The Ever After Lady-T.E.A.L.

www.theeverafterlady.com

More info to come--this has been the great project of my last two years of college!

The Ever After Lady (T.E.A.L.) will be an online social media community for women that have been diagnosed with life threatening illnesses. 

Every woman deserves to live happily ever after!! 

Stay tuned for our new, interactive website! 

~Alexa    

The Parable for Effectivity

Last evening I had the opportunity to see the academy-award nominated movie, Lincoln, based on the life and successes of Abraham Lincoln's presidency. The accomplishments of this tall, awe-inspiring man were tremendous-but one aspect of his character stuck out to me as truly phenomenal and un-matched. 

Whenever Lincoln spoke, he drew crowds. He drew fans, and enemies, but whether you agreed with his views or not, he still grew crowds. He drew conversation out of people, and made the crowd ponder life-lessons and values. 

Amazingly, for such a tall and strong looking man though, Lincoln was not one to raise his voice in enforcement of his views. Instead he knew how to communicate effectively without needing to raise the volume of his voice, change the pitch, or utilize a certain pace. 

Instead, Abraham Lincoln told stories that mesmerized. He was was a genius storyteller. Through humor, history, and hope, Lincoln was able to translate direction in the midst of devastation.  Lincoln, spoke through parables. Life Lessons that point to his Savior.  I began researching some of the remarkable quotes by Lincoln and here are some of our world's greatest leaders comments on this man... 

 Count Adam Gurowski, a Polish exile who worked in the State Department, observed, “In the midst of the most stirring and exciting — nay, death-giving — news, Mr. Lincoln has always a story to tell.” 

Ralph Waldo Emerson declared, “When he has made his remark, he looks up at you with a great satisfaction, & shows all his white teeth, & laughs.” 

Walt Whitman saw something else in Lincoln’s storytelling; he thought it was “a weapon which he employ’d with great skill.” 

Lincoln knew when to find joy in the negative and light in the darkness. But he also knew that it was necessary to meet people where they are. 

Jesus Christ modled this through his relational outreach to the "least of these."  From a woman at a well, to the sick and dying, Jesus was able to meet each individual where they were, and through where they were. 

It is crucial as believers to know a lot about a lot of things. I know this sounds like such an odd observation- but I encourage all Christians to read often and read a variety of works. It is essential to relate to people, even people that are far different in the way they were raised or their visions for their future. 

When we find a "connect" with people, we are able to show them that we care about them enough to go outside of our inner circle. And, we are able to show them the reason for which we live, for Jesus. 

Just was the most educated "backwoods" president one could ever imagine- he had people intelligence and intellectual intelligence. 

Let us be people-smart. And, let us understand that each person may not understand the reason for which we live. This gives us a significant reason to relate to people through stories, and through their culture. 

Commonalities let us become comfortable. And commonalities form communities. Through these communities, we can reveal Christ to our inner circle.   


Matthew 25:34-36  “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Simplicity

Last week, I heard a presentation by marketing genius, Seth Godin, at High Point University. The entire keynote was exciting, motivating, and encouraging for young entrepreneurs.

He stated something halfway through his presentation that was one of the most profound moments of his entire speech. In response to a question by our president, Dr. Qubein, he stated that a success to staying fit and maintaining health is eating simply so that you may live fully.   

Eat simple, live full.

Live simply, live fully.

When we remember to live our lives in simplicity, we avoid distraction and stay the course. For the Christian faith, it is essential to remember our purpose every single day. Our purpose on earth is simple-love God, and love others because you love God.   If that is our intention every single day, our lives actually become more full. When we live in the groove for which we were created, we thrive. 

I find it so interesting how we try and color outside of the lines hoping to "experiment", or find out more about ourselves.  In reality, we achieve the most then we realize what we were made for, and stay in that reality.   

John 5:30 

“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

Let us re-focus on what we were made for, and eliminate the things in our lives that take us our of the groove. 

 Trains cannot run apart from the specific grove in their tracks. The same is true for us. We cannot run or reach our destination unless we fit to the mold of which we were created.  And God does not make us identical-do not fear not being unique!  Your uniqueness will be found in Him, simply living for and with Him, and thriving in that creation.  

Live simply-Live in Him- and Live fully in the way He directs.     

2 Corinthians 1:12

For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you.

Investigate

God is looking for imperfect men and women who have learned to walk in moment-by-moment dependence on the Holy Spirit. Christians who have come to terms with their inadequacies, fears, and failures. Believers who have become discontent with ‘surviving’ and have taken the time to investigate everything God has to offer in this life.- 

Charles Stanley

Life is an investigation- investigating who we are, who we want to be, who the successful people are (and what makes them that way), as well as discovering the reason we are on this earth.  

Whenever someone asks me what a passion of mine is, I often respond, "Theology". I love the study of why people believe what they believe and why they believe it. I love the investigation. I love the soul searching. It is SO human, and so real. It reveals our doubts, our concerns and our dreams. 

Our Heavenly Father desires that we investigate him. Dare I say, He wants you to sit down and attempt to critique him, analyze him, and find fault in his perfection. We are human-we want answers! We hope to investigate once we have come up with a hypothesis of why God is. 

When we proclaim that God is good, we search for his goodness. When we hear a friend say God is gracious, we search for evidence of grace. 

God desires an investigation. 

Why? Because he is faultless, perfect, constant, and THE answer. 

The solution to our problem is why we investigate- Our God desires to be investigated. He wants to be our solution. 

When we hear something about our God, let us take time to pray on those truths, and see if He in fact adds up to the world's proclamations. Often the world will lead us astray through their "feelings", instead of the facts of who God is. Or, we may encounter an outlier who is not in touch with the reality of our God. But, once we take in the world, and lay that against the truth of the scripture (our avenue for discovering the true and perfect God) we can discern what is false AND-(this is the greatest part)- we come to know the Lord better through the investigation.   

Here is an Abrahamic Promise for us that will sustain us in our searching. In Deuteronomy, we see a declaration by Moses, through the Lord. 

"But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all of your heart and all of your soul."- Deut. 4:29 

And this will all occur, because we serve a merciful God who will never forget "the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them". And, a jealous God who "is a consuming fire" ready to protect you because He desires YOU and investigates and pursues YOU daily! 

I find it pretty amazing that the God that we pursue is perfect- and it is difficult for us to find the motivation to continue pursuing Him.  Yet, we are so far from perfect- and our God investigates our hearts, searches them, and loves us unconditionally even through the obvious imperfection.   

Let us promise to investigate our God and search the heart of the Lord. We will continually be renewed, finding perfected goodness and holiness!  

Psalm 139:23- "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!"