The Virgins and the Bridegroom

Matthew 25:1-10  Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

The ten virgins are 10 people… The bridegroom is Jesus… The virgins are waiting for Christ’s return…

And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

Five of them were wise and received the gift of Salvation... the foolish were unsaved…

They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:

They hadn’t received Christ into their hearts…

 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

The oil is like Salvation. The wise realized that they needed Christ’s gift of eternal Salvation, and accepted it...

While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

No one knows when the Lord will return… We should not let that keep us from serving the Lord RIGHT now. We must live for the LORD now, later it will be to late.

 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

Christ is returning.

Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

All of us need work… was always need work… we need to trim ourselves… trim what is excess, what doesn’t belong…

 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. 

The foolish were unprepared…

But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

You can’t get saved, or make decisions for anyone else… Everyone MUST make their own decision.

 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.

If we aren’t saved before Christ returns, there will NOT be time when HE comes back!

Chastisement?

Chastisement is hard. I seem to have a habit of getting into more than my share of trouble, so I know exactly how hard it can get.

Chastisement can be as simple as your parents giving you a reminder. Or it can be as big as God having to deal with you.

I’ve been both places. I’ve had my parents discipline me until they were almost ready to give up.

God had to deal with me when I wouldn’t listen to my parents…

It wasn’t fun. I was sick for almost 3 years straight. He also “took away” pretty much all of my friends.

But it was what I deserved, and it was what it took to get my life back on track.

Hebrews 12:5-8, says

And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children,

My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons;

for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous:

nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness

unto them which are exercised thereby.

Chastisement from the LORD means that we are really children of God. At times I have doubted my salvation. I would think “how could I have been saved and done that?”

Then God showed me these verses. A light bulb came on.

So that’s why I’ve been sick.

I’m glad that I was chastened! It means that I really was saved!

*Please do not misunderstand me. I DO NOT think that everyone who is sick is being chastised… Sometimes God uses sickness for other reasons: to help people grow, or perhaps to help someone else to get saved. Sickness was just what God used for me.

Pray for your Government leaders!

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions,

and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 

For kings, and for all that are in authority;

that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

1 Timothy 2:1-2

In the United States, our government is leading our country into debt, and ultimately into bondage. We do not have good leaders in our government. There are a few who we “thought” were good, but we have seen in recent days that even they have not fulfilled their “promises”.

We need to pray for these men{and women}. Sometimes we want to get mad at them, but you know what? God put them there. God allowed them to be elected, and that’s who is supposed to be there right now. True, it probably isn’t Gods perfect will, but its what happened.

Pray for our leaders. It is they who will decide which way our country goes.

peoplephobe?

People: Humans.

Phobe: to fear

In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.

Psalms 56:11

The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?

Psalms 118:6

Many times I have found myself wondering what a certain person thinks about me doing something. At times I have went out of my way to make sure I didn’t “offend” people.

Then I realized it doesn’t matter one bit what other people think. It really only matters what God thinks of us.

Don’t be a people pleaser! God is who we should “fear”!

Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart:

for consider how great things he hath done for you.

1 Samuel 12:24

Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

Proverbs 3:7  

Be a Servant

this post was inspired by the book Being a Girl who Serves:How to find your life by giving it away by Shannon Kubiak Primicerio. {please note that I don't agree with everything on these links, or everything in the book!}

Being a servant means being willing to die to self.

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written,

Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

 Luke 4:8

So we should live to serve Jesus Christ, every single moment of our lives.

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me,

 let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Luke 9:23

Living for Jesus means denying everything we want. It means giving up our rights. It means putting others first.

Serving means giving up EVERYTHING!

Thy Youth

Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.

Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. 

Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

1 Timothy 4:12-16 

1.       “Let no man despise thy youth”

Most teenagers are immature. All they do is sit around at home watching movies, playing videogames, and surfing the internet. They are lazy, disrespectful, and totally unprepared for life.

Don’t give people a reason to despise you when you are a teenager. Christian young people should use their teen years to grow, not to play around. People admire teenagers who work hard, open the door, say “yes ma’am”, “yes sir”, because it is a rarity.

Don’t act like the “normal” teenager that people dislike!

2.       “be thou an example”

Did you know people watch us? Non-Christians{even liberal Christians} watch us. The way we act could influence them in a good way or a bad way.

Younger children watch us. Do you want them to follow a bad example or a good one?

I know that I don’t want anyone to make my same mistakes. I try to set a good example, and if I make a mistake, I try to go back to those who were watching, and say I was wrong.

We need to be examples in many things

~ in word,

Are the words you use, words that you want others to use?

~ in conversation,

Are the things you talk about things you want others to talk about?

~in charity,

Are you kind? Do you treat people the way you want to be treated?

~in spirit,

Are you the same person inside and out? Do you do anything with your whole heart? Do you do it for the LORD or for man?

~ in faith,

Are you trusting only in the LORD? Are you an example of the kind of Christian God wants us to be?

~ in purity

Are you giving the appearance of evil?

3.       How do we know what kind of example to set? {“give attendance”}

~Read the Bible. {“to reading”}

~Exhort others. {“to exhortation”}

~Become firm in your beliefs. {“to doctrine”}

So, I leave you with this…

“Meditate upon the

Second Chances?

Did you know that Jesus forgave murderers?

And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him,

and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. 

Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.

And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

 Luke 23:33-34

He did!

Did you know that Jesus forgave a thief?

And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying,

If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.

But the other answering rebuked him, saying,

Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?

And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds:

but this man hath done nothing amiss.

And he said unto Jesus,

 Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.

 And Jesus said unto him,

Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

Luke 23:39-43

In Matthew 27:38 we see that these malefactors were being punished for thievery.  

Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.

{Matthew 27:38}

To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

{Luke 23:39-43}

{The only way for the man to be with Jesus in heaven was for Jesus to forgive his sins…}

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?

Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

And such were some of you:

but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified

in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Did you realize that no matter what the sin… God forgives? God gives us another chance… every single little time.

When we ask for it, we are forgiven. There are no if’s. no but’s. no and’s. 

Go in the LORD!

I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD:

I will make mention of thy righteousness,

even of thine only.

Psalm 71:16

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves

to think any thing as of ourselves;

but our sufficiency is of God;

2 Corinthians 3:5

My Best Friend

~He lives in a place called Heaven…

~He lived here on Earth for only 33 years…

~I have yet to meet HIM face to face…

~He lives in my heart…

~I talk to HIM all the time… {in fact if He were any of my earthly friends, they would tell me to shut up!}

~He has been there for me.

                Even when I tried to ignore HIM…

                Even when I was mean to HIM…

                Even when I didn’t deserve it…

                When I didn’t have any other friends…

                When it seemed like everyone else hated me…

~He wrote a whole entire Book of letters to me… {the BIBLE}

~He knows everything about me, and He still loves me… {unlike many other of my so-called-friends}

~He knows what I’m thinking… {in fact, HE knows what I am going to think BEFORE I think it!}

~He doesn't fail me!

HIS NAME IS JESUS!

He can be your friend too!

Lessons from King Josiah

I heard a really really good message in church last week. I took some notes, and I thought I would share them with you. You can listen to the original message over HERE!

2 Chronicles 34:1-3

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign,

and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.

And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD,

and walked in the ways of David his father,

and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left.

For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young,

 he began to seek after the God of David his father:

and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places,

and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.

Even though Josiah was only 8 years old when he became king, he did what was right, and served GOD. How many 8 years olds do we know who would do the same?

When he was only 16 {he was 8 when he began to rule, and now it’s the 8^th year of his reign; 8+8=16} he began to seek after God. He began to study and find out what God wanted him to do.

Josiah may not have had the word of God. We will see later that someone finds a copy of it, but his response to the discovery kind of implicates that he may have never read it, or perhaps did not have a complete copy.

Instead, he followed what he knew was right… He knew that his “father” David had followed and served the LORD, so he patterned his ways after David’s.

When he was 20{the 12^th year of his reign} he began to put what he had learned into practice, by destroying the evil idols and high places.

Why did he begin acting on what he knew was right when he was 20? Why didn’t he just put it into practice right away?

Numbers 14:28-30

Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD,

as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:

Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness;

and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number,

 from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,

Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein,

save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

At age 20 we become accountable to God for the choices we make. We are responsible for making our own decisions. We are then considered adults, and should not rely on anyone else to make our life changing decisions. It is our responsibility.

Not only did Josiah tear down the idols and high places, but he also started re-building the temple of GOD. He replaced the bad with good.

While they were working on rebuilding the temple, the men find a book of the law.

2 Chronicles 34:14-19

And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the LORD,

 Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the LORD given by Moses. 

And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe,

 I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD.

 And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.

And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and brought the king word back again, saying,

All that was committed to thy servants, they do it. 

And they have gathered together the money that was found in the house of the LORD,

and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and to the hand of the workmen. 

Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying,

Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book.

And Shaphan read it before the king. 

And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes.

Because of Josiah’s reaction, I think it is safe to say that he probably was not familiar with this book. Probably Josiah did not have a copy of all of the previous written books. Since he knew about David, and David serving the Lord, we can assume that he had some of the BOOK, or some sort of record.

When Shaphan read the Book to Josiah, he realized that the people have not been serving the LORD. He realized that he needed to work even harder to lead the people back to GOD!

*Be active right now by seeking the LORD. Even if you are only 8 you can be learning God’s word, so that when you are 16 you can stand up for what is right, and when you are 20 you can step out and make a difference!

Be Courteous

Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another,

love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:

1 Peter 3:8

~

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,

even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Ephesians 4:32

~

We are to be kind, and courteous one to another at all times… this means, even if someone doesn’t believe like you do… do not let your zeal for what {you think} is right, overpower being kind when you point it out…

You don’t pour salt in an open wound… you don’t be so bold that you hurt people. Even if what they are doing is wrong, if you salt them, you will disinterest them in the things of God…

Someone I know{I won’t even give them the benefit of calling them a friend}, recently told me that I had to stop doing something that in their opinion was wrong… they were extremely rude… {for some reason they pretty much do not like me… unless I have a baby or something they want…} they didn’t give any reason{um… yeah… so I just have to stop…}. Even though they didn’t say why, I know enough about them to know what they are trying to do… And believe me, if I went back and asked, I will guarantee you they couldn’t give me a verse about why they believe it was wrong…

I on the other hand, can give you a verse that supports what I was doing… If they’d ask, and listen to reason, I would show them… but no, they won’t because they are afraid of being proven wrong…

So anyways… not only did they not give me a reason, more importantly they were extremely rude… {and Ill admit, I was so surprised that they could be that rude, that my response was a little bit short… at least I didn’t yell at em, like me wanted to…}  This isn’t the first time they were rude, in fact for them, it is a regular occurrence…  and they call themselves Christians. But they just brush aside the rude part and say its okay, because I “wont listen” to them and they have to point out my “sin”.

And these people call themselves my “friends”. I will not call them my friends because I do not want to be around them any more than I have to… they say “you are who you are around” and there is no way that I wanna be like them. Not in a million years… no. way.

So… my point? When you are pointing out someone else’s “sin” or something that you think is wrong…

First of all, be nice. Be kind. Be courteous.

Second. Be able to prove yourself. If you cant- shut. Up.

Third. Listen to their side… they might just be able to make a point!

Think about it…

God really cares!

But the very hairs of you head are all numbered.

 Fear not therefore:

ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Luke 12:6,7

Some people think that God isn’t concerned about them. They think that God is so big, HE probably wont want to deal with their little problems… How wrong!

If GOD made it HIS business to know how many hairs you have, then he certainly cares everything else!

God cares about everything… big, medium and little. EVERYTHING!

Just some thoughts...

For with God

nothing shall be impossible.

                                                                      Luke 1:37                          

There are NO if, but, and, or’s… Nothing shall be impossible!

However. Many times when things don’t go their way people claim that this isn’t true. It is always true, because God is holy. So, if its true, then why don’t we always get what we want? Because a lot of times what we want isn’t what is in Gods will.  If we are saved, then serving God should be important to us. When we serve God, what He wants is whats most important. We will want what He wants. And what He wants is never impossible.

“Confess your faults one to another,

and pray one for another,

that ye may be healed.”

James 5:16a

I am not a perfect person. In fact, I am far from being perfect. I have many faults. Tons of them to be honest with you.

There have been many times that I have tried to not publicize my sin. I mean, its between me and God, right? But it always seems that no matter what I do, everyone eventually finds out. Nice. Or not so nice.

So. I was contemplating on some things and saw this verse. I guess it hit home. Whenever people hear about things I have done they automatically add that to my “bad list”. Yes, I have a “bad list”. And just about everyone who I don’t want to know, knows about my “bad list”.

Ironic, huh?

So, after reading this verse, I decided to not hide things any more. I was worried about one particular situation at the time. I was starting to become quite good friends with a young lady, and I knew that sooner or later someone would try to get her to think bad of me, and they would use my well-known “list of wrong-doings”.  In fact, I figured someone had already tried it.

So… one day I told her. I had been rebellious when I was like 10-14. She was surprised.(which told me that, thankfully I was the first one to tell her about this.) I told her why I was telling her. And guess what? It didn’t make one bit of difference to her. In fact, I think it made some things easier to talk to her about. Because she knew who I was.

So. Don’t hide things from your friends. I speak from experience, and it is harder to have them find out from someone else, who heard from someone else, who was told by someone else, who was supposedly around when someone else said something. So, be honest with them. They are there{usually} to help you.

The Deception of Pride

The pride of thine heart hath deceive thee…

Obadiah 1:3

The crown of pride… shall be trodden under feet:

Isaiah 28:3

Lately I have really been working on my own problem with
pride… It has been very hard, but I finally realized that this was one of my
big problems…

As I have been working on this, I’ve had the opportunity to
look around me, and see that this is no longer a problem that can be ignored…
This isn’t just a problem in my own life… It’s a huge problem everywhere in the
“Conservative Christian” circle… somehow we have fallen into the mindset that
we are better than others…

Why?

We think we are better
because we are more spiritual… When we see someone who doesn’t have the
same high standards as we do, we jump to condemn them…

Just because someone doesn’t dress like we do doesn’t mean
that they aren’t saved… I know many people who I know are Christians, but don’t
dress like me…

Just because someone listens to non-Christian music doesn’t
mean they aren’t saved…

Just because someone uses a different Bible version doesn’t
mean they cant be saved…

Just because they go to a liberal church doesn’t mean they
cant be saved…

Many times I believe that these people are actually more
spiritual than we are… Why? Because we get so big in ourselves because we say are
“so totally sold out for God”. Are we really? I mean God died for them too… He
didn’t just die for those who are “conservative”… people who don’t have as high
standards can get saved and go to heaven too, you know!

We should know better than to be prideful… If we really
think that we are as spiritual as we say we are, then we should know that pride
is an abomination to God.

Pride is wrong, and that is where we are getting away from
being spiritual… Our pride is turning people away from growing in Christ…

I personally know someone who was otherwise open to our
views of the Bible, and other things, but when they were basically told they
couldn’t be saved because they wore pants, it turned them off… I know this
person is saved! I see the fruit everytime I see them…

Because of our pride, we are turning people away from God!

I will be the first to admit that I have a problem with
pride… I used to look down on people who didn’t believe as we do… I was wrong…
I don’t know how I ever got to be so prideful, but honestly, I believe that I
was just following the examples of those around me… I was totally surrounded by
it, so why was it wrong? Everyone was prideful, so wasn’t it okay?

NOPE. It wasn’t okay. It isn’t ok. It doesn’t matter that
EVERYONE else has pride… IT. IS. WRONG. VERY. WRONG.

The What-if's

*This was written last Saturday, but Blogger was not working that day, so I couldnt't post...

For the past year and 7 months, I have had to force myself
not to think about “what if’s”, but today that kind of changed.

Today we were stopped in a back-up in town. This weekend was
the annual festival, so there was tons and tons of traffic. {It took one of our
friends almost 20 minutes to get across town (less than 5 miles)…!}

The car in front of us stopped, so we did too(umm… yeah.),
although it was one of those “dad, look out” slam on the brakes moments… (It
wasn’t really that bad!) But the guy behind us… was a totally different story!
Like close call. really. close. call. Then my dad turned on his 4-way flashers.

I looked out my window{I was behind the drivers seat…} about
2 seconds later to see something about 2 inches{literally!} away from my
window. And the van like moved, except we were stopped.

The pick-up truck behind us could not stop because it was
pulling a gooseneck trailer with approximately 6 or more tons of pellets on it.
Plus it was pouring down rain. {Like no could see out windows pouring down
rain.} So he miraculously somehow got over in the turn lane. Somehow. How, none
of us know. I mean.

Gabby said she almost screamed because she noticed the guy
wasn’t stopping. I guess she said the trailer wasn’t getting over as fast as
the truck had, so she thought for sure he was gonna hit us somehow.

I believe that somehow our guardian angels squeezed
themselves between our car and that trailer. Somehow the mirror on our van was
just low enough that it went below the bed of the trailer. Or maybe God picked
up the trailer, or pushed the mirror down.

The guy couldn’t stop until he was 3 car lengths past us.
When we drove by them the girl in the passenger seat looked like she was so
freaked out that she was going to be sick.

What if that guy hadn’t stopped? What if he had noticed just
a fraction of a second later that we
were stopped? What if his reflexes had been a fraction of a second slower? What
if he had been going slightly faster?

There would be 9 {or more} people either {probably} dead or
seriously {critically} injured. That trailer was so heavy that it would have
squished that truck, and our van, and possibly the vehicle in front of us, into
an accordion.

If that guy had hit
us today, tonight I would either be in heaven, or in the hospital fighting for
my life. And so would everyone else in our vehicle and the other vehicles.

So it got me thinking. I mean, I know I’m saved. I’m not
really afraid to die. I know that if I died right now I would go to heaven.
But, am I ready to face God? If I stood before HIM today, would I be able to
present him with crowns, or would all of my “crowns” be in ashes?

Have I really been living my life like I should have? Have I
put God first? Have I lived my life like I am going to die today?

The answer is no. I am still a sinner. Every day I do
something I shouldn’t have, say something without thinking, think without
praying…

I don’t always put God first. Sometimes I just want my own
way. I want things right now. I want things that aren’t always good for me.

Before I would force myself not to think about the “what
if’s”, I would think about things that could have happened…

Like-

How would it be
different if Skylar had lived? She would be over a year old now. She would
be learning how to walk, eating “big people food”, maybe learning her first
words. There would be a car seat in the van, a crib in our room, toys all over
the house, and baby clothes in the laundry.

But when I start thinking about all those things, I want it
to have happened… But it didn’t. It wont ever be that way because Skylar is
with Jesus. All I have are memories of how tiny she was. I have a memory of the
10 seconds I got to hold her tiny cold body. I remember the memorial service
where everyone was touched in some way. I remember her little tiny white casket.
The tiny hole at the cemetery. The headstone that is still in our laundry room
that a friend was able to help us get.

But I am who I am today partially because of Skylar. Her
death helped me to grown in ways that I wouldn’t have otherwise grown.

How would it be
different if the two other miscarriages hadn’t happened? {In reality, I am
really the oldest of 7 children.} There would be 2 other siblings. One of them
would be 11 or 12. The other would be 5, going on 6.

What if I hadn’t been
rebellious when I was younger? I probably would be rebellious right now, or
in the near future. I thank God that I learned my lesson then, and not now, or
later when it would be too late. At least I learned my lessons the easiest of
the hard ways. But, I was rebellious, and that’s what I have to live with. Even
though some people involved haven’t forgiven me, and still remind me of it as
often as they can, I have God’s forgiveness, and that is all I need. {It is
nice to have my parents trust again though!}

Sometimes thinking about the “what if’s” can be a good
thing, but then again you don’t want to be all melancholy… so pray before you
think about the “what if’s”, and if it discourages you, DON’T think about them!

Peer Pressure...

A lot of people live other peoples lives because of peer
pressure. They wear other peoples clothes… drive other peoples cars… live in
other peoples houses because it’s the thing to do…
Everyone likes to be liked. At least everyone I know that is
in their right mind. To be liked in todays culture we must dress like our
friends… in all the new fads. We must drive the car that others decide is
ideal. We must live in fancy houses that other people ooh and ahh about…

A few years ago I was just like this… my friends wore
certain things, so I did too. My “best friend” {at the time} wore mostly dark
clothing… dark browns and greens, navy blue etc. So that is what I wore, even
though the colors made{still do} me look horrible. I talked their talk, did
their thing… played their game… lived their life by trying to please them,
instead of living my own life…

When I got right with God, I finally realized that it isn’t
important to change your life around to comply with the guidelines that others
set for us. In fact, many times its just plain wrong. We need to live our lives
solely and completely for God.

God made me the way I am. I can’t change that, even if I
want to, and seriously try. It doesn’t work that way. God made you the person
you are. He didn’t make me you, or you me. He made me- Me. I am who I am.

I am very girly, but at the same time definitely a country
girl. I love my nail polish, shopping, clothes, pink, etc. But I am not afraid
of hard, dirty work. {In fact I enjoy it!} However, I am not all one, like some
people think you have to be.

I am a very outspoken person. Many time that gets me into
trouble, because I don’t think before I speak, but when I do think before I
speak, my outspokenness can be useful. I am not the type of person to hide what
I am thinking. I will speak out if something is wrong. {Well, I’m still working
on speaking out to my peers… that is hard, right?}

At times my friends{so called} have told me that things I
like, and do are wrong… In the past I would have just listened because I was so
worried about them liking me. Not anymore. If they say something is wrong{they
usually go at it with “the BIBLE says”…} then they need to prove it to me, and
not twist SCRIPTURE… Unless they can prove it to me{usually they don’t even
try, cause they can’t…} I don’t worry about it.

GOD is the one I am worried about… Is what I say, what I do,
what I wear, what I look at, what I listen to, pleasing to HIM? Does it glorify
HIM? If Christ were to walk into the room right now, would HE be pleased with
me? This is what I ask myself now, not “Oh, what would so-and-so think about
“blank”?”. Nope, no more of that for me.

I’m gonna be
myself, but more importantly, I’m gonna let GOD tell me who I am!

Grandma’s Pumpkin Brownie Things…

Ingredients
1-15 oz. can of pumpkin
1 box of brownie mix(or chocolate cake mix)

Directions
Mix together ingredients… Cook for approximately 15 minutes longer than the box instructs for the regular recipe, checking often…
Allow to cool before topping with whip topping, and/or chocolate candy!

Yummy!

God is always with me...

And He that sent me is with me:

{God will be with me where ever He sends me!}

the Father hath not left me alone;

{God isn't gonna desert me like many people have...}

for I do always those things that please Him.

{at least I try to...}

John 8:29

* Everything in {brackets} is my own thoughts... =D

Thoughts on Matthew 5:44

But I say unto you,

Love your enemies,

bless them that curse you,

do good to them that hate you,

and pray for them which despitefully use you,

and persecute you;

Has anyone ever been mean to you because you tried to do right?

Ever been called names because you are different

Ever been hated because... I mean just because...

Ever been used?

Ever had lies told about you? Like HORRIBLE lies?

Well, God wants us to forgive them, and not just forgive... He wants us to love them in return! Treat them like they never did anything...

Its hard sometimes. I know. {been there. done that. yeah. lots of times.} But we have to do it, and God gives us the grace to do it!

Digging Deep

So, yeah, another random title! :D But really once you read it, I think you will get my meaning!

For the past several months I have had a lot of struggles. Things have been hard for me, but really I brought some of it on myself...

I finally realized that I was selling myself short because I was not taking enough time to read my Bible. I was reading it, sure. Actually I would just listen to it while I worked on something else.

I don't have enough time to just sit there and read it. I would argue with myself.

Then one day I was sitting on my bed, feeling really dejected, and discouraged. I knew I had to do something different.

So, I picked up a Bible study book that I had bought several months before, and started reading! I devoured a 172 page book in about 3 hours! And this time I was NOT skim reading. After I had read it I had a lot more determination.
Since then, I have really focused on putting GOD first. I will admit that I haven't done perfectly. But, God has really blessed me with a hunger to know more.

My Bible, Journal, and a Devotional Book.

Every morning, I try to get up and read my Bible first thing. I start by reading a chapter in Proverbs(like if its the 15th, I'll read chapter 15...). Then I read 1 or more sections of the book From My Heart to Yours By Glorianne K. Gibbs. For each day there is a verse, then thoughts on the verse.

So, I started to write down each verse, and my own thoughts on the verse. That way it really makes me think about it...

What is God's Will for my Life?

What is Gods will for my life?

This is a question that I have really been pondering recently. I am 16; I am finishing 10th grade. In just 2 years I will ~LORDwilling~ be graduating. After that I’m not sure what the Lord wants me to do, yet.

Is it Gods will for me to go to college? If it is, should I just go to the local community college, or Bible College? Should I go to the Bible College that’s only in another state, or the one that’s on the opposite end of the country? What should I go for? Should I go to be a teacher, or for business or something else?

I don’t know the answer to any of these questions, but I need to find out. But I still need to be open to what GOD wants for me, not what I want…

In my Bible reading I just finished up the book of Deuteronomy. The children of Israel had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years because they did not accept Gods perfect plan. They tried to make a decision based on their own emotions, and they messed up the plan. I don’t want to do that!

“Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred,
and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great;
and thou shalt be a blessing:
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
Genesis 12:1

Abraham and Sarah were asked to leave EVERYTHING… They had absolutely no clue where they were going. They went where God commanded them to. They were constantly on the move, but they always went when God told them too. Because of that God made a great nation of them.

God told Noah;
“Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. Genesis 6:14


God asked Noah to do something that to human thinking just did not make sense! I mean if I asked you to build a fireproof airplane, because the world was going to blow up… would you do it? No, because that’s crazy!

Sometimes, too often really, we think “You know what? God isn’t going to ask me to do anything that takes me outside of my comfort zone. He’ll give me something easy, or He will back up the plan I already have.”

That isn’t true. It is our job to be open to whatever God has planned for us. It is our job to find out, search the Scriptures, to find out what His plan for us is… Some of us are called to serve God right at home… others are called to the mission field, government, or somewhere else in our country…

What is Gods plan for you? God plan for me right now is to serve God at home… where my parents are. If I don’t do Gods immediate plan, how will I fulfill the role that he has for me later in life? Gods plan for me in the immediate future include continuing to work on my character, learning how to relate to people better, serving my church through my violin, helping out in our printing ministry, and just being an encouragement to people. These are just a few, but I need to be faithful in the little things before I am assigned to big things!

Yellow for May! I tried to post like a week ago but i forgot my Mp3 player. AGAIN!

This rose is made out of wood.

Dont know why i took that one.....

This is a nekclace, if you cant tell.

Beads.........again!

She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.

Proverbs 31:19

and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Matthew 7:2b

Even though its a dandylion, its still pretty.

Oh ME of Little Faith

“And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?”
Matthew 8:26

Lately I have found myself becoming discouraged way too often… I find myself questioning things that I shouldn’t.

Things are really busy around here, and many things are getting pushed aside for higher priorities… We are behind on school… instruments have been neglected for lack of time… among other things.

This morning I took my dad to school. (We only have 1 vehicle, and we needed it at home.) I was kind of discouraged, because I woke up at 6:30 with really bad cough, and a headache. On the way home I was listening to a c.d. when all of a sudden I realized that one of my friends drives to work on some of the same roads that I was taking home.
It was definitely a rather random thought, but I thought it would be kinda cool if I passed him. It sounds silly, and maybe it is, but… whatever. So anyways I was almost ready to turn onto our road, and I still hadn’t seen him. I was thinking “Yeah, I guess I didn’t really think that I would see him… oh well…” And just then he drove by… I think that God was laughing at me… Maybe? He was probably like “Really Hannah… Yeah right I don’t care about those little things. Yeah right, look at what I just did…”

I was ashamed of myself. God really started convicting me. If he could make just that little thing that didn’t even matter(it was actually kind of silly…) happen, then he would take care of everything else too.

Green Fun

Hannah and I have talked about doing a color month of pictures. Why green? Don't know. It was the first color that came to mind. Anyway, here are some of my choices. I had planned on putting verses with some of them but I, in my haste, forgot to put the document on my Mp3 player. Oh well!

Hannahs rose plant decided to bloom last Monday, my birthday!

One of my birthday cards. Green seemed to be a popular b-day card color this year.

Maybe next time I should write down things I need to do!

Life is "like a vapor " use your time wisely!

Beads! Fun, fun, fun!

This project is now finished. It is a baby blanket.

One of the buildings in "Fort Timberland", a fort built with Licoln Logs.

Mount Graylock, Massachussetts

Again Mount Graylock, Massachussetts.