Sunday, February 27, 2011

Time (Repost From Previous Blog)

Today is the Sabbath and I was just thinking of the way a Sabbath should be spent. Going to Church, (granted we don't have a Church to attend and I'm sure other people don't either) spending time in God's Word, praying (though those things should be done everyday), doing all things that would keep the Sabbath day Holy.
Now, how often do I do that? Unfortunately, not often at all. Instead, this stupid computer takes up my time, or we'll be watching some kind of movie or something together. While it is nice to have a day of rest and time spent with family (meaning, just here, because we don't do things with extended family like some people do on the Sabbath, hopefully we will someday) and we do have fun together, whatever we're doing, still there is no reason why we can't give time to God. We have only one life, and such a short amount of time on this earth, we must spend this time wisely and in a way that is pleasing to God, that is giving our lives to and for God. I pray everyday that I might be a living sacrifice to Him, no matter what. How am I going to do that by wasting time with things that are so terribly unimportant? Now, spending time with family is important, but it is better to do it in a way that actually means something. Sure, we can sit down every once in a while and watch a show or a movie, but why do we keep sitting there, even when there's nothing on? It is not a sin to rest, God tells us to, it is, however, a sin to use that precious time doing nothing.
So often, I say that I need to make to time to read and continue improving my homemaking skills, but don't because my time is wasted doing things that, well, waste time and are in no way helpful to my homemaking or reading, or whatever needs to be done around here. The funny thing is, if I do the things that need to be done then I will have time to do other things, but I don't always follow through.
So what happens? I sit here for a while (most of the time wasting the time on the computer and not using it wisely at all) and think, "oh, I'll get started later", then a "little" while later, look at the clock and sometimes even a few hours have gone by and I wonder how that time went so fast and why I wasn't doing anything. So later I get angry at myself because of things I didn't do, and regret wasting that time. The next day I decide everything is going to be different, but it isn't always that way, sometimes I will do the exact same thing and I hate it.
God gave me this life and looking down at a clock to see what time it is or whatever is just a reminder that I used this time in a way that was pleasurable to me (honestly, sometimes it isn't even pleasurable, just a way to pass the time, I guess), but in no way honoring my God and King. This life is to be lived to Him and for Him, He didn't put me here for me, but for Him. I know I disappoint Him with this, so why is it so hard to stop? Satan doesn't want me to use my time for God, so I fall into this temptation and later feel so bad for doing so, but know I could never take it back, so need to start anew the next day, but fall into it again. I do not spend enough time in God's Word, or enough time with Him and that makes Satan very happy, that is such a disgusting and terrible thought, especially knowing that God is disappointed in me, how could I disappoint the One Who made me, Who gave His Son for my life that I may live and live to Him, but instead do what pleases me?
God is not angry with me when I do it, He can't be mad at me, for Christ intercedes for me and has made me righteous by His Holy shed Blood on the cross so that I would not face God's wrath. Because Jesus died for me, God cannot be angry with me.
What a Loving God we serve, that He would give me life through His Son Jesus Christ. I pray that my life may be lived to bring Him glory and that there be none left over for myself.
Using my time wisely is something I really struggle with, so would very much appreciate prayer for this.
It is so easy to just sit down for a few hours and do nothing, though I could be reading or working on crocheting or something like that and hopefully my life will change for God. It is especially easy on days that are soooo extremely hot in the Summer when you haven't the energy to do anything because you're burning up and it's worse if you're up doing stuff. But, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength, now if only I constantly remember that and remember to pray for that strength
May God be glorified in all of my life!
Grace be with you.

On The Mend

Praise God, my Mommy and I are getting better now and are pretty much there except for a cough now and again and our voices aren't 100% yet, but we're getting there, by God's Grace.
We're so looking forward to this warmer weather we have coming our way! Opening the windows, getting all the sick germs out of the house, it will be so wonderful! I'm also hoping to start Spring cleaning about as soon as this cold is gone. Spring cleaning is always one thing that I look forward to, but so often am not able to actually accomplish in the short amount of time always hoped. Hopefully, Lord willing, this year will be different. I've always enjoyed making lists of things needing to be done around the house, and get discouraged when they're not all finished by the time I had hoped. Sometimes, it makes me wonder if I really will be a good housekeeper when this happens. Then, one thing that helps me when those thoughts wander in my head, is remembering that spending time with family is more important than getting everything accomplished in one day on a list.
Let's see, it is 1:38am right now, had all day to write a blog post but couldn't think of anything to write and then it comes to me at like 1:15am whilst e-mailing Guitargirl.


Well, finally get an idea, and then it ends when your eyes start closing to sleep. At least I was able to pretty much keep up with the daily blogging, even if it is a rather boring post, a lot shorter than the others though.

Oh, I also wanted to mention that Chris and I watched Manchester United beat Wigan Athletic 4-nil today, twas a good game.
Everyone have a blessed Sabbath!


Grace be with you.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Raising Children

Spending time with family is something that's extremely important to my family and me and something that every parent should know is very important in a child's life. To know they are loved and to understand that family are more important than friends. I hate when parents say that they're happy to have their children out of the house or they're happy when school starts up again so they can just be alone and have 'peace and quiet'. How would that make a child feel? That their own parents would rather have them away from them just so they can be alone. No wonder so many children have grown away from their families and cling to their friends instead or go looking for relationships for some companionship, it's because parents don't take the time to get to know their children, they let them go off and do their own thing while (as my Mommy has always said) they keep their jewels and money locked in a safe where no one can get to them. Does anyone else see a problem there?
Someone would always say to my Mommy or about her that she homeschooled us to keep us at home and turn us into 'mini hers'. Mommy will be the first one to tell you that's not true and my brothers and I will be the first ones to agree. It isn't true, if we had been in school with everything that started to happen whilst we were there, who knows what we'd be or even where we'd be now. Being taken out of school to be homeschooled is one of the greatest things that has ever happened to my brothers and me. If people don't see that, then, they're blind to it.
We are an extremely close family and are all very thankful for that. I praise God that He has given us all these years to be together, to know each other better, to become each others best friends. I'm not just saying that, we seriously are best friends, all 5 of us. Even though my oldest brother moved out a few years ago, he's still really close to us and we still love spending time together. He always wants us to go over and visit him and we want him to come over here and visit us.
I can't stand seeing parents being so cruel to their children, in stores they'll be yelling at them, even if it's a baby and he's crying for some reason, a lot of times (not all the time), the parent won't even pay attention to the child. How does the child feel when this happens? I seriously doubt 'loved' would be the word.
A mother who was behind me in a store once told me that she promised her daughter if she was good all week that she would get her a balloon. The little girl was so cute and just loved her little balloon. While the mother was being so nice and sweet to her and even though I told her it was cute that she did that, inside, I didn't agree with it at all. You don't bribe a child and tell them stuff like that. You teach them gently, lovingly, but firmly, and however long it takes, to be kind to others, to know what is right and what is wrong. You watch their every step, with a loving eye. Don't let your child out of your sight or, one day, they will grow away from you.
Listen to your child, not just with your ears, pay close attention to them, really, really, listen and hold in your heart the things they've spoken, their cute ways, the things they do. No child is perfect, every one will mess up, but so have the rest of us. Don't expect more of them than the best they can do. Encourage them and love them, hold them close and never let go.
"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."  ~Proverbs 22:6
God has given us these little blessings and we are to take care of them, not let them go on their own.
"but Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of Heaven."  ~Matthew 19:14
It's highly possible you're thinking "What is she talking about? She's only 21 and knows nothing about raising a child." True, I have no children but, I do understand the importance of spending time with your children and training them up in God's Word and making sure they know the importance of needing a Saviour, how they are sinners, just like the rest of us. I learn this from my own Mommy. She has instilled these things in me and has also raised me to share what is on my heart and not sugarcoat it. I honestly can't stand sugarcoating so just go as far as I can, being very careful what I write and how everything is worded.
Always pray for your children and tell them all the time that you love them, show it to them also, not by buying them stuff or anything like that, just spending time with them, playing their little games will help them to know how much you care about and love them. Hold on to them. Teach them things so that when, one day, they leave all they've ever known at home to go out into the world, they'll know what do and they'll know they can always come back home to you and that you'll welcome them with loving, open arms, no matter what, and that you'll help them to the very best of your ability.

Grace be with you.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

The Importance of Wisdom

Lately, I've been reading a book called "Preparing To Be A Help-Meet" by Debi Pearl and in it, she talks of how, as young single women hoping for a family someday, we are not only supposed to be preparing for marriage but also for homeschooling children. That really inspired me to start getting books from the library about certain things that they will need to know and other things that would just be interesting to know, the histories of different Countries, Gaelic (a language I've always wanted to learn!), identifying plants, trees, birds, learning about different animals, etc. I realize I'm 21 and, depending upon when I get married, I started a little late in life but this is something that I'm really excited about doing and hope that when I get well, amidst the housecleaning, practicing piano, doing other projects, I might be able to make the time to sit and read about a lot of things and figure out how to organize the things I learn in binders and keep them for any future children. I just love learning and hope that, one day, my husband and I can instill that love in our children.
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction" ~Proverbs 1:7
As parents or, in my case, just an adult to whom younger ones could look for advice someday, we must be ready with this knowledge God has given, this wisdom, and show the younger ones how important it is to learn and learn and learn and never stop, show them the joy in it!
I, personally, find it more fun, now, to learn because I'm not in school anymore and can learn what I want and whenever I can.
Not saying I'm full of wisdom or anything 'cause in my opinion, I'm not, how I wish I was though. It's not just about the normal school subjects, one of my Mommy's, brothers', and my favorite things to learn is doing things the old fashioned way, even though it isn't necessary right now, what if, at some point in time, we had to do things the old ways?
God has given wisdom to use wisely and to teach the younger ones what must be known. First is always the fear of Him, for it is, obviously, the beginning of knowledge.
We must learn from our past experiences and help others when they might be going through the same thing. For me, there is a small thing that God placed in my life and at the time, I was embarrassed about it but, ya know what? Later on, I was able to help 3 of my friends by that experience. Yes, everything that happens is for a reason, that's how God made it. Even though, at the time, I was embarrassed, it never occurred to me that God was teaching me something that could be a help to my friends someday.
Gain wisdom, gain knowledge, pass on what you know, what you've learned, what God has taught you, to the younger generation. You never know if something you've experienced could be one of the most important things to share with someone else.
God bless you on your journey to gain more knowledge and teach what you know. Pray for wisdom. I must, honestly say, that there have been some blog posts I've written that, after I read them, the first thought that came to mind was, "I did not know that could come from my little mind", in truth, God put it there, He gave me the words, it wasn't me, He just used me to type.


Grace be with you.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Because I'm sick and haven't really been sleeping too well, I decided to copy and paste one of my old blog posts (at this strange hour: 2:34am) onto this blog (though I changed just a few, unnecessary, little things), especially because it's fitting for the date.

First of all,  yesterday was my Daddy's Birthday and I wanted to say that I'm so thankful for him and proud of him, he's such a blessing to us and we love him SO much! He's such a hard worker and will do anything to protect his little family, he's funny, fun, caring, loving, etc. and I hope that my future husband will be like him. Happy Birthday Daddy!

Second of all, I have some things to share:


I do not know any guys right now, and therefore, have no prospects of a future husband, but I would like to share my idea of a relationship with a guy.


Personally, I don't want to touch a guy (or him touch me) unless it's my future husband, but after we're married. I haven't always felt this way until I read about Josh & Noelle
Goforth not holding hands or touching each other until after they were married. I was so inspired by that and decided that's how I want to be.
I've always wanted a pair of pretty lacy gloves to wear, but especially now for another reason: I once shook hands with a young guy and found it weird to touch him (not that he felt funny, lol) because I'm not used to doing that, so to have those dainty little gloves would be perfect.
I also totally believe in Courtship and praying for God's guidance, waiting for His timing, etc. There is only one man for me and God knows who he is and though it is hard at times, I have to trust Him.
I'm not saying it's easy for me to just say, "Ah, God knows who he is so I won't think about anyone else", because it isn't easy!
I think, as girls, it is quite easy to look at a guy and think "Wow! Is he attractive!" (which I do, and Mommy can attest to that) but extremely difficult to rid oneself of the thought. I've had goofy little crushes on guys before and still struggle with that even though there is only one man for me and I pray for him!
My Mommy and Guitargirl can totally attest to my goofy little crushes (one in particular). 
Sometimes, I still struggle with that, too.
I want to save EVERYTHING for my future husband...and AFTER we're married.
My single years are supposed to be a time of growth and preparation for being a wife and mommy someday and I don't want to waste this time daydreaming about falling in love, there is no point in it. It will happen in God's time and my daydreaming about it isn't going to rush the process, rather, it'll make it feel that time is going so slow and that DEFINITELY doesn't help!
I know it's hard, but as daughters of the One and Only King, we must trust Him and pray.
We must pray for patience, for peace, a greater trust in Him, and pray for our future husband, whether or not we know who he is. We don't have to pray for him by name, God has known since before there was time who he is, we must rest in that.
It's not easy, but with prayer, and talking with our loved ones and asking them for prayer, telling them when we're having a hard time with it, it makes it a bit easier. It's always wonderful knowing that you have someone praying for you....one of the best feelings in the world!
 
Grace be with you.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

To Be A Keeper At Home

Today is one of my favorite kinds of days, though if my Mommy and I weren't sick, it would be better. However, we both only have colds and she's practically over hers, so praise God for that.
Anyway, the reason why today is one of my favorite kinds of days is because the weather is gloomy and chilly and that's the perfect combination to curl up with some kind of book and some hot coffee, which both my Mommy and I love doing, she and I have so much in common,  I'm so thankful God blessed me with her. We really are the very best of friends. She's always telling me that throughout my teenage years and even now, I'm not supposed to like being with her and stuff, to be honest: we've never fought and there's not one girl on this earth, with whom, I would rather spend more time. She is the very example of the wife/mommy I hope to be someday, if I can manage to be at least half of what she is.

I'm hoping that, when I'm well, I'll make up a list of things that need to be done around the house and projects to start and, Lord willing, will be able to do them, by His and powered by His strength.
One of my favorite things to do is take care of my little family (being my Daddy, Mommy, and 2 older brothers, 1 whenever I can as, he doesn't live with us anymore), baking, cooking, doing their laundry, and whatever else needs to be done, well, my Mommy and I do it together, of course, but if she can't, then I take over. Just love baking or cooking little treats for my family! My Daddy LOVES white chocolate (my Mommy, older brother, Chris, and I don't believe it is real chocolate) so he likes when I put those in cookies, brownies, or other sweets I can find: Mommy loves my PB cookies and oatmeal cookies: oldest brother, Tommy, loves my homemade bread (I once gave him a whole, freshly baked loaf when he came to visit and he later said that he practically devoured it that night): Chris loves my carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Really, they all love most everything I make, though some things are only loved by a few people. Perhaps I will post some favorite recipes sometime.
My dream has always been to be a homemaker like my Mommy, when I was little, my favorite toys I had were my baby dolls, I still have the main two in my hope chest, then a few porcelain and other dolls that won't fit in there, sitting around in my room. For awhile, I wanted to be a singer and had my life planned but, obviously, it didn't happen that way and as I got older, that dream started to die and my focus now is to learn the skills of keeping a home, by my Mommy, and caring for everyone in anyway I can. God gave me a love for the underdog, elderly, poor/homeless, and children, if there was ever a time when God would show me how to put that love into action, doing things for them or whatever, that would be awesome, if it is His will. The ideas of volunteering at a homeless shelter, taking care of the elderly in some way (whether it be visiting them at home or whatever), babysitting, making meals for families, etc. have always appealed to me and I wonder if, someday, God has planned for me to do any of those things. Don't want to do any of it for me, all for Him.
Perhaps, someday, I could serve by my husband's side, as we do the Lord's will together. If that should happen, there are many things that need to be learned now, even many things that must be done now. I must be ready.
Christian young ladies must be ready to serve the Lord with their future husbands, they need to be told about the importance of praying for them, even now, before they're married. I do not know any young men as, my family and I do not attend Church right now, for we have not found the right one. Then again, who knows if he and I will even meet at Church? After all, Isaac and Rebekah were brought together in a totally different way (Genesis 24).
God knows when He will bring us together, He's known since before there was time. God is not 'writing your love story', He's already written it.

Grace be with you. 

Monday, February 21, 2011

The Start Of A New Blog

On my former blog (www.unworthymaiden.blogspot.com), I had a difficult time keeping up with posting for some reason so thought, perhaps if I start a new one, fresh, I could start over and write more. That blog was too much of a jumble. I mean, it was me, because I like Football (Manchester United, Inter Milan, Real Madrid), music (from hard rock to opera), homemaking and all the little jewels that come with it, a bunch of different things but, I don't want my life to revolve around them, or for it to seem to other people that it does. It occurs to me, though, that just because I like such a wide variety of things, doesn't mean I have to have it all on one blog, it's just too much. Really, I want to be known as a feminine, girly-girl, who's heart is on fire for Jesus Christ, who has quirks but doesn't really want to show that to all the world, it could turn readers away and they might not return to see the things that I do like to post more than others.
For instance, on my last blog, I would write Birthday posts for famous people I like. While it may not sound stupid, when I look back and read them, that is how I view them. They might've been ok, at the time, but now, they just embarrass me. One thing that has always bugged me about my previous blog is that when I look and see the pages where people land when they visit, it's, more often than not, about Cristiano Ronaldo or Barlow Girl and that gets on my nerves, it's like my blog is known for those posts and I don't like it at all.  Not sure if I will keep it except, perhaps, to copy posts I like and put them on here.
Something else that came to mind whilst reading a book is: I would be so embarrassed if my future husband saw some of the posts on my blog.
I've considered closing my Twitter, as that is something else that is making me known as more of Manchester United fan than anything deeper....or deep at all. Problem there is, I've made a few friends on there and doubt they would want me to leave. One problem with staying is, most of the people I follow curse and curse and curse, which I find offensive, some of them are my friends though and I don't want to stop being someones friend just because of the language they use.
While there were some posts that were deep, too many of all of the posts would not have given you any idea that I'm a Christian. Sure, the title of my blog, the description, some posts, my profile, how I end all of my posts but, where was God in the part that people actually read? Several times: nowhere. It's like, just wait till you get to the end, then you'll see 'Alive because of His Blood, Katie Bekah', and you look through the post again, how would you get that out of what I wrote?
Being a Christian and having a blog doesn't mean, "Yeah, I'll just give my a blog a 'Christian title' and description, tell people who I am, then write about Jesus on occasion, it's my blog, people know I'm a Christian, why must I write about Him in every post?" That's not at all how it should be, but that's how I've felt before and it has burdened me on occasion. I'm hoping and praying that this blog will not be like my last one.
There's something different about this new year but I've no idea what it could be or even if it's real.
I figure, I'm 21 now, it's time for a change. Hopefully, this blog will be a place to encourage young women, younger girls. And, should there be a time when the Lord brings my family and me to a Church, if there are young girls there, I hope and pray to be a good example to them and, maybe, part of that will be through the words spoken here.

Grace be with you.