So Much More Than the 5%

If I had a dollar for every time he's made fun of my faith, I swear I could pay for Notre Dame's tuition all by myself.

Since I first started to fall in love with Jesus, a close family member of mine has made it his life goal to criticize my beliefs. "Don't be such an idiot," he would say to me as a sixth grader. Or "Come on, Haley, you're WAY smarter than that. This Christianity (insert four letter swear word that rhymes with "sit" here) is just a bunch of mythology. It's all a fairytale." I'll never forget freshman year of high school when I was struggling with a personal issue, and this family member said, "Where's your imaginary friend in the sky now? He's not real. He can't help you. You're all alone."

Many times I found myself siding with him, doubting my faith. What if he's right? What if this is all a joke? What if I've been wasting my time all these years?

At the end of my life, if I find that this whole Jesus thing is just another fairytale to ease our fears about death, I'll obviously be distraught. But the possibility of Christianity being completely false does not keep me from believing. Even if at the end of this life I find that God is not real, I will not regret living my entire life for Him. I will not look at my faith-filled life as just a waste of time. Why? Because I am living the most fulfilling life possible. And how in the world can "the most fulfilling life possible" be considered a waste of time?

I cannot imagine a more beautiful life than a life with Jesus. And I know in my heart without a doubt that Jesus is real because whenever I serve Him, I am filled with the sweetest kind of joy and the best kind of satisfaction. So am I wasting my time? No, not at all. In fact, only when I am NOT living with Jesus...that's when I'm wasting my time.

Disclaimer: When I talk about living a life with Jesus, I do not mean ditching all your friends every day and praying for five hours by yourself instead. What I mean is waking up 10 minutes earlier than usual to read your Bible or say a prayer, going to Church on Sunday mornings, talking to Jesus about your day as you walk to class, or asking Him to help you love your classmate who is simply impossible to love. That's what it means to live with Jesus.

So to my family member who has made it his life goal to criticize my beliefs, I say the following words: Your life could be so much more. Tonight, I took a plane from Dallas to Chicago, and I was sitting in the last row possible of the plane, right near the engine. The engine was covering my whole window, so as we were flying into Chicago, I could only see about 5% of the bright city lights of Chi Town. Think of this life as an airplane. We're all flying to some final destination. If you are not living your life with Jesus, you are sitting at the very back of the plane, only seeing 5% of the beautiful view outside your window. You're missing the breathtaking view you could be witnessing if you were living with Jesus. You're missing all the beauty, all the joy, all the satisfaction. Your life could be so much more.

Jesus is my Satisfaction and my Fulfillment. How could the most fulfilling life possible be a waste of time? If you have never tried living your life with Jesus before, it's never too late to change seats on the airplane and start seeing more than the 5%.

Song of the week: "Live Like That" by Sidewalk Prophets

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0cMVmr11bY

With Jesus, you see so much more than the 5%. Open your eyes and start living.

P.S. Shout out to Sarah Finke for catching all my typos.

P.S.S. SHOUT OUT TO MY SISTER WHO HAS BEEN BEGGING ME FOR A SHOUT OUT!

When I Look Back

When I look back on my life, the only thing I regret is not living every moment with Jesus.

Call me crazy, but I mean these words with all of my heart. The absolute best moments of my life have been my sweet moments with Jesus. When I am with Him, there's no place I'd rather be.

Many people have told me, "I don't need Jesus. I am perfectly happy without him." Yet what we must realize is that there is a very significant difference between happiness and joy. I do not believe that you need Jesus to be happy. But I know without a doubt that you need Jesus in order to achieve true joy.

Happiness is temporary; joy is eternal. When I turn to the world for satisfaction, I feel happy "in the moment," while I am doing whatever I am doing. Yet when I turn to Jesus, the joy He gives me sustains me not just in that moment, but for many moments to come. I do not mean to portray the world as a completely awful place. There's plenty of brightness all around us. What I mean to say is that the happiness the world can give you is fleeting, lasting only for a split second, in comparison to the unending, unchanging joy of the Lord.

Take a moment to ask yourself: What kind of life do I want to lead? Do I desire temporary happiness or do I desire eternal joy? And, most of all, what kind of legacy do I want to leave? How do I want people to remember me?

A few weeks ago, one of my friends shared my blog with her new friend (we'll call her Emily) from college. Emily had attempted suicide recently. After reading my blog, Emily texted my friend, "I'm in love. With her blog. With God. With life." When we begin to live every moment with Jesus, we begin to fall in love with life. I know from experience that the only way to live this life fully is to live it with Jesus.

In July, my Christian summer camp and I served the homeless on the streets of Denver, Colorado. My life was radically transformed when one of the homeless men said to me, "I was addicted to drugs for years and years. But what I realized is that I don't need any therapist or any treatment, all I need is Jesus. I came to Jesus, gave Him everything, and today I am six years drug-free." Needless to say, this man wasn't too pleasing to the eye. It looked like he hadn't showered in months, and his clothes were filthy. Yet his words were the most beautiful words I had ever heard. I saw the beauty of his soul in that moment, and I could no longer see his filth, his need for a shower, or the extreme differences between his life and mine. Surely, "God chooses the weak people of this world to shame the strong" (1 Corinthians 1:27). God used this homeless man, who may appear to be one of the weakest members of our society, to teach us that all we could ever need in this life is Jesus.

My challenge to you this week is to start everyday with God. Wake up just five or ten minutes earlier than normal and spend some time with Him. Trust me, the day looks radically different when you start it with Jesus. It doesn't matter what you do, as long as you start the day with Him. Say/write a prayer, read your Bible, etc. Remember, a good place to start reading is in the Book of James (in the New Testament). To those of you who read James last week, thank you! And I'm so glad you made the decision to start diving into His Word (shout out to Lexi and her friends at Spring Hill). If you're looking for a new book to read, try reading Ephesians, also in the New Testament.

Song of the Week: "Stronger" by Hillsong Chapel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tj8N5Bj6DE

Everyday, Jesus is the reason for the smile on my face.

P.S. IN CASE YOU DIDN'T KNOW, NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL IS #1. So yes, that's also another huge reason for the smile on my face. Two greatest things in life: Jesus & Notre Dame football. But Jesus is better, obviously. Okay, I'm done I promise. Go Irish.

Beautiful Things

When I think about Jesus, an image like this comes to mind:

Whenever I feel in need of His grace (and who am I kidding, that's pretty much every single moment of my life), I imagine myself sitting at the very top of the mountain shown in this picture. I imagine myself seeing that beautiful sunset face-to-face, gazing out at the beautiful land before me. And all I can think about is Jesus.

What we must learn to do, my beautiful readers, is to see Jesus is everything. As I'm typing these words, I'm looking out the window at Welsh Family Hall (my dorm at Notre Dame). I see the trees swaying in the wind, and I see the leaves falling (yes, to my family back in Texas, the leaves actually change colors here). Most of all, I see the sun shining through the clouds. The sun shining through the clouds...that's Jesus shining through my darkness and filling me with His light. The leaves falling...that's God forgiving my sins and letting my shame fall to the ground. The trees swaying in the wind...that's the Lord dancing with me in spite of my imperfections and gracing me with His peace.

It always amazes me when people say that there is no proof of God's existence. I'll be honest, I'm tempted to burst out laughing when I hear these words. And trust me, countless people have approached me and explained to me just how ridiculous and "stupid" I am for believing in Jesus. I've heard every kind of insult in the book. As I sit there and listen to them explain how there is no evidence for the existence of God, all I can do is think, You have no idea what you're missing.

I see Jesus every day of my life. Call me crazy, but when I look for Him, I find Him. And you can too. When you seek Him in nature or in the people around you, you WILL find Him. Jeremiah 29:13 says, "You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart." But here's the thing: it's not always easy. Not everyday is a beautiful fall day...the sun doesn't shine everyday, the leaves don't fall everyday, the trees don't sway everyday. So where do we go from there? How do we see God then?

If you can't find God in one place, seek and find Him in another. Now as I'm looking outside my window of Welsh Family Hall, the sun has stopped shining and the clouds are beginning to grow darker. The day is beginning to look radically different, and my smile is starting to fade. I now turn to another way of seeking and finding Jesus: the Bible. If you don't own a Bible, buy one. If you don't have the money to buy one, ask a family member or a friend to help you out. Trust me, it'll be the best purchase you'll make in your life.

If you have a Bible, I CHALLENGE you this week to start every day by reading your Bible. Pick a book and work through it. I would strongly suggest starting with the Book of James in the New Testament. This is the first book of the Bible I ever read. James 1:2-4 says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance, and let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." (Yes, I just typed that from memory, someone please give me a high five or something.) My challenge to each of you this week is to start your day by reading a chapter of James. I know from experience that the day looks radically different when you start it with Jesus.

Romans 1:20 says, "For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities - His eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." God has revealed His invisible qualities to us through what He has created. So, we are without excuse. We have no excuse NOT to believe in Him. He is all around us - active and working and living. He is literally everywhere and in everything.

If you're not opening your eyes to see His glory, you have no idea what you're missing. I wish you could see what I'm seeing right now. Just as I finished typing that last sentence, the sun burst out from behind the clouds and filled my whole world with light. God is continually reminding me that in spite of my darkness, He is my light, my hope, my joy, my everything.

Songs of the week:
"Canyons" by Chris August http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvT4DoaeEwM
"Beautiful Things" by Gungor http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ4yNYY1hHM
"Light Up the Sky" by the Afters http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LQH6UDi15s

The Most Beautiful of Words

"On a Sabbath, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, He called her forward and said to her, 'Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.' Then He put His hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God." (Luke 13:10-13)

Eighteen years of infirmity.
One moment of freedom.

The second I heard this message in Church last Monday night, tears came to my eyes. All I could think about was a dear friend of mine who, as an 18-year-old, suffers one of the greatest infirmities of them all: an eating disorder. Throughout high school, this friend and I grew extremely close, and often she would ask me for advice in her situation. I remember crying in frustration every time she confided in me and claimed that she wasn't "worthy" of food and didn't "deserve" to live a full life. I never knew how to respond, leaving me constantly feeling like a failure of a friend.

Many nights I would cry myself to sleep, wondering if my best friend would be alive the next day. When she didn't answer my texts or phone calls, I immediately assumed something was wrong. Yet something always seemed wrong. No matter the month, day, or time, every second seemed like a battle for her. It was almost as if she was constantly in chains, constantly carrying her own personal prison with her.

Many of you know that everyday I wear a key necklace to symbolize that God is the only key that can set us free from our chains. To me, the word "freedom" is the most beautiful of words. We all desire freedom. My friend desires freedom from her eating disorder. My other friend in rehab desires freedom from his drug addiction. I desire for three of my family members to be free of their atheism and believe in the love Jesus. Just as we all desire freedom, we all DESERVE freedom as well.

As you're reading these words, I want you to imagine Jesus saying this to you:
"I know exactly what you are going through. I have been with you every single step of the way. When you were born, I was there. When you learned how to walk, I was holding your hand. When you said your first words, I gave you the words to say. And today, whatever battle you are facing, I am fighting for you. My love for you is your sword and your shield. You may not realize it yet, but I am all you will ever need. I will fight for you; you only need to be still. (Exodus 14:14)"

What we must realize is that in the battlefield of life, we are not the soldiers. Jesus is fighting for us. He is our strength, our sword, our shield. All we are required to do is praise His holy name, to love Him, to serve Him, to do His will. He does not expect us to win the battles that wage war against the soul. Through His cross and resurrection, He has already won. He does not expect us to free ourselves from our chains. Through His cross and resurrection, He has already freed us.

I want you to take a moment to do something for me. Whisper these words to yourself, slowly and carefully, thinking about each one: "Today is a new day. This moment is brand new. I am a new creation. Because I am bringing my worries, my fears, and my battles to Christ, He is fighting for me. I may be in chains right now, but I have HOPE because I know that Christ has already set me free. Because of Christ, the victory has already been won. I rejoice in His love and His mercy because without Him, I am nothing. When He looks at me, He is overcome with awe because He loves me so much. In Jesus' eyes, I am loved, I am worthy, and I am deserving of every good thing this life has to offer. Yet I know that the best thing this life has to offer is a life with Jesus. God cannot give me a happiness and peace apart from Him because it is not there. There is no such thing (C.S. Lewis). Jesus, You are my happiness and my peace - my everything. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack. (Psalm 23)"

If you're looking for a sign to turn your life around, this is it.

"The Stand" by Hillsong United
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAQ61KH7qRc

We stand in awe of the One who gave it all.