One of my favorite verses...

"Women should dorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self control.
~ 1 Timothy 2:9

I think that is a very important verse. Not only are we to dress respectively and modestly, we need to have self-control! The NIV says:

I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes.

Does this mean that God doesn't want us young ladies to wear earrings? Or bracelets? Or necklaces? I don't think that's what it means. I think it means not to wear them excessively. This is something that I would consider excessive jewelry:

This jewelry is very beautiful, but it also looks very expensive.

"...not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes."

So why do us girls tend to wear more flashy, bold, beautiful jewelry? And actually, not just jewelry. Clothes, and even electronics. Why? Probably because there's someone out there we hope to impress. That's why we spend hours every morning trying to figure out what to wear. That's why we buy the coolest phones, and the latest video games. That's why we buy jewelry that is so bright, it could light a room. Really. I don't wear make-up, I don't wear big, bulky jewelry. I'm not trying to impress anyone. So why do I argue with myself wondering if I should wear my green shirt or my blue shirt? Why do I brush my hair before I leave the house? That's an easy one. I don't want to be in town looking like a slob! So why do I do all that stuff? I think God wants us to look nice. Beautiful even! 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says:

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body,"

I think that answers a couple questions. Don't wreck your body just because God doesn't want you to wear "braided hair, gold or pearls, or expensive clothes". I don't believe that God wants you to look like a slob and not be presentable. For "your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit", and "therefore honor God with your body". The God's Word translation says:

I want women to show their beauty by dressing in appropriate clothes that are modest and respectable. Their beauty will be shown by what they do, not by their hair styles or the gold jewelry, pearls, or expensive clothes they wear.

So you see, your beauty is not what you wear, or how you look, but what you do! You can be the most popular girl in school, wear all the coolest, most expensive clothes, and adorn yourself with the most beautiful jewelry, but if you do nothing, all your beauty is worthless. So no, you don't have to sell all your clothes and work at the Salvation Army 24/7. But do go out and do good! Help a neighbor, mow the lawn for your Dad, and even help out at the Salvation Army for an afternoon :)

Propriety: your true nature.

Don't buy a whole new wardrobe for a 'new you'. God loves you just the way you are! Don't change a thing about you!

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
~Psalm 139:14

When the NIV said "...not with braided hair...", I was wondering, 'what's wrong with braided hair?'. Nothing! Then God's Word translation says, "...not by their hair styles...". So braiding your hair isn't bad. But excessive hair styles are well, excessive...

Some more excessive that others (This has nothing to do with what I've been talking about, but would you look at that??? That is so crazy!).

I think I've made my point, which was:

"Women should dorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self control.
~ 1 Timothy 2:9

Maybe I'll pick up on this again later, but for now, I'm closing this post. I hope you all enjoyed! Have a wonderful day!

Revive Our Hearts Pointers

Today I was listening to Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss. Nancy's current series is 'Lessons from the life of Joshua'. As I was listening to her program, I noticed that Nancy gave lot's of pointers. I thought I'd share some with you (You can go here to listen to the program today).

- The Battles did not get any easier,

They actually got harder! The more victories Joshua's army won, the more determined the enemy got. I think it's the same for volleyball; if the opposing team is beating you badly, most teams don't give up. They try harder to win! Especially if the other team hasn't lost a game, you want to be The Team to beat them! That's probably the way it was for Joshua's enemy. Then again, if I was in a real battle, I would most likely run away!

- The more battles you win, you’re taking territory from Satan. And the more you move into his territory, the more intense and focused he’s going to become.

Sort of going back to the other point. When you win a battle, Satan obviously doesn't like it! He wants you to LOSE! I've read all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, and when Laura and her family lived out on the prairie, the Indians who had lived there before families started inhabiting the land got angry. They didn't want other people living on their land! Whoever asked them? The Indians weren't very happy with all these new settlers, and Satan isn't happy when you trust in the Lord and win your battles!

- "Don't be afraid!"

God repeats this phrase many times. He says this before Joshua is ready to go into battle at Ai:

Chapter 8:1 - "Do not fear, and do not be dismayed."
Chapter 10:8 - “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you.”
Chapter 11:6 - "Do not be afraid of them!"

He says:
“Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give over all of them, slain, to Israel.”

God says, "I will give the victory. Don’t be afraid."

God could tell that Joshua was afraid! He knows when all of us are afraid! We are all afraid of something at some point, and that's o.k.! But the Lord tells us not to be afraid.

Then, in Joshua 10:25, Joshua says to his troops:

"Do not be afraid or dismayed; be strong and courageous. For thus the LORD will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.”

Hmm, how original! In chapter 8:1, God says almost the same exact thing! God just told him, "Do not be afraid!"

- As you get the courage from the Lord and get his promises, you can become a means of encouraging those around you.

I think that's SO true! Your mood can affect the other people's moods around you. I do that a lot :) I can get mad over little things like, oh, I don't know... lost calculators :) So I think if you are encouraging others in what they do, you will be encouraged. And I don't know about you, but I get a really happy feeling whenever I do something good and I get praised for it. Or when I just do random acts of kindness! It just makes me feel happy all over!

So what did everyone think? I thought it was kind of fun to do! Leave a comment!

NDR

New Day Resolution. This is the first year in a long time that I haven't made one resolution. Most people make the resolutions like "I'm going to lose 30 pounds!", or "I'm going to give up soda for a whole year!" (Which by the way, those are fine resolutions to make!), but I decided not to make a resolution this year. I can't remember ever even keeping my resolution! I honestly don't see the point. The same thing happens to me year after year. Make a resolution, 'forget' to keep it, say "Oh, there's always next year.", feel guilty. Nope. This year I didn't do all that. I didn't stay up 'til midnight, I didn't watch the ball drop, and I DIDN'T make a resolution.

Instead, I spent some time wrapping up a box. A long rectangle box. I punched a hole in the top of the box to make a slit (Big enough a folded piece of paper will go in, yet small enough that the paper won't come back out.). Oh, Wednesday was also spent re-arranging my room (Don't you dare laugh!). I moved my bed around and put a small triangular nightstand in the corner beside my bed. On the top I have my big lamp, my reading lamp, and my blue box of Puff's tissues. The middle shelf holds my library books and a candle (Which acts as a bookend). Finally, on the last shelf, I placed my Bible, a list pad, Lessons to Live By (By Me), and that mysterious long box.

New Day Resolution. New Year Resolution. Let me explain the difference. A New Year Resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to a project or the reforming of a habit (Google :). A New Day Resolution is when you resolve to do something for that day. You wouldn't say "I'm going to lose 10 pounds today." No, you would most likely say that for a New Year Resolution. Here's an example of a New Day Resolution (Hence, NDR): Lord, help me to be more patient today with my siblings.

Now, back to the long box. Like I said, I cut a slit in the top. Every morning since January 1, I have gotten up as early as I could and read my devotions. I had a problem doing this earlier. I decided to make it part of my schoolwork (To be sure that I would do it), but then I found myself thinking that I didn't 'have time' to do it on Saturdays, and I 'already had my dose of scripture' on Sunday, when the truth was, I didn't want to do it. Listening to the Revive Our Hearts ministry has helped me so much! It really helped me with my walk with the Lord. Nancy Leigh DeMoss is the founder of Revive Our Hearts. I've been trying to listen to Nancy every day. Revive Our Hearts has especially helped me in the 'not reading my Bible' mode. Right now I am working in the series of "Getting into the Word, and getting the Word into you".

A couple nights ago, I asked Dad why I wasn't really getting anything out of the Bible. Dad suggested I listen to Revive Our Hearts the next day. He said that this "Getting into the Word, and getting the Word into you" series was dealing with exactly what I was talking about. So the next day, I listened to it, and was surprised by how good it was! It was nice for me because you download the 'sermon' (It's only about 10-15 minutes long) and while you listen, you can follow along on the page. I find it much easier to concentrate that way. If someone is just talking to me, my mind wanders and I end up thinking about how much ice cream might be left in the freezer :) and I leave the computer no better off then when I started. When it's just me reading, I tend to skip over things and glaze over the message. But when someone is reading to me and I'm following along, I tend to stay way more focused!

In fact, when I finished with my first 'lesson' from Nancy, I left inspired! Idea's were pouring out and I had to write all of them down to organize my thoughts. I put my first thought into action that day. I made up a very colorful booklet of Lessons to Live By (Not an awesome title, but I couldn't come up with a better one!). I admit that I got VERY frustrated cutting the paper to the exact same size. My perfectionist side is showing through! The paper wouldn't cut, and the hole punch wouldn't punch. I FINALLY got the paper to cut and the puncher :) to punch. I threaded an orange ribbon through the holes and tied it. Then I started writing in it. I wrote things like "Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. Revelation 1:3" and "It's a blessing promised if we read God's Word!". I take it out from time to time and and review the verses to memorize them. Most of the things I write down are from notes I take from Revive Our Hearts.

I added another note to my Lessons to Live By today. On a single purple card, it reads, "The S-A method (Summary and Application)". The S-A method is a technique that Nancy was talking about today. Even now that I have a certain time I do my devotions, I still tend to glaze over the chapter I'm in. I think that the S-A method will help my 'wandering mind'! It seems like a very simple method, so I'm going to give it a try! With one of my MANY new notebooks :) I'll use one as a journal. First, I read the chapter I'm studying (I'm in Colossians now) and then I'm going to summarize the chapter and write it in my journal. Then, I'll write down how I can apply it to my life. It sounded like a good method, so I though I'd give it a try.

So back to the reason of this post: NDR. I think that a New DAY Resolution makes more sense than making a New YEAR Resolution that 99% of the time, you won't keep.

I think I've been working on this post for over a week! Whew! I FINALLY am getting it posted! Yay! I think this is the longest post (Without pictures :) that I've ever done! Thanks for sticking with me!

Fun video

I had NO idea what else to write about, so I guess I'll post some videos. I've been meaning to do it at some point, but I had so many other things swirling around in my mind. I haven't been keeping up with my e-mail, so when I checked it this afternoon, I had 31 messages! 31! Here's one that was e-mailed to me:

My joy of singing

Today at church, we sang a song in praise and worship that I particularly liked. It's entitled "Here I am to worship". It intrigued me so much that I decided to post the lyrics:

Light of the world,
You stepped down into darkness.
Opened my eyes,
let me see.
Beauty that made this heart adore you
Hope of a life spent with you

And here I am to worship,
here I am to bow down,
here I am to say that you're my God
You're altogether lovely,
altogether worthy,
altogether wonderful to me.

King of all days,
oh, so highly exalted.
Glorious in heaven above.
Humbly you came
to the earth you created
All for love's sake became poor.

And here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that you're my God
You're altogether lovely.
altogether worthy,
altogether wonderful to me.

I'll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross
I'll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross
And I'll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross
No, I'll never know how much it cost

Here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that you're my God
You're altogether lovely
Altogether worthy
Altogether wonderful to me

And here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that you're my god
You're altogether lovely
Altogether worthy
Altogether wonderful
wonderful wonderful
Yes you are God

I'll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross
I'll never know how much it cost
To see my sin upon that cross

I just LOVE that song! While we were singing it, I closed my eyes and prayed through the whole thing. After that I felt like I wanted to listen and learn more. Nobody was forcing me to do anything. The song really had an impact on me. I added the song to my blog playlists. I felt like I wanted to share how I felt this morning. I felt God moving through me and the people all around me. Another song I really liked today but I couldn't find the lyrics. The song was called "The River" and It was another favorite of mine. Thanks for keeping with me!