You Are Known

And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God..."

Luke 1:30

...let her works praise her in the gates. Proverbs 31:31

(Boaz to Ruth)...for all my townsmen know that you are a worthy woman...Ruth 3:11

...she (Tabitha) was full of good works and acts of charity...Acts 9:36

Oh how many women of this day and age can be described in such a way? Favorable, praiseworthy, Godly? As a woman, are your works praised at your city's "gates"? How many of women out there who"s dress, actions, words tell people around them that they are trully Godly women? If you were to look into the world's picturesque display of a typical woman in magazines, television, books, it is widely seen how the world favors women. By "favor" I mean how very often television (especially) doesn't fail to draw a picture for us of a slanderous, gossiping woman. Many times it takes one glance at the clothing and the manner itself and you already (as the viewer) get about 99.9% of who the woman really is.

Lets narrow down the woman in the home. How is television (I have to pick on television because it is after all the window to the world...correct me if I'm wrong) show us a typical wife, mother, or daughter? Is it often times positive? Is there conflict in the family? Why? Who sets the mood in the home?

How often do we see modern day Ruth's, Esthers, Mary's, or those who can be described as a proverbs 31 woman? How are we as women known by our family, friends, and the people in the world in general? Can we trully be called Godly, favorable, worthy, etc by the world today?

Are you that precious jewel (Proverbs 31:10) that continues to shine with kindness, patience, wisdom, dilligence, femininity, godliness... ?

I apply these questions first to myself. By reading about the godly women in the bible, I see how much I can learn from Ruth, Esther, Mary, the proverbs 31 woman, Tabitha...etc. I want to be just like these women through their amazing examples. It is trully God's plan to preserve the story's of these women in the Holy Bible for us 21st century women to look upon, read, and trully become those women that God will see as worthy in His eyes.

Interesting guy's perspective about women's dress. This video was made for teen girls 6-12th grade, but I believe it still applies to all ages. Let me know what you think.

Loud and Deadly

This is perhaps the only muscle in our body that we don't have to train to be more stronger and better built like our abs, arms, legs, etc. We don't have to worry about doing a series of workouts that will improve its performance or appearance. We don't need a specific diet for it, or certain amount of vitamins and health foods to make it healthier. No nothing at all. But nevertheless, I would not be mistaken to say that this is one of the most powerful muscles in our body. Able to kill, scar, bruise, shatter, break, and just in general leave a huge path of destruction behind when it gets out of control.
Used in everyday speech and food-chewing, this organ is very much essential to the human. Sounds harmless, but if you've ever heard a driver pull down a window and scream numerous word sentences that make your ears wilt (goodness! Just because you cut him off accidentally) or a woman "sharing" noisily her feelings about "this girl that took away my man", you begin to realize how very sharp and deadly this organ can be.
I am a witness to how much the tongue can damage a person. Gossip, slander, and just the wrong words at the wrong time, can seriously do some damage. Some people even said that they would rather get physical scars that they can see and nurse to health rather than the emotional scars that are inflicted by the actions of the tongue and take forever to heal.
As women, we tend to have a weakness of the tongue. I'm sorry, but I will be blatant. The bible has a lot to say about the tongue and of course specifically the bible has some words for us women (Proverbs 21:9, 21:19) In general, Proverbs is very much full of advice and examples of what a wise and a foolish person says and does. Therefore, read Proverbs everyday in addition to whatever else you're reading.There's lots of wisdom in those verses. Need I say more?
Women have a lot of influence in their homes and in their societies. Look at the biblical woman Esther and how she hugely impacted her people and all because she knew her role as queen and her responsibility before God and her people. Look at Mary, Jesus' mother in her obedience and humbleness she became the mother of our Saviour! This is just a few of the women in the bible who made a positive impact and serve a great example even today for all of us ladies! That impact also comes largely from what these women said (the bible shows us the dialogues of these women).
As I said, the tongue is a witty muscle that doesn't need some special workout to be healthy and strong. All you have to do is talk. Of course, the way you use it, will condemn you when you are at the throne of God. Please guard your tongue. Understand that through this small, almost innocent organ, can result lots of emotional destruction of the person who is hearing you. Lets be like the Proverbs 31 woman. "She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness." Proverbs 31:26 And lets understand: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue..." Proverbs 18:21.


Here are all the references about the tongue in the bible. http://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/topicalreference.html?keyword=Tongue

Stupid in America

The current condition of the public "education" in America.

Raking leaves....What's in it for me?

As I take a rake from the big bin of different gardening tools, I try to find an area with the most dried leaves/ dry grass/ that needs to be cleaned up, and I start to wobble from side to side. Going as slow as I possible can so that I can do the least amount of actual physical work, while appearing to be working- stretching the time so that I can get my two hours of volunteer work checked off. Moving probably at the rate of 2 feet/ 5-10 minutes, I find little distractions to slow me down even more. This is MY saturday. MY day off. Why should I be doing this when I could be doing so many other things at this given time on this beautiful early saturday morning- like sleeping in for example.

Because my little sister goes to this "Fine Arts/Music Charter School", it is mandatory to have so many hours of parent volunteer work every semester in order for the students to be able to graduate. Since my parents both volunteering still does not meet the required hours, I get to be the lucky one to pitch in a few hours as well.

As the feelings of frustration start to rise, the pride begins to build, I am too good for this. This kind of work is not for me. What do I get out of it? Like the school even cares that I am here to rake the dry leaves that fall from trees, which not to mention will fall down again in 5 minutes when the wind blows to an area where I just cleaned, and then another person will come up behind me and rake the same area once again to kill more time and get his hours checked off as well...How does this benefit me? By giving my hands blisters and my back sore muscles the next day? (which is what happens when you start doing physical labor work after not doing any at all in a while...practically) No one will know how good or bad I worked. No one will come to check my work. No one will thank me for my work, acknoledge it, correct it. No one will care. I'm here to work off the needed hours. period. there is nothing more to that.

....

I stop myself in the midst of such thoughts and try to shift my mind to thinking optimistically. This kind of work builds strenght. It gets my mind off things. It gives me time to think, to pray, to listen to my mp3 player (which in fact I was doing- listening to a sermon on a Bible Study lesson I had missed previously- which I had been meaning to listen to for months but found no time, untill now that is)...

I was thinking hard of a lesson I could learn and take away from this experience. There had to be more than just doing routine work for no purpose.

...As my two hours of volunteer work slowly come to an end, and I try to summarize the lesson I will take away from this, it starts to make sence. Beautiful. Now we're getting somewhere.

It was as if I had to be there that exact day, listening to that exact sermon, thinking those exact thoughts for the bigger picture to all come together. The truths that God continued to reveal to me convicted me, and showed me who I really was.

What a selfish heart I had...Not caring to do good work if I had no benefit from it, if it didn't somehow now or later bring me any good or profit, if it was just for the sole purpose of practicing doing good work without benefiting me- I didn't want to do it.

Selfish. Caring only for myself. prideful. thinking I was better. searching for self benefit in all I do, and if it didn't bring it- you could count me out of it.

...In the last 10 minutes of my time at the school, I think I did more work than I had the whole hour and 50 minutes I had been there. My soul was crying out to God both in repentance and in praises for showing me the condition I was in.

Throught my previous thoughts and actions, I was able to see the selfish being that I was. still am in some cases. Caring only for my own interest, my own benefits, my own selfish self...

Does not the Bible teach us to practice doing good work? Not to take that verse out of context here, but wasn't this a chance for me to practice doing good work even though no one was around to see it? Even though no one would thank me for it later? Even though I would personally not benefit a tiny bit from it?....

...Driving home, my heart was overflowing with joy at the fact that in such a short amount of time, (which by the way I could have spent just hitting the snooze button on my alarm clock 1o times untill I felt I was ready to get up)), God was at work in my heart- revealing to me the person I was and the person I needed to be.

...Praises to the Lord for teaching us the lessons that we need at appropriate times in our lives to shape our character and personality to what God wants to see...

~Blessings.

LIFE GOES ON

The flower; crushed between two hard surfaces,
will inevitably secrete the powerful scent of defeat from
within. will it be hurtful? yes. but the experience
will fail to undermine the entity of survival. For
the soil will strive to be quenched; thus will a
failing individual, body and soul.
the ability to regenerate, rejuvinate, and revive
itself lies in the core, in the seed that is not
harmed. enveloped in the rich soil of hope and faith,
life does go on. the seed will sprout and strive to
the top; it will develop and flourish through rocks
and weeds in the way, the seed will mature into
luxuriation.
possibly the flower did not have the fortitude to
continue growing,to imbibe through living; to believe
and survive. supposedly, the flower needed to be
crushed; the ego wounded. Will it fail to defend or
fight back? it will. but it will rise again,
undoubtedly, to discover and acknowledge the beauty
within the dark soil, where waters of strength can
quench the thirst for striving. to thrive beyond any
limits becomes the goal, to be humbled and let be
watered from above, will be the lesson. The seed will
endeavor then sprout, and will continue to grow
forever.

_________________________________________________________________________

I Am Not Super Woman

So hear I am on vacation (from college for the time being) and I am exhausted! I take two hour naps during the day when I had enough hours of night sleep. I can barely keep my mind rolling to concentrate on what I'm reading in a book. I feel like I have carpal tunnel syndrome after I've hand-written some notes for an hour or so. My mind automatically flips to the next day and I plan what I will do and where I will need to go, but yet I haven't yet finished living in the present day. (You see, living one day at a time just aint my philosophy. "sigh") Constantly there is tons of information that my brain has to regurgitate such as all the news headlines yelling at me whenever I open the internet web page, things that I need to buy, urgent letters to send out, bills to pay, appointments to remember to attend, meetings that don't end, precautions to take, worries to dispell, promises to fulfill (and obligations). But I'm so young!!!"sigh" I think I got the point across.

Through all this chaos I and many others I am sure are trying to keep our heads above the water. Trying to stay afloat but losing our strength minute by minute. This world or the people in it are not going to slow down or pause for several seconds to take a breather. Noooo, but since the world is still revolving, it doesn't mean we have to chaotically run to follow the rest of the people who are revolving with it. We sometimes forget in our rush that physically our bodies wear out, but more importantly we begin to wilt spiritually as well.

God has one simple loving advice for you and me: "Be still and know that I am God..." (Psalms 46:10) Simple and to the point. Be still. Stop. Quit running (with your legs, tongue, and mind). Reach for the Word of God. Relish in getting to know God. The God who is sovereign and can take away the anxiety and the dilemmas we meet each day. The God who tells us not to consume our thoughts with irrelevant news and to not worry because He is the King of Kings. Do not follow the world's mantra of "Live your day to its fullest". But rather LIVE your day fully for the glory of God. Stay in contact with your Father throughout your day. Know, that you're in better hands now.