Mercedes Benz Fashion Week!

It's been a nice long week since I've been home from New York. I miss my new friends and the city, but it's so good to be home!
God has been working mightily in the fashion industry. It's cool to see how much He actually loves it.
During fashion week, they set up tents at Lincoln Center. There are guards that stand out in front and check your cridentials to get in. Some shows don't require much. There was one show, however, that was turning away people that weren't on the list. My friends were determined to get into that one.
People start stepping aside, unable to gain acess. My friends get closer to the guard with the list. When it's their turn to explain their cridentials, the securtiy guard turns his back on them.

They walked right in.

It's like when God said Moses would be rescuing the people from Pharoah and Moses was like, "Yo, God... I can't. I'm trippin' with a studder. I can't speak boldy. The people are goin down if you think I am meant for this," and God says, "Bro, I've handpicked you. If you put your fears behind you, you're going to be so rad. Holla at a savior" (Exodus 4:10-12 LUV [Lauren's Urban Version]). God gave my friends exactly what they needed to get into that show. Because in that tent, they were able to share good news and be a calm spirit in an atmosphere full of judgement, status, and pressure.

My beautiful friend Jessica made this picture for her blog. She has a post about what a dresser's day is like. She's super encouraging! Here's some photos of us:

 

The cute girl in the middle is my new friend Shannon! I love her :)

 

 

 

 

We loved those little cupcakes :)

 

 

All the dressers!

 

Heres some pictures of the show I had the most fun at:

 

 

The show was called "the blonds."

 

 

These are the designers. The one on the right is a man named Philip. I know. He makes a pretty lady.

 

 

These were people in the audience... so crazy!

 

Carmen Electra was at the show! ...although I've not really seen any of her movies so I didn't think too much of seeing her.

 

It's a perfect place to care for people and show them love when they would never expect it. By the way, I'll probably be leaving for Los Angeles in March for LA Fashion week.

God is wild.

Livestream is pretty cool.

I'm going to NYC today! I'm so excited. My friend and partner in all of our shows informed me on Monday that we lost our housing because their roommate was coming home early, so we just prayed that we would find someone to take us in. And Jessica found someone! She lives really close to Lincoln Center too, which is great because that's where we'll be headed pretty much every day. She's also saying that she'll cook for us everyday and that is the sweetest thing because she'll save us so much money on food. Thanks Jesus!

Hey, you can watch the runways live! You won't see me, but you'll see the models we will be working with backstage. I hope you can tune in on one of them :)

Here's the shows I'm working that can be watched live (I hope).
Feb. 9th:     6pm- Alexandre Herchovitch (brazilian designer)

Feb. 10th:   5pm- Joanna Mastroianni (elegant womanswear)
                   10pm- Emerson By Jackie Fraser-Swan (boston-based designer)

Feb. 11th:   1pm- Pamella Roland (fall 2013 red carpet outfits)
                    6pm- Reem Acra (another red carpet collection)

Feb. 12th:   1pm- Diesel Black Gold (high-end hip brand)
                   5pm- Sophie Theallet (former CFDA/Vogue award-winner)
                   9:30pm- The Blonds (glitter and crystals)

Feb. 13th:   6:30pm- Clover Canyon (california casual with bright colors and prints)

The purple shows can be watched here. The red shows can be found on newyork.mbfashionweek.com

I'm pretty nervous, so please pray for me and the other volunteers, friends! Hopefully I can find time to keep the blog updated on the cool stories.

New York bound!

Hey! I'm going to New York!
I'm SO excited. And EXTREMELY nervous.
Here's what I'm doing: I am working with an organization called Models For Christ that is seeking to honor God in the fashion industry. From what it sounds like, I'll just be loving on models at the shows and helping them with anything they need and praying for them! I'll be working eleven shows!
It sounds so great.
But I'm also really nervous. This is my first time traveling alone. My parents seem really unsure of this trip, which makes me question it all the time. I'm not really sure where I'm staying yet. Or how I'll afford meals every day. And not to mention (this is something I have yet to confess on the blog), I'll be dressing models back stage and I am very uncomfortable with nakedness.
Yeah...
Backstage dresser. And I can't stand nudity. I always look up movies on IMDB before I watch them and check the parental control section to see if any nudity is present. I get all uncomfortable with sensual scenes especially if they are acted out really well.
It feels so personal. It's like I'm getting involved in a very intimate part of a relationship. Even if it's not real.

So I'll be challenged. And that's a big reason why I'm going. When I challenge myself and get out of my comfort zone, God reveals the CRAZIEST stuff to me. I've never experienced anything more fantastic. But I am so stubborn. I love being comfortable. It's so easy to stay where I am in my relationship with God.
But that's not what being a follower of God is. He never said it's easy to follow Him. It takes dropping all the sinful stuff and putting it to death. Putting to rest all those crappy things I am tempted with, and walking with God.
Sometimes it sucks. I'm just being honest. Some people think I'm an absolute idiot. That I'm brainwashed. I don't think for myself and the fairytale of God just makes life easier for me to go through. And that I'm a "goody two-shoes." May I remind you, I have genitals and a mind that is wired the same way yours is. It may seem like I'm all pure up in here...nope. It's not all crafts and bible scriptures bouncing around in there.

It sucks hearing what the world thinks about Jesus. It's very tempting to become a hermit and just do nothing about my faith and hide it away. Live a life looking out for my own skin.

Ahhh that's just too easy. I'm not doing that. Living life for Jesus is full of so much danger and uncertainty. It's a recipe for adventure. I follow him no matter what my finances are or my relationships are like. Where I am at with my job and in my schooling. I trust that He knows me best. He'll lead me into a life better than I've ever set out for myself.

So I accept the challenge. I invite the uncertainty of finances in. The cluelessness I'll experience when I step into the airport. The confidence I'll need for working in a fast-paced atmosphere. The redness that will come to my cheeks as I see someones badonk-a-donk.

Ah yes. Here we go. Come Lord Jesus.

Thankful.

Back again!

Whew. Took a long pause this November… and much of December.

I’ll give you the low-down of life since then:

Finished my last class needed for applying to the dental hygiene program.
Applied to the program (and felt darn good about it).
Got my job back at Joann’s (awesome because I never realized how much I love it there most of the time).

 …and that’s about it. I have no further excuses other than that I started watching The Vampire Diaries and got totally addicted. Team Damon. That’s all I have to say about that.

 I skipped Thanksgiving and the whole “I’m thankful for this and that” trend. Gosh, reading that back, I sound horrible. And it’s true- that’s a low thing to say. I felt like in everyone did it because that’s just what you do around that holiday, so it’s not really genuine.

But that’s just a load of crap-o-la. It’s an excuse for me to not think on all the great things God has given me. See, that’s kind of a huge flaw of mine.

 I’m not a very thankful person.

I take things for granted big time.

I don’t cherish what I have.

I don’t go to God and say thanks for the amazing comfy house I live in and the huge bed I sleep in every night. Or the fact that I have a desk in my room filled with tons of beading supplies, fun paper, cool stamps, and every ink color imaginable to keep me happily busy with my crafting hobby. Or that I have lovely friends. An amazing, supportive, encouraging family. A handsome, super nice fiancé.

 I’ve got a King of Kings blessing me over and over again, and I often forget to turn around and say, “Hey man. Thanks for that one. You really got me covered.”

 See, what I really say to Him is, “I really need this.”

“I need help with that.”
“Seriously? Why did you just do that to me?”
“Can you be a little nicer to me?”
“Will you answer a prayer once an a while?? K thanks.”

 He needs to smack me in the face.

And He did.

But not in the “Get it together!” movie scene slap. It was a “check out how good you’ve got it. Watch this,” kind of slap.

I was sitting in a lovely Christmas service at Rochester Church of Christ just yesterday and I was squished in between my sister and Davy. If you are ever around them, you’ll see them poking, pushing, punching, pinching, etc., each other. They have such a brother-sister bond it’s not even funny. It’s scary. It’s too good to be true.

We sat there, singing wonderful praises in Christmas songs to Jesus (they were actually behaving at this time), when all of a sudden I feel my sister loop her arm around mine while Davy put his arm around me on the other side. Both gestures at the same time.

Oh, Lord Jesus.

So good to me.

In that moment, I felt so blessed I wanted to cry. I wanted to burst into tears and tell Him how thankful I am for EVERYTHING. And how sorry I was at my bitter attitude during Thanksgiving.

 I felt so much love in that moment between my sister and my fiancé. I can only imagine how good it will feel when God puts His arms around me.

 You guys. He’s so good. He’s not going to hunt you down and haunt you if you lose sight of Him. He’s in love with you. He’s going to keep loving you and there’s nothing you can do about it.

 Accept it. Embrace it. Let yourself feel the joy.

You need it.

I'm going to leave you with some pictures of me and my friends having an awesome time over the summer. I'm going to thank God for these happy moments today.

So thankful for friends that will act totally rediculous with me.

I don't care about my face in this. Randy is on the ground like a rollie pollie. I must share it.

Blurry yet lovely. My sister. I love her.

And then Randy photobombs.

And then Jenna joins :)



Weirdos at the cider mill.

Randy contemplates life. I talk him out of it. We travel into the woods. I do parkour over a log. He photobombs again:

Hey there Davy ;)

Love that man of mine.

Chelsea and my dad. Two fantastic people.

 I think this is a very good picture of her. She's beautiful.

He opened my eyes and I’ll be thanking Him from now on.

Have a happy Christmas, beautiful friends.

Acting childish.

You know how I’m not working right now? Well, I’ve been praying for God to take care of me.

When I was working, I had this attitude of independence. Like, I needed a job to pay the bills. Even though I have no bills to pay. I just felt powerful.

Well, now I feel weak. And embarrassed.

 

I realized something pretty simple.

God is our Father. He refers to us as his children.

There is something really cool about that relationship. We don’t have to take things into our own hands. We have a powerful parent taking care of us. We can depend on him like we did with our parents when we were children.

 If I want him to take the role of my Father and have Him take care of me, I have to resume the role of a child.

Children rely on parents wholeheartedly. For everything. Safely, love, nutrition, finances, etc.

And they think the world of their parents. I remember fighting with a boy named Jordan in first grade about how my dad could beat up his. All children want in life is to make mom and dad so proud of them, too. And kids trust their parents. Everyone else is a stranger.

 I picture a child hiding behind a parent’s leg when a stranger approaches them.

Then I picture my self in the child’s position.

 Hiding behind God when unfamiliar things approach me and Him looking down at me, smiling. Maybe the stranger is good. If so, God will nudge me toward the stranger.

He’ll see my hesitation and crouch down beside me. He’ll put his arm around me and whisper in my ear, “It’s okay. Don’t be afraid. I’m right here. Nothing bad will happen to you.”

Or it could be a stranger that is no good. God will straighten up in front of me and push me behind Him, not letting any harm come near me. He’ll stand firm.

 

Whether the situation is good or bad, it will go through God first. He’s the bulletproof vest. He takes the hits for you.

 

How crazy comforting is that?

 

We don’t have to stress out. We have nothing to worry about because God knows what’s best for us.

Psalm 37:7 says “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret…”

So simple. Just be still. Let God father you. He’ll take such good care of you.

If you want to resume your role as God's child, this video is a good place to start. It's really short but it's awesome.

 

Oh, here's some pictures of halloween festiviness.

 

You're never too old to carve pumpkins :)

Bummin'

Hi!

I’ve been away for a while. Basically, I got hit with unemployment.

 

I was working at Joann's, you see. Not enjoying it, of course. Then I got this excellent job at an orthodontist office. I was looking on Craigslist for dental assistant positions and every single one is looking for several years of experience. I finally found one job that was looking for people to train.

Was it the Lord? Yes indeed, it was.

But didn’t I say I was unemployed earlier?

Yes, I did.

 

...let me explain.

 

I get this job working for a brilliant doctor that is not only an orthodontist, but also a cranial facial surgeon who specializes in cleft pallets. He hires me with zero experience in dental.

 I was thinking, “This job is just going to take off. He can train me to work the surgeries with him! I’ll never need a new job again!”

 

Wrong.

 

He was a nightmare to work for. I ended up quitting after two weeks.

 So here I sit. An unemployed bum.

 

Bear left me. He didn't want to sit on the big empty couch with me.

When you are unemployed, your life becomes coffee, dogs, and bad self-timer pictures.

 

I'm trusting in what God has for me, though. He's got something up his sleeve.

 

Stay tuned for more unemployed adventures!

 

The Struggle part 5: The Struggle. Haha.

"I wish someone had told me sooner. I wish someone would have just articulated it in a way that I could understand. I wish I had actually read the Bible. I grew up in church and went to a Christian school, but somehow I completely missed the freedom that was being offered to me from Christ Himself.

"Hallelujah we are free to struggle, but we're not struggling to be free."

People freak out when you say something like that. "Free to struggle!!????" They think you'll take it as license to do whatever you want. And you know, some do. Some say, "Oh, it doesn't matter what I do, cause God will forgive me!" But just because there are some who pervert the grace of God, doesn't mean we should shy away from preaching it. Yes, some people don't understand what they've been saved from.

They don't realize how audacious it is to presume upon the redemption of God, because they don't realize what it cost Him to forgive us. They also must not think about what they've been saved from. It's not just our guilt He saves us from, it's also the power of death over us. Why on earth would anyone ask Jesus for salvation and then willfully run back into the arms of the very things that were killing them?

I can't say that I know. I don't understand why I do it, so how could I begin to understand others?

But this I do know. His grace is so big and so vast that Christ went lower than the lowest. He bore our sins on the cross, and it is no longer up to us to carry that weight. We no longer have to atone for our mistakes. They were atoned for us. And not only is there an ocean of grace that we fall into when we fail, but there's also a grace so majestic and strong, that it's actually powerful enough to heal us from our vices and free us from our prisons.

Christ came to forgive and to free us. I hope you know that, deep down. You can screw up and know that there is always mercy to rise again. And not only that, but you can know that the same power that raised Christ from the dead is living inside you, So you don't have to do those things you hate anymore.

Free to fail. Free to change.

It's quite an amazing concept isn't it? There's mercy for your failure, and there's liberty from your sin. You don't have to pay for your sins, and you don't have to sin anymore. This is what it means to be saved.

And my only prayer is that the church would grasp both of these ideas, because we can all be a bit one-sided can't we? We tend toward extremes. One only needs to count the number of Christian denominations to know, we're not always the best at balance.

In the American church we can be good at one of these platitudes, but usually not both. We're either focused on preaching grace or intent on preaching victory, which ends up doing one of two things. We pander those caught up in sin, or we Bible beat them cross-eyed for not walking in the victory they ought to be.

Brothers and sisters, let us grasp them both. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, and there's also no more chains to keep you from walking with Him. Both. And.

Comfort those who are staggering, because we all struggle in different ways. We may look different, but our hearts are all the same. Be tender with one another. Correct each other with gentleness, knowing we're free to struggle. But also, let us not let each other off the hook. Remind each other, that we're not struggling to be free. Call each other out. Lift each other up. Push each other forward. It is for freedom we have been set free."

This is my favorite song on the whole album! Check it:

 

:)