Fruits of the Spirit: Longsuffering

Ok before I start the Fruit of the Spirits I wanted to mention how choir is doing. Our first concert is the 29th, which I will not be attending because its 45 minutes both ways and we're only singing for 30mins so the drive time would be three times the singing time. It’s kind of sad that I'll be missing it cause there will be to many first sopranos missing, so they won’t be able to do any of our higher songs. The first full concert will be March ninth! Me and about 3 other firsts sopranos are doing a descant (a counter melody that’s higher than the other parts) on a song called Worthy is the Lamb I've never been put on descant before, needless to say I'm slightly nervous. Ok now that I'm done rambling about my nerves, or lack there of) lets get on to the subject of longer suffering.
Longsuffering is something that many people seem to lack. Longsuffering means: "(Adjective) a long-suffering person is patient despite being annoyed or insulted regularly over a period of time." This is one of the few Fruits that I have been blessed with naturally, but sometimes I do get upset and "ruffled" with people. In order to be longsuffering you have to be able to get over your pride. Pride is what flames up and makes up want to retort or if you’re like me smart off. Pride says "they have no right to say that to me! Who do they think they are to insult me like that?" a friend of mine once said “pride is like a pineapple, Hard to swallow".
Being able to let things go and let them not bother you is a result of being dead to your old self. We should all try to be humble our self’s and not to take offence, even when we have the right to do so, and try to be patience and longsuffering with others, especially those who are lost in sin. If Christians where as longsuffering as they ought to be the lost world might take notice and wonder what we have that makes us the way we are.

Take it to Heart Challenge

"Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee. Psalm 119:11. We all know that scripture memory is important but how many of us really memorize it like we should. At end of last year my pastor challenged us to memorize 1st Corinthians 13. Only one verse a week, we where not allowed to say more than one verse a week, the goal was to "take it to heart" not to simply memorize some verses to get a pin. This time we're memorizing Proverbs 3:1-13. I'm going to challenge my readers to take up this challenge too. Only one verse a week for thirteen weeks, each week you memorize and mediate on it. Find a friend or family member to whom you can say the verse to each week. The first week you say verse one the second week you say one-two third week 1-3 so on and so forth. So are you up for the challenge? If so click the link below and add your self to the list! *edit* If you dont have your own blog just link it back to my page.

Fruits of the Spirit: Joy

Joy, many people confuse joy with happiness. Happiness is only temporary and depends on what’s going on at the present time; Joy on the other hand can be present even when your life seems to be falling apart. James 1:2 reads: "My brethren, Count it all joy..." We should always be joyful no matter what’s going on in your life, even when we're not happy, when I looked up the word joy I found "1. Great happiness: feelings of great happiness or pleasure, especially of an elevated or spiritual kind" and when I looked up happiness I found "2 a: a state of well-being and contentment". While I am typing this I am remembering a time when it felt as if my whole life was going wrong. I was not happy in the least, I was scared and upset. When I first found out we where changing churches I was even a little angry, But after I realized that no matter what I said it didn’t change a thing I prayed for joy and acceptance. Even though I was far from happy I felt some joy in knowing that what I was doing was what my parents thought best. That happened a little over a year ago. Last Wednesday night I was talking to a friend and he mentioned something about my first few months at the church and I told him that I was sure I appeared rude at first, his reply was that I seemed quiet and scared but that he could tell I was trying to make the best of it, which is why he and many others decided to try to help me fit in. I was shocked to hear this; my attempt of joy was evident. If I hadn't tried to be joyful I doubt people would have talked to me yet alone try to make me feel welcomed like they did and I might still be miserable and angry about changing churches. So what caused my joy? Certainly not my situation; the lord did, I prayed from joy and He, like a loving father, wanted me to be joyful and He granted me a joy that the lost world will never understand.

Fruits of the Spirit

Last night, when I was doing my nightly devotions, I read Galatians 5:22-23 "But the fruits of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering gentleness, goodness, Faith, meekness, Temperance: against Such there is no law." At first I just read over them like I normal do a verse that I know well, but when I had set my Bible aside for the night I began to wonder what does that really mean and Matthew 7:20 came to mind "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." and it made me wonder if people can tell That I am a born again believer by my fruits. Do I bear the fruits of the Spirit like I should? The painful answer was not as well as I should. So I decide to study each one and to apply it. So the First one is "love". When I looked up the word love I found it to mean "unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another: as (1): the fatherly concern of God for humankind (2): brotherly concern for others b: a person's adoration of God"
I am a pretty loving pretty loving person, but do I always love others the way I should? The answer is obviously no, to truly love people you must be willing to always put them first, you must be willing to serve them to the best of your abilities, which is not something that I always do. So I thought up some ways that I (or any one else) could do to show love to others.
1. Say an uplifting word to at least one person and really mean it.
2. Do some extra chores or cook for the family and do the dishes.
3. Hand out gospel tracts at least pray for a lost neighbor or family member.
4. Volunteer to baby-sit for a family in your church so that the parents can enjoy a night together.
5. Ask your pastor if your church has any needs that you could help with. Many times they will have something for you to do. (Even if it’s cleaning the church’s bathroom)
6. Be creative, Find something that you can do for some one else.

If any one has any other ideas please list them, or if you have something you'd like to share please do so.

Two weeks and no shampoo or brushing!

I hit the two week mark of being shampoo free! I was so very unsure of being shampoo free and not brushing my hair but it really works! So many of my friends have been asking for the curly girl website because they are tired of "torturing" their hair as well. I looked and looked and I couldn't fine any pictures of my hair in its natural state, all of my pictures where me with straightened hair. It’s been very hard to get used to leaving my hair to do its own thing and even when it’s not as "tame" as I wish it would be, I can at least say "that’s my curl, that's what God gave me". I'm learning accept that God made me look the way I do and there’s nothing I can do about it. Hating my hair and complaining about its natural state was very much a habit, I'd walk by a mirror and cringe at the site of my puffy hair. By trying embrace my hair has helped me see that God makes each of us different and that everyone is a work of art, personally designed by the hand of God.

Secret cookie recipe

I made some awesome cookies last night! I used my fail proof prize winning recipe! I always think it’s a great idea to have some perfect recipes that you can always count on! See picture below for recipe.





Yup that’s my prize winning recipe, works every time. Ok on a more serious note I'd like to ask every one to pray for my great-grandparents, they are just getting over bronchitis so if any one who reads this would just say a quick prayer for them it would mean so much to me.
I hope every one has a great Sunday, I'll see y'all all on Monday.

Curly gurly

Hello to anyone who might be reading this!
As I'm sure you guessed from the title of this post that I have curly hair, but what you don’t know is that, up until the 5th of this month, I hated my curls because they where always frizzy and messy looking. Well I hated them so much that I tried just about every product that promised straight hair, I even used a hair iron most days (even though my mother told me over and over that it was bad for it). Then I accidentally found the curly girl page, I was shocked and somewhat grossed out when I read that you shouldn't brush your hair or even use shampoo but the pictures and the stories of other girls with hair like mine convinced me to try it. The first day I did it the girls with whom I sit in choir would not stop touching my hair telling me how soft it was and how much they liked it. I was stunned! Since I have red hair I’m use to people commenting on the color but never on how nice it looked totally natural. A few of my curly friends asked me what I has started doing diffent so I told them that I had stopped using shampoo and that I hadn't brushed my hair in over a week. One girl even smelt my hair and declared that it smelt good! I've learned that I can’t control my curls, even when I used to straighten my hair it would curl and wave at even the slightest drop of humidity. So now I'm simply embracing my curls and letting them do their thing. I'll post some before and after pictures hopefully Tuesday to show my two week progress.
The wonderful web page that helped me embrace my curls can be found here Got Curl the book on which this page is based is not a Christian book, but the above link is. I would suggest the book Curly Girl: The Handbook by Lorraine Massey to any curly girl with the following Disclaimer: This is a secular book written by a secular author. As such, preview before recommending to children. The book refers to curly hair as being sexy hair, etc. If this will offend you, skip the introduction, appendixes, and testimonials.
I personally skipped the introduction, appendixes and testimonials but you know what will offend you better than I do.
So curly gurlys embrace your God given curls!

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!
Valentine’s Day, a day where most people are thinking about that special some one. If you’re like me its easy to start to feel a little sad and lonely when you think of the fact your "alone" and the hardest thing is to keep your focus and to wait for love. Many of my old friends have or are dating with out their parental consent. When I think of them my heart aches for them for two reasons: that they are going against biblical principles and also because they have no idea the pain that is waiting for them. Not to long ago I gave up my heart to the Lord and to my parents, I refused to get caught up in the dating game that so many of my peers where pushing me to join. It honestly has been very hard but it has been worth it to. One of my best friends got involved in the dating game and it took her farther than she had ever dreamed it would, she once told me she wished she could change to how she used to be but she liked the attention the boys gave her. She later when to a Christian ranch to help people who have problems and who need help in their Christian walk, She changed so much and when I last saw her she was happy and smiling brighter than I had ever seen, she had giving her heart back to the Lord and to her parents. Another of my friends is still wrapped up in dating and flirting, so much that she often refuses to talk to other girls because their "competition". She likes boys that she can’t have and once they notice her, she moves on to the next one. This friend is very pretty, but she’s so self-conscious and unhappy that she feels she needs to attract boy's attention, and she thinks the best way to do that is to dress in clothes that push the standards of her family and to not eat to stay stick thin. She may look happy but I know she's not; she'd often tell me that she felt ugly, fat and unloved when she wasn't getting attention from boys. I pray for this friend daily and I've shed countless tears for her and for her heart-aches.
So if any one is reading thing let me encourage you to give you heart's to the Lord and to your parents this Valentine’s Day, yes it may seem like your missing out on "fun" but it will save you from so much pain in the end. I feel a joy like none other. True happiness is found in the lord and there is nothing that compares to it!

My largest finished project

Greetings one and all

Yesterday was my father's 41st birthday! I made a granny square blanket for him. It took me several months to complete and four pounds of light blue and dark blue yarn. It consisted of 20 squares ten light blue and ten dark blue ones. I never did like finishing projects and this one took all my will power to keep at it. I was greatly tempted to just throw it aside and forget about but when my dad saw it, I was glad that I had kept at it; every stitch was worth it in the end. I have bread rising and my mother and I need to go get the prize for the children’s bible class we teach so I must leave. I hope every one has a great Valentine day tomorrow.

Weekend and today

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Saturday was our annual choir bowl-a-thon.
Each year we try to get as many sponsors as we can to pledge money per pin; the money helps pay for choir tour. I didn't raise any money since I won’t be going on tour this year; but I still had a lot of fun bowling. After three games we headed over to the church for five hours of extra rehearsal, this can get very tiresome especially for the high voices.

Our family car's transmission started to died Friday, so Saturday while my brother and I where at practice my parents and youngest brother went to get a new one! Some of our friends drove us home but when we got home no one was home and I had left my house keys on my bed (Very smart of me, I know); so we left a note on the door and left a message on the answering machine and went home with my friend, the whole time I was nervous something had happened to my family, but my parents called the people I went home with about an hour after we got to their house to tell us that they where stuck at the car dealership. I was so relived to know where they were! Everything worked out in the end and we're waiting for all the paper work to be finalized. The only not so great thing is I'm not allowed to drive the new car!
My violin lessons went very well today even though I forgot my music! My teachers say I’m progressing very well and I'm hoping by next year I’ll be able to join group lessons instead of private. In other news I’m currently writing a thirty page topic report. I had planned on writing about the dangers of the feminist movement but changed my mind to write about true feminity. I really should get back to working on it! I hope every one has a great day!

Fresh home-made bread

I'm one of those people that get crazy ideas at the strangest of times. My latest idea was that I wanted to learn to cook. This decision came about because I made a cake Monday that tasted wonderful but it fell apart when I took it out of the pan, I got very annoyed and told my mother that its time I learned how to cook properly! We managed to shape it very nicely into a square pan so you couldn't tell once it was iced, but I still was very annoyed that it fell apart. Last night I made some bread (we don’t buy store bought bread any more). Under my mother's watchful eye I made a loaf of bread and a pan of rolls. I was so nervous it would come out flat and heavy like the last time I made bread but it didn't. It came out very fluffy and yummy, thanks to all my mother's advice. Stay tuned for more of my crazy cooking adventures!

My first post!

Hello everyone!
I am a 16 (soon to be 17) year old Christian girl who is "in waiting". What does that mean? It simply means that I'm still waiting for God's perfect plan to be reveled to me. I'm working on my junior year in high school at the present, I've been home schooled for ten of those eleven years. I faithfully and actively attend a fundamental Baptist church. On this blog I'll be sharing my journey through life, successes and failures alike. I hope that through this blog I'll be an encouragement to other young people in waiting and I hope that to learn about others journeys in life. Please let me encourage you to comment freely on this blog, discus what I post and please be sure to leave a link to you blog!