0 Technical Upgrades

I wanted to give everyone a heads up that over the upcoming week Raleigh will be doing some major technical work on the blog.  We are going to start self hosting the blog soon - this will allow us to have more features that we currently cannot.  We should be back up and fully running by this time next week.  There will still be posts going out this week and should be able to still view all of the older stuff as well.

The important thing to remember is that the www.theuncontainabletruth.com is down, but we will still be available with full content on www.theuncontainabletruth.blogspot.com during the upgrade process.  Also, you can still read individual post through Facebook or any other reader you may currently use.

Thanks for being patient with us and hopefully we will have some neat stuff to show you in about a week!

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0 Amazing

Amazing things can happen when we open ourselves up for the world to see who we really are.  Not who others imagine us to be, but our honest, authentic selves that God created us to be.  I heard a movie star say one time that she would never receive Botox because her face tells a story and it shouldn't tell a story of her visiting the doctors office. Just as our faces age; so do our minds and bodies.  With age can come courage, wisdom, and believing in oneself to follow their heart.  Instead of us trying to mold ourselves into earlier days; we should embrace this continued beauty that shines from within.  The older I get, the more I realize that time really can just pass me by.  Life can quickly become filled with deadlines, headaches, and stress instead of laughter, joy, and inner peace.  This past year was quite a journey for me spiritually, emotionally, and physically but I am so thankful to have gone on this ride.  I have witnessed that our God is greater than evil and when I allowed myself to submit to his amazing grace; wonderful lessons were continuously learned.

The first lesson that I learned this past year was to follow my heart.  I was so unbelievably nervous to start this blog.  Last summer, I really felt prompted by God to start writing but I had no idea where to start.  I remember many conversations with Raleigh where I would exclaim how crazy it was for me to write.  For starters, what would I write about?  Secondly, who would even care????  I wondered if my friends would think I was weird or if I wrote down my thoughts others would make fun of me.  For the longest, I didn't even share this new adventure with my family because I was scared that I wouldn't get their approval putting my thoughts out on the Internet.  Nevertheless, I decided to follow His poking finger and we launched the blog one year ago today.  I immediately begged my best friend to become a "follower" so it would look like I had friends that cared about this crazy thing!!!!  Soon, I got even more brave and decided to link it to my Facebook page.  Gradually, more people began to visit the blog and I was less fearful of what others' thought about me.  Each time I wrote, the more I became addicted to writing.  It felt so good to share my thoughts without any interruptions or fear of being shot down by a Bible scholar friend.  I still wasn't sure where this blog was heading but I knew that it was quickly becoming a very important part of my life.

As the year progressed, I gradually felt a stronger push from the Lord to let go of the world that I was in and trust Him to control my life. Raleigh and I had many tearful conversations about my future as to whether or not I should continue working or stop to follow this desire to write. Round and round we went trying to make sense of our situation.  We were very unsure of the timing because if I stopped working, it wouldn't be because of kids or family; it would simply be because we felt like God was calling me to do something else.  That something else had no benefits, insurance, or pay.  All it held was blind faith and endless possibilities.  After much prayer for a sign, one Sunday we got our answer.  We sat in church listening to our preacher and we felt like he had written that message especially for us.  After that day, we knew that if we didn't follow God He would start looking elsewhere.  We bravely made a decision to tell our parents our new plans for our future.

After we shared our news to our families, we discovered that God had blessed us for trusting Him.  He answered our other desire for us to start a family!  We were overcome with joy and believed wholeheartedly that God was truly in control of our lives.  Quickly we realized that the ball was in our court and it was time for me to say goodbye to what I knew in order to take this step in a new direction.  Even though we realized that it was time to let go, I couldn't bring myself to do it.  I didn't want to let anybody that I worked with down and I had a hard time deciding when the best time would be for me to break the news.  I became like Gideon in the book of Judges and I asked God to show me a sign that He was in control.  He had already blessed us with a baby but I still need another nudge to be brave enough to quit.  God remained patient with me and totally blindsided me with a double portion of his goodness.  Late January we found out that we were having not one baby but two!  It was hard for me to contain my emotions because I knew that was a sign from God for me to trust him.

So, that is what I did.  I trusted Him.  I stopped working and began to write even more.  Soon, I realized why He wanted me to trust Him and why He had put writing on my heart. My life changed drastically on April 30th of this year when our girls were born three months premature.  Over the past three months, all I could do was cling to my faith in God to get me through my darkest hour. 


It has been an amazing experience to trust God with my life.  I feel so free.  Also, I feel His presence and that gives me more confidence to boldly speak His name to others.  I realize now that my job in this world is to be a witness of His love to others.  It is my responsibility as a follower of Christ to spread his truth and that everything that I do is for His glory.  For years, I have struggled with the word humble.  So often, it is confused with words such as meek, tiny, and small.  But, I have realized that being humble is the exact opposite of those words.  I have learned that who I am is not about me....it's about the light that shines within me.  I am so humble because the words on this screen are not my own.  I am simply a vessel to spread the message of Jesus Christ.  It is all about Him and not about me.

Friends, Christ has shown me that I can be used to glorify his name.  He has shown Raleigh and I that we are tools for His trade.  Since last September, this blog has received over 17,000 visits.  We have over 90 proclaimed followers and receive about 200 visits a day from people all across the globe.  This blog is not just an Alabama thang; it has spread to cities in every continent except Antarctica (if you know somebody that is doing scientific research up there, do you mind sharing this with them?!?).  As I said before, it is amazing what can happen when we let ourselves go to follow Christ.  There is this great quote in The Shack about the church.  Jesus says, "It's all about relationships and simply sharing life.  What we are doing right now -- just doing this -- and being open and available to others around us.  My church is all about people and life is all about relationships.  You can't build it.  It's my job and I'm actually pretty good at it."

Fellow sojourners, we want to continue to share our life with others.  We want to continue to form new friendships and deeper relationships within this community of believers.  So, we have asked God to continue to show us the direction for this blog and how it can be used to further share His name with this world.  We believe that we should offer more features on this blog than our life story.  As you can see, we now have six new tabs on the home page titled Articles, Community, Media, Ministry, Prayer Requests, and Social.  Below is an overview of what you can find inside of these tabs.

Articles

• Each month we will do a feature article called the Do-Gooder where we highlight people or businesses that are doing good things.  This idea was formed through two passages that Jesus spoke in Matthew about doing good.  The first is Matthew 7:12, "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you" and the other is Matthew 12:35, "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him."  The first of these will come next week.

 Community

• This page will showcase a live discussion forum on a wide variety of topics.  We encourage you to get in there are start a fellowship with others.  Feel free to create your own topics and be active.

Media

• We will be continuing our Book Reviews, as well as expanding into Music and Movie Reviews.

Ministry

• Monthly Memory Verse
• Trusting the Truth: Testimonies from believers on how they decided to live their lives for Christ
• Free downloadable lessons that can be shared for youth, small groups, and Sunday School

Prayer Requests

• An area where you can share your prayer request with us

Social

• Chris10's Monthly Must-Haves are a fun way to show that we can love things in this world such as fashion and food but not be consumed of this world

We want to continue to let our light shine but we also want to create a community where you can let your light shine.  One thing that Raleigh heard and has always said is, "If you want to go fast go alone but if you want to go far go together."  We need help to continue to make this blog grow for the glory of God.  We need prayer warriors and believers to share their testimonies.  If you feel God telling you to act upon these requests, please e-mail me at christen.price@theuncontainabletruth.com.

In closing, we are so excited about the expansion of this blog and look forward to what lies ahead.  We hope that you continue to follow us on this journey and look forward to your companionship if you feel called to join us.  So much of God's glory has been revealed to us and we can't help but share it!

"He who forms the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals his thoughts to man, he who turns dawn to darkness, and treads the high places of the earth --the Lord God Almighty is his name" 

-Amos 4:13

Till next time, let your light shine!

Blessings, christen

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10 Birthday Wishes

"For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." 

2 Corinthians 4:6

As I blew out the candles of my 26th birthday cake, I felt complete.  My family was complete, this past year was complete, and the amazing experience that we had in the NICU had finally become complete.  Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined what God had in store for me last year when I quietly whispered the words, "Use me, God."  When I began my 25th year of life, I knew that I wanted that to be a year of change.  I knew that something was missing in my life and I timidly took a leap of faith in order to find what that was. When I decided to take this leap, I knew I had to go for it and not do anything half-way.  That would be like doing a belly flop off the diving board instead of a back flip.  Yes, I had desires and dreams that wanted to be fulfilled, but I also knew that in order for me to achieve these things I would have to completely submit my life to Christ and trust that even if these birthday wishes did not come true; I would still be completely in love with my Savior.

As the year progressed, I continued to pray for the desires of my heart.  I prayed for children and I prayed for God to show me the direction He wanted to take me for my spiritual walk.  Soon, my wish for children was granted!  As my belly grew, we began to make plans for our expanding family.  We were overwhelmed with joy that God would give us not just one child, but two. We picked out colors for the nursery, had baby showers, and did research on all things twins.  Around the seven month mark, our plans changed drastically.  I woke up early one morning with painful cramps and we rushed to the hospital.  Shortly after arriving, I was rushed into the delivery room for an emergency C-section.  I was scared to death and all I could do was close my eyes and pray.  God delivered our babies at two pounds each and not a cry was heard when they entered this world.  As family and friends packed my post-par tum room, I assuredly smiled back at them saying everything would be just fine.  I was thankful that we made it through the C-section and I decided to focus on the positive instead of the negative.  That is great and wonderful, but reality ordered me to rip off my mask so I could fully realize the severity of the situation.  What I saw in front of me were two beautiful little girls desperately fighting for their lives.  They came into this world premature and we had a long road ahead of us.  As the days progressed; I kept tripping on rocks and holding on to the edge of the cliff instead of following the hand that was holding mine.  I desperately clung to what I knew to be true and safe instead of becoming fearless in my faith.  Satan proudly had his shoulders held high since he knew what a grip he had on me.  He knew my greatest fear and he did everything in his power to drag me into his murky, slimy pit of darkness.  Satan unleashed great amounts of uncertainty, guilt, and doubt on my head and in my heart in order for me to play on his team.  His offers were tempting me like Snow White with the red apple.  He kept saying, "Just take one bite, it will make you feel so much better."  So many times I wanted to eat that apple.  I wanted a break from this world and I wanted to go far, far away.  Just when I started to lick my lips and take a bite, I felt a loving hand on my shoulder telling me to stop.  When I glanced back to see whose hand was on me, I was blinded by light.  Light so bright and pure that it made me fall to my knees in thankfulness.  The light was with me and it started to fill my heart and my head with love and truth instead of the wretched mess I almost gave myself to.  Just as God saw in Genesis 1:4, I saw that the light was good, and I started to separate the light from the darkness.

 Each morning, as I prepared myself for the day ahead, I would look into my vanity mirror and asked, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" Each time, I looked into the mirror, I saw Jesus' reflection staring back at me. I began to wholeheartedly follow my fearless leader because I knew that the more I mirrored Him, the stronger my faith would become.  Earnestly seeking His truth prepared my spirit for what lied ahead of me each day.  I felt his presence throughout my day and often I confessed my fears and doubts to Him.  He assured me of his faithfulness and He kept showing me the direction that I needed to go in to stay strong through my journey.

As the days progressed, so did our faith and the girls growth.  Each day, we got to do a little more with them.  They started to breathe on their own and we were able to finally hold them in our arms.  As the weeks carried on, they began to bottle feed and grow into themselves.  They actually started to look like real babies!  We began to realize that God was using our sufferings to glorify his name.  Soon, we realized that He was granting the other desire of my heart which was to write for His kingdom.  When we started the blog a year ago, we had no idea what direction it would go in.  All we knew was that we wanted to be disciples of Christ and to share His truth with others. Through this life-changing event, we decided to meagerly become like John in the Bible.  "There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John.  He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.  He himself was not the light.  The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.  In him was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it" (John 1:4-9).  We began to fully rely on the power that the light has over the darkness.  We knew that Jesus had already defeated our enemy, and he had also defeated death itself.  Our love for Jesus taught us that He will watch over us in our darkest hours and carry us into the sunshine.  He promised that those that ask will receive.  He heard our cry for mercy and He carried us on the feathers of His wings.  As the girls continued to grow, we continued to give thanks to Him for the blessings he continued to show us. "From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another (John 1:16).

Without this NICU experience, I would not have learned how to let go of Satan's strongholds in order to hold on to the truth spoken by Christ.  This journey taught me that Jesus truly is the way, the truth, and the light.  Without him, I would never have made it.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, I was able to face my darkest fears and persevere through them.  He continued to give strength to the weary and we are now so much stronger that when we started.  As the final days of our journey came upon us, it was weird seeing it end. My high school senior yearbook stated it perfectly, "Every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end."  We were so ready for the girls to be home but a part of us didn't want to let go of the experience that we had.  It was so hard saying our goodbyes but we joyfully said hello to the new road ahead of us.  My heart is so full of joy right now and I know that He still has so much in store for us.  As I begin this new year of my life, my greatest wish of all is that I will continue to seek Him first in everything that I do.  I want Him to be the center of everything in my life - Raleigh, the girls, my future....everything.  Even though this experience was not planned by me, it was truly God's perfect timing in my life.  This experience has taught me so much about His love for me and I pray that I continue to show that love to others.  It is my wish that each of you will continue to follow us on our new journey and as we all become better disciples of Christ we will move mountains with our faith.  We won't be able to deny His presence in us and we will shout it from the roof tops to bring others closer to Him. "Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?"  Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD.  You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound.  I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety." Psalm 4:6-8.

Below are some pictures of the best birthday I have ever had. These pictures will forever be keepsakes to me!  Blessed be the name of Jesus, for he is GOOD!

We roomed in on Tuesday night.  It was so weird to see the girls' room all packed up and ready for us when we arrived.
It was the first time that we saw our girls not hooked up to the monitors and without tubes on their faces.
It was kinda sad saying goodbye to that room after spending 83 days there!!!!

Early Wednesday morning, the night shift nurses woke us up to give me birthday doughnuts!
It was so neat that they thought of that because it is a tradition that Raleigh and I eat doughnuts on our birthday.
We got to be so close to those nurses and it was so hard giving them one last hug!!!!

After the girls had their final exam, we got to dress them up to go home!  I wasn't able to find any preemie bloomers,
so Mom bought us some monogrammed diapers. We put them on top of their real diapers
(didn't want a blow-out on those new dresses!!!!) and they were just too darn cute :)

Ms. Kirby was our discharge nurse for the day.  She was one of the nurses that had the girls' the most.
All the other nurses would joke with her about how much she loved our girls.
She wore pink scrubs just for the occasion!               
We love you Ms. Kirby!!!!!!

Ms. Casey was another nurse that had tears in her eyes as the girls left the hospital.
She helped us tremendously through Adeline's scary time and she was one of the nurses on the day they were born.  Saying goodbye to the NICU staff was by far the hardest part of the day for me.
More than once my eyes welled up in tears because
these great people made this experience a WHOLE lot easier!!!!!

Leaving the hospital and ready to go to our new home!!!!  Tears were literally steaming down my face at this point.
I couldn't believe that the day had finally arrived.  It was surreal.
Thank you Baptist East for being our home away from home!!!!

Raleigh is such a great dad.  The night before we roomed-in, he watched the car seat video one more
time to make sure he had them secured correctly :)
Riding home from the hospital, I remembered the first time I left those doors without the girls.
What a great moment to finally have them with us coming home!!!!!

Earlier that day, our parents put out our yard sign and hung pink bows on our door.
We had to have a proper homecoming!!!!!

Home at last!  I am holding Adeline and Raleigh has Maralee.  What proud parents we are!!!!!

I'm not happy, am I?  :)

Priceless.
Maralee Simms Price & Adeline Summers Price at 11 1/2 weeks.
Maralee weighs 4 lbs. 8 oz. and Adeline is 4 lbs 12 oz.

God's perfect timing!  It was the best birthday EVER!!!!

Till next time, let your light shine!

Blessings, christen

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0 About Us

Hey friends,

I have to make this post a quickie for today.  I'm on my way to get my hair cut and I am extremely excited because it is long overdue.  Anyways, just wanted to update all of you about a new link on the blog.  If you notice in the top right corner, we have different sections titled: Home, About, Contact, Do, Give, Teach, and Pray.  We have updated the About page so please check it out to learn more about us. (I just cracked myself up typing that sentence!)  If you have taken time to read any older posts, you will notice that this blog is about our faith and how we try to share it on an every day basis.  Of course, our faith is being tested primarily by our experience with the girls right now, but we do like to talk about other avenues that we have had to glorify Christ's name.  Also, our future plans for the site are to update the Do, Give, Teach, and Pray links so we will keep you posted when that happens.  Thank you for reading our site, we are truly humbled by how many people are sharing this experience with us.  We hope that you all will continue to join us on this journey!

Till next time, let your light shine!

Blessings, christen

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2 Catching Up

Hey Friends,

We just wanted to post some pictures for you all to see how big two pounds really is.  The pictures don't really do their size justice but it is neat to see the proportions. Also, below we have some links to older blog posts that will get you up to speed on our family and faith in Christ. Thank you again for praying for our little girls! 

Why we started The Uncontainable Truth

Getting the desires of our hearts

Gotta have faith

How we came up with the names Adeline and Maralee

Till next time, let your light shine!

Blessings, christen

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2 Genuine Faith

Beep. Beep. BEEEEEP!!!!!

Last night, those were the continuing sounds that I heard  from the machines keeping our girls alive as we visited with them in the NICU.  As we walked into the nursery, we noticed that Adeline had been moved into the same room as Maralee because she too had developed a staff infection.  We hate it that her little body has to fight yet another infection but I am beginning to realize that if one of our girls gets sick than the other is likely to follow.  We began to put on the lovely yellow robe and blue plastic gloves when all of a sudden her machine starts blinking red like our emergency car flashers.  Raleigh and I take a seat outside of her room as the nurses scramble around to fix her breathing tube.  Turns out that the ventilator was stuck in her throat so they ended up taking it out and putting her on the CPAP breathing tube through her nose.  The rest of the night she seemed to enjoy having the CPAP because she kept moving her tongue around.  It was like she was saying, "Yes! Freedom!"  It was so neat because for a minute I actually got to hear her breathe before they put the top back on the incubator. 

Sister did not like Adeline getting all of the attention so Maralee began to pull one of Adeline's old tricks and stop breathing.  Earlier that day she had been switched to a CPAP as well but it didn't fit quite right in her nose.  Because it was a little snug, the air wasn't streaming in like it was supposed to.  The nurses ended up switching her to a larger CPAP but  her heart rate would drop occasionally.  When the babies do this, the nurses start to press on their feet and hands to get them to "wake up" from sleeping so soundly.  It happens a lot but I never get used to all of the sounds.  It scares me to see the numbers get so low but the Lord always relieves my fears and pushes those numbers back to normal mode. Needless to say, they kept their sweet nurse busy last night and my nerves were shot by the time I left! 

With each beeping sound, God is teaching me to put my trust in Him.  He is the ultimate physician and can breathe new life into anybody; anytime anywhere.  This morning, as I was sitting on my back porch I relished in the beauty of God's creations.  I thanked him for the birds, trees, and even the little squirrel that was scampering around our fence.  If God pays so much attention to these things, I know He is taking even greater care for my little girls.  He has allowed for Adeline's fluid to decrease around her lungs and heart and I know that he is continuing to heal both girls' staff infections.  I have hope that they will do well on their new breathing apparatus so they can eventually have enough strength to breathe on their own. 

Yesterday, one of my friends told me a sweet story that gave me so much joy.  She and her husband had shared our prayer concern at a local church and the pastor asked if anyone in the congregation would like to pray for our family.  My friend told me that an eleven year old boy raised his hand and asked if he could pray for Adeline and Maralee.  She told me that by the time he was done praying that there was not a dry eye in the building.  God is not only using our story to glorify his kingdom but he is using our story to influence others.  Children continue to amaze us with their simple faith in Christ.  That little boy was not scared to pray for our girls because he believes in the power of prayer.  It excites me to wonder what else God has in store for that boy as he gets older and more mature in his faith. 

Friends, I have realized that God always has his hand stretched out to reach me in times of suffering and joy.  He has openly asked for me to have a relationship with him and to trust him with my life.  When I say the word "relationship" that means that it is two-sided.  I have decided to partake in that relationship because I realize that I can't do this life on my own.  The reason this blog began in the first place was because I felt Jesus really tugging at my heart.  I had accepted Him as my savior years ago but I have always struggled with what my purpose in life was.  So, I began to pray for Him to use me and for me to be open to His will for my life.  For some crazy reason, he put writing on my heart and that was how this all began.  The blog is called "The Uncontainable Truth" because of this scripture,  

"You are the light of the world.  A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:14-16).

After discovering that his truth just can't be contained, I realized that my purpose in life is to be a disciple of Christ.  I believe that right now, he is using this blog and this situation to bring others to Him through prayer, worship, and fellowship.  1 Peter 1:3-9 says,

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade - kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.  In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.  Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

Our faith in Christ is 'of greater worth than gold' and the more we show him our faith the more "genuine" we become as Christians.  We start to live in love, hope, and peace and "are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy."  When we get to this point in our relationship with him, we have fulfilled our purpose in life and have reached our goals. 

Even though our family is going through this trial, I still know that I have God's love because I believe in him.  I am starting to realize that this trial is bringing triumph to God's kingdom.  It is making my faith more genuine and I feel his love for me and my children even though I can't see him. I pray that each of you have this feeling in your hearts.  If you don't have it, just ask for it.  We all deserve it and He wants all of us to have his love.  We just have to have faith and believe, just like that little boy, that God loves us and wants us to live our lives for Him.  When we do that, we truly are the light of the world.

Till next time, let your light shine!

Blessings, christen

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0 Simply Put

Let's be honest...who doesn't love a wedding?

Some cynics out there might have protests to the enjoyment of this ceremony due to the fact that they have to get dressed up, don't have a date, or it makes them realize that they are yet to be married, but all of those reasons aside, I still find it hard to believe that everyone doesn't have at least one part of a wedding that they love.  Whether it is catching up with old friends, enjoying some tasty cake, or breaking it down to "Shout" everyone has some part of the wedding that warms their hearts.

To me, it is knowing now what I only hoped for on my wedding day.  I hoped that my life with Raleigh would grow with love each and every day.  Our love started out so small, so innocent, so youthful.  In college, it grew to trust and understanding.  With that foundation established came commitment and faith in believing that what we shared was real.  We grew to believe that our love could last for a lifetime and we wanted to share our lives together.  Our wedding day was a day filled with joy and hope for the future.  We were ready to commit our lives to one another because we knew that two were better than one. 

This past Saturday, we attended a wedding in Birmingham of two friends that were in architecture school with Raleigh.  As the doors opened, I couldn't help but smile as I saw the radiant bride walking down the aisle. The whole wedding was really beautiful and very stylish  but my favorite part of it was the scripture reading.  They picked out scripture from 1 John 4: 7-12 and it just really touched my heart.  It reads:

Dear friends,
Let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

As I sat in my pew seat listening to those words, I thought about how honest and true that statement of faith was in my life - in our lives.  It makes love sound so simple yet somehow we end up making it such a difficult thing.  If we simply believe that God is love and that we should love one another then emotions of conflict, anger, hurt, and fear would come at a much slower pace.  When these feelings wound our souls, it is easy for love not to last.  But when we realize that our love is not about us, it is about God's love for us, we learn that we always have his love and it never goes away.  This is how a marriage is built.  This is how it stays together.

Friends, there are times when I really don't like my husband.  My tongue becomes loose and my patience is quick and soon enough hurtful words slip out of my mouth.  We can easily be so mean to one another and cause pain to invade our souls.  When this happens, we are encompassed with loneliness and feel like we aren't loved by anyone.  But if we realize that we have God's love then we are living in Him, not in our worldly selves.  His love strips away pain, his love heals all wounds, and his love is what is real.  When we have his love in our marriages, the covenant that we make on our wedding day will stay bound for a lifetime.  Our days become filled with simple acts of love.  We still falter and stumble but we learn to forgive and accept the faults in our partners because we aren't perfect.  God allowed us to be human when he sacrificed his son for us on the cross.

I love the part at the end, "No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."   God, our wonderful Creator, does so much for us that we don't even realize.  His love for us is so deep and pure that we can't even fully comprehend him until we meet in heaven.  I might not physically see God, but I intimately feel God every day.  I feel God because I am loved and I love others.  God is my husband kissing me goodnight.  God is my daughters kicking me while I write.  God is my mom who holds my hand when I am scared.  God is love and these people are examples of Him in my life.  My life is complete simply for the fact that I have found His love.  I don't have to search for perfection or pass a great test, I am simply "loved because he first loved us."

Brothers and sisters, we have to live our lives according to this simple truth.  We have to believe that we are capable of receiving love and even more so willing to give love.  In order for us to believe these things, we have to first love and accept ourselves. We are worthy to love because God loves us.  When this fact is realized, we recognize the truth...the uncontainable truth that God is love and it is our mission to share his love with others.  When this happens, we can't help but love our lives because our hearts are bursting with his love for us. 



It is that simple.

"God is love.  Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. (1 John 4:16)"

Till next time, let your light shine!

Blessings, christen

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1 Start Small

Hey friends,

I got this great video that I just had to share!  Enjoy!



Till next time, let your light shine!

Blessings, christen

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2 Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Hello all my blogger friends; I hope each of you have had a nice time celebrating the holidays! I am excited about it being 2010...not that I didn't love 2009 but I am looking forward to the opportunities that await me in 2010.
I'm not one to really make New Year's resolutions, but one thing that I do want to commit myself to this year is really investing in my walk with Christ and sharing it with you all on this blog. I will be honest...these last couple of weeks I haven't really felt like myself and the lack of activity on this site has been obvious. I apologize for not writing but we have been working on different aspects of the blog.

One new feature that is the most obvious is the design of the site. Raleigh and I collaborated on what we thought would best showcase what we feel when we think of The Uncontainable Truth. Some of the words that came to our minds were jumping, joy, bright, cheerful, and passion. So, the new look is designed around those thoughts. We did a little poll on the right-hand sidebar so take time to tell us your thoughts on our new look. I have to give major kudos to my husband for working on this site...it is amazing what that boy can do in photoshop!

Another new feature is we want this to be more than a blog. We want this to be an area where you can come and find out the latest on books, music, and people that are making a difference in our world. The blog is now officially a website so it can encompass all of those things. The blog is still through blogger so if you come to us through that avenue you will just be redirected but an easy way to get to us is to save the site as theuncontainabletruth.com.

Since we are now a website we wanted to have the page options that are easy for you to click on to find what you are looking for. You will notice in the top right hand corner the different pages. We have an About, Contact, Do, Give, Teach, and Pray. The idea behind these different pages came from New Testament scripture when Jesus was preaching to the masses. Some of the key words that kept popping out to me were "do, give, teach, and pray." These pages are a work in progress but keep checking them because over time they will continue to have more information provided for your use.

There are a lot more cool little things that Raleigh and I will be sharing with you over the next month or so, but we just wanted to officially show off our hard work. Thank you to each and every one of you for coming to this site. It makes my heart swell to think that with each post we are all glorifying our wonderful Savior. In closing, I want to leave you with the mission statement of this site which is, "To joyfully encourage each other to passionately seek the truth spoken by Jesus Christ and to become an uncontainable light humbly serving our world."

Till next time, let your light shine!

Blessings, christen

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0 Pay no attention to the man behind the blog...

Hey everyone, I'm Christen's husband, Raleigh, and I just wanted to thank you all for being a part of this community. It is absolutely amazing to see it growing the way it is. In the near future, we hope to start expanding everything the blog has to offer and really turn it into more of an actual website full of different opportunities for people to reach out to each other and grow closer to God. Throughout this process, please feel free to share your opinions on how you would like to see this community grow. Successful communities take a lot of planning, so we would like to hear what our "residents" have to say. With that said, I just so happen to be the more tech-oriented of the family. So I ask that as we begin to make these transitions that you bear with us. New features will become available over time, so if you click on a link and it appears to be dead, feel free to let me now. Again, thank you all for the support, and I look forward to taking a more active role at The Uncontainable Truth.

-Raleigh

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0 The Uncontainable Truth

This tale begins about a girl who doesn’t know what on earth she was put here to do. She knows God gave her gifts, but they don’t quite make sense. Her parents always encouraged her in all of her endeavors growing up. Go for it! You can do it! Believe in yourself and don’t let anybody tell you different! In college, she was honored to hold various leadership positions. She felt like she was making a difference. And truth be known, she really was making a difference because she woke up every day with a goal to achieve. She had friends, she had family, and she even had a cute boyfriend that loved her so very much. But, her life still did not seem all together. There were too many puzzle pieces missing from the box.

After college, she became Miss Independent by living all on her own for the very first time in a city far far away (okay, 3 hours far away technically, but it was a for real city.) She struggled to figure out where she should work and often wondered out loud to herself, “Why again did I major in Communications????” Then one day, luck was on her side and her sorority sister hooked her up with an interview with one of the largest not for profit organizations in the whole country. She went on the interview and knew she had nailed it. After a couple of weeks, the phone never rang so she got brave and started doing the calling. Turns out the execs thought she would be better at another job in the company so she went on a second interview. Dressed in her lucky pink and green suit she walked in with a confident smile on her face and she just knew this was it. This was the one. Little did she know that the person interviewing her had already accepted a job with another company and she would be leaving her current position in a short period of time. So, after weeks of no phone calls, the girl found out the company was doing some restructuring and they would have to get back with her when and if an opening becomes available. With her head hung low, the girl politely told the company thank you and to keep her in mind if a position did become available.

Now what? How was she supposed to be Miss Independent and a soon-to-be Mrs. without a job? In order for her and her fiance to become husband and wife, she needed to have a job with benefits for them while he was still finishing school. Reluctantly, she did what she never ever in her whole life thought she would have to do. She applied to work at a bank. As a teller. This is a girl who “accidentally” spent $1,000 in one month when she became Miss Independent and who had honestly never been that good at balancing a check book. And, still to this day, the girl doesn’t know how to count out money and have all the Benjamin’s facing in the right direction. But the job had benefits, insurance, and a paycheck so she did what she had to do.

As she began her training she convinced herself that she was doing the right thing. She was engaged to be married in less than 7 months and she was making a sacrifice so she could be united forever and ever with her best friend in the whole wide world. “You gotta do what you gotta do,” she told herself every morning as she was learning how to identify a counterfeit bill. Then, one day in her training she received a phone call from out of the blue. An opening in the company! Oh, my! What a joy! She quickly and very secretly set up a meeting with her potential employer. They met, they talked, they sealed the deal. Finally, she got a real job that she was proud of!!!!! She felt like it was meant to be. Her first real job where she would be making a difference in other people’s lives! How wonderful! God was so very good and loved the young girl so very much.

God has taken care of that young girl since she was knit in her mothers’ womb. At this point in the story, you have probably figured out that girl is me. Throughout my life, He has opened doors that were constantly being shut. He gave me opportunity when all I saw was darkness. Now, three years later, I still love what I do and don’t plan on giving it up anytime soon, but I keep wondering if this is my full purpose in life. I know it is apart of the big puzzle but I am still missing a few key pieces to make the puzzle into a piece of art. But, finally, at the age of 25 I know what puzzle pieces I should be looking for. I have a direction and an obligation to fulfill to the One that knew me before He gave me to my parents. Below are a couple of those pieces that I have started to identify:

1. My purpose in life is to serve the Lord. Some of you might say, “duh” of course that is our purpose in life. To me, I have known for a long time that I want to serve the Lord but in what ways was I designed to do that? I can’t sing, I can’t speak in tongues, I don’t have the gift of being a caregiver. But, He has given me an encouraging spirit. He has given me a voice that is sometimes heard and needed by others. He has given me compassion and drive and a servants’ heart.

2. My purpose on this earth is to love my family. I mean, truly love them with all my heart. Yes, they get on my nerves and yes, I see so many flaws in them but YES I have so many flaws in me. My goal here is to be a loving daughter, a sister my brother feels proud to be his sister, and most importantly, a wife that loves her husband from the depths of her heart. One day, God willing, I will be a mother and my duty to society is to bring up our children to be children that serve and love the Lord with all their little big hearts.

3. My purpose on this earth is to care for others. That part, I am still figuring out. There are so many ways to care for others. As I have already mentioned, I don’t see myself as a caregiver, but I see myself more as a caring giver. I want to help people. I would love to see women living lives of noble character and families staying together and an end to poverty in this world. We are all children of the Lord and we are meant to love one another. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight.

So, in closing, the girl at the beginning of this story is finally starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together. I still have some pieces to figure out and once I get done with this one I’m sure to begin another one but in the meantime, I need your prayers. I was fearful to take this step to writing a blog because it meant me being so open about my inner most feelings but I believe there is a purpose behind all of this and Jesus is giving me the nudge to share His glorious name with others out there. The verse in the Bible that is the mission of this journey is this: “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” – (Matthew 5:17).

When I started to really break down that verse, I realized that Jesus doesn’t want our light to be contained under a bowl so no one can see it. He wants our light to be uncontainable where no bowl no matter the size can hide the light that so brightly needs to be burned. So, here I am. I am letting this little light of mine shine. And I hope it gives you light.

Till next time, let your light shine!

Blessings, christen

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