Megan H.

Today, Megan speaks to us about the feeling of worthiness, not clicking with Christianity as a child growing up in it, the importance of learning to be still, and her coffee dates with God. So much wisdom coming from this future counselor.

Inspiring biblical passage of the moment: Zephaniah 3:17 and it says, “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exalt over you with loud singing.”

I actually have this verse as my screensaver, currently. For the longest time, I really struggled with self worth and image. I felt like I wasn’t worthy of being loved and cared for, this ended up being a huge struggle for me. A part of that struggle was me not knowing my identity and who I was in Christ. You see, I didn’t identify myself as a Child of God or a daughter of the king. I hadn’t grasped that as a child of God, there was unconditional love that I am worthy of. For me Zephaniah 3:17 has become a verse that I go to daily – it is my constant reminder of Gods love for not only me, but all of His children.  My favorite part of this verse is “rejoice over you will gladness, quiet you by his love and exalt over you with loud singing”… it’s not just singing, He rejoices over you with – its loud singing.

“I hadn’t grasped that as a child of God, there was unconditional love that I am worthy of.”

Spiritual growth focus at the moment: There are always going to be areas that we want/ need to grow in. However, lately, I have found more of a focus on learning to be still. I just finished my third year of post secondary, and I really found this school year to be extremely busy and crazy – I had little to now down time. I had gotten so use to just always doing something, whether it was studying, writing a paper, doing a research project, attending a meeting or class, or working on my blog – I was always doing something. Now that I am done with school for the summer and I’m home, I have found that I have more time to myself, which has actually caused me to be anxious because I feel like I am always suppose to be doing something. Through this God has reminded me to just come and be still with Him.

Profession: Undergrad student, studying in both Psychology and Biblical studies. I love the integration of both theology and psychology and a passion to bring hope, love, joy and encouragement to the lost. So my plan is to eventually go into Christian counseling and working with youth… really it doesn’t matter what you are facing or going through, once you get down to it everyone can use a little bit of Jesus.

A one sentence bio of yourself: I am a coffee obsessed undergrad student, who loves Jesus and is always ready for a good adventure.

When did you first encounter God? That is kind of a hard question for me. You see, I grew up in a Christian home, going to church every Sunday. However, just because you grew up in a Christian home, doesn’t make you a Christian – it’s a choice you have to make. I grew up hearing the bible stories and watching Veggie Tales, however as a child I never really enjoyed it, and I kind of disregarded it. I kind of thought church was lame.

It wasn’t until I was in high school and started going to youth group that I really started to live a Christian life. Up until that point, I didn’t really know and understand what it meant to be a true Christian, since I had disregarded everything my parents tried to teach me. I thought that if I called myself a Christian, then that made me one.

However, that is not how it works. It was I started to go youth group that I started to grow, learn and change. If it was through my youth group and my youth pastor who didn’t give up on me and saw something in me that no one else saw, it was through them that I came to truly know the Lord and be set free from all my bondage and learn to walk in freedom.

“As a child I never really enjoyed it, and I kind of disregarded it. I kind of thought church was lame.”

What has helped you grow spiritually in this season? Prayer, devotions, and scripture. Something that I was really struggling with recently was confidence, and so what I did was wrote 7 Bible verse down and read them over myself daily, and what I have found is the more you read scripture over yourself and over your circumstance, the more you believe, and the more you understand and the stronger foundation you have. I also like doing what I like to call “coffee dates with God”. What that is is 3 times a week – I usually try and do it Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I sit down with my coffee and just talk with God and spend time in His word. At the beginning of every week, I have a focus or goal for that week and the coffee dates have become a check in to see where I am at.

“I sit down with my coffee and just talk with God and spend time in His word”

Just read/currently reading (and what has it taught you?): One of the books I had to read this last semester for my theology class, and it was called “The Cross of Christ” and one of the things that the author mentioned that really stuck out to me was that Jesus suffered too, however, he kept going back to his Father. Just like Jesus did when He suffered, we are to invite God into our suffering and when we invite God into our suffering, we are allowing him to move and work within our circumstance, and by allowing Him to move and work, His glory will be shown.

Top three essentials:

1 Bible. It is our dictionary/ guide that we have been given to navigate through life.

2 Coffee…

3 Worship music.

How did God speak to you recently? I have a really….like really hard time sitting and being still… and that includes when it comes time to spending time with God. Recently, I found myself feeling a little drained because I hadn’t been taking enough time to be still in His presence. God reminded me and invited me once again to just come into His presence to sit and be still – to rest in His loving presence.

Hobby: Blogging, hiking/ adventuring, reading, cooking/baking (I have a major sweet tooth!), painting and doodling.

Top three practical tips for staying spiritually strong:

1 Set a side time for God. Your life is never to busy for Him.

2 Have mentors or strong Christian women to go to for prayer and seek advice from. Community is important, we are created as relational begins, we were never meant to do life alone.

3 We are always growing so Christian books and devotionals are great ways to gain knowledge. I’ve done several of Sarah Young’s devotional and love them, however, as of right now I am currently doing, “Daughter of the King Daily Devotionals”– it’s actually an app for your phone. For the longest time I was totally against doing devotions on my phone, however I have fallen in love with this devotional.

As for books that have helped with my spiritual growth and to stay spiritually strong  is Victory Over the Darkness and Bondage Breaker by Neil T Anderson (if you haven’t read them, go read them, especially if you want a deeper understanding of your identity in Christ!), Free of Me by Sharon Hodde Miller, Cultivate by Lara Casey, and King of the Campus by Stephen Lutz (had to read this book my first year of university, it has some really great practical’s in it!). These are just to name a few.

Favorite person in scripture? Ruth…loyal, obedient, loving, kind, gentle and soft spirit. She is often referred to as a woman of nobel character. I would love to be more like Ruth, especially when it comes to her attitude and prompting the well being of other people.

What do you want people to learn about God when they look at you? I really want people to know that they are loved, valued and worth the battle/fight. I want them to see Christ’s love through me and to know that they are loved unconditionally by a relentless God.

Favorite season? I love spring and fall. Both of these seasons are so sort (at least in Canada haha), however I always find there’s a sense of renewal and refresh – something about the changing of the leaves in autumn and the blooming of the flowers in the spring and just being in awe of the beauty of Gods creation.

Favorite holiday? Hands down, my favorite holiday is Christmas. It’s the true meaning of Christmas that I love – the birth of my Savior.

A dream you have? A dream/goal that I have is to share love and hope that comes through Christ throughout the world. I will go where the Lord instructs me to go and how he instructs me, is exactly how I will do it. It’s not about me or for me, it’s about God and His glory.

A special tradition you and your family engage in or keep: Every Thanksgiving and sometimes Easter we go around the dinner table we all say one or two things that we are grateful for. It’s nice because it makes you stop and think for a moment all that God has given and blessed you with.

Question you will ask when you get to heaven? I have often wondered this question and what I will even do – I don’t know if I will even be able to speak or if I will fall before him on my knees. But to be honest, the first thing I will ask is if I can hug Him. Oh, how that day will be sweet.

Thing you want to raise awareness about: I am really big on mental health, but with a Christian focus on it. I believe just like Ephesians 3:20 says, there is always more.

What do you usually do before 9 a.m.? If I were to say that I am a morning person, I would be lying. Getting up in the morings is really hard for me however, over the last few months, something that I have been trying to do is getting up before 8:30 and spending anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour with God. It has been a challenge, I’m not going to lie, however it’s been one of the best things I’ve done. What you do at the beginning of the day or what happens at the beginning of the day can affects the rest of your day. That’s why it’s important to start your day off the right way.

What is on your nightstand? Lamp, jar of pens, candle, bible and notebook.

Define Christianity in a sentence: A personal relationship with God with full surrender and glory to Him.

For more Megan:

Insta: @chasingafterhiskingdom

Until next time, keep witnessing!

XOXO