Keep This In Mind!

Hey girls! (and Ms. Jeanne of course) This morning I was walking my dogs and I thought "Ah! Abi is leaving for France today!" So just remember to keep her in y'all's prayers! :)

Sanctus Real bus fire...

Hi girls,
I just wanted to ask you to send up a quick prayer for the band Sanctus Real. On Saturday night their bus caught on fire and burned to the ground. Thankfully everyone is alright, but they lost phones, laptops, clothes, personal items, etc. Thanks for much for praying-I know the guys appreciate it!
Love,
      Bethany

Here's a link if you'd like to see pictures.

http://www.jesusfreakhideout.com/news/2012/06/03.SANCTUS%20REALS%20TOUR%20BUS%20BURNS%20TO%20THE%20GROUND%20EVERYONE%20IS%20OK.asp

Chapter 11--Find Your Purpose for my Life

Chapter 11 Lord, Help me Find Your Purpose for my Life

This chapter was about how the Lord has a purpose for each of our lives. I believe that once we embrace that, it will transform how we see and do life. It is the people who have no reason to live for anything that get lost in doing life and just plain give up. The Christian life is hard but the Lord is calling us to Him. Knowing that He is sovereign and that we do have free will and we do have choices to make every day  gives our life meaning. What we do with that freedom is another story. If we keep our eyes on Him and base our actions on His plan, He will carry us.

I love this chapter and this message b/c I like to think of how God designed each of us to be different, unique and made for His glory. It is in finding out what he has created us to be, to love, to pursue that gives us joy.

Pg. 117- “I want you to be certain that God has a plan and a high purpose for your life so that you can move into it right away.”

At your age, you may be thinking….I have no idea what that looks like. Well, now is a good time to evaluate what you are good at and maybe passionate about. That may come in time. Knowing that helps us to use that passion for Him. How cool is that? And for each of us, it is different. I love that. It is easy to compare ourselves to others but God does not want us to do that. We are set apart and fearfully and wonderfully made to be “me” not “them.

Everyone has a purpose:

Pg. 118- “When we don’t become who we think we’re supposed to be, it makes us critical of ourselves and our lives. It causes us to be insecure, oversensitive, judgmental, frustrated, and unfulfilled.”

We don’t need to be like everyone else. I look at people who are made for evangelism, those who take numerous mission trips, those who rally around a cause and bring others to that cause, those who are popular, those who have bigger houses and make more money, those who can preach and teach, those who like to care for little kids or old people, those who can make a joyful noise, etc and realize I am not one of those people. As much as I might want to be Katie Davis or a Chris Tuttle or someone who has a high paying job or someone who could even be in a choir (haha-that would NOT be me) I know that God’s purpose for my life is NOT in the things I think I should be or do, it is in exactly what He has purposed for me. I loved homeschooling, I love being a mom and wife, I love using my photography and giving it away, I love being a champion for marriage, I love mentoring you girls. God has given me the gifts that He sees for me, not what I think I should be.

Ask God to Bless the Work you do:

Pg. 119- “Whatever work you are doing, even if it is only a temporary job, you want to do it well, and you want it to be successful. If you are a student, studying is your job. …… When the work you do is good, it makes you feel good about yourself and your life. “

I say do it all with excellence, not perfection. Do your best at all you do. Setting yourself up for depression and stress when you are disappointed that you did not do it perfectly is unhealthy. Do your work as unto the Lord.

Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men

Security is knowing who you are and where you are going:

Pg. 120 “Sometimes the reward is in the result”

Pg. 121 “When you know you are the Lord’s, and you trust where He is taking you, you feel very secure.”

I want all of you girls to feel secure in yourselves. It is critical, esp in the teen years when it is so easy to compare yourselves to others. Don’t give in to Satan’s lies!!

We are all called to help others:

Pg. 121 “Prayer is the greatest gift” (you can give to others and to God)

I have just now gotten into a season of really reaching out to others. I have really focused a lot on my kids with most of my energy for the past 20 years. I made sure that community service was always a part of their value system and put that into our homeschooling life. But now with all this extra time on my hands I am seeing that giving of myself to others is becoming a bigger part of my life. That is not b/c I did not want to, it is b/c I did not have the time I do now. I tell people that are down or depressed to do some volunteer work and get out of themselves. Giving to others gives us a real sense of satisfaction and purpose. I am excited that I shared that with my kids and that now I can give it more effort. There is a season and time for everything. I want my life to count. Raising my kids has been a wonderful season. I am in a new season and I want it to count!

Surrendering your dreams:

Pg. 122 “If  you have a dream that is not of God, when you surrender it to Him, He will take away your desire for it and give you what He desires for you. “

I like this b/c God keeps us straight. He knows what is best for us. We can go our own way and suffer the consequences or we can follow him right from the start by seeking Him thru prayer, counsel, circumstances and scripture and He will make our paths straight. Doesn’t that seem to be a less  painful way in the long run?

Finding your purpose:

Pg. 123: “1 Cor 7:7 for each on has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that. “

This is one reason we did the personality profiles. To see that we are all unique. We generally fit into one of four categories but we each have our own uniqueness about us. We are like snowflakes. None are alike. That is why we are each so special in our own way. Embrace that!!! If we all had the same body and clothing and money, would not life and people be boring?

To conclude, the questions on page 125 make us ponder. What would you like to do in your life? Maybe you have no idea (that would be my guess b/c of your age) but know that is a good question to be thinking about as you enter sophomore year and start to think about what is next after high school. Living in your strengths and passions is the best scenario. We cannot all do that for one reason or another but see if you can find what gives you joy. That will help with career/school decision or just as a hobby to help reduce stress or bring you joy or bring glory to God. My photography is not my job but I can use it for Him. I was able to shoot a wedding for free when it would have cost them over $1500.00.  That brings me joy.

Let me know what you got out of the chapter even if it is only one sentence. That works for me!!! It is not about doing your homework, it is about how you are growing in the Lord and hopefully reading each chapter in this book will give you stuff to think on, in the midst of these lazy days of summer. Keep pressing on. My encouragement is to Shine your Light and to be Set Apart!!

Tomorrow is the First Day of our Chapter Discussion!

Cannot wait to hear from everyone!

Just A Thought...

While we were sorting through all those books, Rae Rae and I had an idea. We were coming across several devotionals among those bookshelves.

So we got to thinking, "Hey, we talk so much at small group, we could all do these devotionals during the week and write down stuff that happens when we do them, then share it all at small group!"

Just a thought. It would probably be something we try senior year if we try it at all.

That's my thought. What're yours?

Best Two Hours Ever Spent In a Bookstore

Two girls. Too many books. And one corner in a bookstore. I'd say we were pretty productive. :)

So Rae Rae and I met at Lifeway to choose a book or two for next year. We wanted to make a video (like a reality TV show or something) of the whole process, but you can't film without a camera, so this'll have to do.

We started out just pulling books off of shelves. This turned a tiny pile into a tower (which explains why we didn't move our stuff from that corner) and we thought maybe we couldn't read every single one, so we started narrowing it down. Just a little bit. Maybe a lot. :)

In the end, we divided the remaining books into three categories: Books for next year, books for later, and books that would be good to read on your own.

Books for later: These were the books that looked really good and insightful, but might be a little more helpful in future years.
Clear: 8 Lessons on the Theological Foundations of Faith by Chris Folmsbee
Pure Love, Pure Life by Elsa Kok Colopy
Discerning the Voice of God by Priscilla Shirer

Books for Summer (Recommended Books): These were possibilities for this year, but since we had to narrow it down, these books were the ones that could also be read by yourself, like a summer study.
The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
Email From God by Claire and Curt Cloninger
Green's Not Your Best Color by Mieka Phillips
The Divine Dance by Shannon Kubiak Primicerio
Redefining Beautiful by Jenna Lucado

And finally, the possible book for next year!
These, we divided into two OTHER categories- the general category and not-so-general category.

The general category were the books that guys could read too. They didn't focus so much on just girl issues. (There weren't many of these) Because there weren't many (only three) we actually narrowed it down to one book: Make Every Day Count by Max Lucado. It focuses on making your life purposeful and it gives suggestion on things you can do. We really liked it because it inspires you to do hard things, but it doesn't leave you hanging, like "Go save the world!" and then leave you saying "YES! I WILL save the world! Wait... how does that happen? What can I do?" It's short enough to read in about one semester, so it would have to be paired with another semester long book.

So that's why it won of the three books in the 'General' category. (Which wasn't totally fair, because Max Lucado wrote two of the three books we chose from. Oh well.)

Sorry, this is REALLY long!

At long last, the 'Not-So-General' Category! These are the books that boys would probably not carry around with them on a daily basis... or ever. They deal with issues in life with a girl's perspective, so we can probably relate more to them.

Semester-Long Books
True Princess by Erin Davis~
The topic of this book was changing our focus of daily life from being self-absorbed to being God-absorbed. It only has like, maybe ten or six chapters that talk about how we are God's princesses and other royal matters. :) It included space to write in and a TON of Bible passages to look up, copy down, and mark in the margins. So it's kind of like a Bible study with advice and lots (we do mean LOTS) of Biblical backup.

Totally God's by Megan Clinton~
Again, really short book that could be covered in one semester. It's focus was pretty general for girls- family, friends, guys, peer pressure, self esteem, etc. Just by scanning through it, we found the funniest things she pointed out (it almost sounded like she was a part of our group...).
 She shares parts of her journal too. The thing that made this book stand out in particular was that she included insights from her dad on some things we girls deal with on a day to day basis. So that's how it made it to the 'Top 5'. :)

Year-Long Books
One Girl Can Change The World by Claudia Mitchell and Kim Goad~
Number one, it looks really really cute and feels amazing. That automatically earns it some points. :) It's similar to Make Every Day Count except that it focuses on girl stuff. The first chapter sort of introduces everything, and then from there on out, it helps you find your passion, formulate a plan, then act on it. So it doesn't leave you hanging either. There's places to write stuff in the book itself, AND there's a separate journal you can write in too.

Made To Crave For Young Women by Lysa Terkeurst and Shaunti Feldhahn~
The book itself is pretty general, but it all has a theme. Each chapter talks about something else, but it all links together. It exposes things that Satan uses to distract us from walking with Christ by promising happiness. We're meant to crave Him, but Satan provides so many other things that we can't focus and chase after other things instead. And this exposes them all.

Alright, we've had our say. We didn't want this to be a dictatorship, so we'd like your input. This is about as much as we could narrow it down, so you don't have to choose from twenty books. If you have any other ideas, just comment below with the title, author, and general topic. And please please please comment with what you think would be the best option for next year!
Thank you for reading all of this, and have a lovely rest of the day! :)
~Katie

Um.

Hey, so not sure exactly what this is, but Coplea asked me to postmark something 1:35. FYI. :)