The Adventure Has Been Great So Far

February 24, 2008 my life changed forever. I had been having a rough time for awhile. These rough times came from not agreeing with friends, a few bumps in the family road, and boy problems. It just so happened that the boy problems were what was going to open my eyes to God.

I was 13 years old, getting ready to turn 14 in a few months. I had my heartbroken over a guy on that February day. I honestly don't know what had happened between the guy and me, but it was the best thing that had ever happened.

My mom and I went to a Christian bookstore on February 24th and, as I was browsing the Bible shelves, a Bible caught my attention. It was an NIV True Image Bible and my mom bought it for me.

That night, as I was sitting in my room and looking through this new Bible, I found a page in the back labeled "Christianity 101." I was curious do I read it.

This peace came over me and I felt truly happy for the first time in a long time. I realized in that moment that God was with me even when no one else wasn't and Jesus is my True Prince Charming and He had someone planned for me!

I thought I had been saved about two or three times before that. But that night at 10pm, I KNEW 100% sure that I had started a relationship with God!

A lot of things hit my family all at once after that and it was a storm. Instead of questioning God about why these things were happening I clung to God as hard as I could! God knew that I needed Him at that time more than ever.

Now, seven years later there have been tons of hard times, but billions of amazingly happy times! I praise God that He never gave up on me and continued to pursue me and pursues me now. Life is hard, but a life with a relationship with God makes everything sweet and beautiful in the right time! By the way, God loves you and is pursuing you too!

 The Roman Road to Salvation 

The True Image Bible 

Purity in Action

                                                   

Purity: freedom from immorality, especially of a sexual nature.

Meet Joseph. A teenage guy who was sold into slavery by his brothers. He ended up working in Potiphar's (one of the Pharaoh of Egypt's officials, and captain of the guards) house. Potiphar was pleased with what a hard worker Joseph was that he put Joseph in charge of everything in his house! Now Potiphar's wife found Joseph VERY attractive. She tried to get Joseph to sleep with her EVERY day, but Joseph refussed and this was his reason why: ^"But he refused. 'With me in charge,' he told her, 'my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?' And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her." ~Genesis 39:8-10 (NIV)
Potiphar's wife didn't give up that easy though. "One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, 'Come to bed with me!' But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house." ~Genesis 39:11-12 (bold and underlined mine. NIV) Talk about a man of God! A young teenage man who RUNS out of the house to keep his purity! 
So why did I bring up Joseph? I have a Purity ring, once stands for the promise I made to God, myself, and my future husband that I won't have sex with anyone until I am married. I understand that sex is something very personal and emotional. But I was wondering where in the Bible it says to wait until you're married to have sex. Of course I found my answer and an example. The example is Joseph of course, but here are some answers too.
"That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh." ~Genesis 2:24 (NIV). This shows that sex has a very strong emotional connection and that God designed it for marriage.
 “If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his wife." ~Exodus 22:16 (NIV). God did not mean for a person to be with multiple people, but one person. In the Old Testament this is what would've happened if two people who were not married had, had sex.
"Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples 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 bodies." ~1 Corinthians 6:18-20 (NIV). Jesus died for us on the cross so we could have eternal life with Him. So if we abuse sex we are hurting ourselves emotionally, physically, and we are hurting God.
"Now for the matters you wrote about: 'It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.' But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.... Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do.But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion." ~1 Corinthians 7:1-5,8-9 (NIV). Now this tells us that we are suppose to practice self-control until we are married and that it's not all about passion (this is where the answer to the question Is 50 Shades of Grey wrong? The answer, YES!!!). 
"It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;" ~1 Thessalonians 4:3 (NIV). This verse tells us how God meant for sex to be and how HE wants us to enjoy it!
"Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral." ~Hebrew 13:4 (NIV). Adultery: Voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not their spouse. The sexual immorality and sexual sins has to be sex outside of marriage. 
These Bible verses give me all the answers to why I'm waiting for sex until I am married. God made sex beautiful when it's done right! Here is a website about purity rings. Here is a music video of a song Kyle Kupecky wrote for his wife Kelsey and sung to her on their wedding day:

Here is a Flipagram about 50 Shades of Grey and Old Fashioned: Forever Love

Protecting Love

 (picture from the movie One Night with the King. You can buy the movie here.)
Happy Valentine's Day!
 I have been doing a 13 day study on the book of Esther through She Reads Truth​ and I read something that got my attention and is perfect to share for Valentine's Day.
"The king got up in a rage, left his wine and went out into the palace garden." ~Esther 7:7
Okay, I know you're probably wondering why I'm sharing this verse about a king being angry, but just hear me out. Esther had just reviled to the king that she was a Jew and that Haman was trying to kill her people. I believe the king was upset that Esther had kept her heritage from him for so long, but he was more upset that his right-hand man had used him and was trying to kill his wife and her people.
So what does this have to do with Valentine's Day and love? I believe the reason the king got up and went outside is because he loved Esther so much he wanted to guard her heart. I think he didn't want to scare her because she saw him get mad, maybe yell and throw a few things. I believe he didn't want her to think he would ever hurt her, emotionally or physically when he was angry. I believe he wanted her to know she could tell him anything, yes he might get mad, but after he cooled off he would be there for her. The king loved Esther enough that he didn't want her to see him as anything but the gently husband she needed. To me this is a big sign of true love and a sign of a godly man.
Also through this study, I think the feast in the end of Esther, Purim, happened on Valentine's Day! I did some research and the month of Adar is possibly in February. So, I've made Hamantaschen and Kreplach for Valentine's Day. Here's the recipes:
Hamantaschen Recipe
Kreplach Recipe
Finally, I want to share this music video because it fits my life on this Valentine's Day:

Again, Happy Valentine's Day!

Random Acts of Kindness

 

There are sad things going on in the world and people have bad days. But what if you could make things just a little bit brighter? February 9-15, 2015 is National Random Acts of Kindness Week. The idea is to do something that is nice for someone else to brighten their day.

Some ideas are to place uplifting sticky notes in public places for people to fined. You can also leave a dollar taped to a vending machine so someone else can get a drink or snack. A group of people can bake sweets and hand them out for free to people. You can take balloons to a hospital and ask the nurse at the front desk to deliver the balloons to someone who needs uplifting or doesn't get many visitors.

There are tons of ideas! Ideas that won't cost you a thing and ideas that a group of people can do together. Google ideas or look on pinterest and let's make this Random Acts of Kindness Week one people can't forget!