But Ephesians offers a better alternative:

Woman-on-woman crime. It’s a hot new topic of conversation lately. Whether or not your familiar with the term, you are likely familiar with the phenomenon itself.

Woman-on-woman crime happens when another woman sees your pantry and says, “Oh, you’re not buying organic?”

It happens when you say behind another woman’s back, “I would never treat my husband like that.”

In short, it happens every time you judge another woman for making a decision you wouldn’t make.

Woman-on-woman crime has a huge, ugly mole on her face called “Mommy Wars,” which, again, you have probably observed, if not experienced. You can identify a mommy war when you hear things like, “haven’t you heard that breast is best?” or, “Oh, I would never let my child cry it out.”

Mommy wars, wife wars, food wars, fashion wars, friend wars. They’re all woman-on-woman crime.

Or to be more specific, they are one facet of woman-on-woman crime.

I found another facet recently. A trend that was bothering me but I couldn’t quite figure out why.

See, here’s something you probably don’t need to know about me: I can be really awkward around women who are in a different stage of life than I am. Especially new moms. I never know what to say. I never know what’s appropriate or what’s offensive to say or ask.

I also feel kind of … petty? I have a job, a husband, an apartment, and I’m working on my master’s degree.

But moms carry a human being in their body for 40 weeks, literally push them out into the world, keep them alive for the first several years of their lives, and then teach them how to become a good person for the rest of it.

So that’s one example, but I can seriously be really awkward around women who aren’t exactly like me — working, young married and currently childless women.

So as if I weren’t already insecure and awkward enough, there’s a new blogging fad that just makes everything worse — “10 things never to say to a …”

You’ve seen those posts. 10 things never to say to a mom, a new mom, a stay-at-home mom, a working parent, a single parent, an adoptive parent, a foster parent, a parent of a child with special needs, a single person, a newlywed, a couple without kids, a couple with multiple kids, a nurse, a retail worker. This list literally goes on and on.

Your friends share these posts on social media and say, “THIS!!!! #truth.”

And I can make fun of those lists all I want, but I’ve made them. In my head. When I was a newlywed I would just wait for someone to ask me when I was going to get pregnant or if we’d had our first fight yet so I could get put-off and offended and feel superior. I’ve actually written about those thoughts on Rediscovered.

My thoughts and those posts always bothered me, and I never knew why until I realized: IT’S ANOTHER FACET OF WOMAN-ON-WOMAN CRIME!!!! The “10 things never to say to a …” blog post syndrome, if you will. The mindset that we are the only ones in our incredibly unique situations and that we deserve to never have anything said to us that could possibly rub us the wrong way. The mindset that we don’t have to show grace to people who say things we consider rude because how dare they be so inconsiderate?

So, to review: Being catty, judgmental and gossipy is woman-on-woman crime. Being entitled, easily offended and elevating your own status (be it marital, job or motherhood) above everyone else is also woman-on-woman crime.

“Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.”

If Jesus could live a perfect life without anger, harsh words and slander towards those who didn’t, maybe we can try to live our imperfect lives in the same way.  If Jesus could be kind and tenderhearted and forgive our massive offenses to God, maybe we can forgive the minor offenses of our fellow women.

So let’s make a pact.

To decrease the crime rate. To be kind and tenderhearted, loving and gracious. To empower others, to forgive their faux pas, and to be nice for crying out loud. Please repeat the following words.

I vow to prayerfully make the best and wisest decisions I can make for myself and my family. But I further vow to consider that my minor lifestyle decisions and opinions are not the only valid ones out there. I vow to consider there are other women who may pray and seek wisdom about the same issues and come to different conclusions and that does not make me better than them.

Even if I disagree with someone’s decisions, I vow not to be snarky or condescending or eye-rolly towards them. I vow to keep my opinions and judgments to myself unless I truly believe that another person is legitimately harming herself or others. When I think judgmental thoughts about others (as I am bound to), I will try to keep those thoughts at bay and replace them with positive, gracious and uplifting ones toward the other person.

I vow to NEVER EVER EVER get in a cat-fight about any of this stuff on social media or blogs. EVER.

I further vow not to keep a running list in my head of things that people “had better not say to me” about my circumstances. When someone is inconsiderate or rude in what they say to me, I will be graceful and forgiving and give them the benefit of the doubt.

I vow to attempt to be considerate in what I say to others, especially those in a different situation or stage of life than my own. I vow to truly think about what I say to them and try not to say anything that would hurt them. But if I do accidentally offend someone, I will be forgiving of myself and not beat myself up over it.

I vow to be, as best I can, supportive, affirming, encouraging, uplifting and kind to other women (and men) of all ages, shapes and sizes.

I vow, through the grace of God, to get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words and slander. I vow, instead, to be kind to others, tenderhearted, forgiving others, just as God through Christ has forgiven me.

We will all break this vow at one time or another, but let it be a reminder to us that Christ is above woman-on-woman crime and therefore we have hope.

—Erin

Jesus has already given us grace to cover every part of our lives–not just the “big stuff,” but even the tiniest little areas where we feel like failures. If He has given us this kind of grace, maybe we can try to give it to ourselves as well.

Happy 2015 to all! As we have mentioned, 2014 was a year of pretty big changes for all of us. New jobs for ourselves and our husbands, new houses, going back to school, and two new human beings. In case you haven’t yet, please gaze on the beautiful faces of Luke Andrew Elliott and Crews Stephen Eldridge.

Luke Andrew Elliott

Crews Stephen Eldridge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me just say that I (Erin) have met both of these boys and they are perfect. And their moms (Melissa and Whitney) are both champs and are doing wonderfully.

So when Melissa told me she had written this post about some of the facts of life that come along with being a mom, I read it and thought it spoke well about the changes that all of us are going through. When changes come, priorities have to shift a little and things may fall by the wayside for a while.

That’s definitely happened with us and this blog. As all of us have had to deal with new responsibilities, we’ve had to give ourselves a little grace in regards to Rediscovered (and about a billion other things in our lives).

Maybe that’s something we can all try to do in 2015, give ourselves some grace.

All that to say: we’re still here, we still love doing this, and we still want to seek out truth with you; we’re just giving ourselves a little grace as we try to find a new “normal.”

So, without further ado, a new post from the one and only Melissa Elliott:

***

I have always had a neat and organized personality. Just by preference I have always wanted things clean and logically organized. It makes my soul happy and eases my stress. A messy and disorganized home can throw me over the edge on a bad day. My husband has graciously attempted to understand this preference and tries to help me achieve this peace.

But let me tell you the story of my life right now.

This past semester I began to work part-time as a teacher in preparation for my coming baby. I had all this time in the afternoon and wanted to be the “best wife” I could be, so I created a weekly cleaning schedule. I know it may sound a bit structured, but I enjoyed it! I got into this routine of cleaning bathrooms on Tuesdays, dusting on Wednesdays, and cleaning floors on Thursdays. It was awesome!

And then the baby came.

I could no longer keep a clean and organized home.

The laundry piled as high as I am tall before I got to it. The dishes covered the counters. My bedroom was a mess of clothes all over the floor and bed sheets twisted up in knots. It was a good day if I could grab a quick shower during Luke’s nap.

I can only hope that one day I will be able to return to that cleaning schedule and my clean and organized home (and I know how silly that sounds). But now I look at that cleaning schedule and just laugh.

However, during this time of a reality check, I struggled with feeling like a mess to myself, to my husband, and to everyone who visited my home.

It was during this time that I was forced to lean into the grace Jesus gives. I needed to lighten up on myself, accept grace, and realize that Christ isn’t interested in my neat and organized house. He is interested in my dependence on Him only. This verse rang true in my heart and mind:

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

The thing is, I am dependent on Christ only. When my weakness is at its height, Christ carries the burden and becomes my strength. That is what He has promised to me in His covenant with me; He fulfills His promises. In my weakness of heart His strength can shine through.

So, friend, whether you have just had a baby, have a physical or emotional weakness, are going through a difficult circumstance, or even if things are going great – lean into grace. You don’t have to do it all, be it all, or pretend everything is okay. In your weakness, ask for His strength and He will give it to you. Christ promises to be our strength in weakness. Lean into grace.

– Melissa

Hey friends! We’re starting a new (somewhat sporadic) series today called “Mom Talks.” The posts are written by Erin’s mom, the illustrious Janet Flippin. Below is Erin’s explanation of how the series got started. Enjoy!

This summer, my mom (who lives 8 hours away. Boo.) came up for a visit. My husband was out of town and I took a few days off work so we just hung out and did mother daughter stuff. Which included talking. About everything. And that’s basically what we did the whole time. We ate. We talked. We shopped. We talked. We went to a water park. And talked. We watched Gilmore Girls. And talked. Isn’t that every girl’s dream?

And I needed it because lately I feel like the adult world is a really, really cold swimming pool that I have to immerse myself in. For the last three years, I’ve been slowly wading in and trying to get acclimated, but you get to certain points every once in a while where you say “Nope, I’m not going any further.”

I’ve always respected my parents. They seem to have it together more than any couple I know. I’ve always thought they juggled marriage, kids, jobs, higher education, finances, etc. like pros. Sure, I’ve seen some setbacks and I know at times, things got out of whack, but the truth is, they are two of the most successful people I know.

So, when my mom came to visit, I had the chance to ask her about it all and how she made “the real world” look so easy, because I finally saw how easy it absolutely is not. I asked her about all the things I’m feeling insecure about now: marriage, career, finances, the craziness of my pursuing my Master’s Degree, my irrational fear of having kids.

And in the typical graceful wisdom of my mom, she told me to chill out.

She told me I had unrealistic expectations of myself. She told me that, of course, she had never had things together as well as I thought she did. And maybe most importantly, she gave me an idea of the bigger picture. She helped me see past the next five or ten years and into the next fifty, and reminded me that God would be on my side through it all and that I couldn’t do any of it without Him anyway.

I wanted to give the rest of you a chance to feel like you’d sat down and talked to my mom. To feel relieved and better about yourself and like everything is going to be okay, so I asked my mom to write about a few of the things we talked about and she agreed, wondering, of course, how what she had to say could possibly help anyone. Oh, mother…

So this will be the first in a series of blog posts called “Mom Talks.”

For the first post, I asked my mom to write about money and finances. My parents are awesome at finances. They buy stuff with cash – cars, college educations, furniture. And it’s not because they’re rolling in dough. My dad works at a church and my mom works in education — two of the lowest paying fields out there.I was telling my mom this summer that I don’t feel like my husband and I are anywhere near where we need to be financially. We make a good amount of money and we try to spend very wisely, but I’m not where I thought we would be two years into marriage and into the working world. I asked my mom where we needed to be and if we were doing something wrong. Below is her response to all of you:

Janet:

In her introduction, Erin describes me as some wise sage, always at the ready with sound advice. HA! She doesn’t know it, but most of the advice I gave her came from a highly reliable, six-year-old I used to know named Erin. Six-year-old Erin was a bright and precocious girl. She knew no fear—with for one glaring exception—she had a crippling, irrational fear of the wind. This fear kept her from doing the things she loved. I have a picture of her at her own birthday party eating her cake while sitting in the threshold of the door—not wanting to go inside but too afraid to join her friends playing outside either.

This fear plagued her until it finally came to a climax when we went to the lake with my sister and her family. We were all going from the house down to the lake, but because the wind was blowing, Erin chose to stay inside. We begged, encouraged, comforted, and cajoled her but to no avail. I stayed in with her for a while but finally told her I was going down and that we would love to have her join us. I was gone for a little while when I noticed her making her way through the yard and getting into the water. She was cautious at first, but eventually she played and had a great time. Later, I asked her how she was finally able to overcome her fear and join us. That’s when she spoke those immortal, triumphant words to which we often refer:

“I told my brain to shut up!”

Brilliant!

Unfortunately, fears and worries don’t stop when you’re a six-year-old. The winds of change keep blowing (pardon the pun) into adulthood, and new fears and worries come around. Probably one of the biggest worries in starting out one’s “adult life” has to do with money and finances. Maybe you feel comfortable enough financially, but you’re worried about where you “should be.” Every day, you see people around you who you perceive are doing things easier, faster, and better than you are. They’re buying houses and cars; they’re having babies and finding jobs, and making it all look effortless.

Maybe you believe that you must be doing something wrong or you, too, would be further along financially.

What seemed to help Erin the most when we talked, and what she believed would help all of you, wasn’t so much my advice or words of encouragement, but my sharing from my own experiences, concerns, fears, and mistakes. It brought some much-needed perspective as she realized she was not alone. I’m not sure how it might help anybody else, but that’s what she has asked me to share with you—so here it goes.

I have always jokingly (kind of) told my husband that I married him for his money—his college grant money. When we got married, we were both going to school full time and working part time. This allowed us to qualify for just about any and all financial aid. We lived very meagerly (even miserly), but we managed and it was some of the best times in our lives. It took us several years before we both had “real” jobs.

As soon as we began to make money, we began to make mistakes with it. We felt the pressures to measure up, fit in, and start making something of ourselves. We went on a spending spree. We bought a house, two cars, furniture, and had our first child. And we did all of this at once. Believe it or not, we got away with these decisions relatively unscathed, but we bought ourselves a lot of worry and frustration.

We would have been much wiser to ease in and handle one change at a time, but we were in such a hurry to buy a house that we didn’t think about the long-term implications. We didn’t think that in a couple of years, when my husband graduated from seminary, we would probably move. We were also young, inexperienced, and impatient—not a very good combination for making wise decisions. We rushed into it and barely had the money we needed for a down payment (in fact, we borrowed a part of it from my husband’s grandparents).

When the local economy crashed, housing prices hit rock bottom. We couldn’t sell it for six years after we moved out of it. Even when the house sold, nine years after buying it, we still sold it for less than we originally paid. We definitely got in over our heads. We also had ourselves stretched so thin financially, and because of our inexperience, we hadn’t taken into account how much more complicated our finances were now. There were taxes on all our newfound income, taxes on our new house, higher insurance for the house, the cars, and all of the unforeseen expenses of a newborn.

After we moved out of our first home, we decided to slow down and rent until we had things under control again. During that six-year period, my husband worked part time and went to seminary. I taught school full time. We paid off the cars and kept driving them. It may have seemed like we took a step back, but we didn’t look at it like that.  It felt good. In fact, we were able to prepare to have our second child (the lovely and talented Erin). And because we had life a little more under control, I was able to stay home with our two kids.

Which brings us to something that Erin found very interesting. All this happened about eight years into our marriage, and it took that long for us to finish school, decide on a career path, go back to school, and get a full-time job working in that field. It didn’t happen overnight.

In fact, it didn’t stay worked out either. Like I said, I then took time off to stay at home with my kids. Later, my husband went back to school for another degree. Even as I write, I’m taking time off again to go back to school myself. It’s all a process. You don’t just snap your fingers and arrive. We didn’t finally feel ready to buy another house until we had been married over ten years, and that really should have been the first time we bought a house.

Somehow, hearing all of our misadventures made Erin feel a whole lot better. (Wish I could say the same—It made me feel foolish all over again.) It helped her to hear that we made mistakes, that we rushed into things, and that we started out piecing together part-time jobs, and that we shouldn’t have bought a house until we had been married over ten years. It’s not that she enjoyed our failings, but I think it served the purpose of providing her the perspective she needed.

So, the wind of change might be blowing in your lives, but you don’t have to fear adulthood. There are new responsibilities, worries, and fears, but there are wonderful opportunities too. Don’t let fear keep you from enjoying this awesome time in your life. Just tell your brain to shut up!

 

– Janet

In many churches today, women’s ministry is one of the only places where a woman can exercise her skills, passions and Spiritual gifts.

I’ve heard the casual observer and the occasional grumpy old man lament over the fact that women are “taking over the church.” And I have to admit, I can see why the casual observer or grumpy old man would think so. As I look around my own church, we have multiple women’s ministry events every week and maybe one or two men’s ministry events a year. Our women’s ministry has Bible studies and discipleship classes, services for single moms and the occasional fun girly event. Any woman new to our church could find dozens of different places to plug in, and that’s just not the case for men.

By the way, I stinking love women’s ministry. I co-created and regularly write on this blog for women. I just created a small group curriculum for young women. I teach two women’s discipleship classes a week. I love women, I love ministering to women, and I love being ministered to by women.

But as I look at the women’s ministry explosion in our churches, I find another reason (besides the fact that I love women) why I’m so involved in women’s ministry, and I think it’s the reason a lot of other women are involved, too.

A woman might be gifted at teaching but cannot teach a small group, she teaches in the women’s ministry. She might be a gifted leader but cannot lead committees or ministry teams, so she leads women’s ministry events. She might be a gifted writer but is often passed over, so she writes for women’s ministry needs.

I don’t think this is done out of spite, but out of practicality. I think it’s subconscious and gradual–a natural reaction to our church culture. We are called to exercise our Spiritual gifts to build up the church (Romans 12:6-8), and if the only place a sister feels she can do that is in women’s ministry, then there she goes.

And that is okay. If you think at any point I’m saying that women’s ministry is somehow lesser, please go back and reread paragraph 2 until you know that I stinking love women’s ministry and think it is such a worthy ministry.

But I do think that with this mindset, the “women can only minister to other women and to children” mindset, the church suffers.

A friend of mine was sharing with me recently that while her small group leader is great at ministering to others and bringing people together, he simply isn’t a good teacher. Obviously, just because someone is not gifted at teaching shouldn’t exclude them from being in small group leadership. But it should exclude them from being a small group teacher. My friend said that in this case, she thought that the leader’s wife made a better teacher, but had no chance to use her gifting.

And that’s where the church suffers.

When we eliminate 50% of our possible leaders, teachers, writers, counselors and speakers from the majority of our church ministries, we are hurting ourselves.

We are pushing men to step into roles that just don’t fit them and concentrating the skills of women into a very small amount of ministries.

 I understand that many people–men and women, oppose this kind of thinking because of a Biblical conviction and I respect that. I, too, believe in the infallibility and inerrancy of Scripture and don’t believe in just throwing out certain passages of Scripture because I don’t like them. I, too, was raised in conservative churches and am still trying to figure out exactly where I land on the women in church leadership spectrum. I don’t have it figured out.

I don’t view it as my job to try to tell anyone how to interpret the Bible. But I always ask everyone, no matter where they land on any theological issue, to really study the Scriptures about it. Again and again. Give yourself permission to change your mind. Ask yourself if your views are coming from the Bible or from tradition. Ask yourself if you’re getting meaning out of the Bible, or making the Bible say what you want it to. In this case, look at the New Testament and see what our sistren (female version of brethren. Surprised you had to ask) did in the early church.*

Then ask yourself: what should I do because of this?

The Bible changed my mind on some of the specifics of women in ministry, and it might change yours too. It may make you believe that it’s okay for women to teach mixed groups, to lead ministry teams, or to be to be deacons. But even if you’re not willing to go that far, maybe it will cause you to think that we should see more women praying in church services, sharing their testimonies, or leading the occasional small group discussion.

And I understand that the majority of those I am writing to are, of course, women. So I want to encourage you: learn more about your Spiritual gifts, talents, and skills. Get trained and equipped to use them. Develop them and don’t be afraid to volunteer them in a context where you feel comfortable. Let it be known what your Spiritual gifts are. Don’t be militant or forceful about it, but let them show.

And if you want to use them in the women’s or children’s ministry, that is wonderful. Those are some unbelievably worthy ministries, but don’t settle on them as comfortable defaults. If you do, you may be cheating the church and yourself out of a gift the Spirit has given you.

– Erin

* I know this begs the question “So what does the Bible say about women in church leadership?” I’m hesitant to give my opinion for three reasons. One, this issue is still up for debate in Christian circles. Brilliant theological minds fall all over the spectrum on this one, so I am well aware that my opinions and my views are not the one way to interpret Scripture. Two, I so want you to study the Scriptures (and study other people who have studied the Scriptures) and decide what you believe about this for yourself! And three, this post would probably be 8,000 words if I undertook such a topic.

If we have any interest in the subject, I may write a follow up post(s) about what I believe concerning women in ministry and how I got there Biblically. Let us know if you’d like to see that.

Celebrating Rediscovered’s second year!

Hello friends!

Rediscovered just officially celebrated its second birthday! Honestly, we can’t believe it. We are so grateful for this blog, for each other — the Rediscovered team and all of our guest writers – and for you, the Rediscovered community and readers. We are so honored to be able to seek out and speak the truth with all of you.

We’re going to celebrate our second birthday the same way we celebrated our first: a break from new posts and from social media (mostly) during the month of September and then an awesome blow out virtual birthday party on October 1st (more details to come)!

During our break in September, we’ll not only be adjusting to some changes in our personal lives (new jobs, new master’s degrees and two new babies on the way!), but we’ll also be making some major changes on the website. The blog will be “under construction” during the month of September, and we cannot wait to reveal our new look on October 1st. We hope you’ll love it as much as we do.

So we hope you’ll look back through the archives this month and maybe even work on a post of your own to send to us. We’ll miss you, but we’ll see you at our birthday party, October 1st!

Love,
Whitney, Erin, Melissa & Rachel

“You’re not good enough …”

The sun was beating down. I was sunburned. And plump. My shirt clung to all the wrong places, my hair was frizzing and my makeup sweat-smudged. Not really the way I had wanted to meet the producers of The Biggest Loser TV show; not what you’d call putting your best-foot-forward. Then again, I guess I wasn’t really good enough to have a life-changing experience on a famous TV show anyway, right?

Wrong.

That train of thinking was one of the main lies Satan had told me and I had chosen to believe.

It was the lie I had told myself in every lonely moment, when no one would hang out with me, and I turned to food. It was the lie I accepted every time I started another “get-fit-quick” diet and decided to give up two weeks later. It was the lie I told myself every time my husband or family tried to approach the painful subject with me. And to top it all off, I accepted an even greater lie … “Nothing I can do will change it.”

Rewind the tape of my life to 2009 and you’ll see a swimmer with eyes on Olympic gold. You’ll see a young woman with her eyes on Christ first, family second, work third and boyfriends an, “If that’s what you want Lord.” My priorities were in order, I had dreams and goals and passions, and I was willing to do whatever it took to achieve them. And over-all, it was always about putting Christ first.

Many women grow up overweight. Others grow up thin, but the weight comes on quickly later in life. Regardless of whether you have struggled with weight your entire life or only a few years, carrying around not just the physical baggage, but also the emotional and spiritual baggage, can be devastating to our sisters-in-Christ spirits.

We see thin women everywhere. We hear people’s concerns and complaints, we see (and probably try) multiple fad diets that may work for a while but then fail in the end and leave us heavier than when we started. It’s a vicious cycle. And it’s a spiritual disease.

That weight on the outside is usually only a physical symptom of the illness of our hearts on the inside. Let me encourage you, sisters, you are not doomed to be this way. No matter what our culture preaches about “accepting curves,” I know how it feels to honestly not be happy with yourself.

Why is that?

Search deep. Make yourself find that day, or series of days, where you finally decided that “I’m not good enough.” If you were raised over-weight, when was the day when you had the realization, “I can’t change this because of (insert excuse here)”?

It’s the moment where you let yourself give up, but didn’t turn to God to carry you. That moment is the moment you need to sacrifice to God the most. It’s the moment you need to allow your Savior to be who He is and rescue you. It’s time to let Him carry you.

Our God doesn’t see us as “works in progress,” mere scraps of broken pots with no potential to be great. He sees us as masterpieces. Scratched, cracked and stained by sins committed by and to us, but covered as Holy in Christ. He loves us and will, if allowed, fill cracks and holes with His image and love, paint over stains and blemishes with His blood and righteousness, and in the end present us to His Son as a bride more beautiful than any bride in history. And in that moment, He will show that what Satan intended to break and destroy, He has only strengthened and refined. We are beautiful to Him.

I did not make it onto the Biggest Loser. I came home and filmed a video for them, explaining why I needed their help to make this change, and one question shattered everything that had held me bound for so long.

“Why do you want to do this, and do not say ‘to lose weight, be healthy, or because I need the money.”

Why?

My answer astounded me. “I want to finally be good enough for myself.”

Like many women I worked hard for approval from family and friends, even from God. I ate when I was stressed, lonely, sad or had accomplished something that made me feel I needed an award. Thus, I went from a 95 lb., size zero swimmer in 2009 to a 249 l., size 22 swim Coach in 2012 – only three years.

You can find many reasons to inspire weight loss, but none of them hold fast in a trial as hard as losing weight if you do not do it for yourself through Christ.

I came home from the audition, decided I had the nutritional and fitness knowledge to pursue this on my own, and that I was ready to give my life back to God and be the me He sees, loves and created.

To solidify my commitment I launched a public challenge. For every 10 pounds I lose between May 4^, 2014, (249 lbs) and the St. Jude marathon on December 6, ^2014, I aim to raise $100 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. I track my journey publicly, the ups and downs, the successes and failures, to inspire others.

You don’t need a fad diet, to kill yourself in the gym, or to meet somebody else’s standards for your weight loss. Some people will criticize you. Remember why you’re doing this. Seek a doctor’s assistance, discuss a plan that’s right for your body, and stick with it. You can do this!

Eat well, make small permanent changes that you can live with. Avoid non-realistic diets that can’t be permanent like low-carb, no-sugar, etc., unless you need to do so for medical reasons. Find a support group (even if it’s small) and be open and accountable. Stay in the Word daily, pray often and share your journey with others to help encourage and lift them up as well.

Make the journey about stewarding your body well. You were given it, so work and pray to make it a grateful sacrifice to God. He created you for a purpose. Don’t let emotion, temptation and lies become the rulers.

As of today writing this article I am down to 211.5 pounds, 37.5 lbs gone since May 4! I have reclaimed the purpose I lost, the passions I’d forgotten, and the life I had quit living.

You were made for so much more than existing, you were made to live, and live life abundantly! If I can do this, a 249-lb. swim coach who’d lost herself to depression and sin, YOU can do this through the power of our Father! Don’t give up!

May God richly bless you and give you His desires and passions for your life,

— Kat

Coach Katherine Bowen is a 26-year-old swim coach from Memphis, TN. She is currently studying to take the ACE (American Council on Exercise) Personal Trainer Certification test with a weight-loss specialization. Her goal is to help other over-weight women become healthy and happy, both inside and out. She has been married to her high-school sweetheart and best friend since 2011, & has one fur-child, a calico cat.

You can follow Coach Kat’s personal weight-loss challenge supporting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital by following her on Facebook (Coach Kat’s Challenge of Epic Proportions) or by going to her blog.

“I’d just like your thoughts on single life in general. A lot of times I struggle with knowing there’s nothing wrong with being single for life if that’s God’s plan for me. I’ve known several 90+ year-olds who were single all their lives. Some were Christians, others weren’t. With that generation you would think, “Wow! They will have great insight into these doubts and questions I have,” but unfortunately all I have been able to glean from them is it just never happened or how bad men were to them personally. I’d just like to hear from someone who could share more about the single, older life.”

This week we’re highlighting another Ask Rediscovered question. None of our team felt quite equipped to answer, so our friend Delena is offering her perspective.

 

Dear Reader:

“Why aren’t you dating? Surely, the guys are all after you?”

“So, when are you getting married?”

“You’re not getting any younger.”

“What about kids? Don’t you want children?”

And then there’s my all-time favorite … “Are you a lesbian?”

These are things I hear often, especially from family. I’m 27, single, childless and PAINFULLY aware of it. In today’s society (at least in small town Texas), it’s expected to be married by 22 or 23 and a mother soon after. When you don’t fit that mold, people don’t know how to respond. It’s as if something is wrong with you; you’re not ‘doing’ life right.

Just like some – and I’d venture to say most – I find myself worrying often (especially after someone brings my singleness to my attention as if I wasn’t already aware).

Am I broken?

Is something wrong with me?

What have I done wrong; why doesn’t any guy want me?

Then I remember — God is going to take care of me. He always takes care of me. It doesn’t mean it will be easy. The Christian life, if you’re living it biblically, shouldn’t be. It will be tough, you’ll be discouraged, and you’ll question your own path. You just have to stay focused on God.

Will I be single the rest of my life? Has God called me to a life of singleness? I don’t know. God hasn’t told me. God told me to work; He told me to be there for my youth (I’m a youth worker at my church) as an example and a friend. I’m doing what He says. At this time, He sees fit for me to be single. And it makes sense.

1 Corinthians 7:32-35 says, “I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but He’s called me to serve Him, to be a holy example to people.”

And like 1 Corinthians says, my attentions are not divided. I’m focused. I’m not saying people should never get married. I just personally believe God has called me to singleness at this time. I think everyone has a period in their life that God sees it best to be single. Whatever the length, know that you’re never alone. He’s there, and so are we. There are many of us out here who are single. We’re not pariahs, we’re not weird and we’re not broken. We’re right where God wants us to be in order to promote His will and glory and to secure our undivided devotion to the Lord.

Love,

Delena and the Rediscovered team

If you have a question you’d like to ask Rediscovered, we’d love to answer it or find someone who can. Find us on Twitter, Facebook, shoot an e-mail to rediscoveredblogATgmailDOTcom or Chat With Us.

 

 

 

*photo credit Britney@BareTribeBlog

Hello Friends!

Running this blog is one of the greatest joys of our lives. Seriously. We love to see our sisters lay down their baggage, shut out the lies, and start believing the truth about God, themselves, others, and the world around them.

We love hearing stories like that, but we’re not naive enough to think that a few blog posts on our part can bring about all the change that needs to happen in this area.

That’s where you come in. You are surrounded by women everyday who are carrying around their own baggage. You’re probably surrounded by younger women who haven’t accumulated that baggage yet, but will in the future unless someone intervenes.

We want you to intervene. Because you have something to say, something to share, and something to offer to the sisters in your life who look a lot like you used to. We want you to mentor these girls and teach them the truth about God, themselves, others, and the world around them.

And we want to help, which is why we’re offering you this Discipleship/Bible Study curriculum, Step Out, that our co-creator Erin King has written. It was written for her discipleship group of preteen/young teen girls to encourage them to learn the truth and to step away from the world, toward Christ, and into a life that matters.

We so much want you to pour into the lives of younger girls that we are offering this curriculum completely free of charge.

It’s all in there: an introduction, learning activities, the Bible Studies themselves, and weekly devotional notebooks for your girls. Check it out for yourself! You can always find our curriculum button on the side of our page and once you’re there, follow the link to our Step Out curriculum.

We hope you’ll use it and we always hope to help you as you live life well and lead others to do the same.

Love, Rediscovered

 

I would love your thoughts on lingerie. I brought some on my honeymoon, but it has been in my dresser since. I find it sort of degrading, truthfully and confusing. Our Christian culture emphasizes modesty, which has its place, but it almost feels like [after marriage I am] expected to transform into someone I was told I shouldn’t be. I like to dress nicely, but lingerie feels so weird to me. I would love to know your thoughts!

We recently received this question from a reader and are posting it with her permission. We thought many of you might benefit from the discussion as well.

Dear Reader,

Great question on a topic that is confusing and embarrassing for so many women. You are definitely not the only one who has dealt with this.

For the first few years of marriage (and probably beyond that) the details of sex can be confusing and overwhelming at times. For starters, we’ve all had lies about sex hurled at us from TV, movies, magazines and even the church. We’ve all been told what’s sexy and what’s not. And we all have to deal with our expectations vs. our husband’s expectations when it comes to sex.

Then, for those of us who’ve grown up in a conservative Christian culture, things can get even trickier. All throughout middle and high school we’re taught

Wait for sex. Wait for sex. Wait for sex.

Girls especially are taught

Modesty. Modesty. Modesty.

So you’re right. We feel like all of a sudden, in one day, in the span of a couple of hours, we’re supposed to flip a switch and all of a sudden become sex animals. Totally cool with showing cleavage. We’re supposed to know how to do everything and know how be “sexy” and know what’s true and what’s not about sex. We’re supposed to be cool with edible underwear and push up bras and itchy lace.

You rightly pointed out … it doesn’t happen like that.

So what do you do when you’re uncomfortable in the sexy lingerie you’re supposed to be totally cool with?

There’s not one blanket answer for this because there’s a million reasons why different women don’t feel comfortable in lingerie, but I think they mainly fit in two categories. See if either of these sound familiar.

We think being sexy is wrong.

It’s not hard to understand why we would think this growing up in a Christian culture. But God made sex to be good and He made our bodies well.

So, within the boundaries God has set up, it’s good to enjoy sex and it’s good to enjoy feeling sexy. But a deeply engrained mindset that sex is dirty and being sexy is wrong is hard to overcome. Here’s the thing, if you think this may be you — not wanting to wear lingerie because it seems wrong, I would try to work through it. Not because lingerie itself is so important, but because you could be holding yourself back from enjoying your sexuality because of unneeded guilt, and believing a lie that’s hurting you and your spouse.

Lots of girls enjoy lingerie and find it makes them feel good, confident and sexy. Others try it and decide it’s just not their thing. If that’s you, cool. But you owe it to yourself to try it.

Honestly, yes, some lingerie is degrading and it’s good to stay away from anything that makes you feel degraded. But showing off your body in a way that makes you feel comfortable to yourself and your husband shouldn’t be a degrading thing, and I know that’s a hard lesson to learn in light of our modesty, churchy subculture.

So take baby steps. Find something you’re comfortable in and wear it once. Try something more modest at first if it makes you feel more comfortable. Pray about it, (because God cares about this stuff) and talk to your husband and maybe a friend about it. Sexy means different things to different people. It can be as simple as a cute night-shirt and shorts, or as elaborate as a white, lacy, satin wedding-night ensemble. Your husband can also offer his opinion on what he loves to see you in and what makes both of you feel comfortable together.

We think being sexy is a static thing.

You are a unique individual. Your husband is a unique individual. Your marriage will be unlike any one else’s marriage and your sex life will be unlike any one else’s sex life. The truth is your sexuality should reflect you, because it is a part of you. God created you including your sexuality. Unfortunately, we’ve grown up in a culture that doesn’t celebrate that in the context the Bible lays out for us, and where “sexy” is a static thing — wearing and doing and saying certain things.

Honestly, I think a lot of girls are uncomfortable with lingerie (and maybe sex in general) because they’re trying to express themselves sexually in a way that is completely unlike them. And rightly so. If you’ve waited to have sex until marriage, everything is completely foreign to you. Even if you have had previous partners, sex with your husband will be new and what you wear and experience with him will be new.

Not all girls are black silk and lace type girls. And not all men prefer that.

Find out what feels sexy to you, even if you wouldn’t see it at Victoria’s Secret. Find underwear and bras that feel sexy to you and wear them just for yourself. And find a way to feel comfortable letting your husband in on your struggle. Be vulnerable with him and let him help you feel comfortable in your own skin. Find out what your husband finds sexy, and chances are, there will be some overlap in what the two if you like. First of all, because you’re married, so you obviously connect on other levels. Also, because when you feel sexy, it will show. What makes you feel sexy is sexy.

And the truth is, that’s different for everyone. Just like we all like different styles of clothes, just like some girls like dressing up and others prefer to stay in their sweats. That’s all up to you and it’s between you and your husband and no one else. There are no Victoria’s Secret models in your bedroom. No old Sunday school teachers or pastors or members of the modesty police.

Find what works for you and your marriage and make your own definition for sexy.

Love,
Rediscovered

 

If you have a question you’d like to ask Rediscovered, we’d love to answer it or find someone who can. Send us your question at rediscoveredblog AT gmail DOT com. Or submit a question anonymously on the Chat with us page.

Hospitality is my jam.

I always tell people if they really want to have a better understanding of where the Spirit has gifted them, they’ll learn more from asking the people closest to them than they will from a Spiritual gifts assessment. As for me, I’ve had more than a few friends and Spiritual gift assessments tell me that hospitality is my jam. And I can tell that it is. Hospitality is what makes me come alive. Unfortunately, it’s not talked about much in the church except in the context of bridal teas and new recipes and basically anything to do with homemaking skills.

I’ve always felt talk of hospitality is akin to taking an Emily Post course where you should get the cleanness of your house, the decor, the food, etc, all perfect. And then the whole Spiritual aspect is tied into everything, so if things aren’t perfect, it kind of makes you not as good of a Christian woman.

Which is why, since the days of Martha, hospitality has stressed out a lot of women (including yours truly). And being stressed out is not a spiritual gift. If it were, it’d be a really sucky one.

So I began to look into the ministry of hospitality, and how to practice it without moving into the ministry of being stressed out. In doing so, I figured out a few lies we believe about hospitality.

1. Hospitality is primarily about cooking and cleaning

We need to get out of the mindset that hospitality primarily means the aforementioned bridal teas, a clean house and a spare bedroom. Not that those things aren’t important, but hospitality is so much more than that. Hospitality means opening up our lives, and by extension, our homes, cars, and anything else we own. It means friends know they can come over whenever they need to, not just when something is planned and we are prepared. It might mean providing a couch to sit on, a shoulder to cry on, an honest conversation, watching a movie, or giving someone a ride. It might mean warmly opening ourselves up to someone and providing whatever they need.

Jesus affirmed this in the famed Mary and Martha story. Martha was the picture of our idea of “hospitality”: she was working, she was cooking, she was prepared, she was stressed. But Jesus said that Mary chose something better. Martha let Jesus into her home, Mary let Him into her life. This has a lesson for us in how we serve the Lord, but it also speaks volumes about how we should serve our Christian brothers and sisters. Maybe the best thing we can do sometimes is to stop the hostessing and just be with people.

2. Hospitality is a girl thing.

If hospitality is all about a clean house, a nice meal and a nice-smelling bathroom candle, then I can see how people would think that hospitality is a girl thing. In general, girls tend to think more about nice-smelling bathroom candles. But, as we’ve established, hospitality is not primarily about cooking and cleaning.

Aaron and I decided early on, before we were married, that his ministry is my ministry, and my ministry is his. Hospitality comes naturally for me, but my strength is Aaron’s strength, so we work together on it. Whether it’s in the big things like being there and talking to people and letting them into our lives, or in the smaller things, like the cooking and cleaning for our guests, we do it together. And I can’t even begin to say how thankful I am to have a husband like that.

I know I’ve already mentioned bridal teas twice, and this will be the last time, so listen up. We Christian women have let bridal teas, etc. hijack the notion of hospitality. Now the whole concept seems kind of girly and frilly and over the top. But we’re all called to practice hospitality in all kinds of different ways, no matter who we are, what our gifts are, or what our gender is.

3. Hospitality means a perfect house

It’s all well and good to clean up before company, to prepare a nice meal for a planned event, or to fix up the guest room, but by the very nature of Christian hospitality, we might not always have that luxury. Or we may not always have the nicest house or the nicest things. To me, the essence of true hospitality is saying, “I may not have much, but anything I have is yours.”

This simplicity is reflected in the Bible as well. Jesus talks about giving someone in need a cup of cold water, Rahab hid Hebrew spies on her roof underneath some grain. Other heroes of our faith like Abraham, Lydia and Zaccheus were quick to offer whatever they had at the drop of a hat. The Bible shows they took this responsibility seriously, but they didn’t wait until everything was in order and a future date was planned to offer food and shelter to someone in need.

We should strive to give our best to others, knowing in serving others, we are also serving Christ, but if we wait to offer hospitality until things are just right, we are missing our Christian calling. I can’t possibly voice this better than Lauren Winner in Mudhouse Sabbath* so I won’t even try.

“I probably shouldn’t have curdling milk in the fridge if I’m inviting someone over for tea, and it might be nice if I emptied the kitchen trash can and didn’t leave dirty clothes all over the bathroom floor. But to be a hostess, I’m going to have to surrender my notions of Good Housekeeping domestic perfection. I will have to set down my pride and invite people over even if I have not dusted … If I wait for the immaculate, I will never have a guest … We are not meant simply to invite people into our homes, but also to invite them into our lives. Having guests and visitors, if we do it right, is not an imposition, because we are not meant to rearrange our lives for our guests – we are meant to invite our guests to enter into our lives as they are.”

 

Whatever you have to offer, offer it. You may be offering it to Jesus without even knowing it.

— Erin

* For the best discussion on hospitality I’ve ever read, you really will want to check out this book!