Asking "Why Me?" and Finding Hope

Hey friends, Have you guys even been through a hard trial in your life and think, "why me?" There is always the BIG "why me?" after anything goes wrong in your life. What we don't know is that while we are engaging in our pity party, God has a bigger plan. God teaches in mysterious ways and He gets us prepared to teach and shine His light by having us going through trials. 

Let's face it, who is going to want to listen to a Christian evangelize that has never had a single bad thing happen to them. You won't be able to be relate or even be able to sympathize. People listen to people who they can relate to and they can share how they overcame their struggles. They want to know how we are still positive after we have gone through such hard times, and that is when you can share the love of Jesus Christ! 

All my life I have been down on my learning disability and I have felt so alone as a child because no one else I knew had dyslexia. I would always ask God, "why me?" I absolutely hated the fact I had it. I still have times when I get really down on myself, but, for the most part, I am extremely thankful to God for allowing me to have it. Instead of looking at it as a bad thing I look at it with a positive mindset! I am the person I am today because of it and I have been able to encourage many people who struggle with school as well. Satan wants me to be down on myself but God wants me to be victorious, be a fighter, and an evangelist. When I was younger I would never think I would be saying I am thankful for God giving me dyslexia, but as I have grown up and have had more experiences I would not trade it for the world. Next time you get down on yourself or go through a tough time in your life, try to have a positive mindset about it and think of all the people who have also gone through the same thing. You can shine God's light too and show them how much God loves them!  Till next time 

Prayer for a New School Year

Happy Tuesday friends! We hope that you had a wonderful long weekend! At the start of a new school year we wanted to share a prayer that is the heartbeat of our community and that we pray for each of you. We pray that this reminds you that as you embark on this new school year and season that you are not alone. God is with you in each and every class, every hallway, and every situation that you encounter this year. May you fall more in love with Him and who He is in the days, weeks, and months to come. You can do this!! Let us make this year the best one yet!

God, we ask for your help as we start this new school year. Give us grace for the days before us and strength for the school year as we take one day at at time. In the midst of the schoolwork, the requirements, the after-school activities, the work that is before us we ask that you show yourself in new and mighty ways this year. Show us the purpose that you have for us this year. Show us how we can have an impact on our worlds for you. Let us see the joys and challenges that we will experience as unique opportunities to fall more in love with you and to have an opportunity to share your love with others. Give us strength for our studies and the wisdom on how to do our best. Give us an open heart to see those who are broken and hurting around us so that we may show your grace and love to each person. Give us your eyes and a vision for this year that goes above and beyond anything we can think or imagine. We love you our precious Savior. Thank you that you promise to go before us, never leave us, and strengthen and equip us for the journey before us this year. Amen.

Staying Motivated

Sometimes going back to everyday life after all the excitement of the holidays is challenging. The newness of 2016 is over and now it's back to school, back to everyday chores, and back to normal life. I used to try to start out every year with ideas of what I wanted to accomplish. Hoping to work harder, to get more done, to be a better person. But after a while the newness wears off, life gets busy and soon I don’t feel like using energy to do my best, even in the little things. The other day I read that about 45% of Americans make New Year’s Resolutions and that only 8% of people actually keep them. I guess a lot of people have the same problem!

Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be that way. God has given us in His word everything we need for “life and godliness” and the scriptures mention over and over how to live a fruitful life.  Here are a few verses that I have come to love that encourage me to strive to do my best.

Do it in Christ - “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in Him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5) We can do nothing apart from Him. We can have good intentions and good ideas. But if we really want to make a difference it has to be in Him. Spending time in His word and in prayer is a vital part of our relationship with Christ.

Do it for God’s glory - "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31) My life is not my own and when I am doing things for God’s glory it gives me a special desire to do my best.

Do it Joyfully - "The Joy of the Lord is your strength." (Nehemiah 8:10)  Whatever you set your hands to do, do it in joy! Joy can only be taken away if our focus is in the wrong place. Knowing what God has done for me through Jesus Christ gives a peace and joy that really does give strength to carry on even when I’m tired. 

Do it Willingly - “Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve…For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you.” (Matt 20:26-28, John 13:15) A lot of doors are opened just by being willing to serve others. I’ve read books about missionaries and heard so many stories of people that had a huge impact for the gospel by serving those around them.

Do it Faithfully - “The one who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much.” (Luke 16:10) It might seem that the tasks are little and insignificant, but maybe God is using them to prepare us for something greater. Be faithful in all things!

My prayer for all of us is...

 “That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and long-suffering with joy.” Colossians 1:10-11

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We here at Grace Engaged have been so blessed by Hannah's blog contributions and the entire Wissmann Family's love and devotion to the Lord. If you would like to connect with them, view their schedule of concerts, or purchase their music (which we highly recommend), you can connect with them at their website, on instagram, or on their Facebook page. Thank you Hannah for your beautiful blog post contributions this year! You are a blessing!! 

Friendship

Friendship can be tough, especially in high school where everything and everyone

changes. Your middle school friends aren’t even recognizable, they have each gone

their own way and you are left to hurriedly find your new crowd, your new best

friends, the people that will make you survive high school. It’s a tough time really

and I certainly struggled the first year because everything was so new and fitting in

was definitely tempting.

While you are on your search, to find yourself, to find your friends, to find where

you belong, it’s important you stay true to yourself. I know you might be thinking,

“How can I stay true to myself and fit in?”. High school is all about trends, and doing

what everyone else is doing but most of the time, what everyone else is doing, isn’t

the right thing at all. It can be hard to willingly not fit in, but you will grow true

friendships from it. You will find people that understand you and that have the same

interests and that like you for who you are.

In Corinthians chapter 1, verse 15:33 it states, “Do not be deceived: “Bad company

ruins good morals” You are righteous for you are a woman of God, you are blessed with good morals and changing that just to “fit in” is not worth it, I can guarantee it. So do not change for anyone! Do not become someone you are not, so you can fit in with people that do not care about you. Instead focus on God and his ways and He will lead you to

similar minds, similar people, people of God and together, you will survive high

school and develop your newest friends in Christ.

Welcome Back! (And our Scripture Memory Verse for January!)

Welcome back friends! We hope that you had a wonderful holiday season with your friends, family, and loved ones! It was such a delight for our team to spend time away with those closest to us and also spending time in God's word! We are excited to be back and to connect with you throughout this semester! Don't forget to check out our website for exciting news and things that are going on in our ministry! You can find the website by clicking HERE!

We are also excited to share our scripture memory verse for January! You may have already seen in on Instagram (are we connected with you on IG? We would love to if we aren't!) As a little background, one of the heartbeats of Grace Engaged is the scripture memory program that we hope y'all will join in with each month! Each school year we will be picking one "theme" to look at in scripture and for the 2015-2016 school year we have chosen "grace" as our theme. For the month of September we memorized a portion of 2 Corinthians 8:7 and for October we memorized a portion of Ephesians 2:8. For November we memorized Hebrews 4:16 and for December we memorized John 1:14. For the month of January we are memorizing I Peter 4:10 which states: "As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." We would love to have you join in on memorizing this scripture with us this month!

One of the things that we are passionate about here at Grace Engaged is encouraging ladies to know that we have a Savior who not only loves us big and beautifully but one who is fully involved and present in our lives. In understanding this big and beautiful grace we then can serve one another as good stewards of that grace. Isn't it a beautiful thing when we understand the love and grace of the Lord and can encourage other ladies? Truly it is a beautiful thing to see and a beautiful way to share the love of God!

What a beautiful thing to ponder as we return to our school routines for this second semester. Who in your life needs to experience the manifold grace of God? Who can you serve in this way? Happy January friends! May you be encouraged as you memorize and live out this verse!

Cultivating a Heart of Worship

Photo Credits: Kori Wissmann

Hello from across the miles! My name is Hannah and I am the ninth of 13 siblings who, with my parents, are my very best friends and role models. God has given our family the incredible opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus Christ through music all over the United States, Canada, and Mexico. This was not something that our family had ever imagined doing, but God opens doors that no man can open and I am so grateful!

Photo Credit: Bethany Beasley

I’ve seen God answer so many different prayers over the years, and we’ve been able to tour places that most people only get to read about. But life on the road is also a significant amount of work and I have my challenges just like you. Life doesn’t always go as we plan, and we often run into unexpected problems. Maybe we are discouraged, or having health issues. Maybe something happened with a school or home project. Perhaps it’s just a wrong attitude that we are having a hard time changing.

That is the perfect time to cultivate a heart of worship, because God is so much bigger than our problems. I’ve found that when I take my eyes off of myself: what I feel like or what my “problems” are and instead focus on who God is and what He has done, then I am left in awe of God’s awesome power, faithfulness and goodness. He sees the big picture. If I fully trust that He will mold me into who He wants me to be for His glory, then worshiping and surrendering to Him with my whole heart is the best thing I can do. You can read in Psalms where David worshiped God when he was on a mountain top and you’ll find that he had the same heart of worship when he was in a valley with King Saul in pursuit of his life. Having a heart of worship and gratitude is not based upon outward experiences, but it is a constant trust in who God is. 

Sometimes worshiping Jesus is exactly what it takes to help me change my attitude or surrender my problem. Here are a few practical ideas which I have found to be helpful in cultivating a heart of worship:

                        Start each day in the Word.

There is nothing like starting each day with a firm foundation of truth! The Bible is living and active, and it is His very precious gift to us. There is nothing that can take the place of God's Word!

                    Memorize Scripture.

We need spiritual food just as much as physical food, and memorizing scripture is a wonderful way to keep God’s Word constantly before you.

                  Play worship music.

Music can be an extremely powerful tool and is often used to create an atmosphere in a room. Sometimes when I don’t exactly know what to pray I simply sing the lyrics of a worship song that says it for me.

Look to the needs of others.

Usually when I take time to see the needs of others, my wants become so minor, and I am soon just grateful for the blessings God has given me.

Photo Credit: Wissmann Family

Life is not about me. I don’t want it to be. It’s about Him! Having a heart of worship not only changes us and our perspective, but as we worship our Creator for Who He is, people around us get to “taste and see that the Lord is good!” 

Our family has adopted Psalms 40 as our theme, because it sums up the work God has done in our lives:

“I waited patiently for the Lord: and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth — praise to our God: Many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord.” 

-Psalms 40:1-3-

That is who God is. It is what He has done in our lives. And I pray it is a description of what He does in yours as well.

Who I Am In Christ

Who I Am In Christ sheet found HERE.

“And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not to men.”

-Colossians 3:3-

In high school, you’d never find me on the basketball field or on the cheerleading team and certainly not running laps around the track. You’d probably find me in play practice or in a music rehearsal. I was totally the theater girl and would often get too wrapped up in the different roles of women that I would play in shows rather than focusing on the unique woman that Christ made me to be. 

I think that it’s so important in a high school experience to get involved because, hey, you only high school once (isn’t that how the saying goes?), but so often what we do becomes our identity of who we believe ourselves to be.

During my freshman year Health Class (moment of silence for those awkward times), a friend’s mom came in and we were talking about body image and self worth. She handed us a small, pink, laminated piece of paper that was titled ‘Who I Am In Christ". I took it home and taped it to my bathroom mirror and would read through the promises while I was getting ready in the mornings. 9 years later - that little pink paper filled with truth still hangs there.So, ladies, let me encourage you in 

saying that what you do is not all that you are. You are deeply loved as a daughter of Christ and, because of that, all of these promises are yours.

Isn’t this wonderful news?! You see, it takes the pressure off of our performance when we know that it’s not about us. As daughters of the King, everything that we do points to our infinitely greater heavenly Father. Eternally, whether we know every line perfectly in the play, know every dance step, sing or play every note correctly, or score the most points doesn’t matter. You are so much more than the things that you choose to fill your free time with. 

I love old hymns and this is a line from one of my favorites: 

“The bride eyes not her garment, but her dear bridegroom’s face. I will not gaze on glory, but on my King of Grace. Not at the crown he giveth, but on his pierced hands. The Lamb gets all the glory in Emmanuel’s land.”

The Lord recognizes our beauty and the proper use of the good gifts that he gives us. But, more importantly, let us delight in His beauty and the free grace he gives us to utilize the gifts that he freely gives us each day. 

So print your own version of the ‘Who I Am In Christ’ out and put it on your mirror, or throw it in a Ziploc baggy or a page protector and put it up in the shower. Be tenderly reminded that you already are everything you need ever be in Christ.

Press on to Know the Lord

Photo Credit: Laura Kinney

“Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know Him. 

He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn 

or the coming of rains in early spring.”

-Hosea 6:3 NLT-

I just moved to a beautiful little city in North Carolina. I moved here to start graduate school, but it’s not at all where I thought I would end up. I had my sights set on a completely different school in a completely different state. God didn’t open that door because he knew what I needed better than I did. Ever since I surrendered my decision to attend school here and chose (very reluctantly) to be obedient to where he’s been calling me to go, I can walk in absolute confidence knowing that this was his plan all along. Nothing about my hesitance to spend 2 years in a city (that I had never been to before I committed) caught my Jesus by surprise, and I just love that!

Something that I’m still getting used to is the fact that it seems to rain every afternoon. Even knowing that, I still forget an umbrella or I accidentally leave my pink rain jacket in my car. But, in these moments where I found myself stranded on campus in a strange building until the pouring rain subsides, I have stumbled upon some of the sweetest spots on this BIG campus. There’s a cool solarium on campus with beautiful natural light, waterfalls, and cool music playing. It’s one of my favorite spots and I wouldn’t have found it had the rain not stranded me inside. This room is full of windows and I can even sit and watch the rain gently falling while I sit in awe and forced rest.

I was walking back to my car in the freshly fallen rain and there was a beautiful rainbow and everything was fresh and clean and new. I began to think to myself that this is such a good representation of what it feels like to walk with the Lord and to be sanctified by Him. I love Hosea 6:3’s promise that Christ will appear as surely as the dawn. It may seem that we’re stranded or caught in the rain and stuck and unsure of where to go, but our God will appear as surely as the dawn! He will appear as surely as the sun after it rains. It won’t rain forever; the sun has to come out. And when it does, everything is new and fresh and somehow makes sense. This is grace! He appears to us even when we find ourselves caught in the rain with no umbrella or raincoat, reminding us of our need for Him. Then, he gloriously appears to us in all His beautiful splendor having kept us in the palm of His hand all the while (Isaiah 46:9).

My encouragement to each of you this year is that you would press on to know the Lord, and grow to know Him more deeply. I’m thrilled to grow in grace with each of you ladies throughout this year as we both deepen in our relationship with our faithful Heavenly Father.

(Check out Ellie Holcomb’s song “As Sure As the Sun” to reinforce this great scripture memory verse! )

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is a hard thing to do. It is even harder to say that you are sorry. Many friendships crash and burn because people are too afraid to admit their mistakes and just simply say "sorry." People, especially girls, are so bad at holding grudges. 

Do you remember when you were a little kid how easily your forgot about a fight with a friend after you both apologized? We need to have that same mentality as adults and teens. There is no point of living life holding grudges. It is a lot more fun to forgive and forget, and just simply be happy! 

A good friend of mine and I are so much alike, sometimes too much alike for our own good. With that comes arguments. Something that I have learned is that it is so much better to say sorry and talk about what is bothering us in a mature way instead of staying upset and holding a grudge. Sometimes you might be the only one taking the high road, but in the end it will be worth it. 

God paid the ultimate price for our sins. He is the ultimate forgiver. We sin everyday and he is always there to forgive us. He does not hold grudges but instead he loves us! In Ephesians 4:32 says, "Be kind to each other, tender hearted, forgiving one another. Just as God through Christ has forgiven you!" 

If our ultimate creator can forgive us of our sins, we should definitely be able to forgive our friends and family of their sins as well! God rejoices when he sees his children happy and getting along! Not fighting and holding grudges. I challenge ya'll to forgive or say sorry to someone that you are close to or were close to. Try to mend that broken relationship and forgive as God forgave us!

Monthly Scripture Memory Program: September (2 Corinthians 8:7)

One of the heartbeats of Grace Engaged is the scripture memory program that we hope y'all will join in with each month! Each school year we will be picking one "theme" to look at in scripture and for the 2015-2016 school year we have chosen "grace" as our theme. For the month of September we will be memorizing a portion of 2 Corinthians 8:7 which states, "But since you excel in everything- see that you also excel in grace."

This verse can be a challenge for us as women as it is tempting to create lists and accomplish the responsibilities before us in this school year as things to be merely checked off one at a time. Sometimes it is tempting to look around and see how much sin and brokenness there is in the world and silently pat ourselves on the back for how well we are excelling in our lives for not being apart of the "bad". 

But this verse stops that in our tracks. What does it mean to excel in giving grace? I think this verse is a beautiful challenge for us to look at what grace is and how to excel in giving grace. As Christians we often define and think about grace as: "the free and unmerited favor of God". How beautifully true, but grace is also defined as "to give honor to someone or something by one's presence" and "simple elegance or refinement". 

The question we can ask ourselves is does my life excel in grace? Do I honor Jesus with my presence? Do I live in such a way that brings simple elegance or refinement to the situations around me and give glory to Jesus? Do I act in such a way that gives grace to those around me? Do I extend grace to those who are not my friends? Do I give grace to the adults in my life? Do I excel in giving grace to those that frustrate me? Am I excelling in grace?

Throughout this month of September, let us memorize this verse and imprint it on our hearts. Let's pray for the Lord's help to live out this verse and to excel in grace. Share with us in the comments about how you are excelling in grace and ways that you are seeing this verse encourage your life this month! 

A Wedding, Dirty Water, and the Miracle of Jesus's Cleansing Powers

I have read the book of John many times, but the other day I was rereading John 2 and the story of Jesus's first miracle, and God spoke to me through the passage in a whole new way. 

In this story, Jesus gets invited to a wedding where the bride and groom begin to run out of wine. You can probably imagine how embarrassing it is to run out of something at a party your hosting, now imagine its your wedding and your entire reputation and social standing rests on the quality of the food and drink your serving. Jesus is made aware of the situation and then three important things happen: the servants are to to trust Jesus without question, they obediently fill six stone jugs with the water left over from washing the guest's feet, and then Jesus turns the dirty foot water into the best wine that anyone there had ever tasted. Originally, I read this verse as an example of how Jesus cares about even the smallest of troubles in our life and no worry is too trivial for Him; you can't waste His time in prayer.

All this is true, but what I noticed this time is the amount of faith that the servants put in Jesus and also what the water and wine represent. The servants were told by this random guy to serve their master nasty foot water to drink. They could have lost their jobs or even been thrown in prison!

But as ridiculous and scary as it sounded, they did it anyways. Jesus said, "Now draw some out and take it to your master. They did so." (John 2:8) No questions asked, they trusted Him fully. Now, there are a lot of stories of ultimate faith in the Bible, what is so special about this one? Well maybe because it was Jesus' first declaration fo His power, but maybe it's because the nasty water that has been sloshed around and rubbed on everyone's dusty feet is actually us. 

Like this water, our lives are polluted by dirt and grime and impossible to clean ourselves, but with faith, Jesus turned water to wine. If we have have faith, what can He turn us into? Simply the sweetest wine that saves a party, or something so immeasurably more than we can only imagine (Ephesians 3:20)! Trust God and follow with faith! If we let Him He will clean us and use us beyond our wildest imaginations!

What is Beauty?

"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."

-I Peter 3:4-

What is beauty? Many people define beauty as what they can see on the outside. Our world today is so wrapped up in outer beauty, that many forget what inner beauty really is. So many girls get so caught up in the latest styles and trends and even go as far as altering their bodies to “fit in” (I get caught up in it at times as well!) 

Many people talk about inner beauty, but what all does that entail? Inner beauty is having a good heart, loving and caring for others, and, most importantly, shinning God’s light in everything you do! You have to work just as hard on your inner beauty as you do your outer. It isn’t just about what people can see. God wants your inner beauty to shine brighter than a sparkling diamond. 

A way to improve your inner beauty is to spend time in God’s word, being nice to others, and shinning God’s light wherever you go! In my opinion, inner beauty is so much more important than outer beauty! We are all beautiful in God’s eyes, and he made us all in his perfect image! As much as one works on their outer beauty, it will eventually fade. Inner beauty lasts forever! There is nothing wrong with wanting to look good, but to get so wrapped up in impressing others isn't always going to make you happy. I encourage you to work more on your inner beauty instead of your outer. Instead of trying to please others, please God!