The Difference Between Being Helpful, and Unhelpful

As Christians, we are told all throughout the Bible that we are to teach to everyone because everyone makes mistakes. And we should. We should also make sure that we're not in the wrong too though of course, as mentioned in Matthew 7:3, but in trying to be helpful, sometimes we can actually be unhelpful. In Proverbs 15:1 it says, "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." Sometimes, it is very easy when we are studying with or teaching someone to forget that you are teaching them because you already know what you're teaching, and they don't. You have to remember to have patience when helping someone, because they may not always see how it's helping at first.

Think about it this way, would you be more willing to clean your room if your parents asked you to, or if the first time they asked you they started yelling at you and making you feel bad about how messy it is? Well, I don't know about you, but I'd much rather clean my room if my parents just asked me to. I would be much more willing to. The same goes when you're teaching. If you just tell the person you're teaching how wrong they are, then they won't be very willing to listen to you. This is why we have to have patience. Because if you speak harshly toward someone and try to make them feel bad, then they'll just get angry and not listen. So please remember, next time you talk to someone about the Bible, or anything really, to be patient because you had to learn, and still have to learn as well. Thank you for reading. :)

Trust in God

     In our lives, there are all kinds of people. There are nice people, and mean people. There are people who believe in God, and those who don't. Also, there are people who you can trust, and people who you can't. Sometimes, it's hard to tell who the people you can trust are, and it can be very easy to trust the wrong people. Some people (and I'm not at all saying everyone, just some people) aren't trustworthy. But no matter what happens, no matter what kind of people are in your life, you can trust God to always fulfill His promises.

     All throughout the Bible, God makes several promises. He promised Abraham that he would have as many children as there are stars in the sky, He promised the Israelites that if they marched around Jericho seven times then the walls would crumble, and He promised Noah and his family that He would never flood the whole earth again, and He made several other promises that He kept. We have to remember that no matter what happens, that no matter what we go through, God always keeps His promises. The good, and the bad. My mom once mentioned at a ladies day that when she was younger, she used to wish that God would change His mind and go back on His promise so that everyone could get into heaven. Then she said that as she grew older, she was so thankful that He never would, because if He went back on His promises, then we would probably be doomed. We can look through the Bible, and find numerous stories about all the times that God kept His promises. So when you're having a hard time with something, remember that God will always keep His promises, and that we can always trust Him. Thank you for reading. :)

Is It The End If The World As We Know It?

     As I'm sure you're aware, tomorrow is predicted to be the end of the world. Again. But is it really? In 2 Peter 3:10, it says "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed." Do you really think that a thief would put it on a calendar that they would break into your house? Probably not. He would be a pretty lousy thief. So even if He did come tomorrow, we wouldn't know!

     Also, the reason that some think that the world will end tomorrow, is that a Mayan calendar ran out of room on 12/21/12. So, I mean, they had to stop somewhere, but that doesn't mean that it's the end of the world. Also, wasn't the end predicted to end last year as well? And several other times before that? We can see clearly that we have absolutely no idea when the end will happen, no matter how many predictions are made. It could happen within the next 200 seconds, or the next 200 years. God didn't tell us because He doesn't want us to just live however we want until the end of the world, and turn around at the last minute. He wants us to dedicate our whole lives to worshiping Him.

     But what if the world were to end? What if God had told us that the world would end tomorrow? How would our lives be different? Well, for starters, most people probably wouldn't care about buying things, or having money, because it'll all be gone in a day anyway! It would be much easier to be generous and kind, because we would want to make sure that we make it into heaven, and everything would be gone anyway, so why not?! This is how God wants us to live. He didn't tell us when because He wants us to live like the world is about to end all the time. He wants our lives to be dedicated to Him, so we can be prepared for the end, whether it's tomorrow, or in 100 years, we should always live like the end is near, because that is how God commanded us to live, always doing our best to serve Him. Thank you for reading. :)

Photo of the Week

This outfit is modest; it's knee length, it's not too tight. So, why am I even showing it to you guys? Good question. Although the skirt is knee length, and it comes with an underskirt attatched to it, the underskirt is ridiculously slick. It slides up when I sit down, which causes the top skirt to slide up... it's very irritating. Also, I get cold very easy. So, how did I fix this? I put tights on! Woo hoo! Easy fix. This keeps my legs warm, and the tights keep my skirt from slipping and sliding around.

Inner Beauty

I know lots of girls. I know girls with blond hair, brown hair, red hair. I know tall girls, and short girls. Most of them are gorgeous, because God has made them that way. Even without makeup, girls can be and are pretty.

However, no matter how much make up you use, or natural beauty you've been blessed with, nothing can disguise an ugly personality.

If you treat people badly, they won't think you're pretty. If you never smile, people won't see a beautiful face, only an unhappy and bitter person. If you don't shine the light of Christ, then you won't be beautiful to God, and that's especially important.

One thing we all need to improve on, no matter how old we are, is inner beauty. Especially as Christians, we need to be beautiful on the inside, where it matters. In 1 Peter 3:4 it says, "but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious."

Make sure you're beautiful inside before you work on your outer beauty.
~Sarah

Forgiveness

     There are several verses in the Bible that talk about how we need to ask forgiveness for our sins. And we do! But we also need to remember to forgive others. I'm sure most of you have heard of the parable of the unforgiving servant, found in Matthew 18:21-35, where Jesus is telling Peter that we should always forgive others, up to 70 times 7, in verse 22. Now, this isn't literally saying that we should only forgive someone 490 times, this is just a figure of speech, God forgives us several more times than that, and we need to keep that in mind and do the same.

     Let's look at verses 34-35 of the same book and chapter. It says, "And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart." This is saying that we not only have to tell them that they're forgiven, but we actually have to mean it, even if it's hard. We have to remember that no one is perfect, and we have to have patience with people. I remember once when I was in kindergarten, I was still in public school, and during recess one day, I overheard my teacher telling one of her students to apologies for calling someone names. And I remember the strangest thing, because after the kid apologized , the other said that it was okay, and the teacher exclaimed, "No! No it's not okay!" She wasn't allowing the one who had been called names to forgive the other. We need to forgive others, even if it's difficult to, and even if we have to do it 490 times. Sometimes, it's easy to forget that if we don't forgive others for wronging us, then we are wronging them, and God. So next time someone says that they're sorry for something, remember all those times that God forgave you, and it might be a little bit easier to forgive that person. :)

Necessities

It's December, and Christmas is coming up in just a few days (8 to be exact) and everyone is excited to celebrate the holiday by giving and receiving gifts, seeing family members, and my personal favorite, eating lots and lots of food. :) During thanksgiving, I talked about thankfulness, and I think that now would be a good time to talk about what we actually need in our lives, instead of what we WANT in our lives.

First of all, I'll be talking about what we want. For Christmas, as I'm sure a lot of people do, I have a list of things that I want. Like a new hoodie because I outgrew my old one, some socks, and a few other small things that I've found over the year that I think would be really cool to have. Now, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with getting things, unless you're greedy about it. But do I really need these things? Of course not! There is not one thing on this earth besides a Bible, and forgiveness from our sins that we actually need. These are the real necessities.

Think about it this way: do you really think that it will be important to your kids, or your grand kids, or our great grand kids what you got for Christmas in 2012? Probably not. But do you think that it will be important to them that you were a Christian? Yes! Of course it is! Because if you become a Christian, then chances are, so will they. Being a Christian is our only necessity, because it's even more important than living, in fact, it's so important, that Jesus died for it. So this Christmas, as you're putting together your Christmas list, please remember what your real necessity is, which is following God. Thank you for reading. :)

Entertainment Choices

     Tonight, my family and Sarah and her family are going to see the Hobbit because honestly, we're all nerds who love a good movie. So I thought that this would be a good opportunity to talk about the entertainment choices that we make. In Philippians 4:8 it says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

     Now, I'm sure you're thinking, "What does this have to do with our entertainment choices?" Well, I'm glad you asked! How are we to keep our minds pure, if we constantly surround ourselves with movies that have impure things? And with recent movies, it can be very difficult to find good, clean movies! Now, unless it's an old Pixar or Disney movie like "A Bug's Life" or "Toy Story 1", then you're probably not going to find a good, clean, no cuss words, awesome movie. So what I like to do, is i have TV Guardian, so I can still watch those movies, but it's clean.

     It's really hard, like I said, to find good movies that don't have any cuss words in it, but we need to keep our minds pure (I did an article on it if you want to read it: http://marvelouslymodest.blogspot.com/2012/11/pure-in-our-own-minds.html ) and in Titus 12:11 it says, "knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned." This is saying that, if we see, and don't care that what we're watching is wrong, then we are doing wrong too, because aren't keeping these things out of our minds as much as we can. Now, it's a bit difficult to not see sin, I mean, we're human, and live around humans, but hearing and seeing these things intentionally is certainly wrong. So next time you pick out a movie, or TV show, or even a book, make sure that it's clean, because we should always make sure that we keep our minds and hearts pure. :)

Photo of the Week

This is a REALLY low shirt. This is easily fixed by putting an 
undershirt beneath it, but to give it a different look, I'm going to put it over a dress.

I put this over a jewel toned dress, because the shape of the dress and the shape of the shirt go together well. The only warning I have to give to you about this is that the dress beneath the shirt is thick enough to not show the shape or color of your undergarments. And you're set!

















~Sarah

A Book With a Modest Cover

     I spend a lot of time around books. That’s probably because I’m a nerd, and I read books for fun. Also, since I’m homeschooled, I spend a lot of time at the library getting books for school. I check out five or six books at a time, and the most disappointing section of the library is by far the “young adult” section. I guess we could more appropriately call it “the Twilight/ Hunger Games rip off section,” because everyone has run out of original ideas (however, that’s a whole other topic into which I shall not go). Since the storylines are kind of weak, one technique that publishers use to get people to read their books is to make the covers look really appealing. Usually, this involves pretty ball gowns and fancy fonts and glitter. And I admittedly fall for it – I pick up a book because I think it’s pretty, and then I don’t finish reading it because it’s lame.

     I know you’ve heard the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover” many times. It’s most commonly used to mean, “Don’t judge somebody by how they look,” but let’s look at it from another angle. If you see a book with dogs on the cover, is it safe to assume that the book is about dogs, or at least has a dog somewhere in the storyline, right? If you see a book with two people kissing on the front, you can immediately tell that it’s a romance, right?

     This is the same with people. If you see someone wearing a basketball uniform, are you going to assume that they play basketball? Yes. If you see someone wearing a ring on their left ring finger, are you going to assume that they’re engaged or married? Yes. If you see someone wearing a t-shirt that says “Math Camp 2011” are you going to assume that they went to math camp in 2011? Yes.

     People make quick assumptions based on what you’re wearing, and how you act. The way you dress is very important, because that’s how people perceive you. Be careful of how you dress, because people don’t see the inside of the book immediately – they see the cover.  
~Sarah

Taking Advice

     In my daily Bible reading, I have been reading in Proverbs, and in proverbs, you'll notice, was written so you won't forget a word of it. In just about every chapter there is at least one verse that was, or will be, mentioned in another chapter, but they're all phrased differently. Today, we'll be talking about Proverbs 15:32, which is talking about how we need to listen to others, and admit when we're wrong.

     In Proverbs 15:32, it says, "Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence." This is saying that, if you don't listen to advice, and you become arrogant, and prideful, and don't try to understand what they're saying, then you're only hurting yourself. Now, not all advice is good advice, so you need to read the Bible so you can see what advice is good, and what advice is bad. Sometimes, I can be very stubborn, and don't want to listen to any advice at all. But I know that if I don't then I'm not going to help myself in any way by not listening, and it'll come back to haunt me in the future. This is one of the reasons why we need to choose our friends wisely, so we can receive good advise, instead of bad.

     In the second part of this verse, is says that he who listens to reproof gains intelligence. Now, I don't know about you, but I want to be smart, and one of the things that I've learned is that you can't lean anything from yourself, because you already know what you're about to say. Now, you can think about things and put two and two together, but you have to have two and two first in order to put them together. So next time someone who you can trust (make sure you can trust them first) gives you advice, take it, and apply it, because sometimes, it is so easy to be stubborn, that you don't want to listen, and you end up only hurting yourself. Thank you for reading. :)

Priorities

     Imagine you're about to get married. You wake up early that morning, and make sure everything goes as planned, but when you get ready to leave your house, you realize that you forgot to buy your dress. It's pretty hard to imagine, because, I don't know if that has ever happened. Ever. It says in Jeremiah 2:32. "Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number."

     A lot of times, we get so wrapped up in our own lives, and we forget who our top priority should be. Sometimes, it is so easy to forget who we serve, and get wrapped up in our own lives, that we forget about God, and His importance in our lives. Sometimes, it's very easy to forget that if it weren't for Him, then we wouldn't even be here, not to mention the forgiveness of sins we receive once we're baptized. I'm not saying that everyone does this all the time, or that we should only ever think about God. We need time for ourselves too. Even Jesus had to rest, but what we shouldn't do, is forget who we serve, and put other things in front of obeying Him, which should never be the case.

     So, if a bride can't forget her wedding dress, then we should't forget God. We should always take time and remember who He is, and to pray to Him, and study His word, so we don't forget Him. So I encourage you, so you don't forget about God, to read at least a chapter of your Bible a day, and to really study it, and to set aside a certain time during the day to pray. You'd be surprised how good you'll feel when you're done, and, it's an easy way to remember who you serve. :)

Looking Pretty

Most of the time, as teenage girls, we hear A LOT about modesty, and why we should be modest, and how to be modest. This is a very necessary topic, no doubt. Most girls have not been taught how to be modest, or why it’s important, and they do need to be taught. However, I’ve grown up being taught this information, and I know many girls who also have been trained. It does, admittedly, get a little boring hearing the same topic over and over, so let’s try something new.

Let’s talk about being pretty.

     It’s ok to want to make yourself look nice. You can look pretty and lovely without being immodest. Depending on how you’re dressed, you can make yourself look nice without making your Christian brothers stumble over your appearance.

     Jayla has already posted this quote on her blog, but it ties in very well to what I’m trying to say to you today: “Your dress should be tight enough to show you’re a woman, and loose enough to show you’re a lady.” What does this mean? It means that you can be pretty and accentuate the beauty that God gave you without being sinful.

     For instance, it’s ok to put a belt around your dress to define your waist. It’ll make a too big dress seem just the right size (depending on the dress) and as long as it’s not too tight, nobody‘s going to find you immodest. Looking dumpy is not good, because it makes you look like you don’t care about how you look, or what people think of you. If you’re a Christian who’s trying to influence the people around you for good, you can’t look like you don’t care enough to put on an outfit that is flattering. What’s not ok is wearing a dress that’s so tight you can see your every curve and all of your ribs. There’s a fine balance, and though it takes a while to learn, you can do it! It’s not instinctive, it’s something you learn.

     Please don’t think I’m saying that you need to show off your body. Absolutely not! Please don’t think that. There is no excuse for dressing immodestly in public, ever.

     What I’m trying to tell you today is that you don’t have to look corny or dumpy or old-fashioned to be modest. You don’t have to sew your own clothes, or wear a potato sack, or a head covering. We’re not supposed to feel punished for obeying God. His words are not a burden, and we should not treat them as such. You can look really cute and show off your natural beauty, without masking your inner beauty or making your brothers in Christ stumble, and maintaining your purity.

Don't Forget to Pray

     Everyone has hard times. Everyone has good times. Everyone should pray, but not very many do. We are told in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, that we are to pray without ceasing. As we can see in Proverbs 1, in verses 23-28, you can see that God won't hear your prayers if you refuse to follow His Word. If you only pray to Him when you need something, instead of giving thanks. If you only do what He wants you to do when it's convenient for you, in verse 28, it says, "Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me." If you want to be blessed, you have to be consistent.

     One of the things that I like to do, is every night, before I go to bed, I pray. I don't usually do it in the morning because I'm so tired in the mornings I'm afraid I'll fall asleep, but I know that if I pray at night, I won't fall asleep in the middle of it, because I usually can't fall asleep anyway, and, I know I won't be interrupted/ I suggest you do just that. Take some time out of the day, when it's quiet, and you know you won't be interrupted, and just pray. It doesn't have to be long, but it has to be sincere, or God won't hear it. It says in Matthew 6:7, "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words." We need to make sure that when we pray, we are thanking God, and not just making ourselves feel better about ourselves.

     Another thing we need to do, is have patience. There are 3 ways God answers prayers. "Yes", "No", and "Wait". Sometimes, the thing that we want wouldn't be good for us, so God sees that, and doesn't give it to you, because he knows what's best for you. Other times, He just wants you to wait for the right time. Also, we have to make sure and not only talk to Him, but let Him talk to us, by reading His word, so we can have a better understanding. Thank you for reading. :)