Imago Dei means to be created in the image of God. We read in this passage that we are created in His image, but what does it mean to be created in God’s image?

 

Friendships…

Sometimes the whisper of that word can cause us great delight or great pain. Friends are awesome when things are going great, but sometimes fights happen, words are spoken and hearts get hurt. Sometimes even making friends can be hard. Don’t give up though. Don’t close your hearts off to friendships.

“Just as lotions and fragrance give sensual delight, a sweet friendship refreshes the soul,” – Proverbs 27:9 (MSG)

God created us to do life together. Our friends will be the ones who walk out a lot of life with us. A good friend can refresh your soul and help set your path straight. They dry our tears; they make us laugh AND they can tell when we are moody and love us anyway.

A good friend is much like our best friend Jesus, always there…

They tell us when we need to stop our silliness and make better choices. They show us grace and love when we perhaps we don’t deserve it. They are there to listen and keep hold of our secrets. They champion us when times are hard, they believe in the dreams in our hearts no matter how wild and crazy they can be - and they point us to God when we most need His presence.

A good friend prays with you and for you, a good friend encourages you to search the scriptures for answers and they hold you accountable to the convictions of your heart. They pack you extra samples of their double choc chip cookies, just ‘cause they know you love them. They stand up for you when peer pressure rages and they remind you that you are a daughter of God, a royal princess born for such a time as this.

Do you have a friend like this?

Don’t be discouraged if you don’t just yet…

A good friendship takes time. It means sticking it out when times get tough. Pressing in when they are hurting, taking the time to invite them over to hang out, and it also means being the kind of friend you’d like to have.

If you are struggling with friendships, pray. Ask God to bring you some spirit sisters who will know you well. Spend time with God learning how to be a good friend and listen for the heart promptings of God that lead you to invite friendships into your life.

 4 tips to build forever friends…

1. Ask God for friends.
2. Invite friendships into your life.
3. Spend time getting to know them.
4. Be the friend you want to have.

It’s my prayer that you will find some forever friends and most importantly - that you’d make Jesus your very best friend.

 

 

 

So you are sitting down with a journal in front of you, a pen in hand and your Bible nearby BUT you cannot begin to write…

Your hand is frozen…

Fear grips your heart…

What if I fail?

What if you fly?

What if it’s not a God dream?

What if He whispered it into your heart?

What if I totally miss it?

What if you get it right?

“A man’s mind plans his ways, but the Lord directs his steps and makes them sure.” Proverbs 16:9 (AMP)

It’s good to make plans, to set goals, to dream for what you want your life to look like. Go ahead and make plans, then keep your heart and mind open to the leading of the Holy Spirit…not your feelings or your fears, but His leading. He will make your steps sure. Commit what you write down to God, pray His will, not yours be done. Then write. Write all those things that are stirring in your heart down that you are deeply passionate about down.

Some things you will learn were perhaps not God dreams, and some were. Faith is stepping out even when you are not 100% sure of the outcome. We are all called to live a Wild Faith.

Dream BIG, don’t be afraid or think it’s a silly waste of time. Some of the world’s greatest achievers were the ones BRAVE enough to dream.

Create a Dream Journal or a Dream Board. Stick pictures, quotes, and scriptures that inspire you on a canvas or pages of a journal. Then put it somewhere you see it daily.

TIPS FOR GOAL SETTING TO HELP YOU ON THE JOURNEY TO ACHIEVING YOUR DREAMS

1. Set goals across many areas of your life, for example, career or education goals, health, personal growth, people, travel, finance, giving, etc

2. Get specific, what exactly do you want? Better grades? Then in what subject, A’s, B’s? Or You want to go on a missions trip, where to? Doing what?

3. Commit to doing something each day to help you achieve your dreams. For example, good grades equal time spent daily studying.

4. When you write your goals down, use the present tense and be specific. For example, instead of writing,

 I want good grades.

 Write

 I am going to study an extra hour each weekday.

5. Give yourself a realistic time frame to achieve your goals.

     6. Sit with Jesus. Seriously, sit quietly and place your dream in his hands. Ask               Jesus if this is something he wants you to pursue and then follow your peace.

     7. Just do it! Once you have peace, take the leap of faith, fight the fears and go           for it. The best thing you can do to get those dreams happening is to start.

If you want to dream more with God then why not grab my FREE devotional called WILD FAITH to help you on the journey.

 

 

Are you struggling precious one?

Is the situation you are in right now almost too much to bear?

I’ve been there too.

In the dark valley.

It’s that place where you cannot see what good may come, where each step forwards feels like ten leaps backward. It’s where you want to give up the fight and just disappear…

You feel all alone…

Like you’re not going to make it…

 Yes, I know that place, and yes you can walk through it.

So hold on princess.

Just hold on.

Walk it out a little longer because the pain you are feeling, the loneliness that lingers will fade as you allow God to invade your heart and life.

It doesn't happen straight away.

An altar call most likely won't fix it.

It's a journey.

As you allow God to live in and through the pain, you realize you are not alone. You realize that even though you cannot see God or feel Him near, He is sitting in that dark cave with you.

Yes, I can promise He is with you.

Hold fast to hope in the One who created it all, who created you.

Hold onto Him and don’t let go.

How I held on

Holding on means accepting the pain and learning to be comfortable there for a season. Pain isn't a bad thing. It tells us something is broken, hurt or injured and it needs time to heal. Yes, time and sometimes further help.

1. Worship and The Word

For a season of my life that meant sleeping, eating and breathing with worship music surrounding my thoughts, plastering scriptures roof to floor on my bedroom walls, crying myself to sleep many nights through excruciating pain that comes from having lived a very broken life. Not having answers, not knowing how I’d get through each day or if this intense pain would ever fade.

But it did.

And it shaped me.

It prepared me for things God could only release through my life.

I changed my thoughts and deeds because He was working in my life.

I just had to hold onto Him…not my strength, but His…

How enriched are they who find their strength in the Lord;

Within their hearts are the highways of holiness!

Even though their path winds through the dark valley of tears,

They dig deep to find a pleasant pool where others find only pain.

He gives to them a brook of

blessing

filled from the rain of an outpouring.

They grow stronger and stronger

with every step forward

until they find all their strength in you,

and God of all gods will appear before them in Zion.

• Psalm 84:5-7 (The Passion Translation)

 2. Seek Help

You are not alone on this journey. So many people suffer in silence. Please reach out to someone you trust. Reach out to a school counselor, a youth pastor or a helpline 

Having others on the journey will help you take the steps you need to take towards recovery. Don't allow shame or fear to stop you from seeking the help you need. You are too valuable, you truly do matter, and you are worth it.

Will I ever stop hurting?

Yes, I did come through the pain.

Yes, it still hurts sometimes.

But not like before…nothing like before…

On the other side of the unbearable pain is freedom, life, blessing, joy, fun, sadness, future, dreams, hope, tears, wins, failures, ups, and downs. This is the rollercoaster of life and all of these emotions, moments, journeys make their way into the fractured parts of your life as you allow God to travel the highways of your heart.

God is still at work healing and restoring my heart and mind, becoming my daily strength, and He wants the same for you.

Just hold on.

You’re gonna make it.

 

"The Sun Is Rising"

Britt Nicole

 

When life has cut too deep and left you hurting

The future you had hoped for is now burning

And the dreams you held so tight lost their meaning

And you don't know if you'll ever find the healing

 

You're gonna make it

You're gonna make it

And the night can only last for so long

 

Whatever you're facing

If your heart is breaking

There's a promise for the ones who just hold on

Lift up your eyes and see

The sun is rising

 

The sun is rising

 

Every high and every low you're gonna go through

You don't have to be afraid I am with you

In the moments you're so weak you feel like stopping

Let the hope you have light the road you're walking

 

You're gonna make it

You're gonna make it

The night can only last for so long

 

Whatever you're facing

If your heart is breaking

There's a promise for the ones who just hold on

Lift up your eyes and see

The sun is rising

 

Even when you can't imagine how

How you're ever gonna find your way out

Even when you're drowning in your doubt

Just look beyond the clouds

 

Just look beyond the clouds

 

Whatever you're facing

If your heart is breaking

There's a promise for the ones who just hold on

Lift up your eyes and see

The sun is rising

 

The sun is rising

 

Even when you can't imagine how

How you're ever gonna find your way out

Even when you're drowning in your doubt

Just look beyond the clouds

 

HELPLINES

Australia

New Zealand

USA

England

 

 

 

 

"What I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we have" - Oprah Winfrey.

My Truth

This story began when I was just eight years old...

Already scarred by the hand of man and deeply self-conscious...

I was reading a girls magazine where a celebrity gave some, what I thought was, sound advice on avoiding things like ice-cream and eating frozen yogurt instead and replacing hot chips with boiled potatoes (like you could ever compare!) to stay thin...

And from that point, I never really ate those things until I was challenged to in a while on the healing journey 13 years later...

Recognising I needed Help
It took me a long time to recognize that I had a problem because it was a slow journey into bulimia. Around the age of fourteen when a then-boyfriend commented on my 'fat thighs' and compared me to a particular model in a questionable magazine, I began to make myself physically ill and avoided eating food until I was in a safe place to binge...

About six months in I had lost weight and was light headed all the time, that's when my parents began to ask questions... that's when I knew I had a problem but didn't care about getting better, just thinner...

Eventually, though it consumed my life and I no longer wanted to live like that... but I couldn't stop.. I tried with all my strength, but just couldn't ... and I had no idea how to get help. My mum tried printing off articles of all kinds, read me the scary statistics, and encouraged me to stay strong but NOTHING helped.

I’d eventually say I was all better and I had it under control just to give my family a break from worrying…I somehow don’t think they believed me. No one else knew…well if they did, they did not mention it to me. I was good at wearing the mask at school…most days… but having an ED brought on evident and severe repercussions. I suffered bouts of anxiety, depression, extreme highs and very low self-esteem.

Seeking Healing
Eight years later I gave my life to Christ. In His gentle and loving way, He encouraged my relationship and journey with Him, never condemning, always loving and encouraging. I tried SO hard to be better, I wanted SO badly to be a reflection of my gracious Creator, but as hard as I tried I eventually succumbed to the triggers and found myself a mess again.

I was now carrying even more shame and embarrassment because I was a Christian. So fearful of what others would say or think. So afraid to lose my new beautiful friendships and so worried that God would cast me aside (though I know now God draws near to the broken and never leaves us). I had read many times of His great and merciful love; I had even experienced it so many times…but this constant failure led me to believe once again that I was worthless…

I went to my very first Colour Conference held by Hillsong Church. It was there that I went down the front for prayer. I was so desperate that I was grasping at whatever chance I had for freedom, surely prayer would work? The beautiful Julia A’Bell grabbed me by the hand and asked me what I needed prayer for. I can still remember how hard it was to confess to anyone, but to a stranger seemed to be more natural…I told her of my prayer request…she looked me straight in the eye and said I needed to choose life...

I was trying really...
I just needed something to grasp onto, something practical, reliable...
Some kind of truth that would just hold my head above the water long enough not to drown.

She prayed for me.

There is something powerful in confessing hidden sin to someone; the enemy does not want us to be free. He’d rather keep us feeling guilty and ashamed, captive and unable to live out the fullness of God’s plans.

Choosing Life
This truth-telling... this speaking it out loud so I could hear it beyond my thoughts and then praying was the turning point for me... I wasn't perfect from then on, please! Recovery is a journey! But it was then that real healing began.

I knew that I had a lot of wrong thinking about myself and that I had formed patterns that I’d grasped to cope with some of the stresses of my life. I remembered listening to a teaching by Nancy Alcorn (Founder of Mercy Multiplied) about dealing with the root issues… I knew I had tonnes!

I realized that I had to CHOOSE LIFE by taking a break from everyday life. I needed to focus on my healing in Him, I had to choose life, and that meant my life for a little had to STOP. It had to look a bit different to everyone else, I had to have some FOMO, and I needed to be the one who made that choice.

My life was at stake.

The life God gifted me.

The Life God Gifted Me
The life that would one day bear three beautiful boys who have their unique personhoods to contribute to the world. A life that would love others in their own mess and write words that would draw people to Jesus. A life that would teach children to be their best selves and a life that would be filled with joy and wonder in all its beauty!

It was that same week that I began the application process to go to the Mercy Ministries home in Australia. Mercy Ministries was a home that young women could go to find healing, support and recovery from mental illness, EDs, help, and support for teen pregnancy, self-harm, abuse recovery and more.

Truth-telling
In the meantime I began to tell people I was close to, people I trusted and knew would show grace…and for those who were on the journey, thank you.

I learned a lot about myself during the season I was at Mercy. I learned about my true value and worth; I was treated with grace and dignity time and time again. I was blessed and doted on. It was my ‘God bubble,’ protected from the world and immersed in Him. There were challenging moments, times when I’d cry out to God with all my heart and wait for Him to come to my rescue.

He did.

He was always faithful.

My Time at Mercy

Mercy Sydney was an extraordinary place of healing and redemption for me, a time where I learned that despite all my failings God was still gracious and would restore what the enemy had stolen and blessed my life beyond what I could merely hope for. God spoke through Isaiah 58 and challenged me saying my true healing would come as I helped others along their journey of freedom and to share what I had with those who had nothing. 

Through the help of an incredible counselor, I was able to begin to pinpoint the root issues that my ED developed out of. There is no one single cause for an ED. Mine came from a variety of contributors. As a young girl, I was sexually abused by a family friend; I read so many magazine articles about being skinny and beautiful, comparing myself to the beautiful girls I saw in there. Through my teen years I experienced rape, abuse, and as I mentioned earlier, I was told straight out that I was fat and needed to lose weight to be pretty. I experienced a constant comparison to ‘hot women’ that I should look like to be beautiful. My idea of true and real beauty, the authentic kind, was so warped by the time I became a Christian, only God and His Word would transform my thinking. All of these things contributed to the consistency of my ED.

The Healing Journey
Pinpointing the root issues was just the beginning. After recognizing the causes, I had to recognize my thought life. I began to identify things that I believed about myself that contradicted what the bible said about me. I began to confess the truth to myself desperately wanting to believe it deep down in my soul. Sometimes I was speaking truth-words over myself several times a day until it dropped into my heart.

Getting Practical
Being in a care home meant that they helped control my eating and binging. I began to see and understand what a healthy meal consisted of and how to enjoy food again (and I'm now the ever loving foodie, so grateful I'm able to truly enjoy food again!). We even had scary food challenges that we accepted in our timing, and of course, mine consisted of hot chips and ice-cream!

With time, I was strengthened and equipped to fight for my life without the constant support from Mercy Ministries (although they were always a phone call away if I needed). The recovery journey has still been a long process. I had to learn how to choose life without someone assisting me 24/7. But I can confidently say I’m recovered and free now. Do thoughts cross my mind occasionally? YES, very rarely the enemy’s voice echoes in the background if my life, but God and His word have strengthened me to keep choosing life.

What Did I Learn?
Having had an ED has caused me to be deeply honest and authentic with others and myself. It taught me the power of God’s Word and to not fear man but God alone. It invited me to search for and embrace true beauty and value. It shook the veil of lies the enemy had covered over me and replaced it with truth and freedom! For that fight, I am truly grateful.

Life As I Now Know It
I am now married to an incredibly gracious, kind and gentle man, who loves God and worships him alone. We have three gorgeous little boys who I look at daily and thank God that the enemy did not win in my life… these precious boys are a gift. My mental health is healthy, though not perfect at times! I still have to speak the word of God over myself and situations (who doesn’t?!), but I know how valuable I am to my Heavenly Father.

She Collective
My passion for She Collective comes from my journey; I want to fight for our girl's beauty, for their worth and value… for their life and the lives of their future generations. I want to speak truth to the many lies this world yells at them. I long to see them strong in Him, confident as His beautiful daughters and equipped to overcome life’s battles. There is so much pressure out there to look and act a certain way to be beautiful; I believe only God and His Word can reveal our true beauty as we lean into Him, as we learn and grow in Him and as we love others the way He does. Trust Him, cry out to Him and seek Him today beautiful one xxxx




FYI: A great place to start recovery from an ED is to acknowledge you first have a problem. Don’t feel ashamed or embarrassed, it’s incredibly common and one of the ways the enemy attacks this generation of girls (& guys). John 10:10 tells us very plainly that we have an enemy that wants to destroy us. EDs are deadly; the risk of premature death is 6-12 times higher than the general population. They represent the third most chronic illness in young women and are the leading cause of mental disorder disability for young females in Australia (NEDC, 2010). Below are some Eating Disorder Help Lines and follow us over at @she_collective for a daily encouragement to be your best self.

Eating Disorder Help Lines

Australia

The Butterfly Foundation

(+61) 1800 33 46 73

http://wwwthebutterflyfoundation.org.au



New Zealand

Edanz

(+64) 95222 679

http://wwwed.org.nz



United Kingdom

B-eat

(+44) 845 634 7650

http://www.b-eat.co.uk



The United States

Something Fishy

(+1) 866 690 7239

http://www.something-fishy.org



Canada

NEDIC

(+1) 866 633 4220

http://www.nedic.ca



Or check out

http://mercyministries.org

It is a Christian organization, free and helped my freedom journey.