quote for Wednesday, March 5

sorry for not posting for a while! here's a verse for today :) I'll be posting this month's top picks soon, too!

So...

February 14th used to be one of my favorite days of the year. I always had something planned for my significant other, and I always anticipated something from them. It was great. It was lovey-dovey. It was "romantic" (in every 9th-grader sense of the word).

Until I became single.

Like now.

Now I get to walk through Walmart's mountains of giant teddy bears and heart-shaped boxes of chocolates. I think most of you girls are single, and you've probably been single for your whole life. Or maybe you're single, but you have hopes and dreams that you could be with someone. And sometimes, we can get down about our situation. A lot of us don't have a problem with the holiday, but most of us look forward to the day that we can spend Valentine's with a special someone. And some of us get our buttons pushed when we see our friends having a great day with their romantic interests.

We all know about 1 Corinthians 13. But do we really get it? Do we just read all the characteristics of love and then say, "Yeah, that's great. I'll show love to my family and my friends and the people I influence." That's wonderful. But let me tell you something. There's nothing wrong with loving your future husband now, either.

Look at the characteristics of love from 1 Corinthians 13....

Love is patient.
Love is kind.
Love does not envy...

Let's pause there for a second. You can love your future husband by being patient for him. You can show love to others by being kind to those people that are having a fun time with their significant other. You can love your future husband by not being envious of the couples around you, knowing that God's plan for you and your future husband is beautiful. Let's go on...

Love does not boast.
Love is not proud.
Love is dignified.
Love is not selfish.

We can love our future husbands by not boasting of how we are "following God's plan" by waiting. God's plan for you is probably much, much different than God's plan for the next person. Don't look down on someone, or act pridefully, because you don't think they are following God's will. Their life is completely different than yours, and their walk with God is only between them and God. This shows dignity, in that you are confident in God's leading in your life, but you don't judge others. We have to be very, very careful to avoid selfishness. It will mar our love, because true love is selfless. Let's look at some more.

Love is not easily angry.
Love does not think evil of another.
Love does not rejoice in iniquity.
Love rejoices in the truth.

If you are in love with God and your future husband, you should not be easily angered at your situation. It's important that we realize that God makes all things beautiful in His time. His timing is perfect for your life. Also, you should not be assuming sin of another person. This ties in with what I said earlier. Don't assume that someone else is going the "wrong" way, just because they aren't going your way. Now we see that someone showing love to another (including her future husband) does not rejoice in iniquity. She will not rejoice in rebelling against God's commandments concerning abstinence. She will instead rejoice in the truth that God knows the desires of her heart, and that God's timing is amazing. Let's see some more characteristics of love...

Love bears through all things.
Love believes through all things.
Love hopes through all things.
Love endures through all things.

"All things" is not limited to fun, fluffy things. Actually, it's a lot more likely that the point here is that love bears, believes, hopes, and endures through all hardships- small or big. A jewel of Jesus, showing the love of Jesus, and loving her future husband, will strive to show this love through all things. She will bear through hardships, because she trusts in God. She will believe God's Word and His promises. She will maintain her hope in a heavenly wedding feast with Jesus. She will endure through all things, knowing that as she shows love to others, she will be rewarded in glory.

Obviously, all these characteristics are characteristics of perfect love, and only God has perfect love. We, as human girls, will struggle through some of these things, if not all of them. Life's tough, but love's stronger.*** Ask God to help you show His love to others, including your future husband.

There's this verse that says, "She (a virtuous woman) will do him (her husband) good all the days of her life." (Proverbs 31:12). Jewels, "all days" includes today. You can truly love your future husband now. Be sure you ask for God's help, because any kind of journey of love requires a lot of strength, which only comes from God. Don't be discouraged when you struggle with something; we all do struggle with these things, more than we like to admit.

There's two more characteristics of love from 1 Corinthians 13 that I want to conclude with:

Love never fails.
Love abides forever.

Love someone today <3

Top Song Picks: February

Instead of Sunday re-post, we have a special post today! All of our favorite songs for the month of February. Take the time to listen to at least one of them. :) (If you have one, comment on this post!)

Pushing Back the Dark
by Josh Wilson
(Cosette's pick)

The Words I Would Say
by the Sidewalk Prophets
(Micaela's pick)

You Are
by Colton Dixon
(Karlee's pick)

God's Definitely Not Finished with Me Yet

I remember when I was younger, my family had a magnet on our fridge that pictured a cute caterpillar and read: "Don't judge me; God's not finished with me yet!"

Several times in the past week I have been tempted to get discouraged because of all the areas in my life that God is working on. One of these times I sat down to read out of my Jesus Calling devotional book, and one of the sentences that stood out to me was, "The best way to get through this day is step by step with Me (Jesus). Continue this intimate journey, trusting that the path you are following is headed for heaven." As the words sank into my heart, I realized that this whole process of becoming Christ-like is only to be taken step by step.

Of course, I can't help but be reminded of a song I used to sing in youth group: "Step by Step" by Rich Mullins...

"O God, You are my God

And I will ever praise You.

O God, You are my God

And I will ever praise You.

I will seek You in the morning,

And I will learn to walk in Your way,

And step by step You'll lead me,

And I will follow You all of my days."

All this is a great reminder to me that, just like the caterpillar, I am going through a journey of transformation toward a better character that is meant to traveled one step at a time.

Quote for February 5, 2014

Re-Post Sunday

Guess what? It's re-post Sunday! Head on over to More to Be to read about how you can tell the difference between a guy being "Flirty or Friendly." We can all use to review this stuff!

Your Potential Energy

Today I was reading through my chemistry lesson. The title of the new chapter is "Energy, Heat, and Temperature." I don't know about you, but I'm not too big on chemistry class, and the faster I can get to writing blog posts and books, the better.

But as I was reading through the lesson, some things stood out to my all-too-analytical mind. I began reading about how a log supposedly has a ton of energy inside it, just waiting to be let out to boil up some water or blacken a marshmallow or grant some heat to cold, soaked toes or scorch some fingers.

And I think that's when analogies started to open 500 more tabs in my mind. Just like that log has that energy inside it that can be used for good or bad, we have "potential" in us that can be used for good or bad. We have a passion inside of us that can be used to excite a sister's heart or dampen her spirit. We have the opportunities to comfort a brother or add insult to injury, whatever we choose.

A log, though, does not just magically produce fire. It has to be ignited by other energy to let all the log's energy out.

In the same way, something ignites our hearts' passion. That something could be God's Word or an insulting person's word. It could be friction in our lives, or it could be a sister's fiery heart. You could flip that around and say that your fiery heart can ignite another's passion, or your insulting words could ignite a friend's anger. 

Obviously, how we each respond to an attempted ignition is up to us. If we are drenched in the world, then the fire of God's Word may not affect us as much. 

The point is, we each have the potential to affect other people in good ways or bad ways, and most likely we will each be affected by other people's fires. How we use this "potential energy" and how we respond to other's "energy" is totally up to us.

"Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another."

~Romans 14:19