Last summer we had a young lady share with us her story. It was a story of abuse and fear that lead to a life threatening eating disorder. But it's a story that shares the power of Jesus. This is her story.

January 1st, I stepped on the scale. My future held in those numbers. I looked down and saw a number that made my heart shatter and tumble to my feet. At age 14, 5 foot 4, I weighed 85 lbs. “You’re going to die, Brianna”, I heard in my head. I wanted that, but I didn’t know I was bordering it. In the bathroom that morning I sat down and shook uncontrollably with fear and tears. I couldn’t tell anyone this; they’d force me to eat, they’d give me disappointed looks. I felt alone, like I couldn’t tell anyone. I was watching life run by, soon, I’d be dead and everyone would forget me, like I never was, but what I thought was the end of my life, was just the beginning. At my lowest point, I found hope; I found my Best Friend, My Daddy, The Lover of My Soul: Jesus Christ.

On the 14th of January, I went to a camp called ReDream as a last resort, my last attempt at life, to see if I had friends, any reason to live and if Jesus was there anymore, but I thought maybe I’d just die there...

1.  What do I worry about most?
2.  What, if I failed or lost it, would cause me to feel that I did not even want to live?
3.  What do I use to comfort myself when things go bad or get difficult?
4.  What do I do to cope? What are my release valves? What do I do to feel better?
5.  What preoccupies me? What do I daydream about?
6.  What makes me feel the most self-worth? Of what am I the proudest? For what do I want to be known?
7.  What do I lead with in conversations?
8.  Early on what do I want to make sure that people know about me?
9.  What prayer, unanswered, would make me seriously think about turning away from God?
10.  What do I really want and expect out of life? What would really make me happy?
11.  What is my hope for the future?

From David Powlison's list of questions in Seeing With New Eyes.

I used to treat it like it was a foul word. I worried as though people would shudder at the mention of it, like teenage wizards at the utterance of Voldemort. The word is sin, and I didn’t like to use it. It tastes like a bad cup of coffee. So I’d talk about brokenness or pain or even flesh. But never sin. I wanted to talk about love. God’s love.

Recently though I’ve come to realize you can’t talk about love; true, sacrificial, unconditional, costly love without talking about sin. That we were enemies of God when he reached out. That we were lost, broken, and self-loving when God brought us back to life. It’s just an incomplete gospel.

Whenever I read the story of Jonah, it’s always bewildering to me....

I love music. I always have, for some strange reason. I could blame it on a bunch of things actually. Maybe my dislike of silence, or how music has always been a part of life, or it could simply be that I am an auditory learner. Despite the reason behind it, I love music. It all started when I was 3 years old. My Mom gave birth to my younger sister Savannah on November 20, 1997. On that day, and every day till I was 7 years old, my mom would "tuck us in". She would come into our rooms at night, talk about silly meaningless things like how...

Before I met Jesus, everything was different. Please, take a moment and just read over that phrase one more time. Because nothing I can say after that, is going to make that statement more powerful. It speaks for itself. Passion is leaking out of that one simple phrase. I could put so much explanation into that, but I won't. Why? Because I don't need to. I tell you everything in that one, simple, phrase. I have been...

Looking for joy is like searching for the sun on a rainy day. You will swim through any ocean, run through any forest and climb any tree just to get a little glimpse of it. And once that sun touches even the tip of your nose, a smile welcomes itself on your face and goosebumps spread all over your skin. To have joy is to be permanently kissed by the sun...