Proverbs 31!

For the next couple weeks I'm going to be doing an indepth study on here on Proverbs 31! I'm really excited about this because it is what God has called us girls and women to be! Even if we are not married we can still work on these qualities, because I guarantee you that if you don't have them now they won't just appear all of a sudden when you are married! Some might with God's grace...but most of these things need to become habit now! As I said in an earlier post that for a whole semester my dad taught me on the Proverbs 31 woman. It was such an eye opener! Prov. 31 is now definitely my favorite chapter, probably because God has given me such revelation about it! Now to put it into practice! So for this first post about it, I'll just post the whole section so you can get a feel for what we'll be going over! :)
Proverbs 31:10-31
A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.
She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.
She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.
She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar.
She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls.
She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks.
She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night.
In her hand she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.
When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes.
She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.
She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:
"Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all."
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

Low times.....

What do you do when everything seems to go wrong?? You don't feel like talking to God, everyone seems to be edgy(especially you), and nothing seems to flow! It happens to me every once in awhile! Like just now I typed up this whole thing and then accidently deleted it and had to write it alll over! It can be really depressing!
How do you handle it!!??
First, keep your joy!!! For instance say you totally messed something up, don't let the enemy steal your joy from you. With a bad attitude it will make the situation far worse but with a joyful attitude you can turn that situation around! Even just smiling or laughing will help! I've broken down on the highway a couple times and both times just laughed the whole way through, which actually made the situations kind of fun even though they wouldn't have been fun normally!!
Second, check your heart. See if there is anything that might have opened the door to these situations happening. If God convicts you of anything just repent. Don't leave any open door for the enemy! Third, pray! This will draw you closer to God and turn the situation around! Especially since this is normally the time that you really don't feel like praying and usually it's the time that you need to pray the most!!! Fourth, KEEP YOUR JOY!! I know this was #1 but is should be on here again because it will so improve the situation, your outlook, and your life!! No matter what happens keep that joy!! Smile, keep your chin up, and trust God! No situation is too hard for him!! :)

Lemonade stands???

Ok...so let's see...I'm believing God for: studionewcameraequipmenthousetorentouthusbandclothesstrongrelationshipsetc!! Did you get all that? lol! Ever since I was little my parents taught me how to believe God for things. When I was 7 I wanted an American Girl doll sooooo bad!!! Allll of my friends had one but my parents wanted me to earn the money to buy one. Well...I could have a lemonade stand everyday for the next 10 years to possibly earn the money for one....or I could believe God for one! I choose the latter...or I might still be running a lemonade stand today!! The first thing I did was pray and ask God for the doll.. then I gave one of my favorite dolls away to someone to sow that seed for the next doll! When you sow you reap! It definitely didn't happen overnight it was a couple weeks or months until it finally manifested!! My parents one night asked me if I had $100 what would I do with it? Now for a 7 or 8 year old that is ALOT of money! I knew EXACTLY what I was going to do!! Buy that American Girl doll! My uncle had passed away and left every niece and nephew $100 and I was able to get the doll!! All it took was faith, prayer, and sowing!!! Sometimes God will give you wisdom if you are supposed to do something, like before this probably when I was 6 I wanted a different doll, so I gave another one away, prayed and had a lemonade stand! I had that doll by the end of the week!! You can't just be lazy and hope that what you are believing for will fall out of the sky!! God set these systems up for us to use! Not just hope that sometime in the future maybe what I want will happen!! NO!!! Get on it today!!! What are you believing God for?? Get a scripture for it, pray it, see if you need to sow anything, and start thanking God for that harvest!! Don't give up until it happens!!!! God wants to be involved in every part of your life even the things that you think are little he is there to help!!! Because he loves you!!!

My first love.

You know how when someone falls in love with someone else they are so excited? They can't stop spending time with that other person, all they talk and think about is them? Well I noticed the same type of thing happens when someone gets saved!! They get sooo excited about God all they can do is talk about him and they get so excited about his word!! I noticed though that usually the people that this happens to are those who get saved later in life, who notice a huge difference in everything. What about those who got saved when they were really little!?? What do we do? We didn't necessarily have any major turnaround, we just said the prayer after our parents or whoever and knew that we were going to heaven! Yea! BUT!! What about being totally and utterly in love with God? For me I really started noticing it a couple years ago...
I wasn't in love with God...I hadn't even had that first love experience like so many people have had! So one day I cried out to God and told him exactly how I felt: that I loved other things more than him and I wanted him to be my first love, to fully have my heart! Sooo...he had me do something drastic! Our old pastor after every service would do an alter call...and for a couple weeks God was ministering for me to go up!! Yeah right! I was a Christian! Those were all sinners who were going up! Finally, that morning that I cried out to him, he spoke to me to go up that night to rededicate my life to him and to get baptized! Well I just got sick! What would people think of me!?? OMG!! That couldn't have been God telling me that! I couldn't do anything that day because I was so concerned and finally my parents noticed and asked what was up....I told them...and..they agreed that they thought it was God!! Ah!! So I did it that night! It was one of the hardest things ever but I had to get out of myself and make that public declaration! And trust me it wasn't overnight that all of a sudden I was sooo in love with God. It has been a process but an awesome one!! I'm am not saying at all that you all have to go up to the alter to rededicate...that is just what God gave me to do. He might give you something else. But the real question is: Is God your first love?

Modesty! Does it even exist?

Well that is up to you!!
I know I know! When you go to the store you see the CUTEST shirt, perfect color, perfect style and everything! You go try it on in the dressing room and it's just a little hard to get on, but it's all good it will stretch out in time. You look in the mirror and WHOA!!! You're sexy!!! It just shows a little bit of cleavage but it's ok it's not THAT much and it's a little too tight but once you wear it everyday by the end of the week it might be a little less tight...
Does this sound like what happens when you shop??? Come on I know!! I confess I have done this!
What is the problem with showing just a little bit?? It can't hurt anyone!! Everyone else is wearing it!! It is soooo hard if not impossible to find modest clothes!!! Guess what!!! It can be done!!!
Whenever I'm feeling super discouraged about what to wear, thinking there is nothing out there, I go spend some time with my cousins!! LOL!! The Barlowgirls!
Something that I have learned from them is layers are VERY good!! Long undershirts and regular t-shirts can both be put under those really cute shirts! Be creative!!
What is the reason we don't want to show all this?
For me the reason that I try to dress modestly is because I don't want guys coming after me for the wrong reasons! JUST for what I'm showing! Girls, guys are motivated by vision!! When they see that, it is really hard for them to not take notice! We need to protect the guys around us and love them enough to not cause them to stumble!! It's worth it! Would you rather have a guy like you for who you are or for what you are showing!??
I'm definitely still working on this! So not everyone is perfect! The area that I'm stuggling with is finding shirts that don't show everything when you lean over!!! Ah!! But it can be done!!
So just go out and buy those longer shirts that cover your stomach and higher shirt's that cover that cleavage!! Save it for after your married!!! Not everyone needs to see it!! :) Plus we get to SHOP more!! Who doesn't love that!!

Boys Boys Boys!!!

Ahh!!!! What do we do!!??!?!?! I think I started liking them at like 3 years old!!
I can't even count on two hands how many boys I've liked....
Justin, Steve, Joey, Louie, John, Bryan, David, Andrew, Jordan, etc...goes on and on!! lol!
(....most of them never even knew that I liked them!!!!)
A while ago I just cried out to God because even though it's fun to like someone....it is TIME consuming!! God showed me that each of these crushes were like tests!!! What!!?? How could it be a test? He showed me that with each guy that I would like I would think about, talk about, dream about, etc. allll the time!! So the test was whether I can keep God #1 or is the guy going to be #1!?? Hmm...well I most definitely failed everytime!!! And it just kept drawing me farther from God because all these guys were getting in the way! So that is why I cried out to God..at first I was like I just don't want to like anymore guys for a awhile!! Well...that didn't happen...but the way that I handle it is different now! :) Everytime that I think of that person that I like...I pray!!! And believe me I pray ALOT now....but it is building my faith, helping the situation, strengthening my prayer life, and drawing me closer to God rather than farther away!!
I also realized that I can't put my hope in any guys...because I will be disappointed...It says in the Bible to put your hope in God and you'll NEVER be disappointed!!! Which means my hope can never be in any guy even if I end up marrying him...it still can't be in him it has to stay in God!! Trust me this is super hard but worth it!!!
Soooo....I challenge you girls...(and even guys!) that everytime that you think of that awesomely amazing person that you think is the cutest thing that ever hit planet earth!!!!! Pray!!!!! Pass this test!! Don't let God be put on the backburner!! Show him that he is number #1 in everything!! It will MAJORLY help!!

Mean Girls

Why are girls so mean??? Maybe it's hormonal...I really don't know!!
Seriously though...
We criticize how people look, what they're wearing, if their makeup is right, if they're too fat or too skinny, and it goes on an on as if we are some perfect flawless person!
I am definitely guilty of it!!
The thing that really gets me is leaving people out because their not as "cool" as you!!
I'm definitely guilty of this one too....When I was younger at our church there was more of the popular crowd and then the outcasts. We really never associated with the "other" people because they just didn't get it!! lol!
Now some of those people are some of my good friends!! If we just get past looks and dress and see what the people are really like!! They could be some of the most fun people to hang out with!!
An awesome thing to do is put yourself in their place!!
I had gone to our church for all of my life and we left when I was 14!!
My whole world changed when we went to a new church and I was no longer popular or well known...And many of you know that it is HARD to make it especially at that time of life. Everyone has their set friends they don't need anymore so you just get left out!! It is a huge struggle!!
So whether you are part of the popular crowd or the outcasts....get out of yourself(and your hormones!!) and invite people into your life! Find someone who you feel has been left out and start up a conversation with them!! You never know! They may become your best friend!!!
Oh!! I just thought of someone to do this with!! Now your turn to think of someone!!! :)