If you're looking for an organization where you can sponsor a child or help dig a well, there are lots of go-to options. Here's why I chose Gospel For Asia.

- Every penny that I contribute goes directly to the child I sponsor. None of it is taken out for administrative purposes. Every person on staff with GFA raises their own financial support so that they don't have to draw from my donations.

- GFA promises that the child I sponsor will hear the Gospel every day at school. These children are taught to read via reading The Bible, so they learn about God's love for them for the first times in their lives, and often go home and share the Good News with their entire families. While many organizations can't guarantee that the Gospel will be shared with the children, many of GFA's missionaries risk their lives daily to share God's love even when they're beaten or their homes are burned as a result.

All that to say... I'm ecstatic about the new GFA Christmas Catalog! Christmas tends to drive me bonkers because everyone goes insane about gifts and presents and... frankly, I think it's a time of year when we instill selfishness into children and we continue to thrive on that greed throughout our adult lives. So let's turn the tide, shall we?

If you're still wondering what to get friends and family this year, please give something that will make a difference in the livelihood of struggling families in India. Gospel For Asia has options in all price ranges. You can find the rest at: GFA Gifts.

Gospel Literature: $1
Asian Language Bible: $3
8 New Testaments: $4
Blanket: $5
Chicken: $11
Vocational Training: $30
BioSand Water Filter: $30
Pigs: $55
Sewing Machine: $85
Bicycle: $110
Goats: $120
Jesus Wells: $1,000
New House: $5,000

I also recommend combining your money with a friend or Bible study group to do this as an act of charity during this Christmas season!

This is the year of TLC for TLC. In other words, I've been trying to get my crap together so that I can be the best version of myself for God, others, and myself. My New Year's Resolutions were:

- Part of my day that nothing infringes on 1: Jesus.
Reading the Word, praying, listening to Him, listening to sermons (Matt Chandler, Perry Noble, Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, and Greg Pinkner are my faves).

- Part of my day that nothing infringes on 2: Gym.
I've lost 30 pounds this year, and I'm not stopping there. Bring it.


Here are the ways that God has brought other healthy changes in my life and what I've done to work that out:

- Overhauled my schedule to where I work no more than 40 hours a week. That's a big deal for me. I used to work around 80-100.

- Tried to get 8 hours sleep at night. I spent 8 years getting 4-5 hours per night, so I'm seeing the benefits of sleep now for sure!

- Narrowed my commitments and prioritized my relationships according to the places and the people with whom I believe God wants me to spend my time. I need people who mentor me, people to mentor, and people to be on the level with -- and most of these need to be people who are in my life on a regular, frequent basis.

- Visited the doctors that I've been avoiding. It ended up being far more encouraging than I ever thought! Woo!

Most surprising thing I've learned during this time.

During this overhaul of my life, I realized that I'm more of an introvert than I ever knew. That doesn't mean that I don't love people -- I so do! It means that I re-charge when I'm alone. I need downtime. The best way that I can serve the people I meet on tour is to have lots of time alone to order my head and my heart. I've been slighting audiences for years, and it breaks my heart that I'm just now realizing this. I am so sorry to all of you who have gotten less than the best I have to offer. I'm doing what I can to fix that, but sometimes it may look like I'm not offering as much by way of time.

Here are the things I'm resolving to stick to for the rest of the year:

1. Gym. Every single day that I'm home and every possible day that I'm on the road.
2. Finish the new book by the end of September, edits and all.
3. Churn out at least 4 songs that I LOVE by the end of the year.
4. Try very hard to get at least 7 hours sleep each night. If possible, 8 hours.

Now it's out there for everyone to see. The past 7.5 months have been awesome, and I'm looking forward to the ways God will grow me and change me during the rest of 2008. Wooooo!!!

People often comment on how NYC has the most beautiful people in the world (and yes, we do), but here's something to remember: while some people are naturally beautiful, others spend small fortunes to look that way. Not just on plastic surgery, but on laser skin resurfacing, cellulite massages, personal trainers, organic meals, toxic cleanses, hair stylists, manicures, pedicures, waxing, tanning, stylists, etc.

Hear me out on this: It doesn't mean that people who don't invest in those things are better than the people who do. OR worse than them. It just means that if you can't afford to spend the $20,000 a month that Jennifer Aniston does to maintain her beauty, then you shouldn't feel inadequate when you compare yourself to her.

One of my desires is that I will stop comparing myself to others. It's not what God intended when He created us -- it turns us into divisive, catty, selfish people. I pray that God will heal those broken parts in us and restore us into people who will encourage and lift up our sisters with words of life.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. - Phil 2:3

I'm still reflecting on the whole "angry with God" thing I mentioned a couple of posts ago, and I can't get over how profound it was for me. I tend to be such a "God is awesome!" person, all smiles when it comes to Jesus. Had I not gone through that, I would've missed out on something crucial to the development of my relationship with Him.

In that time, I saw what it was like to feel at odds with God, to lay out my questions for Him like Job did, knowing all along that He would be able to come back at me with things like, "Who commands the morning?... Who carves a channel for the lightning bolt?" (Job 38) I fought with Him, I struggled. And in that, I saw the hearts of some of my friends... people who live in that place instead of just renting a room there, like I did. Their struggles prompt a depth in me that I wouldn't have otherwise, because it shows me a different aspect of what a relationship with God can look like. It's not all sunlight on oceans... sometimes it is walking in the dark with barely enough light for your feet and you're squinting and cold and tired. (Psalm 119:105) But it is all still God, and it is all still His Love.

More than anything, I think my frustration with God helped me to understand a little more about the depth of His commitment to me. If I knew anything, it was that He would not leave me. He couldn't. If someone was going to leave, it would've been me... but not even that was possible. I am sewn into Him. Inextricably. This is commitment. Through joy and anger, ups and downs, I am my Beloved's and He is mine.

I want to go back to the thing I said earlier about light. "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." The foot-lamp referred to provided only enough light for the next step... it didn't illuminate the whole path. That kind of light can be frustrating when I want to see the end of the journey, but ultimately, it keeps me near Him. I keep having to ask, "What now, God? Where do You want me to step now? How can I please You in this situation?" And He, in His love and mercy, keeps answering.

Blessed be the name of the Lord, my Lover, my Husband, my Lamp.

~TLC

P.S. I really want to say "I love Lamp" here... just go with it. :)

Last week a very dear friend surprised me with the opportunity to go on a cruise for free, and I gladly accepted! One day I was heading to the ship's gym, preparing to listen to a Mark Driscoll sermon while sweating. I put my headphones in and prayed a quick prayer, asking God to speak to me. I turned to look out the window and this is what I saw... a sunlight heart on the Atlantic Ocean. As soon as I snapped the shot, I took my phone down and it was gone. Just like that.

I took the picture with my Blackberry, but the quality is good enough that I can use it as my laptop wallpaper. Just a fun little reminder for you and for me: He loves you.

I met Jesus when I was four years old. It is my second memory. I don't have a clue what life is like without Him, because He has been with me for as long as I can remember. The most intimate relationship in my life is (and always will be) with Him.

But recently, I experienced a new thing in my relationship with Him: deep, true anger. I didn't know what to do with myself. I'm not an angry person in general—I don't yell or have emotional outbursts—and I can only recall maybe one other time when I felt angry with God. The worst and most dangerous thing I could imagine would be to give God the silent treatment, so I told Him my thoughts. I wrote four pages in my journal… questions, accusations, fears. I knew He wouldn't be threatened by my words. He knows them all; they don't surprise Him.

Even as I tore across the pages with my pen, I knew that God stood by, loving me. I knew that He understood more about my situation than I did. And I knew my anger was rooted in selfishness – the kind of thing that says, "I have a better idea than You. You aren't listening. You owe me more than this." My anger proved to me that I didn't trust God to be God… I thought I could do a better job. My anger was—at its root—sin.

It hurt me not to trust Him. It scared me to be angry with Him – not so much because I feared His wrath (Jesus bore that for me on the cross), but because I do not even know how to breathe without Him. Being angry with Him felt like a crack in the surface of the universe… I couldn't bear the distance I was choosing to put between us. I became aware of my great need for more faith in Him. I prayed, "Lord, I believe… help my unbelief." (Mark 9:24)

In His love, He rescued me from my own anger. As I hurled my fists at Him, He embraced me. And in case you're in a place of being angry with God (or even doubting His existence), here are two significant things that helped me work through things:

The Shack – a controversial book with a few theological flaws, but that ultimately served to remind me of the relationship I have with God. If you have doubts (even if you're not a Christian), this is a phenomenal read.

This sermon by Perry Noble – I will probably think about this sermon for the rest of my life. I'm not kidding. Watch it or listen to it.

I don't know if or when I'll be angry with Him again, but I'm grateful that He walked me through it. It's important for me to know these things, because I know so many of you deal with them. So, tell me about your story... what has it been like for you when you've been angry with God? How did you handle it? What was the result?

A while back I wrote a note on my mirror that said, "How can I reflect You today?" I immediately felt like it was a little too cheesy-punny for me so I changed it to "What can I do for You today?" The point of the question remained, though: what attitudes can I have, what actions can I take, what smiles can I offer… to show the love of Christ to the people I encounter?

Sometimes God answers me with something very specific – He tells me to call someone and pray for her or He tells me to encourage a certain person with His words. But sometimes it's the really hard stuff that doesn't look at all glamorous… sometimes it is "Do your roommate's dishes."

I've been blessed with many great roommate relationships, so please know that I'm not using this as a space to vent frustrations. This is about MY flaws. I am selfish, and living with others has revealed this to me on a few levels, but mainly this: when dishes are left in the sink, I get frustrated. I used to wash my own dishes and leave the rest sitting in the sink, sometimes for weeks. It was a passive-aggressive move, for sure—intended to convey the message, "I am keeping score."

One night at 2:00 a.m., I returned from a month-long tour, knowing that the sink would be full of the dishes my roommate had accumulated while I was away. I started to get angry before I even got home. "It's not my job to clean up after her mess!" I thought. "I paid rent for a month on a place I didn't even see and now I have to come home to a filthy kitchen and clean it. It's not my job!"

And that's when God interrupted me and said, "Yes. It is."

And then I started to remember things like, "Love your neighbor as yourself." "Consider others as better than yourself." "Serve one another in love."

Um. Ouch. Yes, God. You washed the feet of Your betrayers. You said to bless those who curse us, so the very least I can do is lovingly serve a roommate that I adore. And here's the other thing: These acts of "love" are pointless if I continue to keep score in my head. I can't walk around thinking, "Look at me… I'm washing her dishes without even complaining. I hope she notices." Or "I did her dishes. I'm such a servant. I'm really being like Jesus."

Being like Jesus implies the willingness to forget myself, to commit the act of love without trying to draw attention to it, to die to self in a way that completely extinguishes the desire for validation or reciprocity.

So when I wake up and ask God "What can I do for You today?" and God says, "Love your roommate. Do her dishes," I know it's going to be a lesson in self-forgetfulness, which I desperately need. God, help me.

My new album, Playing Favorites releases today! I recorded this album in January with producers Josh Wilson and Lee McDerment. It's one of my favorite things I've ever done, seriously!

And guess what... you can get it on iTunes for only $6.93.

Click here to buy it!

Songs include:

- Rain
- Please Forgive Me
- Walking on Sunshine
- Holding out for a Hero
- Everlasting Love
- I Wonder
- Hallelujah / Thy Word

Pick it up and let me know what you think!!
~TLC:)

My new album, Playing Favorites releases today! I recorded this album in January with producers

For a while, I've been practicing not looking at men. I don't mean "looking" at them – I mean looooooking at them. I even exchanged my primary crush on the bald beauty of Bruce Willis for the striking stature of the Chrysler Building.

Recently, though, I was with a male friend and commented on how much I respected that I've never seen him stare at a woman. Ever. (And yes, he's completely heterosexual.) "It's not easy," he said. "But I set my mind to it and it comes easier with time." He said he thought it was probably more difficult for him to not let his eyes trail a woman than for me in my efforts with men. So I tried to put myself in his shoes and perform a one-week experiment of not staring at women.

Initially, I thought I mostly looked at women to admire their fashion. I was wrong. Way wrong. On day one, I realized that I would stare at an attractive woman in workout clothes longer than a well-dressed but unattractive woman. I deduced that my purpose in looking at women was actually to assess their value, to judge them as "worthy" or "unworthy" of love. The attractive people were "worthy," of course. This disgusted me about myself.

I realized that, in my weaker moments, I compared myself to other women. Someone once told me that comparison is a joy-stealer. Not only that, but it ignores the image of God that He has placed in that person.

If it makes me sick to see men leering at a woman, why would I let myself do it? Of course, I don't offer the pathetic catcall that he does, but I'm still focusing on the same things. Maybe he's lusting after her, but I'm judging her. It's causing me to stumble too, just in a different way... I stumble into pride or vanity or self-condemnation.

By the end of the week, it had become much easier not to look. And a funny thing happened—I think I developed a stronger sense of confidence. I always thought I had a pretty healthy self-image, but this trained me in a new way. I even found that I had less of a desire to linger on TV shows or magazines that featured a parade of beauties. I didn't want to judge myself against their standard or judge them against my own.

I'm doing what I can to kill this thing in me… this monster of self. So I decided to keep it up—not just for that weeklong experiment, but as a general method of operation. In an unexpected way, this new restriction kind of set me free. Weird.