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Father`s Day Devo (My senior pastor asked me to write it for our church newsletter)

When I consider that God is spirit and has no biological relationships like humans do, I realize that the only reason God calls Himself “The Father” is for our benefit, to help us understand the relationship between God and people. God is described as many things: as our healer, provider, savior, and king; as a potter, a warrior, and a shepherd. However, our primary understanding of the identity of God is “God the Father”. So why is “Father” His preferred label? 

I came to the conclusion that if we were looking for something on earth that most closely resembled our relationship with God, It would be our relationship with our fathers. So I looked at my relationship with my dad. My dad’s the type of person who would move heaven and earth to help someone out. For example... 

-Last week he drove to Corner Brook to build a deck for the mother of one of his employees.  -Last summer I got a flat tire on my car while I was at work and he had it changed before I even finished my shift.  -When I was in grade 11, I had a public speaking competition the same weekend as the church youth retreat. He picked me up at Burry Heights, brought me to the competition in St. John’s, and then brought me back to Burry Heights after the competition. 

Truthfully, I will probably never know how much time and energy he puts into taking care of me when I’m not looking. That selfless devotion to taking care of our family and of the people around him is the essence of a father’s love. Fathers are spiritual models for how God loves us. The identity of a Christian father is imitating the character of God. The love that they demonstrate towards their children is a self-sacrificing love. That love puts their children before them. It’s the very same love that Jesus demonstrated when He died on the cross. 

In Matthew 7:11, Jesus says, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” This is a father who literally can move heaven and earth to help us out. Like in Isaiah 38, when He made the sun go backwards, or Joshua 10, when the sun and moon stood still. Just picture God pinching the earth between His thumb and pointer finger to make it stop spinning. He interferes in the solar system for us! More importantly, He died for us. We will never grasp the vast and overwhelming love of God, but if we want a tiny glimpse, we’ll find it in our fathers.

Nowadays you see a lot of people quoting the bible with the aim of oppressing others. How do you feel as a Christian when you see things like that? How does it make you feel when you see people using some of these quotes out of context? Just wondering your thoughts on the matter.

Hey there :) 

How do I feel? I feel….angry, outraged, disapproving, frustrated and discouraged. 

I think, that as a body of believers, if we are going to call ourselves Christians, then we are required by our mandate to love others. It’s not that hard! Loving people is literally the highest calling we are given. I don’t understand what happened to us that somewhere along the way we lost sight of that goal and got mired down in the murkiest swamps of legalism. How have we become so short sighted as to think that good behaviour is more important than an authentic relationship with our Lord and Saviour? We have become so preoccupied with shouting at people that they need to change their behaviour that the simple Sunday School song “Jesus Loves Me” is completely drowned out. “Jesus Loves Me” is not just a a simplified message for people who are too young to understand theology. “Jesus Loves” is literally the foundation of our entire belief system and worldview! We are nothing if not for the two words “Jesus Loves”. Telling people that they are wrong and that they are going to Hell is by no means the way of showing them the love of Christ. It is the exact opposite of that! And it is completely counterproductive. 

Therefore, my humble opinion is that those who would hate and oppress others under the label “Christian” are falsely bearing that name and are slandering and besmirching the church, which is truly damaging to those of us who genuinely want to love on people and help the poor and whatnot. 

And don’t even get me started on using quotes out of context! Like, do you seriously expect me to believe that a scripture straight out of LEVITICUS with no theological, historical or cultural context is relevant to my life? Absolutely not! I believe the whole entire Bible is the truth but I also believe that some of it is a true account of events that happened a very long time ago and not necessarily rules to live by. That’s why people think that the Bible contradicts itself, when it in fact does not. You could throw a verse from Leviticus at me to support your premise while I could throw one back at you from Matthew which might completely unravel your argument. This is not because the Bible contradicts itself but because hypothetically, you were using a verse that is irrelevant because it is taken out of its intended context. 

So man like, I said this to someone today. If a church kid ever tries to tell you what to do or judges you for something, tell them to frig right off. Cause I’m a church kid and that’s not even close to the point. You’re never gonna hear the gospel over my judgment. 

Those are my thoughts on the matter! I hope you find them useful somehow! 

Peace and love!-Katherine

Ayo! 

today i met a christian guy who tries to follow the rules of the bible really well and i asked him if he is against gays because of Leviticus 20:13 and he told me no, he doesn’t because of Matthew 7

and he added that he would never judge anybody on their believes or way of living because only god can judge the people

this guy man

Many people have said to have spiritual enlightenment in the form of visions of Jesus or saints hearing God's voice etc. what do you think about such claims? Do you think the majority of the people who make these claims are embellishing the truth? Crazy? Or do you think God has come to them, and if so have you ever felt any jealously with regards to that?

Hey there! 

I grew up in a church and a religion that is saturated by belief in the Holy Spirit and His workings. I’m Pentecostal, and we don’t actually have saints, so I’ve never heard of someone who had a vision from a saint. However, we do belief in the nine gifts of the spirit described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 (which are separate from the fruits of the spirit, and from the baptism of the spirit): 1. Wisdom: understanding what to do in difficult situations, or receiving the solution to a seemingly unsolvable problem. 

2. Knowledge: spontaneously knowing a fact about someone or their life without ever having been told by a human. 

3. Faith: the supernatural ability to act on a belief that has not yet been tangibly validated.

4. Healing: self-explanatory. 

5. Miracles (aside from healing): anything that is divinely supernatural (meaning of God). 

6. Prophecy: foretelling the future, often in a very specific way. 

7. Discernment: that basically means calling bullshit on stuff that people say is of God, but that you know is probably of the devil. 

8. Tongues: the gift bestowed upon you when you first receive your baptism of the Holy Spirit; it’s a special “prayer” language which is unique to each believer and understood only by God. Prophecies or messages from God to the church often manifest themselves in tongues.

9. Interpretation (of tongues): When God gives someone a message for the church in tongues, he usually gives someone else the interpretation in english (or the default language of the church). 

I’ve also heard of plenty of visions, usually containing imagery that lines up the bible. The interaction of our brains with God is really really cool. For the most part, I don’t think these visions or prophecies or messages or whatever are lies or symptoms of psychosis. Granted, there have been and there are and there always will be people who know how to fake God’s presence with fancy words and a few psalms, but the work of the Spirit is genuine, supernatural and inimitable. You can usually tell when it’s a “God thing”. 

As for jealousy…I can’t say I’ve ever been jealous, per se. Being used for these gifts has everything to do with your availability. So if I’m not being used for these gifts, I know that it’s because I’m distracted, or afraid, or just shut down to being used. I’m a serious overthinker, and that usually gets in the way of me being sensitive to the Spirit. I know my shortcomings, so any negative emotions I might feel in association with the gifts is directed at myself, not others. 

Thanks for your question! :)Peace and love! -Katherine

Supergirl Syndrome

You know that scene in Pirates of the Caribbean where Elizabeth Swan is made to wear a really tight corset and she faints and falls into the ocean because she can’t frickin breathe? That is what the word “perfect” reminds me of. I used to think it was a wonderful compliment, but now hearing someone say “Katherine, I think you’re pretty much perfect” causes quite the uncomfortable constricting of my chest.

My fondest aspiration in life used to be to achieve this state of superhumanity and to evolve into this perfect version of myself that I had created in my head. I loved that Katherine. She was kind, smart, in shape, confident, funny, and pretty. She balanced the academic, professional, spiritual, social and emotional aspects of her life with ease. I wanted to be her. There was just one problem. She didn’t exist. She was an impossible idea.

Curiously, when I discovered that I couldn’t be any more than human (it was a pretty big shock), I began wishing I could be less than human. I perceived all my emotions as weakness and I wanted to get rid of them all. I almost succeeded, I think. Or at least I almost succeeded in hiding my emotions from me and most of the people around me. I liked to think that I was a talented actress and a really good liar. It was really bad for me though.

I’m talking about all of that in the past tense, but I’m still really, REALLY struggling with it. It still really bothers me that I’m not perfect and that I never can be. When someone tells me that they think I’m perfect (which actually happens fairly often, but only because people think it’s more difficult than it actually is to abstain from swearing, drinking and sex), I get very upset because I know that I’m not and I just really don’t like that fact.

I’m telling you all of this because those are my symptoms of the “Supergirl Syndrome”. It’s an insidious disease and it affects most of the women I’m closest with. I’m sure there’s a parallel “Superman Syndrome” that affects guys but I’m not a guy so I’m probably going to be talking mostly to girls on this one. The causes of our affliction are probably a combination of societal pressures and maybe a little bit of hardwired psychology. Who knows. Not me. But I do know that I think many of us feel the need to be all things to all people at all times. We want to defy stereotypes so we have to be everything. We have to be smart AND pretty AND athletic AND popular. I’ve met way too many women who think they aren’t good enough. And I’m tired of it.

Symptoms of Supergirl Syndrome include but are not limited to…

Feelings of inadequacy

Comparing yourself to other girls

The desire to crawl into a hole and hide

The feeling of being under a large amount of pressure

Aversion to the word “perfect”

Emotional unavailability or repression

Academic stress

Athletic stress

Stress in general

Fear of what others think

Doing too much

Anxiety

Eating disorders

Unexplained feelings of guilt

Feelings of self-loathing

Inability to turn down another time commitment 

Inability to admit failure

Inability to cope with failure or mistakes

Extreme reactions to constructive criticism or criticism in general

Feel free to add your own to the list.

Okay so how do we treat Supergirl Syndrome? Is there a cure? I hope so! If not I’m in big trouble. I’m learning that the solution to this problem, as with most problems, is transparency and community. Please be gentle with me here because the advice I’m about to give you is advice that I’m still having trouble in following myself! The two most freeing statements I’ve heard are from my mom and my best friend, respectively. They are as follows:

“It’s no big secret that you’re not perfect. Nobody is under any illusions in regards to your imperfection. So you might as well stop trying.” - My mom (admittedly, it doesn’t sound particularly uplifting, but its stark honesty was what I needed.)

***

“You’re not perfect. But you’re you. And you are way cooler and more beautiful than the idea of a perfect you could be.” - Sarah

I’m learning that the best things we can do for each other are to be honest with each other and to invite others to be honest with us. It actually had a far bigger effect on me than I could have predicted when one of my friends simply said to me “I’m here for you if you need to talk or anything.” It was so simple but it was like he gave me permission to need another human being. Your friends really do love you and they really are there for you. Being honest with them is one of the best things you can do for yourself. And it encourages other people around you to be honest as well. I think opening up a dialogue is such an easy thing to do but it makes such a big difference. Just make sure it’s a dialogue of love, not judgment.

All of this stuff sounds so obvious when I type it out in black and white. However, I’m the girl who, when asked what might happen if I tried to be more open with people, answered “the world will fall apart.” I was mostly joking but I was a little bit serious. So if you’re anything like me, I think it’s possible that you might need a reminder sometimes.

This is our reminder: we’re not perfect. We never will be. We can’t be. But that’s okay because who we are is better than perfection. And being open and honest and understanding makes a big difference. It makes more of a difference than we think it will.

Okay, that’s all. Love you guys! Peace and love! -Katherine

The only secrets I cannot keep are my own.

Not that I don't want to.

If I had my way, every single other person in the world would only ever see the carefully made-up, touched up, photoshopped, filtered, edited, reviewed and revised life. They would never know the dark spaces in my heart where the fear and insecurity reside. They would never see the times when I tripped on the cracks in the sidewalk of life. They would never even bear witness to the grimace at the text from the boy I want but can't have. Would never even know that I'm human enough to feel emotion. If I could, I'd smile and lie my way through every conversation, every interaction. I'd keep all the anxiety, all the "I can't do this", all the self-loathing, all the pitiful, sad, scared parts of me locked up deep inside. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm a pretty happy, well-adjusted, social person. But I have the parts of me I'm not so proud of, and I have my moments when they seem like the ONLY parts of me. As do we all. 

But these secrets, they're destroying me. I physically cannot exist pretending that I have no struggles, no problems, no flaws. Thankfully for me, I have people around me who care about me. I have a fabulous mama who thinks I'm fabulous too. I have absolutely wonderful friends who love me and because they love me, they tell me the truth. And by sharing my sorrows with them and confessing my downfalls to them, my secrets don't have that power over me anymore. My secrets no longer loom as a mountain that I'll never scale. They're not captives inside me anymore. They're not clamouring against my ribcage to escape my chest. They're not gripping my throat and choking me anymore. My secrets aren't my demons anymore. I've been given love and advice and perspective and the distorted lens through which I viewed my secrets has been removed by the clarity of other people's words. Wow, you mean I'm NOT a terrible person? My whole life isn't ruined? I AM gonna be okay? What?! 

You know what I mean. We're so adept at creating our own private torture. We're so skilled at turning our own heads into prisons. We obsess over our slip-ups. We play it over again and again and again and again and again and again. The endless loop of failure. We rip it to shreds analyzing every syllable, every inflection in the voice, every glance, ever thought, every breath. 

If you grew up in the church, maybe you, like I, know the fear of transparency that exists in there. We have this tendency to put on a mask every time we enter that building. Casting Crowns wrote a song I love called Stained Glass Masquerade and one of the lines says "am I the only one who's traded in the altar for a stage?" That line always resonates with me. And I heard a pastor say once upon a time "we would rather confess our sins to a sinless God than to our fellow sinful humans." I don't know what it is, but I see it in myself and my close friends - that quality of perfectionism. It's stupid cause the church is not for perfect people. It's for decidedly imperfect people. I recognize my severe imperfection and the fact that I need Jesus. So why am I so afraid to admit it to the people around me? 

Let it go. Let it out. Find someone who loves you. Someone you trust. Don't give the secrets the power. If you have no one else to talk to, talk to me. I'm never ever gonna judge you for anything. Just don't keep it a secret. 

Happy Easter!

Just a quick post to remind you the whole reason behind the Easter story. I told it to a bunch of three-year-olds today, and I figure I should tell you too.  It's the same thing I've been preaching since the very beginning. It's really the ONLY thing that mattes. It's the very character of God. It's love. God knew that the curse of mortality we brought upon ourselves separated us from Him, and that broke His heart. So He devised a plan to bridge the gap between us and Him. That was Jesus. Jesus, the incarnation of God in fleshly form, came to earth and lived our miserable, wretched, human life, and then died the most inhumane death possible. Why? Because He loves us.  Oh, you guys, He loves us so much. His love for us is so inclusive, so unconditional, so vast, so immeasurable, so outrageous, so scandalous, that our minds could never fathom its incomprehensible depth. He loves us deeply, intimately, and personally. So much so that if you were the only person who had ever existed in the whole history of the entire world, He would have gone to the cross just the same, to save you.

And when they pounded the nails into His palms, as He grit his teeth in agony, and as even His own lungs became instruments of torture, His thoughts were not on Himself, but on you. As sweat drops of blood dripped down His face, He saw your addictions, your hurt, your self-loathing, your fears, your mistakes, and your regrets. He took it all upon Himself. So that you could be free from all that. 

Because His heart aches for His children. He can't bear to see us along and hurting, cut off from the warmth and comfort of His embrace. He's been drawing us steadily back to Himself, ever since the day we ran away. Because He loves us. So, so, so much.  Like Lilly loved Harry.  Except, way, waaaayyyy more.  Happy Easter, guys. Remember how much you're loved. :) -Katherine

RANT Warning: indelicate language and imagery. Okay, so apparently as much as 54% of men and 42% of women are STUPID. I'm sorry but I'm not gonna be all politically correct about this. Anyone who answered yes to any of those questions is STUPID. STUPID AND WRONG.  For anyone out there who's a little bit confused....

RAPE IS NEVER OKAY. 

No matter what. No matter who long you've been dating, no matter how much money he spent, no matter what her level of sobriety, no matter what he's seen of her or done with her, no matter what mixed signals he's gotten, NO MATTER WHAT. It's not okay to force sex on a woman who does not want it.  And let's just stop and examine two of the conditions up there:  a) He is so turned on he thinks he can't stop. b) She gets him excited sexually. 

Ohmygoodness. MAN UP. Newsflash: Guys get turned on all the time. It's not exactly a novel thing. Guys can get turned on for no apparent reason. 

As a guy, are you seriously gonna try and tell me that you couldn't help it?  (This is where it gets graphic) ...That your dick was hard so you just HAD to ram it inside of her? That's bullshit! (I get vulgar when I get angry).  Oh, you were horny. Oh you poor baby. My heart bleeds for you, it really does.  MAN UP.

You're not an animal. You're not a robot. You don't HAVE to do everything your body wants you to. As a human, you SHOULD have morals. And you are able to reason and make choices. If you know that rape is ALWAYS WRONG (which it is) then you CAN walk away. You are not so weak that you are helpless against the primitive desires of your flesh.  So when I hear someone say something like "he's so turned on he thinks he can't stop" or "she gets him excited sexually", you know what I think? I think that "he" is a cowardly, lazy, spineless, weak, pathetic BOY. Because any man who cannot master his body and decide to respect women despite his physical urges is no man at all. 

Redefine your paradigms.

And when I say redefine, I mean shatter. Destroy and decimate completely.

Something that has been revealed to me in the past few days is that what I believe is the absolute most diluted form of Christianity. It's so diluted to the point that it's barely even Christianity. It's some teeny, tiny, manmade idea of Christianity. But really, it's just church. It's just going to a building and following our cute little set of rules, and sitting in our cute little pews and singing our cute little songs. And it is so far from the lifestyle that God has called us to that it's repulsive. 

Like, God is CRAZY, man. Like tornado-hurricane-tsunami-earthquake crazy. He is mountain-crumbling, earth-shattering, sky-splitting crazy. He is sooooo much bigger than our puny minds can possibly fathom. He has called us to live on the edge. He has called us to walk on water every day, even in the midst of the storm. He has called us to live a life so extraordinary that supernatural events become ordinary. He has told us that we will even do greater things than Jesus did while He was here on the earth. He has called us to expect signs and wonders and miracles daily. 

Did you know that healings, miracles, raising people from the dead, and casting out demons are normal things?! 

Like, do you realize that our lives are supposed to be so mind-blowing that it looks scary? When was the last time your life had any element of serious risk to it? I know personally, that my life is pretty much perfect and comfortable and freaking BORING. Why am I happy with my life like this?? It sucks! I want to live in such a way that God's power and glory is blowing my mind 24/7. I want to live in such a way that I live in constant awe at my crazy, insane, wonderful, terrible, magnificent God. 

I can't even stress to you how crazy, inside-out-upside-down, shake this world to its foundations ABSOLUTELY UNFATHOMABLY INFINITELY AWESOME God is!! 

What sparked this post was the film series by Darren Wilson: Finger of God, Furious Love and Father of Lights. Dude man bro, watch those movies and see what God can actually really do, because I think we theoretically believe that God CAN do anything, but we don't necessarily believe that He WILL do anything. But once we start believing that He can and He WILL, and we step out in faith, He's already THERE. He's just willing and waiting to do crazy amazing things, and just love on this world, and we just gotta be brave enough to let it happen. 

Come on man, refuse to be satisfied with this life that we're living. There's SO MUCH MORE out there. 

Peace and love!  -Katherine 

Hello Darlings! I'm doing the 30 Hour Famine in a couple weeks, fasting to raise awareness and accepting money to raise money for World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization. Their programs span education, childcare, healthcare, and nutrition. If you would like to contribute to this fantastic cause, it would be much appreciated! Lots of love :)  -Katherine