Category Archives: Bright Lights

This Little Light of Mine

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This past week, I was blessed to be a part of a very special work of God.

After many years of prayer and months of preparation and anticipation, the Bright Lights conferences came to Pennsylvania.

It was a sacred time. The sanctuary was filled with girls ranging from seven years old to early twenties, from all varieties of states, churches, family circumstances, and spiritual maturity. Yet the bond of the same Savior and filled with the same Spirit, there was a unity in song, prayer, and Bible study.

A beautiful group of leaders came all the way from Iowa to minister. There joy was contagious, their testimony sincere, and their love for the Lord and passion for His work was clearly evident. I was encouraged and challenged working along side these servant hearts.

At each conference I had my own little group of girls. I came to teach them, but soon realized that I was learning right alongside with them. During the Strong in the Lord Conference, my eight year old “Lighthouses” with their joyful enthusiasm, eagerness to look up Scripture, and attentiveness to the biography of a “bright light,” were used by God to teach me that learning about Him and His Word is an exciting adventure. The gospel never gets old or loses its power, it is always “living and active” and revealing new hidden treasures every day.

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine

Lord, I will shine your light! With joy and a smile that’s bright!

Few joys compare with witnessing the love of God at work in ten young hearts.

Lord, take any seed that has been planted. Water it, allow it to grow. May these girls become radiant women of God, eager for Your Word and passionate for Your glory.
On Friday and Saturday, more girls filled the church for the Radiant Purity Conference. Again, the Lord reminded me that I needed to be transformed by the truth of His Word just as much as any girl there. I can never learn enough of Christ! His sanctification of my heart is a life long process and I need to continually be overwhelmed by the purity and magnitude of His love.

I expected to do a lot of talking in my small group of 12 and 13 year olds. I asked the Lord to teach me how to guide discussion on emotional purity. To my delight, he gave me a sweet group of girls who came already softened and desiring to guard their hearts.

The girls asked so many insightful and sincere questions. The whole time, I was praising the Lord and asking Him to fill me with His words and wisdom. Mostly, I was reminded that it is God that prepares the soil, plants the seed, and nurtures it’s growth. He was already preparing girls for the messages they heard during the conference and I was just a tool He used along the way. I am so grateful for the sovereign purposes of my God!

“I have one desire now – to live a life of reckless abandon for the Lord, putting all my energy and strength into it” — Elisabeth Elliot
“…that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world…” –Philippians 2:15

Thank you, Lord Jesus for shining your love and grace afresh on my heart!

>Created Purpose

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God created us for this:
to live our lives in a way that makes Him look more like the
greatness and beauty and the infinite worth that He really is.
This is what is means to be created in the image of God.
~ John Piper
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them”
(Ephesians 2:10)
“But I see now that the simple act of cheerful acceptance of the duty imposed and solace and support withdrawn would have united me more fully to Christ than the highest enjoyment of His presence in prayer could. Yes, every act of obedience is an act of worship…
Remember that it is His will that you should be sanctified, and that the work of making you holy is His, not yours”
~ Stepping Heavenward ~

“Put on the new self,
created after the likeness of God
in true righteousness and holiness“
(Ephesians 4:24)
*Pictures are from recent Bright Light meetings*

>Beautiful Reflections

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>Every girl desires to be called beautiful. This desire, when inserted into the cultural worldview of media and advertisements, emerges as a lust for physical beauty. We are convinced when looking through the world’s mirror that satisfaction, happiness, and success are synonymous with the perfect outward appearance. When this is our focus, we can’t see beyond the glittering, blown up, digitally-altered images presented to us everywhere we go.

I know because I’ve been there. I have cried in front of the bathroom mirror because what I saw fell far short of a beauty ideal. In desperation I have attempted to recreate myself into a new image. I have spent time and effort towards this end and been jealous of other girls who seemed to already be there.

All this time I was looking in the wrong place to fulfill my desire for beauty. I was looking in the mirror of this world for affirmation and acceptance, but as a child of God, this is not where my reflection is found. Rather, I see myself clearest when I look into the Word of God and learn what my Heavenly Father says about me.

He tells me that my body is important because it is His dwelling place (1 Corinthians 6:19,20). It’s purpose is not to bring glory or power to me, but to serve as a vessel of worship for the glory of its Creator. And where God’s presence dwells, the place He transforms to draw attention to His mercy and grace, is beautiful. “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!” (Psalm 84:1).

In His Word, my Father tells me that my desire for beauty transcends the physical. It will never be met by the empty promises of this world because it is deeper, higher, and more enduring. In essence, my longing for beauty is a hunger for Christ because true meaning and life is only ever truly satisfied in Him. Only when I identify with His likeness can I discover the “something more” that I was made for. I was created to be transformed into the glorious beauty of Christ, who on earth was not considered physically attractive and yet was beauty incarnate. He is beauty in me and the closer I am to Him, the clearer I see what true beauty really is.

There is something infinitely special to a girl when her father calls her beautiful. How much greater to be pleasing to the eyes of the Father who made her. “Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear: forget your people and your father’s house and the king will desire your beauty. Since he is your lord, bow to him” (Psalm 45:10,11). I am learning that the way to beauty is one of total surrender — soul, mind, and body, ideals, hopes, disappointments, frustrations — all of me committed wholly to God’s restoration of beauty within me.

A godly beauty that being filled with the Holy Spirit, does not flaunt itself but in gentleness and quietness draws eyes to Jesus. A “grace-full”ness that recognizes God’s grace to me and seeks to extend that grace to others. A life dedicated to compassion, kindness, humility, and forgiveness, and adorned with love.

I want to attract others to my spirit, not my clothes. My service not my make-up. Christ’s identity, not mine. For one day I will behold Him no longer “in a mirror dimly, but then face to face” and I will know fully what I’ve only glimpsed here: He is the Fairest of them all.

~ Taken from notes from our last Bright Lights meeting on beauty ~

>On a Cold and Windy November Evening…

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>…Forty mothers and daughters braved the fearsome weather to gather in a bright and cheery room for three charming hours of fellowship, laughter, and scrumptious goodies. In other words, last night we held our fourth annual Bright Lights Mother and Daughter Thanksgiving Tea. :o )
And what a special time it was. I was so blessed to watch girls interacting with their mothers — giggling together, sharing loving smiles, and comparing favorite teas. I was reminded last night of the preciousness of the mother-daughter relationship — a gift worthy of much thanksgiving.
Jenny, Elizabeth, and I did a little skit starring a Bright Lights News reporter, Pocahontas, and Anne Bradstreet. :o )

As a special treat, the we prepared a song for our mothers. We began working on “More Love” when we were studying 1 Corinthians 13 and the girls put a lot of time, effort, and energy into it. I’d say their labors paid off well, wouldn’t you? :o )

“Oh Lord Your love is so vast and so wide, freely given to all who believe.
It soars above the highest sky and it floods the deepest sea.
It moved Your heart to send Your only son to die on Calvary’s tree.
And now Your love has been poured in my soul –
That it’s waters may flow through me.

Oh Lord, I come to You with great shame, for I fear my work is in vain.
I am moved by the sound of man’s empty praise as I serve others in Your name.
If I give my wealth as a gift to the poor or my body to the flames of the fire,
Still all will be lost when I stand in Your sight –
If my motives are not loved inspired.

Oh Lord, how I long to be filled with Your love, I lift up my dry thirsty soul.
Overcome this love that I have for myself, as I yield to the Spirit’s control.
May the love of Christ increase in my heart and my knowledge of Him ever grow.
So the service I give to my King above –
Will reflect the love that He’s shown.”
~ by Steve Pettit

>Growing in Grace

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>Jenny gave a wonderfully thought-provoking introductory lesson on Love at our Bright Lights meeting Friday night. She included this quote by Martin Luther that I thought was most insightful:

“Faith, like light, should always be simple and unbending; while love, like warmth, should beam forth on every side, and bend to every necessity of our brethren.”


You can read the lesson here.