What are you thankful for today?

Sunshine?
Good health, either for you or family and friends?
an adventure?
a good book?
God's Word?
a warm house?
pets?
a letter from a friend?
music?
freedom?
truth?


Why don't you take a moment to thank God for everything that He has given you?


Dear Father,

Thank You so much. There are so many, many things to thank You for! Thank you for Your amazing grace. Thank you for family, and for beauty and sunshine. For music and laughter and friends- I praise You and thank You. Every moment is a precious gift. Thank you for Your presence in hard times, and for never giving up on us. You are holy, just, loving, faithful, and true. Thank you for the knowledge of truth. Help me to be more like You and to serve You and others more faithfully.

Amen.

The Faithfulness of God

As the Bible says, "His mercies are new every morning."

I have been struck with how amazing God is. Even through difficult times, He is there, guiding and leading us. Though we may question His being there at all, He is working all things to His purpose, and we can put our faith in His plans and purpose.

I was counting my blessings today and it amazed me how much the blessings outweighed the difficulties. Family, friends, fun times, learning experiences, a special 'aha!' moment, simple things, music, pets, wise words... how is God speaking to you today?

Remember James 1:17- "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

I pray that you will see God's hand on your life today.

Reformation Day

October 31 is a widely known holiday called "Halloween". I won't go into the history of Halloween here; suffice it to say that the original intent has changed over the years. But did you know that October 31 is also the day in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg? This event was a catalyst that prompted the Protestant Reformation.
Instead of dressing up as a witch or vampire and having a night of revelry, consider instead finding a way to celebrate the reformers and what they did to change the dynamics of church history.
The reformers encouraged things that Christians often take for granted today- reading the Bible, and an understanding of salvation by the grace of God through faith, not the works of man.
Maybe you could have a party with your church or friends. There are many possibilities for such a party:
*choose a reformer (Martin Luther, William Tyndale, John Calvin, etc) and watch a movie about his life.
* dress up in period-style costumes
* have a teacher explain some of the teachings of the reformers in a simple, fun way
* have food from that time period, or food of the country of the reformer you choose
* learn a dance from the time period
* have a long strip of paper for younger children to decorate with events from the Reformation.

One Reformation Day party I attended included a mini golf course made just for the occasion, each hole representing something from the Reformer's life. As you can see, there are many, many possibilities.
Have a wonderful Reformation Day!

Life Purpose Planning

As part of my CollegePlus! studies, I am going through a little workbook called 'Life Purpose Planning'. It has been very helpful (much more so than I originally thought) The price of the book is very reasonable- $7- and I recommend it highly to any student. :) Check it out here: http://lifepurposeplanning.org/index.html

Throughout the book there are various questions to answer, which all lead up to discovering your God given life purpose. They emphasize very strongly the need for prayer and collaboration with parents/mentors throughout the process. I just finished my life purpose statement and will share it here as an example of what the book helps you to discover. They help you to personalize it so that each line, even each word, is just exactly 'you'. This is a very important project, since if you aim high, you will end high, but if you don't have any target, guess what- you probably won't hit one.

"My passion is to live a life that is inwardly and outwardly beautiful in the eyes of God and man. I want my relationship with God to be foremost in my thoughts at all times, so that I will live out a joy-filled and powerful testimony to the existence of an amazing God.

My hearts desire is to grow every day in the knowledge of and love for God. I purpose to glorify Him in every moment and circumstance of my life, communicating the truth effectively in love and with wisdom. My life purpose can be summed up in one sentence- I will spend my days pointing others to God. These others include children and teenagers. I will reach them by sharing the best biblically based resources I can find and creating others. Whatever place I am in life I will seek to bless people with an attitude of love, generosity, humility, compassion, and peace. I will seek out opportunities to share with others through writing, speaking, hospitality, and music, and to rescue those lost in the bondage of modern slavery. Whatever I do, I will do all to the glory of God, remaining ever ready to give an answer to every man who asks the reason for the hope that is in me."

I encourage you to check out the website!
God bless and have a beautiful day. :)

I loved this...
"Live every day so that when people speak evil of you no one will believe it."

Jonny Diaz 'A More Beautiful You'

This is such an important song for both guys and girls to hear.

Girls... we often feel so overwhelmed by the desire to be beautiful, that we don't realize that in God's eyes we already are! Even if you are very secure in yourself and are resting in God's love for you, this is a beautiful song. (thank you to my friend for passing it along to me!)

Guys... For the most part you can't begin to understand the struggles that girls go through... even the most self-assured, beautiful girl you know will have tons of days of looking into the mirror feeling that she doesn't measure up. Please.. tell the girls in your life that they are pretty and worth so much in God's sight. If you don't want to do this for reasons of not wanting to seem like you 'like' that girl, at the very least... don't tease her about her appearance. That can be so devastating, though she will probably never let you know.

For the girls...

Over on the Rebelution forums there has been a very hot discussion topic among the girls. In fact, it has become over 30 pages!! The subject? Quotes for girls. Now, I know... guys are just as capable of enjoying quotations as girls are. But in many ways, and for many topics, it is a 'girl thing'. So, I have started a blog just for the purpose of sharing encouraging quotes for girls. Right now I have mostly added quotes gathered from the Rebelution forum, but I have plenty more of my own to add and will soon do so. Check it out!
http://quotes4christiangirls.blogspot.com/
The title of the blog is Inspiring God's Girls, and that is exactly what I hope it will do. :-)