Music Artist of The Month: Laughing Out Loud with Natalie Villa

By Carmen Miller

What started as my usual random search of female Christian singers, I came across this bubbly, beautiful chica. Her name is Natalie Villa. And WHOLE's first Music Artist of The Month.

Natalie recently debuted her single "LOL." A catchy melodic song reminding us all that, when life throws us a lemon. . . LAUGH OUT LOUD! Contrary to what people believe, Christians do not have a perfect life. We also will find ourselves going through trials, but when we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, remaining faithful & joyful even in our darkest hours—He promises us a eternal future of hope. 

And that's what Natalie wants her fans to know. "On this journey of life there will be hard times and happy times, but through it all there is one thing that will never change, the love of Jesus. This song “LOL” depicts the joy one can have while trusting in God no matter what the circumstance." - Natalie

Read further to see what Natalie had to say to WHOLE.

     W: We love your new song “LOL!” What is the meaning behind the title?

N: Thank you so much! “LOL” means to “laugh out loud” and that is the whole meaning behind the song, the joy of the Lord! When the song was written, I was dealing with some crazy issues and finally just said, “God even with all of this craziness in my life, you really got me LOL!!!” While writing it I was finding the joy of the Lord in my everyday life. Whether I was going to the doctor, stressed at work in my cubicle or even cleaning my house, and that is what I hope happens for every person that listens to this song. Happiness is temporary, but true joy no one can take away from you, and that’s the meaning behind “LOL”.

W: As a child you struggled with fear and anxiety. What happened that made you realize Christ had finally freed you from this stronghold in your life?

N: The moment I realized God had set me free from fear and anxiety is when I was able to stay at home alone by myself all night! I used to be so afraid of everything that I could not be home alone. God gave me this revelation of Him being my protector. That He will always be with me, and will take care of me. Psalms 121 totally set me free for real! It talks about where does my help come from? The mountains? The hills? No it comes from God alone who is my Guardian, who never sleeps, always watches me, and will always protect me. It was then I started to really learn what it means to trust the Lord and it was revolutionary. Breaking free from fear and anxiety has been a process my whole life. Sometimes I still have to do things afraid, but this passage of God’s word has really helped me live a life of freedom. You need to check it out!

W: We are excited to see more and more Christian Pop music emerging. What is it like being a Christian artist in a secular world?

N: It’s so exciting and honestly freeing because I can be me and not have to be what society says I have to be. It also gives me hope that I might be able to bring change in this world, even through something as easy as music! I really believe the most powerful, universal tool the Church has is music and even a song as simple as “LOL” can penetrate the darkness of this world.

 
W: What do you want to tell our readers who are going through hard times and have lost that joy they once had for Christ?

N:Praise and thankfulness is the key, my friends! The scripture Isaiah 61 tells us to put on garments of praise for a spirit of heaviness and it’s so true! Where praise exists, heaviness cannot! You will be shocked at the joy that floods in you when you start praising and thanking God. His joy is contagious and when you get into His presence, it’s impossible not to receive it. The results of a thankful heart will literally change you. Even if your circumstances look bad sometimes you just have to remember, God is good because He is God! And He is good all the time, no matter what life looks like. When you focus on His goodness despite what’s going on or how you are feeling, it will really help change your perspective and joy will come, I promise.

 
W: WHOLE Magazine exists to encourage women and young girls in finding wholeness in their brokenness. Have you ever experienced a season of brokenness?

N: Well first of all, I think the mission of WHOLE Magazine is amazing! Second, yes I have totally experienced seasons of brokenness, I think that’s just a part of life. What’s really funny is that my song “LOL” came from probably one of the darkest seasons of my life. It was like a walking contradiction to how I was feeling when I was writing it. I had been battling through some major health and some relational issues and it left me feeling afraid, anxious and discouraged. Everyday was a fight. One day I would be feeling encouraged and the next day really discouraged. But honestly, what brought me through that season was the Bible! The word of God is so powerful. It will meet you wherever you are at and change your whole life because it will change you! That’s what it did for me. My circumstances did not necessarily change, but I began to believe the scriptures I was reading, and believe that God is good and declare them. One day at a time, I could feel a change in me. God really taught me during this season of feeling broken that He is the Great Shepherd and yep, I am the Sheep. I have learned that He is totally trustworthy and dependable no matter the circumstance. One last thought-- you are not your brokenness. Your brokenness doesn't define you. The only thing that truly defines us is that we are children of God and that He loves you. Oh yeah!!!

 
W: What is your favorite scripture, or a verse that you memorize and live by?

N: For sure my life scripture and favorite verse that I constantly live by is 2 Timothy 1:7! I seriously could not live on this planet with out knowing that God was given me power, love and a sound mind… and not fear! It’s literally fundamental to my existence… lol.

 
W: Who are some of your favorite artists you listen to?

N: I LOVE Beckah Shae, V.Rose, Kari Jobe, all of the RMG artists- Derek Minor, Kanon, Tony Tillman, Chad Jones… I am always listening to these artists on my iPhone or car.

 
W: Is there anything on your heart you would like to share with our readers?

N: Never, EVER give up! I heard someone once say, “The pain of giving up far outweighs the pain of persevering.” No matter where you are at today or what has happened in your life, you have a beautiful destiny. God knows you. He knows what you’re going through and He STILL loves you! He has an amazing plan for you. Remember you can walk through anything because He is with you and you can do all things through Him because He is the one that strengthens you! Xoxo

“This is truly one of my life desires, to see generations encounter the presence of the Lord through all genres of music. I really believe that there is nothing greater than worshiping the Lord through all forms of creative expressions.” - Natalie

Check out the official music video "LOL" below.

Visit Natalie's website to learn more and receive your free download of "LOL." Connect with her on Facebook and on Twitter @msnatalievilla.

Love vs. Lust

by Johnnesha Parker

Once upon a time, I thought I was so in love.  I remember how much I wanted to spend every minute of my day gazing into his eyes, cuddling, having long conversations and sharing secrets and desires.  He felt like the “real thing” at the time.  I just knew our love would last forever…and I did my best to try and make it last.

They say hindsight is 20/20, and looking back I can clearly see that what I felt was love wasn't love at all.  Yes, I had a strong yearning and desire for him that was overwhelming at times, but it wasn't love…it was more like lust.  Everything this man and I shared satisfied my fleshly craving for attention and affection, but it did nothing for my spirit.  God was not a part of our relationship at all!  Our “love” was all about satisfying our needs and indulging our own wants and desires.  In fact, whenever we tried to pray together, attend church services, or even discuss scriptures, we would encounter some sort of conviction about the lifestyle we were living together.  Lusts of the flesh are sins that lead to a separation from God, and this relationship was doing just that.  Eventually, after much heartache and disappointment, we separated and moved on.

Some years later, I married the man God sent for me.  My husband challenges me to live out the instructions found in 1 Corinthians 13 about real “love.”  

• Love is patient and kind.  We may go through rough patches now and then, but I suffer through them with  a smile in my heart and on my face because I have faith in God’s plan for my marriage.  I know His plan does not include my giving up on my covenant with my husband because it’s too hard.
• Love does not envy or boast.  Everyone’s marriage is different.  My married friends may seem to have a better, more romantic relationship than I do, but they could also be struggling with the same issues all couples face.  By the same token, I can’t look at a marriage that’s in trouble and say to myself, “Well at least we’re not doing THAT bad!”  It doesn’t do any good to focus on someone else’s blessings or failings.  I thank God for the privilege of being a wife and ask His strength and grace each day to be the Proverbs 31 woman of my husband’s dreams.  
• Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful.  This is a biggie!  Before I was married, if I didn’t get what I wanted from a relationship I would be irritable about it at first, then in time irritation morphed into resentment.  I blamed my partner for not making me happy and fulfilling my needs and wants.  That was pure selfishness; love is not about getting, it’s about giving.
• Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Here is the heart of love; this is how God loves us.  Some things that happen in a marriage, like infidelity for example, may seem unbearable.  It may be hard to believe that things will ever get better, and it can be easy to lose hope in your partner.  However, God bears with us through all of our faults and disappointments.  He believes and hopes that we will see how much He truly loves us and return to Him when lust causes us to fall away.  God endures all things because He loves us and wants us to belong to Him in spirit, soul, and body.  When you love someone, God can give you that same strength to endure and hold on.
• Love never ends.  I’m so thankful that God’s love will always be there waiting for me.  It gives me a feeling of security that nothing else can give.  With God, it doesn’t matter if I’m fat or skinny, rich or poor, have a GED or PhD; His love is still the same.  Even if I sin and separate from God, He is always there waiting for me to reconcile and come back to Him.  I want to be able to love my husband the same way; in sickness and health, for richer or poorer, until death separates us.  

I’ve learned that love isn’t always easy and it’s almost nothing like what we see in movies.  Love is not about diamond rings, lavish trips, and shopping sprees.  It’s not about having someone to fulfill your every wish and desire.  It’s not even about sex on the beach or passionate kisses in the rain while your favorite love song plays in the background.  Love is giving, hoping, sacrificing, enduring, growing closer to your partner and closer to God.  

Are you in love or in lust?

Love Is Blind

By Jarrad Miller

What is the definition of LOVE? Our society confuses love & lust. Unlike lust, God's kind of love is directed outward towards others, not inward towards ourselves. Love has become a mixed-up term with little meaning.

Today, people are still confused about love. It is the greatest of all human qualities, and it is an attribute of God himself! 

Whoever does not love does not know God,
because God is love.  - 1 John 4:8

God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah saying, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness" (Jer. 31:3). He is eager to do the best for us if we will let Him. Before we were formed in the womb the Lord knew us. For years we swam around in a sea of meaningless searching for love. Mary J. Blige had a joint called "Real Love,' where she belted out that she was in search of a real love. However, I will never forget the song by Eve called "Love Is

Blind."  

"Love is blind and it will take over your mind. What you think is love, is truly not. 
You need to elevate and find." - Eve

There is definitely some truth to the above statement, but love is NOT blind; it's the people who know the Word, but do NOT know the meaning of it! In high school, I dated a girl I thought I was in love with. But I tried to control her. God gently leads, Satan tugs hard. I didn't want her to wear revealing clothes, nor have male friends, because I thought they would probably be flirtatious with each other. I would get upset if I even thought she looked at another guy. No longer did I look at her as human. I looked at her as my property, and ultimately I felt that I could put my hands on her. . .all in the name of LOVE!

LOVE IS NOT BLIND! It is that the truth of love has been veiled to those who do not know or have fellowship with the Son. Rihanna sings to us, "we found love in a hopeless place," but when you spend your meaningless life searching for love and searching for hope, eventually you will realize that hope & love are found in Jesus Christ who will never disappoint.

So back to Eve's song, "what you think is love, is truly not. You need to elevate and find." Isn’t that the truth! The Word of God says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove by you what is that good and pleasing and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2).

In conclusion, we need to elevate and find out what love is truly about. Apostle Paul said that love is the greatest gift. 

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. Love never fails. - 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

CHOOSE GOD. . .CHOOSE LOVE!

Please Excuse My Christianity

By Brittany Moses

It’s estimated that 33% of our entire world’s population represents Christianity (about 2.1 billion people) ranking as the top organized religion in the world. After Christianity follows Islam, Secularism, Hinduism, etc. and even Christianity can be dissected into different denominations but the point follows that the majority of our world claims Christianity. The statistics can be translated into a mighty encouragement and inspiration to us yet we live in a time where the values of our faith are constantly being thrown to shame. Purity, honesty, sacrifice, integrity, modesty and even the name of our savior Jesus Christ is all being shoved under the rug and replaced with the ultimate self-pleasing life experience in our culture. You can hear it in secular music, see it in movies, read it in magazines and the list goes on. The problem is that when you live for a cause dedicated to the pursuit of self that cause dies with you. You’ll see that while most of the world claims Christianity a lot of our lifestyles reflect an example quite contrary to the teachings of Christ. 

Now I don’t for one second want to set this up to bash Christianity. After all, I am a devoted Christian myself and I truly believe that the body of Christ is “the hope of the word” as Bill Hybel said. I want to make it clear today that there is a HUGE difference between “claiming” Christianity and actually BEING a Christian. There’s a difference between a life of knowing who Christ is and surrendering to a life completely yielded to the salvation plan of Jesus Christ. There’s a difference between an empty religion set to rules of what you “can” and “cannot” do to an intimate love relationship with the Lord our God which leads you genuinely to the righteous life. And once we have made an awareness of the difference and have truly applied this to our lives, it is SOUL-CHANGING.

I’ve noticed that when we come to the point of sharing our faith with others we find ourselves sugar-coating or watering down the message so that it seems more acceptable to the person we are sharing with. Sometimes we don’t even share at all because we’re afraid of risking rejection. How is it that we become ashamed of the same faith that is the leading faith of our world? Our culture is outright blunt and unashamed in its sin. In fact, we glorify sin. Things like “friends with benefits”, casual violence, getting drunk, taking drugs etc. are common examples of glorified sins clearly prohibited by God. I feel like as a Christian it’s equally necessary to be unashamed in Christ in a way that stands out as a polar opposite of our fallen society. In Romans 1:16 Paul states confidently “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Paul was a fantastic example of an unashamed Christian fighting for a life dedicated to the Gospel truth. When you know more about a reality show then the Bible, or more about some secular artists lyrics then the Word of God or more about a celebrities life details then the scripture then your reality of Gods truth becomes distorted. Soon we start believing that life is supposed to be just like all of these things. This is the start of how Christians can backslide into a lifestyle that blends in with the world but contradicts the Word. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 (NLT) perfectly predicts our world’s intake on guidance, “For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths.” 

We need to make sure that we are giving out the Gospel in raw truth and not only what we think people want to hear. The truth is the truth whether we like it or not. And God’s truth is to lead us to the ultimate greater good in the end so it is for our overall benefit. Most people are more convinced of the faith by witnessing a life impacted by Christ then preaching all day long with no actions supporting the claim of their faith. Let’s lead others to the truth of the Gospel by the way that we live. Let our lives be the proof of our faith. Let’s NOT misrepresent our God by titling ourselves as Christians while acting out against Him. That would be a contradiction in itself; it would be misleading and subject to His righteous judgment. 

I titled this post “Please Excuse My Christianity” in reference to the way we approach sharing our faith. Nothing is wrong with being a Christian. Nothing is wrong with dedicating our lives to the God who gave us life. Nothing is wrong with sharing your God-given beliefs even if NO ONE believes you. Mark 16:15 states, “And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” This is our calling. Our purpose is to impact not just the world, but ETERNITY. When we stand before our God of the universe one day, seated on His throne surrounded in glory, do you think it will matter then whether we got rejected by someone or not for sharing the Gospel? This is what we call eternity-thinking. 

We are making choices that glorify Gods eternal plan for the salvation of mankind. These are choices for a cause that goes beyond the grave. But the first step is leading with your own life. I would hope that you have read this and made the decision to start making changes today. It’s easy to read something like this and think it is simply a good message or a motivating read. It is something very different to read this and say “Starting now I choose to follow God with all my heart and soul and fight for the cause of soul transformation.” I pray that this has blessed you all and sparked a fire to fight the good fight of faith. Amen!

Perfection

By Coleen York

There was once a time when I thought that in order to be beautiful I had to be on the cover of Vogue or something. Or that I at least had to reach that level of pretty, of skinny, of perfection. To be worthy of the magazines… to be the "ultimate."

Movie Review: A Little Bit of Heaven

By Carmen Miller

While perusing through Netflix in the wee hours of the morning, I came across this movie. A Little Bit of Heaven.

Most movies about dying from cancer don’t have the bouncy high spirits and candy-colored atmosphere of a modern romantic comedy. Then comes A Little Bit of Heaven starring Kate Hudson who plays  a free-spirited woman (yet, again) who is diagnosed with Colon cancer. In the movie she voices her intention of never wanting to fall in love or settle down. Everything changes when she meets Gael Garcia Bernal, the man who changes how she feels about love. He just happens to be the doctor diagnosing her with colon cancer and offering slim chances that any treatment will keep her alive. 

Kate Hudson flirts with Bernal as he preps her for a colonoscopy, an awkward moment (and apparently a nice dose of morphine drip) followed by a fantasy sequence in which Hudson’s spirit travels to heaven and talks to God, who takes the form of Whoopi Goldberg, who informs her, sassily, that she’s dying. She is  granted three wishes on the way out, however, though she knows—being "omniscient" and all—that what Hudson really wants is to find love before she dies.

This movie reinforces the importance of true love and, despite its grim subject matter, A Little Bit Of Heaven stays on task even in the face of death. Kate's character even has a moment where she asks her doctor beau if he believed in God and how she envied people who believed in Him and lived a life of joy and peace, because as believers they knew what was in waiting for them after they passed on. 

It reminded me of what's to come for us as believers. We once feared dying and no longer living alongside our loved ones. As new creatures in Christ we know now that we have a beautiful Kingdom waiting for us. A place with no more pain, ugliness, hurt or violence. A place of true joy and love.

Jesus reminds us of this in John 14:1-3, when He says, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am."

If you have Netflix, call up your girlfriends, pop some popcorn and enjoy A Little Bit of Heaven.

*Please note this is not a Christian movie, however as a believer I tend to look  at everything Biblically and Spiritually.