Tough Subject- Pornography

So many people brush pornography to the side either ignoring the fact that people struggle with it or ignoring the fact that they personally struggle with it. I struggled with being addicted to porn for 8 years, when my life took a spin for the worst it became an escape route for me to take and I traveled the journey alone. I never told anyone, because it is a shameful side of me. I wanted to break free from it for so long, but it had its little fingers wrapped around me and I couldn’t get loose. I prayed and prayed asking God to free me, and it always seemed like He ignored me…until one day I realized I was the one ignoring Him. Every time that satan tempted me, God would always offer a way out…but I wouldn’t see it, or I would just flat out ignore it. I finally hit a brick wall and told God that I couldn’t do it anymore, I didn’t want to do it anymore. I completely gave it to Him, and He did free me. It took discipline and a lot of saying “No!” to satan, but I am free.


I sit here and I wonder how many other girls are addicted too. I know it happens. It is easy to fall into, and a lot of times no one knows how to get out, some even think it is impossible. But I know for a fact it is not! It is not going to be easy to break free at all, but I’ll tell you a few things you can do to make it easier. Tell someone who you trust, like a parent or church leader, someone who can help you fight it. When you are feeling tempted, walk away! This one is so simple, yet so hard to do. But just get up and walk away. James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” This verse simple means to follow after God, draw near to Him, say “no” to satan, and he will have to go away under God’s command! How awesome is that? When we submit ourselves to God and are under His will than when we tell satan to go, he has to go! That is so awesome!

God wants to help you through this struggle, and He is really the only thing that can help anyone overcome it. I know for me that if I had to do it by myself I would still be struggling. But I let God feel the empty voids of my life instead of things that might have caused happiness for five minutes. And I strongly encourage you to give it up to God and let Him have complete control. He takes so much delight in you as a person, and loves you so very much.

"But everyone else is doing it!"

How many times have you thought that phrase to yourself, or perhaps even said it to your parents? Something that has been weighing heavily on my heart lately is being an original in a world full of unoriginals. Sometimes it's easy to just "go with the flow." What "everyone else is doing" isn't always something bad, right? Sometimes it may be that, everyone else is going to church camp and you stay home to help take care of a family member in need. Going to church camp is by no means a terrible thing. But just because your church goes to camp doesn't mean it's where God wants you to be. Sometimes he has more important things for you to do. I have seen so many girls lately that are doing things, not necessarilly because it's what they want or what God wants, but because it's what the "cool people" are doing. Girls, this is not God's plan for our lives at all. Over and over Paul talks about how each part of the body of Christ is different, but it is unique and important and no less a part of the body than any other part. Our body would be useless if all we are is a pile of hands or feet. We need to be our individual selves to reach our full potential in Christ.

In the realm of purity that obviously means following God's will and not having sex before marriage. But it goes beyond that. Just because one person is totally okay with dating in high school doesn't mean you have to date as well. Seek God's will for your life, don't just go with the flow. If you are afraid to stand out as an individual you will never reach your full potential. God has called us each to a specific purpose, and you have to seek him to find it.

Ephesians 2:10 says "For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." You are God's MASTERPIECE. Don't ever forget that. When you try to be something you're not, it like you are trying to fix a masterpiece. If you took the Mona Lisa, cut it up, through half of the pieces away and then put it back together again it wouldn't be the same would it? It wouldn't look like a da Vinci masterpiece, it would look like a Picasso. It might turn out to be an okay Picasso, but it's purpose in life was to be a da Vinci. It can never fulfill it's purpose because we tried to change a masterpiece. It's the same with our life. I was not created to be a Jennifer Rochester, I was created to be Kathryn Reed. If I'm trying to be Jennifer Rochester I will never fulfill the purpose God has for ME. Don't be afraid to be original.

Love, Kat

Tough Subject- Why wait?

If you have ever gone to church much you have head how you should wait until marriage to have sex. It is taught, taught, and then taught some more. Do we ever here why we should not have sex before marriage though? The fact is God says in the Bible to flee (run) from all sexual immorality.




1 Corinthians 6:18a Flee from sexual immorality.



2 Timothy 2:22 Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.



What good comes from waiting? It often seems like the ones, “Doing it” are having more fun. Is that true? I would like to show you how it is not. It may seem that way now, yet in the long run it is terribly wrong. The decisions you make today determine your future. Bad decisions now can lead to a life full of heartache. Here are some good things that come from obeying God and restraining from having sex until marriage. Some may be obvious, none the less true.



~No unplanned pregnancies

~No possibility of getting a STD or Aids

~You reputation can’t be messed up

~You will be closer to God

~You will never have to admit to your husband that you, “messed up” one night

~You will never have to tell you children that you had sex before marriage, but you rather them not

~ You will never have to deal with guilt

~You will never compare your husband with you past “lovers”



Girls I want to challenge you to not only not have sex, but to completely RUN from sexual immorality. Each girl has a different view of what “immorality” is. My personal standard is that I do not want to kiss a guy until my wedding day. Now, do I think kissing is wrong? Not really. I just know for myself that it is like taking a first step down on a slippery wet slide. Kissing turns into making out, making out leads to hands going places they should not go, that leads to other things. So on and so on. Before you know it you have gone places and done things that you never thought you would go. I choose to stop it before it ever even gets started. Where is you stopping place? Some girls struggle when just holding hands. Others can make out and not think a thing. Only you and God know where you are. Pray and seek the face of God…. Today’s decisions are the ones that determine your future!



All His,
JEN

Tough Subject- Submission

Everyone has a different view, definition, and opinion of this word. Some are rather positive and others are rather negative. I'm about to just give you my opinion. I realize that this may offend some, but seeing that this is my blog the point is for me to share my opinion and how I interpret God's word on the subject! :)



God and I have been talking about submission a lot lately. Growing up I never had a problem with submitting to my parents or authorities. I still do not. For some reason my boyfriend is different. Now the Bible does not say that you have to submit to your boyfriend, but I whole heartedly believe that it is in your best interest to. For the simple reason it is training you to honor your husband, which the Bible does clearly tell you to do! I've been realizing lately how I'm really not as submissive as I thought i was. "What is true submission?" I kept asking God. Here are just a few things he showed me....



~ Not having to have the last word (OUCH!)!

~Not making immediate decisions, but asking him how he feels about it or what he wants.

~Trusting him (Example... when driving. Not always thinking I know the best way to go and just let him drive!)

~Letting him open the door for me (I get impatient at times….:/)

~Not nagging him to do what I want him to do

~Honoring his wishes even when it puts me out

~Helping him where he is weak, even when it isn’t my first choice



I'm not about to get into women's rights and things like that. You can go to another blog for that chick! :) My heart’s desire is to just understand what TRUE submission is. The thought that kept coming to mind.... "If I can’t even figure out how to be submissive to my boyfriend do i have any idea how to be submissive to God?!" Submission may not be a problem for you, but evidentially it is for me! This isn’t easy to admit, but it is the truth. Here is another thought though.... if it is not wise for you to do what your boyfriend wants you to do *You know if it isn’t!* then you need to get another boyfriend. Plain and simple!



As I finish up.... you know my spill, but bc I care about you I'm going to say it again. NO guy (Boyfriend, dad, friend, brother, anyone!) EVER has the right to do anything to you that makes you feel uncomfortable. If you do not want him to touch, say, txt, or anything something to you then get help. Girls, you have the right to say NO and I beg you to! Submission does NOT mean doing absolutely anything a guy wants. Use your Godly common sense.



What does submission mean to you? It may mean different things to different girls. What does it mean to you? Love you girls!!



JEN

Tough Subject- Divorce

Are you dealing with your parents divorcing or do you have a friend that is going through it and you are not sure what to say? Here is one girl's story about her parents divorce!

I was only 4 years old when my parents decided to get a divorce. Even though my dad originally received custody of me, he decided that the best thing for a little girl was to be with her mother. So, my mom and I left our home, away from my dad, and moved hours away to live with my mom's sister. I don't remember much about when it first happened,, but as the years passed the separation began to affect me more and more. It became really hard to leave my mom to go visit my dad, and then it was really hard to leave them and come back home. I was an emotional basket case a lot of those times! When I was very little I remember being very close to my dad, but the more time I spent away from him, the more we grew apart. I'm still working on that today, because I really hope that eventually my dad and I will be close again. I developed a very close relationship with my mom, however, and to this day we have a great relationship.


As my dad and I grew more apart, I started to feel the effects of not consistently having a dad around. I believe that a little girl should hear everyday from her father that she is beautiful, that she is a princess, that she means the world to him. A lack of hearing these things from my dad combined with the emotional stress I grew up with contributed to many insecurities that I'm just beginning to let go of now. Now, I'm not blaming my dad or my situation for those insecurities. My dad adores me, and I have no doubts about that. He just doesn't express it much, and couldn't when I was growing up due to our separation. There was definitely a void in my life.

There was a time that I wanted to be angry about my life, and about the fact that I never had what a lot of kids do. My dad was never there on my first day of school. Most birthdays were spent away from him. And since my dad is kind of quiet, he never called much either. But the amazing thing is that even when Satan wants to use some bad situation that we face to destroy us, God can use that same situation to build us up and draw us to Himself. You see, I could have chosen to become bitter towards God for allowing this to happen to me and to my family, but instead, He drew me to Himself and showed me a Father's love. And His love was, and is, so intense and so fulfilling, that it doesn't even matter that I can't be around my dad every day. Now don't get me wrong, I still need my dad in my life and I'm so thankful for him and all he has done for me. But knowing God's love makes it okay that I only get hugs and kisses from my dad occasionally. Now, God as my Father tells me I am beautiful and how much I mean to Him. I can cry in His arms when I've had a bad day or when I'm just feeling down, and He comforts me. God used my situation and all of the pain that I had faced to show Himself to me and to reveal that He is my Father who will never, under NO circumstance, ever leave. And that really is the best kind of love!