Anointed: February 2016

February 2016

Christ-Centered. Fashion-Forward.

Following Where He Leads

A young woman’s missionary journey

Looks You’’ll Love Valentine’s Day-inspired makeup looks

“Seeking Jesus as Your First Love” Anointed

Hello!

I love Valentine’s Day! It’s my second favorite holiday (after Easter) because it’s a day devoted to telling your loved ones how much you care about them, which is something that we don’t do as often as we should. Valentine’s Day isn’t just about Cupid and stuffing your face with chocolate-- it’s about spending time with your friends and family.

A lot of girls (myself included!) focus on their lack of having a boyfriend instead of focusing on what they do have: people who love and care about them unconditionally. Yes, it would be awesome to not be single on Valentine’s Day, but being single is not bad by any means.

Above: My new dog Scout is my Valentine!

Spend this season of singleness growing closer to God and becoming the woman He wants you to be. If you are in a relationship, strive to make Jesus the center of it. Every relationship, whether it’s a romantic one or one based on friendship, needs to revolve around Jesus.

So enjoy Valentine’s Day: stuff your face with chocolate and cut out paper hearts to give to your friends. Spend time with those you love and tell them how much they mean to you. More importantly, spend time with your First Love, Jesus. He is the ultimate lover of your heart!

With much love,

Emilee Burroughs

Anointed

1

february Seeking Jesus as Your First Love pg. 3 Looks You’ll Love pg. 5 Following Where He Leads pg. 9 Meet the Contributors pg. 13

Anointed

2

Seeking Jesus as Your First

Love

Anointed

By Kristen Styer

I

have spent most of my life chasing after two things: a relationship with a guy and a relationship with God. I think to myself, “I know I have God, but if I could just get a boyfriend, then my life would be perfect. No more loneliness.” Sometimes I wonder if I’m still single because I’m not good enough for a particular guy. I’ve had a couple of decent relationships, and each time, the guy has made me feel like I have worth. Then something happens, and the relationship ends. And then I’m left feeling worthless. This past year, I let the idea of being in a relationship take over me. It consumed my life and I was no longer happy. Now, I realize that I’ll be spending Valentine’s Day single. And, for the first time in awhile, I’m okay with that.

Like myself, I know many girls get caught up in the desire to have a boyfriend. It’s okay to want and to have a relationship, just as long as we don’t forget our First Love. Christ, our Risen Savior, sacrificed Himself for us because He loves us. Through Him, and Him alone, should our worth come from.

We are worth dying for. We were handcrafted by God Himself. If that’s not perfect beauty, I don’t know what is. We don’t need a guy to determine our worth because Christ has proven that we are worth loving.

Jesus Christ is calling us to live in Him. “Remember that I am your First Love. Come back to Me,” He tells us. We,

children of God, are part of His Church.

The Bible says that the Church is Jesus’ bride. Therefore, we are betrothed to Christ Himself. Revelation 19:7 says, “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” One day, we will get the privilege of marrying the King of Kings, who has saved us.

I have discovered that the best way to live life is knowing that I am Christ’s bride. And that every day I’m taking another step down the aisle. My eyes, like a bride’s on her wedding day, are locked on Jesus. He can’t help but have a glowing smile of complete joy as He looks at me. With that picture in mind, every day should be lived with Jesus in the center of it. One day, when this world has passed away, we will reach the end of that aisle and meet our Husband, our first love, Jesus Christ Himself, face-toface.

Anointed

4

Looks You’ll L ve Channel your inner romantic with these Valentine’s Day-inspired looks.

Anointed

5

Shimmery Blush

A pink-y glow is soft and romantic for Valentine’s Day. Use your finger to apply a tiny amount (a little of this stuff goes a long way!) of e.l.f. Cosmetics Shimmery Facial Whip to the apples of your cheeks and blend. This product is multipurpose, so apply it to your eyelids and lips for a sweet blush!

Shimmery Facial Whip in Pink Lemonade e.l.f. Cosmetics Drugstores, $1

Anointed

Natural Nude

Nude lipstick and soft smoky eyes are a fun look. Use a neutral beige eyeshadow on your eyelids and a shimmery champagne eyeshadow to highlight your brow-bone. Take a darker bronze shadow and apply it to your crease. Swipe on a nude-colored lipstick and you’re ready to go!

Power of Love Lipstick in Nudie Red Pacifica Target, $10 Sexy Booster Eyeshadow Physicians Formula Drugstores, $12 Anointed

7

Classic Glam

A classic cat-eye and red lips is ultra-romantic. To create a cat-eye, use liquid liner and draw a thick line starting in the center of the eyelid and extend past the outer corner of the eye. Flick the wand upward. Then draw a thin line that gradually gets thicker from the inner-corner of the eye to the center line you did earlier. Apply mascara and red lipstick for a 1950s movie star look!

Sexy Booster, Cat Eye Collection Liquid Liner Physicians Formula Drugstores, $10 Matte Lip Color Lipstick in Rich Red e.l.f. Cosmetics Drugstores, $3

Anointed

Following Where He Leads Photo by Travis Preston Story by Emilee Burroughs

Since she was 16, Sammie Simmons knew that God was calling her to be a full-time missionary. Several years later, Sammie is fulfilling her calling as a missionary in Nicaragua. For Sammie, being a missionary is about complete obedience and surrender to God. But it’s also about loving Christ so much that she’ll follow Him wherever He leads.

Anointed

Sammie and I are sitting at Starbucks and talking about what God’s been doing in each of our lives over the past year. Even though I hadn’t seen her in awhile, talking to Sammie feels like talking to an old friend. She really cares about other people’s lives and their spiritual walk with Christ. Over the noise of brewing coffee and espresso machines, I tell her about “Anointed” and my desire to create a magazine that encourages girls to follow Christ and to find their value and self-worth in Him. Sammie says that it’s so important for girls, and people in general, to find their self-worth in Christ. She says that putting your self-worth in anything else, whether it’s boys or friends, is dangerous “because those things go up and down. One day a guy likes you and then the next he doesn’t. Things are always changing, but Christ doesn’t. And so when your worth is tied up in Him, it doesn’t mean that things don’t hurt or that things don’t come up, but that you’re steady, and so things don’t shake you.”

Hearing Sammie talk about Jesus is inspiring because it’s evident that she loves Him so much. So much, in fact, that she was willing to leave behind her family and move to another country in order to be His hands and feet.

For three months Sammie has been in Nicaragua working alongside Josh and Rachel Faulkner and their children. Together, the Faulkners, Chris and Bry Simmons and Sammie co-founded Relentless Pursuit Ministries International. Relentless Pursuit Ministries International is a non-profit dedicated to rescuing women from sex trafficking. But the mission behind this ministry doesn’t stop there. Sammie says, “The focus is basically to give the Gospel to those involved in sex trafficking, both the men and the women involved. And to see the end of sex trafficking through the message of the Gospel.”

Anointed: Tell me a little about what you do.

Sammie: There are 5 of us who co-founded Relentless Pursuit. The focus is basically to give the Gospel to those involved in sex trafficking, both the men and the women involved. And to see the end of sex trafficking through the message of the Gospel. What we found is that it doesn’t just include a restoration home and rescues. Trafficking is affected by so many things. It involves showing men what actual ‘manhood’ is: that they are meant to protect women and not to abuse them. And for women, to disciple them, and girls, and [show them] their value in Christ…In Nicaragua you have families that are living off of two dollars a day. There are communities built around these dumps where they’re digging trash out. So families sometimes sell their children out of desperation…That’s where the Lord started us: trafficking. But at the heart of it [our ministry] is the Gospel, getting the Gospel into those families and watching that transform and defeat trafficking.

When did you realize that God was calling you to fulltime ministry/mission work?

I got called into the foreign mission field when I was 16.

It wasn’t anything dramatic. It was just the Lord telling me, “Hey, get ready for this later on!” But it was a long time before anything happened. He really used those years of waiting to put me through discipleship with you guys, doing ministry with the youth and ministering to the girls, and showing them their worth and value and the danger of them not knowing that....Figuring out that calling was a step…So when I started discipling girls, I knew that this was part of my calling…And then when I went to Passion Conference…I remember praying and asking God what He wants me to do…Trafficking wasn’t on my radar. I remember reading a story about a girl who had been trafficked and being devastated by it. It was just shocking to me. I remember God being really clear, “This is it. This is your next step.”

Was there anything you had to sacrifice when you went into full-time ministry (i.e. family, friends)?

You miss moments with your family, not really being able to be around to watch nieces and nephews grow up.

So relationally, I think you do give up a lot. You give up your community that you built up around here…You’re basically starting from scratch, even with language.

Anointed

10

What are some highlights from your work so far? Any moments where you’re like, “Wow! I see God really doing something here.”

The first month was one of the worst/best ones. We had a neighbor—he came over like at 6 a.m. every morning, he was an 8 year-old and his aunt, who was like seventeen— they came over every day. We got to have a relationship with them. But mostly the Lord just wanted us to Himself. It was preparation time. We were cut off: we didn’t have cell service; we didn’t have Internet, unless you literally climbed a mountain behind us. You could get like three bars. So we were really disconnected. We got stripped of a lot of things…It came to a point where we thought He was going to send us home because we didn’t have enough financially. We left with a month’s worth.

He told us to go, but the money wasn’t all the way there.

So we went, and we expected, “Well, we left, so surely He’s going to do this the way we thought.” But He made it clear that, no, He’s the boss, and it’s going to go the way that He wanted it to. And I’m so glad that He did because it leveled our expectations of what we thought our ministry was and it leveled the expectations of other people…He didn’t want us concerned with that. He wanted us to be concerned with obedience, and that [our] calling’s not Nicaragua, it’s not trafficking, it’s obedience…

He did cool things during that [time], made some really cool connections with other ministries and with some people from the government. But mostly He made us sit.... It was probably one of the most painful moments in my life…There was one point where we thought we were going to have to go home…[I remember] just being devastated, this is what I worked my whole life towards.

And the Lord just being like, “Well, what if it is? What if I send you home, and you have nothing, but you have me. Is that enough? Are you still going to love and obey me?” I was like, “Yeah. I can’t not obey you.” And getting to the reality where He’s enough and not just saying that…I didn’t have a career to go back to because I never built one. This is what He had asked me to do…So to get to that point where He is enough is one of the biggest highlights. And after that, of course He let us stay.

He just wanted us to that point of obedience. And also understanding where our sources come from, that we don’t have to try and impress donors. We just have to be obedient to Him. He was our source of provision, which takes a lot of pressure off because we don’t have to go around campaigning for ourselves. The Lord does it. We just have to share what He’s done. He cares about these little things. He cares about the big things, too. But He also cares about the littlest relationships and the littlest Anointed

11

things…I just love that the things that mean the most to Him are not what we think about.

How long do you plan on staying there?

I don’t know. I know that we’re meant to see that home built, the Restoration Home, but I don’t know…The goal is that we have locals working alongside us so that the ministry’s not—so that we’re not under it. So that if He does call us [to leave], the ministry won’t crumble. We want locals to be in ownership of it in some ways. But I have no idea. It’s as long as He calls us to be there.

What exactly is the Restoration Home?

The plan is to buy the property on a farm…and to have the Restoration Home for short-term and long-term housing. So women who are rescued out of trafficking will be put in short-term housing, and we would provide medical care and counseling. We would teach them a job skill after their healing process. And then move them into long-term housing, which would be more independent living. At the same time they would get more job skills and training, and opportunities for internships working with businesses so that they can get a job when they get out and hopefully transition back into the community. But at the same time, a big part of that is for them to be introduced to the Gospel, and not forced.

That’s not a requirement--for them to accept Christ to get a home. It’s going to be a big part [of our ministry] for them to get the Gospel and to be discipled.

How did you go about becoming a missionary? What steps did you take?

It came up to start our own ministry, but that was too scary. So we went to two other ministries and applied.

We got accepted, but God told us that’s not where He wanted us…So He led us into starting our own, and it was terrifying, and still is.

Photo by Travis Preston

Sammie leads Bible studies with local women in Nicaragua.

Do you have any advice for girls?

The biggest thing is finding your self-worth in Christ because it’s incredibly dangerous for girls to put [their] self-worth in guys, or in friends, or in anything other than Christ. Because those things go up and down.

One day a guy likes you and then the next he doesn’t.

Things are always changing and relationships are always changing, but Christ doesn’t. And so when your worth is tied up in Him, it doesn’t mean that things don’t hurt or that things don’t come up, but that you’re steady, and so things don’t shake you. There’s also a responsibility to those [girls] who do know their worth to be spreading that out to other girls because they know how deeply that’s needed. Girls who don’t have that [understanding of their self-worth in Christ] are so susceptible to anything—trafficking or abusive relationships— anything.

What would you say to a girl who doesn’t know what her calling is?

I think that if you are genuinely in a relationship with Him [God] and are making time to be with Him, you can trust that He’ll show it in His timing. Because He’s anxious to use His daughters…I know that for me, He gave me pieces at a time because I tend to get ahead of myself. So He gave me the pieces. But also remember that your calling isn’t a place or people; it’s obedience to Him. If you’re going by His leading, then He’ll lead you to what you’re supposed to do. They [God’s plans] are there. So if you’re walking with Him, you’re going

Photo by Rachel Faulkner

Sammie’s neighbor, Jose, comes over to visit with Sammie and the Faulkners. to walk right into them. Just seeking the Lord on a daily basis. You’re not going to figure out anything or learn anything without Him. He’s the equipper. He’s going to lead you into ministries where He will equip you for the next thing…He’s pruning you to ready you for the task that He has ahead of you.

Do you have anything that you’d like to add that I didn’t ask you?

Prostitution is illegal in Nicaragua, which makes trafficking all the worse. Prostitutes [tend to be] women with husbands. [Prostitution] is their job. Every time they go out they have to wear a badge that reads, “Sex Worker.” This bothers me so much because every time they go out they have to be labeled by something that they’re not. That’s a part of our ministry: to tell women who have been told that they’re dirty that that’s not who they are.

Anointed

12

Meet the Contributors Kristen Styer

I’m Kristen Styer and I am a Biblical Studies and Preaching major at Point University. When I’m not doing school work, I like to spend time with friends and family. I also enjoy using my free time to write. My favorite Bible verses are Galatians 2:20-21, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” These verses help remind me that this life is not my own; I belong to Christ.

Kelsey Merriam

Kelsey is a senior Visual Communication major at Berry College. She is excited to be graduating in May and hopes to find a job in film. In her spare time, Kelsey enjoys watching movies, writing, and spending time with her friends. Her favorite Bible verse is Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Anointed

13

“Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready.�

-Revelation 19:7

Anointed

Christ-Centered. Fashion-Forward.

emileeburroughs15@gmail.com

Anointed