So often we, as Christian girls, sit around and wait for God to "show us what we're supposed to do with our lives," and all the while hungry children are starving, and kids at school are commiting suicide. I know that it feels like the "spiritual" thing to do... to wait until we are absolutley positive that it's the Lord's direction before starting a project. But do we really think the Lord will freak out if we "accidently" do good and help make someones life AMAZING, even if it's not in His "perfect plan" for our lives? That sounds so silly when we say it out loud!
Sister, if your heart is stirred by a problem in this world, don't sit around and wait for a prophet to show up on your door step and say, "Thus saith the Lord!"
We already know His commands to love our neighbors, go make deciples, love the unlovable, set the captives free, speak up for the rights of the destitue, make injust and crooked paths straight, and be the salt and light of the world. So what are we waiting for?
Sometimes I think the Lord is just waiting for us to CHOOSE something, and go do it with Him!
In this issue, I asked all our writers what they wanted to be when they were little girls. Why? Because the imaginary games we played, and things we imagined and desired, were like road maps for our future. God has placed burning visions inside each of us, desires we had long before Hollywood came along and suggested we be "pretty, famous, and popular," and attempt to snatch up a cute guy.
When we daydream about the impact we could have if we put others before ourselves, and the gifts we could use for God's glory, we realize that our inner blueprint of desire, is actually a SOLUTION for this world. You were all created to be an ANSWER.
I've heard it said that faith is stepping out before the staircase arrives. Faith is not sitting around thinking, "Well, I'm just gonna have fun and be a teenager, until I grow up and find what God wants me to do."
I'm going to use my story for example, not because I think it's so spectacular, or am trying to puff myself up, but I want you to see what God can do when you simply GIVE Him something to work with.
The problem I chose to confront was distored self-image. My heart was ripped apart by the tragedy that girls struggle with eating disorders, compare themselves with Hollywood, hate themselves, and are decieved about who they really are. And so, after choosing a problem which I believed the Lord could use me to make a massive dent in, I chose a method of solution. I picked something I absolutely LOVED, which was magazines. I had a strange obsession over them as a child, and it only made sense that I could design and create my own.
I didn't feel the Lord say, "Thou shalt start Crown of Beauty Magazine!"
In fact, I wasn't even sure if that was the exact direction He wanted me to go. I could have chosen many other paths. I could have chosen to pursue singing and the music industry, acting and being a light in Hollywood, or writing my own books and trying to get them published.
But I picked something that I knew I would have fun with. I wasn't even sure how long I would do it for, or if it would reach very many people, but I picked SOMETHING while I was waiting for God to open other doors that were still closed to me.
The Lord has blessed this magazine, and used it to touch hearts, simply because I GAVE Jesus something to work with. Just like the little boy who offered Jesus the fishes and loaves. When we give Him our lives, He can bless us, break us, then give us away. It's our prayer that this issue may be the launching pad that shoots you on a grand adventure with Christ...abandoning your "Hollywood-spun" dreams, for the one TRUE Dream:
You and Jesus, changing the world together. ~*~
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~Livy Lynn