Linkiness!

I follow a blog called A Wise Woman Build Her Home, and I thought I would let you take a lookat it for yourself! Please excuse me, because I know nothing about all this linking business ;)

                                                         
                                                        A Wise Woman Builds Her Home

Sheltered!

As young Christian women and men, the question you often receive is 'You are so sheltered and know nothing of the world so how can you live in it?' I think the best answer as a young Christian woman I can give is 'Yes I am sheltered. I am sheltered by God's grace, and underneath His wings I can find refuge from the evil of this world. This is not to say that evil won't come, because we live in a broken world sin will constantly try to penetrate into your life. But, God will give you the strength to abstain from what He abhors, stay true to your convictions, and to say no to evil. I am honoured to be protected by the Master and Creator of the universe, and gladly accept the shelter of His wings from evil. We must live in the world but not be of the world.' As a Christian you have a choice, will you accept His offer of shelter and protection, or will you conform to the world's image of 'living life to the fullest in the world around you'? Just remember, following Christ may not be easy, but in the long run it will be more fulfilling than living for the world!

"The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower."

Psalm 18:2

"He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt though trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler."

Psalm 91:4

"The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runners into it, and is safe."

Proverbs 18:10

"But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil."

2 Thessalonians 3:3 

"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

Romans 12:2

"For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings."

Psalm 61:3-4

Why I don't wear makeup

I want to start off by saying that I don't think wearing makeup is a sin, or that people who wear it are doing wrong, this is just a personal conviction! Also no-one is perfect, and we all have sin natures, but we are cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ who paid the debt for our sins. If we repent and turn from our sins to Jesus, we shall spend eternity with The Lord in heaven. It is by Christ's blood alone that we find passage to heaven and there is not one 'good work' that will earn us that privilege!

I don't like wearing makeup for three reasons. I never have liked it, but I decided to let you all know why I don't! I have only worn makeup once that I remember...and it wasn't that long ago. I was a bridesmaid at my friend Hannah's wedding, and rather than being silly and add to the stress by saying I won't wear makeup, I said that I would wear it just for that one day. Turns out it was a good thing as it made me really think of the reasons why I don't wear it.....and here they are:

1. I hate the way it feels. Even with the 'natural' stuff I felt like my face was smothered and couldn't breath!

2. It is not healthy. My face was made to breath and relieve itself naturally...without the help of makeup.

3. God made me the way I am, without makeup. I feel that putting makeup on myself is a way of saying to God 'You didn't make me pretty enough.' I, just like any other girl, have thought this. But I know that everything God made was good, therefore, even what I may think, I am good in His eyes. 

Sometimes I think makeup is like a mask. It's a way to cover up your realness and make yourself someone else....someone who is 'without blemish'. It's not the real you.  God made you perfect in every way, so don't feel you need to cover your face up.....no matter what the world may think you are gorgeous in God's sight. 

All of my friends have no problem with wearing makeup, and I certainly don't condemn anyone who does, this is just my personal conviction! 

Stay rooted in Christ,                                     

Redwoods!

My mother, Felix, and I took a trip to a Redwood forest today! It may be an American tree, but they planted a whole forest of them in NZ. We had so much fun as Felix could run around, get out some of his boyish energy, and mother and I had a great talk. I thank God every day for giving me two such Godly parents, and also for allowing me to have such a special bond with my mother....it is such a precious blessing. I can talk to my mother about anything, and we share so much of ourselves with each other. I find a lot of kids my age feel that they have to ignore and disrespect their parents as that is what society has taught them, but that is the opposite of what God wants for younger people! We are called to respect, obey, and honour our parents.......which is not always easy but is always necessary. I am definitely more fortunate than most teenagers as I have developed such a strong bond with my parents! The more I think about my position and situation in my life at the moment, I am realising that my mother has become my best friend and confidante. And as with all relationships I make mistakes, but my mother is very patient, loving, caring, and just all round awesome with me. As I am homeschooled that also helps as I am around her all the time and we get to do everything together. I am talking about this to encourage other young women to cultivate their relationships with their mothers, as it truly is a rewarding and worthwhile endeavour.......although everyone's situation is different, it is worth the time and effort! I also have a wonderful father whom I also have a great relationship with! The trip to the Redwoods definitely opened my eyes to how blessed I am by my parents....The Lord moves in mysterious ways.

Here are some pictures of our trip non-edited so not brilliant ;) :

I got so much out of this outing today! Stay strong in the faith.

     

16th Birthday!

Yesterday was my birthday :) 16 already! And God decided to make the weather really warm and sunny for me. I had my best friend Amy stay over for the weekend, and we had some family friends over for a few hours in the late afternoon........I was so blessed by everyone. Amy's mother makes fabulous cakes and she made me a special one covered with the most amazing icing roses, I am sorry I didn't manage to get a picture but I can promise you it was absolutely stunning. And everyone gave me the most amazing and thoughtful gifts! It is nice that they all put so much thought and effort into them. I am usually used to spending my birthday with only my parents, so this was a new thing for me :)

 Life seems to go by so fast, and that has got me thinking. When you look at your life are you pleased? No life can be perfect, but our goal in life should be to praise and glorify God and to put him first in all things. I look at my life, and even though I frequently stumble and fall, I know that my intentions are to follow the Lord and try to live a Godly life that's pleasing to Him. I know I am constantly falling short of God's standards but Jesus steps in for me and you. Jesus is the center of my life and is always there to pick me up, dust me off, and point me in the right direction. When someone asks me 'What are you going to do when you're older?' I generally pause, that question rolls around in my mind and I can never think of a straight and easy way to answer. But now I know the best answer I could give: to live for the Lord, to glorify Him, and follow Him wherever He leads me. I don't need to know what will happen in the future because I trust that God will work all things together for my good...even if it isn't quite what I expected. For now I am content to wait. My hopes for the future are to become a wife, homemaker, and mother, but I know that God might have something different in store for me and so I have to be patient. Not that it will be easy ;) As long as I keep my focus on Jesus and what He has done for me I am content to wait! I hope that I have encouraged you in some way and I will hopefully see you again soon!

Bible Marking and Photos!

When I read my Bible I always feel like I want to mark my favourite verses, or verses that have spoken to me, but I don't like it when a pen bleeds through the page as it looks very untidy indeed! So I ended up just not putting anything in which is a shame as I must have missed many opportunities. Over the past few months I was getting very frustrated about this, so I decided to look up different ways to mark your Bible on the internet. And much to my surprise loads of great ways came up...........I have been trying one which appealed to me and it is working really well. I don't know how I didn't think of it before, but the idea is to use colouring pencils instead of pens...............it works wonderfully! Using different colours, you can underline verses without any bleeding at all. It suits me really well and i have been doing it for about a month now and it has made me go alot deeper into God's Word. 

I know I have been awful at posting ;) but I am going to try harder. I thought I would share a few of my photos of our time in NZ so far.............I love taking pics. I don't really like to put effects on my photos, so all of these are raw.......it doesnt make for great photos but it sure is alot of fun ;)

This was a forest in the middle of nowhere.........my family, my best friend and I took a road trip and came across these!

The next 5 pictures were from my Dad and I's trip to Hobbiton :)

My wonderful father!

My adorable baby brother Felix :D

Felix decided he wanted to be Captain America!

My best friend's little sister............exhausting business biking!

                                              Lovely little Felix.........drool and all!

God's Creation surely is amazing!

Who couldn't love that cheeky face ;)

Another thing I have been searching for lately is how to spend my time on the internet wisely, and I thought that maybe I could give other young Christian women out there a few great sites to visit! Now I am big on modesty, so I have a few modesty blogs that I like....to name a few, Fresh Modesty http://freshmodesty.blogspot.co.nz/, and Cover Up For Christ http://coverupforchrist.blogspot.co.nz/. I also want to share this post that Fresh Modesty wrote which I found to be very encouraging which is about the use of your time on the internet http://freshmodesty.blogspot.co.nz/2014/08/lets-talk-inspiration-vs-imagination.html. Also here are some other blogs I enjoy reading: Doodlebug: http://joy-doodlebug.blogspot.co.nz/  Set Apart Girl:http://setapartgirl.com/leslie-ludy/blog Young Wife's Guide: http://youngwifesguide.com/blog/ Proverbs 14:1: http://proverbs14verse1.blogspot.co.nz/ and Michelle Duggar's Blog: http://www.duggarfamily.com/content/michelle_blog 

If you want to read a fun magazine for young Christian women I advise the Set Apart Girl magazine, which you can get for free! Here is the link: http://setapartgirl.com/

I hope this blesses you in some way! Stay strong in the faith,

Driving

I have been noticing lately that all of the Godly couples I know, when they go driving the man is always the one at the wheel. I got to thinking, that is just how it should be throughout the whole marriage! The husband must always take the wheel, be the leader, and point his family in the right direction. The wife sits next to him in the front seat before the children, she allows her husband to lead, sits at his side offering a little direction but never grabbing the wheel. This is how it should be in day to day life for couples, the woman lets her husband direct and lead the family, she helps but does not take over. They are equal to each other, but play different roles. Now wives need to remember that their husband is the Spiritual leader of their homes, but they must never forget who is the ultimate leader. I know of some women who push their husbands up on pedestals and forget who gave them everything in the first place! Before a husband and wife can become closer they have to be closer to God. God must be the first and foremost in your heart. I know some people may think that I don't know enough about it because I am not married so how can I possibly know, well I have watched many marriages, I have been shown by example how a Godly marriage should work by my parents, and I have had many conversations with my mother over it. I certainly don't know everything, far from it, and I know I certainly still have a lot to learn, but I want to prepare myself for marriage before it happens (which will probably be a long way off)! I think it is sad that so many parents don't talk to their sons and daughters to tell them how a Godly marriage works, because then when they do get married they have no clue what to do. If you don't have anyone to explain to you how it works, I suggest you read up on it, pray, and seek wisdom through God's Word, you might be surprised at what you find!
 

Leap of Faith!

I haven't been very consistent with my posts so far, but lately I have had a good reason! In 7 days my family and I are hopping on a plane to go to NZ, hopefully  for good! We have been praying about this possibility for over two years, and were ready to give up when The Lord surprised us. He gave us the signal and we have had so many conformations. My dad does have a job waiting for him, and we can stay with friends until we find a place to rent. This really is a big leap of faith for us as we don't have visa's! It won't be easy and I can almost guarantee it will be stressful, but when we surrendered our lives to Jesus we promised that we would follow Him wherever he wanted us! And if that means the other side of the world, we will follow Him no matter what. "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5

Well what about THAT movie??

I look after my baby brother a lot, and something I like to do whilst I play with him is to stick a good movie on the television. Occasionally he will sit on my lap (hardly ever!) and watch with me. This has made me become more aware of the type of content I watch for 'entertainment'. I love movies, and my parents and I generally sit down and watch a movie together after Felix has gone to bed, so in general we have to be careful what to watch. We do not have a TV license, and have not had one for a quite a long time, we just stick with DVDs. We got so sick of secular entertainment where every other word is a curse word and kissing and other inappropriate scenarios that make you cringe. "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Philippians 4:8. We must be very careful what we put in front of our eyes in the name of entertainment. We have plenty of movies that we all enjoy watching where we don't have to cringe or look away. I am not saying we have to watch christian movies all the time (although I love them!) but just make sure that the content wold be pleasing to The Lord, just remember He is with you all the time, he watches what you watch and sees what you see. God bless!

A Meek and Quiet Spirit

Have you ever wondered what personality you should strive to have? I certainly have! In my research from the Bible, I found that I should have a meek and quiet spirit.

But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible,even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. 1 Peter 3:4

I  find that at times this can be hard.......the moment your siblings rip a piece of schoolwork you spent hours on.....the time your parents told you to do your chores just when you were getting to the juicy part of a good book..........it makes you feel so annoyed and almost angry that you didn't get to do what you wanted. I know I am guilty of it, and I am pretty sure everyone has slipped into that hole at one time or another. So what does it mean to meek and quiet spirit? The first step I think is to listen to what Jesus said and then act it out.....“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”  Luke 10:12      So the first step is to love God with your whole being. And how do we do that exactly? Well, a must is spending time with Him daily....diving into His Word, praying, and just being with Him in general. The more you are with Him and understand His will for your life, the more you will grow to love Him. The second step to a meek and quiet spirit is to love your neighbour as yourself. Wow. That is one hard request to follow.......and how do we do it? First you must figure out, who is your neighbour? Your neighbour is not just the person who lives next door or down the street, your neighbour is E V E R Y O N E. Okay so now that we understand that, how on earth can we love everyone in the world as much as ourselves? That is a big question, but the good news there are loads of ways in which to do so! We have to be servants......no we do not have to go down to rags and scrub the floor with a toothbrush, but we have to practice humility. Letting your brother have a bigger chocolate, giving your boss a compliment, opening the door for someone behind you, giving someone a smile, helping your mum with the dishes, there are hundreds of little things you can do to brighten up someone else's day. It is as simple as putting someone else's thoughts, feelings, and needs before your own. When you read these Bible verses it seems kind of daunting, but when you get down to it it's not that daunting after all. Put your trust in God love other people, and let Him do the rest. God bless!