tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38958327734541721252024-03-08T16:52:14.443-08:00My Heart Is Spoken ForSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-74944163945482965582012-08-06T23:15:00.003-07:002012-08-06T23:15:33.725-07:00God is in control of your singleness...“Your greatest need is not a spouse. Your greatest need is to be delivered from the wrath of God- and that has already been accomplished for you through the death and resurrection of Christ. So why doubt that God will provide for a much, much lesser need? Trust His sovereignty, trust His wisdom, trust His love.” -C.J. Mahaney<br />
<em>“For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me….And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever.” Philippians 4:11-20 ESV</em>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-50716062090125898732012-05-22T13:00:00.000-07:002012-05-22T13:00:31.351-07:00"Trapped in a Tower" asks for advice...<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<strong><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The following “letter” and its response were written by Anna Sofia and
Elizabeth Botkin of visionarydaughters.com. It’s worth considering their words
of wisdom and warning in regards to fairy tales, such as Tangled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Christians, “we also have as our ambition,
whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to (the Lord).” (2 Cor. 5:9) We know
that God commands us to think upon things that are true, honorable, right,
pure, lovely, etc. (Phil. 4:8) Let’s not lower our standards when it comes to “kid’s”
movies, fairy tales, chick-flicks, cartoons, and real-life dramas. This area of
media is having a huge impact upon our lives, and especially upon the lives of
the impressionable minds of the next generation. Let’s raise the bar for purity
and truth higher and higher everyday as we seek not the things of this world,
but the things of the world to come. Christ bore the wrath of God against my
sin and yours. Is there anything we would hold onto or value more than Him? He
is worthy of first place in every area of our lives!<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Dear
Botkin sisters,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<v:imagedata o:href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/1TangledUSE1.jpg" src="file:///C:\Users\Christyn\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.jpg">
</v:imagedata></v:shape><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">I just
turned 18 years old and I have a question for you. My name is Rapunzel and I’m
in the middle of a very challenging situation. I’ll give you some backstory.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">I’ve
spent my whole life living at home in a tower with my mother, who told me that
the tower is the only place that I could be safe from people who want to steal
my hair. I’d always been happy at home, and felt like my mother and I had a
fairly good relationship, until recently. A few days ago, I mentioned that I
wanted to leave the tower for my birthday. You see, I really wanted to go see
some mysterious lights that always appear in the sky on my birthday – ON MY
BIRTHDAY – which of course has always made me think that they were somehow for
me! Mother said it was a bad idea, that there were ruffians and thugs out
there, that I couldn’t handle myself, etc. I tried to convince her otherwise,
but then she exploded and said that I could never leave the tower. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Does
that seem fair to you? It didn’t to me! I was still just as determined to see
the lights! So I came up with an excuse to get her to go on a trip for a few
days, and then I carried out a brilliant plan. Right before the fight with
Mother, I had knocked out a thief who climbed in my window, and trapped him in
my closet. (Can’t handle myself out there? Tell that to my frying pan!) After
Mother left, I made a bargain with him: that he take me to see the floating
lights and bring me back safely, and I would return to him a tiara that I had
taken out of his satchel. He basically agreed. We’d be back before Mother
returned and she would never even have to know.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/enredados-disney-rapunzel-tangled-flynn-rider-movie-pelicula.jpg"><span style="color: #663300; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><v:shape alt="" href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/enredados-disney-rapunzel-tangled-flynn-rider-movie-pelicula.jpg" id="_x0000_i1025" o:button="t" style="height: 198pt; width: 375pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">
<v:imagedata o:href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/enredados-disney-rapunzel-tangled-flynn-rider-movie-pelicula.jpg" src="file:///C:\Users\Christyn\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image002.jpg">
</v:imagedata></v:shape></span></a><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">I admit
that I had a lot of conflicting emotions before jumping out the window. I just
had to do it. I admitted that I shouldn’t. And then I did! <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Being
completely free for the first time was AMAZING!!! I consoled myself that what
Mother didn’t know wouldn’t kill her. Then I realized this would kill her. I
was having so much fun! And yet I felt like a horrible daughter. I decided I
was going back. I decided I was NEVER going back! I felt like a despicable
human being. I felt like it was the Best. Day. Ever! I was alternately laughing
hysterically and sobbing uncontrollably. My guide, Flynn Rider, tried to play
on my feelings of guilt, to get me to give up and go back, but that’s when I
really strengthened my resolve to just put those feelings behind me and stick
to my dream, and I didn’t have any qualms after that.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">I got my
first taste of what people in the world are really like when Flynn took me into
a pub. The men there seemed worse than the kind of ruffians and thugs my mother
had always warned me about! As they were in the middle of trying to kill Flynn,
I begged them to FIND THEIR HUMANITY and asked if any of them had ever had a
dream. Guess what? They all had! It turned out that beneath their scary
exteriors, they were just people, with feelings and hobbies and dreams, like
me! I guess they just needed a nice young girl to draw it out of them. That’s
when I first started to wonder if my mom had always been wrong about the world.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Kinogallery.com_Rapunzel_E_shot_9.jpg"><span style="color: #663300; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><v:shape alt="" href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Kinogallery.com_Rapunzel_E_shot_9.jpg" id="_x0000_i1026" o:button="t" style="height: 210.75pt; width: 375pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">
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</v:imagedata></v:shape></span></a><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">After
several more scrapes, I was starting to feel really bonded with Flynn. To be
honest, I was starting to really like him, and he seemed to really like me. At
that point, you’ll never guess who showed up to end my adventure but Mother!
She tried to get me to come back home. She called Flynn a wanted thief. I told
her that he liked me. She laughed at me. She said a man like that would just
leave me as soon as he got what he wanted (the tiara). For the first time in my
life, I openly defied her! I refused to listen, or to go back with her, and so
she went off without me.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">The next
day was my Big Day! Flynn and I went into the kingdom together, we saw the
townsfolk, we danced and drew, and at sunset… we got to see the floating
lights! I found out they were lanterns sent out every year to commemorate the
birth of the Lost Princess. It was magical, and extremely romantic, and I knew
then that I had to be with Flynn. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">But then
my dream began to turn into a nightmare. Though I had felt it was wrong to run
away, everything had seemed to be turning out so well as a result. Suddenly
things started to become awful! Flynn seemed to have abandoned me, some truly
bad thugs tried to kidnap me (well, maybe they have dreams on the inside too, I
forgot to ask), and then Mother showed up just at the right moment. Now it
seemed like Mother was right about Flynn, right about the world, right about
everything! There was nothing left for me in the kingdom. So I went back to
Mother. And I felt terrible about how everything had worked out.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">So I sat
on my bed back in my tower to think over everything that had happened. I was
looking at a little flag Flynn gave me that had the kingdom’s ensign of the sun
on it – and I suddenly realized that I’ve been drawing shapes like that my
whole life without even knowing it. !!! Then I had a flashback to a mosaic I
had seen in the kingdom, of the Lost Princess as a baby with green eyes and blonde
hair, and I realized I have green eyes and blonde hair. !!! And then I had a
flashback to when I had tried on the tiara that I found in Flynn’s satchel and
it looked <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">amazing</span></em>
on me. !!! What are the odds? Couldn’t this only mean one thing?! I’m starting
to get a very strong feeling that I’ve always been more special than I thought.
And I don’t actually remember being born to my mother. What if… she’s been
lying to me my whole life? What if she’s not really my mom? What if she
kidnapped me at birth? What if I’m actually <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">the
Lost Princess</span></em>? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">So, I
was feeling very tempted to go tell Mother that I’m on to her, and then I
stumbled across your website, Visionary Daughters. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Now I’m
confused about what a girl in my situation should do. Should I trick my mom and
run away secretly again? Or should I be more upfront in my defiance this time?
Wouldn’t you agree that I was justified in running away the first time, since
she wasn’t actually my mom, even though I thought she was at the time? Should I
go try to find Flynn again? Should I present myself to the king and queen and
say I’m pretty sure I’m their daughter?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">On your
website, you don’t appear to give any advice to anyone in my particular
situation, which makes it seem like you don’t realize that there are people out
there with different circumstances from yours. I like the principles that you
lay out, but I don’t think it’s possible to obey any of them because I don’t
think that God has given me the ideal situation. And I seriously doubt that God
has given biblical guidelines for girls in situations like mine. What do you
think?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Sincerely,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Rapunzel<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Rapunzels-Tower.jpg"><span style="color: #663300; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><v:shape alt="" href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Rapunzels-Tower.jpg" id="_x0000_i1028" o:button="t" style="height: 205.5pt; width: 375pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">
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</v:imagedata></v:shape></span></a><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Dear
Rapunzel,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Thank
you for your email. We happen to already be familiar with your story as
presented in “Tangled,” and even know a little more about your backstory than you
do, and so we do have some thoughts for you.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">We will
be unusually blunt, because we know you are not a real person with feelings;
you are the carefully written, cast, voiced, sketched, sculpted, scanned,
painted, rigged, animated, rendered, and composited brainchild of John
Lasseter, Glen Keane, and the Disney scriptwriting committee. We’re talking to
you, polygons. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Rapunzel-sketches1.jpg"><span style="color: #663300; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><v:shape alt="" href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Rapunzel-sketches1.jpg" id="_x0000_i1029" o:button="t" style="height: 229.5pt; width: 375pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">
<v:imagedata o:href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Rapunzel-sketches1.jpg" src="file:///C:\Users\Christyn\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image005.jpg">
</v:imagedata></v:shape></span></a><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">And not
only were <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">you</span></em>
meticulously handcrafted by others: Your entire universe was built around you,
detail by detail, by these same imagineers. Your particular situation, down to
Flynn’s serendipitous appearance in your window – your moral dilemmas, down to
your conflicts with your mother – the characters you ran into, down to the last
pub thug – didn’t just happen, but were deliberated over by a bunch of
businessmen for approximately ten years. Everything about your world, including
the ethical system by which it operates, came out of somebody’s head.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">But here
you are, in the middle of it, and you need advice. Let’s get down to helping
you out! We would like to propose the following course of action for you:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Kill
your mother with her own dagger (for poetic justice), run away from the tower
once and for all, reunite with Flynn Rider (and propose to him – why not?),
rally the thugs to your side, storm the castle together, throw out the authorities
that were trying to imprison Flynn (doesn’t that make them the villains?), and
establish yourselves as the ruling elite, where your word can be law, now not
only for you, but for everyone.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">No, of
course that’s not the right answer. But why not? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Some
might say that since your universe is a fantasy universe, God’s ethical system
does not apply. But if His moral standard doesn’t have jurisdiction over this
film – if, since this film isn’t a “Christian” film, we shouldn’t require it to
line up with the Bible – then who could dare say bumping your mother out of the
way would be wrong? Who’s to say any other solution would be morally better?
Are we admitting that there is some overarching standard after all?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">We’ve
got good news for you: You, Rapunzel, imaginary creature though you are, are
not ultimately under the lordship of Disney Studios, but of Christ. 2
Corinthians 10:5 commands all men to “take <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">every
thought captive</span></em> to the obedience of Christ” – which means every
imagination, every script page, and every film frame. Christ demands that every
man’s mind and the stuff in it bow the knee, and that would include you. And
His moral system – His law – is still the standard by which your moral system
must be measured. In other words, stabbing your mother would be wrong, not
because it’s not the sort of thing a nice girl with a dream would do, not
because it would be politically incorrect, not because it would disturb
children – but because it breaks one of His commandments (Ex. 20:13). And
that’s why, even though you’re a fairy tale creature, we’re going to respond to
you as though you were a real person. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tumblr_ljjfzijI5E1qzn6gvo1_500.jpg"><span style="color: #663300; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><v:shape alt="" href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tumblr_ljjfzijI5E1qzn6gvo1_500.jpg" id="_x0000_i1030" o:button="t" style="height: 247.5pt; width: 375pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">
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</v:imagedata></v:shape></span></a><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">What
makes advising you tricky is that the brains who crafted your universe and
situation never presented you with a good option. The film offered you two
choices at the beginning: 1. Rot your useless life away in the tower with the
world’s most detestable mother; or, 2. Defy your mother and run away from home
with a thief. Your only visible choices now are: 1. Rot your useless life away
in the tower with the world’s most detestable mother; or, 2. Follow your
feelings, denounce your mother as a kidnapping imposter with no evidence, and
leave again. Yes, it does occasionally seem that the only options life presents
are bad ones, but in reality, <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">doing
right is always an option.</span></em> Film has the power to create dishonest
moral scenarios, forcing its characters to play a version of the lifeboat game
(Who will you throw overboard, passenger A or passenger B?) and never offering
a third option. And by making your option A look <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">unspeakable</span></em>, while making your option B
look <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">irresistible</span></em>,
“Tangled” draws us in so deeply that by the time your first moral dilemma comes
around, we’re rooting for you to do (what we would normally call) the wrong
thing.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">So what
is the right (biblical) thing for you to do, now? Here are a few (serious)
suggestions: <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">1.
Check the facts regarding your identity. </span></strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Feelings,
hunches, and childhood drawings are a bad guide (and insufficient evidence),
especially in such high-stake situations. There are ways to figure out who you
are. We, the audience, of course know that your Mother is actually an evil
kidnapper and the villain of your story; but you, the protagonist, currently
have about as much reason to suspect this as every girl in the audience does
her own parents.<br />
<b><br />
<strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">If you were wrong,
and she turns out to have been your biological mother all along: </span></strong></b><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
<strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">2. Apologize sincerely
for disobeying, deceiving, and defying her. </span></strong></span></b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Some
protest that you were justified in breaking the 5th commandment because she
wasn’t <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">really </span></em>your
mother, but let’s be honest: You didn’t leave because you knew that. You didn’t
leave because you knew your mother’s command was biblically unlawful. You
didn’t leave because you thought it would be wrong to stay and submit to the
unbiblical tyranny of a kidnapping sorceress. You left because there was
something you really wanted to do, the authority over you forbade it, and you
decided to do what you wanted to do it anyway. You actually believed, and said,
that it would be wrong for you to go. In your mind, you were as guilty of
rebellion as the girl whose parents forbid her to go to a wild party and who sneaks
out to go anyway: You left because you didn’t care. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Rapunzel-story-board.jpg"><span style="color: #663300; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><v:shape alt="" href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Rapunzel-story-board.jpg" id="_x0000_i1031" o:button="t" style="height: 4in; width: 375pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">
<v:imagedata o:href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Rapunzel-story-board.jpg" src="file:///C:\Users\Christyn\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image007.jpg">
</v:imagedata></v:shape></span></a><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">We’re
truly sorry that the filmmakers gave you such a loathsome creature as a mother.
But <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">if it’s wrong for
her to be a law unto herself, you need to hold yourself to the same standard</span></em>.
“For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and
idolatry.” (1 Sam. 15:23)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">3.
Biblically examine the legitimacy of her commands. </span></strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Even if
she is your biological mother, however, that <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">doesn’t
mean you have a duty of unconditional submission to her whims</span></em>. “The
requirement of unquestioning obedience by any human authority is a sin and
defiles the very intent of God’s Word,” writes R.J. Rushdoony. “The
unquestioning obedience which Scripture requires is only to God, never to
kings, rulers, employers, husbands, or parents. To render unquestioning obedience
is a sin.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">There
comes a time when, in the words of our founders, “Resistance to tyrants is
obedience to God!” What you need to ask yourself is: Is your mother forcing you
to sin, or is she forbidding you to do something God has commanded? In either
case, you must disobey. (By the way, God didn’t command you to go see the
floating lights.) And if she is physically abusing you or endangering your
life, you have a duty to not be an accomplice to her crimes. You need to get
out of there. Thankfully, you are fit and resourceful, as well as handy with
your lasso hair, and you’ve gotten out of tougher scrapes. We’ll root for you. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">4.
Appeal to her regarding her sins against you in the spirit of Matthew 18:15: </span></strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/disney-tangled-flynn-rapunzel-pascal-mothergothel-mother-gothel-17438260-1280-720.jpg"><span style="color: #663300; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><v:shape alt="" href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/disney-tangled-flynn-rapunzel-pascal-mothergothel-mother-gothel-17438260-1280-720.jpg" id="_x0000_i1032" o:button="t" style="height: 210.75pt; width: 375pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">
<v:imagedata o:href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/disney-tangled-flynn-rapunzel-pascal-mothergothel-mother-gothel-17438260-1280-720.jpg" src="file:///C:\Users\Christyn\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image008.jpg">
</v:imagedata></v:shape></span></a><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">“If your
brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.” If she refuses to be
reasonable, the biblical answer is not to simply walk away from her forever.
Verse 16 continues, “But if he does not listen, take one or two others along
with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three
witnesses.” Use your resourcefulness to bring in some authorities to handle the
situation – and, yes, submit yourself to them. Unaccountable autonomy is an
alternative Scripture never offers anyone, man, woman, or child.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">However…
</span></em><strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">If
she is not your biological mother, but instead a kidnapper:</span></strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">2.
Employ your resourcefulness to go to the authorities. </span></strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">God
condemned kidnapping as seriously as murder (Ex. 21:16, Deut. 24:7), and she
needs to be brought to justice. This is bigger than you and your feelings; she
has sinned against God and your parents as well as you, and right must be done.
<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">However,
if justice is really your concern, then…<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">3….You
also need to report the most wanted thief in the kingdom</span></strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">, who has also
stolen precious items (the tiara) from your parents. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/4215952_FlynnWantedPoster.jpg"><span style="color: #663300; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><v:shape alt="" href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/4215952_FlynnWantedPoster.jpg" id="_x0000_i1033" o:button="t" style="height: 197.25pt; width: 375pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">
<v:imagedata o:href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/4215952_FlynnWantedPoster.jpg" src="file:///C:\Users\Christyn\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image009.jpg">
</v:imagedata></v:shape></span></a><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Flynn
has also sinned against God and your parents, and again, this is bigger than
you and your feelings. Biblically, he wouldn’t be hung or have his hands cut
off, but there <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">are </span></em>consequences
for stealing (Ex. 22:1-4, Lev. 6:1-7, Prov. 6:30,31). <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">This is
not, of course, to assume that Flynn couldn’t repent of stealing. If he did,
though, he would certainly go further than saying he’s sorry and never doing it
again: He would make restitution to everyone he robbed, as many times over as
biblically required. It would be nice if repenting meant not having to suffer
the consequences, but God is a God of justice Who requires that things be made
right. That He is also a God of mercy means that He <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">does </span></em>give second chances to those who
repent, confess, make things right, go their way, and sin no more… and we can
too.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">4.
Don’t embrace thugs just because they’re nice to you.<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Pub-thugs.jpg"><span style="color: #663300; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><v:shape alt="" href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Pub-thugs.jpg" id="_x0000_i1034" o:button="t" style="height: 210.75pt; width: 375pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">
<v:imagedata o:href="http://visionarydaughters.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Pub-thugs.jpg" src="file:///C:\Users\Christyn\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image010.jpg">
</v:imagedata></v:shape></span></a><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">This
film for young girls contained an interesting message: That everything your
mother taught you was wrong. One interesting example was your mother’s caution
that the world contained dangerous men. No one would dispute this fact in the
real world, but it was a point the film pulled some tricky stunts to prove
wrong. At the end of the day, the openly brutal and violent thugs were proven
to be harmless to pretty blond girls. The ones shown to be the real villains
were parents. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">As
regards both Flynn and the pub thugs – of course they have souls! But it’s no
amazing discovery that the more villainous elements of society also have
feelings, dreams, even artistic impulses. Hitler was sensitive and
introspective, wrote poetry, loved music and art, collected artifacts, had a
dream (a big one), and liked pretty blonde girls. A penchant for collecting
ceramic unicorns doesn’t make a criminal innocent. It also <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">doesn’t</span></em> prove that
your mother was wrong about the world – even if she was wrong about how people
should respond to it (i.e. hiding in a tower). Unfortunately, neither you nor
she figured out what it means to be in the world but not of the world, or the
right way to be a light in the darkness. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">5. If
you are found to be the Lost Princess, <strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">step
up to the role of royal daughter, and all that that involves.</span></strong><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">As the
daughter of such obviously wonderful parents, you will obviously not have any
excuses for running off to attend events they forbid, or becoming romantically
entangled with young men they disapprove of. (If you never had an “authority
problem” to begin with, this shouldn’t be a problem for you.) As a princess,
however, your new responsibilities go even further than this. As soon as you
put on that tiara, you have to stop being the main character of your story and
let your subjects take that place. Instead of being slave to a tyrannical
mother’s whims, you must now be a slave to duty and the needs of your people.
Dancing with the peasants and drawing pictures with them on the sidewalks will
not be enough. Whatever your feelings may be, you have to set an example of
law-upholding conduct to your people. Whatever your (or others’) dreams may be,
you have to impartially uphold justice. Whatever your diplomatic power may be,
your word cannot be law. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">And
Rapunzel, we’re afraid this means that <strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">you
are going to have to become a different kind of girl. </span></strong><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Your
example, unfortunately, can no longer be what it has been throughout the whole
movie. You may be one of Disney’s most appealing recent characters, and you may
have done some admirable things (such as try to sacrifice your life for Flynn).
But your character is nonetheless an extremely dangerous one for girls to
relate to.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Why?
Because although your situation is so different from ours (our parents
generally <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">are</span></em>
our biological parents, and they generally <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">aren’t</span></em>
locking us up in towers), and your universe operates so differently from ours
(none of us have magic hair), your struggles, feelings, and questions are just
the same. “Tangled” tackles the biggest issues in a young woman’s life:
relationships with parents, attitudes toward authority, relationships with
young men, the outside world, the use of our time, and our bigger purpose in
life. It raises the questions every young woman is asking. Then it gives the
exact wrong answers.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">When a
girl sits down to watch your movie, she is about to vicariously live your story
with you, feelings, attitudes, romance, temptations and all. She is “you” for
the next 90 minutes. And what is she learning along with you? That our parents
are wrong about everything. That all will turn out well if we just follow our
hearts. That no man is so bad he wouldn’t “turn it all around” just for us.
Through you, we tangibly feel the temptation to reject our parents’
instruction, keep secrets from them, and defy them – and then, through you, we give
in to temptation. Through you, we feel pangs of guilt, shame, and fear of
hurting people we love – and then, through you, we learn to stuff those
feelings down and ignore them. Through you, we learn: What I want is more
important than what I believe is right.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">And at
the end of your story, everything turns out beautifully to prove that when you
chose to follow your heart rather than your conscience, you made the right
moral decision. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Some
might still point out that, in order for <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">your</span></em>
story to work out, you had to. True, but next time any of us want to “pull a
Rapunzel,” and do something we know is wrong to make things right, let’s
remember that <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">our</span></em>
stories are not Disney movies; that <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">our</span></em>
world is not populated with Disney characters; that <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">we</span></em> are not Disney heroines whose
universes revolve around us; and that <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">our
</span></em>Creator has rigged things to work differently. We’ve had to watch
girl after girl after girl make the same decisions you did, give in to
temptation the way you did, sear her conscience the way you did, and run off
with scoundrels like the one you did. Unlike you, they discovered that the real
world revolves around a God Who isn’t them, and that He has built into His
world rewards for sin that don’t generally include “Happily Ever After.” <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">We admit,
we don’t typically write emails to CG models representing imaginary people. The
reason we’re writing to you is because for many girls, you’re <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">much more</span></em> than that.
Though you’re just a figment of someone’s imagination, a mere idea – ideas are
real. And that’s why “Tangled” matters. After all, girls don’t <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">really</span></em> love “Tangled”
because it’s “just a movie.” The reason we love it <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">isn’t</span></em> because we just can’t, practically
or morally, put ourselves in Rapunzel’s shoes. We don’t love it because it’s a
totally un-relatable fantasy that has no connection to our lives. If we love
it, it’s because it <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">does
</span></em>strike a chord with our lives. We laugh and cry along with
Rapunzel’s joys and woes because we <em><span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif";">can</span></em>
relate to her. And when we passionately, emotionally tell critics to leave it
alone because “It’s just a movie!” we are proving that down inside our hearts,
it’s much more than that.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">You may
be just an idea, an imagination, a thought – but thoughts (not people) are
exactly what we’re commanded to take captive (2 Cor. 10:5). “Arguments and
every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God” are exactly what we
are supposed to destroy (v. 5). Strongholds are exactly what we are supposed to
tear down (v. 4). <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Rapunzel,
Rapunzel, we’re not condemning you. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">We’re
just trying to take you captive.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Love,<br />
Anna Sofia and Elizabeth<o:p></o:p></span><br />Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-43296016876933164992012-05-07T20:12:00.000-07:002012-05-07T20:17:01.894-07:00Gladly Would I Leave Behind MeThe Lord has been gently pressing me to continually surrender everything to Him. Whether it is the desire for that godly husband, that longing for a little one of your very own to rest in your arms, to be rid of that health issue that keeps resurfacing in your life, to be a wife and mother rather than to still be single, whatever your place in life is right now (and all those things I listed are good things!) remember that "God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28) Every season is His plan. (Ps. 139:16b) Every trial is filtered through His fingers of love. Maybe He has you single; then immerse yourself in studying His Word and in prayer, for oneday, if you are married, those precious times may be hard to come by. If He has you married, praise Him for the husband He has given you and glorify Him in this season of marriage. If He has caused you to become sick (yes, He does cause these things! Lamentations 3:37-38; Isa. 45:5-7; Amos 3:6, Job 2:10, Deut. 32:39), then rejoice that He also is our Healer! <br />
<br />
Jesus Christ is a jealous Husband, my sisters! He has chosen us and called us. (Romans 8:29-30) He has laid His life down for us, and now He is changing us into His very image! (2 Cor. 3:18) <br />
<br />
I believe Mr. Spurgeon put it piercingly well when he wrote,<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 12pt 0cm 12pt -0.75pt; text-align: center; vertical-align: top;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">“The Lord Jesus Christ, of whom I now speak, is very
jealous of your love, O believer. Did he not choose you? He cannot bear that
you should choose another. Did he not buy you with his own blood? He cannot
endure that you should think you are your own, or that you belong to this
world. He loved you with such a love that he could not stop in heaven without
you; he would sooner die than that you should perish; he stripped himself to
nakedness that he might clothe you with beauty; he bowed his face to shame and
spitting that he might lift you up to honor and glory, and he cannot endure
that you should love the world, and the things of the world. His love is strong
as death towards you, and therefore will be cruel as the grave. He will be as a
cruel one towards you if you do not love him with a perfect heart. He will take
away that husband; he will smite that child; he will bring you from riches to
poverty, from health to sickness, even to the gates of the grave, because he
loves you so much that he cannot endure that anything should stand between your
heart’s love and him. Be careful, Christians, you that are married to Christ;
remember, you are married to a jealous husband.”</span> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
So, my sisters in Christ, cling to Him. Be devoted to Him. Seek His face, His presence. Be in His Word. Be fallen on your face in prayer to Him. He is jealous for your love, and He will increase that love, making the things of this world grow dim and worthless in the light of His awesome beauty! </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Ask Jesus Christ to be your all so that you may say with the Psalmist in Psalm 73:25-26,</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
"Whom have I in heaven but You? </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My flesh and my heart may fail, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
But God is the strength of my heart</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And my portion forever."</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<u>"Gladly Would I Leave Behind Me"</u></div>
<br />
<div class="tralbumData lyricsText">
VERSE 1<br />
Gladly would I leave behind me<br />
All the pleasure I have known<br />
To pursue surpassing treasures<br />
At the throne of God the Son<br />
Worthy of unending worship<br />
Love and loveliness is He<br />
By His precious death were millions<br />
From the jaws of death set free<br />
<br />
VERSE 2<br />
Gladly would I give to Jesus<br />
All affection, everything<br />
For the washing of His mercy<br />
Makes my ransomed heart to sing<br />
“Holy, holy!” is the chorus<br />
Rising up from those who see<br />
Christ exalted, bright and burning<br />
Full of pow’r and purity<br />
<br />
CHORUS<br />
Where else can I go?<br />
Jesus, You’re the One<br />
That I was made to know<br />
What else can I do?<br />
Jesus, You’re my all<br />
I gladly run to You<br />
<br />
VERSE 3<br />
Gladly would I flee temptations<br />
For their troubles fill my life<br />
Turn and seek my God and Savior<br />
For His goodness satisfies<br />
Earthly treasures, all are passing<br />
Thieves break in and rust destroys<br />
But in God are awesome splendor<br />
Love, and everlasting joys<br />
<br />
TAG<br />
Gladly would I give to Jesus<br />
All affection, everything<br />
For the washing of His mercy<br />
Makes my ransomed heart to sing<br />
<br />
<br />
Credits:<br />
Verse one by Ann Griffiths (1805), music and additional words by Doug Plank <br />
© 2012 Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP)</div>
<h3 class="credits-label">
credits</h3>
<div class="tralbumData">
from <a href="http://sovereigngracemusic.bandcamp.com/album/from-age-to-age"> From Age to Age</a>, released 10 April 2012 </div>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-22518381502880286702012-03-22T21:26:00.001-07:002012-03-22T21:26:28.896-07:00Boy Crazy Girl<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2wBEj57PX9g?fs=1" width="480"></iframe>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-83528215120488898012011-11-08T18:49:00.000-08:002011-11-08T18:50:05.391-08:00"What if, sometimes, there are mists and fogs so thick that I cannot see the path? ‘Tis enough that You hold my hand, and guide me in the darkness; for walking with You in the gloom–is far sweeter and safer than walking alone in the sunlight!<br /><br />Dear Lord, give me grace to trust You wholly, whatever may befall; yielding myself up to Your leading, and leaning hard on You when “dangers are in the path.” Your way for me has been marked out from all eternity, and it leads directly to Yourself and home!"<br /><br />~Susannah SpurgeonSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-8929023503291662462011-10-04T20:14:00.000-07:002011-10-04T20:15:43.467-07:00Obey and Wait Upon God..."Does it make sense to pray for guidance about the future if we are not obeying in the thing that lies before us today? How many momentous events in Scripture depended on one person's seemingly small act of obedience! Rest assured: Do what God tells you to do now, and, depend upon it, you will be shown what to do next." --Elisabeth ElliotSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-58265732323079168102011-08-12T10:16:00.000-07:002011-08-12T10:17:21.150-07:00What Makes a Woman?
<br />Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Open any magazine and you’ll get a picture of what the world considers a beautiful woman. But what does the Bible say?
<br />
<br />“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment; instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.”
<br />
<br />Nancy: Do you focus more time and effort on outward beauty or on inner, spiritual beauty?
<br />
<br />“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.”
<br />
<br />Nancy: Are you more concerned about your relationship with God than about being fashionable or physically attractive?
<br />
<br />“I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety.”
<br />
<br />Nancy: Do you dress modestly? Do your clothes encourage men to have pure thoughts?
<br />
<br />Our culture sends so many messages about what it means to be beautiful. Are you going to go with the world or with the Word of God?
<br />
<br />With Seeking Him, Nancy Leigh DeMoss.
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<br />Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-31081439899347578612011-07-01T21:10:00.000-07:002011-07-01T21:11:26.219-07:00Encouragement for those who wait..."Waiting on God isn't about the suspension of meaning and purpose. It's part of the meaning and purpose that God has brought into my life. Waiting on God isn't to be viewed as an obstruction in the way of the plan. Waiting is an essential part of the plan. For the child of God, waiting isn't simply about what I'll receive at the end of my wait. No, waiting is much more purposeful, efficient, and practical than that. Waiting is fundamentally about what I'll become as I wait. God is using the wait to do in and through me exactly what He's promised. Through the wait He's changing me. By means of the wait He's altering the fabric of my thoughts and desires. Through the wait He's causing me to see and experience new things about Him and His kingdom. And all of this sharpens me, enabling me to be a more useful tool in His redemptive hands" (emphasis mine). Paul TrippSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-6843571441045142802011-06-24T12:41:00.000-07:002011-06-24T13:00:14.459-07:00Resolved to be PureI am right now enjoying the beautiful and hot weather of Palm Spring, California as I wait for the 2011 Resolved Conference to begin! It is sooo beautiful here! There is not a cloud in the sky and the temperature has reached the mid 40's! Whew! Lots of time in the pool is definitely required!<br /><br />Of course, when the weather gets hot it's easy to be tempted to wear less to beat the heat. However, we must be careful that we still are modest. We've been bought with a price: the precious blood of Christ! (1 Corinthians 6:20) We now belong to Him and must honor Him in and through out bodies.<br /><br />1 Peter 1:18-19, "knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ."<br /><br />During our stay here in California, I have felt the Holy Spirit gently convicting me of this message. It is so easy for us to compare ourselves to others. This is dangerous because often we think that we are doing well because others are dressing so provocatively. We can't compare ourselves to others. We must compare ourselves to Christ's standard found in His Word.<br /><br />In His sovereignty, the Lord caused Nancy Leigh DeMoss' daily "Seeking Him" devotional to be just what I needed:<br /><br /><br />Nancy Leigh DeMoss: "Do you ever find yourself at the point of a decision?<br /><br />“I’m not sure if this is right or not?!”<br /><br />There’s a question mark in your conscience, but you’re not exactly sure what the Bible says about it. Jonathan Edwards anticipated moments like these and wrote:<br /><br />"Resolved, never to do anything of which I so much as question the lawfulness."<br /><br />He’s saying, “If I have any question in my heart about whether what I'm about to do is acceptable to God and His Word, then I'll stop.”<br /><br />So many of us today try and see how close we can get to sin without getting into serious trouble. <strong>Wouldn't we be better off staying as close to purity as we can?<br /><br /></strong>Paul tells us in Romans, "Whatever is not of faith is sin.” If there's doubt in your heart that God is giving you freedom to do something, then why do it?"<br /><br /><br />Exactly! So join me in staying as close to purity as we can that "the Word of God would not be treated as a lie." (Titus 2:5)Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-14705953811825473242011-04-23T11:33:00.000-07:002011-04-23T11:34:53.009-07:00A Prayer for Women by John PiperMy earnest challenge and prayer for you is . . . <br /><br />. . . That all of your life—in whatever calling—be devoted to the glory of God. <br /><br />. . . That the promises of Christ be trusted so fully that peace and joy and strength fill your soul to overflowing. <br /><br />. . . That this fullness of God overflow in daily acts of love so that people might see your good deeds and give glory to your Father in Heaven. <br /><br />. . . That you be women of the Book, who love and study and obey the Bible in every area of its teaching; that meditation on biblical truth be the source of hope and faith; that you continue to grow in understanding through all the chapters of your life, never thinking that study and growth are only for others. <br /><br />. . . That you be women of prayer, so that the Word of God will be opened to you, and so the power of faith and holiness will descend upon you; that your spiritual influence may increase at home and at church and in the world. <br /><br />. . . That you be women who have a deep grasp of the sovereign grace of God which undergirds all these spiritual processes; and that you be deep thinkers about the doctrines of grace, and even deeper lovers of these things. <br /><br />. . . That you be totally committed to ministry, whatever your specific calling; that you not fritter away your time on soaps or women’s magazines or unimportant hobbies or shopping; that you redeem the time for Christ and His Kingdom. <br /><br />. . . That, if you are single, you exploit your singleness to the full in devotion to God (the way Jesus and Paul and Mary Slessor and Amy Carmichael did) and not be paralyzed by the desire to be married. <br /><br />. . . That, if you are married, you creatively and intelligently and sincerely support the leadership of your husband as deeply as obedience to Christ will allow; that you encourage him in his God-appointed role as head; that you influence him spiritually primarily through your fearless tranquility and holiness and prayer. <br /><br />. . . That, if you have children, you accept responsibility with your husband (or alone if necessary) to raise up children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord—children who hope in the triumph of God—sharing with your husband the teaching and discipline they need, and giving them the special attention they crave from you, as well as that special nurturing touch and care that you alone are fitted to give. <br /><br />. . . That you not assume that secular employment is a greater challenge or a better use of your life than the countless opportunities of service and witness in the home, the neighborhood, the community, the church, and the world; that you not only pose the question: career or full-time homemaker? but that you ask just as seriously: full-time career or freedom for ministry? That you ask: Which would be greater for the Kingdom—to work for someone who tells you what to do to make his or her business prosper, or to be God’s free agent dreaming your own dream about how your time and your home and your creativity could make God’s business prosper? <br /><br />And that in all this you make your choices not on the basis of secular trends or upward lifestyle expectations, but on the basis of what will strengthen the faith of the family and advance the cause of Christ. <br /><br />. . . That you step back and (with your husband, if you are married) plan the various forms of your life’s ministry in chapters. Chapters are divided by various things—age, strength, singleness, marriage, employment, children at home, children in college, grandchildren, retirement, etc. No chapter has all the joys. Finite life is a series of tradeoffs. Finding God’s will, and living for the glory of Christ to the full in every chapter is what makes it a success, not whether it reads like somebody else’s chapter or whether it has in it what only another chapter will bring. <br /><br />. . . That you develop a wartime mentality and lifestyle; that you never forget that life is short, that billions of people hang in the balance of heaven and hell every day, that the love of money is spiritual suicide, that the goals of upward mobility (nicer clothes, cars, houses, vacations, food, hobbies) are a poor and dangerous substitute for the goals of living for Christ with all your might and maximizing your joy in ministry to people’s needs. <br /><br />. . . That in all your relationships with men (not just in marriage) you seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in applying the biblical vision of manhood and womanhood; that you develop a style and demeanor that does justice to the unique role God has given to man to feel responsible for gracious leadership in relation to women—a leadership which involves elements of protection and provision and a pattern of initiative; that you think creatively and with cultural sensitivity (just as he must do) in shaping the style and setting the tone of your interaction with men. <br /><br />. . . That you see the biblical guidelines for what is appropriate and inappropriate for men and women not as arbitrary constraints on freedom, but as wise and gracious prescriptions for how to discover the true freedom of God’s ideal of complementarity; that you not measure your potential by the few roles withheld, but by the countless roles offered; that you look to the loving God of Scripture and dream about the possibilities of your service to him. (For a detailed list of service ideas, see the pdf titled, Opportunities for Ministry.) <br /><br />Excerpted from Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism by Pastor John Piper. (Crossway Books) <br /><br />© Revive Our Hearts. Used with permission from John Piper at Desiring God. www.DesiringGod.org. www.TrueWoman.comSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-10159424373295906532011-04-20T09:28:00.001-07:002011-04-20T09:28:19.199-07:00"If before He hung that first star He knew us by name and knows the number of hairs on our head, then our gender as we walk around in this costume known as flesh is not a mistake but a divine fingerprint." - Janet ParshallSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-50565678218147232972011-04-18T19:58:00.000-07:002011-04-18T20:01:57.703-07:00Tin Tiaras<a href="http://www.girlsgonewise.com/tin-tiaras/">Tin Tiaras</a><br /><br />Which crown will you choose? The earthly or the eternal?<br /><br />"You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but <strong><em>with precious blood</em></strong>, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ." - 1 Peter 1:18-19Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-85434758623627028842011-04-14T15:46:00.000-07:002011-04-14T15:58:04.710-07:00What Guys Say About Modesty...<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2n-NWbd3pis?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />(Sorry about the rap, but I couldn't pass up the message from C.J. Mahaney!) <br /><br />My beloved sister's, please love God and serve your brothers in Christ by making modesty your choice.<br /><br />"Your adornment must not be merely external - braiding hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but <em>let it be the hidden person of the heart</em>, with the imperishable quality of<em> a gentle and quiet spirit</em>, which is precious in the sight of God."<br /><br />1 Peter 3:3-4Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-59653091629066699292011-03-31T08:32:00.001-07:002011-03-31T08:32:26.694-07:00The Heart God Revives by Nancy Leigh DeMossThe Heart God Revives<br /><br /><br />by Nancy Leigh DeMoss <br /><br />Proud people focus on the failures of others.<br />Broken people are overwhelmed with a sense of their own spiritual need. <br /><br />Proud people have a critical, fault-finding spirit; they look at everyone else’s faults with a microscope but their own with a telescope.<br />Broken people are compassionate; they can forgive much because they know how much they have been forgiven. <br /><br />Proud people are self-righteous; they look down on others.<br />Broken people esteem all others better than themselves. <br /><br />Proud people have an independent, self-sufficient spirit.<br />Broken people have a dependent spirit; they recognize their need for others. <br /><br />Proud people have to prove that they are right.<br />Broken people are willing to yield the right to be right. <br /><br />Proud people claim rights; they have a demanding spirit.<br />Broken people yield their rights; they have a meek spirit. <br /><br />Proud people are self-protective of their time, their rights, and their reputation.<br />Broken people are self-denying. <br /><br />Proud people desire to be served.<br />Broken people are motivated to serve others. <br /><br />Proud people desire to be a success.<br />Broken people are motivated to be faithful and to make others a success. <br /><br />Proud people desire self-advancement.<br />Broken people desire to promote others. <br /><br />Proud people have a drive to be recognized and appreciated.<br />Broken people have a sense of their own unworthiness; they are thrilled that God would use them at all. <br /><br />Proud people are wounded when others are promoted and they are overlooked.<br />Broken people are eager for others to get the credit; they rejoice when others are lifted up. <br /><br />Proud people have a subconscious feeling, “This ministry/church is privileged to have me and my gifts”; they think of what they can do for God.<br />Broken people’s heart attitude is, “I don’t deserve to have a part in any ministry”; they know that they have nothing to offer God except the life of Jesus flowing through their broken lives. <br /><br />Proud people feel confident in how much they know.<br />Broken people are humbled by how very much they have to learn. <br /><br />Proud people are self-conscious.<br />Broken people are not concerned with self at all. <br /><br />Proud people keep others at arms’ length.<br />Broken people are willing to risk getting close to others and to take risks of loving intimately. <br /><br />Proud people are quick to blame others.<br />Broken people accept personal responsibility and can see where they are wrong in a situation. <br /><br />Proud people are unapproachable or defensive when criticized.<br />Broken people receive criticism with a humble, open spirit. <br /><br />Proud people are concerned with being respectable, with what others think; they work to protect their own image and reputation.<br />Broken people are concerned with being real; what matters to them is not what others think but what God knows; they are willing to die to their own reputation. <br /><br />Proud people find it difficult to share their spiritual need with others.<br />Broken people are willing to be open and transparent with others as God directs. <br /><br />Proud people want to be sure that no one finds out when they have sinned; their instinct is to cover up.<br />Broken people, once broken, don’t care who knows or who finds out; they are willing to be exposed because they have nothing to lose. <br /><br />Proud people have a hard time saying, “I was wrong; will you please forgive me?”<br />Broken people are quick to admit failure and to seek forgiveness when necessary. <br /><br />Proud people tend to deal in generalities when confessing sin.<br />Broken people are able to acknowledge specifics when confessing their sin. <br /><br />Proud people are concerned about the consequences of their sin.<br />Broken people are grieved over the cause, the root of their sin. <br /><br />Proud people are remorseful over their sin, sorry that they got found out or caught.<br />Broken people are truly, genuinely repentant over their sin, evidenced in the fact that they forsake that sin. <br /><br />Proud people wait for the other to come and ask forgiveness when there is a misunderstanding or conflict in a relationship.<br />Broken people take the initiative to be reconciled when there is misunderstanding or conflict in relationships; they race to the cross; they see if they can get there first, no matter how wrong the other may have been. <br /><br />Proud people compare themselves with others and feel worthy of honor.<br />Broken people compare themselves to the holiness of God and feel a desperate need for His mercy. <br /><br />Proud people are blind to their true heart condition.<br />Broken people walk in the light. <br /><br />Proud people don’t think they have anything to repent of.<br />Broken people realize they have need of a continual heart attitude of repentance. <br /><br />Proud people don’t think they need revival, but they are sure that everyone else does.<br />Broken people continually sense their need for a fresh encounter with God and for a fresh filling of His Holy Spirit. <br /><br />© Revive Our Hearts. Used with permission. www.TrueWoman.comSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-22688017999664498782011-03-07T15:13:00.000-08:002011-03-07T15:17:27.193-08:00Faith in the DarkWe, as women, are such emotional beings. It is so easy to get our focus off of Christ when we don't "feel" close to Him or when we don't "feel" like He loves us. <br /><br />This devotional from Nancy Leigh DeMoss really encouraged my heart and gave me hope for something that I have recently struggled with. <br /><br />So be encouraged, child of God!<br /><br />~<br /><br />"I'm reading the Bible and praying just like I used to, but for some<br />reason, I just don't sense God's presence. It seems like I'm talking<br />to myself. What's going on?" <br /><br /> There are times when God withholds the conscious<br />sense of His presence--times when God seems far away and less real. I<br />think that's because He wants us to walk by faith and seek Him with<br />all our hearts. <br /><br />Isaiah described it this way: "Who among you fears the Lord and obeys<br />the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no<br />light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God." <br /><br />If you're feel like you're walking in the dark today, let me<br />encourage you. Trust in the Lord, rely on God and keep going. God is<br />pleased with faith that's exercised in the darkness."<br /><br />With Seeking Him, Nancy Leigh DeMossSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-49760210559038191312011-02-22T08:47:00.000-08:002011-02-22T08:48:25.659-08:00"It’s not your family that can satisfy you. God is the only one who can satisfy the deepest needs and longings of your heart. But if you want to be a truly fulfilled, happy woman—if God has called you to be a wife and mother—your greatest fulfillment will come through filling the role that God created for you." -Nancy Leigh DeMossSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-34127177308771485552011-02-02T20:01:00.000-08:002011-02-02T20:02:31.530-08:00Female Piety - John Angell James<em>"Every woman whether rich or poor, married or single, has a circle of influence within which, according to her character, she is exerting a certain amount of power for good or harm. Every woman, by her virtue or her vice, by her folly or her wisdom, by her levity or her dignity, is adding something to our national elevation or degradation. A community is not likely to be overthrown where woman fulfills her mission, for by the power of her noble heart over the hearts of others, she will raise that community from its ruins and restore it again to prosperity and joy."</em>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-68376626309128529642011-01-18T13:50:00.000-08:002011-01-18T13:50:37.388-08:00Truly YoursRemember, ladies: We are His, with hearts and minds completely His. Women who love Him with a passion for His Name. We are His, truly His!<br /><br />"Lord help us to stand firmly against the tide, not to be moved by the worlds raging waves.<br />Lord we want to shine throughout this darkened land, bearing the Light, the goodnews that our God saves!"<br /><br /><br /><iframe width="480" height="295" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Tzt-txcAzJ0?fs=1" frameborder="0"></iframe>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-716780344605867802011-01-15T21:46:00.000-08:002011-01-15T21:48:09.785-08:00Me, Lord, Single? Part 3This excellent article by Carolyn McCulley speaks for itself! Please read and be encouraged!<br /><br />The God Who Knows the End of Your Singleness<br /><br />by Carolyn McCulley <br /><br />The 12-year-old boy strode across the conference stage with complete assurance, oozing the precocious seriousness of youth that can strike adults as charmingly amusing. But any patronizing thoughts present were soon squashed as 3,000 adults heard the evangelistic heartbeat of God in the words of the young speaker. After giving his testimony of being adopted from a Romanian orphanage by his American parents and his subsequent adoption into the family of God when he trusted Jesus for his salvation, Gabriel Spiro outlined his hopes for his future. <br /><br />“Since becoming a Christian, I’ve had the dream to attend the PDI Pastors College,” he said to spontaneous, thunderous applause. “I feel like God has called me to be trained and equipped so that I can go and help the poor people and the orphans that are still living in Romania. My desire is to start a PDI church there in Romania. I thank God that He has brought me to my family and to Covenant Life Church—my extended family. I pray that by His grace I’ll be able to be trained in character in order to fulfill the calling of God.” <br /><br />Watching from the back row that steamy May evening, I gave silent thanks to God for the plans He has for singles and families alike. Eight years earlier, a single woman from my church had wrestled with God as He called her to overlook her own desires for marriage and children in order to serve a good friend during an international adoption process by traveling with her to Romania. “What would I gain?!” Charlotte Ennis recalls. “I’d have to spend my own money, put myself at personal risk, and watch someone else return with children. I would return with ... nothing.” <br /><br />Then 36, Charlotte was not certain that God did have marriage and a family in her future. It certainly had been a long wait and her hope was waning. She had no idea that she was facilitating the adoption of a child whose presence would be a blessing to many more than his own family. She had no idea that this little boy would develop a strong passion for the local church before he even hit his teens, and that he would be a regular and fruitful part of his church’s evangelism ministry. She had no idea that one day this little boy would speak to a gathering of churches about their collective mission and be the highlight of the evening. Nor did Charlotte know that on the same evening Gabriel spoke, she would be married—a gift from God to her at age 39—and the mother of several children. <br /><br />But the One who “makes known the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:10) knew all of this, and it was His perfect plan that had been operating all along. <br /><br />Moments like these are glimpses of the Lord’s sovereignty in action and treasures to be stored up in the hearts of single women especially. Only occasionally do we have the privilege of seeing so clearly how “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). We should cherish and retell those evidences of God's grace to encourage and strengthen each other. Our Lord is not a random God: His plan includes blessing us but also making us a blessing to others. <br /><br />I didn’t know Charlotte when she was single, but I do remember reading her testimony in our ministry magazine, one that was written just weeks prior to her wedding. At the time, I was 32, a fairly new Christian, and to be unflatteringly honest, horrified at the prospect of having to wait until 39 to be married. Now I am 37, a little less arrogant (hopefully), and grateful for Charlotte’s example. Last year in my church, a woman got married for the first time at 43. That pushed Charlotte’s benchmark out of the way and gave me six more years to hope, so to speak. <br /><br />In my extended season of singleness, I’ve had the time to ponder the risks and rewards of singleness from the perspective of both a rank unbeliever in my twenties and as a chaste Christian in my thirties. As I write this, I have been praying over the demise of two Christian marriages I thought were trophies of God’s grace—both of which were shipwrecked over sexual sin committed by the husbands. <br /><br />Many years ago, one of the men had asked me out. I had declined the relationship, and he went on to marry someone else while I remained single, but now I grieve for his wife and daughters as they wrestle with the nuclear fallout of a perverse and unlawful form of sexual sin. Though I do not mean to imply that God wasn’t good for allowing this woman to marry my friend, I can certainly see where He spared me the “many troubles in this life” (1 Corinthians 7:28b) in marriage by keeping me single and unencumbered. <br /><br />Three times so far I’ve been privileged to see why He said no to my prayers asking Him for specific men to be my husband. In each case, it wasn’t too many years later that I discovered I had been spared inheriting some serious sexual sin. That is one of the benefits of being an older single— I’ve lived long enough to see what unconfessed and unrepentant sin does to wreck the dream of living “happily ever after.” Those sad moments make me appreciate the pleasant places where my boundary lines have fallen (Psalm 16:6). <br /><br />Why is knowing God and embracing His sovereignty so important when we’re single? We have to keep in mind that we’ve received this gift of singleness from the pierced hand of the One who bore all of our sins—from unbelief as singles to selfishness as marrieds. We can be like Peter who initially rebuked Jesus for His humiliating, yet glorious, plan of redemption, or we can be like Mary, who came to accept His plan and purposes and demonstrated it in the costly outpouring of perfume in anticipation of His burial. Confident of the Lord’s good plan for our lives, we can emulate Mary and spend our treasures (youth, dreams, desires) to further His purposes on this earth. <br /><br />More importantly, when we are almost faint under the strain and worry of wondering if singleness is to be forever, we need to be reminded that there is an end to singleness: One day we will be at the wedding feast of the Lamb and we will be His bride. Even if we receive the gift of marriage on this side of heaven, that’s not our ultimate goal. It is a shadow and a type of what is planned for eternity and, like all things on this earth, it will have its conclusion in death. <br /><br />Our Father knows the time when earthly gifts will be distributed and when they will be no more; He knows, as well, when the heavenly wedding feast will commence. We can blissfully rest in the knowledge that the future is better than anything we think we’ve missed now: Jesus is preparing us for the eternal rewards and eternal joys of a future He’s told us is too inexpressible for us to understand. <br /><br />For His purposes, and within His covenant to always do us good (Jeremiah 33:40), He has declared for us that being single now and into the foreseeable future is His very best. He desires that we overflow with hope as we trust in Him (Romans 15:13) and His sovereignty in this season—redefining hope from hoping in a particular gift from God to trusting the God of hope unreservedly. <br /><br />© Revive Our Hearts. Used with permission from the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-4048694179120930652011-01-06T09:45:00.000-08:002011-01-06T10:01:40.064-08:00Me, Lord, Single? Part Two<div align="center"><strong>Rose From Brier ~ By Amy Carmichael</strong><br /><br />Thou hast not that, My child, but thou hast Me,<br />And am not I alone enough for thee?<br />I know it all, know how thy heart was set<br />Upon this joy which is not given yet.<br /><br />And well I know how through the wistful days<br />Thou walkest all the dear familiar ways,<br />As unregarded as a breath of air,<br />But there in love and longing, always there!<br /><br />I know it all; but from thy brier shall blow<br />A rose for others. If it were not so<br />I would have told thee. Come then, say to Me:<br />My Lord, my Love, I am content with Thee.</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><em>My Lord, my Love, I am content with Thee.</em> </div><div align="center"></div><div align="left">Am I? Am I content with the Lord? Is He alone enough to satisfy me and the desires of my heart? Psalm 73:25-26 is such a beautiful picture of this: <em>"Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."</em> Nothing on this earth can satisfy me like Christ does. I must say with Habakkuk, verses 17-19,</div><div align="left"></div><div align="center"><em>"Though the fig tree should not blossom </em></div><div align="center"><em>And there be no fruit on the vines,</em></div><div align="center"><em>Though the yield of the olive should fail</em></div><div align="center"><em>And the fields produce no food, </em></div><div align="center"><em>Though the flock should be cut off from the fold</em></div><div align="center"><em>And there be no cattle in the stalls,</em></div><div align="center"><em>Yet <strong>I will</strong> <strong>exult</strong> in the Lord,</em></div><div align="center"><em><strong>I will rejoice</strong> in the God of my salvation.</em></div><div align="center"><em>The Lord God is my strength, </em></div><div align="center"><em>And He has made my feet like hinds' feet,</em></div><div align="center"><em>And makes me walk on my high places."</em></div><div align="center"><em></em></div><div align="left">I have a decision to make. I will either choose to be discontent and ungrateful for the season of life God has me in, <strong>OR</strong> I will choose to <em>"rejoice in the God of my salvation"</em> and<strong> "exult in the Lord."</strong> What will you choose?</div>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-39672391533560059412011-01-06T09:41:00.000-08:002011-01-06T09:43:14.474-08:006 O'Clock Club!Here is a verse to encourage you if you are waking up early to meet with the Lord:<br /><br />"In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there." - Mark 1:35Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-67340539196533523682011-01-05T08:59:00.000-08:002011-01-05T10:12:35.921-08:00Me, Lord, Single? Part One"God has made us for Himself, and our hearts can never know rest and perfect satisfaction until they find it in Him." - Hannah Hurnard<br /><br />It seems like the older I get, the more people around me are getting married. Actually, it's hard to go anywhere without seeing couples, old and young (and some way too young!) spending time together and enjoying one another. As Valentines day quickly approaches, I know I'll be seeing even more of them with the addition of roses, hearts, and candy! Everything seems to be lost in a sea of pink, red, and white...<br /><br />Another holiday...<br /><br />Another year with the status: single...<br /><br /><br />...But am I really <em>single?</em><br /><br />Let's take a look at what the word "single" means.<br /><br />Merriam Webster's online dictionary defines the adjective "single" first as "unmarried." This is an obvious. I do fall under that category of "single." However, the second definition caught my eye: "unaccompanied by others, lone, sole." Hmmm. Doesn't sound like me.<br /><br />Although I don't have the earthly love and attention of a man, I do have the undeniable, incomprehensible, unconditional love of God.<br /><br />But will I allow that to be enough for me? Will it satisfy me?<br /><br />One time, long ago, Jesus choose to leave Judea, the area in which He was ministering, and travel to Galilee. Now Judea was near the south of Israel and Galilee was near the north. You may be thinking that since Israel is not that big of a country, this trip wouldn't be too much trouble. However, we have to remember there were no means of transportation at this time except for traveling by donkey or most likely on foot. Also, there's something else we have to remember: the Jewish people hated Samaritans, and Samaria sat smack-dab in the middle of Judea and Galilee. This presented a problem for the Jews which they were determined to solve by taking a much longer, much more dangerous trip over mountains and deserts and rivers, risking their lives just so that they would not have to place one sandal on Samarian soil!<br /><br />But do you think Jesus was going to make this trip?<br /><br />Nope!<br /><br />Let's look at John 4:4 and following, "And He (Jesus) <strong>had to pass through Samaria</strong>. So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar...and Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well."<br /><br />Did you catch those words "had to pass through Samaria." No He didn't! He could have taken the long route! He could have saved Himself from the upturned noses and disdained glances of those who despised the Samaritans. But no! Jesus was on a mission. He was walking from Judea straight through Samaria to Galiee because He had a divine appointment with a thirsty Samaritan woman.<br /><br />Let's see what happens:<br /><br />"There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, 'Give Me a drink.' For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, 'How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?' (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)<br />"Jesus said to her, 'If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, "Give Me a drink," you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.' She said to Him, 'Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?' Jesus answered and said to her, 'Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.'<br />"The woman said to Him, 'Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.' He said to her, 'Go call your husband and come here.' The woman answered Him and said, 'I have no husband.' Jesus said to her, 'You have correctly said, "I have no husband;" for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.'...The woman said to Him, 'I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.'<br /><br />"Jesus said to her, 'I who speak to you am He.'"<br /><br />I love this story! It is such a beautiful picture of Christ's heart for the lost! Jesus had to pass through Samaria because there was a woman whose life was so empty; a woman who was trying to quench all the thirsts in her life through relationship after relationship, but never finding satisfaction. Jesus offered her the Living Water: Himself, that she would drink and be forever satisfied.<br /><br />Jesus offers us that same Living Water. He says in Matthew 11:28, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."<br /><br />If you are single and reading this, Jesus is asking you, He is commanding you because He desires to grant you salvation, to come to Him and find your satisfaction in Him alone.<br /><br />If you are married, He requires the same, for no human spouse can fulfill you.<br /><br />Only in Jesus is found "the fullness of Him who fills all in all." (Ephesians1:23)<br /><br />Let Him satisfy you. Choose to obey Psalm 37:4 which says, "Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart."<br /><br />Remember the words of one young man, "There is One that is more in love with you than any man can ever be. Your are incredibly valuable to Him, and you never need question His commitment to you. He thinks you're beautiful in the morning without your makeup, and He'll think our just as beautiful when you're 80. He is Christ, and you should treat Him with the loyalty and respect of a Husband. There is no need to attract a man to you - Christ will lead the right man to you, and when someone that loves you as much as Christ arranges a marriage, you may rest assured it will be far better than anything you could have done. You are HIS - be content there."<br /><br />"It is a safe thing to trust Him to fulfill the desire which He creates." - Amy Carmichael, missionary to India.Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-41854030152361684292011-01-04T19:44:00.000-08:002011-01-04T19:44:50.117-08:00girltalk | Resources<a href="http://www.girltalkhome.com/resources#clubs/5oclock">girltalk | Resources</a><br /><br />CLICK on the link above!<br /><br />Ladies! I am excited to share with you "The 5 O'Clock Club" from the Carolyn Mahaney and her daughters over at the girltalk! blog! They are challenging women, especially in this new year, to wake up early to meet with Jesus in His Word and in prayer. I just joined yesterday and hope you would consider it, too! With our lives so busy and so many activities going on, it is <strong>critical</strong> that we set aside time to cultivate our relationship with the Lover of our souls: Jesus! He deserves and must receive our utmost devotion!<br /><br />So, please join me in this adventure! Whether you are single and busy with many activities, a young mother who struggles to find time for devotions between diaper changing and meal prep, or an older woman who needs to be preparing her heart to share the truths of the Gospel with the younger generation, this club is for you. You don't have to rise at 5:00am! It can be any early time that allows you a solitude with your Savior! I hope you join and are blessed!<br /><br />Psalm 119:2, "How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, Who seek Him with all their heart."Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-57602962585695348842010-11-15T11:03:00.000-08:002010-11-15T11:04:26.805-08:00God Answers"Ladies, don't tell me how busy you are because I know. I'm busy too. We all are, and I just think sometimes, all this activity—God would rather have a lot less of it and just more of us.<br /><br />You know what? I find I have to be ruthless with my schedule. There are people I can't meet with. There are people I can't see. There are letters I can't write. There are places I can't go. There are speaking engagements I can't take.<br /><br />Now, I'm not saying I never do any of those things, but I have to limit those things. Sometimes people don't understand why I'm not doing more things, why I'm not more social.<br /><br />You know what? It's because I've decided that in this life I want to be getting ready to meet God, and that means I want to be listening to Him. That takes time.<br /><br />You've got to make time. It's not just going to happen in your schedule. You've got to carve out the time. Set it apart. Set it aside.<br /><br />Go to your watchpost. Go to your tower. Look out to see what God will say to you, and in His way, and in God's time, He will answer you."<br /><br />-Nancy Leigh DeMossSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3895832773454172125.post-30247535077115447372010-11-14T14:09:00.000-08:002010-11-14T14:09:22.580-08:00ROH Radio :: The Powerful Influence of a Godly Woman (Kay Arthur) :: Women of Courage in a Critical Time<a href="http://www.reviveourhearts.com/radio/roh/today.php?pid=10692">ROH Radio :: The Powerful Influence of a Godly Woman (Kay Arthur) :: Women of Courage in a Critical Time</a><br /><br />Don't forget to click "Listen" !Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10220616462563462938noreply@blogger.com0