A Time To Dance

Jeremy Camp -- Overcome

2012-01-29T15:24:00.002-05:00

Seated above, enthroned in the Father's love

Destined to die, poured out for all mankind

God's only son, perfect and spotless one

He never sinned, but suffered as if He did

All authority, every victory is Yours

~CHORUS~

Savior, worthy of honor and glory, worthy of all of our praise, You overcame

Jesus, awesome in power forever, awesome and great is Your name, You overcame

Power in hand, speaking the Father's plan

You're sending us out, light in this broken land

We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb

And the word of our testimony, everyone overcome

2012-01-21T17:51:00.006-05:00

Meet my dog....

He has better living conditions than 80% of this worlds population....

*Approximately 22,000 children die each day due to poverty.

*An estimate of 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS

*Every year there are 350-500 million cases of malaria resulting in 1 million fatalities.

*An estimated 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water.

Do you see a problem??

Source: Anup Shah, Poverty Facts and Stats, Global Issues, Updated: September 20, 2010

*I do not own any of these images

Thankfulness

2012-01-13T16:05:00.004-05:00

Isn't it amazing how God can put something on your heart one day, and, once you’ve forgotten about it, remind you about it the next day.. then a few days afterwards, then three times the next week? This is not coincidental. When
you serve a God like mine, there is no room for “coincidence”.

One of these things that has been twirling itself over and over in my mind like an ipod stuck on re-play (If it is even possible to get an iPod stuck on replay) is thankfulness.

Before you roll your eyes and hit that little red X button on the top right of your screen thinking that you’re perfectly thankful enough and don’t have the time nor the patience to read my thankfulness jibber-jabber, I ask
you to consider the following quote:

“What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for
yesterday?” ~Unknown Author

I have one word… Ouch.

Now do still think you’re perfectly thankful? If you do, leave a comment I’ll make a mental note to rush you to a psychologist (you’ll thank me sometime later in life, believe me). But don’t take what I’m saying the
wrong way. I’m not pointing fingers. In fact, I personally could probably count the things I thanked God for yesterday on one hand. That is bad.. Very, very bad.

Let’s dissect the above quote a little bit. Grab your pen and paper!

What are some of the most likely things you thanked God for yesterday? Food is the first thing that comes to my mind. If you prayed over breakfast, lunch or dinner last night, than you initially thanked God for food, right?
Well, that’s good. We have food on our list of things that we have for tomorrow, we won’t starve. But before you turn all happy-go-lucky-- “Yay, I have food!!”-- I have a question for you… Did you specifically thank God
for your dinner last night, or did you just utter an “Amen” after your dad said the prayer, remembering absolutely none of his words because you were much too focused on guarding your plate from that detestable little stinkbug that always seems to make its way into your mashed potatoes?

Maybe for all you fortunate people (unlike me) it wasn’t a stinkbug that your mind was enveloped with. It was another distraction. Maybe your mind was wrapped around a conversation you just had with your best friend, those new zebra striped high heels that you just bought, or your boyfriend. It could be anything, but the point is that it probably wasn’t thanking God for the food set in front of you. Thankfulness has to be pure, and thankfulness has to be with your whole heart. You can’t half thank God for something.

So, if you initially and whole-heartedly thanked God for your food last night, keep it on your list of things you will have tomorrow in your day-of-having-only-what-you-thanked-God-for. But if you were distracted by the fact that your make-up was smeared, cross “food” out of your list. Fasting won’t be too bad for one day, right?

Alright, onto dissection number two. Many different things could have come to my mind as far as this “second dissection”, but I felt that while this one was relatively unusual (as in, something that wouldn’t generally come
to a normal persons mind) it was a perfectly worthy point.

Have you ever thanked God for… energy? Recently, I developed a semi-serious mono related sickness. If you are familiar at all with mono, or have had it yourself (my condolences for those of you with the latter answer)
you will know that it leaves you with absolutely no energy. Opening the car door, or climbing a flight of stairs seems so ordinary for healthy people. In fact, you probably hardly notice it when you do something so mindless. But when you don’t have any energy, it can become hardly “mindless”.

The truth of the matter is that God made you, breathed life into you, and as an extra bonus He blessed you with energy! But have you ever thanked Him for it? Have you ever even realized how beyond blessed you are to have the

ability to function and do things?

If you didn’t thank your God for energy yesterday, than you might as well cross that off your list too. You’ll have to lay in bed all day and feel like a weak blob of jello—but wait, you don’t have a bed because you forgot to thank God for it yesterday when you crawled under your covers. In fact, it’s raining because God blessed the land with a refreshing rain, but you forgot to thank Him for a roof over your head, so you’re out in the rain. You’ll have to curl up under a tree and wait it out. You know where I’m going with this, don’t you? It’s beginning to look like a really bad game of dominoes because there is no tree for you to curl up under—You forgot to thank God for His beautiful creation and now there isn’t any of it. Actually, if you wanted to go really far, there isn’t actually a world, because you forgot
to thank God for it. Did I mention you don’t exist? You forgot to thank God for bringing you onto this beautiful earth—you forgot to thank Him for your life, for making you, creating you into the beautiful person that you are!
Oops, Houston, we have another problem. A big problem. We all—every single one of us forgot to thank God from the depths of our soul for sending His own son to die for us. We didn’t thank Him for salvation.

Have you figured out that your day-of-having-only-what-you-thanked-God-for has turned into a disaster? I could use a better word... a tragedy, a calamity, a catastrophic event?! Yet we know that God could do that to us in a split second. He could take everything we have—the things we take for granted every day of our lives—the thousands

upon thousands of blessings we have never thanked Him for, yet He still pours out upon us. Why? He has every right to take them away from us—because we don’t even deserve them! We deserve fire and hell, yet every day we are blessed with food, clothing, energy, a bed to sleep on, God’s creation, rain to soothe the parched ground, the world, beautiful life and most importantly—salvation! These things I have mentioned are an extremely small part of what God has given us yet we never thank Him. We never thank Him.

I don’t even need to sum anything up in this last paragraph. You already know what you’re going to go do, right? You’re going to finish reading this article, then run to your bedroom and take some time to thank God for every
blessing that He has poured upon you. You’re going to write them down—and never ever forget them.

1st Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give
thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus
for you.”

There is a lot I could say about that verse.. For now, I will bring out that all three of those things are commands. We are commanded to rejoice always, we are commanded to pray without ceasing, and we are commanded to give thanks in all circumstances. Do you give thanks in all circumstances? No matter what? I know that sometimes I don’t. We need to change. Our lives need to change, and we need to all put on hearts of pure, complete, and whole gratitude. Will you join me?

Love in Christ,

Only You!

2012-01-08T18:30:00.002-05:00

David Crowder Band ~ Only YOU

"Be all my HOPES,

be all my DREAMS,

You're my DELIGHTS,

You're my EVERYTHING..."

~When Love Sees You

2012-01-04T11:38:00.002-05:00

***Update*** Thanks to the many people who spread the word, donated, and most of all thanks to God who made it ALL possible, Miss Elaini raised more than her initial goal before the first of the year! You can view her lovely post here.

Four Days.

2011-12-28T11:46:00.004-05:00

Passion. Such a beautiful word, is it not? Many people can have different passions about certain things. Right now, I want to bring to your attention a passion for children, a passion for orphans, a passion for the least of these.

A beautiful young lady who goes by the name of Miss Elaini set out on a journey last year. Due to health issues, she could not fulfill her dream of doing missions work in India, so instead, she came up with an idea.

Over the past year, Elaini has worked hard to raise $45,807 by wearing the same black dress every day for 100 days. The dress was to identify with the poor people of this world who find it a luxury to own even one dress. By the end of day 100, Elaini had raised a total of $31, 331, her goal $50,000. However, she didn't stop. Her passion for orphans was strong and she wanted to finish and reach her goal.

You can see each of the 100 days below:

There are only four days left until the end of the year, which is the day Elaini hopes to make her dream come true and reach $50,000. This means that she needs to raise $4,000 per day. It seems an impossible feat for a human, but with God all things are possible.

Can we lift Elaini up in prayer over these next four days, spread the word about her project, and maybe even donate to her efforts? Ten dollars can help feed a young child who might otherwise not have something to eat.

A young child like this one...

I love the quote from Elaini, "I can't change the past but I can effect the future."

You can visit her blog here to learn more about this amazing woman and her project.

What's Christmas to You?

2011-12-25T09:29:00.003-05:00

What is Christmas about? What do you think it is, in your mind?
Christmas is about God sending his only son, the Perfect Lamb, as a sacrifice so that we, as His creation, would be able to have a way out of sin and an open door to heaven.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son,
that whoever believes in him will have everlasting life

John 14: 6 Jesus answered, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.”

You may have heard individuals talking about losing the focus of Christmas, perhaps in a conversation or a movie. In some sense, our culture has lost a lot of the picture of Christmas. Santa bringing presents to obedient little children, people shopping, attempting to find the perfect gift for a
loved one, and the general “season” or the “perfect feeling” of Christmas
air.

So what should Christmas really be?

If I wanted to define Christmas in one word, I would have to use the word “giving”. Jesus was God’s only son and God sent Him into our sinful world so that we might have a way to be with God in heaven and to eventually be totally and completely blameless, living and praising God eternally. He gave His only son, and ultimately, Jesus gave us His life.

What does your Christmas look like? Are you busy? Too busy to even stop for a second? Are you stressed over making everything perfect the way it “has” to be, or are you taking Christmas as it comes to you?

This year Christmas will be very different for my family. We usually stay home, eat lots of food, cook turkey or ham (I don’t like turkey), watch some Christmas movies…and of course, open presents. This year we will be away from our home but will be in our Grandpa’s house. My Grandma died in August, and this will be Grandpa’s first holiday by himself. We will be
giving up our normal traditions to spend much needed time with much loved relatives.

This Christmas that I have described to you is so far is all about what were are actually doing on Christmas day. Although, yes, what we are doing on Christmas is relatively important to us, but what is more important to God is the meaning of Christmas. No matter where we are, nothing about Christmas changes. It’s still about Jesus, it’s still about giving, and
it’s still about God’s love for us.

This Christmas season, what can you give to make someone else's Christmas better? In what ways can you make sure that you don’t get caught up in the busyness of Christmas, and that your focus is on the gift Christ has given you?

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-09T14:24:00.007-05:00

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, who is Christ the Lord."

~Luke 2:11

"And this shall be a sign unto you; You shall find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."

~ Luke 2: 12

"And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying..."

~ Luke 2:13

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men."

~Luke 2:14

"When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them."

~Luke 2:15-21

Guest Article -- Waiting

2011-11-29T13:50:00.003-05:00

We asked a friend of Ella's, a young lady named Autumn to write a guest article for A Time To Dance about waiting. Throughout this article, you will find a bounty of wisdom from a girl a few years older than us about important things that we will be thinking about in the near future.

Thank you for your wonderful article, Autumn!

You will either waste your time waiting, or make the time worth the wait.
If you are in a season of waiting on God to bring the right person your way, remember that you are not alone. Don’t grow stagnant during this time because you aren’t getting instant results. Be productive. There will be no other season in your life like this. You are perfectly able to be completely sold out to the Lord and do his work freely without anything holding you back. God wants to use this time to mature and grow you. One of my life verses is, Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” This verse is definite! If you delight in Him your desires will become your reality. The Lord is not going to give you what you want if you are holding back and trying to do things (such as dating) on your own. You need to redirect your focus on your Heavenly Father and long for Him alone. Make Jesus your one true delight and find no greater delight than in Him. You might feel like the Lord is holding your desire right above your reach. I did. But God will use this time for good. During your countless prayers for a partner, think of Him saying, “How close will you come? How far will you fall in love with me? Will I still be your best friend and hold your heart if I give this to you?” My God is a jealous God. Our complete joy and satisfaction must be found in Him. It was not till I surrendered completely to Him and made Him my one true love, was I content with His will, single or not. Align your thoughts and desires with His. God knows more about you than you do. He created you and is the one who gave you these desires to get married one day. God put the longing for a godly man/woman in your heart because He has an amazing plan for you.
I know you’ve probably heard this a thousand times but….Don’t settle. I’m not gonna lie, being patient isn’t the number one character trait in the world today. Most surrender to what is temporary but we must hold out for what is real! Look what it says in James 1:4, “But let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect lacking nothing.” Catch that? You will lack nothing! Meaning, if you are patient God promises to fulfill your every need. Growing up, I didn’t want to give my heart-- not even part of my heart-- to anyone but the man God had for me. I’m here to fulfill God’s purpose for my life and I know everything will work out in His perfect timing. I learned quickly that God’s timing is not our timing, but trust in Him. Having this mindset will help you during your season of waiting. The Lord is very smart and experienced in the dating industry and will not bring you someone that would pull you away from Him. . . remember, He is a jealous God. Jesus purchased you with His very own blood. You are too important to Him for Him to give you just anyone that comes your way. He’s going to protect you.
God’s plan for your life is to advance His kingdom on this earth. When we choose to react positively in the midst of a trial God will use it to perfect you and bring you closer to Him. Being patient and waiting is a trial with great results if you don’t give in. Truth is, your future spouse is out there somewhere right now and instead of aimlessly waiting for the day you two will meet, use this time wisely. Be praying for him or her. Every time you begin to get discouraged stop and start praying for your future spouse. You may not even know their name yet but your Father in heaven does. Speak protection and wisdom over their lives. Ask God to shape them to be the best helpmate for you. Pray for the Lord to show you specifically his/her needs for their life right now. Pray that they would keep themselves pure and wait for you as you are waiting for them. Realize that in this season, you are apart for a reason and that God will bring you together in His timing and will.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T09:05:00.003-05:00

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18

"And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

~Colossians 3:15-17

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever."

~ Psalm 107:1

~Give Thanks!~

Can you think of 100 things to be thankful for?

I thank God for. .

1. the sunrise

2. music

3. air

4. the rotation of the earth

5. a savior

6. friends

7. faith

8. the sky

9. the word of God

10. life

11. dreams

12. diligence

13. God’s creativity

14. That God is always in control

15. flowers

16. dancing

17. frost

18. that God never breaks his promises

19. stars

20. light

21. butterflies

22. a warm home

23. colors

24. so many ways to worship God

25. poetry

26. missionaries

27. birds of the air

28. green grass

29. challenge

30. teachers

31. a Bible in the English language

32. every new day

33. the ability to overcome

34. imaginations

35. snow

36. the ability to learn

37. the smell of rain

38. a free country

39. peace

40. animals

50. books

51. words

52. trees

53. a full moon

54. belief

55. roses

56. time to heal

57. food

58. oceans

59. shoes

60. grace

61. the love of a family

62. advice

63. violets

64. laughter

65. Rest

66. warm clothes

67. maps

68. blankets

69. waves

70. clouds

71. trials

72. Sunday’s

73. God’s logic

74. joy

75. prayer

76. immune system

77. comfort

78. decisions

79. happiness

80. Christianity

81. refreshment

82. the universe

83. enzymes

84. woods

85. eyes

86. health

87. deer

88. evergreens

89. mountains

90. wind

91. leaves

92. spring

93. instruction

94. literature

95. support

96. warm sun

97. gentleness

98. kindness

99. honey

100. a God who cares enough to send his son to save us.

~Please leave a comment and tell us what you are thankful for.

Light Of The World

2011-11-19T11:33:00.005-05:00

"You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

~Matthew 5:13-16

Has your Salt lost its taste?

Are you living a lukewarm life, or is your life red Hot burning for Jesus?

Are you going to hide that light, or will you let it Shine?

Photo Copyright Sofia Collins 2011

Collection Week -- Operation Christmas Child

2011-11-15T18:02:00.002-05:00

Pack a shoe box!

I see a beautiful smile of a little boy or girl as they open a box yielding probably the first gift they have ever gotten in their entire lives.

Collection week for Samaritan's purse Operation Christmas Child is this week. November 14th-21st. Make a child smile and share the love of Christ Jesus by packing a shoe box full of toys and goodies for a darling child less fortunate than yourself.

For more information, visit www.Samaritanspurse.org/occ

Sunday Sermon Notes

2011-11-13T18:03:00.002-05:00

What kind of People does God use as instruments to bring the gospel to the world?

* Pray-- People who gather together and pray continually.

* Sensitive-- people who are sensitive to His call on their lives

* Faith-- people who step out in Faith at His calling

* Understand-- people who understand what people really need

*Glory-- People who give all the glory and honor to God

Are you ready to become someone who God uses as an instrument to serve Him? Is this what you desire?

~Based on Acts 3

Love Is....

2011-11-12T15:06:00.003-05:00

"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, always perseveres."

~1 Corinthians 4-7

Photo copyright Sofia Collins 2011

The Time of Our Lives

2011-11-08T10:27:00.001-05:00

I can just picture it: a young teenager sitting on a leather couch, chips in hand with her eyes glued to the television screen. You know what’s coming. The mother of this unfortunate individual walks into the room, a tired frown poised on her face. “That is such a waste of time. Go do something productive.”
I could go into all the discourse that goes on at our house when our mom tells us to do something productive. “I’m bored, Mom. There’s nothing else to do.” But I’m sure you all know perfectly well the default answer received from your mom. “Well I’ll have no problem finding you some chores.” Suddenly you’re not so bored.
But what is my point with all this? To what form of spirituality does this compare? (You’re dying to know, right?) Well, I’ll tell you. Let’s compare the couch potato with your average Christian. The television screen can be compared to the world. Now do you see where I’m going? There are a lot of us out there today that are “Couch Potato Christians” (Ouch). We sit on the couch and watch the world go by, letting it take its course without bothering to do something about it. We don’t even think about changing the channel. We can’t get up to do something productive that will change something. We can’t spend the time. We’re too worried about what will happen if we try to lead someone to Christ and the embarrassment we will be faced with, so we just don’t bother. Some of us can’t take the time to get off the couch and immerse ourselves in the Word of God.
Just like the mother of the unfortunate couch potato, God is saying the same thing: “Get off the couch. You’re wasting your life. Do something productive for me. Lead someone to Christ. Start something big. Don’t let the world go by and do nothing about it. Jump in.”
So how do we “jump in” for God? It’s simple, really. You should start with prayer. Meditate on God’s Word. Don’t love yourself. By loving yourself you sit by and watch the world. By loving others as God has commanded us to do you jump in and do something about the thousands and thousands of lost souls out there. Another very important thing I would like to mention: when you have an opportunity to change the course of a conversation, or when you have an opportunity to share Christ with someone, don’t miss it. Don’t be afraid because you’re not alone.
In conclusion, what’s a little potential embarrassment when there’s a lost soul on the line? We need to get over our fears of people. We don’t want to wake up one day and say, “This life has been a waste. I haven’t done anything significant for God. What have I been doing this whole time?” Watching the show. Are you going to watch the show, or are you going to step up and do something?

All I Have Is Christ

2011-11-07T22:57:00.002-05:00

For Those Tears I Died

2011-11-03T16:58:00.003-04:00

You said You'd come and share all my sorrows,

You said You'd be there for all my tomorrows;

I came so close to sending You away,

But just like You promised You came there to stay;

I just had to pray!

And Jesus said, "Come to the water, stand by My side,

I know you are thirsty, you won't be denied;

I felt ev'ry teardrop when in darkness you cried,

And I strove to remind you that for those tears I died."

Your goodness so great I can't understand,

And, dear Lord, I know that all this was planned;

I know You're here now, and always will be,

Your love loosed my chains and in You I'm free;

But Jesus, why me?

And Jesus said, "Come to the water, stand by My side,

I know you are thirsty, you won't be denied;

I felt ev'ry teardrop when in darkness you cried,

And I strove to remind you that for those tears I died."

Jesus, I give You my heart and my soul, I know that without God

I'd never be whole; Savior, You opened all the right doors,

And I thank You and praise You from earth's humble shores;

Take me, I'm Yours.

And Jesus said, "Come to the water, stand by My side,

I know you are thirsty, you won't be denied;

I felt ev'ry teardrop when in darkness you cried,

And I strove to remind you that for those tears I died."

Some quotes

2011-10-31T18:08:00.000-04:00

The Scriptures teach us the best way of living, the noblest way of suffering, and the most comfortable way of dying. ~John Flavel

To forsake Christ for the world, is to leave a treasure for a trifle.... eternity for a moment.... reality for a shadow. ~William Jenkyn

A heathen philosopher once asked: "Where is God?" The Christian answered: "Let me first ask you, where is He not?" ~John Arrowsmith (oh yeahhhh baby!)

God loves adverbs better than nouns: not praying only but praying well; not doing good but doing it well. ~Thomas Brooks

What greater crime than holiness, if the devil may be one of the grand jury! ~Thomas Watson

When the corn is nearly ripe it bows the head and stoops lower than when it was green. When the people of God are near ripe for heaven, they grow more humble and self denying... Paul had one foot in heaven when he called himself the chiefest of all sinners and the least of saints. ~John Flavel

A prudent wife commands her husband by obeying him. ~ John Trapp

When the devil cannot stay us from a good work, then he laboureth by all means to make us proud of it. ~Henry Smith

The end of all learning is to know God, and out of that knowledge to love and imitate Him. ~John Milton

"We love Him because He first loved us." Love is like an echo, it returneth what it receiveth. ~Manton

Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan. ~John Bunyan

The wife was made of the husband's rib; not of his head, for Paul calleth the husband the wife's head; not of the foot, for he must not set her at his foot. The servant is appointed to serve, and the wife to help. If she must not match with the head, nor stoop at the foot, where shall he set her then? He must set her at his heart, and therefore she which should lie in his bosom was made in his bosom. ~Henry Smith

Fall Fashion

2011-10-26T18:43:00.004-04:00

I love fall and winter, cool weather, and especially fall and winter
clothing. It's somewhat surprising that I love wearing warm clothes so much
because in order to get a pair of pants, it usually means scavenging rack after rack
of four different stores and surrendering a heavy amount of chase to chaser.
I usually refuse to make it through the winter with anything less than 3
pairs of pants, and, considering the fact that each year my pants are at least
2 inches too short (OK, that’s an exaggeration), it usually means hunting down
a well stocked Goodwill or second-hand clothing store.
Winter clothes are obviously more modest than summer clothes (in a
covering of the skin sense) but they still have their downfalls. One of my
biggest pet peeves is…. pants that are too tight. Personally, I don’t like showing off
every intimate detail of my whole leg (yes, you probably guessed that does
mean I don’t own a pair of skinny jeans). I don’t like skinny
jeans, but if that’s what works for you, then so be it. I’d rather leave
something for the imagination.
Now there are a lot of cute modest winter clothes, too. I especially
love pants and boots or big skirts and boots or pretty much anything with
boots. Layering and scarves have so many attractive possibilities and are
lots of fun too.

Proverbs 31: 21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household, for all of
them are clothed in scarlet. 22 She makes coverings for her head, she is
clothed in fine linen and purple.

Now we all have that one color that compliments us very well. It might
not be purple (well mine is), but whatever color it is, it’s always a good
idea to have at least one piece of clothing in every outfit that is that
color. This will help compliment you and the outfit a lot more.
The Proverbs 31 woman isn’t afraid to clothe herself attractively.
Purple was made from an extremely expensive dye when Proverbs 31 was written. That doesn’t
mean that we have to go out and by the most expensive clothing, but it does
mean that we should dress attractively and take joy in dressing with femininity.

One constantly helpful trick to make a good outfit without buying anything
is taking in a look in someone else’s closet. God gave us sisters and mothers
for a reason. Now, I know how it feels to not have a sister, but my
mother and I try to steal each others clothes all the time. If she buys something
and then it's too small, guess who gets it?… yup, me =)
One thing to always keep in mind is that mall shopping is over- rated. Yes, I
do buy stuff from the mall but when I shop there it is more to give me good ideas of what I am looking for. One time I needed
a fancy dress for an occasion. First, I went to Goodwill. They always have a
good supply of fancy dresses. I found a really nice, gently used white dress
for 4 dollars and then I went to the mall and purchased a top to go over the
dress to make it more modest.
In all of this, also remember that God created color. Be bright, be exciting, and
sometimes it's OK to be just plain old loud. Always stay modest and God
centered. There’s a difference between dressing in style and dressing in
showiness. It all starts and the heart, if you keep your motives pure and
modest then it can all flow from there. =)

Super Proverbs 31 Woman

2011-10-24T21:13:00.005-04:00

There are many places in the Bible that talk specifically about women.Proverbs 31, for example, speaks about a truly amazing woman. She is of noble character, and is described as worth “far more than rubies”. Her husband can put full faith in her, and she does him nothing but good. Biblically, this is the perfect image of what women are supposed to be.

The biblical woman wakes at the crack of dawn to make breakfast, stir up
the fire, and make sure that her family has plenty to fill their stomachs before the day begins. Out of her own money, she buys a field and works it. She is strong, diligent, hardworking, intelligent, and draws profit out of her transactions. She is sweet, and generous; she takes care of the poor, and those in need. She clothes her family in fine linen and
makes sure they are well supplied for the months of winter. Her husband is respected widely
and is of high position because his wife takes such excellent care of his household.
The wife is clothed with strength and dignity, speaking only words of wisdom. This biblical woman is attentive
to the needs of her children so they will grow up to be men and women of God. Because of all she has done to ensure their future as servants of the Lord, her children stand up to bless her for teaching and nurturing them, her
husband also calls her blessed. He tells her how much she is worth in his sight.

Now that we have a biblical view, let’s take a look at how
the world views women:

Our American culture states that in order to be somebody, a woman has to obtain position, style, perfect clothes, lots of money and be drop-dead gorgeous. It’s imperative for a woman to be able to hold the same rights,
positions, and roles as a man. They have to be the same. Women have to be able to play football; must be referred to as a “Ms.” rather than “Miss” or “Mrs,' and have the ability to choose whether their baby has a right to
live. And all because they don’t want to be differentiated from men. They host parties and gatherings wearing fancy, immodest clothing to show-off their wealth and have what they call a “good life”. However,
this woman’s life at home tends to get neglected when she succumbs to this societal prerogative. If you’re not a business woman, you’re a wimp. If you don’t have a college degree, you’re worthless. Family is second to ‘real’
work.

So which of the two do you want to be? Do you want to work hard with your
whole heart so that your children will rise up to be sons and daughters of the one true King, or do you just want to live life to have a good time? I know from personal experience that being a Proverbs 31 woman is first
of all, the most fulfilling job out of the two, and secondly, a full time job. My mother has her hands full with the 6 of us children. Not only does she homeschool us, but she also has to juggle cooking, cleaning, errands, chauffeuring us kids all over the valley, church activities, and outside work every day. The work never lessens or slows.
When my dad works long hours and gets home late at night, she stays up so she can have a few
minutes to talk with him before bed. When we are sick, she sacrifices her own rest to get up and clean up our vomit, take our temperature, and make us comfortable. When we have visitors, she is attentive to all of their
needs as well as our own.

Personally, the Proverbs 31 woman sounds a little bit like a “Superwoman” to me.
Hmm.. but lets talk about Superman first....

I don’t know about you, but I happen to think that superheroes are pretty awesome... particularly Superman. There’s just something about a buff guy who’s not only is cute, but super strong and can fly all over the place.
He can do anything, except of course, for when he comes in contact with Kryptonite.
Then, he loses his strength.

This sounds suspiciously like the story of the first man to walk the face of the earth: Adam. God created him to steward the land and to be caretaker of the inhabitants thereof. God set him over all beasts. His
first job was to name each of the animals that God had created. Superman sounds to me like sort of a Lone-Ranger-I-work-alone type of guy. As does Adam. But Scripture tells us that man was lonely. And according to Milton, "Loneliness was the first thing that God's eye deemed not good." In Genesis, God commented, “It is not good for man to be alone,” and created someone special to help Adam and to relieve his longing for companionship.
Too bad there’s not a Superwoman in the picture.

Every time I mention this to my father, He says with a smile, “Oh but there is. When Adam saw Eve, he was more amazed by her than by any of the other creatures. He couldn’t believe his eyes. His jaw dropped, and he exclaimed, “Woahh--man!” and that became her name.”

You see, Adam couldn’t do it alone. Superman can’t either. (Sorry to disappoint you, girls, but first of all, he’s not real, and secondly, he’s allergic to Kryptonite!) but maybe there really is something such as a superwoman. A
super Proverbs 31 woman, maybe? There was Kryptonite to stop Superman, he needed someone to help him. Ever since God made Eve, this has been her official role. In fact, it’s yours too. It is what women were created
for! There are women out there who have been swept up by the world. They want to become lawyers, doctors, accountants, engineers, scientists, etc. Why? Because the world says that’s what they are supposed to do. They say “Oh, you would be amazing at such and such,” or, “You should really go to college and get a degree so that you can support yourself and your family by getting a good job.” Women are flattered, and as the Bible states, they want to do the same things as men. But what about the home? What about what God created them for? Personally, I can’t imagine a greater honor, than to bring my children up as sons and daughters of the Lord Jesus. I can’t imagine
anything greater than to hold my own baby in my arms. I can’t imagine anything greater than to teach and nurture my own children, just as God
has called me to do.

What about you?

What is going to be more impacting on the next generation, you sacrificing your own “Party life” to stay at home to teach, nurture, and bring up your own children, or to take the life of the world, getting to a high place in the work force, but letting your children, the ones you worked so hard to bring into the world, slip from your fingers only to fall into

the waiting arms of worldly desires?

There’s no such thing as Superman.
But Superwoman?
Super Proverbs 31 Woman?
I can only hope to be like that someday.
What about you? Is that your desire?

Quote

2011-10-23T09:30:00.003-04:00

I absolutely loved this quote when I read it recently....

"Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify of vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do."

~Steve Jobs

Apple Sweet Potato Bake

2011-10-19T17:55:00.003-04:00

Ella's sweet recipe

Here are the instructions for yummy apple sweet potato bake :)

~You will need~

4 medium sweet potatoes
½ cup quick cooking rolled oats
½ cup packed brown sugar
3 Tbsp. Flour
2 to 3 Tbsp. butter softened
1 (16oz.) jar chunky applesauce (we make our own applesauce)
1 tsp. ground cinnamon divided
¼ tsp. nutmeg divided

~Instructions~

1. Peel the sweet potatoes cut into 1 ½ inch-chunks. Place in sauce pan and add enough water to cover. Cool 10-12 minutes or until tender, then drain.
2. Preheat over to 375 degrees. In a small bowl combine oats brown sugar and flour. Use a fork and cut in butter until crumbly. Set aside.
3. Spread half of the applesauce in greased 2-quart square baking dish. Sprinkle with ½ tsp. of the oat mixture.
4. Place sweet potatoes on oat mixture. Spoon last half of applesauce over sweet potatoes and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon on nutmeg. Top with remaining oat mixture.
5 bake uncovered for 30 to 35 minutes or until heated through. Top with sugar and spices of your choice. Serve immediately.

make lots It's really good!

Group Discussion 02 -- What about Heaven?

2011-10-16T17:46:00.003-04:00

Generally, you write on the topics of things you think about often. Ella recently read the book "Heaven is For Real" (You can purchase the book here) and asked if we could do a group discussion on Heaven.

So here are our thoughts on Heaven. We would love it if you commented below and shared your own thoughts on what you think heaven will be like!

Enjoy!

~Piper Amanda~

Heaven... it sounds so wonderful, it sends shivers up my spine. Can you
imagine, life without any pain, without any sin, without any suffering, and
no more tears? Do you know what I am going to do when I get to heaven? I am
going to a wedding feast: the marriage supper of the Lamb. And all the
believers who have gone with me and before me will be there. Someone I
especially want to meet is King David. I also think it will be wonderful to
see my great grandmother and my grandfather again. But mostly I am looking
forward to seeing Jesus face to face. That, I cannot imagine, but this I
know, it will be the most incredible thing my eyes will ever see-- the One
Who Created Them to gaze upon Him.
~Something you wonder about Heaven~
Will there be work in heaven? I was having a conversation with someone very
wise about this recently, and they pointed out that there was work before
there was sin. Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden (our closest
thing to a picture of paradise) in order to care for it. The Bible also
talks about how we are God's workmanship, created to do good works which God
prepared in advance for us to do. I think that if there is work in heaven,
it will be the perfect job for us, and we will be doing our work for Jesus.
I wonder what job Jesus will have for me to do?

~Ella Grace Collins~

Heaven...
What does that word mean to you? Is it just another word? Is it special?
Is it frightening?
We all are going to go somewhere when we die, even the Egyptians believed
that. So where is your soul going when you die? Heaven to me is a very
special place, it is where Jesus Christ reigns and has prepared a spot for
me to be one day. Some people are scared to talk about heaven or think
about where they are going when they die, thy take life as it comes to them
and try not to think are prepare for there future, but for me I love talking
about heaven. When we get there it will be a wonderful experience for the
first time ever we will get to life without sin!

~Sofia Noel Collins~

I imagine things about heaven that usually, normal people don’t even think
about. Why do we even get to go to heaven anyways? I mean, we’ve never done
anything to deserve streets paved in sparkling gold and life without sin.
The answer is simple. Jesus died to take our sin upon himself so that all we
had to do was believe upon Him to be set free from our sinful bondage and
have eternal life in a place more beautiful than anyone can ever imagine.

Christ has shown His love for us unfathomable.

So what do I think about Heaven? The one thing I cannot wait for is to be
able to talk to Jesus. Can you imagine something so absolutely spectacular?
Can you get your mind around being able to talk to the person who made you?

What else do I think about heaven? I think that instruments will be playing
for all eternity in praise to God! Don’t you want to be there? I think the
flowers will be made of Chystals. Don’t you want to be there? I think we
will be able to fly, I think there will be waters there with graceful fish,
plants and animals beyond what our imaginations can fathom. Don’t you want
to be there? Best of all, we shall dwell with Jesus Christ our savior
forever and ever and ever. Don’t YOU want to be there?

Are you going to be there? Are you certain you are going to be there? If
not, Jesus wants you to be there. In fact, if you accept Him, He will
prepare a place for you. For *You!*

So will you accept Him?

Fall, Beautiful Fall

2011-10-15T20:17:00.003-04:00

I love how God made the seasons, don't you? They show such intricate design! Fall is especially wonderful. With the smells of cinnamon and hot apple cider lingering through the air, beautiful leaves turning vivid colors and wind tossing the long grasses throughout the fields as if they were mimicking ocean waves. Our God is amazing!

* Photo Credit Ella Collins 2011

Taken from Scripture....

2011-10-13T09:45:00.005-04:00

A few verses for the day. :)

* "Finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breasplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of saltation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplications."

~ Ephesians 6:10-18

* "So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Having nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness."

~ 2 Timothy 2:22-25

* "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own posession, who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not recieved mercy, but now you have recieved mercy."

~ 1 Peter 2:9-10

* ". . . Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

~ James 4:4

* "Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made good confession in the presence of many witnesses."

~ 1 Timothy 5:11-12

Josh Wilson - Fall Apart

2011-10-10T20:58:00.001-04:00

This is a beautiful song with a beautiful message. I hope you enjoy it! :)

2011-09-29T20:00:00.001-04:00

Biblical Humor

2011-09-27T20:18:00.002-04:00

A friend sent this to me recently and I figured it was worthy of posting. I hope you like them and don't find it too totally lame. ;) I thought some of them were funny...

~Sofia~

Q.. What kind of man was Boaz before he married Ruth? A.. Ruthless.

Q. What do they call pastors in Germany?

A.. German Shepherds.

Q.. Who was the greatest financier in the Bible?
A.. Noah He was floating his stock while everyone else was in
liquidation.

Q.. Who was the greatest female financier in the Bible?
A.. Pharaoh's daughter. She went down to the bank of the Nile and drew out a
little prophet.

Q.. What kind of motor vehicles are in the Bible?
A.. Jehovah drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden in a Fury. David's
Triumph was heard throughout the land. Also, probably a Honda, because the
apostles were all in one Accord.

Q... Who was the greatest comedian in the Bible?
A.. Samson. He brought the house down.

Q.. What excuse did Adam give to his children as to why he no longer
lived in Eden?
A. Your mother ate us out of house and home.

Q.. Which servant of God was the most flagrant lawbreaker in the Bible?
A.. Moses. He broke all 10 commandments at once.

Q.. Which area of Middle East was especially wealthy?
A.. The area around Jordan. The banks were always overflowing.

Q.. Who is the greatest babysitter mentioned in the Bible?
A. David. He rocked Goliath to a very deep sleep.

Q. Which Bible character had no parents?
A.. Joshua, son of Nun.

Q.. Why didn't they play cards on the Ark?
A.. Because Noah was standing on the deck.

PS... Did you know it's a sin for a woman to make coffee?
Yup, it's in the Bible. It says: "He-brews"

Love you, sis :)

2011-09-25T19:47:00.001-04:00

It gives me pains to see you leave,
But I never forget what I've learned through the years
We've gone through a lot together
Much less laughs and tears

I'll always be there for you,
Even after we’re married
I'll always stay true to you.
After all the love we’ve carried

You are my sister,
And my very best friend
You will always be
And my love will never end

You are a part of me,
And never will you ever leave my heart.
All the times we've shared together
Our hearts will never part

Don't let anyone take my place,
They'll never change our lives together.
Or even if you think they will
Remember we will be sisters forever

The laughs, we have
We share the tears,
We kept our promises
That have built up throughout the years.

I’ll love you all through life
I'll never let us part,
Because you'll always have special place
That special place is in my heart.

~Kristen M. Saccardi

Forgiveness -- And a side note

2011-09-24T09:26:00.005-04:00

I want to address reaction. Hurt reaction. Recently, I have been talking to
different people who have been hurt in one way or the other. But as I
observe, it seems to me that they all have the same reaction. Imagine you’re
sitting in a cafeteria, eating your lunch. Suddenly, someone who you thought
was your friend comes up to you from behind and smacks you as hard as they
can, practically embedding their fist into you and then runs away. Your back
is still stinging, and a knot is forming beneath your shirt.

I know, that was a pretty un-descriptive lame analogy, but you get
the point, right? What would you do in that kind of circumstance? What would
your reaction be? There are two different scenarios that come to my mind.
Scenario one: You throw down your lunch, no longer caring about it (it
smelled a little of mold anyways) and run after the person as fast as your
legs can carry you screaming at the top of your voice, “YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TREAT ME THAT WAY, AFTER ALL I'VE DONE FOR YOU! I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY FRIEND!!!” ready to take the offender to the ground, hoping to embed
your fists into them, to see how they like it.

Well, that was a little drastic, but seriously, don’t you just yearn to do
something like that to someone that’s hurt you? In fact, aren’t you itching
to get them back? Now, let’s continue to our second scenario.

Scenario two: You begin to rub your back, Ohhh does that sting! You can
already feel a bruise beginning to form. You’re mad. Actually, you’re so
mad, that your skin begins to boil. You can feel your neck starting to get
hot, you can feel the anger pulling at you. You want to yank
out that persons hair! But you don’t run after the person. You WANT to, but
the circumstances just don’t pan out. There are too many pedestrians in your
way. You have to come up with a better plan. You toggle your eyebrows,
feeling like an evil scientist ready to destroy the offenders world with
your evil plan. You set your food down and walk over to the group of girls sitting at a table nearby. They are all friends of yours, *and *they are
all friends of your offender. “Did you see what she just did to me?” you ask
in utter astonishment, showing them all your bruise. “Woahhh!” they all say.
“She’s not the kind of girl she made us think she was,” you continue, “She is
really such a brat. I don’t think we should be friends with her.” The others
nod in agreement and you continue to talk about how that girl has hurt each
and every one of you in a different way.

Have you figured me out yet? I’m not talking about physical hurt. Well, not
really. I’m talking about any kind of hurt. Anything that anyone has ever
done to you that affects you majorly. Something that has separated you,
bruised your heart, abused you, hurt your family. I’m not talking about the
going-crying-to- mom “They were talking about me behind my back” kinda thing.
I’m talking about separation, divorce, abuse, things like that. The things
you can’t forget. The things you want to vent about over and over and over
again.

Think about that certain thing in your life. Think about the person or
persons who have hurt you, and who you have gone to to vent about.

While you have this in your mind, I want to tell you a story. Three stories,
actually. Two that you will probably know well, the other, not so much.

* * *

Corrie’s heart raced inside her chest. She figured that everyone within ten
miles could hear it beating loudly. She had just finished a conference
talking about her past life. Corrie was one of the few survivors of one of
the Nazi prison camps during World War II. She wasn’t a Jew, in fact, she
would never have even been in a prison camp, if it hadn’t been for the fact that
she and her family had been hiding Jews in their home. They had generous
hearts and they knew that Jews were God’s chosen people and loved by Him,
just as much as any other person in the world. They weren’t inferior, and
they needed help. Sadly, the family had been caught and Corie’s father and
sister had been killed. Corie had been strong, however, and it was clear
that God had a plan for her. She had survived the prison camp, but with
many, many memories that would scar her for life. The kind of torture that
you and I could probably not think possible, unless we saw it personally
like she did.

It had been years since the end of the war, and now she was figuring out God's
plan for her. She was led to speak and write books about her experience and
share…. Forgiveness. She was at a conference and had just finished speaking
about the sorrows and struggles of the war, and about how God was still
faithful, when someone walked up to her. It was someone she recognized. In
fact, it was one of the leaders of the prison camp where she had been held
hostage and where her sister had been killed. She stared at him. He stared
back, waited a second, then told Corrie about how he had changed, how he
realized what he did was so, so wrong, and then, he asked for her
forgiveness.

She forgave him.

You know the story, don’t you? Now, I want you to think about that person
that hurt you. Are

you willing to forgive them like she did? It’s likely that your hurt is bad,
but not nearly as bad at what Corrie experienced. Why did she forgive him?
Because she knew that Jesus had forgiven her for all the sins that she had
ever committed, all her wrong doings, all her wrong thoughts, and she knew
that Jesus wanted her to forgive this man, and to show him who He was.

Here’s my second story:

An American soldier had been stationed in Japan just a few days after the
allies had dropped the atomic bomb. He walked the streets, his heart
saddened at the extended damage, and the people suffering from burns worse
than he had ever seen. Everything was desolate, it was like there was no
life, except for a few survivors that walked the streets. The soldier came
across a sign in English that said, “Methodist Church” and he followed the
arrow to a small church building that still stood amongst the rubble and
grayness of the dark sky. He walked into the damaged building. There stood a
few Japanese who had gathered to worship God, despite the circumstances.
They turned their heads to the door, where the American soldier stood. None
of them said anything for a moment, everything was silent, they just stared
at each other. Then, a man stood up. He pointed at the American soldier, the
one who was fighting against them, the one who’s country had just caused all
this devastation, the one who had probably shot at and killed many Japanese
soldiers during battle, and single word came out of his mouth. It was the
only word the soldier knew in Japanese, it meant *brother.* The Japanese
ushered him inside and he worshiped God with them, and listened freely to
the sermon the pastor gave, although he understood none of it. It was a
moment of unity, even though the world was at war, Christians were still
united, by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Isn’t it amazing how the Japanese forgave the American soldier, even though
they knew that the Americans had just dropped the worse bomb that had ever
been known to man on their country?

I have told you two of my stories. Both of them tie in with my third and
final story:

Blood ran down His hands, His feet, His neck, His back, pain shot throughout
His whole body. The people down below were chanting, laughing, mocking Him.
He could have done something about it, in fact, He knew that the worst was
about to happen. He could have stopped it, He could have healed Himself
right then and there, but He was dying for a reason. In fact, He was dying
for you. The pain that shot through His nerves and the nails that were pounded through His wrists were all for you.

Now, the worst was about to come. It was the time. The pain was unbearable, but still, He bore it for you. The sky turned black and God, His father turned His back on His Son.
Why? Why would God do something like that? Because sin, your sin, everything
you have ever done, every thought action, word you have spoken wrongly was
now on the back of His son, Jesus Christ. God can’t look upon sin. If you
have any kind of sin in your life, God cannot look upon you, because God is
perfect, without sin and He created you, perfect, without sin, until you
were tempted and rebelled. Whose fault is it now? Completely yours. You
should be the one in the place of Jesus right now. It should have been you.
But He took your punishment. He took all the sin upon his back, He took
separation from God for YOU. But why? Why would He do that? Because He loves
you.

What was the point of me telling you these three stories? Well, I wanted to
show you forgiveness. Corrie forgave the man from the prison camp, because
she knew that Jesus had forgiven her, The Japanese forgave the American
soldier for all that his country had did to them, all the hurt that was cast
upon them, because they knew that Jesus had forgiven them, and Jesus forgave
all your sins, even though you were a dirty wretch who had disobeyed God
thousands and thousands of times, and still do because He loved you THAT
much. YOU are His child.

Are you willing to forgive that person who has hurt you? Are you willing to
count them a brother or sister in Christ if they are indeed Christians just
like you? Even if they aren’t a Christian, are you willing to forgive them
rather than reacting in a scenario one or two manner, just as Christ has
forgiven you? Or are you going to continue to talk bad about them, continue
to wish hurt upon their lives, keep on trying to get them back?

I was planning on ending on that note, but apparently God has a different
plan for this article. Have you been reading this today and thinking, “Wow, I
can’t believe Jesus has done that for me. How can I accept Him? How can I
love Him back for what He has done for me?” Jesus wants you to love Him, you
only have to accept Him as your Lord and savior. Do you trust in Jesus?

If you have further questions about Jesus, forgiveness, or salvation I would
absolutely love it if you emailed me at atimetodanceblog@gmail.com . Jesus
wants to know you, He’s knocking at your heart, will you accept Him?

Mandisa - Waiting For Tomorrow

2011-09-23T18:29:00.001-04:00

"You've made me for so much more than sitting on the sidelines..."

Choose Joy

2011-09-22T15:55:00.004-04:00

Honestly, its hard to make me cry. I've never cried during a movie, nor do I cry when reading books, but after reading the last few posts on Sara Frankl's blog I definitely had tears in my eyes.

Sara has been struggling with Ankylosing Spondylitis (or AS) for the past few years.

She explains her disease in the following paragraph:

"[It]started out by attacking the joints in my sacrum [low back], spine and neck. As the joints are attacked, inflammation occurs and scar tissue forms around the joint. The goal of the disease is to keep attacking until that scar tissue forms into bone and fuses the joints together. The process of attacking/fusing is what causes a great deal of pain."

Despite her ongoing circumstances, pains, and confinement to her home, Sara has decided to "Choose Joy" instead of sorrow in her life. She has consistently posted on her blog for the past several years encouraging others to "Choose Joy" and bringing smiles to many, many faces.

Now, Sara is on her way home. Home to be with Jesus. They say that "Home is where the heart is" and Sara's heart is definitely with Jesus. Pray for her and her family at this time, she's on her way to TRUE joy that she will feel forever and ever.

Check out her blog:

Click on her "Home" page to read Shannon's latest update on Sara.

A Joyful Noise

2011-09-18T21:53:00.005-04:00

"Shout to the LORD, all the earth; break out in praise and sing for joy!"

Isn't it wonderful how God has made it possible for us to praise Him through music? I have a vision in my mind, of thousands and thousands of people one day playing for Jesus on pure white violins in a garden filled with flowers and trees and glorious colors! I want to be there one day.

Sing praises to the Lord!!

*Images copyright Piper Holloway. Please do not copy.

Battle by Chris August

2011-09-15T18:51:00.002-04:00

This is such a beautiful song.

There's a battle raging, but its been won by our perfect savior, Jesus Christ!
There is no reason to be afraid of anything, because it is finished. The world can try to battle for your heart, but the war has already been won! Now, you can cry victory.

A Remembrance

2011-09-11T17:37:00.004-04:00

September 11th 2001, most everyone can remember where they were on that day. I can. I was 5 years old and we had just finished taking a hike in the woods. Upon arriving at our friends house, my Mom was told about the tragic happenings that had just come to pass. Of course, at that time I was to young to hear about it. Every year since the terrorist attack happened on September 11th we remember the lives that were lost on that day…and then we go on with our own lives. There are people who for a long time couldn’t go on with their lives, who couldn’t get over the fact that every night their father, mother, or both didn’t come home from work. The certain people that I have in mind are the children of the ones who were killed in 9-11. The estimated number of people who died in that attack was 2,819 and the estimated number of children who lost their parents is about 3000. This morning I saw a news report on the these children, one boy had lost both of his parents. His mother was in the worlds trade center and his father was a fire fighter. One thing that I heard caught my attention, a girl said to the questions of ‘is 9-11 a hard day to get through with remember the loss of your father?’ “not so much, he’s gone every other day as well.” was her reply. Twenty percent of Americans are related to, or know someone who was injured or killed in the 9-11 attacks. Imagine losing your parent or a family member in such a tragic accident. Yes people die from sickness and diseases each year, but what about when someone actually takes their life?
Isn’t it sad how the terrorist who killed these children’s parents and many other people, thought that they were doing something of honor and service. Yes, they were doing something of service to their country, but it had no eternal value. Do you think that the terrorist pilots who killed themselves went to heaven or hell? I think it should motivate us all the more to spread God’s love across the nations. What if the terrorist involved in the events never heard the Gospel or had a chance to except it before. Yes,
9-11 was a tragic event, this year are you going to remember the loss and then go on with your life? Or are you going to ask God if he wants you to go make a difference? Better yet, if you have a loved one that was killed in 9-11 can you forgive the terrorists and then make a difference? Will you let compassion for the loved ones of the lost lives and for Americas enemies motivate you with the strength of our Lord.

~I thank all of the ones who died as hero's and all the ones who were left behind.~

Passion for Souls

2011-09-08T10:55:00.004-04:00

Do you have a passion for something? Maybe you would say that
you have a passion for a specific sport, after all, if you’re doing
especially bad in a game, doesn’t your coach always pressure you “Is this
your passion? Then get out there and show it!”

What do you think your passion *should *be? Well, there’s a lot of different
answers to that question. If you answered, “My passion should be in Jesus
Christ,” you do answer correctly, but I’m not going off on that bunny trail
quite yet. :) There’s a different passion I want to discuss, and that
passion would be one that’s missing from a lot of churches and a lot of
Christians these days: the passion for the unsaved. Do YOU have a

passion for lost souls? Think about it.
Do you have passion for that unsaved next-door neighbor that screeches
across the grass daily, “Your cat mangled my bird feeder again!” (Excuse my
impertinence, I really don’t think cats mangle bird feeders…. Or at least I
hope not). Well, I admit it that was probably a very lame analogy. Let’s try
a harder one. Do you have passion for the souls of those Muslims across the
world who want to kill you because you’re a Christian? (Ohh.. shudder).
Would you have passion for Hitler? What about Darwin, or Marcus Aurelius, or Nero,
Julius Caesar, Mohamed, Osama Bin Laden? (Have you figured out my master
plan yet? I’m testing the history scholars). What about Romans who crucified
Jesus? I’m sure it would be hard to love anyone like that or have a passion
to want them to be saved. No matter how hard it is for you, let's remind
ourselves that Jesus loved them wholeheartedly. In fact, he loved them
enough to die for them. All they had to do was believe in His name. Pretty
powerful, isn’t it?

Well, this means what? It’s simple. It means that we love one another,
Christians and non-Christians our friends and our enemies with the same
unconditional love that Jesus has shown to us.

So how do we start loving the non-believer? Well, first of all, when that
nasty neighbor of yours yells at you about how your cat mangled your bird
feeder you can answer in a sweet voice, “Oh, I’m sorry Mrs. Jones, let me
take care of that right away. I’ll make sure he doesn’t do it again.” The
Bible says that “a soft answer turns away wrath,” but should we stop with
that soft word? Is a soft word the only thing we are going to do to show
compassion to our neighbor? Certainly not. You need to find opportunity!
Think about your neighbor being choked by a lake of fire and hopefully that
will motivate you. Share the GOSPEL! While you’re picking up the bird seed
you can start on the parable when Jesus taught about throwing the seed on
the path, the weeds, rocks and good soil and you can start talking about
what Jesus did for you – and for her. There’s opportunity in everything. We
just don’t take it. Because we are just like this world we are lovers or
ourselves, and not other people. We’d rather risk someone else’s life in
eternal punishment than risk ten minutes of embarrassment or feeling
uncomfortable for ourselves! I’m sorry to be so blunt, but it’s true! Its
true in my own life too. People need to realize this. They need to take it
to heart and they need to do something. They need to do something now. What
would happen if your neighbor died the next day from a heart attack and you
had not shared the gospel. How would you feel? Time is running out and we
need to take our opportunity. Now. When we have the change, because we won’t
have it forever. The time ran out for the people I mentioned above Hitler,
Darwin, Marcus Aurelius, Julius Caesar, Mohamed, Osama Bin Laden. Did you
know that once Mohamed went to a church? The usher turned him away at the
door because of who he was. What is wrong with this? What are we turning
into?

Imagine yourself at the day of judgment. What if God showed you every
single person you’ve ever walked by, ever had a conversation with, or ever
known as a friend who is now suffering his wrath and judgment forever. And
you never shared the gospel with them, even though you had gotten a sense
from God. Because you felt embarrassed, because you were uncomfortable.

I know, this is some pretty rough stuff I’m bringing up. I’m not writing
this to those who have shared the gospel to someone over and over, but they
refuse to receive it. You can’t blame yourself for that. God will show them
the truth in His time. I’m writing this for those of you that are afraid.
For those of you that have gone to church every single Sunday of your life
but get swept up with the crowd, with your friends, put on your little act,
and try to impress everyone, while first-time visitors who are hearing the
gospel for the first time are *hurting* and walking right past you! I know
what it's like to go from church to church and I could tell you straight off
that if I was not a Christian, if I was someone broken, if I was someone who
had been through so much in my life that the only thing I could think of to
help me now was go to that unknown place called “church” because I was SO
desperate, I would go one Sunday, and I would probably never go again. Why?
Because people would walk by me, One’s who call themselves “Christians” and
think of themselves as “good people” and look at me as if I came from
Krypton and walk out the doors. If you had heard about how Christians are
supposed to act all your life (although never attended a church) would you,
seeing that, want to be like them?

I’m not making this up. This is how churches are these days. In the six
different churches I have been to recently, there has been only one that has
actually greeted our family with friendship and welcomed us into their arms.
Only one where people have actually talked to us. These are churches! Aren’t
they supposed to be sharing the gospel? Especially to visitors because we
don’t know their state of life, we don’t know their circumstances, we don’t
know whether they’re Christians or not and we don’t know what utter tragedy
finally brought them to actually visit a church. Still, visitors are
ignored.

So if visitors are ignored in *churches *where there are hundreds of
Christians gathered together, how are non-Christians accepted by us in the
public? They’re just regarded as regular people. We just walk right by
them. Without caring where their eternal destination is. It’s like walking
past that neighbor’s house every day in a week thinking whether or not to share
the gospel, and by the end of the week, she has died of a heart attack. You
missed your chance. Because you were selfish.

How can we change this?

Let’s start with prayer. Prayer for ourselves, for the next generation, for
people to step out and share the gospel! For YOU to step out and share the
gospel. Lets pray that we do not just walk by people on the street, we don’t
talk to non- Christian friends without telling them about what Jesus has
done for them. That our fire for God is SO hot that we want to tell EVERYONE
about Jesus, even that nasty neighbor.

Do not read this and forget it. Do not be a hearer and not a doer the time
to step out and do something is NOW. Because time is ticking and ticking
away. Don’t waste it!

Worth dying for

2011-09-07T11:51:00.002-04:00

No matter how many times you've sinned, what you've done wrong, or where you've been. To Jesus, you're worth dying for.

1 Dress. 100 days. For orphans.

2011-09-04T09:33:00.005-04:00

Thank you Miss Elaini for all that you're doing for those sweet orphans!!

100 days complete, but the money is still coming in!

At day 127 and she's reached a total of $35,254.45

Donate here To help her reach her goal of 50,000 for orphans!

What are you thinking....?

2011-09-03T13:35:00.004-04:00

Dear Readers,
Thanks a ton for taking the time out of your day to read this!
~We want to know what you are thinking!~

* Do you like our blog?
* Is there something you don't like about it?
* Is there something you would change?
* Is there anything particular you would like to see us write about?
* Have you been blessed by anything particular?
*Are you struggling with something that you would like to ask about?

~Leave a comment here or email us at: atimetodanceblog@gmail.com~

Book review

2011-09-02T09:05:00.007-04:00

~Uncompromising~

By Hannah Farver

We have all read those books, books that talk about your teenage years, how to use your teenage years, what not to do with your teenage years…..As I talk to more and more teens, I notice that when it comes to the topic of Christian books
written for teenagers, they’ll have some excuses as to why they’d rather not read it, consisting of 'it won't affect me,' or 'they're all the same'. This book is different. Hannah Farver talks about the reality of inner beauty and a heart
claimed by Christ. She puts things in way that I’ve never thought of before, and she redefines concepts, such as purity, in a whole new way. Hannah Farver is a beautiful young woman reflecting God and modeling for us what it is like to have a heart claimed by Christ. Don’t give me the all too familiar line, “It won't affect me”, because this book will affect you. If for nothing else, I thoroughly enjoy reading about other young ladies out there who (like me) strive to grow in
the image of Christ.

Click Here to read Brett Harris' review on "Uncompromising, and hundreds of comments by girls who have been blessed by this amazing book!

To purchase Hannah's wonderful book use This Link

You are Loved

2011-08-24T15:05:00.002-04:00

No matter who you are -- Jesus loves you.

No matter what you've done -- Jesus loves you.

No matter where you've been -- Jesus loves you.

No matter your pain -- Jesus love you.

No matter your past -- Jesus loves you.

No matter if the world hates you -- Jesus loves you.

Will YOU love Him back?

Love you

2011-08-15T09:41:00.002-04:00

Dear readers,

Today, one of our most beloved friends and blogger, has gone on a journey.

We will miss you, Ella!!!!!

We're asking for prayer for our dearest friend, and sister, Ella and her family at this time.

We love you, girl.

2011-08-14T16:20:00.001-04:00

God Isn't Just So So

2011-07-14T13:31:00.004-04:00

~Falling in Love with God Completely~

There are many things in life that "get in the way" of our relationships with God. Loving isn't always easy. Being on fire for God never stays. Love is work.

Work: Most everyone comes to dread that four-letter word at some time in their life. Since we are all sinful human beings, we always look for the easy way out. Imagine this: One day you are just some unsaved person, but then something happens and your life radically changes. You come to know Christ, and things are looking up. You go on with your normal life, following your normal routine, but a few weeks after your conversion you just can't see why you ever really wanted to do this God-thing. It doesn't make you happy any more. You still pray every night, and God did make a great change in your life, but you just don't seem to be on fire any more. I think every Christian has gone through this struggle. We live in a fallen world. Things bring us down off our 'emotional high' for God. We didn't mean for these distractions to get in the way. But it all comes down to this: relationships are just plain work.

Take this for an example. We all have seen that one couple who are totally distracted by one another. Adoring glances are exchanged, they hang on each other's words, and they are always doing everything together. They can't seem to get enough of each other. This is how we should look at God. James 4:8--"Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded." Loving God more starts with being selfless, willing to give up time just to be with Him or giving up your life to further His word. Being selfless isn't easy. Selfishness is a part of our sinful nature. If you are willing to work on contradicting the sinful nature and give up your time for God, He will come near to you. Just as the verse says we can't be "double minded," we should be serving God whole-heartedly, without casting glances at the things of this world. Selflessness wasn't easy for martyrs, either, yet they are the ones that we can look to in order to see a person who was totally submersed in God's love.

Just like the couple who is totally obsessed with each other, we should have these affections for God, wanting to be with Him all the time, wanting to read His love letter to us (the Bible) over and over again. Naturally, if you're a child of God, you have a feeling of wanting to fall in love with God more. In order to do this we have to seek Him and make time to spend getting to know Him on a deeper level, which includes spending time in His word. It is important to not forget the discipline part of our relationships with God. Even when it gets hard, we have to keep praying and keep reading our Bible and not just skim reading but intimate study of God's word, savoring each sentence.

Our relationship with God cannot be based on our feelings. We always have to keep pushing to get closer to God. No matter if we don't feel like reading our Bible that day. Temptations will come and try to steal the joy that we have in God, but we have to learn to lean on God through these trials. James 1:1-4 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of our faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that we can be mature and complete, not lacking anything." Just like friends getting through a tough spot in life together and becoming better friends as a result, we can have a deeper relationship with God when our faith is tested.

It's for the world to see.

The relationship between the couple that was previously talked about is something that they don't care if the whole world knows about. They are so in love with each other that they don't care who knows and their feelings don't embarrass them one bit. They are willing to stand up to anything before breaking up their relationship. This is just the way that we should be with God in our relationship with Him. It should be something that we can freely talk about all the time, something that makes those around us stop and say, "What do you have that I don't?" All this comes through dedication, discipline, and selflessness. Being willing to give up your life, your time, and whatever else you value in order to fall in love with God more.

Will you give up your time for God? Are you ready for the trials that come and try to break your relationship with Him? Will you lean on the Perfect Savior?

Love of the Scriptures

2011-07-14T11:06:00.004-04:00

There are many things missing from the church today. One of which, is a
passionate love for the word of God. In Proverbs 7:1 it says that the word
of God is a treasure. But in perfect honesty, how many people reading this
actually treasure their bibles? If someone were to ask you, “What is your
treasure?” What do you think your response would be? Maybe clothes, shoes,
popularity, friends, family, or even for some of you, boyfriends. Is it wrong to
treasure these things? Well, no. But it becomes wrong if these things get in
the way of our intimate relationship with God and with the time that we
spend in His word.

Matthew 6:21 makes a bold statement, “For where your treasure is, there your
heart will be also.” So if your treasure is in popularity, then your heart
will also be in popularity. When your heart is in something it becomes an
obsession. You begin thinking about it more and more to the point that it
captivates your mind, how you act, and how you think. Therefore, if you were
obsessed with the idea of being popular then you will think about it night
and day. You will breathe it, you will talk about it. But be weary, for
according to Matthew 6:21 whatever captivates your attention will ultimately
be your treasure! If being popular is your treasure, then it's getting in the
way of you and your relationship with God. You’re making it an idol,
something you want more than God. Something that you are so wrapped up in
that you forget to read the scriptures, you forget to meditate on God’s
laws, and you forget the ultimate sacrifice He has given you.

Can YOU honestly say that Jesus captivates your life?

Why or why not?

If you love Jesus, than you will love His words, because Jesus IS the word.
If you love Jesus, He will captivate your life and he will become your
ultimate treasure! You will think about him all the time, you will love His
words, you will praise Him, you will pray, you will spend time in His words
and following his path.

What kind of treasure is the Bible to you?

The Bible is a treasure given freely. The Bible should be the compass of
your life. But if you are the fool so often talked about in Proverbs, than
you will choose to not use the compass. Are you going to be that fool?

When you follow the word of God, you are given love, liberty, and life in
Christ! But when you turn away, thinking that your own way is better, that
you would rather have your boyfriend, or popularity, your idol, then you are
faced with disappointment, depression, disease, Disaster, and ultimately,
death. Which road are YOU going to take? Is the Bible really your treasure? If not,
what needs to change in your life?

You can’t just say “Oh yeah… I read about a chapter every day in my Bible.
When I feel like it. Sometimes I forget.” It doesn’t work that way. You can’t
just read the word of God when you feel like being spiritual, you have to
indulge in it every day. You have to APPLY it. Have you applied the word in
your life?

The Bible is a treasure. It is breathed out by God, Himself, it is the way
we get closest to God, it is the ultimate how-to book. Do you own a Bible?
Then you have a treasure! If you had a treasure would you keep it locked up
in your closet and say with a shrug of your shoulders, “Well, I’ll just look
at this wonderful treasure in a few months or so….” No, no you should be
flipping through the bible multiple times each day. It should be feeding
you, you should be learning something from it every day.

Think about all the people in the world who don’t have a Bible. Why do we
just leave ours on the shelves? Proverbs 2:1-5 says that we should seek, and
search the word with determination. If you look for God’s word as if it is
your personal treasure, you will surely find it. Are you half-hearted when
you search the scriptures? If you are, you won’t find what God has for you
in them. The Bible is like a mine, it is filled with gold and rubies. To
find the gold you have to keep digging. Digging with determination in your
heart. You can never discover everything there is to find in the Bible, no
matter how hard you try and how many times you read through a passage. God
will reveal new things to you. You just need to ask Him.
Do you want to be Christ’s disciple? Do you yearn to be His child? John 8:31
states that “If you abide in my words, you are truly my disciples” But it
doesn’t end there! He continues in verse 32 “and you will know the TRUTH and
the TRUTH will set you free.” Isn’t that just beautiful? By abiding in God’s
words you will become His disciple, you will learn to know him, you will
learn about him, and He will set you free from all sin and bondage. He will
give you the knowledge of the truth. His truth.

Do you want to be Christ’s disciple? Continue in His word, remain in it,
stand by what God has taught you through His word, and pray for His guidance
in your life.
What effects your desire to be in the word of God? What are your idols that
you try and replace God with? Do you desire Him more? What do you dwell in
all the time? What do you think about? Is it God? What is the Bible to you?
Is it really YOUR ultimate treasure?

2011-06-30T10:01:00.002-04:00

Happy birthday,

We hope you are blessed with the most wonderful birthday ever!

A birthday is the time of life...
When one more year is gone...
A golden year that God allowed...
To let us carry on...
Indeed it is a compliment...
To pass another mile...
For God must feel our being here...
Is somehow worth the while...
And that is why I greet you and...
Congratulate you too...
But all the more because today...
I know you as I do...
Because you are a gentle soul...
Forever good and kind...
With only love and friendship in...
your noble heart and mind...
And that is why I say a prayer...
That God will always bless...
Your life with joy on earth...
And with eternal happiness.

~James Metcalfe

Francesca Battistelli - Keeping Me Guessing

2011-06-19T09:36:00.001-04:00

Coffee cup waking me up
I've got to board a plane
And fly away sometimes
Feels like I'm going the speed of light
Can't relax I'm moving too fast
I want to find the gold but I don't have a map
I wish that I could know what You've got in store for me

I try and try
To read Your mind
But I forget that patience is a virtue
You're teaching me to hold on tight

And I don't know how the story ends
But I'll be alright 'cause You wrote it
I don't know where the highway bends
But I'm doing just fine
'Cause You're in control
Even when I don't know
Where my life's gonna go
You're keeping me guessing

So slow me down
Show me around
I want to see the world
That I've been without
I am here and now
The future is out of my hands

I'm trusting You
And how You move
I won't forget that patience is a virtue
You're teaching me to hold on tight

And I don't know how the story ends
But I'll be alright 'cause You wrote it
I don't know where the highway bends
But I'm doing just fine
'Cause You're in control
Even when I don't know
Where my life's gonna go
You're keeping me guessing

Seasons come
And seasons go
But You decide

And I don't know how the story ends
But I'll be alright 'cause You wrote it
I don't know where the highway bends
But I'm doing just fine
'Cause You're in control
Even when I don't know
Where my life's gonna go
You're keeping me guessing

The Desire of Our Hearts

2011-06-17T19:20:00.004-04:00

What does it mean to desire something? Desire is another, stronger word for
want. To desire something means that you chase after it with a piece of your
heart, and it becomes an obsession. It becomes something you want more and
more, and you use it to feed your heart.

See, desire is a default of human nature. God created us as dependent human
beings with a hole in our hearts that can only be filled by one person. We
desire to be wanted, to love and to be loved, and to be cared about. We
desire things of the world, to be like others, to be "cool", and to fit in.
In the end, we pursue these desires right back to God because He is the ONLY
thing that can fill our aching, empty hole. He created us to desire Him, but
when we became sinful our hearts changed to know both good and evil which also
changed our desires. Because of sin, we now know the desires of sin.
Which basically is anything that is not of God that we try to fill our hearts
with. I heard it described like this once: You heart can only fit a certain amount
inside of it. You give the right side of your heart to video games, you give
the left side to your boyfriend or girlfriend, you give the top of your
heart to your cell phone, and the bottom of your heart to being "the best"
or "the coolest" at everything you do. Now, what little space do you have
left to squeeze God in? Hmmm....Think about it. Instead of giving God the
leftover space of your heart, you need to give him your whole heart and
everything within it. See, things such as video games, your boyfriend, your
cell phone, and being the best at everything initially become idols of your
heart when you put them as more important than God.
As Christians, we know we should never bow down to anything or anyone other than
God. But it happens sometimes, doesn't it? We see something or someone that we want,
and we go after it, hard. Pretty soon our desire for this thing we are pursuing crowds out God, and we place it above Him.
It becomes our idol, and chokes out our desire for God. It's a good reason for
why God made this the first commandment. In fact,all of the ten commandments deal with the theme of desire (Exodus 20:1-17)God was concerned about the heart attitudes of His people. When these commandments were broken, they showed that the people had desire for other things. For example, when a man committed adultery, it showed that he cared more about fulfilling his own physical desires than loving his neighbor and loving God. God wanted the Israelites to desire Him fully and with all their hearts.

Ever since the fall of Man, people have been trying to fill their God-shaped
holes with anything that could remotely be placed there. But these things
were not and are not God. We try to fill our hearts with that relationship
with the particular guy or girl, the money filled lifestyle, the coolest
outfit, the sports car we've always wanted, or the most recent electronic
toy. We look to the object of our desire, whatever it may be, to fill our
heart and mind and to make us feel happy and complete. But it can't. Because
God made us to worship him, and when we begin worshiping other things, we
find that they can NEVER fill our hungry hearts, for no matter how hard we
try,these things do not satisfy. They don't complete us, and while we may feel
happy for a little bit, it doesn't last. These things can never take the
place of our amazing and gracious God.

Have you ever thought "Oh, when I get THIS I'll be happy forever and I'll
never want another thing"? Well, It doesn't work that way. You may think
that now, but once you get that new thing, you'll get bored of it fast.
You'll thirst for more. God is the only one who can quench your everlasting
thirst.

You've probably seen the movies put on by Hollywood or Disney. You know the
ones. When the main character desires something and spends the entire movie trying
to gain it. Finally, at the end, he or she gets the thing that they have
always wanted. Have you ever noticed that those movies always end "Happily
ever after"? That's what Hollywood promotes. They want people to feel like
that. They want people to think that if they get something that they've
always desired, it will make them happy. But that's not true. Matthew 5:6
says "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they
shall be satisfied." There is only one thing that you can desire that will
fill you forever. It's Jesus Christ. He is your light, your salvation,
your King, and when you worship Him, all other things fall away. You no
longer desire things of the world, because Jesus will satisfy you forever.
Do you know Jesus, or do you have a continual thirst for things of this
world? Jesus is the only thing that can quench your thirst. Do you want to
know Him? Do you *desire* him? You can know Him because He wants to know
you. He wants to be the end of your thirst, He wants you to follow Him.
Jeremiah 29:13 says "You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with ALL
your heart." That means that you give up the idol of your cell phone, of
being cool, of having a sports car and you seek God with all your heart.
Just like the apostles, who walked away from their old lifestyles and
everything they once knew to follow Jesus Christ. It doesn't mean that your
cell phone is a sin, or that you need to sell your sports car, but those
things shouldn't be more important than the God you serve. Because He is the
person that should ultimately fill your heart. Do you know Him? Is Jesus
your ultimate desire? Has he quenched your thirst?

What about Dating?

2011-06-09T14:40:00.004-04:00

What is the purpose of dating? I remember one late afternoon when my
sister, Amy, came home from a social gathering. "I met this girl, Naomi,"
she said, making a weird face as she continued. "She's ten years old and she
was talking about how she had NINE ex-boyfriends"
"Nine?" I gasped. "Wow. That's just sad."
I've asked many people what they thought of teenagers or
younger children dating. "Oh," my Grandma says, "They're just having fun."

Fun?

Now, first of all, I want to know how a ten year old can date. Think about
it. They can't drive. How do they GET there? uhuh..... Their parents drive
them to their dates. Why? Well, parents probably make up excuses, "Oh, well I
dated when I was young which naturally means its okay for my kid to do it if
he or she wants to. What harm could be done? There's nothing sinful about
it... It's just a little date. We won't let it get too out of hand."
What is wrong with this mind-set? Well, honestly, a lot. I think parents
should be responsible enough for their children that they actually think
about what they're doing. What they are filling their child's mind with. By
taking them to a date they're promoting it in their children's eyes they are
initially telling them that its okay to date, and break up, and date some
more. This sounds like practice for divorce, not for marriage.

So what is really so wrong with dating? Everyone does it. Why can't we also
do it as well? Because we, as young women of God need to preserve ourselves
for ONE person, and one person only. Not share ourselves with every guy that
we ever date. So which of your NINE boyfriends is the one that you are going
to marry? There's more than a ninety-nine percent chance that it will be none
of them. So what have you wasted? By dating nine different people, plus many
more to come you have wasted yourself. You have wasted a part of
yourself which should have been initially stored up for the one person that God
has planned as your husband. Can you imagine marrying someone later in your
life and saying, "Oh yeah, I dated these people in elementary
school, and these others in middle school and this group of guys in
high school, not to mention the ones I dated in college... but I love you
now." Sure. That's *real* reassuring. Do you want to be that way toward
your husband? By this time, what do you have left for the guy that you actually
marry? It's like God has given you a wall of purity, or chastity, but by dating
numerous people and ultimately defying the man that God has planned for your
life, you are slowly tearing down your wall. Every time you go on a date with
someone, some of your wall is chiseled off, every time you profess your "true
love" to your boyfriend, you are chiseling down a part of your wall,
Everytime you hold his hand or think "dreamy" thoughts about him you are
chipping down your wall and giving that boy something that is meant solely
for your husband alone, not nine or more different guys. By the time you are
married, what is going to be left for your real husband?

Some of you may think, "Oh well I'm dating this guy and we really, really
love each other. We KNOW we're going to get married. We've known each other
for a long time. Just because we're only thirteen doesn't make any
difference.." A decision to date or court someone with the intention of
marriage is a much bigger concept than what a thirteen year old is going to
be able to understand. It's a life-long commitment. Besides, if you really
love each other that much, than you will be able to wait for a proper age
won't you? Or are you scared that you need to date now because if you don't,
you fear that in the future you will forget about each other. If you forget,
then you don't really love the person do you?

A lot of times I have seen girls so wrapped up in how "romantic" it would be
to actually "date" someone that they don't actually consider that they may
be giving away a part of themselves. Especially if they're not serious.
Sadly, I have seen a lot of bad things come from this.

What ultimately comes out of dating at a young age? I once knew this woman... She
was about in her late thirties and she had been married three
times, but divorced all three again and was now single and dating regularly. This
is what dating regularly in your teenage years is preparing you for as
an adult. You get used to being able to break up with the person that you're
dating whenever they do something that you find wrong, embarassing or merely
distasteful. Dating at a young age promotes divorce in the future, whether
you think so or not. God made marriage for *life.* Can you just throw away
the words "until death do you part"? Divorce rates rose to 50% of marriages
in the year 2010. This is what dating is doing to America.

So, summing everything up, what is wrong with dating? #1 that you are giving
a part of yourself away to someone that's not meant to have it. You are
chiseling down your wall and in doing so, are unpleasing to God and already
defying the man that you will marry one day. #2 that it promotes divorce in
the near future.

So what should we do about it? We need to stop dating. Instead, in our
teenage years we should be focusing on learning about God and being
more like him, rather than spending every spare minute we have texting our
boyfriends.

Now, some people reading this may think that I'm crazy. Others
may think that I have some good points, but don't want to give up their
dating lives and parties. If you're serious and you really want to stop and
save yourself for one man, are you really willing to give up dating and
having your "fun" now so that you will be rewarded later in life, and
ultimately be rewarded by God? Are YOU willing to sacrifice?

Weeding your Garden

2011-06-08T23:01:00.009-04:00

Every spring our family plants a garden. One day this past month I
was planting some vegetables. I looked over to where the carrots had been
planted, and all I saw in the place of the carrots were tiny shoots of weeds
sticking out of the garden. I thought to myself, "Goodness, how come
those weeds are an inch tall when my carrot seeds have been in the ground for
two weeks and there’s still nothing coming up?” My thoughts reminded me
of our hearts and how easy it is for us to let bad things grow, and to be
neglectful of the good things that God planted. In the world around us
there are many things that are sinful and aren’t of God but are from the
devil. Satan is always trying to tempt us with the things that look good in
our eyes. If we let Satan’s temptations grow, then the evil weeds will grow
in our hearts and the beautiful things that God intended us to be will grow
slower and slower or even completely stop. Let me list some things from the
world that Satan tempts us with, and that pollutes our lives.
Music: I like the quote from Sarah Mally in the book *Before You Meet Prince Charming*
“Satan is using music in a powerful ways to damage and
pollute the Christians today. Not only the words, but also the attitudes,
moral bankruptcy of the songs, character of the musicians and the addictive
physical drive of the beat combined to create a rebellious, independent
spirit which leads to dangerous, immoral patters in young listeners.” As I
examine this quote, I find that it has a lot of truth. When you are young and
still forming your views on the world, the music you listen to will impact
you. Picture your favorite music artist: Is their personal life all about
glorifying God or is it centered on who dates who, or which of their peers
receive the most popularity? "Do not love the world or anything in the
world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For
everything in the world- the craving of the sinful man, the lust of his eyes
and the boasting of what he has and does-comes not from the father but from
the world. The world and it’s desires pass away, but the man who does the
will of God lives forever." 1 John 2:15-16
TV: Television can impact us even more than music because it is a vivid
picture in your brain. Instead of just hearing the sassy voice of the smart
aleck rebellious teenager, you get to watch her roll her eyes and shrug her
shoulders when she’s speaking to her parents. Because were actually seeing
these actions it’s easier for us to fall into bad habits of doing them
ourselves.
Magazines: Most secular magazines are a host for gossip and useless talk.
They have no point other than to rudely discuss the lives of famous people,
and are also a place to display pornographic images. Plus, these gossip
filled places ruin, tear down, and destroy the lives of the ones that they
are discussing.
What weeds are you letting grow in your garden? Are you pulling up the
bad weeds? If you don’t, then you will never grow into the beautiful fruit
that God intended. How shall we pick these weeds out of our gardens and out
of our minds? Don’t form bad habits, listen to your conscience, and guard your
heart. Make sure everything you let into your heart is safe and an honor to
the Lord.

Memorial Day

2011-05-28T21:56:00.007-04:00

Happy Memorial Day!

Sometimes in our busy lives of going here and there, working hard or doing
school work, we get caught up in our own little worlds. We think of ourselves
and sometimes forget others. I was thinking the other day when I went to a
restaurant with my dad. I saw all the different people there bustling about,
eating their food, talking to each other and I thought, every one of these
people has a soul. Some may believe in God, and some may not. They only have
a window of time to make their life-changing decision: To follow Christ, or
not to. The ceiling fan began to gain speed and a shiver went down my
spine. If some of them have never heard about Christ or never will… and
die...then I could remember myself.. sitting here, and not saying a word.
Would it be my fault? It’s a pretty powerful thing to think about isn’t it?
I mean, even people you pass by on the street you don’t know if they’ve ever
heard about God you don’t know of they are saved or if they ever will be
saved and you just pass right by them.

I think a lot of times we do the same thing with our soldiers.
How many times have you ever caught yourself thinking about the men and
women that risk their own lives for the lives of others and our freedom? I
can honestly say that I really don’t think about them very often. We make up
excuses. “They’re far away” or “I don’t have enough time” or even, “since I
don’t have any friends or family members that are fighting I don’t have to
worry about it.” Another question: How many times do you actually pray for
soldiers? Really think about that. Personally, before I began thinking about
it, I could have probably not remembered the last time I prayed for our
soldiers. When have you supported a soldier? How many soldiers do you think
are actually saved? How many people are actually evangelizing to soldiers?
How many soldiers are going to die – unsaved without anyone who has ever
cared enough to talk to them about God? They give us their lives. Can we not
share the love of Christ with them and by doing so give them their lives
back, their second lives in Christ? Or are we just going to sit back and
watch, while we continue with our own lives, our own cares that are useless
eternally. Watch them die – for us and our freedom, and face their eternal
destinies – without God.

So now I challenge you. Take a few minutes out of your busy day
to actually write a soldier.* Share with him what is happening in the
country that he left to protect us, share with him the love of Christ and
thank him for sacrificing himself for his country.

If you are a soldier and you are reading this, I want to
personally thank you for putting your life online and sacrificing your
safety and even possibly your life for ours. Also, I want to say thank you to all the families of the soldiers who have died in the defense of our beautiful country. We are forever grateful.

Happy Memorial Day everyone! Never forget our soldiers who are fighting for our peace and our freedom.

In Christ,

*Write a soldier!

http://letterstosoldiers.org/write-letter

If you do write a soldier after reading this post please comment about it and let us know! We'd love for you to join us! How many letters can we send out to show that we care?

The video "Remember me" is truly a powerful eye-opener reminding us that we need to remember our soldiers. You can watch it below. It's so sad and beautiful at the same time.

*as a side note, it may be helpful to scroll down to the bottom of the page and pause the blog music. :)

Dear Readers,

I remember very well the day that my father came rushing home from the Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary and told my mother that there had been a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. I was too young to understand exactly what had happened, but I knew it was something bad because my mother was crying and she usually doesn’t do that in front of us unless something terribly sad or bad has happened. I went over to my Dad and asked him what the matter was. He said, “There’s been an attack on the World Trade Center,” looking off into the distance and not really paying much attention to me.

“What’s a terrorist?” I asked.

He came back to earth suddenly. “Terrorists are bad people who want to keep government control by making people afraid and hurting them,” he said in words that my six year old mind could understand.

“And what did the terrorists do?” I asked.

“They crashed an air plane into the World Trade Center. They were the tallest towers in the world, Piper, and thousands of people worked there. The towers exploded and many people died. All over America, people are in shock right now. They lost many of their friends and relatives.”

I was appalled and sat down hard on the floor. Dad caught my arm and pulled me back up. “Why would anyone do that?” I asked.

Dad is usually so strong, but I saw tears in his eyes as he said, “Because of sin. People that don’t know Jesus have nothing to live for, so they try to get attention in the wrong ways. There are lots of bad people in the world. These terrorists, these bad people, the wanted to take away our freedom. It’s because we are the freest country in the whole world.” He removed his glasses and put a hand over his eyes. “You’re privileged to be growing up here, Piper.” He set his glasses down on his blue-jeaned knee before drawing me to him. “Listen, Piper. Because Jesus loves you and He lives in your heart, you have all the freedom you are ever going to need. Even if these terrorists invade our country and take away our freedom, you will always be free in Jesus.” He gave me a hug.

Later that week, Mom and Dad were talking in the kitchen about President Bush sending the troops into Iraq to find the people that had planned the attack. They kept using the word ‘soldier.’ I didn’t know what that meant until Daddy explained it to me. If we hadn’t been in such terrible shock and tough circumstances, you would have laughed out loud at the conversation that went between me and my father-- something like this:

“Daddy, what does that mean?”

“What does what mean?”

“That word. You keep using it. Sol-jer?”

“Oh. Soldier. You really don’t know what a soldier is?”

“No.”

“Well, you know how when we are in Meijers sometimes we see men in camouflage--”

“What’s that?”

“Camouflage.” I tried the word on for size as Dad went on.

“Well, anyway, you know how we see men wearing camouflage walking around in Meijers sometimes when we’re there? They are soldiers. Soldiers are people who go to war for us. They fight the terrorists who want to take away our freedom.” I nodded, remembering the meaning of the word Freedom. Dad and I had discussed this in school just weeks before. “They keep our country safe from bad people like the terrorists. They keep America safe so we can say what we want to, go wherever we want, and not be persecuted because of our religion...”

“Those are some pretty big words. Per-suh-cuted? Religion? What do they mean?”

Dad looked red faced. “Forget it. But you know what a soldier is now, right?”

I nodded.

“And because they pay the price of freedom, do you know what we do? Whenever we see a soldier, we go up and thank him for his service. We thank him for fighting the bad people so we don’t have to. Because he’s willing to give his life for us.”

I nodded and broke into a big smile.

A few months after this, in about mid-March, Dad, Mom, my sister Chaia and I were finishing up our shopping in Meijers when I spotted a soldier. He was wearing that ‘camouflage’ pattern that Daddy had told me about. “Daddy, look!” I said, pulling on his sleeve. “There’s a soldier! Should we go say thank you?”

“That’s right,” Dad said. He started pushing the cart that way.

As we got closer, I could see that the soldier didn’t look very happy. His shoulders were bent as though he were carrying a heavy weight on them, and his boots were wet and slushy from the snow outside. As I walked up to him, I was a little scared, but Dad just gave me a nudge and said, “Say, ‘Thank you for your service, sir.”

I went over to the man. He looked so much taller than he had when I was looking at him from across the room. I craned my head back for a better look at his face, and, smiling as big as I could, revealing a missing tooth, said, “Thank you for your service, sir!” just like Dad had told me to.

Dad chose the moment to come up and give his thanks as well. “We really do want to thank you, sir, for your service to our country. We value your protection with all of this crazy stuff going on right now.”

“Thank you,” the man said in a raspy voice. Then, to my astonishment, he got down on his knees in front of me, regardless of the dirty store floor, and held out his arms. I didn’t know what to do, so I hugged him back. His arms closed around me as though they were made of iron. He buried his head in my shoulder and started to sob. I couldn’t see his tears, but I could feel his shoulders shaking. Mom and Dad looked at each other in distress, wondering what they should do. Finally my parents stepped behind the man. Dad started patting his back firmly and Mom rubbed his shoulder for a little bit, saying, “It’s OK, you’re going to be all right,” with tears running down her own face.

Finally the soldier looked at me through his tears and smiled. I smiled back. “I’ve been through a lot. You just gave me a present, do you know that? Something that meant a lot to me.” He briefly touched my nose with a finger and then stood up. “Thank you.”

A few years later, in 2005, one beautiful August morning, it was a bit of a surprise to see a soldier walking alone down the same block as my Aunt Jenny and I. He had that same dejected, tired, sad look on his face as the soldier in the Meijers when I was much younger. Instantly the memory flooded back.

I told my aunt what I was going to do and caught up with the man. He turned in surprise as he saw me. I held out my hand and said quickly, “Sir, my name is Piper Amanda. I didn’t mean to intrude upon your thoughts, but I wanted to say thank you for serving our country.”

He started blinking really fast, and I saw the tears in his grey eyes. He caught my hand and held it fast. “Young lady,” he said, “Did you know, this is the first time that anyone has ever bothered to thank me for serving my country. This means a lot.” A brilliant smile lit up his whole face and he said, “You just brightened my day! I hope you have a good one!” and started walking down the street again. I watched him go, his shoulders back and a spring in his step.

Memorial Day is a great time to reunite with friends and family, go camping, hang out at the beach, or have the first cookout of the summer. In the noise of the holiday we forget to have a moment of silence for those men who we have lost. We always remember this weekend and have a huge celebration, but many times we forget the reason why we are celebrating. We are celebrating our freedom. We are thanking those who have lived and died so we could have this. We are grateful to those who have served our country and have paid the ultimate sacrifice.

It has been said that at least once in their lifetime, U.S. soldiers sign a blank check to the United States of America for the amount of ‘One soldier, up to and including his life.”

Wow.

So do me a favor and thank the next soldier you see. They deserve it.

And let’s also continue to lift them up in prayer. Let’s thank God for the gift of freedom that he has bestowed upon us as a nation, and also to us as individuals who are in Christ. Let’s thank God for the soldiers who are willing to sacrifice their lives for us. Let’s pray that God would raise them up and continue to provide them with courage and strength as they fight our battles. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Group Discussion 01

2011-05-26T23:02:00.006-04:00

Welcome to group discussion 01. :)
This week we asked the question: "What has God been teaching you this past school year?"
We each answered the above question in a paragraph or so. After reading our responses feel free to comment and share your own opinion on what God has been teaching you. We'd love to hear from you!
blessings,

Sofia

God has been teaching me a lot during this school year. Some of these lessons include patience and not judging by appearances. Ultimately, both of these things come down to one thing: loving others. I've been taught patience in two areas-- being patient with God's timing and being patient with others. A lot of times I don't like to wait for God to move. I want things to go MY way, in MY timing. But my timing is not the best timing. God has been showing me that His timing is always perfect, and that He always knows what He is doing. About the area of being patient with other people: God is always patient with me, even when I don't deserve it. He overlooks my shortcomings when he could point out hundreds of them. Because of the grace He's shown me, I've discovered that I really don't have a right to point out the shortcomings of others. I need to be patient with them and love them even when they don't deserve it. Which is, to put in one word, hard. The other lesson that the Lord has been showing me is that I shouldn't judge by appearances. At my job, at school, and in other places I come in contact with a lot of people who come across, well, creepy. I don't know about you, but the baggy pants and the tattoos and the lip piercing just turn me off. Several times God has moved me into a position where these people have come to ask me for help and have ended up spilling their hearts out to me. What I discovered there was not someone who was creepy, but someone who was lost inside. I was able to help them and to encourage them. I have also been around people who seem to have it all together-- popularity, good looks, a following, a cool attitude-- but all these things were a mask to hide the brokenness that was inside of them because they didn't have everything they needed-- perhaps a bad family situation or hurting relationships marred their perfect life. Either way, the lesson I have learned is to love people unconditionally because appearances are deceiving. "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

~Piper Amanda~

What I have learned this year...

As I look at a school year gone by, I see that God truly has done work in my life. I think one of the biggest areas that God has touched on in my life is trust. Mostly trusting him for the events that are taking place in the present and the uncertainty of the future, but also trusting in God for the outcome of the certain events that I would like to be able to handle on my own.
Another thing that God has been teaching me is to meditate on certain verses of the Bible that pertain to the areas of life that I'm struggling with. The Bible is God's letter to each of us. I have been encouraged to always look harder, for the verses of what God says to me in every day life matter.

~Ella Grace~

I learned so many things this year that I could hardly cram it all into an
essay, much less a paragraph, but I will try to sum a few aspects of it up
in a few words. This year I learned that God speaks to everyone in their own
special way. We just have to learn to listen to Him and what he wants for
us. I learned that God’s way is always better than our own. He sees the
whole picture, while we only see the present time. Everything happens for a
reason and God has a time for everything and a purpose for everyone and
everything. I learned to be patient and wait what God wants for me, not what
I want for myself and to wait upon Him to reveal His words to me. Faith is a
very important aspect of that as well. We have to have faith in God that He
will take care of us through our times of need and times of trouble, and he
will. Because He loves us.

~Sofia Noel~

God's Authority and Biblical Femininity

2011-05-09T22:21:00.001-04:00

What is the Bible made of? The answer to that question is simple,

especially in theological terms. Commands, promises, and parables. A

promise in the Bible is, of course, God promising us something, and

when it is promised it is sure to come. Doesn't the Bible plainly

teach us that God always keeps his promises? Parables are simple

stories or teachings quite similar to an allegory that we should all

learn from. Commands are God's direct sayings for each Christian to follow.

Take the verse Titus 2:4-5 "Then they can train the younger women to

love their husbands and children to be self controlled, and pure, to

be busy at home, to be kind and to be subject to their husbands, so

that no one will malign the word of God." Does it not say for a

woman to be busy at the home, to be kind, pure, loving, self

controlled and loving to her husband? In a broad generalization, if

women more closely followed some of the principles in this verse in today's time, would there

be less divorce or even abortion?

The Biblical woman is called to handle the family, money, make a

home for her husband and children, and take care of the family

property (or in this day and age, tend to the garden and teach her

children). As a man would be neglecting his life's purpose, so a

woman would be neglecting hers if she disregarded her role of

teaching and nurturing her children. The Bible says "Children are a blessing from the Lord."

Isn't it a blessing for the woman who just had a baby to be able to

relax because the sixteen year old girl left everything she was

doing and watched her kids while she rested? Isn't it a blessing for

the mutual out of town friends to be able to spend the night in a

Christian home with 24-7 hospitality?

God has called woman for a greater purpose than working "for the

man" in the public. We have a unique purpose that is too good to be

wasted. A household with a woman who neglects her biblical

responsibilities is usually falling apart or the house itself is

usually a wreck. The biblical woman is called to teach, disciple,

love, care, nurture and bring the gospel to the people around her.

Is what you are planning for your life going to fulfill everything

God is calling you to do in the greatest way? You might be surprised

at just how much strength it takes to conquer what God has called you to do.

Take heart in the big hard things as well as the small hard things

that God calls you to do as you strive to fulfill God's plan for

you. Everything that God has us do for Him makes a difference even

if it doesn't seem to. The world will not become totally devoted to

God by women who neglect their responsibilities but by every child

that comes to know the Lord through the nurture of his mother (and

father), by every conversation about the gospel that is shared over

tea, by every batch of dishes that is willingly washed and by every weed that is pulled spiritually

and literally. Look deeper at Titus 2:4-5. What does it really say? Don't shade

your eyes with what the world has to say. Is it a command, promise

or parable? What is God really calling you to do?

In Christ,

The Death of the Wicked

2011-05-09T22:10:00.000-04:00

Sometimes as the sun rises in my bedroom window my mind will roll like

the waves of the ocean. Today is a new day. Anything can happen.

Mainly these thoughts began to come to me after an in depth study of

World War I. :) Rather than writing papers like I should have been, I

found myself wondering what it was like for the people that were alive

during the time of World War I. I thought about what I shock it would

be to hear news of a great war on a day that could have started out

just the same as this one and the next. When you wake you don't know

what is going to happen in that day. It could be a perfectly normal

day, or it could be an earthshaking day like on September 11th, 2001.

It was the Morning of May 2, 2011. I was sleeping in our family room

with my friend, Claire, who had been visiting our family for the past several days.

"You girls need to get up now." Mom's voice sounded in my ear as she

flipped on the light switch. I had been awake for the past few minutes

wondering whether there was anyone else up in our house. Apparently

there was. Claire opened her eyes and we smiled at each other. Rays of

sunlight penetrated the glass windows as the sun painted its colors across the hazy sky.

"Have you girls heard the news?"

"What news?" I asked. News or current events are not something that is

shared in our home often. When they are, its usually something big.

Mom walked toward the stairway and took a breath "Osama Bin Laden was

found and killed." She looked at us, her hand on the railing as she

paused on her way to get eggs for breakfast.

"When? He wasn't on trial or anything?" I asked. I

looked over at Claire whose face was molded over with astonishment. We

both asked Mom questions, but she didn't seem to know many answers.

Mom doesn't really like to keep up with the news. I heard clattering

in the basement and knew that grandma was up and probably had been for

awhile. I could hear snippets of my Aunt Gretchen's voice too, but

couldn't make out what the commotion was about. The most probable

assumption was that it had something that had to do with the death of Osama Bin Laden.

Mom continued down the stairs for her eggs and Claire and I were left

alone in the family room."That was sudden." Claire said trailing off in thought. Neither of us

spoke for the next few minutes as we tried to let the news settle. We

heard more noise downstairs and decided to see what everyone was doing

and possibly learn more information that would help us fit more pieces

into our puzzled minds.

We found ourselves in grandma's room surrounded by Aunt Gretchen, my

sister Amy, and my grandmother. All were watching the news and talking

at the same time. Many times they trailed off forgetting what they

were saying to watch and learn more about what happened. "Sofia, Osama

Bin Laden has been killed!!" Grandma's voice sounded like the excited

ringing of a bell. "I heard." I think the lack of excitement that portrayed itself through my voice

and through the faces of Amy and Claire annoyed her. "Well aren't you excited? He's dead!!"

"Sure I'm excited. I'm excited that he can't kill people anymore, but

I'm not excited that he's dead." Amy and Claire nodded their heads in agreement.

"Why not?" My Aunt questioned her eyes darting from one of us to the other.

"They've been searching for this guy for fifteen years! Fifteen

years!" She echoed, attempting to make her point and hopefully a

lasting impact on our minds. Her comment didn't change any of our

minds. (Just in case anyone reading this is an aspiring poet, I'd like

to make it clear that repetition doesn't always work the way you

expect it to :D)

"We're not to rejoice in the death of the wicked." Amy said, after

clearing her throat. "We can rejoice that he's not killing or

antagonizing people anymore, but I don't want to rejoice because

anyone dies. Whether it be Osama Bin Laden or anyone on this earth especially if they don't

know God." My voice didn't falter as I was afraid it might.

"Because we know where he went." Amy added.

What can be learned from this, when the world is rejoicing in the

death of another man? That man has a soul too like every other human being on earth.

Just like you and me. So did the people that he killed and terrorized.

We can rejoice, but our real rejoicing should be not in his death, but

in the fact that no more of Christ's children are being terrorized by

him. We should also feel sorrow. There was a hushed quietness in the

room when mom left Claire and I to go get eggs. It was a moment of

mourning, and reminding that we need to pray for our enemies and trust

God in the ways that this world turns.

"As surely as I live," declares the Lord God, "I take no pleasure in

the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.

Blessings,

Purity: for a greater purpose

2011-05-08T22:43:00.000-04:00

Many times I have asked myself this fundamental question: "Who do I serve?

Who will be my master?" There is really only one of two responses that

can be taken. Either you strive to serve yourself and the world, or

you strive to serve the savior, Jesus Christ.

Whichever you choose, your efforts, and ultimately your entire life

will be spent on pleasing who you seek to serve. Whether you think so

or not, we were made by God to serve something whether it be Him and

His creation, or the things of this world.

The fruits produced in your life will shine through you and make it

obvious who your master is and who is ultimately in control of your

life. Things like your attitude, the friends you make, what you let

fill your mind, the things you talk about, and the subject I would

like to discuss today: the way you dress.

Now, you may think that how you dress has absolutely nothing

whatsoever to do with who you call your master, I know there are many

girls who may believe that. Truthfully, that assumption is wrong. Once

you have truthfully answered the question above, "Who is your master?"

Take that question deeper and ask something like "Who am I dressing to

serve?" I'm sure that can be a hard one for some girls. Think about

when you get up in the morning and have somewhere important to go,

maybe school, church, or a social gathering. When you're sorting

through your clothes discarding one shirt, then another, what are the

thoughts that flow through your mind? Are you thinking about which

outfit would most impress your friends who keep telling you that you

should really dress more with the style and wear something that would

draw more attention to yourself, or are you thinking about which outfit will keep yourself pure

and keep your brothers in Christ from stumbling?

"Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but

rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother."

~ Romans 14:13

God has a separate calling for everyone, but he specifically calls us

girls to be modest both in the way we dress, and in our hearts.

Modesty begins in our hearts, with wanting to serve God, but modesty

also comes with sacrifice. The real question is whether you're willing

to sacrifice for God and for purity.

As a young girl, I remember being teased because of what I wore, being

teased because I was different, because I wouldn't "go with the flow"

with how I dressed. I remember the looks that seemed penetrating and

judging when I walked into a public swimming pool, and the comments

"Is that your bathing suit?! It looks like a dress. I can't believe

you wear that." Looking back, I can remember one night years ago when

I thought that nobody cared that I was modest. How was I helping

anyone? All I got was rude comments from people, what was the point? I

saw other girls flock to the ones that were immodest, leaving me

behind in the dust of my own world. Alone. I think that this is what

many girls struggle with today and they give up because of useless

desire to be like everyone else. Now that I'm older, I can't believe

that I thought that way that night long ago, and so thankful to God

that I didn't sacrifice being modest for anything else. God has so much more of a calling for us.

We're modest because that's what God calls us to be.

Even if no one else cares and you get teased, be modest for the Lord

and for his ultimate purpose for you.

Although the world pounds with its influence and its desire to fit in,

God wants us to go against that desire, to push against the waves of

the world that flow endlessly. Although it may sometimes hurt now, our

reward is much greater. To strive after what God wants for us, and keep ourselves pure.

Purity is one of God's wonderful creations. It should never be wasted.

The Lord says our body is a temple of God. He doesn't want us to

"sell" it away for useless fads and attention from people He wants us to stay beautiful in His

sight and pure forever.

In Christ,

Buried Treasure

2011-05-04T21:06:00.000-04:00

Beneath the snow of winter,
Spring treasures can be found
In seeds that lie there sleeping
Below the frozen ground.

While snow falls in the meadow,
The rose must get her rest.
Soon spring will kiss his princess
And she must look her best.

Sleeping beauty shall awaken
And yawn without a sound
As sprigs of buried treasure
Come bursting from the ground.

All earth proclaims God's glory
When spring is in the air.
Each bud fufills a promise -
Each rose an unanswered prayer.

Spring is a ressurection -
Winter's stone is rolled away
To reveal God's buried treasure
Each sun-kissed springtime day.

~ Clay Harrison

Perfect Timing

2011-04-23T14:31:00.000-04:00

Dear Readers,

It was around ten o clock at night. I had finished reading my Bible and was having my prayer time with the Lord. I asked Him for healing for several of my friends, for salvation for others, and for strength for others. I prayed especially for the family of one of my friends.

Finishing up, I slid under the covers and prepared to go to sleep. However, I didn’t feel peaceful about it. A little voice inside me started whispering, “Hey. Keep praying for that friend of yours. They need it right now.”

“Why?”

“Pray for Kevin, Piper,” The voice insisted. “He really needs strength and courage right now… for his family and for himself.”

Something in the voice made me stop, and the urgency hit me like a load of bricks. I climbed out of bed and knelt beside the bed. I began praying for my friend like I had never prayed before. I prayed for strength for Kevin, for his family and for himself. I prayed for him until, exhausted, I slumped onto the floor and fell asleep.

When I awoke the next morning I was still puzzling about the strange occurrence the night before. What was up with Kevin? Throughout the day, as I went about my chores, I continued to pray for him. I had no rest.

I almost fainted when Kevin walked in to the sanctuary on Sunday morning. He looked like death warmed over. His face was sheet white, and there were huge circles under his eyes. Kevin looked as though he would drop of exhaustion any minute. Once again, I prayed for him.

After church was over, I went up to Kevin. He was sitting alone with his head in his hands. I gently wrapped my arms around him and said, “Hey, Kevin.” He looked up at me, and I could see the tears in his eyes. “I just wanted to let you know that the Lord really laid you on my heart this week. I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but I’m praying for you.” I told him about the burden God had given me to pray for him on Friday night. A tear slipped down his cheek. He confessed that, late Friday night, his cousin Thomas had been speeding down a dark road in the rain. His car started spinning and crashed into a telephone pole. Fortunately the person behind him was able to stop and called 911. The paramedics were able to get Thomas out of the wreckage, but even now, they still didn’t know whether he would make it; his injuries were that severe. At about ten o clock on Friday night, the time that I’d been praying for him, Thomas’ mother had called Kevin and told him about the accident, and he and his family had gone up to the hospital to be with Thomas in case he didn’t last through the night. I cried with Kevin as he told his story, and we prayed together.

It was such a God-thing I almost couldn’t believe it. His timing had been perfect. He had given me the urge to pray for Kevin at the exact minute that Kevin needed it. I didn’t have to know what it was about. I just had to obey. And God used it.

In the story of the Exodus, when the Israelites were being chased by Pharaoh’s army, they were headed dead toward the edge of the Red Sea. They thought they were going to die because, with water as far as their eyes could see, there was no obvious way across, but at the perfect moment, God told Moses to raise his staff. Moses must have been thinking, “What in the world is God doing? Our lives are at stake! This is so crazy!” But when he obeyed, God allowed him to part the Red Sea, and the Israelites crossed through to the other side of the Red Sea on dry land.

God always has perfect timing. He is seldom early and never late. He knows exactly what you need and when you need it. It is my prayer that you will continue to trust in God and His timing.

Sincerely,

A Purpose

2011-04-17T20:56:00.000-04:00

Many warm welcomes!!

Thank you for visiting our blog! Things are still pending now, so

thanks for being patient while we get things off the ground :)

This is a blog meant for Christian young ladies who strive to serve

the Lord with all their hearts. Just as an overview, we will be

discussing some of today's issues such as following God when we meet

challenges, how to "hate the sin, but love the sinner", modesty, and many, many more.

We believe that God made each and every one of us in His image, and

that when we sinned, He sent His son to take our punishment and be the

Atoning Sacrifice so that He could forgive us even though we did not

deserve His love or forgiveness. God has a purpose for every one of

us. He desires for us to live for Him and live as his son Jesus did.

Even though you may not believe it, you are here, on earth for a

reason. To follow God and to live out His purpose for your life whatever that may be.

Grace and peace,

"Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come into His presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, the sheep of His pasture." - Psalm 100: 1-3