Give the Girl Jesus

By Rebecca Kiser Me: “Hi I’m Becca and I’m bad at prayer.” Christian Support Group: “Hiiiiiiii Becca.” So, you would think having gone to Christian school for the first seven years of my education I would have a pretty good working knowledge of how to pray and be super comfortable with it. No dice. Can I get real honest with you guys for a second? I don’t like praying. It does not come naturally to me. I love to turn to my Bible when I’m struggling. I find so much comfort in the promises God has for me there, and I find strength in the testimonies of other Christians like Paul and David. I whisper, “Jesus” randomly throughout the day, and recite those foundational verses in those rough moments, so yes that’s prayer. But as far as sitting down and talking to God, telling him about my life and problems, praising him, asking for his presence in situations, I really struggle. When I pray out loud it feels like I’m talking to the air, like no one is listening. When ...

by Rebecca Kiser A couple of weeks ago, I heard a pastor speak a message about the wise man who built his house on the rock. Now, having grown up in church, church school, and church camp I have heard this story several times. I’ve seen Sunday school teachers use the little felt Jesus on the felt board to explain the story, and I’ve got that song memorized. It’s one of those classic Bible stories. But the problem with growing up in church is that I know stories like this one in and out, but they don’t always reach my heart. When I heard this story most recently though, I saw myself as the house. Lately I’ve felt shaken. I am consumed with panic and worry over this in-between time in my life. Now you should know I am a poster child “Type A” person. I like things to be predetermined, organized, color-coded, and predictable. When it comes to uncertainty, I’m not a fan. Right now, it seems like everything is uncertain. Most of my friends just moved off to school, things are cha...

By Rebecca Kiser Honorable Mention: Abagail Conyers Social media is a huge part of our culture. For many of us, it’s the first thing we see in the morning and the last thing we see at night. It’s how we keep in touch with hundreds of  “friends,” share our opinions, and sometimes even receive national news. Although it’s role in our lives varies between generations, it’s safe to say most of us are more reliant on social media than we ought to be. The average adult spends around two hours a day on various social media outlets, while it’s a whopping nine hours a day for most teenagers. These statistics ignited a question for me: What happens if we take away social media? Cold turkey. Just there one day and gone the next. I figured this, like all crazy ideas, would be best executed alongside my best friend, so I enlisted Abby to join me in a 21 day social media fast. Here’s what happened: So… Why? Before we dive in, you have to understand the underlying motives that...

by Anonymous As a child I was OBSESSED with princesses and all the romantic stories that went with them. I loved how pretty and kind they were, and that they always got their “Prince Charming” at the end of the story. So when my Prince Charming turned out to be a lanky soccer player from church who also was my best friend, I was head over heels. Not only was this guy athletic and handsome, he also proclaimed to be a Christian which made him perfect in my eyes. In the midst of being completely in love with this guy, I took my focus off of God which made me blind to the events that would come to pass. It started off slow with a minor faux pas that I quickly forgave into this mountain of regret, depression, anger, and lies.  “I just think that we need to spend a little time not talking to each other, so that we can get back on the right path with God.” Harmless right? One would say even encouraging. I had already felt guilty beforehand about how fast our relationship ...

by Rebecca Kiser In Japan, it is common practice for a potter to repair a broken piece of pottery with resin made of gold. These items are worth more than the originals, indirectly, because they have been broken. It is a special form of art that is meant to utilize and glorify the cracks, missing shards, and imperfections of the pottery. This ancient practice is known as Kintsugi or “golden repair”, and its pieces can be found all over the world in prestigious art museums, and are considered priceless. I find this really interesting not only because of the symbolism of something being more valuable because it’s been broken, but because of the potter. The first one to do this saw potential, worth, in shards of broken pottery sprawled lifelessly across the dirt-ridden ground.  When anyone else would have swept up the pieces and thrown them out with the rest of the trash, this potter took care to meticulously gather up every last bit. He invested time, love, and valuable re...

by Rebecca Kiser “Our hearts ache but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.” 2 Corinthians 6:10 All my life people have told me I could be whatever I wanted. “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, they asked (as if a 7 year old has any clue) and no matter what the answer, they were excited and told me I would excel at it. But now, I’ve apparently reached the age where I should know for sure what I want to do, but the pool of acceptable career paths seems to have shrunken. Now they tell me to dream big. "Are you sure you don’t want to be a neurosurgeon?" "An Aerospace Engineer?" "A millionaire entrepreneur?" No longer is my heart’s desire a good enough answer, I could always go bigger. They make suggestions and tell me, “You’re gonna do big things!” and, “You’re gonna be successful.” What does that even mean though? What kinds of things are considered “big”? Wha...

by Rebecca Kiser Like every other high school senior girl, I recently embarked on the exciting (and stressful) activity of searching for a prom dress. Somewhere between dress 26 and 39, I realized that this whole process is pretty much exactly like dating. First, let me note that I’m talking specifically about dating as a Christian, as in dating in the pursuit of marriage. Dating just to have a fun time in high school is not what we’re talking about here. Now, to be perfectly transparent with you, I’ve had very little experience in this area, but I’ve also never been to prom, so I feel like that puts me in a good place to talk about my initial impressions of both and the connection I’ve recognized between them. There are endless similarities: Both start out hopeful and exciting, but end up being a lot more exhausting than social media and society advertise them. Both left me feeling insecure, less-than, and inferior to every other girl. For both, I’ve been told, “You’re nev...