TheBLVEDCollective

There is no question that there is a battle going on in our culture today. It is a battle between lies and the truth. It is a big topic and there are so many individual battles going on within this massive battle. One topic in particular is what we are talking about today: the lies and the truth surrounding marriage and the family. Even this is a HUGE topic. Between what marriage is and what is not is even vast. It is a huge topic because, as most people will get married, it effects everyone. Society is built on the backbone of the family. Tear down the family and society crumbles. This battle effects everyone. Married couples are navigating the battle from one perspective, but the question I want to pose is: how does this battle impact those who aren’t yet married? It effects them in a very specific and confusing way. The confusion that surrounds this battle is the work of the devil. The devil does two things - he makes so much noise in the culture that it becomes really confusing and hard to navigate and find the truth. With so much noise, it can be hard to hear the truth even if its right in front of you. The other thing that the devil does is he creates an illusion of isolation so that if you happen to find the truth, you feel like you’re the only one who believes it. Living the truth in this culture is difficult enough, but when you believe that you are the only one striving for these things, then it becomes infinitely more difficult. There is an obvious need to learn how to decipher the truth and I wish it was as easy as follow these 3 steps. But it’s not. The truth is that it takes a life time of honing your truth meter and constantly striving to stay aligned to the truth. Once the truth is found however, the battle is not over! We need perseverance, accountability and community to come up around us and champion us on. We need to struggle towards the truth with others, we are social creatures after all. We need the outlet to discuss our thoughts and hearts with others. We need to be seen in the struggle. As humans we are not perfect, we mess up. We need to be seen as human, as erring. In the world of social media it is nearly impossible not to feel like you can’t show the messy parts of your life to others. Even with all of this we cannot do it alone. We need true human community but also we need Christ. We need His truth, and His example. He is the way, the truth, and the life. What do we do with all of this now? First we need to find human community and run together toward Christ and His truth. I hope you all have supportive communities around you but if not, please reach out! I would love to support you in any way that I can. Website: www.theblvedcollective.com Instagram: @theblvedcollective Youtube: The BLVED Collective

Welcome to Dear BLVED! The Dear BLVED podcast is a place to dive deep into relationships, femininity, and the stages leading up to marriage. Conversations rooted in the truth and doing our part in carrying on the work of John Paul II. In this trailer episode get to know me, your host, Laura Jean, founder of The BLVED Collective, and learn about the ways that I am serving you. I fell in love with theology from a young age. There is something about the truth that convicts and piques your interest. I was introduced to John Paul II and his teaching on Theology of the Body and loved that theology has so much to say on the human person and our experience here on this earth. With this hunger to learn everything I could about these topics I studied Theology in college and went on to study marriage and family Theology in graduate school at the International Theological Institute. It was in grad school that I was struck with profound gratitude, not only for the things I was learning but because I was learning them as a young single woman. I knew that being formed in this way as a single person would impact every relationship I had moving forward and that is an incredible gift. I started thinking of ways that I can use my education to form young people in a similar way in the stages before marriage - and thats how I started The BLVED Collective. The BLVED Collective exists to form young Catholic’s in the truth. I bring together Theology, philosophy, and practicality in this formation which makes it unique and approachable. In order to do this I enlisted some help of some great saints who have done their own work much better than I ever can imagine I might in this field. The patron saints of The BLVED Collective are John Paul II, Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin, and Edith Stein. There is a lot of confusion in todays world about what is true and what is not. Sifting through the lies and devious plans of the devil is not an easy task, nor one that we can handle alone. It is something that we need Christ and our communities to come up around us and help us in our journey towards the truth. The battle is not just a battle for marriages, other vocations are also effected. But what is crazy is that the preparations for other vocations is much longer than the preparation for marriage. Most people will get married, it is the natural vocation after all. However on average a young man will have 4-6 years of formation before he is ordained a priest and a young woman has about 4-8 years of formation before becoming a religious sister. This time of formation serves them well for their vocations and the duties that it entails. However marriage is not given the same formation period. On average the Church requires 6 weeks of formation for a couple before they can be married. That is simply not enough. Preparation for marriage should be something that happens from day 1. And it does as John Paul II notes in familiars consortio. But he also mentions different kinds of marriage preparation, some more intentional than others. This intentional formation is what I am doing to help this preparation deficiency in the Church today. I have created Made BLVED which is a proximate marriage preparation program designed with single and dating young people in mind. To give them a similar formation to what I was able to receive as a single person studying Theology in graduate school. This 12 week program is both intellectual and practical formation for the young person who would like to be married one day. In addition to Made BLVED which is the bread and butter here at The BLVED Collective, I also offer life formation coaching for young women and mentorship programs. Check out my website at www.theblvedcollective.com to learn more and to download some freebies to help you on your journey towards truth. Website: www.theblvedcollective.com Instagram: @theblvedcollective.com Youtube: The BLVED Collective