Beautiful is Better?

I found a new Blog site that I adore and so I will be telling all of you about it. It's called girl talk. I like it because their theme is: conversations on Biblical womanhood and other fun stuff.

One of the blob posting was this one called Beautiful is Better?: "The other night I saw a report about the trend among high school girls to request breast implant surgery as a graduation gift. It got me thinking.

Though we would not choose to walk out of our graduation ceremony and into the plastic surgeon’s office, I don’t think there is a woman alive who hasn’t wished she could change at least one perceived physical flaw. I probably think about it more than I want to admit.

When it comes right down to it, I don’t think these girls—or any of us for that matter—want a different body for it’s own sake. Rather, because of the sin in our hearts, we long to find happiness in the applause (worship) of others. We think beauty is our ticket to bliss.

But it won’t take us anywhere. Beauty doesn’t satisfy....."

Parenting

My dear readers. This will not be a popular blog I'm sorry to say; however, that has not ever stopped me in the past so here it goes.

Proverbs 22:6
6 Train [a] a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it.

Ephesians 6:4
4Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

All to often children in our society are not being raised by their parents. I'm not talking about nanny or babysitters or even foster care. The children are raising the parents. This isn't right. As a child a baby is continually trying to find out it's limitations. What am I aloud to do? What will mommy say no to and what will she say yes to? The baby is looking for borders in his or hers world. If the parents do not provide limitations to that baby it grows up not knowing the security of a structured household. This will lead to problems later on in the child's life.

Structure is providing a schedule for the child, such as meal times, bedtimes, and activity on a regular bases that the child can adapt to. It is providing discipline. Showing the child what is right and wrong. It is also providing love, hugs and kisses all around. Structure is instilling good principles in your child.

In my first aid class we learned about obesity. The main problem these over weight kids had was lack of structure. If a child does not have structure he starts to have behavioral issues. We have all seen some two year old throw a fit in the store if he doesn't get candy. At two years old he is still finding his boundaries and so it is reasonable to throw a fit at his age. Yet when a child of ten or dare I say fifteen throw a fit, You can see that lack of structure they had growing up.

I know a lot of mothers don't want to discipline their children because they don't want their children to hate them. I can understand that, but if they love their children enough that they are willing to discipline their children when they are young then their children will grow to be good and much happier children then if the parents didn't discipline them.

Raising children is one of the challenges that I'm looking forward to. I hope that all my children will love the Lord with all their heart, soul, and strength.

Bloggers convention ( I really am a geek)

Last night I went to a bloggers convention. I was the youngest person there and probably had the smallest blog of all of the people there, but I got to met La Shawn Barber. I have a link to her blog already. She has some very good( In my opinion) comments on politics with a religious twist. I got my picture taken with her so I'm sure you'll see that later.

I also met this other guy who had written a book. So I have another reading assignment as soon as I get a weekend free. He talked about this one blog he is really impressed with, Uncreative Laura: A Practice in Belief. She had a really cool blog. She sound like a person I would want to meet and become friends with. She has probably read more theology books than I ever will and she has a blog site in Español, Poliglotta: Mi Modo de Vida! I want to learn better Spanish and if I read her blog that will improve my language skills. We seem to have alot of the same interests music, cooking, and theology. She is just probably out of my class in theology, but still she sounds like a cool girl.

There is my first blog meeting in a nut shell. You can also come to the next meeting of The League of Reformed Bloggers. I have to see you there. It will be fun.

River of Life

Ezekiel 47:6-12

Then he led me back to the bank of the river. ⁷ When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. ⁸ He said to me, "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, ^[a] where it enters the Sea. ^[b] When it empties into the Sea, ^[c] the water there becomes fresh. ⁹ Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. ¹⁰ Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Great Sea. ^{[d] 11} But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. ¹² Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing."

A friend recently showed me this passage and she said that this is what the water is like that Jesus speaks of at the well with the Sameritan woman. The water is so alive that it turns the Dead Sea into something living. This is the kind of water I hope that flows out of my life.

John 4:10-11

¹⁰Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." ¹¹"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?

Education

My dad has a little phrase that use to drive me crazy when I was younger. "Teach this to your children, your grandchildren, and your great-grandchildren," and then he would say some bit of wisdom. This is a biblical principle that too many family's are ignoring today. Here is a letter he wrote about what he wanted my sisters and me to learn. My mother and Father did a great job teaching me by homeschooling me and bringing me up in the way of the Lord.

Psalm 119:73

⁷³ Your hands made me and formed me;
give me understanding to learn your commands.

We have no excuse not to follow God's commands. He has made to know good from evil, wrong from right, and truth vs. a lie. We know when we do wrong. We feel guilty for the bad things we do; however, we still sin. Why?

The Evil in our nature over powers the good. We want to sin too much. Does this make it okay? NO! God has given us a way out of our sinful ways.

John 1:29b

“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

How wonderful an awsome is our God.

Prayer

I just realized something that I should have realized long ago. If people read my blog, which I hope they do, and if people are active mentors in my faith, which many of you are, then I should put my prayer requests on my blog so you can pray for me. I thought of that all by myself.

Prayer requests:
1. Mexico: I'm going next summer to Guadalajara, Mexico for an internship. There I will be assisting the missionary's there. Pray that I get there and that God would bless me while I'm there.

2. School: I need help with college. I'm not independently wealthy and I'm not uber smart. Pray that I make good grades and that I glorify God with my behavior on campus.

3. Witness: I want to shine for Jesus, but I keep getting in the way for that. Pray that the Holy Spirit would fill my life and that people would see Christ in me.

4. Future: This covers so many things that it's hard to name they all. Future husband(I hope), future job, future dreams, ect.

Well, I guess that's all I have time to cover for now. Thank you and I'll be praying for you too.

In Christ,
An Exceptional Being

The Noble Savage/Person?

A lot of the time I think that man is basicly good. Then I commit some lothsome error and then I remeber that we are just dust. One of the questions that is adressed in theology and phsycology is "Is man basicly good or is man basicly evil?" THis is s tuff question. You look at a little baby, me I look at my baby cousins. They seem so sweet and pure. How could they possible be evil? But then I look closer. I watch them as they grow. Do they need to be taught to fight or hit their little sister? Do they need us to demonstrate how to be selfish? No. Do we? No. I manage to be bad enough on my own. I don't need outside forces to show me how to misbehave. So is all man evil? Yes.

Romans 3:23
23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Does this mean that it is all hopeless and we should give up on the human race entirerly? No, there is hope still. Christ died to give us all eternal life. He died to make us clean and pure. In Him and Him alone lies our hope and salvation.

Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Marrige

I have been thinkging alot about love and the guy I will one day(hopefully) marry. I want a marrige that I will still enjoy being apart of fifteen, twenty, or fifty years down the line. I still see my grandfather take my grandmother her coffee in bed every morning when I'm staying at their house. I can still see that they are very much in love. I still see the respect and admiration my mother has for my father. I see the marriges around me as good and happy marriges. I hope that I too can be happy and respectful of my husband. I want someone to be my best friend and spiritual leader. The Lord is good and even though I still have yet to see the man He will provide, I know that there is someone out there who will love me till the day I die.

Abortion

SLED

Size = large people are not more human than small people, no matter the size

Level of Development = a 4-year old is not less human than a 21-year old, nor more human than an unborn child

Environment = where you are has no bearing on who you are, you are still human

Dependency = if viability (non-dependency) is what makes us human, then all those who depend on pacemakers, dialysis, medications, etc. are non-human

I have a real heart for unborn children. I believe that even in the wome that every child is unique and special.(and I have four sisters; talk about some sepcial people) I once heard someone talk about pro-life using these priciples. I hope that these same principles speak to your hearts as well.

One verse that had meant a lot to me recently is:

Isaiah 40:31
31“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not be faint.”

I’m reminded through this verse to continually go to the Lord. Whether I am in trouble or just to spend time with Him, He will lift my spirit and make me new again. When I am persistently spending time with God and doing His will, I am being kept from falling.

Revelation 2:8-10

⁸"And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write,

"These things says the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life: ⁹"I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich); and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. ¹⁰Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

I heard a pastor on the radio preach on these verses and it really spoke to me.

I have been going through an area of my life when so many things just seem to big for me to deal with. I have so many problems in my life I am unable to fix. The Holy Spirit gives us these two pieces of advice.


^10aDo not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer...

10b Be faithful until death...

Don't fear and have faith. So simple and yet so hard. I realized that I was so scared of the problems in my life. I need to trust God in everything. I need to have faith that He will work all things to His glory.

Ezekiel 16:14-15

¹⁴ And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign LORD.

¹⁵ " 'But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his.

God has made us beatiful, both inside and out. He has taken His beauty and instilled it in us. Through His grace we are made whole and healed of our iniquitys. He takes away every scar every pain we had, cleans us, and dresses us in His glory.

What do we do with that? We trust not in the God who healed us and made us beautiful. We trust in works that He did for us. We trust in our strength and us the healing and beauty He instilled in us for our own sinful perpuses.

Later, when we realize that we get hurt when we don't trust in God, we come back to Him crying and praying He will forgive us. He does with out condition. He gently rebukes us and instructs us in the way we should go.

Psalm 18:2

²The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;

Psalm 18:30

³⁰As for God, His way is perfect;
The word of the LORD is proven;
He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

May this verse be true of us today.

Psalm 20:7

⁷Some trust in chariots, and some in horses;
But we will remember the name of the LORD our God.

You don't need to walk by faith, you can walk by sight with a spiritual check list

You don't need to walk by faith, you can walk by sight with a spiritual check list.
My pastor said this in his sermon today. He was talking about being a legalistic Christians. As Christians it is so easy to create a bunch of rules to follow. Yet that is not trusting God. Our sin is taken care of by what what Jesus did on the cross. If we try and atone for our own sin, we are not trusting God to do it for us; however, as humans we want to control everthing. We want to control how we deal with our sin. We want to make up for it, yet we can't. Our only "job" in this Christian walk is to cast all our cares upon Christ and allow Him to make our paths straight. This is very hard and we can not do it by ourselves. We need Christ to bring our hearts to the place were we can trust Him enough to save us from our sins.

2 Corinthians 5:7

⁷For we walk by faith, not by sight.

1 Thessalonians 5:17

¹⁷Pray without ceasing.

I once heard a sermon on prayer. The only main point I remember from it is this.

The Bible says to pray with out ceasing. We do pray with out ceasing. Human beings a made to pray with out ceasing. This can also be written that we complain with out ceasing or we gossip with out ceasing or a million other ways we verbally relate. The question is who are we praying too? We talk to our friends, our therapist, and our priests: however, isn't it ironic that we can't talk to our God, our Creator and Father. Talk to your Father in heaven. He is the only one who can understand, bear, and lift our problems. He is the only one who will be there for you 24-7.

Father, please may I rest all my problems on You. May I be able to talk to You and not trust in anything in this world. Give me Your grace, Father. Amen.

I have been tagged by three different people so I am finally doing this tagging thing.

If I could be a missionary...I would go to Mexico and be the best Missionary Nurse there ever was.
If I could be a chef...I would rule my kitchen with and iron hand and wo to any man, woman, or child that stood in my way. I maybe I would just cook for my family and be the best mother cook.Yeah, that's good.
If I could be a doctor...I don't know if I could get through school, but I would like to be a kind doctor. We are somewhat lacking of those.
If I could be a musician... I would be the best rock star and drive my sister crazy, because sometimes my ignorance in music annoy her.
If I could be a world famous blogger... What are you saying? I'm already that, right?

Psalm 33:12

¹² Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he chose for his inheritance.

Happy Fourth Of July!!!!! I love my country and I hope that we will be a nation that follows the Lord.

How many times do I say when I want my sisters to stop something in public, "I will kill you if you don't stop." WAY to much. A friend of mine gently pointed this out to me. "Why do you always say 'I'll kill you' to your sisters? Are you really going to do that? What is with this violence?" He did it in such a sweet manner I didn't find it offensive at all. I was able to accept what he had to say.

Why do I say that? What is it helping? Is it glorifying to God? Jesus put the conviction in my heart to be nicer with my words. (not as easy as you'd think) My sisters may or may not notice, but I hope that they will feel like I'm trying to be kinder to them and see Christ.

Good Christian Men/Boys

There were strange men at my house this week. An old pastor of our church came to town with his new church. They were going on a missions trip to Sandtown, Baltimore. My family of five girls(six if you count my mom) decided to host a group of four men from that trip. There was our old pastor and three teenage boys. It sounds strange, but having those boys at our house was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. We stayed up late talking about politics, movies, and the like.(you know just normal everyday things) They played my sister at Egyptian Rat Screw and I think most of the time they lost. But my sisters and I really enjoyed their company. We had never had brothers before and for a week we had three!!!

Okay, but on to my main point. These guys were nice to have around because they exemplified good Christian men. My sisters and I don't have a whole lot of those kind of examples around.(I mean we have my dad, but after a while you just say oh that's just dad) So it was cool to have such a model right there in front of us for a week. So to all you Christian guys out their, keep up the good work and don't forget that girls are watching you whether it's a sister, a friend, or a friend's sister. Strive to be the Godly men that you were designed to be.

By the way I hurt my hand and it's in a bandage and that makes it very hard to type. So you know I am very serious about this godly men thing.

Eating

I'm going to be writing about something very close to my heart today. Sorry if it seems a bit to sappy or preachy.

When I turned twelve I developed an eating disorder. Why? Don't know. There are just so many reason.
I was a little chubby and my sister was uber skinny. I felt inferior next to her.
Also so many things were going on in my life beyond my control. I wanted to be able to control something, so I through this is something I can handle.
I am the second of five girls. Sometimes I can get overlooked. I wanted my family and others to notice me and to think I was pretty.
I was in rebellion. I wanted control so I took "control" of my weight. Basically I was saying to God, "You can control everything else in my life except this one thing." And then I focused only on my eating and nothing else that God would have wanted me to.
Some people made fun of me and others made gentle comment on how not to eat so much. Those comments hurt and I wanted to be good and pretty.

I had two fainting spells during my eating disorder. The first one happened when I got up in the morning to go to the bathroom. I was walking along and the next thing I new I couldn't see anything and I felt like someone was tossing me around. I waited a few seconds and then I opened my eyes and found I could see again. I was on the floor and I had fallen, hitting the sink and the door as I fell.

The second time I was talking to my sister and my vision started to go black and out of focus. The next thing I knew I was on the floor under my sisters desk. I had just missed hitting my head on the desk.

The world would often go black and I would get dizzy, but these were the only times I lost conciseness.

Girls are not the only ones to struggle with eating disorders. Two of my friend both males also had trouble with it. They were both on the wrestling team and to be at the top of their game they wanted to be the biggest in their class. I don't understand all the rules, but I do know that it is so easy to slip into,"I'll just lose a few more pound." "Okay just a little bit more." "I have almost got it, just a little bit more."

The Bible doesn't say much about eating disorders. You won't find those words in the Bible, but here are some verses that helped me.

1 Corinthians 10:31

³¹So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

Do every thing for the glory of God. Even eat. That's heavy. Eating for the glory of God means you are not the center of attention. You are not thinking about yourself. You are thinking about God and what He wants. God wants the simple things in your life. Eating, sleeping, relationships, and so much more.

1 Samuel 16:7b

For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

1 Thessalonian 5:22

²²Abstain from all appearance of evil.