The Scent of Cherry Blossoms by Cindy Woodsmall

The Scent of Cherry Blossoms by Cindy Woodsmall is about a young Mennonite woman (Annie) and a young Amish man (Aden) and their families. To the outsider looking in the Amish and Mennonite communities may look virtually the same, and they often make very good neighbors. However, some lines are drawn deep and are not meant to be crossed. Annie and Aden begin to discover just how hard it can be to navigate the dangerous waters between their faiths when they start to fall in love. Will their faith, love and families be able to weather the storm brought on by this forbidden love?

All I can say is that Cindy Woodsmall has done it again! She takes you into the lives of the Plain people and lets you see God from their perspective. The Scent of Cherry Blossoms is well written and will keep your interest until the very end. I also love that she brings in a couple of her characters from The Christmas Singing novella to make small appearances in the community. It makes life in Apple Ridge more real since Aden and Roman made an appearance in that book as well.

I highly recommend the Scent of Cherry Blossoms to all of Cindy Woodsmall's fans and to anyone else who is intrigued by the Amish and Mennonite faiths and communities. It is a wonderful addition to her other books, and a great short read (just under 200 pages). I am glad to add this book to my collection and I look forward to reading it again sometime.

Read Chapter One

I received this book free of charge from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing for review purposes.

The Girl's Still Got It by Liz Curtis Higgs

I recently finished reading The Girl's Still Got It! by Liz Curtis Higgs. Let me tell you…if you are looking for a new perspective on the book of Ruth then you HAVE TO read this book! So many of the things that I have read about Ruth have been from a man's point of view that it is really refreshing to hear things from the viewpoint of a woman and not just any woman but a woman that knows how to tell a great story! I also recommend this book to those who have always wanted to take a deeper Biblical look into Ruth but can't stomach, understand or stay awake long enough to read a Bible commentary. Higgs brings Ruth to life in the way that only a storyteller can truly do while weaving in all the hours she has done so you end up with a deep and meaty study and hardly even recognize it!

Liz Curtis Higgs takes us down the road from Moab to Bethlehem and beyond one verse (and sometimes one phrase) at a time. Along the way she explains the Hebrew words used to tell the story. She also does her best to clue us into the cultural and political climate. Then at the end of each chapter she adds a "real life Ruth" story. These are short snippets of today's women who are living out their own Ruth stories.

I have to say that I really loved and enjoyed this book! That's saying something because I often struggle to get through non-fiction literature, but I WANTED to read more and more of this book. I initially picked up this book because I have read many of Higgs works of fiction, and I particularly love her two books that are based loosely around the stories of Ruth and Naomi (Here Burns My Candle and Mine is the Night). If you are a fan of her fiction then I highly recommend you read The Girl's Still Got It!

However, there was one major thing that I DIDN'T like about this book…the intro! In fact, I almost wrote the whole book off while I was reading the introduction chapter. It just came off as over the top, ridiculously airheaded giggling high school cheerleader. I know she's excited and she is trying to get her readers excited but it just didn't work for me. It didn't excite me to read the rest of the book and if I wasn't reviewing it I probably would have closed it and never picked it up again. SO definitely read the book but skip the introduction or at least keep in mind that the rest of the book is much better if you insist on reading the silly introduction.

Anyway, I will say it again, this book was an eye-opening read! Very insightful and jam packed full of facts. It will make you think and you might even see Ruth in a way that you never have before!

I received this book at no cost from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing for review purposes.

A Lesson from Lost in Austen

I don't know about you but I really, really love Jane Austin's books! I have a hard time deciding whether Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility is my favorite. I have read them each several times I have watched the movie/mini-series countless times. Still I can't seem to get enough. It doesn't matter to me that I know what will happen in the end or that I can quote almost every single character--they're just great books!

Recently I discovered a movie that follows almost this exact same idea. It's called Lost in Austen. It's about a young woman called Amanda Price who is so consumed with her love with Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice that she isn't satisfied with her life or relationships in modern day London. To her great astonishment Elizabeth Bennett literally stumbles into her flat one night through a magical doorway that conjoins the Bennett house to Amanda's flat. When Amanda goes through the doorway she is trapped in Elizabeth's world and Elizabeth is trapped in hers. To her delight and disbelief she finds herself smack dab in the middle of Pride and Prejudice.

However, things begin to go awry almost immediately. "Miss Price's" presence has misbalanced the story she knows and loves to well. As Amanda does everything in her power to fix the story and get things back on track she meets one obstacle after another. That's when it hit me…
Her efforts often went VERY wrong BECAUSE she thought she knew how the story was supposed to end up!

It made me think…Maybe that's why God doesn't tell us the ending in advance. We do enough damage trying to take things into our own hands when we aren't sure exactly what God has planned for us. How much more damage would we do if we knew the end that God had planned for us? Would we blunder around trying to make things happen before they were supposed to? Would be hurt and ruin some special moments in the lives of those we love and in ourselves to try to achieve the ultimate end?

I don't know about you but I am pretty sure that I would! Even when Amanda had the best possible intentions her meddling caused serious issues. I am sure that the same is true of me. Of course it's not like not knowing really makes things anything easier, but it does cause us to rely on faith instead of relying on ourselves. That's one HUGE plus to the way that God does things. Besides, He's God and I'm not. Who am I to question His M.O.?

It's funny the places where we can learn life's lessons. I hope this gives you a chance to stop and think as it did for me.

Grace and Peace,

Christiana

Have a Little Compassion

Last night, for the very first time, McCarthy had a concert! It was amazing! The night kicked off with Somewhere South of Perfect and ended with for King and Country.

Let me tell you...the music was amazing! The guys from the bands were super nice, but that wasn't really the only thing that made my night.

My husband, Jimmy, was the one who organized this whole concert so we were at the church all day getting ready. When I was helping the Compassion International Volunteers get their table set up I felt like one of those kids reached right out of their folder and grabbed me! Her name is Ela.

I don't know if you know this but when I was in college I majored in Intercultural Studies. As a part of that program they paired us up with another student (yeah, Alisha!) and they sent us out to live in another country for six months. During that time we lived with an indigenous family, learned as much of their language as we could, studied their ethnic group, and worked to give back and be a blessing.

Now you may be asking yourself how this all relates so let me get to that...

Ela lives in the same country--even the same "city" as Alisha and I lived. She shares the same family name as our family and she speaks the same language. Not only that but she also has the same birthday month as me, my husband, and one of our American friends we met while living there. Needless to say, I felt very connected at her. The more I learned about her the more I just wanted to cry. That's about the time that Jimmy walked up.

As I told Jimmy about this girl, he understood. Jimmy had been on the receiving end of all my emails during the six months that I lived in West Africa. He knew as much about my family as he possibly could, and without hesitation he decided that we HAD to sponsor Ela. So I am happy to tell you that Ela came home with us last night!

If you are interested in learning more about sponsoring a child, visit Compassion Internationals Website. There are children all over the world who really need your help! Don't miss your opportunity to be a blessing in their lives.

 

What I Learned from My New Job

Today I left Wal-Mart behind and I started a new job. It's always exciting and a little nerve wracking the first day at your new place. You don't quite feel fully comfortable and there are so many things that you couldn't possibly know that you feel overwhelmed. If you are anything like me you are probably worried about whether or not you dressed up enough or your co-workers will like you or possibly even if you will be able to actually do this job once you get into it. However, once you get in there and things get started you find out that you are doing good. Then it hits...

Information overload! You have met tons of people and "learned" lots of names. You have filled out about a billion tax and benefits forms. You have gotten your new name tag/ID badge. You have taken a tour of the building and you might even have gone through orientation. Just when you think your brain is mush and it can't possibly hold another fact--your boss either sits down with you or pairs you with someone to show you the ropes and they begin to ply you with even more information!

There are studies out there that say humans only retain about 30% of what they learn by hearing it alone. I don't know if those numbers are accurate or not but after starting a new learning experience today I could easily believe it. When my brain stopped hurting, I started thinking...

It's no wonder that God communicates with us in small, bite sized pieces. It should also come as no surprise that He often makes us wait for an answer instead of revealing His whole plan to us at once. If He did we would simply get the worst possible case of information overload in the whole world and on top of that we wouldn't even retain all of the plan! So maybe next time instead of complaining that God isn't giving me information fast enough I should stop and be thankful that He IS giving it to me in doses that I can handle.

I would love to hear your thoughts...

We All Need a Little Dirt

This year I feel like Spring Fever has really hit me! Never before in my adult life have I lived in an actual house and had space to do a lot of grown up things such as--mowing the yard OR starting a garden. HOWEVER, this year I DO LIVE IN A HOUSE!!! We are renting here in Saint Joseph but I was SO excited when I talked to the property manager and they said that we could have a small garden as long as we replant the grass again when we move.

Let me tell you...I'm excited! I went out and bought a seed starter just like the one above, and all my seeds and came home feeling like a real gardener. Well as my hubby would tell you my tiny garden starter didn't look like much. Even after I had expanded all the little soil pellets and planted my seeds it still looked pretty brown and dead but to me it was full of POTENTIAL.

Now that it has been a few days, I am beginning to see little baby seedlings sticking their heads out of the dirt. The planter still doesn't look like much but you can now tell that it is full of life. It reminds me about my own life. Sometimes things seem like a brown wasteland without much going on. It's during those times that I need to stop and realize that I am full of potential. I am empty and awaiting God--the gardener--to come and fill me up with life giving seeds of hope and joy and peace and to water it all down with His grace and mercy. Then in HIS time I will see new growth. It will start small but it's there nonetheless.

I look forward to sharing more pictures from my garden with you as it grows and changes. Maybe it will be a blessing to you too.

Here Burns My Candle

Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs is the first of two books which retell the Biblical story of Ruth and Naomi. Both books are set in Scotland during the 1700s and both are amazing works of literature which will steal your heart.

Here Burns My Candle uses the framework of the Ruth and Naomi story--along with some creative license--to help you understand the back story of these two women who have nothing find everything through God. In addition, you get a glimpse into the struggles that Elizabeth (the Ruth character) has in coming to faith in God and leaving behind the old beliefs she grew up with as a child. Higgs also helps you to see things from Marjory's (Naomi's) perspective too. She was a women who had it all and left her home for the "greener grass" only to end up penniless and alone.

Higgs does a great job of helping you relate to her strong female characters. However, there are a few slow parts in the book that might have been shortened to keep up the overall pace. That being said Here Burns My Candle is still an excellent book with so many life lessons to be learned within its pages.

It is also successful in leaving you wanting more, which is the perfect lead in for its sequel--Here Burns My Candle.

I heartily recommend this book to Higgs fans and to those who love Biblical parallels/allegories. Here Burns My Candle will not disappoint!

I received a free copy of this book from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing for review purposes.

Valentines Day Special: Part Two

Valentine's Day is supposed to be a day where we celebrate the love in our life. Unfortunately it can also be a horrible day for those without the One in their lives. What would you say to me if I told you that everyone has the opportunity to be loved by the One everyday? It's true. It can happen. First, I want to talk about the five Greek words for love and then we will talk about the One.


When I think about the FOUR Greek words used to explain love I realize just how limited the English language can be. The Greek language uses the four different words at its disposal to explain the difference between the love you feel for your husband and the love you feel for your cheeseburger. In English it's just love. What a shame. No wonder people don't really understand what love means.


The first Greek word for love is Storge (στοργή) his means affection. I think when most people talk about their love for their cheeseburger they are talking about storge love...I hope.


The second Greek word for love is Philia (φιλία) this is a love between friends. You love your best friend, that's philia love. Ever wondered why the City of Brotherly Love is called Philadelphia well I think you are starting to get the picture now.

The third Greek word for love is Éros (ἔρως) this is romantic love or could also be translated erotic love. It is passionate love, with sensual desire and longing, but it doesn't have to be strictly sexual in nature. When we think about the commercialized version of Valentines Day the ad agencies are more than happy to sell us eros love. It can strong and passionate but it is often short lived. This is the love used to describe dating and marriage.


The final Greek word for love is Agápe (ἀγάπη) this is the unconditional love of God. Agape transcends any other kind of love out there. It is perfect and unconditional. Many people believe they agape their spouse or their boyfriend or girlfriend, but in reality the only person truly capable of perfect agape love is God. It is a sacrificial love.


Now...about everyone being loved by the One...


If you haven't figured it out by now, the One that I am referring to is God. God is waiting for each of us. He gave himself sacrificially to bring agape love to us. If we are willing to accept His sacrifice and ask forgiveness for our sins, He will never stop giving us the agape love we crave and were in fact created to receive. He wants to have a real and living relationship with us. He wants to be our Valentine, our love, and our desire. Even when we as humans fail, His agape love never will!


As husbands, wives, boyfriends, and girlfriends, we should be doing our best to give our significant other agape love. We should be willing to forgive and work through problems. Yes, there are times it won't be easy. Yes, we will fail. We are not God! We can only try to imitate and practice His agape love the best way we can. Thankfully, He is there to set the example in our lives if we will only start a relationship with Him.


Make God your Valentine this year and you will never be alone again!

Back to School

School time again! The children groan and I rejoice. I don’t know about you, but I LOVE school! I know…I’m weird. Even as a child, I was excited for summer but two weeks in I was ready for school to begin again. I have an undying curiosity and thirst for knowledge. I think that’s part of the reason I enjoy reading as much as I do (although I have to admit I squander that passion by primarily reading fiction).

A year ago, I returned to college and began taking classes part-time while I worked full-time. This semester I have three classes, and as I prepared for my class tonight I had a thought. God wants us to be lifetime students. What?! Yuck! Eew. You’ve got to be kidding me! No way! No. It’s true. God wants us to be lifetime students.

In 2 Timothy 2:15 (nasb) it says, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” In the King James translation this verse begins with the word study. God wants us to have good study skills when it comes to reading, learning, and remembering His word. We don’t want to fail the tests of life because we haven’t spent enough time studying the material! In Psalm 119:11 the psalmist wrote, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” The best way to hide God’s word in your heart is through reading it, studying it, and memorizing it.

I know being a lifetime student doesn’t appeal to everyone, but there are so many benefits to being a student of God’s word! Don’t let your own dislike for school to rob you of the lifelong blessings that come from seeking the face of God through studying His word. Start today and never stop studying!

Daughters of the King Pt 4: Application

Hello, Ladies! This is the final installment of the Daughter of the Kings Bible studies. I hope that you have enjoyed our time studying what it means being a daughter of the King. So let’s just jump right in!

Daughters of the King Pt. 4: Application

I believe that every good lesson should have application. I know that not all parts of this lesson have had application sections, and now you know the reason. Today I want to take a look at one final section of scripture and bring everything we have talked about thus far together in one conclusion.

Read Psalm 45

For space I won’t include all of Psalm 45, but I will include the verses we are going to highlight. However, I greatly encourage you to read the entire chapter. There are so many good and encouraging things in this chapter.

Focusing In:
Psalm 45:9 “Daughters of kings are among your honored women; at your right hand is the royal bride in gold of Ophir.”
Remember that according to 1 John 3:1 (How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.) we, as Christians, are all Daughters of the King! This simply goes to prove that these verses are talking about us. They are relevant to us. We should pay attention to what they are saying about us and to us.

Psalm 45:11 “The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor Him, for He is your lord.”
The King is enthralled by your beauty! Imagine it! God is enthralled by your beauty. Enthralled means captivated or charmed and is synonymous with Enchanted. God is captivated by your beauty. God is charmed by your beauty. God is enchanted by YOUR beauty! How amazing is that! God sees you as perfect and beautiful just the way you are. If God is enchanted and captivated by the women He has created us to be then why do we spend so much time focusing on the negative things we see in ourselves?
Psalm 45:13 “All glorious is the princess within her chamber ; her gown is interwoven with gold.”
I want to take a moment to focus on one word—glorious. Glorious means delightful; wonderful; completely enjoyable. God completely enjoys us and the way He created us. He didn’t make a mistake. He made us delightful. He made us wonderful. He made us completely enjoyable!

Princess Lessons:


Take a moment to think about the movie Princess Diaries. If you haven’t seen it then I hope you take the time to watch it. Anyway, before Mia found out she was the Princess of Genovia, she was clumsy and didn’t see many good things in her life. Even after Mia started having princess lessons with her grandmother she still broke glasses, wreaked havoc on meals with dignitaries, and had many other embarrassing disasters. Her life didn’t really change overnight.

What really caused Mia’s transformation?
I believe her transformation started when she truly accepted that she was indeed the Princess of Genovia. This is when she started accepting her responsibilities and who she was born to be. She also began to have confidence in her heritage. She believed in the woman that her father saw in her as a young child.

Was Mia perfect from this point on?
No way! Mia still had incidents when she performed less than perfectly. If you don’t believe me all you have to do is watch the second movie. Mia also continued to have moments of self-doubt. None of us have perfect records when it comes to believing in ourselves. We all have days when our jeans don’t fit or our faces are broken out with tremendous amounts of acne and we wonder why anyone would ever believe in us. It’s what you do when you have the moments of doubt that truly counts. I love the quote from Mia’s letter from her father. In this letter he writes, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.” If you can’t find the courage to rise above your fear that you aren’t good enough then you will never truly recognize your heritage as a Daughter of the King.

My Princess Lessons:

Lesson #1: Have the courage to believe God and accept that I am a true Daughter of the King.

Lesson #2: Start believing that God created me to be beautiful and that He sees me that way at this very moment.
God has never lied to you before. Why would He start lying to you now? Think about it. The Bible is 100% truth and it says you are beautiful. To say you are not beautiful is to call the Bible a lie!

Lesson #3: Train my mind, my heart, and my body to believe I am God’s Princess and to behave like I am God’s Princess.
Memorize scriptures that will remind you how God sees you. Do things, such as exercising and eating right that will help reinforce a positive self-image and help you to feel good about yourself. These things can’t be your self-worth but they are very helpful tools in enhancing a positive self-image. I know I feel better about myself when I have taken time to eat right and exercising. Maybe you will too!

Lesson #4: Make a conscious effort to STOP saying negative things about myself.
This is possibly the hardest of all the application lessons. Your negative thoughts about who you are are the biggest obstacles standing between how you see yourself and how God sees you. If you consciously make an effort to stop being negative about yourself you make room for you to see the positive things in yourself that God sees in you all the time. If you are constantly telling yourself you are fat, ugly, or stupid then it’s no wonder you think you are fat, ugly, and stupid!

Lesson #5: START recognizing the positive areas in my life!
Are you a talented artist or musician, tell yourself about it. Share your talents with others. Are you an avid reader, keep track of all the books you have read and tell yourself you have done a great job in pushing your mind to read all of them.

Lesson #6: Work on the things that need improvement instead of using them to beat myself down all the time.
I hate it when people sit around and complain about their problems but never do anything to fix them. Yet, when it comes to my problems of self-image I often do the exact same thing. Instead of whining and complaining about being overweight and then telling myself how stupid I am for being overweight, I should use half that energy to go for a walk! I would have walked a lot by now in my life!

Daughters of the King Pt 3: Identification

Sorry that it took so long to get this one out to you wonderful ladies. I have had a lot going on this week. I have also been having some issues with my back that have only made things more complicated.

So why wait any longer? Let’s get down to business! But first a quick review. In part one, we learned that in general most women are critical and negative about themselves. In part two, we learned that we are willing to accept princesses for who they should be and are not critical about them—generally speaking. Next we are going to look at who God is and who we are in relation to Him.

Daughters of the King Pt 3: Identification

Who is God?

When I say, “Who is God?” I am not asking the obvious—god is God. In this situation, I am specifically asking for some of the names of God. I want to know His identity based on the names He is given in scripture.

Names of God:
First of all, there are many, many names of God. I want to take the time to focus on just a few of these names. If you would like a more complete list of the names of God, please feel free to visit the following websites:

http://christianity.about.com/od/biblestudyresources/qt/namesofgodjesus.htm

http://www.blueletterbible.org/study/misc/name_god.cfm

http://bible.org/article/names-god

• Almighty - Revelation 1:8
• Everlasting Father - Isaiah 9:6
• God - John 1:1
• Glory of God - Isaiah 60:1
• Jehovah - Psalm 83:18
• King of Israel - Matthew 27:42
• King of Kings - 1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 19:16
• Lord of Lords - 1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 19:16
• Master - Matthew 23:8
• Messiah - John 1:41
• Prince of Peace - Isaiah 9:6
• Savior - 2 Samuel 22:47; Luke 1:47
• Word – John 1:1

Let’s boil it down. According to scripture God is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, Master, and Savior. God is the original version of royalty. Not only that--He is the perfect royalty! All the good things we talked about last time that apply to Princesses could be applied to God. He is beautiful. He is good. He is kind. He is just. I think you get the picture. Next I want to look at who we are in relation to God.

Who am I?
I don’t know how many times I have heard myself ask the question, “Who am I?” I wear so many different hats and have so many different responsibilities that I find it easy to lose myself. I want you to realize that I am still learning that I am who God has made me to be. God is still working on me and perfecting me to be the perfect version of me, but I am already His. He created me. That means only He really truly knows who I am. So I guess I should be asking, “Who does God say I am?” Let’s check it out.

Who Does God Say I Am:

I am a child of God.
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” 1 John 3:1

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” John 1:12

“because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."” Romans 8:14-15

“You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,” Galatians 3:26

I am bought with a price/sought after.
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

I am chosen.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.” Ephesians 1:3-8

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” John 15:16

If you would like to find out more about who you are in Christ check out this link: http://encouragingbiblequotes.com/verses2a.html

In Summary

I believe these scriptures make it very clear that we are God’s children. We are children of the King! That makes us true royalty. We are Princesses! I love the stories of Gigi by Sheila Walsh. If you have never read them you should!

Gigi is a tenacious little girl, around eight years old. She knows she is a princess and she lives like it—even to the point of treating her best friend as a commoner. However, Gigi doesn’t quite understand why she is a princess. In her first book, “Gigi, God’s Princess” Sheila Walsh shows how Gigi first comes to understand that she is a Princess because she is a daughter of God who is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Join Gigi as she learns what it really means to be God’s Princess.

For more information or to purchase “Gigi, God’s Princess” click here.

Tune in next time to learn more about your true identity as a Daughter of the King!

Daughters of the King Pt 2: Comparison

Let’s take a minute and review what we talked about last time. The first thing we did was to evaluate how we view ourselves. In general, the majority of females see themselves as more negative than positive. Now let’s look at the next part of our Daughters of the King lesson.

Daughters of the King Pt 2: Comparison

How do you view princesses?

Remember, each of the girls was given a sticky note pad with markers. Again they were asked to write one word or phrase, describing what they thought about when thinking about princesses, per sticky note. Since our world isn’t overly full of real royalty, I encouraged the girls to include their ideas of literary princesses and Disney/movie princesses. When everyone was finished the sticky notes were collected and sorted.

So what did I find…

Positive.

Considering that most young women dream about growing up to be princesses I assumed there would be many positive attributes listed. My assumption proved to be correct.

Friendly                            Beautiful
Pretty Singers                   Pursued
Pure                                 Regal
Sought After                     Fought for
Kind                                Happy
Gentle                              Elegant
Thin                                 Perfect
Looked up to                   Adored
Fair                                  Loyal

Many of the girls had the same or similar to the things listed above so I have simplified.

Negative.
I wasn’t sure what kinds of things were going to be listed here. I was sure that there would be far less than there were in the positive column.

Spoiled                            Demanding
Stubborn                         Selfish
Ditsy                               Doesn’t Listen
Self-centered                   Proud

In truth, I think these girls thought about more negatives than I would have been able to think of on my own.

In Summary
It seems that most of us still want to live the charmed lives of princesses. We see in them all the things that we lack in ourselves. We also see greater amounts of positives than negatives. Let’s compare this to what we learned last time about how we see ourselves.

Time to Compare
As women, most of us see more negatives in ourselves than we do positives. However, we see more positives in princesses than we do negatives. We so desperately want to see ourselves as princesses. After all princesses have no problems and are seemingly perfect in every way! Why wouldn’t we want to be princesses? Here’s the surprise….we are princesses!

Tune in next time to learn more about your true identity as a Daughter of the King!

Vacation Bible School

Vacation Bible School (VBS)…so much fun and yet oh so tiring! Let me tell you I am totally exhausted and I still have two nights left! The best part about VBS is getting to meet a bunch of different kids that you didn’t know before. This week, we have met seven new kids so far and I am sure there will be more tonight. Jimmy and I are teaching the 5th & 6th grade class with the help of Dustin, Kevin, & Shelby. The whole point of the way we structure this class is to help get these kids ready to be a part of the youth group. We want them to know what to expect now that they are old enough to be a part of the “big kids.”

Every year, we take one specific night where someone shares the plan of salvation with the kids. Then the teachers answer any questions the children have and if they want we can pray with them and help them to ask Christ to become a part of their lives. Well last night was that night. Pastor John shared the salvation message and offered the children a chance to pray to receive Christ and then told them to talk to their teachers about it if they “prayed the prayer.” Two of girls approached me and for some reason I got really nervous. It happens to me every year. I don’t know why I get nervous when I counsel youth and children about the gospel…I just do. Give me an adult any day and I am great. Give me a kid and my heart starts racing and I have to work twice as hard. I guess I worry that they won’t understand.

I guess I just have to realize that ultimately it’s not about whether I can make them understand. God uses the Holy Spirit to speak to their hearts and He will help them to understand. I simply need to be there to be a tool He uses to teach those children about His love. Yes, some kids pray a prayer that they don’t fully understand, but there are other kids who have really felt the movement of God’s Spirit in their hearts and lives. I am not worthy of being the judge of which kids are which. Thankfully, it is God’s job—not mine! I just need to let go and let God.

Let go today and let God use you to speak His truth.

Teachable Moments

Life has been hectic in the Mustion house lately. We are go, Go, GO! Our routine is out of whack between Strawberry Festival and Vacation Bible School. Since I had to work all day on Saturday at the Strawberry Festival, I wasn’t able to do my grocery shopping when I normally do – on Saturday. So while my friend Sondra and her oldest daughter, Shaina, worked on snacks for Vacation Bible School, Jadie (Sondra’s youngest) and I went grocery shopping. It made for a busy Sunday afternoon, especially since I had a meeting at church that night, but we had fun.
While Jadie and I were shopping we started talking about the wind and the sunshine. Jadie didn’t understand why we have wind. Of course, I could have bored her with all the scientific reasons for wind and rain and sunshine, but instead I chose to use this opportunity to have a “teachable moment.” Now you may ask, “What is a teachable moment?”
A teachable moment is an opportunity to share about God/Christ that arises from your day to day activities.

Jadie wanted to know why we had wind. I had two choices: tell her the science or tell her about God creating the wind. So many times I am ashamed to say that I choose the easy way out and just talk about the “facts”. I am happy to say that on Sunday God helped me to seize this teachable moment and I told her the Creation story instead.
That night Sondra and I were talking about my outing with Jadie and how she behaved and all those good details parents love to know and Sondra shared with me the questions that Jadie has been having about Jesus. I thank God for giving me those words to say in that teachable moment. I pray they will be a few of the seeds that will help Jadie find all her answers about Jesus and to come to know Him as her personal Lord and Savior.
I urge you to seize those teachable moments in your own life. They don’t have to be children. Maybe it’s your neighbor or co-worker. Whoever it is, you will not be sorry that you told them about the love of God!

Strawberry Festival

This week at the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home (where I work) things are very hectic. We are in the midst of preparing for one of our three festival fundraisers. Strawberry Festival is on Saturday, June 5th, this year and it is always an all day affair. We have craft venders, a quilt auction, craft auction, food, and campus tours. It is fun but completely and utterly exhausting!
Strawberry Festival is the oldest of the three festivals MBCH holds each year. When it first started 120 years ago, it was the main source of income for the Baptist Orphans Home (now MBCH). It all started when the orphans grew, harvested, and sold their own strawberries in order to keep the home open. Over the years it has changed and evolved. However, in the last 25 years the festival has changed very little. It has stopped adapting to current trends and is stuck in the rut of tradition. As a result, the festivals have become less and less effective in their post of providing major funding for the operation of MBCH. In fact, there were no major changes allowed until last year. I just wonder if it’s too little to late.
Sadly, many of us have a “festival” mentality. As baby Christians we established a pattern of provision for our walk with Christ. We knew what we needed to reach our spiritual goals and we worked hard to meet those goals. As we continued to grow, we would change and adapt our strategy to keep things current and effective. However, just like the festival, many of us get comfortable and stop keeping tabs on the things we are doing and their effectiveness and we get ourselves into a spiritual rut. While we are in this rut, we do the minimum to keep our Christian walk afloat but we never really are as good as we could be. Eventually we will tank if we don’t get out of this rut. Will we learn to grow and change again or will it be to little to late? I guess we will just have to wait and see.
Get out of your rut and start reaching your potential!

Big Picture People

Have you ever met that one person who cannot see past the next ten minutes of the day? Everything is dramatic and the world is always coming to an end. Oh wait! We all know teenagers! Sadly, many adults live this way too.


As Christians, God calls us to be big picture people. That doesn’t mean that we have everything planned out to the letter for the next twenty years of our lives (read the dangers of this in James 4), but it does mean thinking of more than the moment. I think you could make a valid case that all successful individuals practice big picture perspective.

When people with big picture perspective encounter choices, crisis, opportunities, and struggles they stop for a minute to think. Before making any decisions they think, “What consequences good or bad could come from how I handle this situation?” Teenagers are notorious for rushing headlong into situations without a moments thought.

For example, if Andrew wants to get a tattoo he should stop and ask himself a few questions. Will I still want this tattoo when I 30+? Is my chosen location for the tattoo appropriate for my future career choice? *Side Note: I know some churches and other ministry employers that will not hire if you have a tattoo at all let alone if you have one on your face!* But many people don’t stop to give these questions and others any consideration.

This lack of big picture perspective has corroded so many things in our lives. Our rash decisions from the past are haunting us now. We regret the people we’ve dated, the jobs we’ve taken, or the places we have lived. Yes, God uses these choices to help us to learn and to influence the person we have become, but just think of the pain and regret that could have been avoided with just a little bit of thought!

Take 5 minutes today and think about how the decisions you are making could be affecting your future. You might be surprised at what you discover!

Working with People

The hardest part of life, work, and ministry…hands down…is working with people. People are crabby, impatient, imperfect, cranky, hard to please, demanding, selfish…need I go on? I think you get the picture. Yeah, sometimes people are great. On those days everything is great. The question is,

“How do you work with people when things aren’t great?”

Christiana’s Keys for Working with People
1. Be Patient
2. Show them the Love of God
3. Treat them how you would want to be treated

Be Patient
“A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man displays folly.” Proverbs 14:29
“A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.” Proverbs 19:11

I know, this is easier said than done, but this doesn’t make it any less important. God shows us patience daily, hourly, and sometimes minute by minute. If God wasn’t patient, He would have wiped the earth clean of mankind a long, long time ago. He even thought about it a few times, but in the end He chose to show patience mixed with grace and mercy.

Show Them the Love of God
“You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?” Matthew 5:43-46

A couple of weeks ago, I had a run in with a man on a motorcycle. My husband and I were driving home and were preparing to exit the highway when a guy on a motorcycle must have thought that I cut him off on purpose. Needless to say, he did not re-act very well. He sped up to be equal with Jimmy’s window and began cursing and flipping us the bird. Not satisfied with the reaction he received, he proceeded to pull in front of us and slam on his brakes. This continued for about 5 minutes and I almost rear-ended him several times. All the while he was still cussing up a storm and giving us profane hand signals. Finally, satisfied that he had traumatized us enough he sped off into the distance and we were able to safely exit the highway and proceed home.

I was really shook up by this encounter. I was thankful that God allowed me the presence of mind to keep an even temper and to not give the man’s poor behavior back to him. By the time he left I was really ready to rear end him. If I had done that it wouldn’t have brought any glory to God and could have caused serious injury to the man on the bike as well as Jimmy and I. I did my best to show him the love of God by not getting upset or cursing or flipping him off or hitting him or calling the cops. Hopefully he will someday learn about the love of Christ and will begin showing others the grace of God.

Treat Them How You Want to Be Treated
“The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:14

We have all heard the Golden Rule. Did you know that it comes from the Bible? I could go on and on and on about the way that Bible permeates pop culture without people even knowing it, but that’s a tangent and I will save it for another time. Anyway, this is a good rule of thumb on how to deal with other people. Seriously, why would you treat someone else in a way that you yourself would hate?! Yet, we do it ALL the time! I know that I really need to work on this principle. If we treated others with the same kindness, deference, esteem, and respect that we show ourselves then there wouldn’t be any wars or fighting or world hunger or people taking advantages of others. Wouldn’t that be great?

Christiana's Challenge to You
This week let’s start practicing patience, start showing others the love of God, and start treating others how we would want to be treated. It can only make the world better!

Staying Connected

If you're like me, then you are super busy and you find it really hard to budget all of your time wisely. You might also find that since you are constantly busy and you work very hard that you are also very lazy when you do have down time. When I don't have things planned I tend to veg. Sadly, my busy schedule and veg-itude have horrible side effects. The major side effect is that my relationships tend to fall through the cracks.

From a very early age, I neglected relationships in favor or having more time to do what I wanted or just out of pure laziness or because I didn't think that I was good enough or cool enough to hang out with anyone. I never learned how to maintain a lasting, viable friendship. I don't know how to really stay connected with people. I am on facebook so that I can "keep up" with my friends but I don't make an effort to check their status updates as often as I could. I have a phone so that people can get ahold of me at any time but I rarely pick it up and call people. How can I truly be connected?

Problems in maintaining my earthly relationships have also bled over into my relationship with God. Sadly, I have passed over God for a chance to play more Xbox 360. I have neglected to talk to God because I have too many things that I want to do. I don't take time to find out what God has to say. How can I truly be connected?

Let me just tell you that typing this all out has really put a few things into perspective. It has also helped me think through some of the issues here. I think that the solution is the same for the spiritual as it is for the physical.

#1 STOP being Selfish!
My laziness is selfish. Point blank. Boom! There I said it. I am also selfish in my relationships because I try for a little while and then quit when I feel like the other person isn't returning the friendship or giving me enough attention. Me. Me. ME! Selfish. Stop it!

#2 START listening.
Being involved with God and being involved with your friends and really taking time to stop and listen is the key to great two-way conversation. This is a skill that I need to practice more. I need to learn to listen wholeheartedly. When they are talking I shouldn't be thinking about what I am going to say next or my come back for the argument. I need to pay attention to what is being said. I need to start listening.

#3 COMMIT to being active.
Once I have listened, I need to be active in sharing. Sharing can be scary, especially if you have trust issues like I do. But without a response the conversation is one sided and nothing gets done. That doesn't mean I need to have the last word, but it does mean that I need to be open to letting someone else know me as I really am--flaws and all.

Take time today to STOP being selfish, START listening, and COMMIT to be active in the relationship. See if things don't start to improve. I'm going to try it and I hope you will too.

Who Am I?

In the hectic moments of life when you have run from one activity to another and from one responsibility to the next, do you ever find yourself asking “Who am I?” It is easy to confuse our role with who we really are. Am I a mom? A youth minister? A wife? A coach? A teacher? Not only do we get confused about who we are, we also get confused in our purpose and self-worth.

I was recently talking to my aunt about a project we are working on together. She is writing a children’s book and I am supposed to be illustrating it. I have been having trouble getting the illustrations right because of some self-doubt issues that I deal with on a daily basis. When I expressed these feelings to her, this is what she wrote back to me:

“My precious favorite second niece,

I am not sure why you are not confident, but let me reassure you of things you may have forgotten.  Within you, there is a magnificent ability!!  Not only are you artistic, extremely intelligent, and hard working, but you are a beautiful daughter of the King.  Do not doubt for a minute that He is beside you, holding you close to him and will give you insight and wisdom beyond measure if you ask him.  The beauty that you carry is far above rubies, do not dismiss what I am saying. Sometimes we look at ourselves and for some reason, we beat ourselves up for not being a size 2 or not being perfect in some respect.  You count all of the qualities that you possess!!!  You are loving, compassionate, encouraging, supportive, and I think right now you are also overwhelmed with the everyday stressors of life.  You are carrying a great deal of responsibility for your job and your home life.  Look to our God and ask for peace during this time.  Remember the Holy Spirit is the comforter.  Also remember that those of us who love you are here for you.  The phone is by my bed, please call anytime----If you need to talk, I am here for you always.

Don't forget who loves you.”

With that encouragement under my belt, I was able to stop and ask myself “Who does God say I am?” If you stop about think about it, God pictures us all the same. One of us is not better than the other. He created us just the way He wanted us to be. Do we mess up? Yes. Do we go outside of God’s will? Yes. Does God’s perspective or opinion of us ever change? NO! Absolutely NOT!

Who Does God Say I Am?
I AM…
His Cherished One
Created with a Purpose
His Beloved
Not Forgotten!
Precious to Him (Isaiah 43:4)
Bought with a Price (1 Corinthians 6:20)
The Bride of Christ
Redeemed (Exodus 15:13)
Worthy (2 Thessalonians 1:5)
Beautiful (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

I could go on and on. Spend time today seeking out who God says you are. You can do it! It’s amazing what you’ll find! Also, I didn't have time to find the references for the other characteristics, but if you know what they are--feel free to post them in the comments section! Thanks so much!

Life Under the Microscope

Being in ministry is like living under a microscope. Everyone is constantly looking at you to see what you are doing, when you are doing it, and how you are doing it. I think it actually makes some people feel better about themselves if they can catch a minister doing something wrong. They want to be able to say "At least I didn't do what pastor so and so did the other night." It's kinda sick really.

However sick and twisted this is, I have also found it to be true. As minister's and minister's wives we are called to have a higher standard and to be set apart because of God's calling (1 Thess. 4:7). I simply find it frustrating that the willingness of others to tear each other down to make themselves look better adds so much stress to a life that is hard enough already.

Don't people know that it is hard enough to live a life worthy of the calling we have received (Eph. 4:1)! In order to glorify God and minimize stress, we should follow this scriptural advice: "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing." Philippians 2:14-16.

This doesn't mean that we should let everyone walk all over us and push us around and treat us like garbage. BUT what it does mean is that we should do everything in our life to please Christ. If we aren't doing anything that Christ would disapprove of then we should be living a life worthy of being under the microscope. If people look at us and scrutinize us they should see Christ first and foremost. Then the imperfections don't seem so bad.