The Captivating Woman

Designed with purpose.

DIY Valentine’s Day Card

I love making & sending cards. I really do believe that it’s my love language. Got a new job? Send a card! Going to the moon? Send a card! Today, I want to share a super simple way to make Valentine’s Day cards. Your friends will be impressed by your craftiness, even if you’re terrible in this department. Give the cards to your friends, boyfriend/husband, co-workers, family, etc.

What You Need

  1. Decorative paper – I purchased mine from Paper Source.
  2. Paper for inside layer – Also purchased from Paper Source.
  3. Envelopes – I recommend A2 envelopes due to the sizing I’ll be giving you. Again, I purchased mine from Paper Source. I just love that store.
  4. Paper trimmer – I couldn’t find a link for the one I use, but I would recommend this one from Amazon.
  5. Ruler.
  6. Scissors.
  7. Washi tape – The one I have pictured was purchased from Target in the dollar bins.
  8. Pencil.
  9. Double sided tape (not pictured).

On the opposite side of your decorative paper, mark 8 1/4 x 5 1/2. Since I’m working with a big piece of paper, I use my scissors to cut out the paper with an extra half inch on each side. I also mark my non-decorate paper – the dimensions I used is 7 3/4 x 5. I like it to be a little smaller than the decorate paper – it looks pretty professional that way.

I then use my paper trimmer to get an exact cut, which is straight and sleek. I unfortunately have shaky hands when I cut, so the paper trimmer is my best friend. 

Next I put the pieces on top of each other and fold. I had to trim a little of my non-decorative paper so it looked even. Once you have trimmed and folded your paper, use double sided tape to secure the pieces. 

And bam! Pretty Valentine’s Day card to send to all the special people in your life. Add some pretty washi tape & use your best penmanship. The recipient of these cards will feel loved by you!

A Cry of Desperation

After battling with questions of what I should do with my future & the emptiness I felt, I cried out to God for Him to comfort me. I prayed for three things: show me that You’re listening, give me peace, & give me direction. This is what He did the Fall of 2012.

“God, I don’t know what I’m doing here in this season of life. I don’t understand Your plans and it frustrates me. My soul is irritated and uneasy. God, I feel empty and lost at sea. Help me understand You are near. Lord, I am crying out to feel You with me. Show me that You’re here and You’re paying attention to my prayer. Give me peace because I desperately need it. Lord, show me direction in my next step I need to take. Align myself to You.”

That was the prayer I desperately cried out. Thinking back to that night, I sobbed. Tears and snot. It was that kind of night. I felt helpless.

I opened up my Bible to the book of Colossians. It was book that I had read here and there, but on that night it rocked my world.

“May God our Father give you grace and peace.”-Colossians 1:2

Woah. I was praying for peace and that He would stir in my heart that He was listening – this verse identified that He was.

It was Him and I.

It was loud outside my apartment window but I wasn’t paying attention because the God of the universe was speaking to me.

As I continued to read chapter 1 of Colossians, I stopped at verse 9. “We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.” He was responding again to my prayer of seeking direction.

Lord, thank You for this. Continue to encourage my heart. I want Your will and help me to discern Your will against my desires.

During that time in Colossians, I didn’t hear exactly what I was supposed to do with my life but I felt God and that’s what I needed. I didn’t need complete understanding, I needed God. He knew that I needed that time with Him. I needed Him to fill me and satisfy my hungry heart. I needed to know He was there even though I’ve always known He was.

I needed that moment with God. 

We need to cry out to Him and say, “Lord, I’m in desperation. I can’t do this. I need to know You are there and that You’re listening. I need You to romance my heart.”

And God shows up. He doesn’t leave His kids crying in their apartments desperate to be with Him. Why? Because He’s always there… He just waits for us to call on His name.

Originally posted on Sarah Sandoval’s personal blog – https://bytheirfruit.wordpress.com

3 Ways 2016 Can Be Your Best Year Yet

In my annual Christmas cards, I wrote this line: I pray that 2016 will be your best year yet.

I sincerely mean it. I want my friends to have amazing, abundant lives in which God has called us to (John 10:10). Our lives are not easy, but they can be rich in the Lord.

2015 was, by far, my best year and I’m hoping that 2016 will be even better. My prayer for you, my Captivating sisters, is that 2016 will also be your best year.

Here are 3 ways 2016 can be your best year.

Reason 1 – Fast

Let me honest, 2015 started on a sour note. I broke up with a guy (the first guy I had ever dated) 4 days after Christmas. There were a lot of tears entering into 2015. Hannah (one of our Captivating Woman writers) and I decided to fast for 21 days because we desperately needed to hear from God. The fast was difficult. I was hungry and emotionally exhausted. I would be awake until 3 am crying and talking with God. I felt attacked by the enemy. Statements like, “No one will date you” or “You’re not good enough” fled my mind. I had to bind those up, with Satan himself, and send it to the throne. It was powerful. I truly felt that God was on my side and that He was my protector.

For 21 days I wrestled with God, but it was amazing and good. I experienced God in such a different realm which catastrophically changed the way I viewed the Lord and how I spent time with Him. I saw Him as a Father. A Father who heals broken hearts. A Father who is intentional with His children. A Father who I can approach with a kiss.

Whatever you’re craving more than God, you might want to fast from. You can fast from food, social media, sugar, etc. You choose. Not being distracted by these things can cause you to want God even more – it creates a heathy habit of running to God.

Reason 2 – Don’t Make New Years Resolutions

I feel like a failure right at the gate when I create resolutions. I do get excited when I make resolutions, but automatically feel anxious looking at them. I probably accomplish 2 out of the 10 resolutions that I create. Automatically I put an L on my forehead. But you know what?  Change is good. We shouldn’t have a complacent lifestyle where we say, “It is what it is.” So instead of create resolutions for the whole year, create a goal for the month or the week. I’d suggest to make a small goal if you’re making a goal for the week. Make it a little bigger if you’re making a goal for the month. John Maxwell says that it takes 21 days to create a habit. Change is coming, friends. Give it some time. Work with your weeks and months. Be gracious with yourself.

Reason 3 – Create Seasons of Excitement

During the summer I decided I would say yes. Yes to what? Yes to adventure, yes to traveling hours away to be a part of workshops, yes to life. I didn’t want to let money, distance, or people stop me from doing things I’ve always wanted to try. #thesummerofyes is how I titled it. My summer was fun. I traveled to Southern California to learn brush calligraphy and I drove to Canada because, why not? God introduced a lot of new things in my life & my spirit felt refreshed.

What have you been dying to do? What are your dreams? What can you be saying yes to?

We pray that 2016 will be your best year yet. We pray for adventure & whimsy. We pray that God will speak to you in different ways and that you’re heart is ready to receive. 2016 is going to be good. 2016 is going to be fun. 2016 is going to be the year that God is going to some amazing things through women. Don’t miss it.

Meet Jessica Senbetu

I met Jessica through Cru my junior year. I remember the day exactly. I walked around the chapel where Cru was having their weekly meeting, probably 4 times. I was so nervous to go in. But I knew that I would find my friends there. I connected with Jess and we realized we were in the same major, plus we had the same class together after the meeting was over. I instantly loved Jessica. I love her personality, her humor, and her love for Jesus. She does her job so well – it was made for her. I’m excited for Jessica to share more about herself in this month’s “Meet Captivating Women.”

Where do you live and how old are you?

I live in San Jose, CA and I am 23 years old!

What did you get your degree in?

I got my degree in Recreation from San Jose State University.

What three words describe you?

Passionate, creative, intuitive.

What do you do for a living?

I work full-time with a Christian missions organization called Cru (formerly known as Campus Crusade for Christ). I work with the “campus ministry” of Cru at San Jose State University reaching college students with the Gospel! It’s crazy fun! Our tagline is, “Cru is a caring community passionate about connecting people to Jesus”, and I love that vision-because it’s about changed lives, changing lives. My life was radically changed by Jesus through Cru during my freshman year of college and I was so changed that I wanted as many college students lives’ to be changed by the Gospel as well, and I wanted to be a part of that.

Give us a day in the life of Jessica Senbetu.
Let’s see…it usually starts with me waking up to the sound of my husband watching ESPN and thinking “How long has he been up? What day is it? I’m so thirsty!” Every. Single. Morning.

Once I break out of my haze I get some reading and/or praying in. This doesn’t come naturally to me, I gotta work for it. After that it’s usually straight into some type of meeting with my Cru staff teammates, staff meeting, staff prayer, check-in with my team leader. I like starting the mornings with my team, it keeps my focused and fills up my relational tank! The afternoons are usually meeting with students, sometimes that’s meeting up for coffee to talk about who Jesus is or what it looks like to follow Him, sometimes it’s going into the dorms to pray and meet students, and sometimes it’s planning to meet up with a student leader but then running into 5 other Cru students on campus and having an impromptu hangout! I love college ministry because it’s highly relational and unpredictable. God is always doing something unexpected. Lastly, the evenings are Cru meetings and small groups. This next Spring I’m helping launch a co-ed Greek Bible study, so you’ll find me on Greek row on Wednesday nights!

What’s the favorite part of your job?

My favorite part of my job is watching God change lives. I know it sounds simple, but I can just never get enough of it! This past Fall semester I personally got to see 5 freshmen girls surrender their lives over to Jesus and begin to follow Him, and that was out of 28 students who indicated decisions for Christ through Cru! Crazy! I watch students leave everything behind to follow Jesus- girls texting me at some odd hours in the night to tell me they need to break up with their boyfriend because the relationship is leading them away from Christ or that they need prayer because they just shared the Gospel with their friend from home and they can’t believe they even got through the conversation! I love getting to see answered prayers be manifested through the Spirit in real lives of college students, it’s like we’re real characters in this beautiful story God is writing.

Favorite verse?

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'” -Romans 10:14-15

What makes a Captivating Woman?
A Captivating Woman is a woman who lives out who she is supposed to be. Who she was created to be. She is unwavering from the woman God created in her mother’s womb and she seeks His voice because her identity is not in what she can do, but in Who gave her life.
Favorite story in the bible?

My favorite story in the Bible right now is the story of the sinful woman who broke her alabaster box at the feet of Jesus in front of the crowd. I came back to this story again and again this semester with my freshmen girls bible study and I was so overcome with emotion when it really hit me for the first time, I am the sinful woman and I need to come to Jesus. I love all the gems of historical context in this story…the box of perfume, the Pharisees, the washing of the feet…so good. This is one of my favorite pictures of how Jesus feels about mankind, so much compassion & love for us and so much hope offered to us.

Who are some Captivating Women in your life that we need to know about.
Elisabeth Elliot – wife of missionary Jim Elliot, and missionary herself who followed God’s leading with her husband into the remote villages of Ecuador to bring the Gospel to people who had never heard the name of Jesus. Her book Through Gates of Splendor is the account of their journey and their story changed my life! When I first became a Christian I wanted to be just like her!
Christena Cleveland – In 2014, Christianity Today named her one of the “33 Under 33” millennials leading the next generation of Christian faith. She is “a social psychologist with a hopeful passion for overcoming cultural divisions in groups”. I first heard Christena speak at our Cru staff conference this past summer and I was obsessed. Her strong voice for justice lit up the room, created discomfort, and got people talking. I loved how she used her voice to eloquently and unapologetically speak truth. www.christenacleveland.com

Advent – Day 26

“So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.” – John 1:14

We have been preparing in my house. My mom and I have gotten together to create a menu for dinner and a list of what we will be baking. In my family, the dessert menu is just as important as the dinner. Preparing, in our case, has been a little disorganized but it’s also been fun & exciting. My mom and I have been talking about how we are looking forward for the table to be set and the meal to be enjoyed at all. We can’t wait for laughter and smiling. Our hearts are ready to celebrate.

But at this moment, I’m centered with God sending His son. You may hear it every Christmas season but, Jesus is the greatest gift that we have received. Because of God’s gift to us, we received life.

Have you every thought of God getting excited when Jesus was born? Like an earthly father in a hospital, running down the hall yelling, “It’s a boy!” I imagine God cheering with the angels saying, “He is born!” We always think of Jesus’ birth as this humble entrance, but I know that heaven was exploding.

I love what C.S. Lewis says about the Son of God.

“The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons (daughters) of God.”

I am so thankful for God sending His Son so that you and I could become daughters of God. I am thankful for humble beginnings and His life of ministry. I am thankful for His unfailing love and faithfulness. I am thankful for the glory of the Lord – I want to experience that glory everyday.

Let our hearts never take for granted the blessing of God’s gift to us. As we sit down at the table with family and friends, may we thank God for His gift and for fulfilling prophecy as well as celebrating Jesus’ birth. As we prepare our homes, continue to prepare your hearts for Jesus.

Love Came Down at Christmas
Words by Christina Rossetti

Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, love Divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and angels gave the sign.

Worship we the Godhead,
Love Incarnate, love Divine;
Worship we our Jesus,
But wherewith for sacred sign?

Love shall be our token,
Love shall be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and to all men,
Love for plea and gift and sign.

Credit: Photo by Rachel K Duncan // http://www.rachelkduncan.com // Instagram: @rachelkduncan

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