Business

It's been a while, hasn't it?  It seems like every time I tried to sit down and write something, whether for this blog or my other stories, something comes up.  Homework, sports, friends....brothers, there are a million things that drag us away from things that we want to do.  Even now, I'm trying to study for a Physics test (seriously?! I'm in 8th grade!) while writing this and listening to music.  Both of my brothers won't get home until around seven, and they have to go to bed at like 8:30--now where do we fit God in on all of this?

God says there isn't anything wrong with being busy, since he says in Titus 2:5, "to be self controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God."  In fact, he encourages us to spend our time wisely.  The key word there, however, is wisely.  It gets really easy for us to spend a lot of our time just laying around when we should be doing homework or reading the Bible--something that will help us in our lives.

Try to set aside a time, no matter how short or long, to be with God.  Whether you're currently working through a devotional book, reading the Bible a chapter or two at a time, or just praying, anything works.  God isn't picky!  It's still time that you're choosing to spend with God, and it's bound to help your relationship with him immensely.

One of the hardest things, though, is to FOCUS!  Right when I was about to fall asleep, my dad loved to come into my room and scream "SLEEP!" Basically, all it did was make me jump out of bed and run after him, completely defeating the purpose of his words.  Just like that, my telling you to focus isn't going to help you any if you don't choose to listen.  Maybe this is the time when you are trying to do your Devo time.  If so, please return!

Every night, I set my timer for fifteen or thirty minutes (because my mom yells at me if I spend too long before I go to bed) and I read my Bible and then write in my Prayer Journal.  It's kind of replaced my diary, and I've really loved keeping it.  I still write it kind of like a diary, but I add in the whole ACTS shebang: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication.  It's really helped my relationship with God, because I've learned to talk to him as a friend and a God, rather than just the latter.  Before, I'd always thought of God as the one to be feared and very formal with, and even though God is like that, he's also supposed to be a friend to us.  If you don't have a prayer journal, I highly recommend it.

So as long as you don't squeeze God out of your life, being busy is a good thing!  If David had been busy and had gone off to war like most of the rest of the Israelite men, he never would have had an affair with Bathsheba.  When we have too much spare time, our sinful minds will tend to wander places where they shouldn't, thinking about people in bad ways or other mean and terrible things.

Distractions

      Living in today's media, it's hard not to get distracted.  When I get home, I instantly turn on music before I do my homework.  This simple action can turn five-minute homework into five-hour homework.  Music is also what seems to wake me up in the morning when I have to go to school.  Now that I'm on Spring Break, I can finally write again, so here I am.  Even while I write this I am listening to music!

     As an obsessed *dedicated* fan of One Direction, it seems that it can almost take over your life.  Even when I know that I should be doing one thing, I find it hard to turn off the beautiful voices of perfection and concentrate on praying or doing my homework.  The same with magazines, movies, TV shows: sometimes they just seem so incredibly impossible to put down once you pick it up.  After I've scoured through the same magazine twenty times, I'll finally get sick of it.  

      However, when it comes to reading the Bible, there's quite a different reaction.  Sometimes I find it hard to pick up the Bible!  I have my Bible time every night, but it's difficult to enjoy it when I'm really tired.  I'm getting better, but it can still be a struggle.  If school is stressful, it's hard not to just fall into bed and doze off into dream land.  

     Almost all of the movies for teenagers (besides Disney movies.. I love those!) have some kind of sexual content, whether it's making out, implying something more, or even showing something more.  It's hard not to get a warped worldview after watching all of these things!  And trust me, I took a quarter-long class about world views, so I know how easily they can be impacted by what we do.  

     There's a line between loving something and having it become your idol.  Sometimes, though, that line can get a little blurred.  We don't think that there's anything wrong with loving the people that sing our favorite songs or write our favorite books, but when we start getting impacted for the worse by whatever it is that we love so much we can tell that something's up.  Most of the time, though, it's not even that obvious.  We don't really think much of the fact that something is practically controlling our lives, because we don't even care.  I actually like when I have something to constantly do when I'm at home and bored.  While I'm writing this I'm even listening to music!  Even though I haven't let it fully take over my life and start making it make my decisions or something, my idol's still there.

     Another way to fend off bad idols is to censor what you listen to.  Before I buy a song, I have to make sure that there isn't anything bad in it that would affect me in a negative way.  Even though I really like a song, sometimes I have to choose not to buy it because of even just one word.  Now granted, I'm not exactly listening to music that has cursing in it, but sometimes even the cleanest group has a song with a hidden meaning or two slipped in.  So really just think about what you're putting into your head.  Earlier this week, I heard that song "Locked out of Heaven" on the radio, and even though it's a terrible song, I had it stuck in my mind for two or three days.  I tried to get it out, but it kept coming back.  We need to guard our hearts and protect our minds, because the devil will do everything he can to corrupt them.  

More than 'Hot'

     Okay, now just as a pre-warning for you boys, this may not apply to you very much.  You're still welcome to read, and maybe this is what you need to hear right now.  I just know that if I told all of this to my brothers, they would probably laugh in my face.  

     To begin with, a great Bible verse: "³ Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. ⁴ Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. ⁵ For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves."  That was 1 Peter 3:3-5a.  This verse is great when you realize that you don't have the latest brand names or don't have prettily braided or fashioned hair.  For me, at least, my form of 'pretty hair' is a ponytail and, if the day is good, a bow.  I chopped all of my hair off this summer, so it's too short to do anything else.  

     After I decided that I wanted to talk about beauty, I googled it.  Isn't that the reasonable thing to do in every situation?  But anyway, guess what the first result is!  The very first thing I see when I ask about beauty is "beauty.com-BareMinerals, Origins, Urban Decay, NARS, and more..."  Am I the only one that sees that as very warped?  Scroll down a bit, and you'll see more and more and more advertisements, cosmetic and hair tips, and other 'beautifying' helpers.  

     That is the first picture that I found on Google describing 'beauty.'  She's being attacked by five makeup brushes, and wearing a dress that looks like it was made out of saran wrap!  That image is what our culture considers 'beautiful!'  The saddest thing: I went to link of the picture, and it was a 'natural beauty' website.  

     If you go to dictionary.com (another useful tool in homework/writing), beauty is defined as "the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind,whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest)."  Just let that sink in, and actually think about it.  Intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind?  Beauty is used to describe someone truly gorgeous, or a car that some teenage boy is obsessed with, or even a view.  The word beauty is so overused.  Now does it strike anyone as odd that it is so rare that people themselves are called it?  
     Finally, Romans 12:2.  "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."  We shouldn't be obsessed with buying the newest jeans or losing weight... even though there's nothing wrong with them in and of themselves.  Being healthy and looking our best should be important to us, just not too important.  I know that I can get caught up with trying to look 'cool,' and I know that it's all too easy for each one of us.  So, we shouldn't worry about our nation or culture's definition of beauty, but God's: to show our gentle love for others and live as an example of God's love.  

Joy in Our Lives

     The scores getting close: it's three to two.  Although the team was in the lead, they were by no means calm as the clock ticked slowly.  A player gets the ball, dribbles a few times, and then makes a shot on goal.  To her surprise, the ball rolls into the goal: right between the goalie's legs.  A feeling of shock overwhelms the girl, but how long does that last?  Sure, she does feel happy, but after five minutes she's right back to trying to prove herself.  Well, that's how I felt at least.  When at my last indoor soccer game I miraculously scored(my second goal in the season!), I couldn't help but feel ten feet off the ground.  Not to even mention our goalie(who deserves to go to the Olympics because she's so incredible) Jamie, or Diana, a girl who singlehandedly scored our first three goals.

     I definitely felt happy, but scoring a goal doesn't cause joy.  I got to jump up and down and look like an idiot for just a few seconds: after that I was expected to play my best and (hopefully) get another goal.  Same with the MVP of the game!  We were definitely impressed, but that just raised our expectations for her.  That's how we get with our materialistic possessions.  We get happy for a little bit when we get the latest phone or iPad or whatever we've been longing after, and then when we finally get it we just want more.  

     Our culture does nothing to help in disproving this idea.  "Joy comes in doing whatever you love doing," our 'let's just do whatever we want while we're young' point of view states.  "If you love something, then just throw your whole heart into it.  Who cares about anything else?"  Now some people (obviously not Christians) live this way their whole lives, and sometimes it works out fine.  They are successful and throw themselves wholly on whatever project that they're doing with work.  But one of my teachers, Rob, was rejected from this form of living.  He had a full ride scholarship to a great college for football, but then in his second year he broke his leg and wasn't able to ever do football again.  It's times like that when if I didn't have God with me every moment, I think I would break down and go crazy.  

     Joy.  Merriam-Webster's defines the word as "the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires: delight."  I'm just going to be blunt here: you can never achieve this goal in our earthly lives if we don't trust in God!  We long to be with God, and though we have great relationships with him and the Holy Spirit lives in us, we're not actually with our Lord.  

     Happiness, however, is a totally different matter.  Merriam-Webster's definition is "a state of well-being and contentment" or "a pleasurable or satisfying experience."  When we do well in school, score a goal, see a friend, that's happiness.  Happiness is a great feeling, and I'm so glad that it's around, because I feel happy about 99% of the time.  The other day my friend was making fun of me for not being able to frown.  Is that an actual frown, because I spent like twenty minutes trying to frown.  I stink at it.  -->


     Leviticus 9:24 says, "Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown."  The Israelites were so moved when they felt God around that they felt a great sense of joy.    Does anyone feel chills down their back when they are praying or worshipping?  I find it so amazing when I get chills down my spine from the power and mightiness of God.  Just like chemistry(which God created) to my poor mind, God is completely inconceivable.  He is so perfect and amazing, as well as being my Lord and Savior.

Thanks! 
~Hannah

When You're Overwhelmed....

Isaiah 43:2
     "When you pass through the waters I will be with you;
          and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
      When you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
          and the flame shall not consume you."
 

     This verse is true with several things.  Not only in the literal sense(although I do not recommend that you try to drown or burn yourself to see if you get hurt) but with sin, the literal world, and finally, my clumsiness.
     Now, I'm one of the most clumsy and random people I know(and I know lots of clumsy people).  I can't draw circles or straight lines, and I manage to drop the same thing five times, right after I picked it up!  Throughout winter, I'm just plain doomed.  Combine ice, snow, rain, and the terrible temperatures and love St. Louis, and they spell just one word: DANGER!  Now this Sunday I brought my study Bible is 1800 pages, and it weighs a whole ton, and I brought snacks for our youth group.  Mix these with my 1,000,000 pound purse and I have no hope.  It had iced the night before, and so I slipped once or twice on my way there.

     That is an illustration of what your Christian walk can feel like sometimes.  It can feel like you're juggling a million things while walking on a steep, slippery ground and you have no hope.  But even though you may not see him, God is walking right next to you, waiting for you to let him pick it up!  Most of the time, he may even be carrying it without you knowing.  I get so frustrated sometimes, feeling like my prayers aren't being answered when I don't get an immediate response.  I have some big issues that I pray for every night, but every morning I wake up feeling like God doesn't want me to be happy because the same thing still makes me miserable.
     While I may not be the most clumsy person in the UNIVERSE, I'm still pretty up there.  :)  Hopefully age will bring me some talent?  I'm not getting my hopes up, though.  God has made me appreciate my gifts as well as my not-so-great-clumsiness.  While there are definitely some things about me that don't exactly make me love myself, my laugh and clumsiness basically determine my character, so I'm not exactly complaining!

Thanks,
     ~HANNAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Pride Comes Before the Fall

     Or, somehow, pride comes after the fall for McKayla Maroney.  She considered herself better than the gold-metal winner in the event.  Since then, her 'unimpressed' face has been shown all over, and photoshopped into countless pictures.  She even taught the president her trademark scowl!  Even though she may not have gotten gold in the event, after her fall she still couldn't even put on a smile for the Awards Ceremony.  However, this is not true of most cases.

    When I was considering what to do, I wrote down somewhere that I considered myself to be 'smart.' Guess what?  When I wrote it down, I actually wrote mart!  Then, when I corrected it, instead of saying that it was right, I said 'now I got it write!'  I told my mom, and now 'Pride comes before the fall' is our motto.  

     Proverbs 16:18 says,

          "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall."

     This has been even more of a true statement recently: not only did I begin spelling things wrong, but my cousin missed his bus.  "I've never missed the bus once in two years," he stated with pride on a Monday afternoon.  Two days later, he called us on Wednesday morning.  He stated that he had missed our bus, and begged my mom to come pick him up and drive him to school.  Of course, my wonderful mother agreed, but he still received a tardy and the humiliation of knowing that I would probably rub it in for a little while(which I plan on doing).  Because, right after he had made his pride statement, I had replied with, "Pride goes before the fall."  

     Leviticus 26:19 states:

          "I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze."

     Pride is definitely getting to be a big issue: everywhere.   Some things that I don't even think of as pride are definitely prideful!  I love a band, and I obsess over them every day and moment, but I think that I am so much cooler than the billion other fans of the band.  It's really just a huge heart issue.  This advice may sound familiar, but pray and read the Bible!  The Bible has more advice for you than I could ever give, and always seems to have the right thing to say at the right time.
     Some more advice: just stop and listen.  I only see one of my closest friends once a week, so when I do see her, I rush to tell her everything about my week.  Even though I know I shouldn't, I keep the conversation on me 90% of the time.  And though she doesn't seem to mind, that doesn't mean that it's not pride.  You may be doing this too, so just stop and listen.  If suddenly everything gets really quiet and you were the one who had been carrying the conversation the whole time, then feel free to continue.  But if not, then you just need to start listening rather than talking.
Thanks,
     Hannah

Patience, my Young Padawan!!!

     There is definitely something to be learned from the old green man.  Something I'm learning more and more is that patience is key.  When I realize that I don't have something I need, I demand to have it that moment.  The virtue is definitely necessary if you want to lead a fruitful life, and it is something that I'm currently lacking.  I've noticed that the more often that you think about something good, the more often that you realize that you don't have that thing.  When people talk about how to lead a good prayerful life, I instantly think of the mornings and afternoons that I haven't talked.  Part of it may be the way my brain works, because when I hear 'covalent bonds' (something we're currently studying in Chemistry) I think of butterscotch candies.
     Something about teaching a class must make you want to see how miserable you can make students over a test.  Because I took one a few days ago, my teacher has only graded four.  So, she decided to show those happy four their test results while I am pulling my hair out in the background.  The same will definitely be true of my Chemistry test that I have tomorrow, which I should be studying for right now.  Except that teacher likes to wait until she finishes grading everybody's test, which takes approximately two weeks.  Obviously, for someone who is not patient, this is agonizing.
     I would love to tell you that I have the solution to the whole 'patience problem,' but I would, in fact, be lying.  The best solution that I can come up with is: pray.  I have a prayer journal that I write in every day, and I write all my anxieties, prayers, and accomplishments in it.  Sometimes the whole entry is spent talking about how someone scared me that day(I scare really easily), but others I spend my whole thing talking about questions or observations from the Bible, which I read right before I go to bed.
      Another solution is to read the Bible.  There are so many plans online to read the Bible in a year, and it's just as simple as pressing the 'print' button on your computer.  And, of course, holding yourself responsible.  I forgot to read the Bible on the first three days of the year: I spent the next three reading twice as much as I was assigned which is really overwhelming.  Isn't that sad?  The beginning of the year is supposed to be when you hold yourself responsible to keeping your New Year's resolutions, yet that was when I was least faithful.  Like I said, my brain works in a very.... unique way, to state it simply.
      And if you are reading the Bible through, I have some advice: take your time.  I try to just get through it, but I've started learning so much more about the Bible!  Small anecdotes that I never noticed before make a world's difference to me, even when they are things that I would normally skip over.  Reading over Lot's story, I've been shocked at the bluntness of it.  Over all, I realized that not all Bible characters are just in three categories: pure and blameless in God's sight, evil, and just kinda bad.  There are wonderful Christians that aren't perfect.  Even David had Bathsheba, and God loved him dearly.  It just kind of makes me feel slightly better about myself, that I don't need to be perfect for God to love me.
     It's easy to put requirements on religions.  "For God to love you, you must do....." and it's also easy to believe.  When people say "You have to pray every day, or you won't go to heaven," there are some types of believers that will start praying for hours every day in the hope that God will look favorably on them.  Now while I don't believe such requirements as that, there are times when I am tempted to.  As humans, I think that we kind of like having something to do, some way to earn our salvation.
     God won't love you more if you do something, He loves you unconditionally.  Whether you attack somebody(not recommended) or pray for hours every day, if you are still a believer He loves you.  So do I!  :)

~Hannah

"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all of fiction.  Jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak; a sadist; a vindictive, bloodthirsty..."   -Richard Dawkins

     If you believe in Jesus, or even just a form of God, this is extremely unsettling.  When I read it the first time, it physically made my stomach hurt.  How could anyone think that about someone who would let his son redeem us?   Right now in school I am taking a class called World Views.  Although it's a lot of work, it is also very interesting.  A few days ago, we got a sheet of quotes, and I thought I would share some of them with you.  The one above is obviously not what I believe, but some of these are really good.

"God is not who you think He is; He is who He says He is."

      -Clarice Fluitt

     This quote is really great, especially because it is true!   I always think of God in my little box of happiness, but He is so much more than that!  He is the one that helps you when you're feeling down, but also brings down His wrath on those who defy Him.  He is the God who created thunderstorms and extreme weather, like what's above, and also the one who creates amazing rainbows after the storm.

     I have just one more quote that you might find interesting.  Now I don't know whether or not this man is a believer or not (I heard that he was Catholic), but this is just a really cool quote.  

"Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires; but what foundation did we rest the creations of our genius?  Upon force.  Jesus Christ founded an empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him."

     -Napoleon

     This quote makes me smile.  Why wouldn't it?  It shows how empires may rise and fall, but Jesus will always rule supreme.  How amazing that someone who ruled one of those empires would even recognize that!  
   
     It is wonderful when you find quotes like the last two, that encourage you.  It is always great to look to other believers when you're hurting, because sometimes you just need a bit of helpful advice to keep you going.

Thanks,
~Hannah

Not Prince William, but JESUS!

 On midnight of January 1st, 2013, while other people were welcoming in the new year, Prince William was doing something very different.  Rather than celebrating with his now-pregnant wife as you would expect for him to be doing (I am so excited about the baby, by the way!) he was fighting off winds while trying to rescue a man who was swept into the waters while walking his dog near the sea.
     The prince got a call fifteen minutes after midnight, and he didn't stop to question what to do: he instantly got into a four-man helicopter and took off.  Battling over fifty mile per hour winds, he searched relentlessly.  Finally, the search was called off after several hours of search.  After looking for a few more days, the search was called off.  The man, and his dog, were lost, but the world still acknowledged the prince's brave effort.
     When we hear about things like this in the world around us, we are shocked.  Part of it might be because of the fact that the music and celebrity world are full of bad decisions and choices, so it is great when we hear about something like this.  But really, think about this: someone living the best life that could ever be though of giving it all up because he loved his people so incredibly much.  This would sound crazy to us: we find it hard so often to just give up money as tith or offering!  And then, after giving up everything, nobody acknowledged him when he finally did, and he ended up being killed by the very same people that he gave everything up to save!   As for me, I can't grasp my mind around this.
     We should be awestruck that he would care enough about us to do this, but I am often content with the fact.  I recognize it, but I don't really find it as shocking as it truly is.   

     On a slightly related but also totally unrelated note, this past Christmas, one of my youth pastors came to celebrate with my family because he had nowhere to go.  Then, when my dad began introducing him to our thirty or forty family members present, I randomly fell.  Yep, you heard correctly.  I fell, and as I was falling, I tripped on my cousin.  Which, although I caught myself, resulted in nonstop laughter.  I couldn't stop, even when my dad began praying (though I soon calmed myself down when I realized that he was).  One trait that I love about myself but kind of wish I could change is my laughter.  Once it gets started, it never stops.  Also, I am probably the most clumsy person I know.  I just randomly have days when I will always fall.  It is a great conversation starter or ice breaker, though!  :)

     On Christmas I celebrate that he came to earth, but I'm not truly overjoyed, and I focus way too much on my presents instead.  Of course, I go to the Christmas eve service and worship him, but on Christmas I don't do much more than my everyday praying and reading the Bible.  Time with my friends is so much more important to me at the time!  I guess what I mean is that we should really focus on what Christ did more than we do.  We just think of him as a baby rather than a king just randomly choosing to come down to earth when his subjects needed him(even though they don't realize it).  It physically hurts me to think that if I had lived in that time I probably would have been out there, insulting Jesus and calling for his death.  

     So, my point is that when we think something is crazy or very virtuous of a person, that's great, but think about Jesus!  He came down to earth, a place that was definitely not Heaven, and lived a full life as a man, experiencing pain that he never needed to feel.  He went through all of it just to pardon us!  Anytime, he could have just gone back to heaven, but he didn't.  No matter what we do, we could never make it up to him.  But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to live the best example of his love that we can, so that maybe others will see that something is different about us and want to know more.

~HANNAH

Pursuing Him

     So, a few days ago in church, I had a random and extremely far-fetched idea.  Why not make a blog, talking about  the pursuit and how to pursue Jesus like we should.  Once we become Christians (whether from birth or born-again) we think that after a while we know everything about all matters of Christianity.  But we never really focus on how incredibly much there is that we don't know.  We just give up, falling back into our sports lives or doing whatever we think is more important, building up our old idols.  For me, I have issues with setting aside time to focus on God (whether writing in my prayer journal or doing the Bible-in-a-Year thing Susie put out) .  What we don't recognize is that we need to continue pursuing him and trying to learn more about him.  When Jesus was at the temple (Luke 2:41-52), his parents spent THREE DAYS looking for him.  Now, of course part of that was because he was their child,  but it sets a good example for us.
     When I was eight (I think...) my parents made a bargain with me: if I read and memorized the whole Shorter Chatechism, they would buy me an American Girl doll when we went to Chicago.  Now instead of focusing on how great it would be to memorize all of the Shorter Chatechism like I should have (a skill I wish I now had), I instead focused on how I couldn't wait to get the doll.  Now I know this is a really bad example, but PLEASE work with me!  I guess that my point is that instead of just focusing on the perks of Christianity (mainly heaven!), we should focus on our relationship with Christ, learning more about him.
     Another thing is that we should be in awe of Christ.  If you are doing any kind of daily Bible reading, I am doing a program that skips around.  A few nights ago, the passage was Psalms 1-3.  When I read Psalms 2, I was really struck with how, although God is vengeful, we often just soften him up.  Read this below!  It is Psalms 2:4-6.
          "He who sits in the heavens laughs;
            the Lord holds them in derision.
            Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
            and terrify them in his fury, saying,
           'As for me, I have set my King
           on Zion, my holy hill.'"
      We water God down, or at least I do.  In my mind, God is the one who makes beautiful sunsets, paints flowers the beautiful way that they are, and makes snow and icicles look so scenic.  Never do I think of him as someone wrathful or terrifying!  Though God does have the beautiful artist side of him, he is also so much more, and I hope that I remember that.
     God will fight for you when you are in need, and he can do so much more than heal someone that is sick.

So this concludes my first blog entry.... YAY FOR ME!  I have a busy schedule (haha I wish) so please don't freak out if I don't exactly write every day, or week, or whatever.  I hope you actually got something out of this and weren't falling asleep.