Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Thought Series: Rewind
I just reread my first blog post and I wrote it three months ago. I think that I had just hit my lowest point in life and to me that was rock bottom. A lot of people might not think that not-so-steller grades, being homesick, and your friends seeming a little distant isn't a big deal, but to me it was. Now that I'm looking back at it, I see that my life is improving in every aspect. I can see God turning my life around and working in it every day. Today I'm realizing that just because my life is turning around doesn't mean that I don't have a choice in the change. I ask God for things and expect them to be handed to me on a silver platter but I can't do that, it's simply not enough. Jesus is my Savior, not my fairy godmother. He's not going to be like "Oh, you asked for motivation today? Here's some motivation with a side of grace on a silver platter." God gives me choices to take what He's offering. The choices can be as simple as choosing to do homework instead of watching an episode of Desperate Housewives. I need to realize that each decision I make is an opportunity to do what God wants and glorify Him in every thing I do. So, I'm going to make the decision to not only step up and do what's right, but I'm handing it over to God again and again.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
My Cat
I said that I loved my cat. So here's a picture of my cat and I. His name is Thomas and he just turned nine this spring. He doesn't really like me but I love him so much and he's really fat.
What a gem.
A Virtuous Woman: Money, Money, Money
In March, I wrote a post about the Proverbs 31 woman and I said I would write more specifically about each virtue that the Proverbs 31 woman should possess. Also, if you haven't read Proverbs 31, google it now and read it. Even if you aren't a Christian, if you don't believe in God, or don't even believe in the Bible, it's good insight. Why wouldn't you want to live your life in a way that can only bring balance, peace, and blessing to your life? For those of you that are familiar with Proverbs 31, this section has been one of the most difficult for me to grasp.
Proverbs 31:16-19 is about money. Money is important to everyone. Not one person can say that they go a day without thinking about money. Whether you're thinking about things that you want to buy, wishing you had more money, or how you're going to spend your money, money is always on our minds. It's one of those things that's accidentally instilled into us from when we're pretty little. But relax, it's not completely your own fault. We live in an extremely materialistic, money-centered culture. Why do you think that our country's workforce has the lowest amount of vacation of all of the first world countries? We want money, we want things, because money equals status.
The Proverbs 31 woman is resourceful. Verse 16 talks about her planting a vineyard. The Proverbs 31 woman knows her stuff. She's a legit businesswoman, she's planting a vineyard. Vineyards always have been profitable so basically, she realizes that it's not only the husband's responsibility to provide for the household. As most of the people I know (and little old me) are not married yet, this verse challenges us ladies to step up. Lots of girls joke about becoming a trophy wife or getting married right away so our dads can stop taking care of us and our husbands can start paying the bills. 95% of us are half-kidding when we say that, but being a college student has made me understand why anyone would consider that. Unfortunately, that is not the way we are called to live our lives. We are called to be financially savvy and help our husbands out, even though he is to be our provider. Investing and reinvesting our resources, whatever they may be.
Verse 17 describes the strength of the Proverbs 31 woman, due to her work. In this aspect, God didn't mean for us to be weak beings. God made women strong, resilient, and determined. If you don't believe me, think about the last time you asked your parents to buy you a pair of shoes or something that you couldn't afford. Those shoes are in your closet now, aren't they? We can be convincing, cunning beings and God is asking us to use the skills that He gave us for hard work. Not necessarily manual, back-breaking labor, but to each her own.
In verse 18, Solomon (the writer) discusses my least favorite part of this passage. Solomon says that her candle does not go out by night, which in modern day English translates to: she works pretty dang hard during the day and that doesn't stop just because the sun goes down; and by the way she also gets up early too. I love my sleep. One of the only things that I love more than getting a good night's sleep is my cat. And I love my cat. But in all reality, this verse just means that she takes good care of her household. The Proverbs 31 woman appreciates her household and family, she also works hard to keep them. So every girl that's looking forward to her diamond diploma and is just ready to be a wife, awesome (I know that some of you follow that Twitter account, don't deny it. It's the best). This part will be easy for you.
This passage has been opened my eyes to my financial responsibility to myself and to God. Really this verse is just asking the women of the world to be financially wise, responsible, hard-working women. It's not an outrageous request, it's good for you. Why wouldn't you want to be someone with a good work ethic? All of these traits that God is requesting us to develop are admirable, however hard it might be. I know, because I want to buy EVERYTHING. Clearly, that's not the responsible thing to do. I actually started this weird habit of shopping online, adding everything I want to the cart and then clearing it out because the total's always like $700 and I'm poor. There are better alternatives but, I believe that my method has worked out pretty great so far because I haven't done anything except pay my sorority dues and buy gas. Anyways, just think about it. Take a few minutes to read Proverbs 31 today!
Proverbs 31:16-19 is about money. Money is important to everyone. Not one person can say that they go a day without thinking about money. Whether you're thinking about things that you want to buy, wishing you had more money, or how you're going to spend your money, money is always on our minds. It's one of those things that's accidentally instilled into us from when we're pretty little. But relax, it's not completely your own fault. We live in an extremely materialistic, money-centered culture. Why do you think that our country's workforce has the lowest amount of vacation of all of the first world countries? We want money, we want things, because money equals status.
The Proverbs 31 woman is resourceful. Verse 16 talks about her planting a vineyard. The Proverbs 31 woman knows her stuff. She's a legit businesswoman, she's planting a vineyard. Vineyards always have been profitable so basically, she realizes that it's not only the husband's responsibility to provide for the household. As most of the people I know (and little old me) are not married yet, this verse challenges us ladies to step up. Lots of girls joke about becoming a trophy wife or getting married right away so our dads can stop taking care of us and our husbands can start paying the bills. 95% of us are half-kidding when we say that, but being a college student has made me understand why anyone would consider that. Unfortunately, that is not the way we are called to live our lives. We are called to be financially savvy and help our husbands out, even though he is to be our provider. Investing and reinvesting our resources, whatever they may be.
Verse 17 describes the strength of the Proverbs 31 woman, due to her work. In this aspect, God didn't mean for us to be weak beings. God made women strong, resilient, and determined. If you don't believe me, think about the last time you asked your parents to buy you a pair of shoes or something that you couldn't afford. Those shoes are in your closet now, aren't they? We can be convincing, cunning beings and God is asking us to use the skills that He gave us for hard work. Not necessarily manual, back-breaking labor, but to each her own.
In verse 18, Solomon (the writer) discusses my least favorite part of this passage. Solomon says that her candle does not go out by night, which in modern day English translates to: she works pretty dang hard during the day and that doesn't stop just because the sun goes down; and by the way she also gets up early too. I love my sleep. One of the only things that I love more than getting a good night's sleep is my cat. And I love my cat. But in all reality, this verse just means that she takes good care of her household. The Proverbs 31 woman appreciates her household and family, she also works hard to keep them. So every girl that's looking forward to her diamond diploma and is just ready to be a wife, awesome (I know that some of you follow that Twitter account, don't deny it. It's the best). This part will be easy for you.
This passage has been opened my eyes to my financial responsibility to myself and to God. Really this verse is just asking the women of the world to be financially wise, responsible, hard-working women. It's not an outrageous request, it's good for you. Why wouldn't you want to be someone with a good work ethic? All of these traits that God is requesting us to develop are admirable, however hard it might be. I know, because I want to buy EVERYTHING. Clearly, that's not the responsible thing to do. I actually started this weird habit of shopping online, adding everything I want to the cart and then clearing it out because the total's always like $700 and I'm poor. There are better alternatives but, I believe that my method has worked out pretty great so far because I haven't done anything except pay my sorority dues and buy gas. Anyways, just think about it. Take a few minutes to read Proverbs 31 today!
Proverbs 31:16-19
Monday, June 3, 2013
Of Praise and Progress
Praising God is an act of worship that He created us to do. Praising God isn't just singing a song about Him. It can be as simple as an act of kindness towards another person. Praise can be the way you live your life, the way you act and react towards others, the grace that you show to those that you don't particularly like, your thoughts, actions, anything. One of the most important acts of praise is prayer and God has been teaching me the importance of prayer daily. Recently, I have been praying about some very prominent, difficult decisions that I have to make in my life and nothing has been more important than making sure I am praising God while seeking his guidance.
At first, it started out by recognizing thoughts that I was having that were less than glorifying to God. I didn't see anything wrong with thinking something hateful or judgmental towards someone because of the environment that I am in. When I started to change my thought process, God started to open my eyes to certain things in my life that I didn't want to admit were wrong. Some of the music I had been listening to had not been encouraging me but tearing me down so I replaced it with something positive. Certain choices that I had made, that I was so convinced were right, were proven to be wrong. I wasn't praising God, I was praising myself. I was doing what I wanted, not what He had called me to do. God was beginning to push me forwards, which was opposite of the negative pulls that I had been feeling lately, all because I began to praise Him again.
After months of prayer, assurance from God and some significant changes in my life, I have seen progress. I have faced problems that are very common to college students but I have learned that the larger my problem is, the more discouraging and difficult my circumstances, the greater my crisis, the more important it is to praise God. God's promise of love, power, grace, wisdom, mercy, might and the promise that He will fight for us is certain. I've learned that there isn't a better way to show my obedience and faith in God than to praise Him and thank Him for all that He has done. Even if my whole world seems like it's falling apart. God is there. He will never give me anything that I can't handle because He loves me and He will honor my praise. To God be the glory.
At first, it started out by recognizing thoughts that I was having that were less than glorifying to God. I didn't see anything wrong with thinking something hateful or judgmental towards someone because of the environment that I am in. When I started to change my thought process, God started to open my eyes to certain things in my life that I didn't want to admit were wrong. Some of the music I had been listening to had not been encouraging me but tearing me down so I replaced it with something positive. Certain choices that I had made, that I was so convinced were right, were proven to be wrong. I wasn't praising God, I was praising myself. I was doing what I wanted, not what He had called me to do. God was beginning to push me forwards, which was opposite of the negative pulls that I had been feeling lately, all because I began to praise Him again.
After months of prayer, assurance from God and some significant changes in my life, I have seen progress. I have faced problems that are very common to college students but I have learned that the larger my problem is, the more discouraging and difficult my circumstances, the greater my crisis, the more important it is to praise God. God's promise of love, power, grace, wisdom, mercy, might and the promise that He will fight for us is certain. I've learned that there isn't a better way to show my obedience and faith in God than to praise Him and thank Him for all that He has done. Even if my whole world seems like it's falling apart. God is there. He will never give me anything that I can't handle because He loves me and He will honor my praise. To God be the glory.
Psalm 136
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