Biblical Girlhood

The Beauty of Youth

2012-01-03T12:19:00.000-08:00

Written by Sheryl Shaffer

Girlhood is one of the best times of your life! Sometimes, if you are not careful and watchful, you can rush by it so fast that you don’t even have a chance to enjoy the beautiful days of your girlhood before they are gone….and you are old. You will always be older much longer than you will ever be young!

I’ve seen too many young ladies wishing to be grown up, when the flower of youth was just blossoming. They wanted to be a mature flower in full and open bloom, when they were still meant to be just a small bud. The buds of a flower have a delicate beauty all their own. Every beautiful flower started out as a small bud. The secrets of their beauty were concealed…hidden, until……just the right time! God planned it that way for the flowers and He planned it that way for you too!

Wouldn’t it be silly if the two little girls in the picture above were dressed in high heels, fishnet nylons, skin tight halter tops, bikini bottoms and trying to imitate Hannah Montana? You would have good reason to say, “That would be ridiculous! They are just babies!”. So it is, for every preteen and teen girl who tries to dress and act like a twenty year old when she is still so very young.

Girlhood, is like a half-open rose. It’s something you want to protect because it’s not fully opened yet. You know what it can become, and you know it takes time for that change to happen. It takes time for anything beautiful…to mature. And it will take time for you to grow into a mature young woman too. There is so much to learn about. Take the time to learn. There is much to develop in your character. Listen to your mother and father as they try to teach you about life and Godliness.

For now, just enjoy being a girl! Laugh and play and learn …for this is your time.

Enjoy your friendships. Protect them. Train yourself to be a good friend to others. Good friendships don’t happen by themselves. They must be planted in the good soil of kindness, of love and of appreciation. Then, everyday of your life, be a friend that loveth at all times.

Enjoy your beautiful girlhood, for it will be gone in a blink of time!

Who is the Favorite Man in Your Life?

2011-09-01T12:33:00.000-07:00

Written by Sheryl Shaffer
Do you remember when your daddy was your very favorite man in the whole wide world? The thrill of going somewhere with Daddy, set your heart on fire with excitement!

Some of you girls may not have ever known your daddy. He may not have been a part of your life. Other girls had a father who did not treat them well. Perhaps he hurt them physically or emotionally in some way. If this has been your situation, I’m so sorry that life was that way for you. That should not have been the way it was. But those are circumstances that cannot be changed. You cannot live in despair and regret over what you missed out on. That will only hurt you if you mourn your life away over this deep sadness. You must trust that God will use what you have missed, to be a help and blessing to someone else along life’s way. Always remember....God makes no mistakes!

Then there are other girls who have enjoyed the privilege of growing up with a father in the home but have taken their Daddy for granted.

One of the saddest things to see, is a young girl who once adored her Daddy, but now she finds him a nuisance. He is no longer the favorite man in her life. She finds him troublesome, geeky or out of touch. Where she once found everything he said, funny and interesting, now she is embarrassed by him. She no longer loves to spend time with him. She no longer looks up to him or reverences him. He is no longer interesting to her.

How very sad that is, for she is missing out on what many girls would give their right arm, to have.

Girls, stay acquainted with your daddy as you grow older. As little girls begin to grow up, it can sometimes be awkward for your Dad. The little girl he liked to bounce and tumble with, is no longer a little girl. Kind hearted Dads, do not like to play roughly with maturing daughters and if both of you are not careful, distance can grow between you. In an effort to be careful, you won’t know each other as well. While you are busy growing up, he is busy working hard to take care of your family, and before you know it, you are 17 and he doesn’t know what to do with the big girl you have become.

Help your Dad to know you, by letting him know what is going on in your life. Talk to him. Tell him what is happening in your day. Ask him questions about life and things you hear about that you don’t understand. He has learned many things about life. Some of them he learned the hard way .... but he can teach them to you....if you’ll take the time to ask him.

Don’t be selfish with your time. Take time for your parents. Keep your heart open to them. You never outgrow your need for a daddy. Even when you become an old woman, you will talk much about what your Daddy taught you and what he was in your life.

Enjoy the special times that you have with your Dad. Don’t despise them or him. What you enjoy is a very precious gift! Appreciate your Daddy....God’s gift to you!

Shhhh…..Can You Hear It?

2011-08-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

Written By Sheryl Shaffer

Hello dear girls…. Do you ever find it hard to “hear” that still small voice of the LORD calling out to you? You can barely hear it above the clamor and noisy din of this world’s conversation. It’s barely even audible for most young people to hear.

Have you ever been in a room of people and everyone is talking so loud around you that you cannot even hear well enough to speak with the person standing right next to you? That is how it is, living as a Christian in this wicked world!

How in the world can you hear the LORD speaking to you, when every billboard, every magazine, every TV commercial and program and every store that you enter to buy clothes or other goods, is screaming the world’s music and philosophy at you? From constant text messaging, facebooking, cell phones and IPods that never seem to rest, you can find yourself so “busy” and so occupied that you have no time to just hear the silence around you! Add to that, your own friends who may not have a desire to separate themselves from this world’s form of living and its entertainments, and you will find yourself overwhelmed by worldliness and not even know what to do to get beyond it, into the quiet where God can speak to you!

How are you ever going to be able to “hear” that still small voice of the LORD calling and speaking to you above all of this world’s clatter and chatter?

If you are a born again young person, you must seek everyday, for those quiet moments with the Lord. He needs to be what you hunger for. We “hear” His voice when we read His Word. You must take time for it everyday!

Psalm 32:8 “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go; I will guide thee with mine eye.”

He does this through His Word…the Bible.

Psalm 34:4 “I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.”

When you seek after the LORD….He delivers just what you need…because He promised to!

You can hear the voice of the LORD if you will stop long enough and purposefully listen for His voice. You can hear His voice if you will discipline yourself everyday to shut the world off for a time and use that time to listen to the instruction of the LORD. You have to want to hear from Him.

I Chronicles 28:9 “And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.”

How bad do you want to hear the still small voice of the LORD speaking to you?

What Will You Leave Behind?

2011-06-02T06:51:00.000-07:00

Written by Sheryl Shaffer

This past weekend I attended a graduation at our local public school. The senior class of 2011 from Larimore High School was different from other senior classes that I have observed in a public high school and I think I know why.

This class had the unusual privilege of having had a most remarkable classmate who had been a part of their class but died unexpectedly this past January. Andrew, the 18 year old son of my neighbors, Dave & Melissa, was a sweet, down syndrome boy with a heart as big as North Dakota itself. He had been allowed to be a part of the senior class. He was an enthusiastic young man who loved sports, participating in many special Olympic sporting activities and proudly wore his high school’s mascot of a polar bear at every home game. Andrew was so friendly. Everyone seemed to love him! He endeared himself to everyone he met.

At the graduation of his class, everyone who spoke, remembered him with kind words. His classmates each wore a button with his picture on it in remembrance of Andrew. I was actually quite impressed with how sober minded this class was and how gracious they were in keeping Andrew’s spirit alive at an occasion that was difficult for his grieving parents.

What made this so meaningful to me? I was struck with how one unassuming, mentally handicapped 18 year old boy could have such a profound, character changing effect on an entire senior class! Even the Principal was moved to tears when he spoke of the good ways that Andrew impacted their school. He spoke of how Andrew influenced his school for the better from just having been there and walked their halls.

Andrew left something behind that will always be remembered. He took everyone at face value, judged no one and loved everybody he met. Could people say that about you?

Will your girlhood leave anything beautiful behind when you are gone? We all have an influence and our influence touches people in ways we often do not even recognize. What will your legacy be when you are gone? Will people be able to say, “She accepted everyone at face value, judged no one and loved everybody she met?”

I wonder….

Are You the Real Deal?

2011-05-03T05:19:00.000-07:00

Written by Sheryl Shaffer

Are you for real? Do your actions, attitudes and conduct reveal that you are genuine, sincere and honest? Are you known for being un-fake?

How can you tell, you may ask? Every part of who you are speaks of your genuineness or exposes your artificialness. The way you wear your hair reveals the real or a desire to be artificial. Do you select your styles to attract attention or to enhance the real you? Take a good look at what you see in the mirror? Does it look “real” and “genuine” to you? What color do you put on your hair? Does it scream “FAKE” or does it compliment the Spirit that you say lives within you? Our makeup reveals our realness. Have you ever seen girls who seem to be hiding behind their hair and makeup? There have been times when I just want to reach up and say, “Come out from behind all that fakeness. Why are you hiding from us? I want to get to know the real you!”

Your manner of speech reveals your genuineness. Some girls seem to love the sound of their own voice and the louder and more dramatic they can be, the more attention they think they will receive. A Christian girl should seek for speech that pleases and magnifies the Lord.

I Peter 3:3-4 “Whose adorning let it not be the outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.”

Girls, learn to see and appreciate the look of sincerity and honesty in the life. Ask the Lord to create in you that look. Learn to look at your hair, makeup, attitudes, body language and speech with an unfeigned, honest heart. BE REAL. Don’t try to imitate what you see in the world. They are marketing the fake and they are targeting you with it it! Don’t let them do that to you. If you are a saved girl, you belong to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. You do not belong to yourself. You have been bought with a price and your life should reflect that image.

To be real and sincere is a beauty all its own…. Do you have it?

The No-Chatter Zone

2011-03-01T04:00:00.000-08:00

Written By Mrs. Shaffer

Girls…and chatter. They do seem to go together quite well, and in our present day, there are so many ways to communicate! Can this older, more mature woman give you a bit of sound advice?

Be careful how much you “chatter” and where you do it.

In the old days, girls used to get together and talk while swinging on the porch swing or sprawled out on the bed in their bedroom. “Chatter” and communication used to take place face to face rather than electronically, as it does today. When you seldom spend time communicating face to face with the people in your life, your communication can easily become fake or phony. Because no one is there to watch you say what you are trying to say, there is no accountability and you can lead others to think you are something…that you really are not! Take a good look at facebook to see what I mean. People, young and old, spend a great deal of time presenting themselves to the rest of the world, in ways that seem to say, “Hey, pay attention to me! I’m important!”

Girls, young and old, just need to unplug themselves from “the chatter zone”. Learn to limit your time in idle chatter. Use discipline in things such as texting, twittering, facebooking, forums and blogs that flaunt self and the like. Set up a safety zone where you have no access to electronic chatter. If you don’t set up perimeters for yourself, you will quickly become addicted to “electronic chatter”.

Un-plug yourself every week for a time and stick to it.

Never, never, allow yourself to text or instant message others at work or during mealtimes! It is actually quite rude! Instead, spend more time in communication with others face to face.

Proverbs 27:17 “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”

Talk to “your friends” face to face and allow them to sharpen you. Watch out for that “chatter zone”!

A Contented Eye

2011-02-01T13:05:00.000-08:00

Written By Sheryl Shaffer

Most girls love pretty things! There seems to be a natural appreciation for all things pretty for most normal females. There is nothing wrong with appreciating beautiful things. Our Creator God has given us plenty of beautiful things to visually enjoy around us!

I must tell you though…there is one fault that many young girls have that can be extremely harmful when taken to excess. Our eye for pretty things, can become nothing more than vanity when we put too much value on
having pretty things for our own selves.

Today’s advertizing is plentiful, garish and excessive and it feeds in to the human appetite for more and better. Girls, we must be careful to never allow ourselves to go beyond the natural appreciation of enjoying the sight of something pretty into the “gotta have it” stage. The more we see with our eyes, the more dissatisfied we can become with what we already have. HGTV can feed the human eye with “must have” things to
beautify our homes and lives and at the same time turn us into materialistic, unappreciative females.

Lamentations 3:51 “Mine affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city.”

Many a girl has grown up with this kind of eye for pretty things and has ended up as a shopaholic and a credit card junkie. She sees pretty things every where she goes and her dissatisfied heart brings her husband and
herself into financial bondage. She will find that after having pretty things, she still isn’t happy.

This kind of girl just needs to learn to look at the good and beautiful things around her every day and appreciate their simplicity.

I work part time in a pharmacy/gift shop. Often, I see young girls come in with their mothers or fathers and immediately the “begging” starts. Literally, everything they see….they want. I’m always intrigued to see where the parents will draw the line, or if they will at all. I’ve seen girls oooh and ahhhh over one thing after another and because they like everything they are seeing….can’t decide on any one thing. Too often, they already have so much but their eye for pretty things is still gobbling up even more. It’s really not a very pretty sight.

If your desire for pretty things so consumes your heart that you cannot even be thankful for life’s simple things, such as your parents, a warm home, friends, food, a good church, sunshine, flowers, the song of birds outside
your window……you need to realize that the restless spirit that is spoiling your happiness is called discontentment.

Bring your eye for pretty things under control and tell yourself to enjoy simple beauty over man made trinkets and toys. Take the time to look out your window at the beautiful creation of God and ….enjoy it! Take the time to shut off the TV and just listen to the sound of quietness around you. Read a book or sit and reminisce over a photo album of family memories and be thankful for the people in your life that you sometimes take for granted.

Are you a beautiful girl with a contented eye?

Keep It Simple!

2011-01-07T18:00:00.000-08:00

There is so much to want and desire in our world. Advertizing keeps stirring up the pot of appetite and if a girl is not wise, she will find herself hungering for all the things in life that don’t last and can never satisfy anyway.

Is this you?

Remember this simple thought once shared by Robert Louis Stevenson:

The Best Things in Life Are Nearest

Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes.

Flowers at your feet, duties at your hand.

The path right just before you.

Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life’s plain, common work as it comes,

certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life.

Be careful not to be a girl that is never satisfied with the simple things. Love your parents, appreciate Biblical authorities, cherish your Bible, count yourself blessed to have even one good friend, be thankful for your church, pastor and school and enjoy the simple things of life given by the Good Hand of our God!

Can You Trust Me?

2010-12-03T20:54:00.000-08:00

Are you a girl that can be trusted? What a joy and blessing a trustworthy girl can be to her family and friends!

"I have chosen the way of truth; thy judgments have I laid before me." Psalm 119:30

So many girls in our world's culture are nothing more than mere actresses. Whatever the situation is they change for it. Just like a chameleon, they adapt to wherever they are at and with whom they are with. That is not a trustworthy girl.

Are you a girl who keeps her word? Do you do what you say you will do?

Are you a girl who keeps her promises? When you promise to do a task or to refrain from doing something you have been corrected on…do you abide by your promise to do what you said you would do?

Are you a girl who is obedient when out of sight of your parent's hearing or away from other authorities in your life? Do people have to keep an eye on you because you are not honest about your own actions? This kind of girl is no more mature than a three year old who has not been taught as much and lacks self discipline. Is this you?

Are you a girl who complies on the outside but chooses a different path behind people's backs? You are a girl with a lying spirit. A lying spirit is devilish in origin and without repentance you cannot ever hope to see Heaven, for there will be no liars in God's heaven.

Are you a girl who is one thing with one person and someone completely different with someone else? When you spend time with a spiritual lady in your church are you Miss Goody-Two-Shoes around her and yet, less than a lady when spending time with your best girl friend?

Your dishonest heart will ruin your life and any good relationships you hope to have one day. Root it out now while you are young. See your double-minded heart as sin and confess it to God. Choose the way of truth and search the scriptures for God's plan for an honest heart. Get to know what is in your own heart!

When you determine to be a trustworthy girl…everyone around you will notice! Trustworthy young ladies are simply beautiful to watch and a joy to have around!

Are you one?

Can I Marry an Unbeliever?

2010-11-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

By Ethel Barrett

No. One of the most important decisions in a Christian girl’s life is whom she marries. Yet, it is an all-too-frequent tragedy that at this point specious (pleasing to the eye but deceptive) reasoning will make the most earnest of women myopic (lacking tolerance or understanding).

Here is a girl who is doing all right, when along comes Henry, and he is not a Christian. But, “I want Henry!” she wails, and “I must have Henry; I cannot go on without Henry!”

So she marries Henry, who is still not a Christian, in the hope that he will become one. But she is asking God’s blessing on her disobedience to His explicit command:

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers ….what communion hath light with darkness?....or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?" II Corinthians 6:14-15

God’s will is sovereign; and He may still bless the marriage. Henry may get saved…. But the point is, she has no right to hold God to a promise He never made.

No Christian, man or woman, should voluntarily go into such a union.

Ethel Barrett

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wise advice girls! The best thing you can do if you say that you’re a Christian, is to exercise faith by staying close to your parents, serve God faithfully, don’t even make a close friendship with a boy who is not a Christian in talk and walk. If he doesn’t want anything to do with your church…he is not for you. Pray for God to do what God can do best!

Trust Him to do it…

How To Pick A Best Friend

2010-10-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

Written By Sheryl Shaffer

Everyone loves to have a best friend! You know…that bosom kind of friend that Anne of Green Gables referred to so often. Girls like to have a friend that they can just tell anything and everything to and she will protect their secrets…even when she shouldn't. Yet, think about this…. The first person who ever loved you and protected you with her very life, is most often the friend that girls run to get away from as they grow older.
There is no other friend who knows everything about you and would still give her life to protect you anymore than your very own mother. I have seen girls verbally and emotionally abuse their mother in their teenage years and then withdraw from them as they turn to girlfriends for validation and friendship. What a shame! That is a choice you will regret later. I guarantee it! Strive to keep close to your mother. Realize she is not perfect, neither does she have perfect children, but there is great reward for you when you love and honor her.

Ephesians 6:2 "Honour thy father and thy mother; (which is the first commandment with promise)."

Deuteronomy 5:16 "Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee."

Make a friend of your mother and your father. Why?

1. It's a commandment from God; so we ought to listen.

2. Because God will add more days onto the length of your life. That may not seem like a big deal now, but twenty years from now that will be a HUGE thing!

3. "….and that it may go well with thee…" Every person, who has troubled his own soul by dishonoring or becoming embittered toward his parents, has endured a life of hardships and sad events. It's the truth!

I know a woman today who was continuously rebellious toward her parents and any authority that she did not agree with; and her life has been marked by one trial after another. Wayward, angry, defiant children are her legacy. Tragedies of every kind, from health crises, estranged children, financial disasters and a myriad of other catastrophes, dot the landscape of their home and family. Things have
not gone well with them. Pride holds them in bondage as they blame others for their hardships and all the while their children are doomed to repeat the struggle.

Girls, it doesn't have to be that way for you. Just obey God! Do it now. Humble yourself and in brokenness…repent. Ask your mother to forgive you, and allow her to be your best friend! Don't let your selfishness cause you to miss out on having the best friend you could ever have in this life!

Make a best friend out of your mother. You'll be glad you did!

Will You Be One Who Never Forgets?

2010-09-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

written by Sheryl Shaffer

This month marks the anniversary of September 11, 2001, the day the twin towers in New York City were attacked and destroyed by America’s enemies. Over 3,000 people gave their lives in the fiery inferno that was once their workplace.

In the short lifetime of most young people, few have witnessed the reality of an enemy attacking our beloved United States of America. When it has ever happened, there has always been a group of brave, sacrificing, young Americans who rose up to fight and defend this homeland that we enjoy and love. They are called soldiers!

Yes, there were some who “did their duty” just to have a paycheck. But there have been plenty of others who did it for love of country and in defense of the freedoms that have made our country what she has been.

Young person….please don’t take for granted what you have in America! Please don’t be piggish about your “rights” nor demanding of what you think you deserve. It if were not for the soldiers who have fought, died, sacrificed limbs, eyesight, and quality of their remaining life to fight in defense of what we have come to enjoy, you would not have the privilege of being “piggish” now.

Don’t let yourself ever forget that someone paid a big price so that you could have the freedom that you have come to expect.

Train yourself to show respect to the old men who paved the way and taught the younger soldiers the value of sacrificing for the country we love.

You….are the new generation of Americans. Un-plug yourself from all that might distract you and be one who never forgets that someone, somewhere paid a price so you could live in freedom and prosperity.

It’s time for you to protect the blessing …..for the next generation.

Dare To...

2010-08-02T17:00:00.000-07:00

Written by Rachael Coe and Sheryl Shaffer

Have you ever heard someone say “Pray for me, I need victory in a particular area”? Perhaps a few months later they make the same prayer request; a year later they ask again for prayer, for the same concern again. Before you know it, a few more years go by and they are still struggling with the exact same sin or weakness.

Then there are times when you sit in church and listen to the testimonies of others and you hear how God gave them the victory – what’s the difference?

The first testimony can be discouraging to young people and older Christians alike, but the last testimony can really encourage and uplift your heart. As a saved person, how can you be like the latter? How can you live a holy Christian life when maybe your parents are not? How can you be victorious when your friends are not?

1. Dare To Purpose In Your Heart

Many times, when people decide that their life needs to change they are half hearted about it. They have not fully decided with a determined heart, that they need to change.

When we believe that God wants us to change something in our lives and we are serious about it, we will surrender our whole being and heart, holding back nothing. David, in Psalm 17:3 says, “Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.” David knew that without purposing in his heart, he would not be successful. He made a determination!

Over and over in Scripture, the word purposed is used and most of the time it is used in reference to what God had decided the fate of the Israelites would be. Every time, the word purposed is used, there is a decision and then an action.

It is often easy to say that you cannot do right because no one else is or your parents make it difficult, but we too often use others as an excuse for our own failure to prove God with a purposed heart.

“But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” - Daniel 1:8

If Daniel could dare to purpose in his heart to do right when there was no one around him who was living for God, then can we not do right when we do have good examples?

2. Dare To Claim the Victory Moment By Moment

Getting the victory over sins or family curses in our lives is not an instant thing. It takes constant surrender to the Lord. I have learned it is a moment by moment, praying to the Lord for his strength- endeavor.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 – “Pray without ceasing.” This verse can look so little and seem so insignificant sometimes, but if we heed this verse, we are never alone! We have the strength of God giving us that moment by moment victory which we desire so much.

3. Dare To Place Yourself in Total Surrender to the Lord.

Sometimes we can try so hard in our own flesh to “get the victory”. We may be able to get the weeds out and make it look like we have won the battle, however, if the root isn’t pulled out, that sin will return over and over again. It is when we hand our lives completely over to the Lord in complete surrender, and give it all up to Him to remove the sin, that the whole root is plucked out and we get the victory! We have to crucify our flesh…daily…moment by moment, to live in victory. It’s the only way to the victory we desire. Our problem is in our own flesh. Our flesh is pretty stubborn. It has a power all its own. That’s why it has to die. We have die to self will and put to death the desires of sinful flesh, that Christ may be glorified instead of self.

You see girls, our battle is with our own flesh. It always will be. Satan likes to influence our flesh and thinking and God wants to renew our thoughts so we can live on the victory side of life.

Job 23:10 – “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”

Girls, no matter what we are facing – salvation, trouble in our homes, the Lord’s will for our lives – if we just dare to hand over the reins of our lives to our loving Heavenly Father, we will come forth as gold and have the victory!

I dare you to take the challenge of purposing to be a victorious girl for God!

A Quiet Walk Among the Dead

2010-06-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

By Dianne Cobb

My daughter and I went for a ride today. We ended up at the cemetery near our little town. We go there sometimes just because…. We walk around and just look at the grave stones. I like to stop at the graves of people I knew and try to remember everything I can about that person.

I was with one of the ladies who is buried there, when she took her last breath. I remember that moment like it was yesterday. Usually I take my girls with me when I go and they've never really said anything about it. They just go along for the ride.

Today was different… my daughter actually asked me why I come out to the cemetery? I thought it was a good question so I told her that every time I come, I leave with a new perspective. Today it reminded me that I only have this life to do what I'm going to do for God and for others.

When I die, I know I am going to go to heaven. I'll be walking streets of gold and experiencing all those things the Bible tells us about in that wonderful place, but I will never be able to send a note of encouragement to a friend who is down, or bring a rose to my pastor’s wife just because I love her. I won’t be able to a make a meal for a sick neighbor or hug my husband and children after they've had a hard day. I only have today to do those things.

I don’t want to hold back my love or fail to tell someone I love them today. Girl’s, we are not promised tomorrow. I also told my daughter that coming to the cemetery reminds me of those around me who are lost and on their way to hell. Everyone buried there is either in heaven or hell. There was a day when they walked and talked just like we were doing today. But, now they are in eternity.

Only God knows who's name we will read on a grave stone next year. Will it be my neighbor? Will it be a friend, teenager, or young adult in my church? Will it be someone in my own family? We just don’t know. We only have today to reach them.

I told my daughter that coming out to the cemetery softens my heart and takes away hardness that I have allowed in my heart. Sometimes sin in my own life and the life of others weighs heavy on my heart and my attitude changes into something it shouldn’t be.

Matthew 24:12 “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”

Please dear Lord, help my heart not to wax cold.

My daughter was surprised to see the tombstone of someone she knew from our town. Someone that she had talked to many times was buried there. She stopped and looked at her grave for a long time....quietly remembering.

I came away from our quiet walk among the dead-- thankful for another day to live and to be able to do things for those around me. I'm thankful for another day to tell my heavenly Father how much I love Him.

Can I encourage you girls? Enjoy your parents, family and friends around you…. while you can. Life is too short to be angry or resentful toward mom and dad or friends who may have hurt you. Forgive them while you can and love them no matter what.

We only have this moment. We surely don’t want to waste it!

We Have This Moment Today.

Written by

William and Gloria Gaither

Hold tight to the sound of the music of living, Happy songs from the laughter of children at play;

Hold my hand as we run through the sweet fragrant meadows, Making memories of what was today.

Chorus: We have this moment to hold in our hands and to touch as it slips through our fingers like sand; Yesterday's gone and tomorrow may never come, But we have this moment today.

Tiny voice that I hear is my little girl calling, For Daddy to hear just what she has to say;

And my little son running there by the hillside, May never be quite like today.

Tender words, gentle touch and a good cup of coffee, And someone who loves me and wants me to stay; Hold them near while they're here and don't wait for tomorrow, To look back and wish for today.

Take the blue of the sky and the green of the forest, And the gold and the brown of the freshly mown hay; Add the pale shades of spring and the circus of autumn, And weave you a lovely today.

Chorus: We have this moment to hold in our hands and to touch as it slips through our fingers like sand; Yesterday's gone and tomorrow may never come, But we have this moment today.

A Fault of Girls

2010-05-01T18:30:00.000-07:00

Are you a self-conscious girl? A self-conscious girl will always have her eyes on herself. How she looks or how she is seen by others will be extremely important to her. Whether she is skinny enough or pretty enough, will consume her every waking moment. If she is not a girly girl, she may be consumed with trying to fit in with the guys and constantly worried about whether she does fit in. She will be consumed with her own feelings and when in the company of others, she will think that all eyes are on her. That is a lot of self focusing!

This kind of girl is often indecisive and afraid to make a decision or take a stand on anything. Whenever she starts to do something in the audience of other people, she is often embarrassed, blushes, and conscious of every thing she is saying. Even in her embarrassment…it’s all about her. She hates drawing attention to herself but in the end…that is exactly what she does! Self-conscious girls often end up with eating disorders because life is literally….all about them.

If this describes you ….what should you do?

A self-conscious girl needs to give herself away for the sake of others. Just start doing something for someone else. Look for those you can encourage or lend a helping hand to. When you give yourself away to help someone else….you forget yourself! The best cure for self-consciousness is staying busy doing things for other people. Start with your family and church family. There is always someone worse off than you.

If you are good in math….help someone who isn’t.
If you are good at cleaning…volunteer to help an older person clean their house or bathroom.

Volunteer at the nursing home. You can play games with the older folks, read books or run errands. Just find something to do to give yourself away to others!

Summer is just around the corner….volunteer to mow lawns or walk someone’s dog.

The feelings of self-consciousness will only come when you have time to think about them. Make a decision to get busy and forget about yourself.

A beautiful girl is a self-less girl!

Hot Heads – Hot Lips!

2010-04-10T19:56:00.000-07:00

Hi Girls!

There is an ugly side to girlhood. No girl in her right mind sets out to indulge in the ugly side of girlhood and femininity. Our culture advertizes for it and promotes this meek-less behavior in every way it can, but it is not to be the behavior of a girl professing to know Christ.

Ugly girlhood…is all about self! Hot headed girls are quick to disagree and their lips will take fire at anything and everything around them that goes against their own opinion. They will do this in public, private or both.

Spoiled, self-indulged children, in child centered homes develop into this meek-less ugly kind of girlhood.

Would you like to know how you can tell if you are living in that meek-less state of ugly girlhood?

Take the Ugly Test:

1. You have difficulty with your superiors.

It could be parents that you are resistant towards. It could be a teacher or your pastor who tries to tell you the truth about yourself that you resist. Learn to identify that spirit of resistance in yourself. It most often is snuggled and buried quietly inside your thoughts, where you think it is not seen. Always remember this truth….

It is only a matter of time until what is inside…is seen on the outside!

2. You have a difficult time showing respect to those who you feel may be beneath you.

There is nothing uglier than a girl who thinks she’s better than everyone else around her. You can see this haughty attitude in the way she walks and talks and even in the way she wears her clothes and make up. Facebook is loaded with girls who flaunt themselves and seek for everyone else’s attention to be on them. What other reason is there for girls to post pictures of themselves in bikinis, provocative positions and seducing, playful poses?

Where in the world did we ever get the idea that the whole world should know, or even wants to know so much about us?

Self promoting, self-consumed girls, will think that everything is about them and they will have no time for kindness or care for those who they see as “inferior” to themselves.

This is truly ugly…

3. You will have a hard time with those whom you see as an equal to yourself.

This is an area where jealousy can occur. Philippians 2:3 “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”

Jealous girls are not lovely girls. The sweet spirit of meekness is replaced with a spirit of competition and a lack of appreciation for others. It’s just plain ugly!

So…how did you do on the Ugly Test?

There is nothing more beautiful than a young lady full of Christ’s Spirit and seeking to be a Jesus-- with skin on! She is loved by the right people, scorned by the ungodly and her life is hid with Christ!

Colossians 3:3 “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”

She is dead to herself and has no problem with her superiors. She respects those above her, beneath her and esteems her equals, better than her own self.

Does this describe your “beautiful girlhood”?

Sixteen Year-Old Blessing

2010-03-01T19:17:00.000-08:00

Ever noticed a girl who is full of herself? That attitude is really ugly in teen girls who have yet to acquire true wisdom. Yet they make fools of themselves by trying to act like they are something…when they are nothing more than silly, discretion-less females.

You've seen them I'm sure… They enter the room asking to be noticed! They laugh too loud, their body language is brash and screaming for attention and their character is boisterous and anything but quiet and demure. Most of the time, this type of girl lacks attention at home and seeks for it out in public. You don't want to be this kind of girl!

If you are not a saved girl…you are living in flesh dependency and that road leads directly to the kind of girl I just described!

There is historical record of a quiet, humble, sixteen year old girl who was used by God during the Welsh Revival of the early 1900's. This young girl had a God-given ability to glorify Christ, by singing! It is recorded that not much was ever said about her voice except for the fact that each time she sang before Evangelist Evan Roberts would get up to preach, that the Holy Spirit of God seemed to be singing and moving through her submitted, surrendered self. Mr. Roberts said that there was little for him to do as a preacher, after she finished singing. He would quote from the Scriptures and add a few thoughts to it and the people listening were ready to be saved and get right with God.

The reason?

The Spirit of God was on the life of this sixteen year old girl. God used her singing to melt the hearts of the listeners. If she was around today, talent scouts would have her on American Idol, America's Got Talent or some other program that would show her off and make big bucks for her. Perhaps her church would hand her a microphone and allow her to "entertain" her church audience rather than sing in the Spirit…unto her God. All that self-glorification would ruin a girl like this.

I've seen this very story take place in many churches. A young girl has been blessed by God, with a sweet and lovely voice or the talent of playing an instrument. She begins to use it and spiritually minded people begin to help train and open doors of service for her to use that Holy Spirit-given talent.

In the beginning she is sweet and quite humbled about the prospect of even being used in such important work for the Lord. But along the way….something begins to change. She begins to notice the attention given to her voice. She begins to relax in self
dependence and the fear of getting up to sing, is lessened. She begins to feel the need for her service, in the Lord's church….and she begins to think more highly of herself than she ought to. Now, she serves mechanically…like a spiritual robot and believes she is doing God a service. No longer is she using her talent to glorify the Lord. Now…it's all about her!

Where once she was a beautiful example of humility in using her spiritual gifts to glorify her Lord, now it turns to showcasing self. The beauty of humility is gone and her singing no longer speaks to, or prepares hearts for responding to the Word of God.

Her voice is no longer the blessing it once was… This is a sad place to come to.

God can…and wants to use every saved and surrendered sixteen year old girl! He will use you, if you will give yourself wholly and completely to Him. Let Him glorify Himself….through you.

Whether you sing, play an instrument or have the gift of creativity…do it in the right Spirit—for Him alone! Seek no other attention.

I Thessalonians 2:4 "But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts."

Biting The Hand That Feeds You!

2010-01-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, Girls! A new year is here! A new start for you… and a new chance to make new decisions that will bring you happiness and please God.

I love new opportunities! Don't you?

How did you do last year in respecting and honoring your parents?

Our world is rude. Satan is trying to cause people to think that rude is funny. It isn't! It's demonic and ungodly. Were you ever rude and disrespectful to your parents this past year?

If you never learn to appreciate and respect your mom and dad, you will struggle to respect any other authority that comes along in your life. Your parents were your first nurturers. They were the ones who gave the most, to bring you to where you are today!

If you only knew the countless hours of careful vigil that has been poured out over your life up to this point! They sacrificed a lot of personal desires to give you the life you have enjoyed so far. You might not have what some kids have, but you still have
more than what the most of the world has tonight. And yet, you can afford to treat your parents with rudeness and disrespect?

That makes you an ingrate!

An ingrate is an unpleasant, ungrateful person. Is that you? If you have practiced rudeness and disrespect toward your parents this year….you are an ingrate.

I would like to give you a peek into a parent's heart. Let me show you just a bit, of what loving, caring parents are willing to do for their children….no matter the age of those children.

Parents willingly sacrifice sleep for the health and well being of their child. How do you feel when you lose sleep? It doesn't feel very good does it? Try doing that as a way of life….day in and day out? Parents do that willingly, to care for you when you're sick. They will work longer hours or more than one job, to provide for your extra needs in life besides a nice home.

I know parents who, when given a gift card by someone else for their own birthday, will turn right around and spend that gift card on their own children. Why? Often its because they don't have the money to get you what you'd like, but they will take from what was given to them….and give it away to you--- just to bless you! That is a way of life for self-sacrificing parents. When was the last time you did that for your parents?

You see….parents are literally willing to do anything and everything that needs to be done, to provide for and protect their offspring. If a pastor is willing to gladly spend and be spent for people in his congregation…never forget….your parents are willing to do that same thing for you! From the moment a good man or woman become parents, there is born in their soul a desire to nurture and fiercely protect that little one.

The sad part is that after they have sacrificed and put off their own needs for years on end, their hard work and self-denial can be met with ingratitude and mocking rudeness by the very ones they were working for. Parents often make all their hard work look easy to their children. Let me tell you…it's never easy!
What wretched sinners we children can be! This reminds me of what we have all done to the Son of God. Isaiah 53:3 "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." After all He had done for man…he was still despised and treated rudely for it.

There are stiff warnings in the Bible for children who dishonor their parents. Your rudeness and disrespect will not go unpunished!

Matthew 15:4 "For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and thy mother; and, he that curseth father or mother, let him die the death."

This same warning is given in Mark 7:10.

There are great blessings in the Bible for children who choose to honor their father and their mother!

Exodus 20:12 "Honour thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee."

Deuteronomy 5:16 "Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy day may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee."

If this past year was filled with rudeness and disrespect toward your parents…would you ask God for forgiveness? Then go to your parents and make things new with them too!

Start this new year right! If you will….I promise you…..based on the truth in the Word of God….things are going to go well with you this year!

Keeping A Pure Mind In An Impure World

2009-12-01T20:17:00.000-08:00

Just yesterday, I took my little girl out for a quick shopping trip with mommy. She held my hand proudly and we spent some time looking at Christmas lights and “talking” to stuffed snowmen.

She is almost two and has started to be a real talker. She was just jabbering away as we began to purchase our items. All of a sudden, she became extremely persistent with, “Mommy, what doing?” I looked down to answer and she was pointing at a magazine as she asked her question. I was horrified by what she was innocently looking at, because it was something no one should see and definitely not something a child should see.

As I pondered this situation in my heart and how I could better protect my young daughter, I was grieved. I know that in our day, it is harder and harder to keep a pure mind, but I want to tell the young ladies reading this article, that it is possible and extremely important to do so.

Being pure in your mind will be the only way that you will keep your body pure.

“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:…” Proverbs 23:7

The sooner that you determine to have the character to keep your mind pure now, the easier time you will have keeping your mind pure as an adult. Good habits take much time to establish, but will be more likely to stay with you, if you establish them as a young girl. You are never too young or too old to learn good habits.

1. Be careful with what you choose to read. Start everyday in God’s Word and when you choose other books to read after that, make sure that they reinforce what God’s Word has to say. Romance novels can really cause a young girl to yearn for things that God isn’t ready for her to have. These will not encourage a pure mind. Instead, they can encourage a lustful, impure mind. Look for biographies and autobiographies that focus on spiritually minded women and men. These will uplift you and encourage you. There are some great fiction books out there too, that can also be a great encouragement.

2. Turn away from evil. “Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.”
Proverbs 4:27 When my little girl and I were in the store and she saw evil on that magazine, I quickly directed her attention to other things and removed her, so that she could not see it anymore. I did this with her immediately. I didn’t wait to answer her question. When you see something that you know isn’t right, turn away and walk away as fast as you can. Don’t stick around to see if it will affect you. If you look at it for just a few minutes, I can guarantee you that it will affect you and it won’t be for good.

3. Seek spiritual counsel not peer counsel. If there was anything I learned as a young person, it was this – my friends were the people I went to when I wanted to feel good about myself and did not want to leave the path I was on. My parents, my pastor, my pastor’s wife, and others ,were the ones I turned to when I wanted to change my life. If you find yourself running to your friends as confidantes all the time, re-evaluate your spiritual walk with the Lord. Good friends will encourage you in the Lord, but they do not have the wisdom that spiritual adults do. Adults have to do this very same thing – not just young people.

Titus 1:15 says “Unto the pure, all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.”

Seek to have a pure mind and to stay pure, because once you allow the world and the perverted things in it to make you impure, it will be harder to cleanse your mind and to do what it right and God-honoring.

Hard Hearted?

2009-11-01T18:17:00.001-08:00

How to know if you have a hard heart…

Every girl, young or old, needs to look into a mirror regularly and ask herself some hard questions. Don't be afraid to do this. You can skitter through life acting like everything is ok and wake up one day in the flames of hell. Take the time to ask yourself the hard questions and demand honest answers of yourself….before it is too late.

Are you not overly concerned about sin? How do you feel about those bad things you think, feel and do that go against what God has said in His Word? Are you truly concerned about sin?
Do you hate it when you get caught for the wrong things you do?
Do you turn in anger on those who reveal or "tell" on you?
Do you see your parent's or teachers' intervention at these "caught" times, as a big pain and you get mad at them for putting their nose into your situation?

Danger…Your hard heart is showing!

Do you have to be "talked" out of sinning? This shows belligerence, if you have to be convinced to not go do, what is wrong to do.
Do you "know better", but choose to "do it" anyway?
Do you see your sin as mainly a "weakness" or perhaps someone else's fault?
Do you ever see the people who are trying to help you as "the problem"? You might say, "If they would just mind their own business, I'd be fine."
Do you always "feel" sad or sorrow when you sin?
Do you find yourself looking for just the right moment or just the right situation to happen, that you can use to justify yourself? Are you looking for someone to blame for why you do what you do?

Remember girls…You never have to convince a real Christian that once she is saved, she is supposed to be a new creature in Christ. (II Corinthians 5:17)

That is the part that tells on every phony Christian. Are you phony?

If you cannot answer these questions honestly and truthfully…you are developing a hard heart and may be well on your way to the consequences that will come to every hard hearted sinner.

Protecting Your Precious Girlhood!

2009-10-01T08:42:00.000-07:00

Girlhood….oh, the beautiful possibilities that this lovely time of life, offers young girls! This quickly passing moment of time between childhood and womanhood, is but a breath of time…..and it’s gone! Like a half opened rosebud, we can see what our girls can become and with excitement, we can anticipate the beauty that is almost to be realized…..

But wait! There is someone else who recognizes what our beautiful young daughters can become as well. His name is Satan. He is walking about “seeking whom he may devour” (I Peter 5:8) He wants to blow his hot breath of sin, sensuality and self seeking notions at their precious life and ruin them before they even have a chance to reach full bloom!

How can you protect the precious life of this delicate, half opened rose, suspended in the brief days of girlhood?

1. It starts with a Mom and Dad realizing that their daughter’s “precious life” is worth fighting for! I implore you to see your daughter’s life potential as highly valued, a prize worth protecting and guarding. Speak up and warn your half opened rosebud of the wickedness that may be just outside her door. Speak up about the power of your great God to protect her and to guide her life, if she will just trust and surrender to Him. Show her how it is done!

2. For the girl right now living in the midst of her beautiful girlhood days, protect your heart with all diligence. Don’t let it get hard toward your parents or other Biblical teachers or authorities. A tender heart will be one of your greatest protections!

3. Learn to recognize your own personal sin. When it is shown to you, don’t get mad because you got caught and then blame someone else. Accept the fact that YOU….are a sinner and deal honestly with what you did wrong. Don’t run from your guilt. Guilt is not a bad thing…..it can be the very thing that leads us to repentance.

You may fight against God and gain victory over the Holy Spirit’s conviction over your sin now…but you will lose the ability to break down Satan’s strongholds that he will build in your life later.

4. Girls….please don’t seek the temporary pleasure of sin now and lose the joy in having respect for yourself, later. You can gain a sexual partner now…and lose the potential husband that God had planned for you later! I promise you…you WILL regret that loss.

5. You may gain doing your own “thing” now, but you will lose God’s will and God’s best for your life later.

Proverbs 6:26 “For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread; and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.”

Protect the precious life!

WARNING ! WARNING !

2009-09-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

Single girls have to live by faith too! This principle of the Christian life is not just for your parents or your preacher, it is for you as well. How you practice your faith walk, proves what kind of Christianity you really have.

Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Have you ever heard a girl say, “I just want to be married! I’m tired of living at home, being single and having no life!” I’m sure somewhere along the way you have heard someone say that. That my sweet friend, is faith-less speech! It is also the beginning thoughts of a girl about to embark on her search for a man!

It is during the single years that most young people who have grown up in church going homes, begin to reveal the real status of their brand of Christianity. What is not real…won’t last! Time will prove that to be true.

Once a girl graduates from high school, something unsettling begins to happen. Unless she has seen the faith walk lived openly in front of her, by her parents, many girls grow impatient for this next step in life. All good little Christian girls are taught that they probably should get married and be a good keeper of the home and raise some children.

Let me remind you of a truth… You are not an old maid if you are single and 25! You are an old maid when you are single and 65!

There are also girls who have lacked “Daddy attention” for so long, that now that they are out of high school they feel it’s their time to seek attention from some other male. They become man hungry and before you know it, they are lured into the party scene and in the name of having a good time and having their freedom …they give away their most precious possession as a young girl. Their purity.

The out of high school-single years are some of the most dangerous years of a young person’s life. Society tells you that you have freedom to choose and do what ever you want, but most young people lack wisdom and discretion and fall head-long into Satan’s traps and the precious life is ruined.

Waiting for God to do something big in your life…takes faith.

Girl’s…I beg of you… Don’t get ahead of God or your parents and go looking for a guy to be with or marry!

It would be better to stay single and be in the will of God, with your purity in tack, than to be “with a guy”, out of the will of God and your morals and purity in shambles. The guilt, shame and emotional destruction you will go through when refusing to wait on God to reward you, is beyond anything I could describe in this article. There is much heartache when you are living outside of God’s will for your life.

Proverbs 10:22 “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.”

God’s blessing never brings sadness.

Can I encourage you? Just enjoy being your parents’ daughter. Find an area in your church, Christian School or community, where you can develop your talents and serve the Lord and others. If you play an instrument…practice and get proficient enough to be able to play or accompany at a nursing home or in the Lord’s church.

Just focus your life on learning, growing strong in the Lord and helping others.

Every girl that you have ever seen who has honored her Lord and her parents and has allowed herself to become a servant, has been blessed! What joy she will have when she doesn’t mar her beautiful girlhood, with the sins of self-will.

Learn from the sins of others and determine in your heart NOT to repeat them.

Enjoy and be content in this time of girlhood that God has given you. Let nothing rob you of its beauty. Wait for God’s reward in a life’s mate. You’ll be so glad you did!

Modesty Made Simple

2009-08-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

“In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel….” I Timothy 2:9

Hello Girls!

Modesty. What an interesting word! Do you know what it means? Girls’ who grow up in Christian homes and in a Bible preaching church have heard this word used many times. Yet, I see that clearly, many still do not understand its real meaning.

Maybe I can make it even simpler for you. Modesty has to do with more than just your clothes. But I have also seen that how you dress, also affects how you think and act in what you are wearing.

With that in mind, here are a few tips that every girl who desires to be modest, should apply.

1. Don’t be a girl who tries to be glamorous. That “Maybelline”, “Oil of Olay” or “Gap” girl in the picture is selling a product that they want you to buy. Don’t think for a moment that if you buy their product that you will actually look just like them. No God pleasing girl would want to have that look.

2. Avoid clothes that accentuate the sensual zones. (Your breasts, midriff, upper arms, hips, backside and legs.) Be awake and aware of what part of the body is being enhanced by the clothing you are putting on. This is especially concerning if you are larger busted. You need to de-emphasize that area! This principle is also true for any girl, no matter your bust size. Don’t accentuate these sensual zones on the human body. If you have a larger caboose than other girls, then stick to an A-line or looser fitting skirt style. Don’t pour yourself into a straight, tighter fitting skirt. When you do, you might as well wear a sign that says, “Notice my wide load?”

3. Don’t wear anything that will draw attention to any place but your face. The outside of you should reflect the inside of you.

What is your outside saying about who you really are?

4. Your music will lead you toward modest thinking or away from it. There are many young people who gave in to lust and fornication because they were influenced by the music they were listening to. II Timothy 2:22a “FLEE also youthful lusts..”

5. Your friends will affect your desire for Biblical modesty. Be careful about who you hang out with. Their likes, dislikes and standards will have an influence on you. You may find yourself doing things, wearing things and acting in a manner that you would never have thought you would, just because of the power of a friend’s influence.

Mom, if you are reading this column, please help your daughter in these areas. Help her to understand the actions and thinking of the strange woman in Proverbs 7 and to avoid that path.

Talk with your daughter about real modesty. Model this trait before her. Lift up Biblical modesty to an honorable position in your family and strive for it.

Beautiful girlhood leads to a beautiful womanhood and a life with no regrets.

Preparing for Happily Ever After

2009-07-01T16:07:00.000-07:00

Hello Girls…

I hope you are really enjoying these lovely days of your girlhood and not pushing to do grown up things too fast. You may not fully understand what I’m about to say, but you will have to trust me that it is true! These sweet years of your girlhood go by so fast, that unless you have had many pictures taken of yourself during this time, you won’t remember much of it at all. Oh yes, the big events or the saddest of times, you will remember; for they will leave imprints and bruises on your heart that you will talk about for the rest of your life.

By the time you are twelve, thirteen or fourteen, much of the little girl in you will be gone. The child in you will begin to change into the woman you will be, for the rest of your life. The rest of your life is a much longer time than childhood is.

While you are in girlhood, you desire and like much different things than you will like when you are a grown up girl. I remember the day that I carefully packed up my most favorite baby doll. I had named her Evie Jane and she was beautiful. I loved that baby doll like she was the real thing. I talked to her, rocked her, protected her, loved and kissed on her and changed her baby diaper, always wishing that she really could wet her dolly diaper! I even tried feeding her people food and water because I so wanted that little baby doll to be real to me. When I turned twelve, I remember feeling really stupid and childish, because I had pretended such things with a stuffed plastic toy!

But those days were not wasted days. Those days helped me to become the mom I later grew to be. They were only play acting, practicing days, and one day I really did those baby nurturing things for real!

You see girls… you only get one chance in life to be a young girl and then a teenager. Because it goes by so fast, sometimes you don’t have time to stop and think about all the choices you must make, that can affect that “rest of your life” part. The right “choices” will be much easier to make if you will just trust mom and dad and the advice they try to give you. Listen to your pastor when he preaches and teaches at church. Soak up the Biblical advice he gives you. Get to know your pastor’s wife and listen when she tries to teach you about things that will make you a beautiful girl one day.

Girls who listen----------have no sad regrets! Girls who listen and don’t try to run too fast through the years of their childhood, enjoy sweeter relationships with their parents. They learn how to be friends with their teachers, their pastor and other God given authorities. They are the happiest of girls!

You can easily pick out those kinds of girls in our own church! If you are a mother reading this, take the time to point out those sweet, blessed and happy girls in your own church family. Don’t tarnish the reputation of girls with beautiful girlhoods, with your own slander and envious gossip. It is good for your daughter to be able to identify the kind of girl that God blesses! She is unmistakable!

It is my deepest prayer and heart’s desire, that you reach your womanhood years with a sweet, teachable spirit and pureness of hands and body. Don’t let Satan ruin your beautiful girlhood by turning you into one of the world’s girls just because you didn’t want to listen to instruction and Biblical counsel.

The rest of your life, is a very long time! I pray you reach it with much joy and no sad regrets. You are a precious and valuable jewel to God and a priceless treasure to your loving parents. Protect your worth now and don’t squander your childhood by making yourself cheap in any way. You’ll be glad you did, when you reach “the rest of your life”.

Proverbs 31:10 “Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.”

Who is the Favorite Man in Your Life?

2009-06-01T08:41:00.000-07:00

Do you remember when your daddy was your very favorite man in the whole wide world? The thrill of going somewhere with Daddy, set your heart on fire with excitement!

Some of you girls may not have ever known your daddy. He may not have been a part of your life. Other girls had a father who did not treat them well. Perhaps he hurt them physically or emotionally in some way. If this has been your situation, I’m so sorry that life was that way for you. That should not have been the way it was. But those are circumstances that cannot be changed. You cannot live in despair and regret over what you missed out on. That will only hurt you if you mourn your life away over this deep sadness. You must trust that God will use what you have missed, to be a help and blessing to someone else along life’s way. Always remember....God makes no mistakes!

Then there are other girls who have enjoyed the privilege of growing up with a father in the home but have taken their Daddy for granted.

One of the saddest things to see, is a young girl who once adored her Daddy, but now she finds him a nuisance. He is no longer the favorite man in her life. She finds him troublesome, geeky or out of touch. Where she once found everything he said, funny and interesting, now she is embarrassed by him. She no longer loves to spend time with him. She no longer looks up to him or reverences him. He is no longer interesting to her.

How very sad that is, for she is missing out on what many girls would give their right arm, to have.

Girls, stay acquainted with your daddy as you grow older. As little girls begin to grow up, it can sometimes be awkward for your Dad. The little girl he liked to bounce and tumble with, is no longer a little girl. Kind hearted Dads, do not like to play roughly with maturing daughters and if both of you are not careful, distance can grow between you. In an effort to be careful, you won’t know each other as well. While you are busy growing up, he is busy working hard to take care of your family, and before you know it, you are 17 and he doesn’t know what to do with the big girl you have become.

Help your Dad to know you, by letting him know what is going on in your life. Talk to him. Tell him what is happening in your day. Ask him questions about life and things you hear about that you don’t understand. He has learned many things about life. Some of them he learned the hard way .... but he can teach them to you....if you’ll take the time to ask him.

Don’t be selfish with your time. Take time for your parents. Keep your heart open to them. You never outgrow your need for a daddy. Even when you become an old woman, you will talk much about what your Daddy taught you and what he was in your life.

Enjoy the special times that you have with your Dad. Don’t despise them or him. What you enjoy is a very precious gift! Appreciate your Daddy....God’s gift to you!