La Vie en Rose

Something I love about my life and just life in general is that it really always is full of surprises. So much of life is brilliantly unpredictable with its twist and turns and ups and downs. But I’ve seen that if I can learn to go with it and enjoy the journey there are so many amazing things about life that I can discover.  Last summer was a summer of surprise for me. A publishing company called Regal Books approached me and they had heard (From Twitter. Yes, Twitter) that I loved A.W. Tozer and they were putting a book together about him and wanted to know if I would be the editor of it.  Talk about a surprise.  Other than the occasional blog and writing song lyrics, I don’t consider myself a writer. But I do love trying new things and I LOVE the writings of Tozer so after prayer and a lot of thought, I said yes. I mean, why not! The other reason I said yes is I‘ve always been obsessed with reading and in order to be an editor, you have to read A LOT. So, it sounded like a job that would be pretty fun to undertake. Turns out, it was incredible. The book is called Inspired By Tozer and what it’s about is it’s 59 different authors, leaders, pastors, musicians and athletes who took their favorite Tozer quote and they wrote about how it has impacted or applies their life. And at first I thought it should be pretty cool to see who is apart of it and what they write. I knew it would be good. But let me tell you this book has exceeded every expectation I ever had for it. We got so many amazing people to write for it and their stories are simply incredible and so moving. I love that for people who have no idea who in the world A.W Tozer is will pick the book up because they see that Kurt Warner, Shane Claiborne or Bill Johnson wrote for it and they will be introduced to a new world of writers. Oh yeah, I totally name-dropped right there. But I’m allowed to be proud cause I didn’t write it! I just edited. Oh and of course I made my sisters write for it too. And I cannot believe the day is finally here!! November 1^st, the release date for my book that I have been working toward for the last year and a half. It’s finally here. And what’s even better is I share this day with the lovely people that also celebrate World Vegan Day and the first day of No Shave November. Hello, talk about an explosive day. Tozer, Vegans, and furry faces. Can I get an amen.

On a more serious note, I really am so proud of the men and women that wrote for this because they are men and women that I personally look up to in my own life. I trust their knowledge and walk with God because of how they have inspired me from afar. It was such an honor to have these people write for my book and now I’m so excited to share it with YOU!  So, if you’re awesome and want to read it, you can find it at any major bookseller. Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Christian book stores (especially Lifeway!). They all have it! I hope you love it and are just as inspired as I was when I read it. And I read it, like 100 times… Literally. But the crazy thing was, I loved it every time.

Lauren 

Does anyone remember that incredible old saying that we used to hear when we were growing up? The one that said, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” Of course our mothers would usually tell us that one when we would mouth off to them and we totally hated it BUT if you really think about it, it’s kinda great “rule”.  Our mom’s knew what was up. They knew that if we could just keep our (mostly rude) opinions to ourselves we wouldn’t end up hurting anyone’s feelings and in turn, wouldn’t feel bad about what we said.  It’s a win-win. Sometimes I wish we still had our mothers follow us around every day so when we go to freely give someone our opinion, or tweet something rude to someone, or rudely blog about someone we don’t even know, that our sweet mothers could be there and say, right before we hit that send button, “Now remember, if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all…. Oh, you’ll thank me later.” And then, like the good kids that we are, we would delete it or oh so wonderfully, close our mouths. And let’s just admit it, the world really would be a happier place.  

Now you’re probably wondering, “Oh my goodness, what did someone say that was so rude to Lauren that set her off?!” Surprisingly enough, no one said anything to me at all. But this has certainly been inspired and something that I’ve been thinking about for quite some time.

Yes, I’ve have been the one criticized but regretfully I’ve also been the critic.

When I was younger I thought the world needed to hear my opinion. I had the right to tell people they were wrong and that I was right. There was no such thing as “agreeing to disagree.” Telling people my opinion felt awesome. I felt free. And I was like, “Yeah! They will totally change their ways cause MY awesome opinion!” And of course I could make fun of someone cause like the good Christian I am, I was whispering behind their backs so they couldn’t hear me. No harm no foul, right? I couldn’t get away with that for too long cause God started to convict my heart. He asked me what good my (mostly negative) opinion would bring to people. Even if I thought or totally knew I was 100% right with my opinions what right did I have to come against someone if they didn’t ask what I thought? What good did me gossiping about someone behind their backs do for anyone? It took me about two seconds to realize that it didn’t bring anything good to anyone. My shaming someone never got them “saved” or made them change the way they did something. So, then it took me about two more seconds to realize that maybe I needed to learn how to keep my mouth closed. For someone fiery, mouthy and opinionated like me (I know, I’m quite the combo), that wasn’t a quick lesson to learn. I like to call that one my life lesson. Luckily I had an amazing family around me when I was growing up that could stop me and say, “Lauren, do you really want to be saying that?” They literally were my saving grace. And I eventually learned. I learned that even if I think someone is wearing a terrible outfit what right do I have to lean over to the person I’m with and make fun of the person in the bad outfit. For some reason it never computed in my brain that doing that is just really rude. I’m not even talking biblical principles here. This was just like me getting some common sense. Sure I might not like someone’s music, but that is their art, who am I to tell everyone else how much I hate it?! Ok, so my favorite sports team did a bad job so I’m about to get on twitter and rip them apart but then I think, if I tried doing what they did I would be annihilated and 6 feet under. So, maybe I should just keep my twitter trap snapped shut.

Think about the things we as this generation are facing. Bullying, cutting, suicide, anorexia, bulimia, depression, people don’t even want to come to church anymore cause all we do is point out everything that is wrong with them instead of loving them. What ever happened to, “but the greatest of these is love.” Jesus didn’t stone the prostitute when everyone else was ready to kill her. And out of everyone He was the only one who had the right to. He first told her that He didn’t condemn her, then He told her to “go and sin no more.” But first, it was love. And we don’t get to the place of being anorexic or wanting to kill ourselves for no reason. It was because we were made fun of. It was because someone at school or in our home told us we were fat or ugly or that no one wanted to be our friend. We get to those desperate places in our lives because of negative words. They pierce our hearts so deeply and they stick. All we want is to be loved and accepted and someone comes around and rejects us. And it hurts so deep.

Now, I know I walk a very fine line here.  But if you have followed us girls for a while, you know my heart. Us girls have always been very vocal about what we believe in, but we never ever try to come across as condemning. We don’t preach that everyone needs to be what we are. We just are who we are and hope that people find inspiration from that.. I’m not saying sharing what you believe in is wrong at all. You know me, I’m all about standing up for what you believe in! I’m mainly talking about sharing our negative opinions with people. And if we do feel like our opinion is needed, we need to learn how to speak the truth in love.

So, what if we tried it? What if we tried to love? What if we challenged ourselves that even if we hate something so much and we want to shout if from the rooftops we stop, and ask ourselves what good will this bring? This is something small but even the other night, I went and saw a movie with my friends and I was about to jump on Twitter and say how lame the movie was but then, I thought for a second of how much it hurts my feeling when I read negative reviews about my music or when people say rude things about my sisters and I and I didn’t want to be that. Why would I want to tear someone down? And even though they would never read my silly tweet, it was still rude. I was convicted so I didn’t post it. This is my challenge to you and me for our Internet land life and our real life. I challenge you to not speak, text, tweet, facebook, or any way you can get your opinion out there on the internet, anything negative for the next week or more. I’d say for the rest of your and my life but perhaps that’s a bit overkill.  Baby steps towards love, my friends, baby steps.  When we learn this, I truly believe the world around us could change.

Love you guys!

Lauren

(If you’re taken back by the passion in this blog, I just watched Amazing Grace about William Wilberforce and listened to an incredible teaching by Banning Liebscher about sacrifice right before I wrote this. So, consider yourself warned.)

When my siblings and I were growing up we didn’t really get to do all the things the other “normal” kids got to do. For one we were the healthy family, so instead of chocolate it was carob and spelt bread was substituted for white bread. We put apple juice in our cereal and ate rice cheese.  The list of substitutions goes on… I’ll spare you. We weren’t allowed to watch the same movies all our friends did either. We were known to be the lone child at the sleepover sitting in the kitchen alone because the movie all the other kids were watching wasn’t exactly appropriate. While all our girlfriends wore bikinis we wore one piece swimming suits. And then there was my favorite rule. No fashion or teen magazines in the house. Like all those “rules” I really didn’t like that one at all. All my friends were doing all those things and they were fine! So why the heck couldn’t I do those things!! My favorite was when I would so wonderfully try to sneak teen magazines that I had borrowed from my friends into the house, of course my mother would somehow find out and you know what she would replace that magazine with? Books about Martin Luther King Jr, William Wilberforce, Mother Teresa and the wonderful Foxes Book of Martyrs. And the movies would be replaced with movies about Joan of Arc and Martin Luther.  And she would tell us that she wanted us to read about people who actually changed the world and made history because that’s what we were called to do. What I didn’t realize then that I realize now is my mom was trying to change our way of thinking. She didn’t do all those things to ruin our childhood. She knew that we were called to greatness. And she told us practically everyday that EVERYONE in the world was called to greatness and to impact the world in some way shape or form and she raised us with that in mind. Obviously the way she raised us kinda stuck, I’m more a health fanatic now then I was when I was younger, I still don’t wear a bikini, I don’t watch inappropriate movies and I would pick a book about a revolutionary any day over a fashion magazine.  Reading those books made me want to be one of those great men and women whose stories filled those pages. They were great men and women who sacrificed everything to make a difference in this world.  The sacrifice of their very life and desires was pale in comparison to the impact they made in this world.  They had a calling. They knew what they were made for. And they didn’t let anything stop them from doing all they knew they were supposed to do. And it made me think of this generation. MY generation. How many of us would be willing to sacrifice every.single.thing. in our life for our calling? How many of us would be like William Wilberforce and tirelessly fight for something for 50 years? And while he is still fighting that battle there were so many other things he stood and fought for. Not just one thing. Now we all get excited when we hear the rally cry and say, “Ofcourse I would do that! I’ve always wanted to change the world!!”  But did you see that little word a few sentences back? The word that is required of us to live out if we want to impact this world? Sacrifice. That’s not the most popular word in the world. We like being comfortable. We also like to think that we can do whatever we want and we will get around to doing something great in this world later on. Quite frankly, I’m not ok with that. I’m not ok with wasting time. I’m not ok with not fulfilling destinies and callings. The world needs you! It needs what you have to offer. I’m not talking about fame. What if you have the cure for cancer? What if your called go into politics and change laws? Are you supposed to end famine in this world?  What is your calling!?! And what do you need to do to get there?! Are you willing to do whatever it takes? I came to terms with it early on in my life. My life was a sacrifice. Everything was laid before God and He got to choose what was ok and not ok. Do you think I actually wanted to give up dating? I don’t think so, I wanted to date and date often. But God showed me that for what He had for me that wasn’t ok. Little did I know that years later my sisters and I would pretty much be the spokeswomen for purity. But if I wouldn’t have been willing to make that sacrifice when I was young, before I knew why I had to remain pure, I wouldn’t have be able to show people that it’s possible to have never dated and to be secure and to show people that you don’t need a boyfriend or girlfriend to define you. A life of purity is part of my calling, but it required a mighty sacrifice and a lot of Friday nights all alone wondering if any guy in this world thinks I’m pretty. But, it was worth every second!! Because the sacrifice was nothing compared to what I have now and the unbroken heart I have. So my question for you is, what is God asking you to sacrifice? What do you need to sacrifice now to fulfill your calling for the future? How are you called to change the world? And what do you need to get out of your life so you can achieve that? Is it movies? Music? Clothing choices? The language you choose to use? Maybe you need to sacrifice the time you keep busy so you can spend more time with God. What is it? Whatever it is it sure as heck isn’t more important than impacting this world! And just so you know, God LOVES your sacrifice! I don’t think there is anything is this world that makes Him more happy than when we choose Him over something we want. That is true love. To lay your life at His feet and let him do with it what he wants. Don’t get too scared about it cause when my sisters and I did that He called us to be in a rock band. We took everything we ever wanted in life and laid it at His feet not knowing what He would give back in return, and He gave us something incredible. He gave us a calling. He spoke purpose into our souls. He is longing to speak your destiny into you. He is longing to tell you why He created you in the first place. He wants to tell you when He was thinking when He was creating you. He wants you. ALL of you. But know this, like I said before, the sacrifice is literally nothing compared to everything you gain when you are following Him. Trust me, I’ve lived 26 years giving up all the things I “thought” I ever wanted and He gave me back so much more than I could have ever dreamt I would want or have. He is truthworthy. So, just ask Him. I know He won’t disappoint. Because He never does.

Well, it’s that time again.  It’s my birthday eve.  I’ll be 26 tomorrow and like on every birthdays eve, I get nostalgic. I put on my moody music and I look through pictures of the last year of my life. I want to remember everything that happened. The feelings I felt. The things I experienced. I want to recapture every moment. I don’t want to forget one thing that happened to me during the past year. As I get older I realize how precious life is. How every moment has the potential to be a defining point in the timeline of life. The good and the bad. Because time is precious. Moments are defining. Life is meant to be experienced to the full. And I can honestly say, after looking back on 25, I lived it. I experienced it. I embraced it with all that was within me and because of that, I will never forget 25 as long as I live. My 25 was…. Well, it was epic. Not just because of the good things that happened or the places I traveled. Which were amazing if I might add. But, I made a discovery this year. I discovered me.  Life is always going to be a journey of discovering and becoming who you are created to be. We don’t become all that right away. We evolve because discovering who you are and what your passions are takes time. We are always growing and learning. That is the beauty of life. And that was the beauty of my year.  I conquered areas in my life that I thought would never be conquered. I faced things I never had the courage to stand up to. And I spent 25 sanding down the rough edges of myself and I stand here a bit newer and shinier than before. Lauren 2.0.  I’m not who I was last year and I’m not where I want to be just yet. But I’m a work in progress. And as long as I’m progressing I’m happy. The best part about all of this year, was I’ve never felt so close to God as I do this year. This year wasn’t the easiest, and that is where I learned to cling to him and trust in him like never before. If it weren’t for the trials I would never have the foundation I have with him now. And for that I am so thankful.

And this year just wasn’t full of introspective growth. It was full of so many incredible things. I’ll hit a few highlights. The girls and I went to some pretty amazing places. Right after my 25^th we went to Belize with OCC and got to hand out gifts to kids there. Life changing. It was after that I knew that a new goal in my life was to become a goodwill ambassador. I’m still waiting on that, but I’m hoping it will happen soon.  Then my best friend in this whole world got married. I was a bridesmaid for the first time.  It was fantastic.  Then I got approached to edit an A W Tozer devotional book. Now I can add “General Editor” on my list of things I have had the courage to attempt in my life. Because quite frankly, being an editor was the last thing in the world I thought I would do.  Its actually under “jobs you shouldn’t have” for my personality type. But I love a good adventure and challenge. So, I decided to give it a try. (The book comes out in November if you want to check out my editorial skills… and Kurt Warner wrote so if you don’t like me, get it for him)  I gained a new niece. She’s kinda the most adorable thing in the world. I ditched my blonde hair to prove to myself that it didn’t define me. I always wanted to go red so I decided there is no better time than now. So I did it. I’ve proved to myself that blondes don’t have more fun. I have the fun and my hair just happens to be there with me while I’m having it. Ladies, we define the hair, it doesn’t define us. A very valuable lesson :) I got to see U2 at Soldier Field. That was an incredible concert. And then, it happened. The spring of this year one of my biggest dreams actually came to pass. My sisters, Beka Hardt (our best friend) and I went on the adventure of a lifetime. We went to Italy for 2 ½ weeks. It’s the first time we went out of the country just for fun. No work allowed. And it was the best thing that has ever happened to me. Italy was a dream. It stole my heart and part of it will remain there for forever. The art, the people, the history, the food. It was magical. It was my dream and it came to pass and exceeded everything I thought it would be.

Those are just the highlights. So much more happened but I don’t wanna bore you to death. All this to say, no matter how old you are or where you are in your life, own it. Live it to the full. Be there for life. Breathe it in and let it fill you. Cause we’ve got one shot at this so let’s make every second count. I can only hope that 26 is gonna be as good as 25. But in my heart I know it will cause we are going to the zoo tomorrow. Starting your year with going to the zoo is automatic good luck for the whole year. Trust me. And yes, I said the zoo. I don’t care that I’m 26, the zoo is still my favorite. It’s like visiting all my little pals in prison. And yes, it sounds young of me, but I like to think that I define the age, the age doesn’t define me. Well, its official. I am now 26. It feels good. I think I’ll keep it for a while and see what it has to offer. I’m ready for the adventure of a new year. Because I know its gonna be a good one….

“Come, my friends, ‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.  Push off, and sitting well in order smite the sounding furrows; for my purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset, and the baths of all the western stars, until I die”. - Tennyson

-Lauren Ashley

“Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace” Frederick Buechner