It’s hard. It’s complicated to reconcile a God who works through pain. It’s tough to trust in a Lord who allows suffering & inconvenience. It’d be a whole lot easier to mindlessly promise myself that Jesus always wants to make life easy, but I don’t think that’s how He works.

If anything, Jesus uses dark colors when He paints. He’s into streams in the desert & life out of death. Just take one good look at the cross & that ought to convince you that the God the Bibles speaks of is a God who uses horror & injustice to His advantage.

The cross is evidence to our minds, & balm for our souls that our God is a God who brings beauty out of pain. Art out of chaos. Beauty out of ugliness. Or as some of the poets have said, He conquers death by death itself. Our Redeemer beat Death at his own game.

Hope rises.

When we trust Christ, & the mysterious work on Calvary, we trust that He’s always up to something good even in the darkest days. In fact, that’s probably when He’s up to the most good, because that’s when the most good grows in me.

So hey, I’m delayed, I’m uncomfortable, but if this is the path the Lord has brought me down, then I say, “Don’t stop it Lord.” Redemption was born on a far darker day than this one, so bring the chaos. Bring the madness. Do whatever you’ve got to do to recreate my heart. After all, it’s me that needs to change, not my circumstances.

- Mike Donehey

Hi! Yes I do have a Facebook, but I mostly only add people that I actually know personally. Just to be safe ‘cause you never know these days haha. The only accounts I share publicly are my tumblr & my instagram :)

I know this is an EXTREMELY touchy subject. & no matter how I word this, I know there will be many that will still be upset with me. But I hope you understand that I say this all out of love & I am only standing by what the Bible says. So, here it goes…

Leviticus 18:22 in the Old Testament states “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.” then in 20:13 it states “If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act.” 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 in the New Testament says “Or do you not know that the unrighteouswill not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” So according to these verses, homosexuality is a sin. 

Now, I am by no means judging or hating on people who call themselves homosexuals. I am only telling you what the Bible clearly says about it. What God says about it. It’s not my preference that I am declaring. It’s God’s. & it is what I will stand by.

Homosexuality is a sin & like any other sin it needs to be dealt with in the only way possible. By laying it at the cross & repenting from it. As far as the rest of us, no matter what we are not called to judge people & their sins. We are called to love them as God loves them & continue pointing them to Christ :)

Truth be told, I fell to the wayside for a while. & it didn’t feel right to keep running this blog at one of the lowest points in my life. I couldn’t sit behind my keyboard & type all these encouraging things to you if I couldn’t even encourage myself. I couldn’t sit here & ask you guys to believe in God when I was so far from believing & living like He could break the chains that had enslaved me.

I had to take a hiatus to deal with everything. I still have a long way to go. But I’ve finally surrendered my pride over my situation to God. Now the breaking can begin. To be honest, it sucks. Really bad. But as painful as it is, I know God will take my brokenness & create into beauty again.

I will be posting more often again, although maybe still not as much. I do have a lot of questions in my inbox that haven’t been answered since I was gone. & I’m so sorry. I will get to them as soon as I can. Thank you for sticking with me. & thank you for your prayers.

Love you guys,
Nica 

Growing up, I honestly never considered myself physically beautiful. Especially with all the comments people (mostly guys) used to make about me. Like how skinny I was or how big my eyes are or how “shapeless” I am or how they would compare me to other girls who were “more attractive” than they thought I was. It caused me to become really insecure about myself & for the longest time, I believed the world’s lies & had convinced myself that I wasn’t beautiful. It wasn’t until my late teens that God really opened my eyes. By the world’s standards, I may not be beautiful. But why would I want to be defined by the world’s standard anyways? I belong to God. He alone defines me.

1 Peter 3:3-4 (NLT) says “Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.”

1 Timothy 2:9-10 (MSG) says ” I want women to get in there with the men in humility before God, not primping before a mirror or chasing the latest fashions but doing something beautiful for God and becoming beautiful doing it.”

So tell me, what is more beautiful than a woman after God’s own heart? Not the kind of beauty defined by man, not a perfect body, not having the hottest style, not all caked up in make-up. But a heart that is SO lost & in love with God. THAT is the kind of beauty that I hope to have. THAT is the kind of beauty that I hope others will see in me. I may not have it all together half the time, but this is the kind of beauty that I want to pursue for myself: the beauty of a Godly woman.

- Nica

(Source: myheartbelongstochrist)

Hi, thank you!

& yes, we all need to realize that our worth comes from Him & Him alone. & it definitely is a struggle. There are days where I still have doubts, but God always shows up. My prayer for myself & for all of you is for us to find contentment in God each & every day of our walk with Him.