Word Filled Wednesday!

~ Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt talk come out of your mouth, but only such as good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those that hear. ~

Proverbs 31 Woman... :)

Hey chickas! Can I start out by asking you to please pray for me? I know it is a selfish thing to ask, but I'm just going to be honest with you.... life is hard. So, please just pray for me. Ok? I am dilligently working on getting different post ready for the "Tough subjects" series. Anonymous who commented on the last post... I began writing multiple post about waiting and trying to encourage you, but it just never really worked. Then God began laying on my heart how we should study the Proverbs 31 woman. Hopefully this will encourage all of you girls!

Proverbs 31:10 Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies.

How many of you have ever been told that you are precious? Maybe by your parents, a boy friend, just a friend, or even grandparents. If you've never been told by an earthly person that doesn't matter bc God said so! How does it make you feel? Honestly it makes my heart happy! :) Anyway, I see many girls today who do not fit into the "Virtuous" category. Webster describes virtuous as, " morally excellent : righteous". Are these common words that you find girls being described as? Hopefully you hang around friends who that is how they are described, although the reality is that this is not the norm. In normal high schools most girls or at least the popular ones (The ones who seem to have it all.) are more known for sleeping around, being mean, doing drugs and so on and so on. For some odd reason these girls seem to always get the guys..... why is that? Proverbs 31:10 has a difference of opinion though. The Bible claims that a man who finds a virtuous woman is the blessed one! I guess this is an encouragement to wait it out and not just settle, but even more than that.... are you a virtuous woman? The Bible also says that a man who has found a wife has found a good thing.... When a man "finds" you will he have found a good thing? Due to this blog I often talk to guys about what they want in a girl and guys often thank me for encouraging girls to wait bc in all reality the Godly men do not want to marry a woman who has "experience". The world tells us that you have to know what you are doing before you get married or you will just be the clumsiest more ridiculous thing ever. This is far from the truth though....

My purpose in this post though is first off to encourage you to wait! Even when it seems pointless and you feel like you are the only one waiting! My second point is to encourage you girls who are waiting to not just begrudgingly wait and just be miserable! Use your time as a single young lady for God's glory!!! Become the virtuous woman what any man would be blessed to have!! Some examples of ways I used my single years to draw closer to God...

~Use those dateless Friday/ Saturday nights to give a single mom a break
~Instead of txting your "Significant other" txt and encourage your friends
~The time you would spend talking on the phone to "your man" spend time with God
~Write your future husband and tell him how much you love him instead of telling a random guy
~Tell others of the sweet thing your lover (God) has told (Bible) you instead of what your boyfriend said
~Make as may statuses on your facebook about God as others do about their boyfriend
~Use the money you would spend on a gift for your "Babe" for someone else

These are just a few ideas! Praying for you girls! :)

Tough subjects b/c we live in a tough world...

So girls, God has hit me in the face lately with how I live in my own little bubble and do not realize what all is going on in the real world....After having a few (well quite a few....) girls be honest with me I realized that there are a few "Tough subjects" that I have been kinda avoiding. Not for any specific reason, but just honestly b/c they aren't the most comfortable thing to talk about. That's about to change though! What are some tough things that you deal with? Here are some of my ideas or just things that I feel need to be discussed.

~Abuse
~Parents Divorcing
~Rape
~Abortion
~Bullying in schools
~Close family/friends dying
~Face book
~Cheating- Is it OK?
~Drinking/Drugs
~Unwed Pregnancy
~Cutting
~Porn
~Sibling Rivalry
~Suicide
~Depression

Any more ideas? You can comment anonymously or however! I want to know what you want though.... Another way you can help though is if you would like to write about one of these topics please let me know! Obviously, I have not gone through many of these and so therefore I cant give you personal experience. I can tell you what the Bible says and give you my opinion, but that's about it. So, if you have dealt with something and you would like to share please let me know!! My email is jennifer.rochester@charter.net.

Love you girls!
JEN

Blah....blah....blah...

So, I haven't blogged in it feels like forever. Honestly, I just haven't had much to say (Shocker... i know!), Alot has been going on, yet at the same time I haven't been that busy. It has been more of a spiritual warfare, which is often more draining than anything physical. Ever just feel like satan is fighting and he is fighting hard? Maybe not necessarily against you, but with everyone around you. Even the people who you thought had it decently together are falling. For lack of better words you do feel like you are on a battle field. You have your army and they are dropping like flies. You know that you cant save them, but you want to get them help. Although every time you try to save one another falls and it is just continuous. That is how Ive felt the last few weeks... Please don't think I'm complaining or whining bec i understand that this is just apart of the Christian walk, but i do want to be honest with you. Kat has made the statement before about how we are human also. We are not perfect. I try my best on here to not just say what you should and should  not do, but also be real. So this is just one of those "real" post. There have been a couple of good things come out of the past few weeks though... First off I've read my Bible everyday (remember my new years resolution??). It has become my LIFE SAVER! God always seems to speak to me through it....  :) Secondly, my prayer life has flourished! It is sad to say, but lately all I know to do is talk to God about what all has been going on. Please do not get me wrong,,, i still pray during the good times also, but there has just been something lately in me that it has been almost constant! I told someone yesterday, "I talk to God now more than I talk to myself!! And I talk to myself alot...."! :) Girls, we are in a war.... You may be feeling like you are winning or you may be feeling like i am and that you are losing. Draw close to God.... Then no matter how you "feel" You know in the end you WILL win!!

Sweet sisters in Christ..... people are falling and struggling all around us.... they need someone to pray for them, cry with them, love on them, encourage them, listen to them, and more than anything lead them to Christ.... Are you willing to do that? If not, quite honestly, you need to check your heart and get right with God. If you are, then you are like a nurse in a hospital with many sick sick patients. You may at times feel like the only nurse on duty, but the thing is though you have the ultimate doctor who is ALWAYS on duty!!!

I can sincerely tell you that I pray for each and every one of you... I know that many of you are dealing with hurts, fears, sins, secrets, and just struggles. I encourage you today to just keep on fighting! Keep on! Here are a couple of verses you may want to memorize or Ive written them down and placed them in different places so that I will see them often!

Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”



Psalm 34:18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalm 9:9 The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.


James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,  because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
With love and encouragement,
JEN

P.S. I would like to add the words to a song that I've been singing to myself lately called, "Shout unto God!"

The enemy has been defeated

And death couldn't hold You down

We're gonna lift our voice in victory

We're gonna make Your praises loud

Shout unto God with a voice of triumph

Shout unto God with a voice of praise

Shout unto God with a voice of triumph

We lift Your name up

We lift Your name up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X--jzuVTZqM&feature=related

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAT!!!

Sooooo  today is our wonderful Kat's Birthday!!!

I wrote a post about her a while back... to read it go to
http://jenniferandkathryn.blogspot.com/2010/05/in-honor-of-kathryn-reed.html

Happy Birthday girl!! I love you! :)
May God bless you as you finish up high school and figure out
where He is leading you!


JEN

P.S. Please leave a comment and let her know what she means to you!

Sin... Who does it hurt?

I often think of sin as just effecting the person who does it. You know, they are the one who has to face the consequences. Are they the only ones who are hurt though? Not at all. For example, say you do something with a boyfriend that is obviously a sin. You guys are not only hurt there are also both of your parents, your close friends, and anyone who ever looked up to you. Girls, the only reason I wanted to bring this up is you have no idea who is looking up to you. Some of you girls are older and you have younger teen girls looking at you. Some of you have people who read your blogs that never comment, yet they look up to you. Some of you simply have younger sisters. I want to ask you... what do you do that you want no one else to see? Honestly, no one may ever find out, yet God still knows. We so often care what others think, yet do we care what God thinks??

Jeremiah 12:3 Yet you know me, LORD; you see me and test my thoughts about you. Drag them off like sheep to be butchered! Set them apart for the day of slaughter!


Matthew 9:4 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?


Psalm 139:2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.


Psalm 139:23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.


Girls.... we live in a world where even the people who seem to be Godly are hiding deep dark sins. Yes, we are all sinners. The problem is we feel as if we have to be perfect and so we hide, lie, deceive, and cover up all we can until it just comes out. Then what happens? People get hurt. It's just a thought and something I've been dealing with lately.... Don't be afraid to get help. Find someone who you can trust and who can truly help you.
 
Praying for you girls!
JEN

Word Filled Wednesday!

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the lord your God will be with you wherever you go!! Joshua 1:9

Where did your fairy tale dream go??

Where did our fairy tale dreams go??

Right down the drain just to be honest… I keep three year olds a couple times a week and it amazes me to see how big of an imagination they have and how easily they play Prince and Princess. Then within a couple of years (soon after puberty) they will barely even be able to remember their dreams. They will seem impossible and unrealistic. Why is that? It is because in our world women are taught that guys are jerks. They do not know how to respect or love us and that if we want anything in life we have to get it all on our own and in our own power. Is that the way God created it though? I do not believe it is at all… We’ve discussed this some, but what are the roles of the man and woman in the relationship? The man is to love his wife as God loved the church and the woman is to her husband. If we each did these things do you think life would be more like a fairy tell? I believe it would! Life can never be perfect, yet if we lived our lives the way God planned on us doing it would be a whole lot closer to a true fairy tale.



Ephesians 5:22-33 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church for we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.



So, what can we do about it? Can we push guys to show true love? What can we do? The truth is we can not change others… we can only change ourselves and the way we treat others. Bummer huh? I think we often miss the fact that if we were to treat guys with respect they might actually do the same thing to us! I remember watching a movie a while back and in the movie a dad didn’t respect his son at all. The son treated his dad the same way though. When someone confronted the son about it he wanted to blame his dad, but the person told him, “How can you judge your dad by his actions yet judge yourself by your intentions?” . The same goes for the way we treat guys… I do totally believe that there are guys that are “jerks”, “players”, or whatever you want to call them, yet I also believe that they are many good guys that we degrade when we classify all guys as bad. Does that make sense? With all that said, what can WE (You and I as girls!) do to change it? We’ve all heard the golden rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”. If we begin treating guys with respect I promise you they would begin doing the same to us… Do you know how our world would turn upside down if that actually began happening?? Of course not every guy will, but the ones who are worth having around will! It kills me how often women want to throw up the fact that their husbands are to love them as God loves the church, yet then they do not submit to their husbands, which is just as much God’s will as for the husband to love his wife! Before I go on though I want to give you some examples of what I mean… We’ve already discussed belittling guys by calling them names, but also just talking about them behind there back. It hurts them just as much as it hurts us to have someone talking about us behind our back. Making low remarks or degrading their attempts to be sweet. Even if it seems to be a sorry attempt, at least they are trying. Also in the clothes you wear… If you do not want a guy to look at you in a lustful way then please do not advertise yourself in such a way to make him want to! I realize that guys are guys and they are going to be drawn to women, but if you could realize how much easier it would be for a guy to respect you and treat you with honor if you dressed different I believe you would be getting rid of any clothes you own that might cause them to stumble. I feel like I’m rambling… but this is something that really means a lot to me. If we cant respect our guy friends or bf at this point then what on earth makes us think that all of the sudden we will be great at it once we get married?



With all that said I want to add one more thing… If the guys in your life are not worth respecting… please for your sake move on and find other guys. If the guys you hang around whether it be just friends or actual boyfriends curse around you often, hit you, or often push you to be physical it is about time to start looking for new friends! It wont be easy, but if you care to ever get back the fairy tale dream you use to have it is a must to get rid of those guys.



I love you girls and I want you to have the Fairy tale that you always dreamed of! :)
JEN