Monday, March 29, 2010
Boys Are Like Waffles - "Waiting on Dating"
7:21 PM | 
Posted by
Hannah
Alright, here I am ready to talk to you about the craziest subject ever. Well, maybe not ever. But it is pretty crazy. Especially for me. ;)
Dating. It can be wonderful, exciting, special, fabulous, and thrilling. But it can also be heartbreaking, hard, scary, painful, and it can really ruin a person. I think that in today's society we don't necessarily focus on the scary parts of dating. We've moved into a time where so much significance is put on being in a relationship. Everyone's doing it, and if you're not there's something wrong with you. And that's a lie that's hammered into our heads.
For a long time I've had my opinions on dating. And I sort of have a heart for the topic; I'm definitely what you would call a romantic. So I love to talk about dating and even debate it with other people. Basically, I've always believed that dating should be taken serious. People are very effected by being in a relationship. And if you're not ready for one and yet you continue to jump into it, you're going to end up landing hard. And it's going to hurt. But most people don't like to look at it that way. "We're just having fun" They say, or "I love him, this is okay.." And sadly people believe this enough to go into things way to far and it hurts even worse.
Alright, I may be getting off on a bunny trail now.. Basically ever since I was little I was convinced that I was going to trust God to date. My parents always influenced me by talking of dating as something that you're supposed to do when you're older. And then I read the book I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris, and that basically supported my opinions. It also encouraged me to focus on serving Jesus while I waited. And I continued to get older..
But now, now I'm being tested in my opinions. For a long time I thought that I was going to wait until I was 18 before I dated. No questions asked.
[Now, it needs to be mentioned that this did not stop me from liking guys. I'm definitely boy crazy sometimes. And many a time I had quite a crush on a certain boy here and there, but I always knew I couldn't pursue it.]
So where am I going with all of this? Well, I've learned lately that no matter how much you learn something, it's totally another thing to live it. You can say you're going to do something for a long time, but then when the time comes to do it you may get nervous or second guess your whole idea to begin with. I'm here to encourage you to wait on dating. And I'm saying that now with a full knowledge of what I'm asking. I realize it's hard. I realize dating can look really good. But that's when we need to be super cautious.
Make sure you're completely in love with Jesus before you ever enter into a relationship with a guy (and make sure he's completely in love with Jesus too!). And never stop praying about it. If you try and make a relationship work on your own, it's probably not going to make it. Even if it does, it's not going to be as good as it could be. Give it to Jesus. Because He loves you way more than any guy ever can, and He wants you to have healthy, happy relationships.
Relationships are supposed to be good. And every good gift, and every perfect gift, is from God above. :) He wants you to be happy, and He doesn't want to see you get hurt. I promise you, and I promise myself; that if we wait on God's timing for a relationship, we're going to be so much happier!
-Hannah[live.love]
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Devotions - Lies YOUNG Women Believe (and the truths that sets them free) - About Guys - It's Ok To Go Out With a Non-Christian
"Lies Young Women Believe....And The Truth That Sets Them Free" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss and Dannah Gresh
LIES ABOUT GUYS
"It's OK To Go Out With Non-Christian"
#1O
This one was tricky. Overwhelmingly the girls we spoke to agreed that you should not marry a non-Christian. But remember, it's one thing to know Truth; it's another thing to believe it to the point of allowing it to operate in your life. As we probed a little more deeply this is what we found.
*I really want to marry a Christian, but I'm not looking for marriage right now, so I don't really care.
*I don't really think it matters if the guys I date are Christian or not. For one, we're just in high school. I don't really think that religion is an issue right now.
This seems to be one of thoses areas where many know the right answer, but there are some really lame excuses for why you don't have to live according to the Truth right now. Those excuses include:
*Sometimes its fun to just go out and flirt and all that stuff and not take it too seriously.
*You could influence him and bring him to youth group and church.
*If you plant a seed, it can make a beautiful flower. You're spreading God's Word, whether it works out or not. If you can compromise, think about it...you can impact a non-Christian.
The question is-are you planting seeds of purity and faith, or seeds of compromise? We're not going to go easy on you here. This is a huge issue with more serious, potential implications for the rest of your life than you can possibly imagine.
God doesn't want you to be "tied" to unbelievers. His Word is clear that we should not form binding relationship with unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14-18). Marriage is the ultimate binding relationship. God does not want you to be tied to an unbeliever in marriage-and the power to live out that conviction begins now. If you compromise now, you'll be far more likely to compromise when you're ready for marriage.
Don't tell yourself, " It's just a casual relationship. I would never marry this guy." Maybe not. But if you invest time, interest, effort and thought in a guy...sooner or later, you may well find yourself making life-impacting decisions you never dreamed you would make.
Not only does God want you to marry a Christian; He wants you to marry a man who will lead you spiritually. He desires for all of your relationships to draw you closer to Him and to enable you to serve Him more effectively. The Scripture actually uses the word "yoked" to describe being tied together in a binding relationship (2 Corinthians 6:14). Imagine two cattle yoked into a harness to carry one load. If one is weak, how great a burden will that be to the strong one? How much will the weak one hold the strong one back?
This is one area where there is no room for compromise. Satan is seeking to rob you of a future filled with joy, peace, and the opportunity to glorify God wit you life. It's not worth trading all that in for a relationship with a guy who doesn't have a heart for God and for a future that could end up filled with pain and heartache.
Over the years, many women have poured out their hearts to us about deep regrets they have over choice they have made relating to dating, courtship and marriage. They would give anything to be able to go back and relive that part of their lives. Unfortunately. that's just not possible. As I (Nancy) listen to these women share their heartaches, I often think, " I wish every young woman could hear this story-before it's too late!"
We want to spare you the kind of heartache others have experienced. We want you to enjoy God's very best for the rest of your life. So we're going to give you a challenge. We want to urge you to make a serious commitment. (You may think you're too young now to be even thinking about dating, much less marriage! But now is the time to develop wise, godly convictions.)
*TRUTH-SEEKERS RELATIONSHIP PLEDGE
I purpose never to become involved in a relationship with a guy who is not a true follower of Jesus Christ and whose character and lifestyle are not consistent with the kind of man I believe God wants me to marry someday.
You may think that standard sounds unnecessarily high for "casual dating". But think about it-if you never date a guy who would not be qualified to be a godly husband, you will significantly decrease your chances of ending up in a troubled marriage. We're confident this is one commitment you'll never regret making!
If you're willing to take this pledge, go to http://www.liesyoungwomenbelieve.com/ and join others who are signing up online!
Shelby ;D
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Saturday, March 6, 2010
Daughter of the King - Mirror
Daughter of the King
Mirror
The reason why I drew this picture, was because some girls, when they look in the mirror, they see the small things at a bigger scale. God see's you as a princess, and loves you, even if you have a pimple, glasses, braces or whatever. He loves you for you. The world doesn't care about your heart, only what you look like. God cares about what's on the inside, and to Him, that's beautiful.
This is from Jenny Lucado's devotional, ' Redefining Beautiful'
Some days I like him. Most days I hate him. But I do have to admit, he's honest. He'll always tell me if I have food in my teeth or a booger in my nose. He isn't afraid to let me know if a certain shirt is too tight or if a color doesn't complement my skin. I appreciate the honesty, but he is deceiving all the same. Deceiving because anytime he tells me, " Just get this cute shirt and feel better about yourself" or " Just lose five pounds and be forever happy," it doesn't work. I'm never good enough for him.
I try not to hang out with him too much, or else I can easily fall into his trap of discouragement - " Jenna, I see that cellulite back there. Your skin is looking pretty oily these days. Those teeth could use come whitening!" I try to block out his lies that tell me I'm not good enough, that I'm not beautiful, but it's hard.
I'm sure you've met him. He tends to pop up in all sorts of places: bathrooms, cars, department stores, gyms. And I'm sure you've felt some of these insecurities when standing in front of him.
His name?
Mirror.
Unfortunately, the mirror rarely tells me how beautiful I am. He never notices when I have helped my mom clean the kitchen or when I avoid gossip at the lunch table. Even when I'm having a great hair day, he just notices that pimple on my chin. Because of him, sometimes I wonder if the word beautiful could ever describe me.
Beautiful: adj. 1. Having attractive qualities that give great delight or satisfaction to see, hear think about, ect. 2. excellent of its kind. 3. particularly graceful, lovely, or pretty...
Okay, so that may be the dictionary definition of beautiful, but let's get real. Mirror, along with his other sidekicks like TV and Magazine, seem to determine what is beautiful and what is not. We have to let boys tell us whether or not we are beautiful, and sometime we even let the popular group of girls at school define what beauty is.
Because of all of the thousands of definitions people have for beauty, we can easily get confused and struggle to see ourselves as beautiful. But the truth is, Mirror got it all wrong! He never uses the most important definition, the one that clearly states what beautiful really is:
Beautiful: what God sees when He sees you.
Shelby ;D
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