So what I'm not your average girl
I don't meet the standards of this world
Chasing after boys is not my thing
See I'm waiting for a wedding ring
No more dating I'm just waiting
Like sleeping beauty
My prince will come for me
No more dating I'm just waiting
'Cause God is writing my love story
Boys are bad that's certainly not true
'Cause God's preparing one for you
If you get tired waiting till he comes
Gods arms are the perfect place to run
Sleep that's the only thing
For me 'cause when I sleep
Gods Preparing one for me
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Word Filled Wednesday!
Today I'd like to share with you from one of my favorite books of the Bible, James.
James 1:2-4 says "Consider it pure joy, my brother, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."
Now, the word is not saying you should wake up in the morning and say "God, I just love trials! Could you send one my way?" But rather that you should take joy in the fact that when you are going through a trial, it simply means God is working in your life! Remember if he brings you to it, he'll lead you through it!
Love, Kat
James 1:2-4 says "Consider it pure joy, my brother, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."
Now, the word is not saying you should wake up in the morning and say "God, I just love trials! Could you send one my way?" But rather that you should take joy in the fact that when you are going through a trial, it simply means God is working in your life! Remember if he brings you to it, he'll lead you through it!
Love, Kat
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Initiators and Responders
Yes, I'm crossing into dangerous territory here. But I really think this needs to be addressed, because it can heavily effect the purity of a relationship. Today I'm going to talk about the concept of guys being initiators and girls being responders. I really encourage my friends to adopt this concept, and if you haven't already, I hope after reading this you will.
Let's start with a basic definition of the concept. It literally means what it says. Guys initiate the big relationship decisions. Girls respond to the decisions. For instance, guys should be the ones to ask girls out, and girls should be the ones to say yes or no to the offers. You see what I mean? Essentially all this means is that the guys pursue the girls, not the other way around.
Now that we have a basic definition let's talk about the various places this does or does not apply. Okay, well obviously it applies in the asking out area. Okay girls be honest, do you really want to ask the guy yourself? Or would you rather him step up and be a man and take his rightful role? In a culture where we are raised on fairy tales of Prince Charming searching relentlessly for Cinderella, I doubt you really wanna ask him yourself. This can even translate over to the purity area. When you late him initiate it, he can be more in control of himself. Where as if you initiate it, he could be caught off guard and not able to resist the urge to push further. Now I'm not saying he won't push further anyway. But that's where being a responder comes into play. As the responder, you have the right at anytime to say "no more" or "we have to stop now." You're not totally helpless. Another thing, I think we may have mentioned this before, but I'm not sure. The guy should be the one to say I love you for the first time. There's something about that, it's just a man's job. And then you know you are not pressuring the guy to move the relationship forward faster than he is comfortable. Okay, now this doesn't mean you can't ever be the one to call him. In fact, it might be a nice way to let him know you were thinking of him. But it does mean you shouldn't ALWAYS be the one initiating the phone calls. It doesn't mean you can't ever (within a relationship) suggest y'all do something, but you shouldn't be doing it all the time. He needs to take initiative most of the time.
The last part I want to cover is why we should do this. Perhaps I should have mentioned it sooner, but I'd like to you to leave this post with the reasons fresh on your mind. I really like the way Leslie Ludy phrases the first reason in her book "Answering the Guy Questions." (an excellent book about purity standards and romance the way God intended). Ludy says, "I have yet to meet a woman who dreams of a wimpy, insecure guy who has no clue how to lead or take the initiative in a relationship. But few women realize that when they steal a guy's position and become the initiator rather than the responder, they shape men into wimps, not warriors." Okay, so that's a pretty good reason. My next reason is basically this, when a girl goes and asks a guy out it can often make her look desparate, and as if she isn't trusting God with her relationship. Have you ever thought of this? If God designed the relationship, he'd give the guy the guts to stand up and make the first move. I know that's pretty tough to accept, but if God want a relationship to happen, he'll make it happen. My last reason is God commands submission. Ephesians 5:22-24 "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." No, we aren't married yet, but HELLO! Wake up call! Relationships lead to marriage!!! If you start the relationship off on the wrong foot, then it will not be easy to submit to him once you are married. Where as if you practice submission and let him be the initiator, you're setting the relationship up better. And you are better preparing yourself for a Christ-centered marriage. Well that's pretty much all I have to say about this. Thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with my take on this?
love, Kat
Let's start with a basic definition of the concept. It literally means what it says. Guys initiate the big relationship decisions. Girls respond to the decisions. For instance, guys should be the ones to ask girls out, and girls should be the ones to say yes or no to the offers. You see what I mean? Essentially all this means is that the guys pursue the girls, not the other way around.
Now that we have a basic definition let's talk about the various places this does or does not apply. Okay, well obviously it applies in the asking out area. Okay girls be honest, do you really want to ask the guy yourself? Or would you rather him step up and be a man and take his rightful role? In a culture where we are raised on fairy tales of Prince Charming searching relentlessly for Cinderella, I doubt you really wanna ask him yourself. This can even translate over to the purity area. When you late him initiate it, he can be more in control of himself. Where as if you initiate it, he could be caught off guard and not able to resist the urge to push further. Now I'm not saying he won't push further anyway. But that's where being a responder comes into play. As the responder, you have the right at anytime to say "no more" or "we have to stop now." You're not totally helpless. Another thing, I think we may have mentioned this before, but I'm not sure. The guy should be the one to say I love you for the first time. There's something about that, it's just a man's job. And then you know you are not pressuring the guy to move the relationship forward faster than he is comfortable. Okay, now this doesn't mean you can't ever be the one to call him. In fact, it might be a nice way to let him know you were thinking of him. But it does mean you shouldn't ALWAYS be the one initiating the phone calls. It doesn't mean you can't ever (within a relationship) suggest y'all do something, but you shouldn't be doing it all the time. He needs to take initiative most of the time.
The last part I want to cover is why we should do this. Perhaps I should have mentioned it sooner, but I'd like to you to leave this post with the reasons fresh on your mind. I really like the way Leslie Ludy phrases the first reason in her book "Answering the Guy Questions." (an excellent book about purity standards and romance the way God intended). Ludy says, "I have yet to meet a woman who dreams of a wimpy, insecure guy who has no clue how to lead or take the initiative in a relationship. But few women realize that when they steal a guy's position and become the initiator rather than the responder, they shape men into wimps, not warriors." Okay, so that's a pretty good reason. My next reason is basically this, when a girl goes and asks a guy out it can often make her look desparate, and as if she isn't trusting God with her relationship. Have you ever thought of this? If God designed the relationship, he'd give the guy the guts to stand up and make the first move. I know that's pretty tough to accept, but if God want a relationship to happen, he'll make it happen. My last reason is God commands submission. Ephesians 5:22-24 "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." No, we aren't married yet, but HELLO! Wake up call! Relationships lead to marriage!!! If you start the relationship off on the wrong foot, then it will not be easy to submit to him once you are married. Where as if you practice submission and let him be the initiator, you're setting the relationship up better. And you are better preparing yourself for a Christ-centered marriage. Well that's pretty much all I have to say about this. Thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with my take on this?
love, Kat
Monday, December 28, 2009
Carrie-Beth's Story!
Hey girls, I just wanted to share with you one of my experiences in dating with a Christ centered heart (or at least an attempt at that. ;)) Here's a little back story first on my relationship : I met my boyfriend at my church in my youth group. He's a great Christian guy, always talking about his faith, working in missions at church, and he really has a heart for his lost friends. We became friends quickly and got along really well. Within 3 weeks of meeting me, he asked me out. I wasn't ready at the time to commit to a relationship with anyone, and I had recently been hurt by a guy and I wasn't sure how ready I was to interpret my feelings at that time, so I turned him down. Well I thought that was it...it was over and done. I was wrong. haha. About 2 weeks after I turned him down, I started liking HIM. yeah. So I told him what was going on, and that I just needed time to pray about it and to figure things out. I told him that at any point, I wouldn't blame him for moving on. I prayed about this decision for 2 months before I finally decided. (In the mean time we got to know each other much better and became good friends). And what honestly stuck out to me the most, was that he waited. He liked me enough to wait until God told me what to do. That was a huge deal to me...that someone liked me enough to wait. Anyway, long story short we started dating in August, and have been dating for almost 5 months now. It has been one of the most wonderful experiences I've had, mainly because we are both so in love with Christ, and our committment is to Him above all else. My point in my back story is WAIT. Pray about a guy before you date him. Is this guy the person God has for you at this time? If you aren't sure, keep praying. If the guy truely likes you, and is a young man of God, he will wait until the Lord speaks to you about it. (But not like a year...the guy might not wait that long. haha. But you get my point).
Okay, so...now that I've probably already bored you with that...here's my story.
Not too long ago, my boyfriend and I were talking on the phone. We were discussing how we wanted our relationship to be committed to Christ and His purpose for our it. We decided that, although from the beginning we had done that in our hearts individually to God, we wanted to talk about it and verbally say it. So basically we talked about how our relationship is unto God, and how we want to glorify Him in every aspect of it. How when people look at us, we want them to see him. We discussed how we want everything we do individually and as a couple to praise God. We also said that the length of the relationship was committed to God as well. As long as the Lord kept blessing our relationship and we felt it was still in His will, we would continue our relationship without a second thought. :) But if God told us to end it, then we would pray about it and do what the Lord commanded. We also discussed faithfulness and other aspects of 1 Cor. 13 love, which are our goals in our relationship (since God set those standards for love, we try to meet them in our relationship).
Not 2 minutes after this conversation ended, I got a text message from a guy that I used to be friends, but hadn't seen or talked to in about 6 months (just because we ran in different circles, no "bad blood" or anything. haha). He asked how I was doing, and we went through those "beginning conversation topics" (how are you? good, you? good. whatcha doing? nothing much, you? etc.). Well during that, I found out that he was hanging out with his girlfriend. I was like "awe how sweet" :) and i really thought it was good. Well later in the conversation he asked me if i wanted to hang out. I said, where and who with? He told me just us and that day. UM NO! I told him that he was with his girlfriend and I wouldn't do that because we were both dating other people. He told me that he could get his girlfriend to leave, and that neither of them would have to know anything about it. REALLY? NO! I told him that I wouldn't ever do that, and I ended the conversation.
So let's look at this...not 2 minutes after my boyfriend and I committed our relationship to Christ and his will, purpose, and standards for us, this guy texts me and begins tempting me to more or less cheat on my boyfriend. Wow. Girls, when you committ something to the Lord, Satan is going to try his best to attack it and destroy it. I had always heard that, but I had never experienced it, and it didn't think that it would happen so quickly. But its so true! You have got to be firm in your committments to the Lord and be on your guard. You may not be attacked in the same way that I was, but when you commit something to God, you will be attacked by Satan in some way. Just keep watch, cover your relationship with prayer, and always seek to glorify God in all aspects of your life. Now, this story wasn't to say "oh look at me! i beat temptation! i'm God's perfect child! woohoo!" no way! haha. I am FAR from that. I have made more than my fair share of mistakes. But I am writing this to warn you, to help you be ready when temptation comes knocking at your door. You can beat it, but you need to be ready. Committ everything you have to God, especially your relationships, and He will bless you beyond your imagination. Trust me. But when you do that, Satan's gonna come knocking. Just be aware and prepared. I love you all and I hope that I have helped you, or can help you, in some way.
May our Lord and Savior bless you girls!
"The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you;
The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you;
The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually)."
Numbers 6:24-26 (Amplified Bible)
Okay, so...now that I've probably already bored you with that...here's my story.
Not too long ago, my boyfriend and I were talking on the phone. We were discussing how we wanted our relationship to be committed to Christ and His purpose for our it. We decided that, although from the beginning we had done that in our hearts individually to God, we wanted to talk about it and verbally say it. So basically we talked about how our relationship is unto God, and how we want to glorify Him in every aspect of it. How when people look at us, we want them to see him. We discussed how we want everything we do individually and as a couple to praise God. We also said that the length of the relationship was committed to God as well. As long as the Lord kept blessing our relationship and we felt it was still in His will, we would continue our relationship without a second thought. :) But if God told us to end it, then we would pray about it and do what the Lord commanded. We also discussed faithfulness and other aspects of 1 Cor. 13 love, which are our goals in our relationship (since God set those standards for love, we try to meet them in our relationship).
Not 2 minutes after this conversation ended, I got a text message from a guy that I used to be friends, but hadn't seen or talked to in about 6 months (just because we ran in different circles, no "bad blood" or anything. haha). He asked how I was doing, and we went through those "beginning conversation topics" (how are you? good, you? good. whatcha doing? nothing much, you? etc.). Well during that, I found out that he was hanging out with his girlfriend. I was like "awe how sweet" :) and i really thought it was good. Well later in the conversation he asked me if i wanted to hang out. I said, where and who with? He told me just us and that day. UM NO! I told him that he was with his girlfriend and I wouldn't do that because we were both dating other people. He told me that he could get his girlfriend to leave, and that neither of them would have to know anything about it. REALLY? NO! I told him that I wouldn't ever do that, and I ended the conversation.
So let's look at this...not 2 minutes after my boyfriend and I committed our relationship to Christ and his will, purpose, and standards for us, this guy texts me and begins tempting me to more or less cheat on my boyfriend. Wow. Girls, when you committ something to the Lord, Satan is going to try his best to attack it and destroy it. I had always heard that, but I had never experienced it, and it didn't think that it would happen so quickly. But its so true! You have got to be firm in your committments to the Lord and be on your guard. You may not be attacked in the same way that I was, but when you commit something to God, you will be attacked by Satan in some way. Just keep watch, cover your relationship with prayer, and always seek to glorify God in all aspects of your life. Now, this story wasn't to say "oh look at me! i beat temptation! i'm God's perfect child! woohoo!" no way! haha. I am FAR from that. I have made more than my fair share of mistakes. But I am writing this to warn you, to help you be ready when temptation comes knocking at your door. You can beat it, but you need to be ready. Committ everything you have to God, especially your relationships, and He will bless you beyond your imagination. Trust me. But when you do that, Satan's gonna come knocking. Just be aware and prepared. I love you all and I hope that I have helped you, or can help you, in some way.
May our Lord and Savior bless you girls!
"The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you;
The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you;
The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually)."
Numbers 6:24-26 (Amplified Bible)
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Your way or God's way?
This will be short today, but I just wanted to put this out there... When you face a tough decision or need some help with something what do you do? Whats your first response? Be honest! I often have girls come to me about guys and different things and the truth is I rarely if ever have a straight answer that i know will work... Although, God always does! My dad use to have a saying when something went wrong with one of our computers. He would automatically say, "REBOOT" I didn't like it because I wanted HIM to solve my problems! It's the same thing with God... there is nothing wrong with asking a friend for help, but have you "rebooted" with God first? That would include praying and seeking His word! Now (After many times of asking dad to fix my computer problems!) I automatically reboot with out even being told. It should be the same way with God! So, next time you face something difficult remember to reboot with God!
With Care,
JEN
P.S. Im sorry it took so long to post! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! :)
With Care,
JEN
P.S. Im sorry it took so long to post! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! :)
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Word filled Wednesday!
So, this is not the normal verse that you would expect on Christmas Eve's eve, but it has really been on my heart today and I would like to share it with you girls! It's Nehemiah 8:10b Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength! There are alot of people hurting this Christmas season... but the joy of the Lord is my strength!!! Is it yours?? MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Where's Your Focus? Part 2
Hey girls! Last week we started talking about not getting caught up in our lists and letting God orchestrate our romance and fill in the gaps. This week I'm gonna talk a little about the Proverbs 31 woman, and becoming a woman of God who is worthy of the man God has for us. To start with I'm gonna do my interpretation of Proverbs 31:10-31. If you aren't familiar with this passage, you may want to read it for yourself. Okay so here goes, Proverbs 31 Woman as told by me.
Who can find a respectful, classy wife?
She is worth a lot more than precious jewels.
Her husband is confident in her abilities and value.
She brings him good, not harm, throughout their life together.
She selects the best tools and is eager to work.
She is like an 18 wheeler, bringing the best food from various places.
She gets up early and prepares food for her household.
She considers property, and buys it to plant a vineyard.
She works hard and her arms are strong enough to do her tasks.
Her trading brings in a profit, and her light stays on all night.
She is handy with a sewing machine.
She welcomes in the poor, and works to help the needy.
She doesn't fear snow, she keeps her family well-dressed.
She makes blankets for her bed, and she wears fine linen and purple.
Her husband is respected, and takes his seat among the leaders of the land.
She makes and sells linen garments, and provides sashes for the merchants.
She is strong and dignified, she can laugh at the future.
She is wise, and prepared to faithfully instruct.
She watches over her family, and she is not lazy.
Her children love and respect her, and her husband praises her good works.
Many woman do great things, but she surpasses them all.
Charm is deceptive and beauty won't last, but a woman who fears God is praiseworthy.
She will be rewarded and her works will be praised.
I don't know about you, but I feel challenged after reading that. You'd have to be superwoman to accomplish this. But let's take a different approach. What are the biggest messages we can take from this passage? I read this and I take about four things, 1) I must faithfully pursue God. 2) I must be ready to work hard at all times. 3) Laziness is not acceptable. 4) Respect, along with everything else in life, must be earned. Okay, so maybe I'm not good with a sewing machine, or I don't want to plant a vineyard, but the ultimate message from that is to work hard and be use your time wisely. Yeah, you probably won't be exactly like the Proverbs 31 Woman, but if you take those four messages and put them into practice, you will be rewarded.
My main point here is that we know we want a good guy. We have our lists, we're trusting God to fill in the details, but what about right now? What do we do with our time now. We pray, and work hard, and ask God to mold us into Proverbs 31 Women. I mean look at our other option, not pursuing God, not working, being lazy, and not being respected. Yeah, you might enjoy being lazy for a while, but it will hurt you in the long run. I mean, would you want to marry a man like that? Didn't think so. So why would we think it's okay for us to be that way? I'm preaching to myself here. If I expect God to bring such a good guy into my life, I need to be worthy of that guy. Being a Proverbs 31 Woman means not taking the easy way out, and I'm talking about purity here too. Being a Proverbs 31 Woman means doing what's right, even when you don't feel like it. But remember, God WILL reward your hard work! So while you're waiting on God to orchestrate your romance, I encourage you to strive towards being a Proverbs 31 Woman. :D Merry Christmas girls!
love, Kat
Who can find a respectful, classy wife?
She is worth a lot more than precious jewels.
Her husband is confident in her abilities and value.
She brings him good, not harm, throughout their life together.
She selects the best tools and is eager to work.
She is like an 18 wheeler, bringing the best food from various places.
She gets up early and prepares food for her household.
She considers property, and buys it to plant a vineyard.
She works hard and her arms are strong enough to do her tasks.
Her trading brings in a profit, and her light stays on all night.
She is handy with a sewing machine.
She welcomes in the poor, and works to help the needy.
She doesn't fear snow, she keeps her family well-dressed.
She makes blankets for her bed, and she wears fine linen and purple.
Her husband is respected, and takes his seat among the leaders of the land.
She makes and sells linen garments, and provides sashes for the merchants.
She is strong and dignified, she can laugh at the future.
She is wise, and prepared to faithfully instruct.
She watches over her family, and she is not lazy.
Her children love and respect her, and her husband praises her good works.
Many woman do great things, but she surpasses them all.
Charm is deceptive and beauty won't last, but a woman who fears God is praiseworthy.
She will be rewarded and her works will be praised.
I don't know about you, but I feel challenged after reading that. You'd have to be superwoman to accomplish this. But let's take a different approach. What are the biggest messages we can take from this passage? I read this and I take about four things, 1) I must faithfully pursue God. 2) I must be ready to work hard at all times. 3) Laziness is not acceptable. 4) Respect, along with everything else in life, must be earned. Okay, so maybe I'm not good with a sewing machine, or I don't want to plant a vineyard, but the ultimate message from that is to work hard and be use your time wisely. Yeah, you probably won't be exactly like the Proverbs 31 Woman, but if you take those four messages and put them into practice, you will be rewarded.
My main point here is that we know we want a good guy. We have our lists, we're trusting God to fill in the details, but what about right now? What do we do with our time now. We pray, and work hard, and ask God to mold us into Proverbs 31 Women. I mean look at our other option, not pursuing God, not working, being lazy, and not being respected. Yeah, you might enjoy being lazy for a while, but it will hurt you in the long run. I mean, would you want to marry a man like that? Didn't think so. So why would we think it's okay for us to be that way? I'm preaching to myself here. If I expect God to bring such a good guy into my life, I need to be worthy of that guy. Being a Proverbs 31 Woman means not taking the easy way out, and I'm talking about purity here too. Being a Proverbs 31 Woman means doing what's right, even when you don't feel like it. But remember, God WILL reward your hard work! So while you're waiting on God to orchestrate your romance, I encourage you to strive towards being a Proverbs 31 Woman. :D Merry Christmas girls!
love, Kat
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