Open Discussion

Confession time...

I have always had self-image issues. From a really young age, I never really felt girly enough or pretty enough. My biological father committed suicide when I was a baby, so I never really felt like I was worth him living. Feeling that kind of rejection my whole life was just not good!! My adoptive father, whom many of you know (sorry if this offends you, but it's the truth), was very hurtful to me when I was young. He told me so many times that I was fat and stupid. It may have been a joke to him, but I didn't take it that way. When I was in high school, I set out to lose weight, and I ended up losing about 50lbs (23 kg for my European friends). Essentially, I had developed an eating disorder, and it was tearing my life apart. Thankfully, Jesus picked me up out of that place, and I can honestly say, that I don't struggle with that anymore at all. (I am making a long story short, so if you want to know exactly how Jesus did it, I'm more than willing to tell you. Just shoot me an email: mrsehl@gmail.com). Over the last few years, God has blessed me with a wonderful husband who always makes me feel beautiful and never puts me down. God has taught me how to love the person He's made me.

But in a world where physical "beauty" reigns supreme, I can understand how women can sometimes feel ugly; like they just don't fit the mold. How absurd!! Think about this. God created the heavens and the earth; the stars in the sky. All of these things add so much beauty to our lives. God is such a magnificent artist!! He created all of this, and then He created mankind (ending with women...saving the best for last...haha). Man was so beautiful to Him that He chose to take a break (on Sunday) just to admire what He created. He wasn't satisfied with the heavens, the earth, the animals, or anything He created until He created mankind. What I think this tells us is that our view of what beauty is totally corrupted and contorted. God is the embodiment of beauty, and He created us in His own image!!!

So this is the discussion: I want to know what in your life makes you feel beautiful, physical or otherwise. How has God shown you that you are beautiful when society may say otherwise? With all of our physical flaws, there are things we all admire about our bodies. What are those things to you?

Challenge: We need to try to undo our thinking about how we define beauty. Try to see something beautiful in someone else this week. The fact is that when you try to find things about others that you think are beautiful, you start to see those same things in yourself. Also, try to see something beautiful in your enemy or someone you just don't like. It's not as easy, and it really reveals the state of our hearts.

Sorry if this seems more geared toward women, fellas. But I think guys deal with the same issues...maybe just not as outwardly as women. So guys can participate too!!

I Love This!!

"Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong; I cannot. If a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. A world of automata--of creatures that worked like machines--would hardly be worth creating. The happiness which God designs for His higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to Him and to each other in an ecstasy of love and delight compared with which the most rapturous love between a man and a woman on this earth is mere milk and water. And for that they must be free."
C.S. Lewis

This is a quote from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. He is amazing. I've never had much time to read things I want. Well, now I have a ton of time, so I get the opportunity to do lots of things I've always wanted. I encourage everyone to read Lewis' books, whether you're Christian or not.

My Journal

I've never much been one for keeping a journal. I guess all those years in school where I was forced to keep one just didn't sit too well with me. Anyway, I have been keeping a blog for quite a while. I guess I feel like with a blog, I don't have to write every single day. I can just write when I have something on my heart. So I was reading some of my old blogs (not located on this page), and I am just so thankful for everything God has done in my life.

One year ago, I was struggling a great deal, because we were leaving Cornerstone, the church I'd been going to since I was a baby. I remember crying so much over that decision, but having such peace that we were doing what God wanted. I remember thinking I didn't know where to go or what to do, because there was just no place in this world like Cornerstone. I mean, I met and married my incredible husband there. Cornerstone was a shield for me when I was a kid. When things in my family were tough, it was my place of refuge. Pastor Rick taught me how to love and trust in God with all of my heart. It was also really hard to leave some of our dear friends. That was the hardest thing of all, considering Pastor Rick had been gone for years. It's amazing how people put God in a box, and they see the world only in the four walls of their own church. We lost so many friends, because they just could not see how they could remain friends with us if we didn't go to the same church. For crying out loud; it wasn't like we were joining a crazy sect or something. We were still part of the Church...God's church. But Danny and I learned how to be content with just the two of us, and God showed us what true friendship is all about through that situation. Sometimes I wish He didn't have to use such painful trials to teach us things, but I guess if it weren't so painful, it wouldn't leave such an impression.

Last year I was also having a really tough time sleeping at night. Until you've had insomnia, you can't even imagine how important sleep is. I had all these doctors wanting to put me on anti-depressants and stuff like that, but I just didn't have a peace about that. It's not that I think taking them is wrong. I just had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach about it. I prayed, prescription in hand, for what God wanted me to do, and He said flat out that I needed to just trust Him. (That's the one area that I struggle with the most...Type A personality and all). The Lord promised me that He would take care of me, and I believed it. I decided not to take the medication (because I wasn't depressed!!), and amazingly I started sleeping really well. I believe that God completely healed me, and I am so grateful for that. God took something that was completely out of my control (yep control freak right here), and He showed me how to trust Him and not myself for everything.

So now my opinion of journaling has changed a little. I can now look back on the last year and see how God has worked in my life. There are so many little things He does for us each day that we don't even see. I can't wait until I can talk with Jesus face to face, and He can show all of the things He did that I didn't even know!! Maybe He keeps a journal on all of us. Maybe He writes things like: Yay, Beth trusted me today...finally!!! I guess we'll find out.

Beth

The Tuckers Are Coming!!!

They are finally coming. Our best friends from home are leaving for Paris on Feb. 28. We are going to take a train to meet them on the 5th of March, and we'll say for the rest of the week!! Then they are coming to Germany to visit our home here. There's so much we want to show them. I've got to figure out how to narrow it down!! Yay for English speaking friends!!!

It's Valentine's Day, and I Don't Care

Call me unsentimental or unromantic all you want; I think Valentine's Day is kinda dumb. My husband thinks he is the luckiest man in the world that he doesn't have to go and spend tons of money on flowers and candy just for this one holiday!! He buys me flowers all year round, and it makes me so happy to get them when I least expect it. It means more to me to receive something just because he is thinking about me than for him to have to do on this one particular day. So I don't think we are unromantic at all. We are just romantic with each other for the entire year.

Friendship

The older I've gotten, the more I've come to understand the value and importance of true friendship. And I am not talking about the superficial relationships with people who never come to understand the true you. Personally, I've never understood how a person can say, "Hey these are my 20 best friends!!" Really? Do you really know them? Do they really know you? Can you be yourself 100% of the time, even if that self is wrong, dumb, self-conscious, or disgusting? Do you find yourself trying to be someone you're not when you're around them? Would those friends give you the very coat off their back to help you, and would you do the same for them? How would you feel if they were in trouble or sick? Would you take their burden on as your own? Those types of friendships take a long time to develop, and I think you have to go through trials in order to find them. A friend chooses to be there, whereas family almost has to be there. So the challenge is to not care about the quantity of your friendships but the quality.

A Little Perspective

I am totally copying this from one of my "friends" on myspace, but I loved it. I wanted everyone to read it, and let me know what you think.


"The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some poll data I found rather hard to believe. It must be true, given the source, right?

The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed, and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the President. In essence, 2/3's of the citizenry just ain't happy and want a change.

So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking, ''What are we so unhappy about?''

- Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?

- Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter?

- Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job?

- Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time, and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year?

- Maybe it is the ability to drive from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state?

- Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe hotels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter?

- I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough.

- Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provides services to help all, and even send a helicopter to take you to the hospital.

- Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home. You may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the flames thus saving you, your family and your belongings.

- Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intrudes, an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss.

This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90 percent of teenagers own cell phones and computers.

How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world?

**Maybe that is what has 67 percent of people unhappy.

Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S. , yet has a great disdain for its citizens . They see us for what we are. The MOST BLESSED people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don't have , and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the LORD that we live here.

- I know, I know. What about the President who took us into war and has no plan to get us out? The President who has a measly 31 percent approval rating? Is this the same President who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11? The President that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession? Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled ungrateful brats safe from terrorist attacks?

- The Commander-In Chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you and me? Did you hear how bad the President is on the news or talk show? Did this news affect you so much, make you so unhappy you couldn't take a look around for yourself and see all the good things and be glad?

- Think about it...are you upset at the President because he actually caused you personal pain OR is it because the"Media" told you he was failing .
Make no mistake about it. The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered to serve, and in many cases may have died for your freedom. There is currently no draft in this country. They didn't have to go.

- They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a ''general'' discharge, an ''other than honorable'' discharge or, worst case scenario, a ''dishonorable'' discharge after a few days in the brig.

So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of Americans? Say what you want, but I blame it on the media. If it bleeds, it leads; and they specialize in bad news. Everybody will watch a car crash with blood and guts. How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the corner? The media knows this and media outlets are for-profit corporations. They offer what sells,and when criticized, try to defend their actions by "justifying" them in one way or another. Just ask why they tried to allow a murderer like O.J. Simpson to write a book about "how he didn't kill his wife, but if he did he would have done it this way" ...Insane!

Stop buying into the negativism you are fed everyday by the media. Shut off the TV, burn Newsweek, and use the New York Times for the bottom of your bird cage. Then start being grateful for all we have as a country. There is exponentially more good than bad. God has blessed us and we complain :(

We are among the most blessed people on Earth, and should thank God several times a day, or at least be thankful and appreciative.

"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, "Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"

Snowboarding Photos

God is Beautiful!!

We woke up this morning after a rainy and windy night to a beautiful rainbow. I tried to get a picture of it, but by the time I found the camera, the rainbow was fading. It was just a little reminder of how faithful, wonderful, and beautiful our God is!!!

Presidential Election

Hey,
To the right of the page is a poll. I just want to see who the you are leaning towards voting for in the Presidential election. The results are anonymous, so don't be shy. Thanks for the help.

Go Eli Manning!!

So it's 2am, and we're watching the Super Bowl!! Could we BE anymore American?!?!