What Girls Get Wrong

Some time ago, I wrote a post about how dangerous it is to compare ourselves to others .  Whether your comparisons make you feel bad about yourself, or whether they cause you to feel superior to someone else, the comparing game causes pain. At least, when we're framing it in a me versus you format. Why did God include so many stories of people in the Bible?  If we shouldn't compare, why did He write of Esther and her courage, of Ruth and her diligence, of Tamar and her seduction, of Mary and her obedience, of Naomi and her bitterness? The Bible is ultimately the story of God, His creation, the first man and woman's betrayal, His undying love and sacrifice, and His rescue of mankind from their sin and complete victory over evil.  But along the way, we read of many people, both good and bad, both repentant and in denial. What was the reason for all of these stories?  Was it just to make the Bible longer?  Did God have a word count He wanted to hit, and so ...

Last week, when I mentioned three lies Satan tells us about himself , I said we would talk about three lies about sin this week. But I’m going to save that for next week because I feel I should talk to you about something else instead. You see, yesterday I had to put my cat Smokey to sleep. And I prayed that God would give me strength because my heart was breaking. I mentioned in a previous post about my cat MeMe , who was not doing well. By God’s grace, her health is much better, and I thank you all for praying for her and me. Smokey was her brother, a sweet little boy who I called “the cat of instant purr.” You practically just had to look at this cat and he would purr. Even in his last minutes, when my dad held him before the vet gave him the final shot, my beautiful little buddy was purring. I thank God that by His abundant mercy Smokey didn’t suffer long. It was really only the last three or four days of his life that he seemed like he was suffering at all. But ev...

"...Who among us doesn't have sin or discouragement? Who among us doesn't fail? There are a million things we don't want to let anybody know about us, but He knows them all. And He is not discouraged about us..." ~ K.P. Yohannan, founder, Gospel for Asia Confession time: I am an overachiever. And while there are a lot of good things that can be said for having that kind of drive, it can also be a very dangerous thing. Being an overachiever means that, if I fail at something, or if I don't get something done on my to-do-list, I feel like I've failed for that day. It doesn't matter if I got five other things done which were really important. I'm unhappy with myself for not getting that one little thing done. For almost the whole month of July, dipping into August, I've been struggling with some health issues, and looking back on it, I feel like this area of my life is what God was trying to teach me about. There have been so many days these...

A while ago I was watching a YouTube video, and I heard a saying I'd never heard before. The girl in the video said that when it came to things you learned in life, you had to "eat the fish and spit out the bones," meaning that you had to decide what you would take from something, that you had to pick and choose what you would accept and what you would reject, what worked for you and what didn't. She used this as an example of how she could participate in yoga even though she doesn't believe in Hinduism. And while I agree with her in regards to yoga, and that this idea can be helpful in some situations (during my counseling classes, I had to decide what theories worked best for my personality and pick and choose between techniques), this idea can also be rather dangerous. You can't pick and choose when it come to God's Word. You can't decide to accept the part about the Flood but reject that God created the earth. You can't decide to acce...

This is a Bible. A giant book of cats is not. Bible. Virgin. We know what these words mean. The world uses these words in a different way than their definition. And I hate it. Like seriously. There are certain phrases you'll hear thrown around a lot containing these words. You probably can name a handful of them yourself. Like the Cat Bible. Or the popular show, Property Virgins. These terms seem to be becoming more and more popular in our culture. On Amazon, for example, I found more than a dozen cookbooks with "Bible" in their titles. I hate the way these terms are used in these titles/phrases. It cheapens the meaning The Bible isn't just a book of wisdom. It's the infallible, God-breathed, sacred teaching of God Almighty Himself. A virgin doesn't just refer to not having done something before. Rather, it specifically refers to someone who has never known another person sexually. Someone who, instead of falling into the temptations of...

I just finished reading a novel that was really good but extremely sad. In it, the main character and her family were in a horrible car crash, her parents dead on the scene, and her little brother and herself seriously wounded. As the novel plays out, her brother dies as well. As she is in a coma, the novel is told through her eyes first as herself and then as she sees things in her comatose state. Stricken with grief over her family's passing, and in such bad shape herself that she would need quite a few reconstructive surgeries, the girl battles between whether she wants to fight for life anymore, or whether she wants to give up and die. Because according to one nurse, it is the girl's choice whether she lives or dies. While the author did a beautiful job writing the story (except for the swear words, that is), there were a couple of things I disagreed with her on. One of them was this idea, that we get to choose our own destiny. Because although we choose several thing...

So today, as I woke up twenty minutes before my alarm went off, I was laying in bed praying, and when I got up, I realized something. I do not know how it had never struck me before, at least not quite in this way, but it was a little shocking at first. I am, by nature, a very ungrateful person. Even though I say thank you a lot. It's super easy for me to forget everything I have in pursuance of my goals. Searching for a full-time school counseling job? I'll forget to be happy I substitute teach for two different districts. Feeling sick and achy one day (like today)? I'll forget that only two years ago I was so sick I wasn't able to work full-time. Frustrated and angry at my five-year-old, slow-running-at-times laptop? I'll forget that there are many people who don't even own desktops (something that would be devastating to me as writer). Yeah, #firstworldproblems anyone? It's so easy for me to forget that, even though I want all these things, I have...

Let's talk about someone you've probably heard a lot about. Peter, the apostle, the guy who was ready to chop off an ear for Christ (sorry, van Gogh, guess you didn't think of it first), and then a few hours later was swearing he'd never heard of the Man. Pastors preach a lot about Peter. There's a lot of life lessons we all get to learn from Peter's failures. I feel like he has the greatest number of embarrassing stories told about him in the Bible. Then again, he didn't kill anyone or sleep with anybody who wasn't his wife, so maybe he doesn't quite have that position all by himself. But we hear a lot about him. We hear a lot about his lack of faith. Like that time Jesus walked on the water, and when He came aside their boat, the disciples were all afraid. Then Peter, gathering courage, asks to be allowed to come to Jesus on the water. Jesus lets him come, but Peter sees the waves... We know the rest of the story. His heart quakes wi...

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 o...