Do You Have 60 Seconds to Help Fight Breast Cancer? We Thought So!: glamour.com

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To help encourage 1 million women to participate in research about the causes and prevention of breast cancer, The Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation/Army of Women asked film students to create short Public Service Announcements about the cause. We love the idea so much that we will be airing the four top videos right here on glamour.com, today through Thursday. On Friday, we'll ask you to vote for your favorite. Let's check out the first one!

Of their video, One Million Strong, Brent McHenry and Nick Wenger, of the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, say:

"It's about...literally stepping up to the frontline of the battle against this terrible disease...While using the powerful and appropriate metaphor of pink bras, women assemble a chain that brings them together across the globe."

Thank you for watching! What do you think? Are you inspired to get involved?

Be sure to come back each day this week to watch the rest of the Love/Army of Women videos and vote for the most engaging, empowering one on Friday! Your vote will help the organization pick the video that will motivate millions of women to take the next step and sign up to join the Army of Women.

Get more information, and take the next step yourself by signing up at:

http://www.armyofwomen.org

Remember: Finding the cause of breast cancer and preventing it starts with one--YOU.

So Yesterday

Priscilla Richardson

"Forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in heaven." Psalm 119:89 (NASB)


We live in a society that prizes change. Whether it's the most recent dictum of haute couture from the world of fashion, or the latest in technical gadgets, we are enamored with the idea that newer and different is better.

Let the word "change" fall from a politician's lips, and his or her future is suddenly golden. Discontented with the ordinariness of our lives, we are often an easy sell. So much so, in fact, that one of the quickest ways to kill an idea or project is to describe it as "so yesterday."

Obviously, some changes are positive and some are negative. But too much change, or change for the wrong reasons, can leave us scrambling for the higher ground of stability. When we are forced by circumstances to ride those roiling seas of change, to what do we cling to maintain our emotional and spiritual equilibrium? In Psalm 61:2, David said, "When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I" (NKJV).

Isn't that what we all want - a sense of permanence in a world of change and restlessness? Solid ground when we can't touch bottom? Stillness in place of agitation?

God's Word tells us that all these are possible because of one man, and His name is Jesus. "For he himself is our peace," (Ephesians 2:14, NIV), the One who never changes. The "same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8, NIV). The unshakeable foundation beneath our feet when everything in our world totters (Psalm 40:2).

How comforting to know that our lives are encompassed by an eternally present Christ. He is our Alpha and Omega, our Beginning and our End. Who He is and what He says stands…

Uncontradicted.

Unoverturned.

Forever.

Long after you and I are considered history and "so yesterday," Jesus will still be. Describing the uniqueness of our God, Eugene Peterson in The Message asks, "Are we not at bedrock?" (Psalm 18:31).

Indeed.

Dear Lord, as everything around me changes, may I rest my heart on the firm foundation of Your Word, which never goes out of style or needs revision. May I rejoice in its timeless truth and rest in its awesome strength to transform my sometimes erratic life into a place of peace. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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The Real Me

Renee Swope

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." Psalm 139:13 (NIV)

I sat in the circle dreading my turn to talk. The facilitator of our team-building activity had asked our group of eight to answer these questions: What do you love to do? If finances were unlimited and failure was unlikely, what would be your dream?

I started praying we'd run out of time before it got to me. But just in case I had to answer, I listened to everyone else describe their dreams, hoping to get ideas. One wanted to be the first female president of the United States. Another friend said she'd always wanted to sing in a Christian rock band. I knew I was in trouble.

Here I was 32-years-old at the time, and I didn't know who I was or what my dreams were. Eventually everyone looked at me for a response. I stumbled over my words but finally admitted that I didn't really know what I loved to do. I didn't have a dream. I felt like a third-grader living in a grown woman's body. Did I want to be a nurse, a schoolteacher or a movie star?

Who was I and what did I like to do?

Unfortunately, I'd never taken time to think about or answer that questions. Instead, I had tried to be who others wanted or needed me to be. But honestly, I wasn't very good at it. I often had this uneasy feeling in my heart and a sense of just not being happy. I was also a constant candidate for burn out.

Later the group facilitator encouraged me to ask God what His dreams were for my life and to spend time getting to know myself better. She also suggested I read some books on personalities. I took her advice and began a process of getting to know the "real me" who had gotten buried in the busyness of life and people pleasing.

As I read books about different temperaments and personality traits, I started to recognize what I liked, strengths that came natural for me, and what I needed emotionally to encourage my heart. Instead of wanting to be like women I knew and admired, I realized there was a reason I was who I was – with my passionate preferences and mixed bag of emotions. For the first time I felt like someone (the author of those books) understood me. I also sensed that God wanted to use the unique way He made me to shape my heart for ministry.

Isn't it easy to completely neglect ourselves to meet the needs of everyone around us, and call it self-sacrifice? It sounds godly, but in doing so we risk shutting down a place in our soul where God's dreams and gifts are waiting to be revealed. It's not self-seeking but God-seeking to intentionally get to know and become the woman He created you to be.

So, how well do you know the real you ? Have you ever taken time to think about what you like to do? How would you fill your free time if you had no fears, no insecurities and no doubts? (You probably have no free time, but what if you did?) What are your dreams?

I hope you'll take time to get to know the woman God created you to be. In doing so, I discovered the life I was meant to live, the dreams I was meant to dream.

Remember, God made you. He knows you and He loves you just the way you are. The only change He desires is that you become more like Him, as you become more like you!

Lord, I want to know the woman You had in mind when You created me. I don't want to grow old and never know Your purpose for my life. Show me your dreams for my life so I can offer what You want to give to those around me through my unique desires, personality strengths, spiritual gifts, abilities and experiences. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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ReVamped Oldie Movies

27 Aug 2009

Lysa TerKeurst

"I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws." Psalm 119:30 (NIV)

As a little girl, I had longed for a daddy to pick me up, swing me around, and tell me I was lovely and loved. When this childhood longing went unmet, it became an adult emptiness and brokenness that drove me to seek out all kinds of misguided remedies.

My primary remedy was to look for someone or something that would make me feel loved and significant. It's as if I carried around a little heart-shaped cup and extended it to whatever or whomever I perceived might fill it.

I presented the cup to my education: "Will you fill me?"

I offered it to my husband: "Will you fill me?"

I held it out to my child: "Will you fill me?"

I extended it to my material possessions: "Will you fill me?"

I presented it to each of my jobs: "Will you fill me?"

Within these questions were many more entanglements: "Will you right all my wrongs?" "Will you fill up my insecurities?" "Will you make me feel significant?" The more I offered my emptiness hoping something could fill it, the more frustrated I felt.

And when I had grown in my faith, I was especially perplexed. Wasn't being a Christian supposed to fix these kinds of issues in my heart? What was I missing?

Have you ever been there?

Why is it so tempting to look to things of this world for fulfillment? This notion that worldly things can fulfill is all around us. It's on TV, the focus of countless secular songs, and it's what dominates American advertisements. I can't even stand in the grocery store checkout lane without being bombarded with suggestions for a more fulfilling life. A better husband. A better body. A better career. A more beautifully decorated house. The magazines seem so slick, their promises so enticing. They sneak into our thought processes and make us think, "If only I had _______________, I'd be so happy. I'd be so fulfilled."

So, we chase and chase until we bankrupt our relationships, our bank accounts, and our very souls. The reality is every single thing the world offers is temporary. No person, possession, profession, or position can ever fill the cup of a wounded, empty heart—not my heart, not your heart. It's an emptiness only God can fill.

Whatever "if only I had" statement we are struggling with, we can replace it with solid truths from Scripture that will never leave us empty. It's a bold statement to make and might even sound a bit trite, but it's true.

When God's Word gets inside of us, it becomes the new way we process life. It rearranges our thoughts, our motives, our needs, and our desires. Our soul was tailor made to be filled with God and His truth; therefore, it seeps into every part of us and fills us completely. It is the only perfect fit.

Dear Lord, we ask today that You set within us a passion for Your Word. A passion that will override the fleshly desire within us to chase after fulfillment from people, possessions, professions, or positions. Lord, help us place the highest importance on getting into Your Word every day. And may we always approach Your Word with a humility of need and a heart ready to receive all You want to teach us. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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