The Quiet Place

Founders Note: Today on the blog we have  Livy who is the founder of crown of beauty magazine. It's coming out this Friday so be sure to check it out and use the promo code: thequietplace to buy it! Unless you've been living in a cave for the past fifteen years of your life, or dwell on an Amish farm out in the hilly countryside, you've probably noticed the way in which the media has a special gift for making girls feel ugly and inadequate. We've all suffered through those nauseating T.V. advertisements in which an underwear model poses, pursing her pouty lips, as her hair blows wildly from a fan. After watching such ads I roll my eyes and try not to laugh. I mean, how lame do the marketers think that I am?! (It's like those drug advertisements that list the deadly side effects, such as hearing loss or your nose falling off, while they show happy old couples flying kites, and walking puppy dogs.) I'm sure you've picked up on the trend in many teen magaz...

This weekend I took my roommates to my hometown to show them around and have some time away from school. Last night when we got back we were greeted by our roommates and friends sitting at the dining room table. After we settled in, we joined them for apple cider, pie, and good company. We got to talking and the Lord used my new friends to tell me a few things.... Namely... Hillary, YOU ARE LOVED! <3 God As a perfectionist, getting past my sins to where grace lives is quite a challenge most days. Grasping grace is difficult for me. I think it's because it isn't a logical concept. Logically, by earth standards, no one would let someone hurt them over and over and over and over and over and over and over again AND still say I love you, I forgive you, come home to me. YET, that is is EXACTLY what Christ says to us. It is incomprehensible that the God who made me would let me treat him that way and then forgive me. I just don't get how he has that much love...

Tonight it seems like my heart is in pieces. Each piece spread across the world in different places where I wish I could be with friends and family. Especially as the stress of the semester sets in, I long for my friends to be near. There is an ache in my heart that wishes I could be back in the college dorm surrounded by my closest friends who were always at arms length to comfort and encourage me.  It has been difficult being so far away and it feels like my heart has been broken up into little pieces and spread apart. I long everyday for these pieces to be put back together again.  The reality of it is my friends are far away. We're growing up and moving to new places with new jobs, and significant others.  Though I know that we will ultimately be united in Heaven with Christ, tonight my heart yearns to be near them.  This is what it must have been like for Paul and the other disciples to be apart. Deepest of friends, yet their purpose was to g...

I AM  in His hands. In His  hands I am FORGIVEN . I am SET FREE . I HAVE PURPOSE . I have a place. I am VERY  loved.  Ephesians 2:8 - 9 For it is by grace  you have been saved,  through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—   not by works,  so that no one can boast. THIS  is my identity through Christ.

Founders Note: Today on the blog we have Vanessa who is the founder and writer of the blog   A Journey To God . She sent us her post via email and once we read it we told her we were definitely going to use it! Today she is sharing her heart on this months theme Identity in Christ. Be sure to check out her blog at the links below!  When I consider who I am in Christ, the first thing that always comes to mind is how he renamed me with his Mercy.  Throughout my adulthood, I had carried with me the guilt of my sin. I wore shame like a badge of honor. I believed I must do this so that I could atone for my failings. I often said that my greatest disappointment was not being perfect. Being that I thought I was suffering my sins in private, meant that I also made terrible choices. Who could make a good choice while covered in guilt and shame? Who could be kind, when you are constantly beating yourself up? Having burdened myself with guilt, I had little room for f...

The verse above so beautifully captures our theme for this month: Identity in Christ. And it also captures the mission of this blog,  "encouraging young women to find rest in God". When I saw this verse the other day, i was reminded of the importance of finding rest in God each and every day.  The world tells us that that we should find our identity in things and the people around us. It tells that we should strive to find our worth in peoples opinions. But sisters, those are all lies.  As we as christian women strive to find that rest in God it is important that we remember that when we rest in the shelter of his arms it a "safe place" and that is where we find our identity in him. The song, "Oceans" by Hillsong united has resonated in my heart this week, The words--" Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander  And my faith will be made stronger.  In the presence of my Savior"  These words encouraged me to take my faith deeper ...

Today the Lord spoke to me through this blog  post  titled " Come to Me all Who are Weary " written by Vanessa.  For me, reading Vanessa's words were like hearing Jesus speak right to my heart. He's telling me to forgive myself because he forgives me, because he loves me with an everlasting love. Even now I can feel those words pierce love into my heart that I can't shut out, nor do I wish to. It's that love of Jesus that I have been missing lately. Yet, here in the midst of My Wilderness, Jesus meets me and leads me by the hand back onto the path. Even when I am unaware that I've wandered off, he has found me and brought me home.  The part of Vanessa's post that hit me the most was this... " But once she has nothing, I’ll be able to get through to her.    “I’ll entice her and lead her out into the wilderness where we can be alone, and I’ll speak right to her heart and try to win her back.” (Hosea 2:14) What will it take for you, dear ...