The Battle of Beachtowels and Droplets

From the time we are born to the moment we die, the world we encounter is trying to coat our identity with their opinions. Daily, we are told something about ourselves. It may be a friend saying positive, encouraging words, a coworker belittling our ideas or personality-identity crisis or a random person saying something mean in a parking lot. When something is said to you as truth by another person, do you question it? Do you take a look at yourself and wonder if it’s true? Do you ask a friend? A family member? Or do you pray about it? Have you looked it up in the Bible?

If you’re anything like me, the answer is you probably check with God less than you do all the other options. Perhaps you didn’t even realize how much your identity is under the influence of the world around you. Are we letting lies latch onto your identity?

Think about your identity as a dry beach towel. Every day you lay on the sand and someone walks by with an eye-dropper and drops the tiniest bit of water on your towel. The mean girl at school you can’t quite stand up to: one drop. Your boss who harasses you: one drop. The girl on Instagram you think you should look like: one drop. Your friend that makes hurtful jokes: one drop. Your dad who called you fat: two drops. You cutting yourself: three drops. The person that abused you: four drops. The boy you slept with that left you: four drops.

Before you know it, your beach towel is soaking wet; it’s heavy and the color is distorted. It doesn’t look like yours and it’s uncomfortable to lay on. The reality is we let people dump lies on our identity daily - sometimes it’s something about the core of who we are, sometimes just some aspect of us - but lies all the same. We don’t notice the damp beach towel underneath us until it’s sopping wet.

So how do we keep our towel dry? We need to find our identity in the right place - who is the One who knows us best? What does God say about who we are?

• We are NEW CREATIONS (2 Cor 5:17). You are not who you used to be. His mercies are new daily (Lam 3:22-23). Don’t let anyone tell you your past defines you.

• We are ARTWORK. For we are His workmanship... (Eph 2:10a) The greek word for workmanship is poiēma. This word means ‘work’ or ‘of the works of God as Creator’. WE are HIS work; A masterful creation by a masterful Creator.

• We are FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE (Ps 139:14). The word fearfully here means to inspire fear or awe and to be revered, honored, and respected. Treat yourself and others with honor and respect - that’s how God see us!

• Our bodies are TEMPLES (1 Cor 6:19). Would you stand by and watch while people trashed the church building you meet in? Unlikely. If our bodies are are temples, then we shouldn’t let ourselves or anyone mistreat our bodies, take advantage of them or disrespect any part of us.

• We are BELOVED and CHILDREN OF GOD (1 Jn 3:1-2). God is the perfect parent loving and caring for His children. You are not alone and you are loved.

• We are FREE FROM CONDEMNATION (Rom 8:1-2) through Christ - we needn’t live in guilt and shame we can stand with our heads held high knowing we are loved as we are.

And there are so many more promises in the Bible to stand on. Every time the world tries to attack your identity, recognize it, deflect it with the scripture you know, and thank God for a chance to practice your faith and for the reminder that you are the child to the King.  

Jenna is a native Nashvillian. She is a dancer, writer, and just-for-fun-photographer. She studies Public Relations at Middle Tennessee State University and choreographs for musicals.

Time for a change

Most people around me, including myself, seem to be entering a new season of change and transition... Marriages, school changes, babies, major life-changing decisions being made, internships, jobs, relationship changes, you name it, it’s happening all around us. 

In the midst of all the change in my own life, I have finally realized that you can't do everything on your own. You can certainly try, but you will not get nearly as far as you will if you have a support system, and rely on God for your strength and wisdom. 

This summer I thought I had my life all sewn up. I was in a serious relationship. I was moving to Georgia. I was going to school there at KSU. I had plans for the future. I thought I knew exactly where my life was going but everything was about to change. 

For a long time my faith had been wavering, it was shaky and it was on the back burner - I knew that had to change. I made a decision at the beginning of the summer to start praying about all of my big decisions before committing to anything. While some things went overlooked, others I prayed about extensively - my personal relationships, moving, schools, internships, money, and my future. As a Christian, I want to honor God in all areas of my life and so I began speaking with God several times a day everything that was going on (not just the pretty parts!) and life began to change dramatically. 

As my relationship with God grew stronger I found my other personal relationships began to weaken. I came to realize that there were things in my life that did not honor God and my relationship with Him. The decisions I had made - to move to Georgia, to attend KSU - were all for the wrong reasons and I had left God out of them. After spending the summer in prayer and petition with the Lord and drawing close to him, nothing was working out with the move, the school, or, worst of all for me, with my relationship. I felt like my world was crashing down around me. 

I felt God was calling me to new things and so as hard as it was I made the decision to end that relationship, to stick in Nashville and to change schools and that led to lots of new things. Those decision would never have happened if I didn’t have faith - I had to step out and trust God and he put all of these opportunities in my path. I trusted that when one door closes, God always opens another. And in my case, He opened several. I have started an internship with MAM and I have a new job with flexible hours enabling me to take all these opportunities. I am actually able to graduate with my associate’s degree in Social Work this semester (which I did not believe would be possible). But it doesn’t stop there, I have been introduced to the opportunity to begin my own business that has the potential to provide for me for a good time to come. It also comes with the added blessing of being inspired by so many women who work based on the Golden Rule and ‘God first, family second, and career third’. How awesome is that? I am so blessed. 

Although I know the Christian life isn't always as rosy as it is right now, I know the only reason things have worked out so well for me is because I took a leap of faith in the right direction and I am now allowing God to lead my life because I know I cannot do it on my own. I know I cannot make decisions and grow in wisdom without going to my Heavenly Father. At this point, I have no idea what next semester holds for me, and I am not worried about it one bit. I am going to take everything one step at a time, and pray about every decision and make sure everything I do has a purpose.






Bri has been a long standing volunteer and is currently interning with MAM. She is great with kids and always has a smile for you. She likes to go adventuring, smell scented candles and jam out to loud music.

Celebrate Your Selfie… Part 1

What are you afraid of that makes you jump back or even cry? Bugs? Spiders? Mice? Photos?

That’s right: photos.

I’ve always loved taking pictures but when someone tried to take a photo of me it was pulverizing. I would tense up, try to avoid the photo, and I would be rude to the person taking the photo. Sometimes I would run to the bathroom and cry. No matter the reaction, the act of someone taking a photo of me would always completely turn my day around. I could go from careless and happy to angry and self-loathing with one click of a camera.

This process of emotions mentioned above began about freshman year of high school and continued until THIS year. That’s about five years. My fear of seeing my own face in a photo hindered family outings, hang-out time with friends, as well as dance and school functions.

I vividly remember a Christmas party at church where I was rude to my mother and my best friend because I wanted so much for my mom to stop trying to take my photo. I was so afraid of being rejected for the way I looked that I lashed out on loved ones. I couldn’t face the girl I saw in photos.

This summer, I was privileged to witness MAM’s #BeyondCompare campaign first-hand. At Audiofeed Festival and Wachinyeya festival, I was among many volunteers asking festival-goers to let me photograph them.  We would ask them to write an intrinsic value about themselves that makes them unique (i.e. I am a survivor) as a statement of being #beyondcompare because we are loved by God. We needn’t compare ourselves to media stereotypes or the ideals of others because we have are firm in our identity as a child of God.

Through helping with this campaign, I was able to see people like myself who feared photos. I would see the hesitation in people’s faces when I’d ask “Would you like to do our photobooth?” If the person I asked participated, I would take the photograph and sometimes ask “Do you want to see it?” to which many would respond, “Oh no, no I don’t like pictures of myself.”  

So what then?

Do we settle for ignoring our own photograph so we can “move on” and not worry about our fear of selfies? Or maybe you do what I often did-where you post a selfie on Instagram and if only two people like it then you delete it. Should we let our affirmation be in Instagram?

What is really being achieved if we actually like the way we look in pictures? Is it harming anyone if we just ignore the way we feel about selfies?

I want to know your thoughts. Take a look back at these questions. Think about questions you may have. Message me on Facebook or with your thoughts or comment on any of MAM’s social media and let us know what you think.

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/MAMministries

Twitter- @MAMministries

Instagram: @Mamministries

#MAMministries #BeyondCompare #CelebrateYourSelfie

Jenna is a native Nashvillian. She is a dancer, writer, and just-for-fun-photographer. She studies Public Relations at Middle Tennessee State University and choreographs for musicals.

Suicide… It's time to look up and listen

This is not where I originally planned to start, but this has once again hit close to home and has been weighing heavily on my heart. I think quickly, have horrible grammar, and cannot spell.

Here we go.

Suicide.

One person commits suicide every 40 seconds.

Suicide - to kill oneself, ‘is the act of intentionally causing one’s own death. Often carried out as a result of despair’.

What causes this despair? What pushes someone to that point?

Obsessive thoughts?

Anger?

Loneliness?

Fear?

Financial problems?

Relationship problems?

Grief?

Mental illness?

Substance abuse?

Addiction?

Emptiness?

Eating disorders?

Sexuality?

Acceptance?

Sexual, physical, mental abuse?

Feeling like you've hit rock bottom?

No way to get out?

One person every 40 seconds. How then is it so taboo to talk about these issues in our society today? We struggle to have sympathy or empathy. We struggle to relate to a situation that seems so bad that suicide seems the best option. We think it's selfish and we get angry. I know...I've been guilty of this. I've been one of those ‘left behind’ to try and figure out why they did it. Becoming to busy with work, life, the little things, to recognize:

The desperation

The hopelessness

The panic

The anxiety

The nightmares

The fear

The insomnia

The disinterest

The isolation

The sadness

The rejection

The victimization

The agitation

Up to 75% of those who attempt suicide tell someone about their intention.

Are we listening?

Ask questions.

Hear what is said and what is left unsaid.

Be vigilant.

Let people know that you care, that they are not alone.

No one is beyond help.

Everyone is loved by the Father even if they don’t know it.

Let's take a minute of every day, put the phone down, step away from the computer, stop thinking about work, the list of things you need to get done, shut out the social media, turn off the tv, the radio.

For just one minute a day, give someone your undivided attention and look at them, no, really see them.

Tell them you care, or don't say anything at all, and just listen.

I challenge myself, I challenge all of you - let's see what we can do together, what we can change.

Let's not be left wondering why.

Release the guilt, the anger, the helplessness, the flashbacks, that last argument, the last conversation.

Let's do this together.

Katye is a professional ballroom dancer who loves teaching as well as dancing. She has been both dancing and writing since she was young. Katye wants to share the amazing things God has done in her life with the world around her.

Some thoughts on thoughts... Part 2

I realize there are a lot of negative things in the world. Life can get really hard sometimes. It can get overwhelming! Watching the news, you see a lot of crazy awful things but rarely anything uplifting. Our televisions are filled with drama and crisis while there are very few shows about healthy relationships or happy families. It is really easy to see all the messed up stuff in our world and to focus on everything that is negative.

I have challenged myself to see the positive in whatever situation I find myself. I have a little necklace in the shape of a key that says “positivity is the key.” Sometimes this can be hard but it has definitely helped my everyday attitude and my stress level! I have become a much happier person. My anxiety level has lowered significantly. I am able to approach any situation more calmly than in the past when I let negativity rule my thoughts.

Do you know someone who is always negative - where everything they say is critical of things around them? They will always call out what is wrong in a situation before noticing what is right. It seems like they have the worst luck because bad things always happen to them. I’ve seen how this can affect people. It's exhausting focussing on the bad all the time. I do not want to live like that.  

I have a theory that you see what you are looking for. When you focus on the negative, you will find it. So it must be true that when you focus on the positive, you will find it. Your mind cannot focus on positive and negative at the same time - it's like trying to smile and frown at the same time - you can't.

A big part of keeping things positive is to not complain. Most things in life are not really a big deal. A lot of the things I worry and complain about are not life or death. If it is something I can change, I am learning to just do what I need to do instead of complaining about it first. If it is something that I can’t change, then there probably is not anything productive that will come out of my complaining anyway. In my brain, I try to catch myself before I complain out loud. That way I can filter my thoughts to only say things that are going to help a situation move forward in the right direction.

Living in a culture that wants to tell me that I should look different than I do, I have made a promise to myself to never say anything negative about my body out loud. I have heard so many people criticize themselves about the way they look. I look at these people and think they look awesome. It’s all about perspective. When I look in the mirror, I want to love the curves and freckles. Most people will never notice the small things I do not like about myself. I started writing positive things about myself on my mirror as a constant reminder of what I like about me. I only get one body in this life, so I might as well love it!

I'm also trying to focus positive vibes is in my relationships with others. I try to think about other people’s feelings in any situation. Many times, I find myself getting really upset about something and getting really mad at someone else without really even knowing how they feel. I could have taken their words in a way that they did not mean or they could be going through a lot and I am just the easiest target for emotions that have nothing to do with me. Most people do not know everything going on in my life, so I assume there is a ton that the people around me have going on of which I am unaware. Some of these things may be super stressful and hard for them to handle. I try to see the good in people, on their good days and their bad days. Also, when I treat people in a positive way, they tend to reciprocate. Positivity in interactions breeds more positivity.

I hope you will start to be grateful for the positive things in your life and see the good in everything. You can change the world by changing your world and having a positive impact on others. In the very least, you can help by not adding to the negativity. Start with your thoughts, and your whole life can change. 

It all starts with you. You can make the world a little brighter.

Brigid is a Texas girl living in Nashville, TN. She is a volunteer for MAM who loves laughing, Instagram, nachos and adventures.