HerStory: Kelsey Brownsberger

Do you ever wrestle with thoughts that you have to have it all together to be completely accepted and loved by God, and to serve Him? Kelsey Brownsberger--Head Director for Wonderfully Made at Westmont College in Santa Barbara--shares her story of coming to truly believe the truth about God's love for her and view of her after years of knowing Him.

The Faith of A Child: Believing God

I spent this summer living in Annapolis, Maryland to be near my fiance who goes to the Naval Academy. While I moved there to finally spend longer than 3 weeks at a time with him, God had even greater plans for me. Through an amazing Christ centered community that I got connected with, and even through time with my fiance, God sealed a lot of work He had been doing in my life since I was 15.

I grew up in a Christian home and so I've known in my mind that God loves me. Even from a young age, I was taught in Sunday School "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so..." (I'm sure you all know the song). But it wasn't until this past summer that a REALLY got it. I mean REALLY REALLY began to understand the immensity of how much truth that song holds.

I have spent a lot of my time mentoring women who are struggling with body image problems as well as many other issues we women face day to day, but I've had a hard time receiving for myself the words of encouragement I would give to others. I always felt a lot of pressure to have it all together because in my mind I thought "Who would want to take advice or be counseled by someone who wasn't all together?" Though I had many friends, I wouldn't often ask for help from them for fear of being a burden or an annoyance. Living in this way made for a very stressful and somewhat lonely life.

Part way through my sophomore year of college, I had so much built up inside that I ended up with moderate depression. That was a wake up call for me, and a very dear friend and mentor in my life challenged me to open up to those I was close to and ask for prayer for healing from my depression. As I did, I became healthier and realized how many people in my life didn't expect me to be perfect at all. However, I still didn't know how to receive the words of truth about how God saw me. In my ministry I felt as though I was always running on empty because I was always giving love out of my own strength rather than God's. Until this summer...

For the first time, I was in a community of people that wanted to pour into me and didn't expect me to give anything in return. It was the biggest blessing of this summer. Here I was moving to a new place, on the other side of the country where I knew very few people and within the first week I had people from the church my fiance and I were involved in wanting to get together to get coffee and hear about what God was doing in my life. Slowly through my quiet time and at church I realized that part of why God had me out in Annapolis was to really teach me who I am in Him and just how much He loves me. At the end of the summer I was already feeling so refreshed from the love He was pouring out on me through this community, but I still couldn't quite wrap my heart around the fact that God's love for me could be that simple...And then I went to a women's conference called Beautiful One...

Beautiful One was a four day conference that was based on reading Song of Solomon as a description of how Christ loves us as individuales just as He love the Church, how He calls each one of us His "Beloved". At first I was having a hard time understanding why God had me go to this conference and then about half way through it finally clicked in my brain, my heart, and my spirit, that He loves me and that's all that matters. He calls me His beloved and His bride. It really is that simple.

I don't know how else to explain it, but in the words of the children's song "Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so." That's it. We so often try to complicate it, but really the way we learn it as children is the best way. I guess that's what Jesus meant when He said we should have faith like a child, because in that we are free to just live in His amazing love and have our identity be defined as His beloved!

Words of the World Versus Words of the Father

Thanks to the world of bloggers & Facebook, we've been able to connect with some amazing girls who are shining a light & helping others know their value and worth in Christ. Raquel Rodriguez is one of these lovely women - a "lilly among thorns". She has been leading some girls through a HEAL Group & I wanted to share with you one of her reflections on the activity they did together from Lesson 6: Abundant Living. Be sure to vist her blog!

By Raquel Rodriguez

This past Saturday, we finished the HEAL study. There was a creative activity at the end of the lesson. We formed two groups. One group cut out words and phrases that represent the life that the world offers. The second group went through the Bible and wrote down scriptures that represent the abundant life God promises. We did this on construction paper, very easy to do. After 10 minutes, we read them. It is increadible how much garbage is out there. Even today as I went over the list of the cut outs from two somewhat innocent magazines I could not believe what you and I are exposed to.

Here are the two lists we made:
Cut outs from Magazines

• Perfection Perfect
• Fashion
• Men, Men, Men
• Go Shopping
• Smooth legs
• Beauty
• Independent
• Real Remedies
• Upgrade
• Love in this Club
• SHOW YOUR SKIN
• Weight Loss Supplement!
• Experience what Paradise feels like
• Relationships
• Tough Bisexual
• BAD GIRL
• STD
• Budweiser
• LOVE
• "I need some cleavage"
• Secrets
• Juicy Goodness
• Catch up with the latest chisme (gossip)
• What makes you kissable?
• Flirty
• "I don't see the point of marriage. But when I need love, I get my love."
• DIY Abortions (Do It Yourself) <--freaked me out
• You want a prettier what? Belly button? Toes? Va-jay-jay? You won't believe the parts some women are tinkering with in their quest for so-called perfection.
• Women abusing prescription drugs
• Sleeping Pill Junkie
• Men, Sex & Love
• "We had sex in an airport bathroom."
• ACNE
• Need ade prevention?

Bible promises

• Psalm 37:4 // Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.
• 1 Timothy 4:7-8 // But reject profane and old wives’ tales, and exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
• Proverbs 31:30 // Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.
• John 10:10 // I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
• John 10:28 // And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
• John 12:25 // He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
• 1 Peter 3:3-4 // Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— 4 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.

This was an awesome activity, a real eye opener. What are you exposing yourself to? Examine your life. It's crazy the things that we read in magazines, the lyrics to the music we hear and the shows that we watch. The empty promises of this world are everywhere and rather than making us "beautiful" they contaminate us. I encourage you to remove yourself from them and open God's Word. In it you will find an endless list of promises that will wash away the lies we have believed. The abundant life found in Jesus will produce in us an incorruptible beauty. I leave you with this amazing verse:

You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD's hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God. Isaiah 62:3

The lovely girls of Raquel's HEAL Group in Miami, FL!

WM @ Pepperdine: A Door of Hope

The Lord is good and faithful indeed. That is all that can really sum up just how we feel about what God is doing with Wonderfully Made recently! Allie and I are at Pepperdine University in Malibu this week during their New Student Orientation (NSO), getting the campus excited about the brand new WM chapter. Nothing to do with this chapter has been of our own efforts--all of it has to be attributed to the Lord. He has prepared the way in so many ways... Allie founded Wonderfully Made while she was a student at Pepperdine, and I first got in touch with Allie and learned about Wonderfully Made because of a poster I saw on campus during my sophomore year at Pepperdine--a time when I had to leave my overseas program because I was struggling with an eating disorder. Although at that time it didn't work out to have a chapter there, Allie and I stayed in touch and Wonderfully Made was always in the back of my mind. The Lord brought me back to Malibu after graduation to be in ministry to the Pepperdine girls through Malibu Presbyterian Church's University Ministries, and through that He connected me with the godly women who he later would have in leadership for our chapter on the campus. I joined the Wonderfully Made team in January, and during our first team retreat, God made it clear to us that we needed to start a WM chapter at Pepperdine. In His faithfulness, he has continually paved the way through the willing and eager hearts of students and faculty at Pepperdine to make this chapter possible. Wonderfully Made is now a student-led ministry on campus, and we have a full team of wise female mentors to support the girls as they create safe, loving community at Pepperdine. While Pepperdine was once a place of darkness for both Allie and myself (as well as many of our student leaders), He is now redeeming it and shining His light upon it. With Wonderfully Made on campus, girls will now have a community where they can be free to be honest about their brokenness, and resources to help them discover their true value in the Lord. On a beautiful campus where so many feel hopeless, God is tenderly calling us into His arms, providing a door of hope for all who are weary.

"Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. 'In that day,' declares the LORD, 'you will call me 'my husband'; you will no longer call me 'my master.'" (Hosea 2:14-16)

To meet the team and learn more about Wonderfully Made @ Pepperdine, please visit our new website.

what is modesty, anyway?

Dear friends, it excites me to once again have the opportunity to share some of God's truth with you through this blog! Inspired by a conversation our leadership team had on our San Diego retreat, I wrote this with the intention of starting a conversation about what modesty means to God's girls. The original version can be found on my personal blog. Enjoy!

What is Modesty, Anyway?

by Natalie Horne

Since my recent post on Satan’s pride in his beauty, I’ve been dwelling on the verse I ended with in 1 Peter, as well as another in 1 Timothy:

“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” (1 Peter 3:3-4)

“I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.” (1 Timothy 2:9-10)

Modesty has been on my thoughts lately. My mind first started reeling on the topic while the Wonderfully Made girls were in town and we got into a discussion about whether or not bikinis were appropriate for us to wear as Christian women. Then Jenn and I talked about it on our coffee date last week. And then Brian and I discussed it on our run on Monday. I think it’s time to talk about it!

My first question is, what is modesty anyway? Sometimes I feel like it’s a term thrown around loosely, but is rarely defined. In order to approach this topic with integrity, it’s important that we all have a common ground to start from. According to Merriam-Webster, modesty is,

1. freedom from conceit or vanity
2. propriety (appropriateness) in dress, speech, or conduct

I’ve come to the conclusion that much of our immodest behavior and dress is due to our inability to recognize two things about ourselves: our worth and our innate attractiveness.

Firstly, I’ve come to realize that I tend to dress in a more “sexy” manner when I’m in need of affirmation (i.e. not grasping my worth in the Lord alone). Whether it be glances from others as I walk by, or verbal praise when I’m talking to someone, I dress that way because I subconsciously need to feel valuable and that’s the quickest and most tangible way to receive it. However, when I’m rooted firmly in the Lord, I see that He values my modesty and that He is the only true source of my value.

Secondly, ladies, we are sexy by nature. Unless you are part of the 2% of women who call themselves beautiful, you probably just laughed at that comment; but let me tell you, it’s true. I’ve talked to enough guys to be confident in that fact. Women are attractive to men because that’s how God created it to be, no low-cut shirts required. By dressing immodestly, we are being selfish–we are taking attention away from God’s character by encouraging others to focus on our externals, and we are putting our brothers in Christ in a difficult situation.

Yet, day after day I see women in short shorts, low-cut shirts and itty-bitty bikinis. I’m not talking about non-believers, though that is certainly characteristic of many non-believing women; I’m talking about my sisters in Christ. The women I go to church with, the girls in the bible studies I’ve led, and even myself!

Let’s recap:

1. Girls are attractive.
2. Immodesty reflects and is rooted in insecurity.
3. Modesty is a selfless way to love our brothers and show others the beautiful character of God.

What are your thoughts? Should God’s girls be dressing with modesty today, or is that a concept that has become irrelevant in our American culture? Let’s get the discussion going–I’d love to hear your comments and questions!

When Your Ideal Meets What's Real

Since the age of twelve an ever-widening chasm between my life’s ideal and my reality has loomed over me. The daughter of successful parents with a mother who fed me motivational quotes and self-help books as if they were milk, I’ve always been a dreamer, a goal setter and a somewhat obsessive list-maker. Deep-seeded insecurity has been the fuel driving many of my lofty, un-met goals.

In middle school I daydreamed of high school - of having a tall, baseball-playing boyfriend who drove a blue ’69 mustang; of being the standout soccer player and the captivating object of all the guy’s affection. Instead my short boyfriend dumped me for a close friend who ended up being the star player and I was perpetually single, insecure, self-loathing and awkward as a girl could get.

In high school I dreamed up my picture-perfect sketch of college: of playing soccer for a preppy East Coast university, watching division 1 football games, gallivanting with hot college guys dressed in hoodies and backward hats, and acing my college courses. My ideal collided with the reality being rejected by my dream school, being hospitalized multiple times for severe depression, gaining nearly forty pounds and not making it as a walk-on, transferring colleges three times, and barely passing a few of my classes.

It didn’t turn out how I pictured it. Me. My life. My ideal.

My life turned out messy. Jaded. Broken.

Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails (Proverbs 19:21).

Sometimes I wonder how God can put back together what has not been broken.

I wonder from time to time about my old “ideal-self.” Where would she be living; where would she shop; what size jeans would she wear?

When I think of her, I realize I’d rather not know her. Perfect isn’t me. It’s not the people I love; it’s not the life I live. I’d rather be the ragamuffin girl I am who’s been saved by grace; who once was lost but now is found. Now, I’ll take real over the ideal any day.

How about you? When has your life's ideal not reflected your life's reality?

HerStory: Shannon Culpepper (I Am Second)

Today's HerStory feature is from the I Am Second website. Shannon's story is a story all too familiar to so many girls. For those who've had an absent father or mother, it's easy to believe the lie that your abandonment is somehow reflective of who you are as a person. It makes it easier than it already is in our world to believe the lie that you're not worthy, not love-able, or simply not good enough.

Is Shannon's story all too familiar to you? For those of you girls who haven't had a dad around (or maybe had a dad who was around, but never really there), how has this influenced your relationship with guys? Or your relationship with God? What has your Heavenly Father taught you through the absence of your dad? If you've had a loving dad in your life, is there anything you'd like to say to girls who don't know the goodness of a father's love-made-real through his active presence?

Join in on the conversation.

You have forgotten that you are unique!

Watch sweet 4-year-old Sophia share truth! "Why do you want to look like someone else? Do you want ME to grow up wanting to look like someone else? I don't think so!" So cute and so powerful. Happy Friday!

Making of the "Fanny Pack Attack" Song

Hey There Beautiful wmGirls!

Happy Random Thursday! We want YOU, our beloved blog-readers to be the first to know that we are currently producing a top-secret (shhhhh!!!!) music video called "The Fanny Pack Attack." We thought we would give a sneak-peak behind the making of the song inspired what we hope to be the next YouTube sensation! The song randomly came to Kayla as we were getting dressed for our 31 Bits Benefit Party. Kayla's sister was wearing a belt that slightly resembled a fanny pack and the rest is history. It's important to know that Christie has been wanting to bring back the fanny pack since '95. Since the song came to us I have been having fanny pack sightings like you wouldn't believe!

If you live in Central/Southern California and would like to star in our upcoming "Fanny Pack" attack music video (or know of a legendary music video producer!), send us a tweet/email/or FB message! We are actually looking for a choreographer/videographer to make our song a hit! I hope today's video doesn't scare you away (and I'm sorry I didn't really brush my hair for this).

(C) Song Lyrics copyrights of Wonderfully Made. Don't you dare try to steal them before our video debuts! LOL..

Shlee's HerStory: Be Not Afraid

Ashley (Shlee) Schofield is well-loved by the SoCal wmGirls! Below is Shlee's honest and relatable HerStory on overcoming fear, her sweet homecoming to the Lord and a bright future with Him!

So often I feel alone, scared, and unsure.

To feel better, I’ve filled these voids with fading pleasures – toys as a girl, clothes as a teenager, and men as a young woman. Travel, work, school – you name it, I’ve put something seemingly important before God.

Every year for Lent I give up materialistic joys I fill my life with: sweets, wine, coffee, etc. I starve myself of beloved things, only to binge after 40 days.

This year I decided to do something different. I vowed to give up worrying and work on myself.

The idea actually came from my ex, who didn’t believe in God, and challenged my faith practices. He questioned why I didn’t do something real and lasting?

Seemed like a novel idea, so I embarked on a path to self-betterment through God.

I’ve tried to control my life changes before, but I learned how fulfilling it is to let God take the reigns.

Funny, because this isn’t the first time I’ve learned this lesson. I’ve walked away from God before – felt lost and confused – and came back to Him again.

Needless to say, I was at a point of separation from God again at the onset of this Lenten season. I filled all my time with my ex and lost my conversations with God.

As I embarked on the realities of God, I awakened to the unrealities of my “romantic” relationship. I was living away from home, family, and all my loved ones in hopes I would marry my ex. I got caught up with “the one” I’d be with forever, when really I was slipping from the ones who I’d been with forever – God and myself included.

“When you forget your true identity as a beloved child of God, you lose your way in life. Insecure and frightened, you act not freely, but out of fear. You become preoccupied trying to please others and you lose the confidence to be yourself. You work hard to avoid rejection, or abandonment, and you may cling to people more from fear than freedom. In making compromises you may please people but lose touch with your original blessing, the connection to the deep and everlasting love of God. Jesus announces to us, “Do not be afraid. I dwell in you till the end of time.””

I read the above passage on the last day of Lent and that day broke up with my boyfriend, decided to move back home, and renewed my life in walking with the Lord.

He paved the way to change and gave me the strength to pursue the life I wanted.

Now my life is more full than I could ever imagine … with real people, love, and God. I often talk with Him en route to work and at idle times when my mind wants to worry. I never feel alone because He is always there and I am peacefully content in a way I’ve never felt before.

My life may not always be a bed of roses in the future, but it’s a lot less thorny with Him.

Beautiful Satan, Ugly Jesus

Today's thought-provoking post comes from the lovely Natalie Horne, who serves as a Regional Chapter Director for WM. You can follow Natalie's personal blog (which I love!) here.

Beautiful Satan, Ugly Jesus
by Natalie Horne

No, I did not just make a typo. It’s scandalous and paradoxical, isn’t it? It can be a true statement or a false statement depending on your point of view and definition of beauty, and I must shamefully admit that my view of beauty is often wrapped up in physical appearance. Although my heart knows that true beauty is God’s beauty, I have to constantly remind myself of what that God’s beauty is. We are living in a world where physical beauty is equated with power, success and happiness, and we are so often fooled into chasing after it.

Last week in my small group we began our journey into the gnarly depths of eschatology (end times prophesy) in the book of Daniel, and we spent a lot of time unpacking the nature of Satan, the great artist of deception.

While much of what we studied was something I had heard at least once before, one of Satan’s characteristics stood out to me above the rest: he is physically beautiful.

“Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.” (Ezekiel 28:17)

Satan was once a beautiful angel, but because he worshiped his own appearance and “became proud” on account of his beauty, God through him out of heaven. I don’t know about you, but I find that frightening and convicting! On the other hand, Jesus was just the opposite:

“He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” (Isaiah 53:2)

Satan is beautiful on the outside and rotten on the inside; Jesus has nothing to attract us to him physically, yet His love and truth are our hearts’ greatest desires. Reading these simple verses reminded me of how twisted my outlook has been–and at times continues to be–on the value of my appearance. Working for an athletic apparel company, living in Southern California and being a woman in general make me especially prone to this lie that beauty equals success, joy and good character.

If my goal is to become more and more like Christ, why am I spending so much time adorning my outside and so little time adorning my inside?

“Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” (Proverbs 31:30)

“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” (1 Peter 3:3-4)

Heavenly Father, help us remember your truth about what real beauty is. Open our eyes to the lies our hearts have been believing and guard us from temptation to fall for Satan’s deception. We know you value a heart after your own. Remind us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made by your hand. You know our details and you love us deeply.

Cobwebbed Hearts: What's Hiding In Yours?

by Allie Marie Smith

Do you ever feel fed up with yourself? Are you ever turned off by the reality of your own messed-up brokenness?

I definitely have my moments. Recently, God has been unveiling attributes about my nature I’d rather ignore and push under my bed like dirty clothes when friends show up unexpectedly. I don’t know about you, but it’s not really fun for me when I realize how much junk I've been lugging around that's been robbing me of the joy and peace God's presence in my life brings.

It feels like a massive fluorescent spotlight (the kind that makes trying on clothes in the dressing room a horrific experience) captured you to find out all your flaws and has revealed all the blemishes you’ve been pretending aren’t there. Sometimes I think it’s the hidden cobwebs of our heart that ruin us the most - the ones no one can see. The sometimes seemingly unsubstantial sins are the ones that have the potential to breed the most destruction.

While the blemishes of our lives (the greed, selfishness, impurity and the like) don’t go unnoticed to God, the good news is His grace is the best concealer a girl could have. See, God doesn’t just cover our blemishes up, He removes them.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:11-12).

Grace is God’s unmerited favor upon us (messed up, sinful humanity) always, not just sometimes. He has affections for us even though we’re not worthy of them. As Christie shared in HerStory, “there has never been a moment in your life when you have not been loved by the Lord.”

Today's Challenge: Take a few minutes to confess the hidden sins in your life. Pray Psalm 139:23-24:

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Write the hidden sins of your heart on a piece of paper. Then tear it up and ask Jesus to create in you a new heart and make all things new.

What do you need to bring into the light?