The Beautiful Truth

I have had a few people ask me what The Beautiful Truth is, and I thought it might be time to fill some of you in. Basically, I believe that God has put an exciting dream on my heart over the last few months, and I am excited to see what comes of it in the future. Right now, it's a dream. It's a mind full of ideas. I know that I haven't spoken much of my testimony on my blog, but in my first-second year of college, I began to develop a mild eating disorder. It started out with an obsession with working out, and lead to an obsessive counting of calories and watching every bite I took. There's so much to it, and I would be more than willing to share it with you if you want to hear. That's actually something I am passionate about and is why I am in youth work. I want to work with girls struggling with eating disorders, and be a motivational speaker to girls that just struggle with feeling beautiful. So I am love being able to share what God has done in my life and how he took an huge boulder, and broke it down over time. God is beautiful. And he has made each and every one of us beautiful. Inside and out. One night I was laying awake in bed while Jason was fast asleep. I remember wondering why I still had to struggle with self-esteem issues even though I eat great, exercise regularly, and have overcome my struggle with the eating disorder. I desired to have a group of people that I could talk with at least on a monthly basis, and be reminded that I am not alone in this battle. This is where The Beautiful Truth was born. God has given us so much truth in His word, yet we are bombarted on a daily basis by the world of what we are suppose to look like. Being on a christian campus doesn't make this struggle go away either. So I felt that there was a need to create a small group atmosphere that gives girls the support they need in order to grow in their confidence and faith in Jesus Christ. I have learned that I am growing in my faith, I am beginning to see more and more how beautiful I am, and how God made me PERFECT in his image. How cool is that!? Not only do I want something like this to form on the CBC campus. But I also want to spread the word to churches, youth groups, small groups, and other colleges and universities. There is such a need to have something available for girls that may not be deep in an eating disorder, but definately struggle with their inner and outer beauty. That is The Beautiful Truth. Eventually I would love to present it in a way that public schools will allow me to speak to their girls about true inner beauty. I was just talking about this with one of my profs today and how there is such a great way I can do this obviously without speaking openly about my faith (or else I won't be able to reach the public schools) but also showing these girls that there is truth, and hope that they can have! This, is my dream. We will see where God takes it:) Welp there you go! I was totally vulnerable there and sharing with you one of my greatest dreams! It's funny how we can do this online now days...

Would love some feedback, whether it's people I can network with that may have something like this already, or if you have any ideas to add:) Feedback is always a great thing!

Britt

Secrets

It's so interesting to me, the reality that people are in need of sharing their deepest, darkest secrets...online. Recently I came across a blog called Post Secret, and I have to admit, it's reallty interesting to read through. Yet it breaks my heart everytime. Everything is done anonymously of course. They either email these secrets in, or they send in these postcards with a collage of their secret on it. It tears my heart out to read that someone feels incredibly ugly, yet there is no one there to affirm them with the truth that they are beautiful. Or what about the one that says they do this or that behind closed doors because of something horrible that happened to them. Where is the hope in telling these secrets? I guess it's the release of something that has been eating this person from the inside out. So ya know, I do think the creators of this were pretty genius. The part that kills me is the question of what happens to these people after they send out these secrets. My hope is that in hearing the responses from others, they might get the courage to tell someone face to face, or through a text. I can see how this is a part of the healing process. Being in youth ministry, it's often a very healing through to hand out paper to the kids, and ask them to write down their deepest, darkest secrets. Yet in the end, we either burn them, or rip them to shreds. It's a symbolic thing that helps them even more in their healing. We take those secrets, and hand them over to God, and realize that there is no longer anything else that we can do about them. They were already forgiven.
What's so heart breaking is that millions of people are hurting. They are broken. Fearful. Empty. Unable to grasp the truth of God's love. This is why we are here. We are called to bring his peace...love...his hope...and his truth.
This week as I am talking with people from all over Canada, I hope that I am able to bring that hope, that truth, and that love. I pray that God will use me tomorrow to be the answer to a prayer, or that voice that someone needed to hear that day. I just want to bring God's joy into their lives, for I have been filled with such joy, that I cannot even express how happy I am. I am in love. In love with my husband yes. Very much so! But I am so in love with my Lord, my Creator. Your God. The one that made you. Yes. He is wonderful:)

May you experience His joy tomorrow. My challenge for you is that you start your day with a little prayer. Pray that God will shine his light on your tomorrow. Pray that he will pour a little joy in your heart, for it goes a long way:)

Any thoughts? Anything you don't agree with? Anything you don't understand? I would love to chat with you:)

Britt

A Year to Review

What a beautiful year 2009 was! I've been wanting to take a moment to think about some one the crazy rad things that happened to me last year. So here ya go:)
*I fell in love with Jason Cavanaugh and married my best friend July 12
*Moved back home for the summer before getting hitched and worked at a Craft store...loved it!
*Officially grew my hair out. I've never been patient enough to do this, yet when there's a wedding on the way there's a little more inspiration.
*Worked at a specialty chocolate shop and began to see just a glimpse of the tricks of the trade.
*Learned to love and appreciate true chocolate
*Officially dedicated 40 minutes, three days a week to some form of exercise
*Learned to cook decent meals
*Fell in love with Big Train Chai Latte's, yet struggle to drink any other brand when there is no Big Train.
*Gave away more clothes to friends than ever
*Gained more confidence in my voice, in leading worship.
*Was given a few opportunities to speak to groups of girls about my story and my passion for the beauty God has truly given us, and created us to be
*The Beautiful Truth dream was born. Time will bring this to a reality
*I actually invested more time into this world known as blogging.
*Learned some tough lessons along the way
*Learned many things about myself, good and bad
*Grew even closer to my amazing family. Never thought that would even be possible huh;)
*Saw my brother become a true soldier
*Watched my younger brother grow into a pre-teen
*Dedicated more time to reading God's word daily. It was always a desire for me to read the bible daily, yet until about two years ago, I struggled with keeping on top of it. Now I am able to say I read it at least five days a week:) Praise God for his beautiful love
*Fell more in love with my creator, and was given many new and refreshing blessings
*New friends came into our lives and old ones became even more familiar
*Made my first pulled pork bbq sandwich meal...and my goodness my husband fell loves it
*Just so many more firsts.

Here's to 2010:
*I want to run that 10K in Vancouver with Jason and our good friends
*Learn even more what it means to be a Godly wife.
*Start a new life with Jason wherever God leads us to go
*Finish my last year of schooling
*Begin to make more traditions in our new little family
*Buy a fishy:)
*Continue my three days/40 min work out
*Allow God to use me. Stretch me. and Bless me more than last year.

My goodness I am tired of thinking about what I have done and what I want to do. So let's just end it at this: I want to live life to the fullest and love God more and more each day. I desire to be a blessing to every person I see, and bless my husband even more. I would love to live closer to my family, but God knows where we are needing to be. I want to laugh more and more every single day:)

Have a blessed new year and take a moment to think of some attainable goals for this next year.

It's a Blessed Time of Year

This last Christmas was just so beautiful! Early in December Jason and I were able to spend an evening with our wonderful Cavanaugh family and that was just so much fun. It was the first time I was able to join them for a Christmas celebration and I loved every moment. God has blessed me with wonderful in-laws:) After getting some good hours at the Chocolate shop, Jason and I left the night before Christmas Eve to be home for Christmas! It was so much fun to have Jason with us Larson's for the traditional festivities and he was enjoying himself as well:) We both left feeling incredibly blessed with the quality time we spent with my side of the family as well as the amount of gifts we were given. They are such giving people and we truly experienced that one!
It's been so cool seeing how God is providing for our needs. He sure knows exactly how much money we need, when we need it and I can't believe we ever have a lack of faith! God is so good.

Little challenge for you today. Last night Jason and I made some chocolate chip cookies for the people living on the same floor as us in our building. Over a month or two ago we had a strong desire to do some missional work for the Lord, outside of the normal routine. Jason had the best idea to start where we are living. SO we made cookies for the ten different couples living around us and wished them a happy new year! It was so neat, yet stretching to introduce ourselves to people whom we live by, yet have never met or even seen. It's incredible how that can happen ya know? Anyway, the last door we knocked on was the woman living below us. We made sure to apologize if we ever make too much noise. We sparked up some conversation and left feeling like we had made a new friend. That was the point of this in the first place. About 45 minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Linda, the woman we had just met, was standing there with a gift in her hands. She had just used her cricket (a scrapbooking type tool) and made us a plaque with our names on it. It was just beautiful! We were immediately blessed by this little outreach we had done towards our neighbors. How cool God is:) In the midst of desiring to bless others, we are blessed even more in return.

I challenge you to do something small for your neighbors, or those working around you. It's neat to see how a blessing can be returned:)

Happy New year and God bless!

Britt

Is it odd...?

Is it odd that...

*I work at a specialty chocolate shop, which I am typically a sugar lover, yet I am more excited to drink my latte than eat any of the goodies?
*I have the most motivation to cook or bake something at 11 in the morning, or 9 in the evening, and typically only those times?
*I don't mind crossing the border everyday in Washington to work because everything is more familiar, it's more like home?
*I have all of these goals and dreams that will take years to attain, yet that doesn't stress me out or feel defeated since I know things take time?
*I would love to be a teacher of 1st graders, a motivational speaker, a worship leader, own a coffee shop/bookstore with my Mom, work in a gym as a fitness coach, be a stay-at-home Mom/wife, and start a non-profit organization that works with kids/teens that struggle with self-esteem/ anxiety/eating disorders, yet I am going to school to be a youth worker?
*I feel better drinking a latte with half non-fat half 2% milk than drinking one with full 2%?
*I wear flats more in the winter than boots, and my toes freeze to the core, yet I still continue to do it?
*I would rather have a cute outfit that is put together well and be cold, than wear a jacket that may not match 100% and stay warm?
*I have to write lists of things to get done, yet if I don't complete them, I put them on the next list and move on?
*I write lists, yet still forget to do certain things that are important?
*I love going to school and learning, yet loath the homework I have instead of looking at it as more time to learn?
*I can't get off the phone without saying I love you to the ones I am closest to?

Ya know, I could come up with many more things, but I would love to hear some of yours:)

Quick Update

Not a whole lot to say other than the fact that Alex is graduating from bootcamp tomorrow and Friday! YAY! Praise God! He has been living in Georgia for the last two months going through INTENSE training with the Army and he has completed it! So proud of him. Mom, Dad, and Josh are flying out there right now as I type to visit them and I'm excited to see Alex when he gets home. Work, and money (or lack there of) kept me from joining them. Other than that exciting news, Jason and I just enjoying a weekend with Jeremy, Emily and baby Connor, Jason's brother and his wife. I just love to call them family:) Haven't got any new pics to put up but life has been wonderful and we have been very busy! Our home is decorated for fall and I just love it:) Jason would probably be fine without it, but for me, it makes home feel like HOME. We're gearing up for the rest of the semester of school for Jase, and then a crazy busy few weeks at the Chocolate shop being that Christmas is the season for yummy chocolate and fudge! I really do enjoy my job:) By the way, I didn't use that chicken recipe above, but it sure looks yummy! One of these days:)

Hope you are all enjoying the fall-almost winter weather. Loving life:)

God Bless!

Britt

Baked Chicken

Classic Baked Chicken

Has anyone tried a recipe like this? I'm wanting to try it out this week, looking forward to it! I'll tell you how it goes:)