Sunday morning, I had an epiphany while standing on stage waiting to sing the final song in our set, "Oceans."

God has been guiding every decision in my life to lead me to this place.

Since I completely surrendered to follow the Lord's calling on my life at the age of sixteen, I can, without a doubt, look back and see how He has been leading me to where I am. Sure there have been bumps along the way, but they've only deepened my faith and trust in my Savior Jesus.

I wish I had time to share every personal story. Every little instance that I can look back on and say "THAT was God!" But if there's one decision that has shaped my life more than any other, it was my decision on where to go to college.

Around this time eight years ago, I was nervous and anxious to pack up and head four hours north to a small, country town in the very tip of the Florida panhandle called Graceville. In this one-stop light town, there was a small bible college with about 800 students on campus. That was less than the high school I attended, to put it in perspective. It wasn't an easy decision. It was stressful, confusing, and very very difficult, to be honest.

The fight came from the war within me to "make something" of myself.

I wanted to forget college, head to Nashville and get "discovered" by a record label (as if it would be that easy) and lose myself in playing music for a living.

That was before I heard God's call on my life.

Like Samuel, it took me awhile to recognize that this voice was God. The reason I knew it was Him, was because it seemed irrational. And history has proven, that's kinda how God works.

When I told my parents that God was calling me into the music ministry and to attend bible college, they thought I was giving up on my dreams (I know they just wanted the best for me) not to mention that private colleges are much, much more expensive than a university. It just didn't seem possible.

But God provided every step of the way. Today, I don't owe a single dime to my college education.

It was at this small college, that I ended up meeting my husband. Had I gone to a different college, I would have missed him. Had I waited just a year later and tried out my own plans first, I would have missed him.

You see, one decision can affect our entire lives. I grew up hearing that "delayed obedience is disobedience," and never has that been more true to me than now.

There is no denying that God called me to be Josh's wife. To stand beside him in ministry. To see peoples lives changed by Christ. And then have the honor of leading them in worship to the King of Kings!

And on the days when I lack faith for the future, I cling to what He has already done in my life. If He is in the small details of where I attend college... then how much more is He in control of every problem, in every nation across the world?!

As I stood there Sunday singing, "Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders..." my heart was full.

His plan was better all along.

Forward to 1:09:30 to watch us lead the song "Oceans."

Where is God calling you today? What decision do you need to make to get there?

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Last weekend, I spent some time with a group of our girls from church for a "Girls Night Out." We played games, ate pasta, had a fashion show and talked about modesty. And of course the inevitable dance party broke out before we curled up with popcorn and soda to watch Princess Diaries. I brought Micah along too (he was the only boy allowed!) so we didn't spend the night, but we stayed pretty late and met them back up there around 10am in the morning for a time of worship.

If it sounds like fun, you'd be right, it was.

But what I cherished most of all was getting the opportunity to spend face to face time with these girls. They had questions, they had hurts and some of them had a seriously flawed view on what it meant to be beautiful. And modesty, no matter how "dated" the word may appear, is such a needed character trait that I thought I would address it here on the blog as well.

Modesty is dying in our culture. And I'm not just talking about a dress code. You can be wearing a burqa and still be immodest. Modesty, in it's very definition, means humble. Unassuming. Unpretentious. Quiet about our own achievements and abilities.

In a lot of ways, completely opposite of our culture.

We are being influenced and consumed every day by social media, magazines, photographs, tv, music, you name it... that tell us that success is beauty, that money is beauty, that fame is beauty. And the temptation is there to become envious of those who have nicer homes, or nicer hair, or nicer clothes. Before we know it - we are caring too much about what everyone else thinks of us and not caring about thinking of everyone else.

It's not like we have to go too far looking for these things. Thanks to social media, it's flaunted in our faces. One of the biggest trends out there is to take "selfies" or simply, a picture of yourself. I cringe just thinking about it. Because for decades teenagers have struggled with self-esteem and identity issues, this isn't new. But now we have measurements to help boost our ego or dig in the knife deeper, depending on how many people decide to "like" our photo. The whole concept behind a "selfie" is selfish. We are degrading ourselves. We are worth so much more to Christ. (Let me also clarify that I do believe there is a difference in taking a selfie for selfish reasons and taking one to truly document a moment. But a lot of times it's hard to differentiate between the two, so I tend to avoid them altogether).

You see, immodesty is all about how much you are revealing. Whether in your clothing or in your tweets, photos and conversation. And if we don't have a filter in our lives, we are going to adapt to the culture around us.

My filter is my husband.

Whenever I get dressed to go somewhere, I ask Josh if what I'm wearing is okay. Sometimes he says, "You look too good in that!" which is code for "You need to go change." There have been several times where I've thought I looked "supa-cute" in an outfit, and he felt uncomfortable with me wearing it. So I changed. I care more about being modest, especially in his eyes, than I do about being trendy or fashionable.

I also run things by him before sharing on social media. I show him photos before posting, read him tweets before I send them out and even blog posts sometimes, if I know it may be a touchy subject.

This is how I've handled my very real, very tempting, issue with modesty.

I want every girl and guy to feel beautiful. I want them to feel loved. But, immodesty robs us of that. Immodesty is always asking for more.

This is such a heavy burden on my heart. I believe it accounts for so much of the heartache teenagers and young adults face today. Spending the weekend with these girls reminded me of this prevalent issue.

And to all my 18+ women out there, who think this issue may not apply to us, remember you are an example. They are watching. Show them what a godly woman of character looks like.

I'll leave you with this quote I saw pop up on my Twitter feed the same day I started writing this post, no coincidence I'm sure.

"A gentle spirit, modest character and loving personality gives a radiance to the face that no makeup could ever replicate." - Ashlee Chu

Amen.

Last week I took a sabbatical from blogging. Mostly unintentionally. My husband spent the week on mission in Costa Rica and I cherished some quality time with friends and family. When I made the occasional dips online to check social media, I just felt my heart becoming more and more distant from it. It was a much needed break. But I won't lie, one of the main reasons I decided to disconnect from this blog was because I was afraid of what I might say.

Early in the week, during one of my "check-ins" on Facebook, I noticed a string of friends posting a picture with a red equal sign. It didn't take long for me to catch what was going on, and I immediately went into defense mode. How could that person be supportive of gay marriage? The Bible is clear this is unnatural and sinful. (In case you missed it, read here)

Not surprisingly, many of my non-Christian friends were standing strong in their support. What actually surprised me, was how many Christians were supportive or silent on the matter at all. Where was the accountability? The truth? I hear Christians stand loud and proud in the fight against sex-trafficking, almost daily, but when it comes to standing against a sexually perverted lifestyle - silence.

Why? Fear. We are crippled with fear of offending someone who may disagree with us.

Well let me tell you what I'm afraid of... I'm afraid our culture is going to become numb to the gospel of Jesus Christ. His love, forgiveness and sacrifice for our sins.

Now is it my job to take a tally of a person's sins? No way. But friends, the gospel of Jesus cannot be preached if we are unaware of our need for a Savior!

The Gospel Coalition put it perfectly, "You do not love your neighbor by encouraging them to engage in actions that invoke God's wrath (Psalm 5:4-5; Romans 1:18). As Christians we may be required to tolerate ungodly behavior, but the moment we begin to endorse the same then we too have become suppressers of the truth. You cannot love your neighbor and want to see them excluded from the kingdom of Christ."

When Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees regarding the woman caught in adultery, he asked for the person who had not sinned to cast the first stone. Everyone walked away. They all recognized their sin. Even the woman caught in adultery knew she was about to get what she deserved. But even though Jesus could have condemned her right there - he didn't. Instead he called her to "go and sin no more."

The gospel has always been centered around our need for Jesus. We can't lose sight of that. And we can't lose sight of preaching that.

And at the end of the day, I care more about what a person believes about Jesus than whether they support gay marriage or not.