation and redemption that the cross of Christ brings to all saved by its message.

Much love to you all! 🤍

09/23/2021

S E A S O N S

Changing seasons can be hard in so many ways, both life seasons and weather seasons. For those who fear unknowns, seasons can feel like just a bunch of scary unknowns. For people who struggle through seasonal depression, the beginning of a new season can rush in hard memories from the past.

For those facing an unexpected pregnancy, the reality of seasons changing is all the sudden very real.

Regardless of what seasons are changing in your life right now, one truth and good news remains for you.

Though the seasons change, Jesus doesn’t.

In fact, He even reveals His faithfulness in the coming and going of seasons. We don’t often wonder if spring is going to come after a long winter, we just wait for its sure arrival. No one gets to the end of their day and says: “I wonder if the sun will set tonight?”

Seasons consistently change for all of us, but the changing of seasons whispers a sweet reminder that our Savior is unchangeable. He doesn’t change because He doesn’t need to change. He is infinitely good, holy, and sovereign.

This is a reason to rejoice! The God of your most joyous season is the same God of your darkest season.

Seasons change but Jesus doesn’t.

As you are reminded of this truth, do you know someone who can be reminded of this truth today?

09/21/2021

*Terms and Conditions Apply

Our world likes to tell us that we’re enough. Everyone is a “good” person. Everyone is worthy of love in and of themselves.

These lies are easily and eagerly believed because deep down we know the truth: however hard we try, we will never please God, and we surely don’t deserve His love.

But there is good news! You can be loved by God! He can even find pleasure in you; yes, you! Here’s the clincher though: these things are ONLY true if you believe in Jesus Christ and receive His grace.

When we believe in Jesus, the Bible says we can approach God with confidence. Why? Because when we are IN CHRIST, when God looks at you, He sees His son!

Here’s what God says about His Son in Luke 3:22: “You are my beloved son; with you I am well pleased.”

So today, if you are in Christ, rejoice in that beloved! He sees you as His beloved child and heir, and He is very pleased with you!

If you are not in Christ, you are still worthy of love. But don’t listen to the world’s lies about your righteousness, the lies that tell you you are enough. Spoiler alert: you’re not!! Check out the last few posts, which are all about how our shame and deep unloveliness reveals our need for Jesus. Recognize your brokenness and turn to your Savior: the only Holy and Righteous One.

You are beloved. You are enough! But ONLY in Jesus Christ.

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09/16/2021

...say whaaaaaat!? Shame and Jesus are somehow connected. Yes! Jesus is not the cause of your shame and He absolutely doesn’t take advantage of your shame.

If you’ve missed the other two posts in this conversation of shame, I highly recommend you go back and read those to get the full picture.

To conclude this conversation on shame: Your shame was intended to be a reminder to you, that you need Jesus’ righteousness to cover and hide your shame. No matter what you do to hide yourself from your shame or distract yourself from your shame, it will always be there.

You weren’t made to cover your own shame. It didn’t work for Adam and Eve, and it doesn’t work for us. That is why God made clothes for Adam and Eve at the expense of animal life. (Genesis 3:21)

The BEST NEWS OF ALL is that God made a perfect and lasting covering for your shame through the perfect life and death of Jesus on the cross for YOU! For those in Christ, you are a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17) Meaning, you are now clothed in Christ’s righteousness and your shame is hidden right along with you. There is much peace, rest, and rejoicing to be had under the warm and pure righteousness of our Savior.

09/14/2021

I know, I know. You may be thinking a lot of different things right now. I hope you keep reading because I think the Lord has something to say to you about shame.

You may be asking questions like these:

Q1 What is shame and how does it impact me? Glad you asked :)

Q2 Are you saying I am supposed to celebrate feeling shame? Nope, not exactly.

Q3 Is feeling shame all that I am designed to feel? Resounding NO!

Shame takes different forms in everyone’s life. Shame for you may look like reliving conversations that you cringe at, feeling hopelessly discouraged over a mistake you made, or being embarrassed about your appearance to other people.

Shame is anything that makes you want to hide, fix, or undo something.

Here’s the thing: we weren’t created to be ashamed. Adam and Eve had nothing to hide from, fix or undo, until...they chose to do the one thing God instructed them not to do. From that very moment, shame stepped into the picture. Just because this was not God’s original design does not mean it was purposeless. God is sovereign, even over the mistakes of mankind.

Adam and Eve ran from God, trying to cover their nakedness and shame. God didn’t laugh, mock, or even cause their shame. Nope. He covered their shame at the expense of animals. He took the life of animals to cover Adam and Eve’s shame.

This act of care, kindness and love towards His rebellious children was just the beginning of a grand story of how He would use shame to remind His children that we need Him to cover our shame.

One more post is coming to wrap up this conversation about shame. The best is yet to come and I hope you’ll be there for it.

Your shame has a purpose. A beautiful, redemptive purpose. Don’t run from it. Run with it to the Almighty Father who has a white blanket of righteousness ready to hide you in.

09/11/2021

Life is a precious gift from God - not to be taken for granted. As we remember the lives lost 20 years ago today, let us also contemplate the brevity of our own lives. None of us knows the time allotted to each of us, but we do know that through it all, God is in control and He is still good.

“The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
‭‭Job‬ ‭1:21‬ ‭
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09/09/2021

…were you not expecting that last line?

S H A M E

Our culture hates this word, maybe you do too. If that’s the case, I have some really good news for you. The Lord has been teaching me about shame the past few weeks and let me tell you,

I see shame SO differently now.

In the abortion discussion, shame comes up often. If you stop for even a moment to really listen to and hear the stories of women in unexpected pregnancies, or post-abortive women, shame is the anthem.

If you’re one of these women or know one someone in one of these positions, it’s so important for you to understand shame; why it exists, and how we can walk through it well.

In the garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve consciously chose to disobey God’s instruction not to eat the fruit (See our post: “Sin and How It Broke The World”) shame stepped into the picture of creation. The Bible says that Adam and Eve ate of the fruit and then the very next verse says: “They knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.” (Gen. 3:7)

Sin happened and then BOOM, humanity was looking for a way to cover their shame.

No matter who you are, what your past looks like, or what you want your future to be: take a minute today and consider how abortion is often used as a cover up.

Cover up for premarital s*x
Cover up for r**e
Cover up for s*x trafficking
Cover up for selfishness

Also consider how much shame is surrounding the abortion conversation.

Lastly, consider, instead of hating shame and immediately rejecting it, could there be a reason for this shame? A g o o d reason?

We’ll continue this conversation on Tuesday of next week!

Please share your thoughts below or through DM!! 🤍

09/07/2021