Being a Leader

I never thought I would be a good leader. I have been asked many times over the last 6 years of my life to be a small group leader at my church or in the Christian fellowship at my old college, but I always said no. Why? Because I didn't think I was good enough to be. Don't leaders have to be perfect emotionally and spiritually? If so, that isn't me, so of course I thought the right answer was NO. I was always going through too much stuff emotionally to even be stable enough to lead others. However, after a while, that just became the excuse. I feared failure and I feared failing others. But do leaders have to be perfect in all areas of their life to lead? The correct answer to that is NO.

A Passion for Your Name

I was hanging out with a girl from my Community Group last week. She is a fairly new Christian with tons of questions about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Bible and more. As I spoke with her, she had immense amount of curiosity, joy, and interest overflowing out of her every word! She said to me, "Lauren, I wake up and I am just happy, all the time. How can you not be happy when you realize how much God loves you and what He did for you? I just want to do everything I can to become better because He loves me so much."

From the Rooftops I Proclaim

One of my friends from my CG, Erin, introduced me to the group Jesus Culture about a year ago at the beginning of 2011. They are a Christian worship band with a rock flavor and they remind me a little bit of Hillsong. One of my favorite songs by them is called "Rooftops." Check it out below!

"So I shout out your name from the rooftops I proclaim
That I am Yours, I am Yours
All that I am I place into Your loving hands
And I am Yours, I am Yours"

The Single Life

Most people dread being single. They are always longing to be in relationship with someone - that special boyfriend or girlfriend or husband or wife. True, I desire to get married and have kids and raise a beautiful family one day, but for right now, I'm content being single.

Take Action

Usually around this time of the year, many people make New Year Resolutions of ways to change their lives in the upcoming year for the better. Here is one way you can change...

I was in NYC for 5 days over New Years and one thing I noticed about the city was the enormous amount of poverty and homelessness. I've seen a lot of homelessness in Charlottesville where I went to school with the guys begging for money on The Corner or at the Downtown mall. Then in my hometown of Newport News, I interacted with the homeless population a lot more through my last job at LINK of Hampton Roads. I worked for a housing program for the disabled homeless population and also worked as an intake worker at a winter homeless shelter for a year. It was definitely an eye opening experience and I learned a lot about the life of a homeless individual.

However, I don't think I have ever been so moved by the sight of a homeless guy like the guy I saw in Grand Central Station in NYC just a few days ago.