What Girls Get Wrong

I love the week between Christmas and New Year's. I mean, absolutely, positively, LOVE it. It's a week I usually spend cleaning (yeah, I love cleaning, it's weird, you can say it), getting a last few things done, and of course spending time with my family and friends. It's a time of dreaming, planning new goals for the year ahead, and just taking time to realize how far I've come over the past twelve months. Basically, I love the new start. All the times I failed over the past year are about to be shoved behind me as a brand new year breaks forth. A new year to go places, meet new people, to set new goals and reach them, a chance to try again on the goals I missed the year before. A new year to grow in my relationship with Jesus Christ. To become more like Him. To know Him better, to learn to trust Him more as He works in my life to bring me to where He wants me to be. You may have heard about a book in the Bible called Lamentations. It's not preached from

Today found me very not in the Christmas spirit. Usually, I'm a last minute shopper. There's two reasons for this. First, I usually forget I have shopping to do until a few days before (don't ask me how, I don't know why I can remember random stuff like how many tablespoons equal a cup* but I forget all about getting presents for Christmas). Second, I spend a long time actually picking out what to give someone. Needless to say, this combination means I'm usually grabbing gifts two days before Christmas. This year, though, I finished my shopping a week ago Monday. I went to the mall yesterday, but it was just to hang out with a friend (and there was one more thing I was thinking about getting for my mom). All I had to do was wait for the rest of the presents to arrive in the mail... Until today. All of my gifts came by Monday except one. I wasn't too worried, because that one said it'd be delivered by today. Sure, it'd be a bit of an inconvienie

" Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them."  ~ Hebrews 13:7-9 NKJV   I recently watched a documentary about three people who escaped from cults. Yeah, I can be a nerd, but that's another story. These people, a young man and two women, had horrible things done to them, all in the name of "truth." They were abused, raped, convinced to mistreat their family members, persuaded to abandon their families... All because of a horrible lie. Today, we’re too quick to trust. You’ve probably seen and heard the liars on T.V., those men and women who convince people that Jesus is some sort of magic genie rea

Sometimes, you feel as if you've got nothing more to give. I stared at the screen for a good ten minutes, trying to figure out something, anything to write about. Sometimes it's easy to write something. Sometimes I get an idea that practically writes itself. And sometimes I have to drag the idea out, inch by painful inch. All-in-all, it's not easy a good chunk of the time. A lot of things aren't easy. Being a Christian isn't easy. Taking a stand for what God has taught you, taking a stand against what you know in your heart and from God's Holy Word is wrong, is not easy. Serving God with your all by completing your assignments or grading papers when you rather go eat chocolate chip cookies and watch reruns of Once Upon a Time is not easy. And sometimes (at least I do), we feel completely drained from it. Like we can't go on. Like we have no idea what comes next. What step we should take...what project needs to be finished...how to finish

So last week, you may have noticed that I posted on Tuesday instead of my usual Monday. I didn't forget, but I had what I feel was a reasonable excuse. I was sick. Like about to throw up sick. I woke up in the morning feeling absolutely terrible. I didn't call out of work, because usually when I feel sick in the morning it disappears within an hour or so. But this time it didn't. It actually got to the point where I had to step out a minute at work to try to avoid losing the few crackers I'd eaten that day. So when I finally got home, nauseated and my brain trying to get out of my skull, I pretty much just went to bed. Monday definitely didn't go my way. And considering I suffered residual symptoms a lot of last week, it wasn't a week of awesomeness for me. It stunk. I had so many plans... Sometimes, though, God lets our plans get spoiled because He has better ones. He allows things to happen so He can turn it around for His glory, so no one ca

It's almost Thanksgiving here in the U.S.A., and while I don't want to do some cheesy post to tie in with it (I think giving thanks is something we should talk about all year long), I did just want to say that I'm thankful for all of you. I'm thankful that you take the time to read my musings. I'm thankful that you ask questions. I'm thankful when you point out something you disagree with (let's face it, I'm no where near perfect). Some of you I know personally. Some of you I don't know very well. Some of you are my closest friends. Some of you I've never met. But if we had a few minutes, where we could sit and talk together, before we left, there's a few things I'd want you to know. That I pray you realize through the craziness of the season ahead of us, and all year long. So as we rush into Thanksgiving, and into Christmas, please...remember... You are a beautiful woman. Your worth isn't in what you wear. What you lo

Okay, let's talk about another Disney movie! As I've mentioned before , I love Disney movies. I don't care that technically I'm an adult (although I know some people who would argue whether reaching a certain age makes you an adult or not). I plan on watching Disney movies until I'm ninety, and probably beyond that. So another movie I really love is Mulan (by the way, this is one of the few Disney movies where the good guys get most of the awesome lines). I just think it's so funny. Mushu is probably the best character (well, okay, little cricket dude Cri-Kee is pretty awesome too). And I adore Mulan's grandmother. Although she's not in it much, Grandmother Fa adds so much to the movie. Without her and Mushu, it'd be pretty dull. In fact, she gets to say most of my favorite lines (yay Grandma!). One such line is from the scene where Grandmother Fa and Mulan's mother, Fa Li, are waiting for Mulan to arrive in town to get ready to meet t

So in my family, we're kind of softies for cats. Over the years, we've had tons of cats, mainly strays which have come to our door. And now we've adopted another.  This is Tito. He lives in our basement. One night a while ago, when I was home alone, he came to the top of the steps and sat there crying to go outside. I wouldn't let him out though, no matter how much he cried. I know, I'm so cruel... But the truth is, he has no front claws. Front claws, in case you don't know, are a cat's front line of defense (which is why I think it's terribly cruel to de-claw them, but that's another story). Without those claws, it's really hard for cats to defend themselves should they need to. And where I live, dogs sometimes roam free, and there are other animals Tito could tousle with. Not to mention that people don't see as well at night, and could be sleepy, and the house is near the road... So the truth is, I'm just protecting him. B

So I have many interests (it's easy to fascinate me, to be honest those sparkly sun catcher things kind of fascinate me). One of those interests is health and wellness. I read a couple newsletters on the subject, and lately I've seen a lot of articles on loving ourselves more. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like this has become an ever increasing focus of the health movement. Loving ourselves. Putting ourselves first to better help others. Doing what we want to do. But I wonder if that is really our problem. When John the Baptist's disciples came to him, concerned over the ministry Jesus was doing because it was leading people away from John, he replied that was the way it was supposed to be (John 3:25-36). He told them that, through this ministry "He must increase, but I must decrease," (John 3:30, NKJV). I may be taking this a little out of context here, but I think this verse applies to our lives as well. Jesus has given each of us a ministry, to

Growing up, I always wanted to go trick-or-treating (hey, free candy’s hard to pass up). But my parents, being the God-fearing, God-serving people they are, never took us.  Finally, though, after much asking, one year they did let us go…to our own house. Seriously. My brother, sister, and I went out our back door, and walked around to the front to ring the door bell and get candy thrown into pillowcases by our own parents. Yeah. One of those childhood cringe moments. Made even more cringe-worthy by my “awesome” ghost costume of a pink blanket thrown over my head while I wore a nightgown. One of many for me, but that’s another story. And although it stunk then, not being able to go and do something which seemed so fun… I’m really grateful they didn’t let us. Because then I started thinking. Halloween’s origins are disputed. Some say it started out as a Roman Catholic holiday. Others say it’s leftover from the old Celtic holiday of Sanhaim. But despite the origi

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him,   and he will make your paths straight.” ~ Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV There’s a whole lot of things I don’t get. Like math. I’m pretty good at it, but when it comes to stuff like sine, cosine, and tangent, my mind just shuts down like a stubborn child (for some reason, even the creepy little rhyme “Oscar had a hold on Arthur” or whatever it was didn’t exactly make it any easier). I also don’t get why my grandmother died of colon cancer when I was thirteen. Or why some of my friends suffer with health issues when they try so desperately to eat right and take care of themselves. Or why I couldn’t have some of the opportunities I so desperately wanted. Or why… Or why… The good thing is, we don’t need to. God’s plans are so much better than our own. And even though He closes one door that we wanted to run through, He always opens another that

“Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” ~ Acts 17:10-11 NKJV Any of you who know me personally probably think I’m a person who can be trusted, who knows what she’s talking about. But I’ll warn you right now, don’t believe a word I say. Without checking it against what God says first, of course. I think we can learn a thing or two from those people in Berea. They listened eagerly to Paul and Silas, but instead of letting it go in one ear and out the other, they actually took the time and went back to the Scriptures to make sure those guys were getting it right. Because, let’s face it, we’re all human. We all make mistakes. It’s too easy to just let pastors and teachers and other peo