The Miss Louisiana Story
If you don’t know, I was crowned Miss Louisiana 16 years ago (man….was it really that long ago 🙈). I think you can tell it was a LONG time ago by this picture of Brent and I captured right after I won (pictures and hair have come a long way since 2007)! I credit God for pivoting my life the moment the crown was placed on my head. The trajectory of my life was changed for the better in an instant, but it had nothing to do with the actual crown. You see, my life was headed in one direction, and in one giant swoop God orchestrated a way to bring me closer to Him, introduced me to my husband, brought me to Fair Park Baptist Church, and eventually lead me to find ways to serve Him using my Miss Louisiana experience. I could go on and on about what all God has done since Miss Louisiana, but since that moment was sooooo long ago (seriously was it really 16 years ago ughhh… I’m old), I’ll stop here and bring you to the point.
I was able to spend some time with the current Miss Louisiana delegates this week. We did a devotional and got to talk about Jesus together. I had planned for about 30 minutes and 2 hours later we were still praying, crying and talking about Jesus. Most times when I get the privilege of speaking or teaching Gods word, I don’t get to see the impact. I just hope that somewhere along the way God planted a seed in someone’s heart. BUT during my time with this year’s contestants, God allowed me to see the immediate impact in these young ladies. I believe they walked into the devotional with heaviness and pressure and they walked out with the joy of Jesus. If you watch the pageant - I think you will see that.
God is so cool. 👑
I want to share with you the message they were able to hear, because I think it applies to all of us.
Lies and Truth
To be blunt….we have an enemy. And he wants nothing more than to speak lies over our plans, dreams, and life to belittle and stall our Christian walk. This is so that we never fully reach our potential as a Christian. His lies usually start as a whisper, but very quickly become so loud that we want to go in the complete opposite direction God is leading.
During our time together, the contestants identified the lies that the enemy had been telling them. And I want to share them with you because I bet the enemy has whispered the same to you.
“No matter what you do, it’s not good enough.”
“You are not beautiful enough or skinny enough.”
“You will disappoint someone if you make a mistake.”
“You should just quit.”
“You will embarrass yourself.”
Oh man. Has the enemy spoken a version of this to you? Listen up! His lies CAN be dismantled! You do not have to believe this! But the first step is identifying the lie. The enemy wants you to believe this lie because then he can twist and turn it to make you believe a lie about God. Here is how this works:
Lie from the enemy:
“You are not beautiful or skinny enough.”
The enemies goal is to make you believe:
“God must have forgotten about beauty when He made me.”
“God didn’t make me in His perfect image.”
Do you see how quickly a small whisper from the enemy can turn into a lie we believe about God?! This is where we dismantle him. This is where he loses. Because for every lie he whispers, there is a truth we can replace it with from GODs word. In the example above, here is some truth you can replace it with.
Philippians 4:13 “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
One by one each of the contestants destroyed and overcame the lies of the enemy with The Truth. They spoke it over one another. We spoke it in prayer. We wrote it down and they saved it to carry with them through out the week. It was a beautiful scene surrounded by beautiful ladies.
This is a powerful tool and I want you to stop and do this exercise right now. I have no doubt the enemy is trying his best to keep you from reaching your full potential as a Christian through a lie. He is the father of lies after all. What is the lie he is telling you? What is he trying to make you believe about God? Then…. It’s checkmate. You have the truth. Replace it, believe it, speak it and watch him flee.
I believe God is doing something special in the younger generation. I have seen it in them this week. It was such a privilege to spend time with them.
