Purity and Standards

This weekend, my friend and I had the privilege to take four teenagers to a purity conference.  It was a loooong drive.  Four.five hours to be exact.  Was it worth it?  YOU BET!  See, I LOVE the youth.  The youth is where my heart is.  It was such an honor to take these girls and pray with them and see God working in their lives.

Bro. Travis Plumlee was the speaker.  If you read my blog often, you know that I love listening to him preach the Word of God.  This man can deliver.  He knows how to make it funny for teens, but serious enough to where they actually listen.  Our preacher has the same gift!  I would say there was about 100 girls there all together.  I wanted to share some of the notes that I took.  Some of this may be a bit harsh, as in NOT what you want to hear, but it's the truth, and God says to speak the truth.

We are called to be Ladies of Honor.  1 Peter 3:3,4  "3-Do not let your adornment be merely outward-- arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel-- 4-Rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God."
Does this mean we aren't to fix our hair or wear nice clothes....NO.  This means that what is truly important is what is INSIDE your heart.  Jesus.  In order to let Jesus shine, you have to show it.  He doesn't shine through your designer clothes and your perfectly-in-place hair.  He shines through your spirit.

A man on your arm adds NOTHING to your relationship with Christ.  Stop looking for a man and look UP to HIM!  Girls are an ornament on His tree.

When we worry more about what we wear and how we look than what our spirit looks like, we are letting the world shine through us.  Let God be the inner part of your body shining through.

Be a unique woman.  Feminine does NOT equal weak.  A strong woman is one who can make a decision, has beliefs, character, and shows action.  Set a new path of society for women today.

Dating in the American society is soooooo messed up.  Think about it.  Do we say to our little ones, "oh you have a crush on so and so!  hahahaha!"  This is something I have done in the past, but not anymore.  I don't want my daughter to get her heart broken over and over and over. We are going to set standards for her.  Elementary, middle school, and junior high is way too young to think about boyfriends and girlfriends.  

Before you court or date anyone- PRAY about it.  Guard your heart.  It's God's treasure, not yours.  It's not yours to give out to a million boys.  Guard your heart through prayer.

Did you know that flirting produces lust?  Yes!  I see so many young girls flirting.  They are doing nothing but making it so much harder on young men to keep thoughts away.

The world says there is pleasure and joy in sexual impurity.  Strengthen your purity.  Memorize scripture.  If a boy asks you to go out- ask him to come to church.  If he wants to sit by you, have him sit by your parents.  If he truly is interested in you, he will come and pay attention to what you enjoy.

Those are just a few of the notes.  The main thing I wanted to talk about was standards.  This is something that I think is HIGHLY important for ALL young teens today.  Set standards in your house as to what you expect from them when it comes to boys/girls.
Courting is something I didn't hear about until recently.  Will I have Ruthie and Randy court before dating- YES.  This is something God has laid upon my heart and has taught me about.  Courting is saying, "hey, I like you, and think you are cute.  Let's get to know each other better through friendship and fellowship, supervised everywhere we go."  Dating will come later on in their teens, *maybe* around 18.  Standards will be set.  NOTHING should be done in courtship.  No hand holding, no kissing.  Hugging is ok.  Kissing can happen in dating, but in MODERATION.  A LOT of young teens at the purity conference want to save their kiss for marriage.  I think this is amazing.  They want to stay pure!  There will be no riding together in the same car.  Date in public places for at least 6 months.  Courting and dating is to make sure this person is the one you want to spend your life with.  Don't give your heart away to tons of boys.  You are giving bits and pieces of your heart away and that heart belongs to God.  Stay pure.  At the end of the conference, they were given the choice to sign a purity covenant. They didn't have to, but all of our girls did.  I wrote it down to remember when the time comes for Ruthie.  Here is what it said:

I promise my God, parents, my future mate, and myself to keep my mind and body morally clean and pure so that when I enter the marriage covenant, I will be able to give myself with a completely clean conscience to my mate.

I was SO grateful to have the chance to attend this conference.  I learned so much that will help me in my walk in motherhood with Ruthie.  Thank you Jesus for your awesome Word!  Thank you for giving me the knowledge to share this with my daughter when the time comes.  She is SO precious to me.

TGIF!

I am so thankful for this Friday!  I am headed to a family retreat with our church!  We get to hear Bro. Travis preach the Word all weekend long!  Randall wasn't able to go with us at first, but now he gets to go at least half of the time!  I am praying I come back refreshed along with a better attitude and understanding of God's will for my life!  Hoping everyone has an awesome weekend!  Can't wait to share some information when I get back.  Pictures too!  :)

Praise You In This Storm

This song has been our motto for the past few weeks.  It just seems like we can not get ahead of anything.  satan is attacking, but we are retaliating with God.  We are part of His army and will not allow him to win.

It's been a struggle for sure.  First off, our fridge quit working.  The freezer was doing ok, but not the fridge.  We were waiting to figure out what it was, but Randall was working, so he had LITTLE time to work on it.  We finally figure out the problem.  They thought they had a used part, but nope.  We had to order it new, which meant we were going to have to wait 3 more days.  We were living out of the ice chest, but all our food was at our amazing Grandad's.  I was so thankful (and still am!)  for that man!  It was hard b/c first off- I HATE cooking.  Second off, I HATE planning what to cook, and third off- I had NO clue what food was at Grandad's.  Needless to say it was tough.  I found myself in tears at many times.  But, I remembered there are people all over the world who don't even have an ice chest, let alone a house to live in.  I praised Him for my blessings, but I also praised Him for my trials.  Sure, it wasn't easy, but when you have God on your side, you will WIN.

We have a family retreat coming up.  I am soooooo stinking excited about this.  It will be at the same place we have our women's retreat (more on that later!).  The best part- TRAVIS PLUMLEE is our guest speaker.  This man is awesome.  He is a bit hard to digest at times, but he speaks the truth, and if you listen you will be moved...no doubt about it.  The bad part- Randall has to work.  Yes, satan is attacking again. But, we are going to stand strong and try to understand why Randall can't go.  I can promise I will share every.single.detail to Randall.

Friday night is gonna be one of the best nights ever!!!  Ruthie, some from our church, my aunt, cousins, and I are attending a CHRIS TOMLIN concert!  WOOOO HOOO!  I can not wait!  I wish Randall could attend, but again, he has to work.  I am so thankful for a hard working man though.  Such an awesome man of God I have!

Please be praying for us during this time.  No, trials are never easy.  Yes, I fell short many, many times, but I always had the Holy Spirit working in me, helping me know it will all be ok.  When tough times hit- remember- PRAISE HIM.

Church Camp 2011 + 24/52

This photo basically sums up our amazing experience at camp this year.  Last year, I wasn't able to attend, being that I was in Honduras.  But, my amazing husband took our two kiddos last year and was the male counselor.  This year, I think we more than doubled our amount of campers!  We took 31 people, 5 being adults. We were beyond blessed!

We arrived a bit late Monday morning, but it was still ok.  Our kids were able to attend the first class.  Ruthie and Randy went along with us.  We knew it might get a bit stressful, but we would much rather allow them to experience camp too. 

Bro. Travis Plumlee was our speaker.  Talk about one AMAZING man of God.  This man brings it.  He knows his stuff and definately loves the Lord.  I was blessed to hear him speak at our revival this year, so I was thrilled I was given the chance to hear him speak again.  He preaches on all topics: marriage, courting, purity, depression, and raising kids to name a few.  I read his book on raising kids- and it changed my parenting a lot.

We had one of our youth saved, and 3 rededicate their lives.  While we were there, we had two brothers have a "Come to Jesus" meeting and they grew so much closer together and closer to God.  I was beyond blessed to experience this. 

It is so amazing to see God work in the lives of younger ones.  These kids have to suffer through too much.  Way too much.  It breaks my heart to hear what some of them are going through, but we have to have the faith that God will deliver them.  I know He will as long as they follow His path.  I pray for each and every one of them. 

Sunday morning worship- we had the youth bring camp back to the adults.  They did just that.  On the last song, the youth went down into the crowd, grabbed their hands and we all worships together.  It was amazing.  Lots of tears were shed.  We also had one young man give his life to Jesus at the end of the service!  AMAZING!

Loving Life

It's been quite a while since I posted.  I was trying to post more often, but time has gotten away.....again.  Imagine that huh?  I can honestly say though that things are going great right now.  I know that's the perfect chance for the devil to attack, but I trust that the Lord is beside me protecting me.

We've been super busy again.  Where do I begin....
Thursday night kicked off our "Marching for the Master" where the month of March is filled with different preachers and our revival.  Thursday night was the men and boys Beast Feast.  Yes, this is a very southern thing.  Whatever they kill, they cook it and eat it.  Yum right...um, not so much.  I am glad it's a men and boys thing and no ladies are invited! 

Friday night was the start of our revival!  We were privledged to have Bro. Travis Plumlee in our church delivering God's Word.  What a mighty fine job he did.  He talked about stress.  It was awesome!

Saturday DAY was the Hillbilly Youth Explosion.  Whew....that was a long and ENJOYABLE day.  It was about standing tall in the hall with Jesus!  I think it hit home with a lot of kids.

Saturday NIGHT was revival again.  It was amazing and exactly what I needed.  It was on anger.  Some of you may know me and I might not come across an angry person, but I fall short with this sin.  Not that anger is a sin, but how I react is a sin.  I am admitting to it and I am taking control of it.  God knows how to lay the right thing on my heart at the right time.

Sunday was another great day.  The lesson was over forgiveness.  I think this hit home with everyone. 

Bro. Travis taught me so much in the short amount of time he was here.  I honestly can't explain to anyone just how much it helped me.  I bought his book and I dove in and have learned so much.  I can say that even though I have only been reading it for 3 days, Ruthie and my relationship has improved more than words can describe. I am so thankful!  I have changed a lot of things and I truly believe I have become a better mother!

Some of our youth at the altar....such an amazing thing to see!

My niece Haley and Ruthie!