A Journey of Becoming a Young Woman of Faith #4 Woman of Faith

Matthew 6:25-34 Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

We ladies tend to worry about about EVERYTHING. We worry about our appearance, our place in society, our house, our family, our friends, and things that aren't even in our control! Worry and anxiety will can eat away at us and we can become worrisome. People who constantly worry loose faith, hope, joy, and love. We don't need to worry, God is in control! As it says in verse 26, the birds get the food they need because God provides. Have you trusted God to provide you with what you need? "And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?" Being anxious/worrying is pointless! It won't accomplish anything. Verse 28-30 talk about how God provides clothes for those who need them. Have you trusted him to provide you with the clothes you need? Are you tempted to worry? I must admit from time to time I am. God says he will provide for our needs, he will take care of us, and he will guide our futures. Several people have asked me what my plan for my life is when I graduate from high school in a couple years. To be honest with them I have no clue. Only God knows what I'll do, but I needn't worry about this because God will show me in his perfect time. Elijah the prophet didn't need to worry about his needs, God provided. When we trust in God and we don't worry our lives are much simpler. If we seek God, trust him, & follow him, the Bible says all our needs will be met. I love the last verse in this:
Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, 

for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. 

Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

My challenge for you is that you refrain from worrying about your life, your future and everything else. Just trust in God. 

Its Friday!!!!!!!!!

A Journey of Becoming a Young Woman of Faith - #3 Big Sister

Let all that you do be done in love. 1 Corinthians 16:14

You are a super hero, a role model, a leader. If you have any siblings, cousins, or kids in your life you are a super hero, a role model, a leader. Those kids are watching you as if their life depended on it. And in a way their lives depend on it because they look up to you. Let me tell you a little story: When I was about 6-7 I spent a bit of time with my best friend. She had an older brother & an older sister and I thought they were the best. Fast forward 8 years....in the past 4 years I got 4 sisters. For me the roles are reversed, now I'm the one who is being looked up to. 4 little eyes are watching me constantly. Letting all that I do be done in love feels nearly impossible some days. Sometimes, to be honest, I fall short. As we are all sinners, we all do this. Sometimes we don't feel like we have hope to keep trying to everything in love. You are wrong....God can help us! You are probably thinking you know that, and so do I, but we all need constant reminders. As I am writing this my favorite picture of my sisters in my room is sitting on a Bible commentary for the Corinthians. Did you know this verse is so simple, so clear cut, that they don't elaborate on it at all? How can a simple command be so difficult? To be honest, I have no clue.

So today I have a REALLY difficult challenge for you. Let all that you do be done in love. Go about your day with a smile on your face & let all that you do be done in love. Help your Mom & let all that you do be done in love. Play with the kids in your life & let all that you do be done in love. Try to refrain from snapping, getting angry, and ignoring the kids. Let all that you do today be done in love. You may think I'm a little "stern", but I'm doing the same. Set goals for yourself, and let ALL that you do be done in love. Ask God for help and let him guide to so you can do everything in love! 

Lunch!

Homemade sushi rolls and gunpowder green tea! 

My new dance shoes!!!!!!!!

These are my broken worn out ballet shoes. 

These are my new ones!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :~D I love them!!!!! :~D

For the past 5 years I've had to wait for my feet to stop growing and now I finally have my Irish Hard-shoes!!!!!!!! :~D Sooooooooooo excited about these!! :~D 

A Journey of Becoming a Young Woman of Faith - #2 Daughter of the King

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.

 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:13-16

Remember the song we used to sing when we were little? This Little Light of Mine? In the song talks about how we need to shine the light of God. Thats what the Bible tells us! Paraphrasing the verses it says to us young ladies: We are the light of the world/the school/the home. A young woman can not be in hiding when she is shining God's light." You can't hide! Our culture is focused on all the wrong things...we need to break that chain, focus on God, and by doing so shine God's love. If we focus on the negative we can't see the positive. There is over 7 billion people in this world, only 30% are Christians. And some of them may just be by name only. There is still over 70% of the world that doesn't know about God and his everlasting love. And a good number of these people are right outside your door! Now the verse also talks about salt. Our Pastor talked about this recently and it makes sense. Salt in this area was nearly worthless due to impurities. The salt would loose its saltiness due to exposure from the sun. This basically gave it one good use: road "gravel". Jesus is saying if we don't make others "thirsty" for God's love then we are just going to be trampled by the world and its distractions. Think of this person: Noah was salt & light. He was trusting in God, doing what God wanted him to do, & by doing this he was showing God's love. The people were so full of sin that they didn't pay attention. Noah still did what God wanted him to do & was blessed. Where does God want you to be salt and light in your life? For me I dance at nursing homes to cheer people up. When I use my talents to shine God's love & cheer up others, I feel blessed. 

I want to challenge you today to be salt & light. Whether it is singing praises or hymns, or just showing a quiet act of mercy with joy, be salt & light. To be salt, or to be light: that is the challenge. 

A Journey of Becoming a Young Woman of Faith - #1 Prayer Warrior

Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Many of the things we will be talking about will be different ways of showing God's love. I was led to go to the hardest love first. That is loving your enemies. Your enemy can be a foe, someone you detest, or someone you don't get along with. I personally don't have the traditional enemies. I don't agree with everyone but I don't have enemies. But there are some people I have a hard time of getting along with. Sometimes its tough, sometime you want to give up. Alas the Bible will always affect your heart. It will whisper the verses you have memorized and your heart may change. This has happened many times for all of us. Praying itself can be hard, but praying for enemies can be dreadfully difficult. Some of your enemies may have wounded you badly, others may aggravate you constantly. Despite all we must love them and pray for them. How is it possible to love some one you detest? Patience and prayer. I'm still working on this. Patience and prayer is a several centuries old formula that is tried and true. If you read through the Old and New Testament you'll find many examples of loving and praying your enemies. David for example loved Saul as he was his best friend's father. Even when Saul chased David & David had opportunities for getting rid of Saul he still showed love and kindness and prayed for them. Loving our enemies is tough. Praying is tough. Praying for our enemies is undoubtedly extremely tough. 

I'm challenging you to take some time today to do something nice to an enemy and show love. When you can, find a quiet spot and just sit without distractions. Take time and pray for them, as prayer works miracles. 

When I have nothing to say

Becoming

I posted a week ago about Love. I said:

In the next few weeks I'm going to be focusing on my family, prayer, and my relationship with God. I love my family, I love praying and learning more about God but I've been doing it wrong.
Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, acceptable and perfect.
I'm "breaking away" from the worlds ideas. I want to treat God, my family and friends as if they were Kings and Queens.
If God can show us everlasting love why can't I do the same?
It will be hard. It will be tough. I will want to give up, but the world needs to see God's love overflow in our lives as Christians.


Well I've been studying this past week. I've used Bible verses, thoughts and prayer.


I want to invite you to join me on a journey.


A journey of BECOMING a young woman of Faith.


When people think of the word becoming they think of something flattering and something that is changing to become something else. The definition of becoming according to the New Webster's Dictionary is: attractive, appropriate. If you take away ING you get the word become. Become has the definition of:  come, grow to be, suitable for. I'm going to be writing a devotional series for you, and me. I'm a girl just like you. This will help us all "grow to be" a Prayer Warrior, a daughter of the King, a  Big sister, a Woman of Faith, & a Homemaker. You can NOT rely on my words. You need to think, pray and read your Bible. I'm human, I'm in perfect.I am writing this because I need these reminders and verses just as much as you.

Please join me on this Journey of Becoming a Young Woman of Faith.

5000 views!!!!!!!!!

5,000 views!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :~D

Thank you for reading, supporting, and enjoying my blog!

We've had a lot of fun, and we will continue to have a lot of fun!!!!! :) Here's to another 5000!

Apples!

My beautiful Cortland apples are ripe!

Its hard to believe they used to be flowers!

With my lovely abundance of apples, the first good crop in the past 8 years since getting it I made homemade applesauce!

Some apples!

Cutting them up!

How our old fashioned coring and peeling device works. (email readers may need to click to the blog to see the video)

The peels.

Delicious apples.

Boiling them.

Final product, applesauce, and 2 cups of apple juice. :~)

Love

We are messy. Our hearts are messy, our lives are messy, our possessions can be, too.

But none of that matters. We have God.

He's too mighty, too powerful, too marvelous, too perfect, to understand or comprehend.

We are all messy. We all have messed up hearts, messed up lives, messed up motives, messed up love.

Our love is miniscule compared to God's. His is everlasting, ours is transient.

Jeremiah 31:3
"I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you."

The Lord who made the Heavens and the earth loves us??

And he continues his faithfulness to us??

We are nothing. He is everything. And we treat him as if it was the other way around. We treat others as if it was the other way around.

Our lives are fleeting on this earth. We are born, we live, we die. All within about a century.

In Sunday school we are going on a trip through the Bible to refresh our memories of what the Bible is all about.

My teacher was pointing out that in the beginning of Genesis in chapter 5 it talks about how long the person lived and then he died. Our lives are short.

So I want to challenge all of you.

1st Corinthians 13:4-8
 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it dies not rejoice at wrong doing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

In the next few weeks I'm going to be focusing on my family, prayer, and my relationship with God. I love my family, I love praying and learning more about God but I've been doing it wrong.

Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, acceptable and perfect.

I'm "breaking away" from the worlds ideas. I want to treat God, my family and friends as if they were Kings and Queens.

If God can show us everlasting love why can't I do the same?

It will be hard. It will be tough. I will want to give up, but the world needs to see God's love overflow in our lives as Christians.

So I challenge you: what ever you need to do to accomplish this, do it! If you need to limit computer, limit movies, limit alone time, what ever you need, do it!

Philippians 2:4
Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also the interests of others.

For me, I'm going to limit my online time to 2 hours a day for the next week. Unless I'm using it for school work or research, my time limit is going to be 2 hours. I'm going to take the extra time and start being there for my sisters, becoming a young woman that God desires me to be, spreading God's love, and being a servant to my friends and family. I'm also going to spend that time delving into God's word and praying.

Matthew 5:14
In the same way let your light shine before others so that the may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in Heaven.


Join me! :~)

Garden Delights!

Our tomatoes are ripening faster than we use them! So we have been making homemade sauce! :~D

We made smooth sauce the other day; today we made chunky!

 Here is the recipe! :) We made it in a stock pot this time instead of a frying pan. :)

We've also had an overabundance of zucchini! So we made pickled zucchini!! My Mom can't eat cucumbers because she is allergic to them, but she likes these because they taste just like pickles! I think she said they taste like Claussen. :~)

Breakfast Cookies!

My Mom LOVED the Quaker Oats Breakfast Cookies. And then they disappeared. And then they were changed. So I love trying new breakfast cookie recipes. :)

Today I tried this simple recipe and they are good!

2 1/4 cups of instant oats or ground whole oats
2 mashed or chopped bananas
1 cup of peanut butter
1/4 cup of honey
1 tsp of cinnamon
pinch of salt

And chocolate chips, shredded coconuts, nuts, dried fruit, anything that would be yummy! :) We added chocolate chips! :)

Bake at 325 *F for 15 minutes. :) Makes about 9-18 depending on the size you want :)

 Let them cool and enjoy!!!!!!!

The NYS Fair!

We've had a lot of fun going to the Annual New York State Fair!

On the 24th I got to perform at the fair with my Irish Step group! It was a lot of fun!!! :~D

This past Saturday (the 31st) we went to the fair as a family as it was only Mom and I before. :~)

The Sand Sculpture

The Petting Zoo

The CIRCUS!!!!!!!

Trying on a wooden hat! :)

Holding a baby chick

Playing with toes at the end of the day :)

It was a wonderful day and we had a lot of fun!