Passion 2017

image-1-7-17-at-6-07-pmOn January 2-4, 2017, 60,000 college kids filled the Georgia Dome, and the stadium shook as they praised God. It was an experience that truly cannot be put into words. Many people say millennials have abandoned their faith. However, those people definitely have not attended Passion before because WOW IT WAS AWESOME.

Passion was almost too much to process. Between the famous speakers and bands, it was one incredible moment after another. At one point, the stadium went black, and CARRIE FREAKING UNDERWOOD APPEARED OUT OF NOWHERE and performed “Something in the Water.” (Haha can you tell I was excited?) As I was trying to recover from that craziness, they hit us with the fact that they were giving every single person in the stadium a free copy of the Jesus Bible. They raised $800,000 to do this!

Crazy.

Oh! Did I mention that in a stadium full of broke college kids, we sponsored ALL of the children on the waitlist in El Salvador, Tanzania, Rwanda, Indonesia, and many in Bolivia with Compassion International? I MEAN WHAT?! It was incredible. :’) {*happy tears*} Haha there were a lot of “happy tears” moments.

Crazy.

{There were so many amazing speakers who gave incredible messages, but these are just two of the people who impacted me the most.}

Christine Caine

“You will not build the life you want to live without endurance… You do not build endurance on the path of least resistance.”

Endurance. It is a HUGE component of having faith. We have to endure the hard times. We cannot stop believing when times get tough. When we endure, our faith grows so much stronger.

“You can’t say you are going to do great things for God one day if you are not doing anything today.“

This hit me hard. I have such big dreams for what I want to do in the future. But, so many times I get stuck doing just that dreaming.

“Do nothing of selfish ambition… Not even Jesus did what He wanted to do. He did what God wanted Him to do.”

I had never thought of it this way, but it is so TRUE. Seek God’s plans before your own always. Then, be obedient to His call.

“CHRIST ENDURED EVERYTHING.”

Whoa. Nuff said.

Francis Chan

“We value our own thoughts too much.”

As a professional overthinker, this couldn’t be more true. I always get utterly stuck in my head, my plans, and desperate grasp for control of my life. HA! Nice one, Cat. How about checking out the next thing Francis Chan said. ↓

“God’s thoughts are infinitely higher than ours.”

Preach, Francis, Preach. God’s thoughts are infinitely higher than ours. Therefore, God’s plans are infinitely greater than ours, and God’s grasp on our lives is infinitely stronger and better than ours could ever be. Which leads us to: ↓

“Stop listening to yourself and trust in God.”

Can I get an Amen?! 🙌

Honestly, I could write pages about those three days in Atlanta, but I’m going to end it here:

If you ever get the chance to attend the Passion Conference, go.

XOXO,

Cat

Fighting the Disconnect

Christmas is so close, and I am PUMPED. I love this time of year because I get to spend time with those I love. It is straight up awesomesauce. But…

…that is not why we celebrate this day at all.

I am not sure if it comes from being a Christian for so long, or the fact that the Bible was written so long ago, but somewhere along the way the stories of the Bible became just that: stories. We (I) have become disconnected from and desensitized to the tough reality of the truth they bear.

Right now, I want you fight this disconnect.

Think about someone who means the world to you. It could be your brother, sister, mom, dad, or best friend. This person is someone who you care tremendously for and who cares tremendously for you. Really picture this person.

Now, think about some of the mistakes you have made this far in your life. There are too many to think about, right? Add this to the fact that you are going to make countless more in the future. How could we ever deserve heaven?

Think (I mean really think) about your beloved person willingly experiencing tremendous torment, torture, and ultimately a brutal death for you so that the stain of your sins would be wiped clean. They suffered because of the love they have for you. They chose this utterly selfless act so that you could have HOPE not only to get through this life here on earth, but also so you could have the hope of heaven!

The person you thought about, the one that means so much to you, is not perfect, yet just thinking about them taking the punishment you deserve is utterly heartbreaking. However, Christ is perfect and CHOSE to endure the unthinkable for US. He chose to bear the weight of each and every sin we have and will commit on His back, so we would be able to have the hope we could never deserve. He chose to take the punishment for the sins a girl would commit two thousand years later, so she could have hope.

December 25th marks the beginning of the fiercest act of love to ever occur.

Fight the disconnect, and thank God for His endless love.

XOXO,

Cat

The Slump.

Every single Christian experiences highs and lows. You know exactly what I’m talking about. One day you feel so close to God that you know you could face anything. Then the next day comes, and you feel like God is a million miles away. You completely lack the peace, security, and confidence you had only moments before. I am currently fighting the slump, the valley, the low point, and I know many of you are too. These low points are often times not brought on by a terrible event or circumstance. I have come to realize they are most often brought on by nothing at all. What I mean is that we allow God to slowly slip out of our focus. Everything is fine, so we lose the fire to fight to keep our focus on Him. God doesn’t move an inch. Our focus does as we become distracted by the mundane. This pushes us into the trap of focusing on ourselves. Then, all we see is what we lack.

This is what frustrates me the most about the slump: God has given us everything. Yet, we are not content. It is as if the devil notices our slip in concentration and holds up a magnifying glass in our line of sight to control what we focus on.

Being content is a conscious decision. It is one that has to be fought for each day. Being thankful and grateful for everything is everything. It is directly linked to finding our joy in Christ.

If you are currently facing the slump: keep fighting, stay thankful, and know that God has not moved an inch away from you. Turn your eyes to Him, and He will help you see.

XOXO,

Cat

 

Control.

Why do we (I) always fight God for control of our lives? We are not qualified to be in control, yet we can’t just give God the reins. I think it’s because we are afraid. We are trying to minimize the likelihood of experiencing failure, hurt, and pain. The way we accomplish this is by using control as a tool to measure the amount of strength we think we have against what we think we can handle. We measure the strength we feel we have today against what we feel we can handle tomorrow… and the next day and the next. Then, we plan our route accordingly. The problem is, first of all, we don’t know what the future holds. Secondly, the amount of strength we have today is not the amount we will be equipped with tomorrow. God gives us the strength to deal with TODAY, our “daily bread”, so we can handle TODAY not tomorrow. Yet, we use today’s allotment of strength to deal with tomorrow’s problems. Scratch that – the many possible problems we imagine could happen tomorrow.

God does not have to imagine anything because He knows. He planned our whole lives before we were even born. However, He didn’t give us a planned roadmap of our lives because He knew it would be too much. He knew we couldn’t handle it. We would be paralyzed with fear and would not get through today, much less tomorrow. Each chapter of our lives has brought varying degrees of failure, hurt, and pain – the things we work so hard to avoid. However, what we fail to realize is that God has not only been there every single time, but He also has gotten us through it every single time. So, why are we so afraid? You have survived everything in your life up to this point, this moment, reading this post on some random girl’s blog. God has brought you through so much. So, why would He abandon you now?

God has a plan (and trust me, it’s a good one). So, stop measuring your own strength when His strength is immeasurable. Do what you were made to do, grab His hand tight, and let go of control.

XOXO,

Cat