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.

Whatsoever things...

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Philippians 4:8

Since I was really little I have had very bad nightmares... A lot of times it was after I watched something rather gruesome or violent(like CSI!). I prayed and prayed about this but nothing seemed to change. Until this past summer I had not seen anything that bothered me for at least 2 years. So I was having the same nightmares of things I had seen 2 years previously.

Finally I was getting desperate... I mean who wants to wake up every other night crying? I'd cry myself to sleep... I wouldn't go into my bedroom at night without the light turned on, and for a while the light was at the otherside of the room. I was really frieked out!

Then one day my big brother mentioned that when he was desperate he finally decided to fast... ironically a few weeks later one of my friends mentioned that I should try it... So I did. And guess what?

I haven't had a nightmare for 2-almost 3- weeks! Praise the Lord!

Another thing that I have been doing is taking the above verse to heart. When I start to think of something bad I force myself to think of a Bible verse, or I start singing a song... God has been good, and I am especially thankful for my family and friends that encouraged me to do something about my problem, even if they didn't realize they were!

{Sunrise}

One of the blessings of living in the country!

A little bit about me {Gabrielle}

Recently, I was talking to a close friend and he pointed out the fact that I probably needed to learn to type. Right now I am making the attempt. If you are wondering why I haven’t been posting, this is the reason.


This school year I am working my way through 10th grade school curriculum with my sister and brother. The lord has blessed us with the ability to use video materials from Abeka Academy. For this years schooling I have been working through Bible Doctrines, Biology, English class containing Grammer and composition IV, vocabulary, spelling, and poetry IV, and world literature, Algebra II, World History, and Spanish I. My favorite classes this year would be World History and Algebra II in that order. Mr. Duby, World History teacher, makes history interesting and I like algebra because I like solving problems.


Around the New Year, our pastor preached about evaluating our lives to see what needs changing and
setting goals for the new year. This message really helped me evaluate my own life and point out things that needed fixing. I used to hate school and work. When pastor preached that message, I realized that both of those things are good and to hate them is a sin. I still have some problems but the LORD has helped me to overcome my dislike of these things. When pastor preached that message, I also realized that I was not making enough time for GOD. I was neglecting to read the BIBLE every day and to spend time in prayer. I hope this will help someone who reads it to evaluate their life and see what needs to be changed.




Psalms 19:14
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.

Psalms 150:6
Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

2 Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Philippians 2:14
Do all things without murmurings and disputings:

*Sisters*

At the Wellend Canal in Canada

We LUV maple sugar candy!!

{Music}

For the past couple of days I have really enjoyed getting my violin out and playing with my brother!

I can finally play 5 flats!!
One of my favorite songs!

I got a vest for valentines day(from my parents!).

P.S. Drivers training is going good.