One day it was raining so hard …

One day it was raining so hard I didn’t want to go outside. The clouds were really grey and dark and it just didn’t seem like being outside was a good idea! I started to feel like it wasn’t a good day just because it was raining! Do you ever feel like a day isn’t great just because the weather isn’t great? Do you ever feel like a day isn’t great because you have bad hair or your favourite shirt is dirty and you were planning on wearing it?

Sometimes the silliest things can make me not embrace the day given to me and make the most of it.

So, on that grey, dark, wet day I decided it was going to be a GREAT day, so I put on my apple green raincoat, my blue and apple green rubber boots, grabbed my ipod and went outside looking for things to photograph that were beautiful and made even this seemingly ugly day the best day ever.

Guess what I found? This gorgeous bush with the most beautiful yellow flowers all over it … there were more yellow flowers than leaves on the bush. It was so bright and beautiful on that dreary day!

These flowers were a gift to me! God placed them there to remind me that He longs to give great gifts to us even on those days that seem dreary, or we don’t feel great about ourselves or we are unable to make the decision to have a GREAT day!

Here is a great part of the Bible that talks about how much God loves us … it is found in Psalm 40 verses 1 to 5

1 I waited patiently for the Lord to help me,
    and he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the pit of despair,
    out of the mud and the mire.
He set my feet on solid ground
    and steadied me as I walked along.
3 He has given me a new song to sing,
    a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see what he has done and be amazed.
    They will put their trust in the Lord.
4 Oh, the joys of those who trust the Lord,
    who have no confidence in the proud
    or in those who worship idols.
5 O Lord my God, you have performed many wonders for us.
    Your plans for us are too numerous to list.
    You have no equal.
If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds,
    I would never come to the end of them.

Are you like me?

Are you like me? Do you have certain foods that you love to eat? Do you sometimes crave these foods? I’ll tell you the two things that I crave sometimes … chocolate and ice cream … and if you put them together … even better.

I can remember at one pajama party that I went to we ate so much chocolate and ice cream that the next morning most of us felt pretty sick. We just didn’t know when to stop.

Sometimes we want things so badly that all we can think about are those things. Sometimes we think about them so much that they cause us to miss what is right in front of us.

I realize that in my relationship with Jesus Christ … I don’t always crave to spend time with Him or get to know Him (as Heather mentioned in her blog about devotions and spending time with Jesus each day). I realize that I don’t always think about Jesus but seem to have time to think about many, many other things.

A few evenings ago when I was eating a soft serve chocolate dipped ice cream cone … it occurred to me that as much as I was enjoying it, once it was gone so was the enjoyment of eating it.

Thankfully a relationship with Jesus Christ is not like that ice cream cone at all … when I invest time into that relationship and actually get to know Jesus … the joy in that relationship grows and grows and grows. Also, a relationship with Jesus is different than my experience at the pajama party where I ate too much chocolate and ice cream … I can never spend too much time with Jesus.

In the book of John in the Bible chapter 10 and verse 10 Jesus tells us this …

I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.

Let’s take time to get to know Jesus Christ … who will offer us more than any chocolate or ice cream ever can 🙂

– Sherryl Koop, Program Facilitator and Developer, Beautiful Unique Girl Ministry

5 Ways to Jump Start Your Devotional Life

Doesn’t it just stink that it’s at least twice as hard to start a good habit as it is to break a bad one? Oh, how I wish it were the other way around. Then maybe I’d go to the gym more often than I eat a whole bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs.

Spending time with God each day is one of those habits that’s been hard for me to start and keep. Can any of you relate to this?

So here are a few ideas on how to jump start your devotional life. No matter how bad it is, there is no time like the present to work on making it better. Hopefully at least one of these ideas will spark your creativity and help you along in your relationship with God.

1. Read your Bible in a new translation

Lately I’ve been reading through some of the New Testament books, like John and Romans. I’ve read these books before, but this time I’m making it new by reading them in The Message version instead of New International Version. There are so many different translations of the bible available to us (check out http://www.biblegateway.com), so why not mix it up and try a new one? It’s amazing how reading the same truth in different words can bring it alive in a new way.

2. Find a great devotional book

I’m all for keeping the Bible as the most important book in my life. So often we spend too much time reading lots of books about the Bible and forget to actually dig into the scriptures themselves.  However, a great devotional book can really help hold you accountable to daily study, especially if it’s one that runs for 30 or 40 days.

Here are a few good ones:

1. 40 Days with God by Rebecca St. James

2.A Call to Die by David Nassar

3. Dream Big by Heather Boersma

3. Study with a friend

We all love hanging out with our friends so why not meet once a week to do devotions together? Maybe you can’t meet on a regular basis, but you can still go through a reading plan or devotional book together. Text or email each other your thoughts from each day. Take a photo of a quote you loved and send it to them. Celebrate together when you’ve finished the plan or book with a coffee date or movie night.  It’s always easier to start new habits when you have someone fun to do it with.

4. Take time to listen

So often we go to God with a plan. But sometimes it’s good to go to Him without a plan and without a long list of requests. Instead just turn on some great worship music, lay on the couch or your bed, and take it all in. God loves you so much and when you take time to listen, He’ll tell you that in His own special way. Take a few moments each week and just be quiet with Him and let Him love you.

5. Remember the why

Why spend time with God in the first place? Is it just another churchy thing we have to do? Another item to check off our to do list? Or is it about getting to know Jesus, our Savior, our best friend? God is crazy about you and wants to be with you. More than you doing “the right thing” and being perfect, God wants to be with you. He truly wants to be your best friend.

Girls, I’d love to hear your thoughts! What would be your top tip for having a better devotional life? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below this post.

In Him,

Heather Boersma, former BUgirl intern

Misha Maseka

This last tour has just been a testament to God’s faithfulness and care. For some reason, at the top of every tour, I prepare myself for all the worst case scenarios, like getting stuck numerous times in a day, bad weather, sleepless nights and not making connections with any girls at events. My dramatic brain turns quite pessimistic sometimes. God has seemed to have obliterate all those negative thoughts, because I cannot think of one billet, event or experience on the road that has proved my notions right. God has provided in the smallest of things on the road, from amazing sleeps and comfortable beds, to unforgettable events and the most hospitable coordinators and billets. He has sustained and strengthened our team a hundred times over. This tour we have felt rested in the midst of our busiest weeks, when on the outside it appears chaotic and stressful, we really are at peace and rejuvenated with the love and care of Christ.

One event that will stay with me forever is one in Ontario. First off, the event coordinator was such an amazing woman of God. As soon as a met her, I instantly liked her and was drawn to her love and passion for the youth and girls of her church. Second, the volunteers were so helpful and amazing. Offering to do everything and anything. They were all such sweet women, willing and ready to serve. Then, we had an abundance of girls. Their energy will stay unmatched. Every night we have a dance party at the end to finish on a fun note. One of the songs we jump up and down to is Firework by Katy Perry, which is a secular song. However, it has such a powerful message about embracing your individual beauty and being yourself; the self that God created you to be, which is one prominent theme throughout the night. Singing and dancing to the song this particular night was something so spiritual. Almost all the girls were belting it at the top of their lungs, whole-heartedly. The team and I were beaming wildly at the amount of energy that was coming at us and just the truth of the lyrics and how powerful it was proclaiming it loudly and proudly in a room full of so many amazing girls and women.

Brokenness – Kailynn Coad

There have definitely been times during this past year where I’ve wondered how or in what ways God could possibly be using me to “further His Kingdom.” I have especially been challenged in how I view public speaking. At first, I almost died just thinking of sharing my testimony. It didn’t seem to get much easier at all, even as the tour progressed. I constantly forgot where I was heading with my points, would trip over my words and often parts of my story would be left out. I felt so human, so frustrated and sometimes I could only see my flaws. How could I possibly be a witness to these girls when I, myself, am still growing. I would pray over and over again that God would just give me the gift of public speaking!
But is it possible that even when we trip over our words and it doesn’t come out quite right, that God can still use us? Is it possible the God can make sense out of our seemingly jumbled up words? I don’t think I truly understood that my testimony was not my story but His story (because He’s the one who made it happen!) until a couple weeks into our third tour. As I was thinking about how much I hated public speaking, it occurred to me that I was underestimating God and forgetting the true reason for sharing my testimony. It hit me that all this time, I had been doubting God’s wondrous Power.

When Paul cries out to God, asking Him to take away a struggle, a weakness, that He has, God replies:

“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9
Paul then writes:  “So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise to not have everything figured out. Perhaps if most things came natural to me, I wouldn’t be driven to rely so heavily on God, which is ultimately strengthening my relationship with Him.  
“You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.    
We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.” – 2 Corinthians 4:5-7

So what if all the words don’t come out just right or as I had planned? It’s God’s story and He will draw others to Him through it if He desires (and of course He desires that). God wants us to take pleasure in our weaknesses, because it is through our brokenness and through the cracks of our clay exterior that He is able to shine through. It is through our brokenness that His power is made evident.

Christine Penner

Over the last 9 months of touring with BUgirl I have learned that church is much more than just a building in which people go to to worship God in, but rather that you can worship God anywhere.  You can worship Him at a camp, on a reserve, in a drop in centre, community centre, a hotel room and even in a BUgirl van.  Church is made up of the people who gather to worship not necessarily the location or building they gather in.
Although for most people a church building is important to them and allows for the routine of going to the same place every Sunday, which often makes attending church a lot easier so I have come to appreciate that aspect of church and also miss attending my church regularly this past year while on tour.

While on tour we were having an event at a church and I met the pizza delivery man who was bringing the pizzas to the event.  While I was paying him, he began to ask me questions about the church where we were, explaining that he didn’t live too far away from it and thought he might want to begin attending it.  I wasn’t able to answer many of his specific questions about the church but I hope that our conversation grew the desire within him to attend to the point that he would not only remember our conversation the last time he drove past the church but actually make an attempt to attend.

BUgirl ministry can even have an impact on the pizza delivery men – how great is that.

Angela Perry

I feel so blessed to have had the chance to be a part of the Beautiful Unique Girl team this year.  Each and every day I was stretched to learn new things and challenged to grow in so many areas of my life.  I was constantly faced with new and different challenges and have learned that God is truly by our side through it all.  When I felt tired, God provided rest, when I felt weak, God brought me strength and when I was afraid, God always offered me comfort.  I’ve really learned that God doesn’t call us to live our lives on our own; He wants to help us through our struggles and our hard times and, when we let Him, amazing things really do happen.  We try to teach girls this every night, that God has created them with purpose and He wants to be there for them on their bad days, and God has been teaching me exactly that this year.  God has a purpose for my life, and if I trust in Him he will provide for me, always!

Every night at events my favorite part is an activity called, “green and pink pieces of paper.”  At this time we get the girls to write down everything that blocks them from seeing themselves as the awesome, beautiful or valuable.  Then we give these things up to God by ripping these papers up and throwing them out.  After we’ve done this we hand out pink pieces of paper where we write down all the things that God has placed inside us that make us great. One night there was a girl who wouldn’t rip up her green piece of paper.  She had a lot of really hard things in her life that were very difficult for her to deal with and she told me she couldn’t throw out her paper.  We hung out a lot this night and when the end of the event came and we had finished praying to God about all the stuff she had written she turned to me and said, “I’m ready to throw out my paper now.  I want God’s help with this stuff because I can’t deal with it by myself.”  This memory sticks out so much in my mind because I feel that this is really what our event is all about.  This girl realized that she had a God who was bigger than the stuff on her green paper and was ready to give Him control of it!  She believed that He could provide for her and help her with the difficult things in her life and I think that is really amazing!

Kaylyn Holmes

BUgirl has been such an incredible journey this year.  At the beginning of the year I felt that as much as we were thinking we would be blessing the girls across Canada … I never thought we would be blessed just as much in return.  Now in reviewing the past 9 months, I believe our events did help US grow as individuals and in our relationship with God – discovering more about God’s deep love for us.

One event that sticks out as significant for me was when we realized that in the group of girls attending was one who had recently faced many questions about her value and worth. It was beautiful to watch her involvement in the event grow as the night went on and to see her be so excited about her time at the BUgirl event that she thanked us for coming and purchased a t-shirt with the word ‘PURPOSE’ on it.  How far she had come … from wondering if she had any value and worth to recognizing that God had a purpose for her and that she would proudly wear that shirt to declare what she had discovered that night about God and His deep love for her.

Is God Calling You?

I recall when God called me to the Beautiful Unique Girl (BUgirl) program, a ministry of Family Life Network (FLN).  I had been seeking God’s direction for 2 years.  I was praying, reading scripture, journaling, asking questions, writing out my heart’s desires and nothing made sense. I felt God wanting me to do certain things such as send my resume, visit the office, attend their Annual General Meeting (really God??)  meet with a staff person and continue to wait for God’s perfect timing.  I obeyed not understanding.  Those two years of waiting were necessary; as they were preparing me for what was to come and to affirm that once the opportunity presented itself, yes, I knew this is where I was supposed to be.

Are you maybe sensing God nudging you to something new this year even though it may not make sense?  Are you even puzzled or frustrated not knowing where all the pieces fit but feel in your heart a yearning to minister?  Do you feel that perhaps your “purpose” for this upcoming season is to share a powerful message of God’s love with girls ages 10 to 14?

The BUgirl team, FLN staff and many volunteers & partners have been praying for the team of young women that God has handpicked for this upcoming 2013-2014 touring season.  This is a life changing experience.  You will travel across the country with your team, live in community, experience adventure, learn more about what it means to be a servant-leader, be challenged and stretched and most of all, be reminded of God’s faithfulness and love for you by sharing the message of Psalm 139 over and over.

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalm 139:13-14

It will be our privilege to walk alongside you, encourage you to grow in your giftings, mentor you and provide you with many growth opportunities.  

If this may be a good fit for you or somebody else you know, please connect with me by phone/email or visit our website for more information as we are now accepting applications.  

Over the next several weeks, we’ll be posting stories from this year’s team. Kaylyn, Angela, Christine, Kailynn and Misha will each give you a glimpse of experiences and things learned within the last 8 months.  Stay connected.  

Lucie Michaud
Director of Beautiful Girl Ministry

Welcome to the Beautiful Unique Girl (BUgirl) blog!

Hello! We’re thrilled to have our official Beautiful Unique Girl (BUgirl) blog up and running.  We’re excited to share with you updates on what God is doing in and through the BUgirl internship team as they tour, new things that are happening within the ministry and to bring you inspiring messages God has laid on our hearts to pass along to you.

If you’re just getting to know us, visit us at http://www.bugirl.com where you can learn about our philosophy, meet the current BUgirl interns and find out how to book a BUgirl event in your area.

I envision the BUgirl ministry as a garden full of beautiful flowers.  Whether you’re on the BUgirl Admin team, part of the Internship Touring Team, a ministry host partner, a girl attending an event, a volunteer, billet provider, prayer or financial partner, each participant has a special place in this garden filled with all the colors of the rainbow.  Then God steps in and adds His final touches to make each event unique.  We couldn’t do it without you and ultimately without our Heavenly Father and we are just so grateful.

It is our greatest privilege to walk alongside you as you grow in your faith and come to realize more and more every day that God your Creator loves and values you, has made you beautiful and unique and has an incredible plan for your life.

Lucie Michaud
Director of Beautiful Girl Ministry