You Might Find What You Read Below SHOCKING! This is the most beautiful place we’ve ever seen, but guess what, it’s not what brings us peace. Read to find out what does… The winner will be announced tonight you guys!! Caleb and I will be live on Instagram around 7 PST! We will be talking about value and worth & sharing the winner. We are SO grateful to connect with each of you, and can’t wait to bring you more value in the future!! It looks so peaceful here, doesn’t it? But being here is not what brings us peace. I just read a testimony from one of our families we photographed (we will share it with you soon too). They reminded me about how important peace is. It was my sophomore year of college at Penn State. I was on my 5th party vacation with friends of that semester. I was in the Hamptons, looking out at all the amazing beauty around me, surrounded by friends and parties. Having already gone to Disney World earlier that year, another trip to Florida at a gorgeous country club, A trip to South Carolina, and my second trip NY. As I stood there, taking in all the beauty and thinking about all the trips and “fun” I had over the previous several months, I never felt more discontent, less at peace, more depressed in my entire life. I was so confused. How could I be THIS depressed and discontent with all that was going on in my life? Things seemed SO perfect on the outside. Inside though, was a very different story. After contemplating suicide for several months and a downward spiral of drinking and parties, something happened.
I had a Christian friend give me some worship music and some sermons. The friend said to me “You’ve been only half in with God. Why don’t you try going 100% all in for God? Give it a shot, see if that’s what you’re looking for.” I knew if I did this, went 100% in with God, my life would completely change. I spent several months weighing out my options and decided to give it a shot. All in with Jesus. His love hit me like a wrecking ball, in the best possible way. So much love came flowing in my heart, and that unconditional, overwhelming love wrecked me and my life. It changed everything. There were painful changes. Being chiseled is painful, still is. But there’s something else I received that changed everything about me. Peace. I was volunteering to help high school kids at a summer camp through Young Life. It was sunrise and I was racking the sand around the lake I was at in Michigan. And I felt something that I hadn’t ever recalled feeling in my entire life. Peace. Contentment. The peace that came when my worth and identity were in nothing else but the love of My Lord and Savior. Outside forces couldn’t take that love away. Nothing I did in the past, present or future or anything done to me, even death couldn’t take that great love away. The constant battle to be seen, to be good enough, to prove my worth could be over. When I trust that my worth and value is from God alone. The peace floods through my bones. Tension leaves. Fear ceases. When I get caught up in what everyone else thinks about me, when I let other voices tell me how little value I have, the peace leaves. Anxiety fills me. I’m going to share tonight about a specific examples of lies that crept in recently, that wanted to derail my peace. Can’t wait to talk tonight!
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