School is back in session.
Year after year, the teacher may change, the classroom may change but one thing that may not really change are the emotions of starting a new school year. I remember very clearly laying out my outfit for the first day of school, getting my supplies all together in my backpack and the excitement of seeing everyone after an entire summer of being away. I never slept really well the night before the first day of school. I would lay in bed and just think of all the possibilities of what the next day would hold.

Beyond the emotions, people would often ask you, “Are you ready for school to start?” And most of you would probably say that you weren’t ready and that may be because that means homework, sitting in classes, having a schedule, going to bed earlier, or seeing other students you really don’t want to see. Whatever it may be, I find this question of being “ready” interesting. What option is there if you’re not ready? Basically, school is starting and you have to go whether you are ready or not, right? So, if that is the case how do you prepare for something you don’t feel “ready”?

Prayer.

You may have heard this before or maybe you feel it is not enough. I believe it is a start. Prayer offers peace, assurance, strength, and comfort. When you feel anxious…pray. When you feel like you can’t make it through the day…pray. When you don’t know how to handle a situation…pray. When you feel stressed…pray. God is always available and willing to hear us when we need Him. When others may be sleeping or are too busy to talk, He is available.

When we go to God first in prayer, we build strength and courage. And with God’s strength we are relying on His mighty power and not our own strength but His power at work in us.

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” – Ephesians 3:20

I pray that this next year is an amazing year for you. I pray that no matter what comes your way that you will go to God in prayer and He will sustain all your worries, cares, hurt, pain, frustration, concerns, or stress.

You may not “feel” ready to start this school year but ask God to help and prepare you for what He has in store for you this year.

Here is a prayer over you today and the days to come!

“May the Lord strengthen your mind, body and soul today.
Where you are weary may you be refreshed.
Where you are worn may you be renewed.
Where you are broken may you be restored.
Where you are fearful may you become faithful.
Walk in complete confidence today knowing that the Lord Almighty is with you.
Amen.”

-AC

Well, you finished. Another school year has come and gone. Some of you have only thought about your summer but haven’t made any plans. Some of you have your summer completely planned from the minute school ended until you start again in September. Either way, summer is finally here.

I have found that the summertime can be a lot of fun because you don’t have much of a schedule and you have the freedom to make your schedule what you want. There is no going to school. There is no homework. You don’t have to be in bed at a certain time. You can sleep-in in the mornings. It’s nice.

I remember when I was a teenager I always looked forward to my summer break from school. I spent many days laying in the sun, going to movies, watching t.v., and hanging out with friends. I also had many days where I would say, “I’m bored. There is nothing to do.” By the end of the summer, I was completely bored and actually looking forward to starting school again. I would also have the feelings of disappointment because I would look back at my summer and I had feelings that I “wasted” it or didn’t challenge myself in any way. Sure, I spent time with friends, I relaxed and had fun with my friends – those are all wonderful things. But I found myself thinking, could I have done something more with my time?

This is where I want to challenge you this summer and the time you have….don’t waste it, invest it! I want to encourage you to not only look at your summer as all about YOU but also what you can be giving more of as you have more time to give and invest. Think of all the things you maybe thought about doing during the school year and maybe found yourself thinking or saying, “I can’t because I don’t have enough time.” What could you do with your time to invest into others or to invest into personal growth?

Maybe when you hang out with friends, you volunteer somewhere together.
Maybe it’s taking the time to volunteer at a camp for an NGO or church.
Maybe it’s taking more time to read books.
Maybe it’s spending more quality time with your family.
Maybe it’s trying to start each day reading your Bible and praying.
Maybe it’s journaling everyday.
Maybe it’s taking the time to develop a skill, hobby or talent you have.
Maybe it’s investing more in your relationship with God.

Whatever it may be…challenge yourself! Have fun AND be intentional on ways you can grow and make the most of your summer!

-A.C.

“May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” -Ephesians 3:19-20

When we first started glittr two years ago, we would host monthly events for girls in the Bucharest area.  We would have different events that would be on different topics and presented in a creative way that were relevant to the girls attending.  After we created our curriculum we started to move towards doing more small groups with the girls and less events.  The girls coming to glittr events or small groups were telling us that they loved having both!  So, we decided to bring back some events throughout the year again.  

We were thrilled to host our 2nd annual Fresh Start Spa event!  The event is a great occasion for young girls to connect/reconnect with God, with their self and with others. For one day they have the opportunity to escape the everyday monotony and routine and find the chance to relax, to participate in good conversation and to enjoy qualitative introspective time.  Using a simple parallel (between doing a manicure and the spiritual life), in just a few steps the teenage girls have the opportunity to learn in a very profound and tangible way what it means to get rid of the useless and old as to allow God to come and pour inside the new and the fresh.  Sometimes the relationship with God needs a start and other times it needs a fresh start or a restart. Our event on the 28th of May was exactly that! The young girls were challenged, through tangible images and examples to get rid of what is old and to adopt what is new and fresh.

It was an amazing day.  We had over 70+ girls attend the event from Bucharest and other cities near by.  We cannot wait to host it again next year and maybe even in different cities around Romania!!
Check out the photos to see the fun time we had together!  

Recently, during one of our small group meetings, a teenage girl asked me, “How did you find your purpose?” This came about because I was encouraging the girls to ask a woman that they admire or look up to, how they found their purpose in life. I don’t know if I was a woman they looked up to but I realized that it was an opportunity to share my story.

We all at some point come to this point in our life where we wonder if this was what we were created to do or if there is more for us in this life. For some people that time is while they are finishing high school and beginning to look at college and for others it may be further down the road when they are unsatisfied in their current job or situation. Either way, it’s an important moment.

So, how did I find my purpose in life? To start we have to go back to my high school days. Overall, I had a great childhood and grew up in a wonderful Christian home. My parents are very loving and supportive and I got along with my siblings pretty well. But even through all that, I was a girl that lacked self confidence and was desperately seeking others for approval, value and worth. This led to me making many poor decisions and choices. After a really low point in my life, my junior year in high school, I decided that I needed to make some changes and live my life differently. It was in my senior year of high school that we were given an assignment to write a paper, basically saying what you wanted to do with your life. At the time I didn’t think much about it, and all I remember was that I was very passionate about what I was writing.

Fast forward a little. I am now going into my second year of college and my major is in broadcasting. I don’t feel that is what I am “called to do” or my “purpose in life” but it was something. At this point, I was not happy with the major and wanted to be doing something more. I was visiting my parents one weekend and I found the paper I had written my senior year of high school. I remember reading it and it ignited a deep passion within me. I had written about how I wanted to serve and work with teenage girls that had difficulties in life – exactly what I had been through. After reading that I went back to my college and started to pray that God would show me what I was to do. After a few weeks, I found out from a friend that the college had just created a new major called, Youth Developmental Studies and its entire focus was working with teenagers! I was so excited and switched my major as fast as I could.

My first job after college was working at a domestic violence shelter with children. It was through that job that God made things very clear for me. I realized that my purpose, passion and heart is…
for teenage girls to feel loved and accepted and that no matter what life circumstances come their way, they will live their life to their fullest God-given potential!

Here I am, 14 years later, still with the same purpose, passion and heart. I am so encouraged to see a girl find her identity in Christ and live her life abundantly with confidence and strength that only comes from a relationship with Jesus!

So, my challenge and encouragement to you, as you read this, is to keep seeking God for your purpose or calling. I believe with all my heart that God has something specifically just for YOU! He created you for a purpose that only YOU can fulfill!!

If you know your purpose, live it out!!
Give all that you have to SHINE brightly in this world and honor God in all you do.
Be an example for other girls, your friends, colleagues, and sisters.

And remember…
There is nothing that you can do that can make God love you any less!!

Shine Bright!

-A.C.

“I will cry to God Most High, who accomplishes all things on my behalf for He completes my purpose in His plan.” – Psalms 57:2

“ The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” – John 10:10

Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching. In Romania, I am not for sure how much it is really celebrated but in other parts of the world it is a BIG day to show someone close to you how much you love them with flowers and gifts. There are many women who may not like this holiday because if they are not dating or married, then it makes them feel alone or that something is wrong with them.

This has not been much of a holiday for me and my husband and I don’t really do anything extra special for the day. We will write a nice card to one another and that’s usually it. But with this holiday approaching it got me thinking about when I was a little girl.

I was in elementary school and there were many times that my school friends and I would pick flowers from the fields and we would start to pick the petals off one by one. It was kind of a game, each time you picked a petal you would say, “He loves me or he loves me not.” Pick a petal, he loves me. Pick a petal, he loves me not. All the way until the last petal. If you were left with “he loves me” you felt a little excited and loved. But if you were left with “he loves me not” I remember feeling sad. It is amazing to think that such a simple, meaningless game with school friends could have such a strong impression and impact on how you view yourself.

There are many girls or women that believe that they are not ________ (fill in the blank). They have bought into the lies that the world tells us.

You don’t have a boyfriend or husband for Valentine’s Day, there must be something wrong with you.
LIE.

You are too big.
LIE.

You are too skinny.
LIE.

You are not beautiful.
LIE.

You made too many mistakes for someone to love and forgive you.
LIE.

You are not enough.
LIE.

You are not smart.
LIE.

You don’t have enough money.
LIE.

Plain and simple, they are all lies. Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever believed a lie?

Many of us can be living our lives and not realize that we are living according to lies that others have told us about ourselves and life in general. We don’t know it’s a lie until someone shares the truth.

Many times, we feel worthless because of people that try to tell us we are worth nothing or can’t do anything. Other times, we feel worthless because we mess up and then let our thoughts consume us, convincing us we aren’t of much value. But we have an identity that cannot be stolen. Many things can be taken from us or can be lost, but our identity is not one of them. We have been made in the image of God, and that can never change!

We were made to show His love, patience, compassion, beauty, joy, passion, strength, justice, and so much more! Satan is jealous of that identity and has been trying to cause us to forget it from the day we were born, but he can never strip that identity away from us. Because you are made in the image of God, you have more worth than anything in this world; you are priceless!

Today, make the choice to believe what God says about you! He loves you just as you are – mistakes, shame, and all. He has always loved you and always will. Jesus died on the cross for you so that you could live your life to the fullest and abundantly! He has a purpose for you.

You can be confident in knowing that it will always be, “He loves me” with God.

May you know deep in the depths of your soul, there is nothing you can ever do that can make God love you any less.

“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” -Romans 8:38-39

Happy Valentine’s Day!

-A.C

One of the reasons glittr exists is because as women, we understand what life was like as a teenage girl and we want to offer support and guidance to girls around Romania. We offer events, small groups and resources to help young ladies in different areas of their lives.

In November we will be featuring a series on our glittr blog called, “What I Would Tell My Teenage Self”. Each week we will have a guest writer share their story from the perspective as an older woman. The women writing are from around the world and range in age between 20-35 years old.

As older women, we can look back and see how those teenage years are not easy and may be some of the most difficult moments in life. We want to share with you these women’s stories because it offers another perspective on what they learned and some of them you may find have been in similar situations as you. We all have our personal story with some good and bad moments that we may choose to remember or try to forget. As we grow older, we start to see things differently than when we were a teenager. We continue to learn more about ourselves and others. So, we ask that you keep yourself open to some of the advice or ideas these women may offer.

Take a moment. Read a story. Think about how it applies to you.

This series is not just another way to tell you what you should or shouldn’t do. However, it is a way that we can offer guidance in saying, “Please, learn from our successes or mistakes.”

We want you to live your life to your fullest potential!

“So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11

I can’t tell you how many times I have read about the story of sisters, Mary and Martha in the Bible. It has been used as an example for women for a long time. If you don’t know, the story is found in Luke Chapter 10. There are two sisters that have Jesus over to their home and Martha is busy in the kitchen and basically making it feel like ‘home’ as much as she can for Jesus. While Martha is rushing around, Mary is simply sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening to everything He has to say. Martha gets frustrated and asks Jesus, “Don’t you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me?” And Jesus basically says, “Martha, you are getting yourself all worked up for nothing. Mary gets it and it’s not about doing things around the house.”

So, most preachers or teachers ask the question, “Who are you most like, Mary or Martha?” And you are set up to make a decision between the two sisters. I would say that most women would like to say that they are Mary but are probably Martha. But for me, I know that I am more like Martha. And it makes me think that I am wrong and kinda shamed in a sense for doing instead of being. I have to believe that Martha had a great heart and just wanted the best for Jesus. Who wouldn’t want that for a special guest in their home? And I know that if I was working hard that I would be frustrated to see my sister sitting there doing nothing to help. Putting myself in that situation it would be hard to hear Jesus tell me that I have it wrong and I need to do what Mary is doing. When I read that I think that Mary is right, Martha is wrong.

I think that we can often get caught up in ‘doing’ and forget that what is most important is just spending time being with Jesus. And that is what He wants most for us. He has gifted us in many different ways and wants us to use our giftings to glorify Him. There is nothing wrong with that. For Martha, maybe she had the gifting of hospitality and was doing her best to make everything perfect. That’s not wrong, but I just picture Jesus taking her hands and saying, “Sit with me. Leave the dishes in the sink. Leave the food on the table. Sit with me.” That might be out of Martha’s comfort zone but it’s still good for her to do. She connects with the one who created her and knows her by name. The One that loves her whether everything is perfect or not. He loves her for who she is and not what she can do.

So, lets not focus on Mary and Martha or right vs. wrong, rather, lets be reminded that what we DO for Jesus is not most important. It’s being with Jesus. Our relationship with Him. When was the last time you read your Bible? Spent time in prayer? Journaled? Sat and listened to worship music? Our relationship is most important and if we don’t take care of it, we can find ourselves losing that close relationship we once had.

“Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with the tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” – Colossians 3:12