Are you ready Bride?

A lot goes in to getting ready for a wedding, I didn't think it did when I got engaged, but boy do I know now! My wedding day is just two days away and I am just overwhelmed with all of the little "last minute details", as they call them. I'm making sure the vendors are set, the groomsmen have picked up tuxes, the decorations are ready to go... it's all so much. But out of all the "last minute details," being spiritually ready should surpass all priorities.
Because honestly, when your being given away to your handsome groom he will be accepting your heart and all that's in it. This may include:

1. Your Baggage

All those past hurts, fears, relationships, and issues are there and will come boiling up in your marriage if not dealt with beforehand. Let God renew your heart and wash away all the pain of yesterdays.
Psalm 147:3 says "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."
Isiah 43:18- says "Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past..."Behold, I will do something new"

2. Your Family

Maybe you come from a white fence house with a perfect family, but many of you don't. Remember that how you were raised is a big part of who you are, and sometimes we need to help rewrite our families history by perusing a new route. Don;t bring the curses of your family in to your new home. If your family doesn't serve God, well YOU and your house will! If your family suffered from addiction, well you and your home will not! You get my drift? You have the great opportunity to start your home with your husband off right byt keeping Christ center in your home.

Joshua 24:15 "...But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
Ephesians 5:31 "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."

3. Your Relationship with Christ

The Bible warns us not to be unequally yoked, most of you think this is in reference to choosing your  ate, it is, but it also means that you should not enter in to a union with a Man of God with a heart that's weak. You need to be equally yoked right up with him. Get in the word, spend time in worship outside of church, and just dwell in the presence of God plentifully. Your husband should be the spiritual leader of your household but that doesn't mean you get to take it easy. You've got to be spiritually athletic too!
2 Corinthians 6:14 "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?"
Genesis 2:18 "Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for hi." 

So get spiriutally in shape! You're heart is the most precious thing you can give to your husband and  you should be prepared to give it with confidence that God has transformed your heart and made you pure and Holy! 

Then get married and change the world!!!! You go girl!  

http://samfindsfaith.wordpress.com/2014/02/25/here-comes-the-bride/

The 12 Couples You Meet at Bible College

In college (especially the Christian kind) there is always that couple...  you don't even know their names but everyone just knows them by what type of couple they are. I feel like in Bible college there is a certain set of lovebird stereotypes that can't be ignored.

1. The "I just met you, and this is crazy..."

"...but let's get married, and have three kids maybe?"
These people meet, fall in love, date, engage, and marry all within a year. They don't waste no time!


2. The Let's just check out of reality couple...

 

These two are head-over-heels, on cloud nine, and they don't care about the rest of the world. This includes classes, assignments, personal time, friends, and family. It's just them two in the world now, all else has faded away. 

3. The Forever Friend Zone

 He's a great guy, she's a marvelous girl...but it ain't ever gonna happen. Keep your hopes high though!

4. The Pastor's daughter and the Bad Boy

She's overprotected, and super-sheltered, but feeling a little rebellious. So what does she do? She brings back from college the bad boy for daddy to meet. 

5. The Ex that's in the way

They've moved on , but the ex just won't give up! Maybe eventually they're get bored and find someone else to exhaust. 

6. The two different cultures couple 

 

 She's an Missionary Kid/foreign student, he's from a small town in the midwest, but they just work. They make a beautiful blend. 

7. The Chameleon Dater 

You know this person. They learn you like Jazz music, suddenly they're an expert. You're from a Spanish family? Suddenly they look a little more tan and are rolling their R's. They don't know their true self they just adapt to whatever their significant other is...

8. That Awkward Couple 

 They are the strangest combo ever witnessed, but it's oddly adorable. Sometimes when you look at them you think there really is someone for everyone in the world. 

9. The might as well be married couple

This couple has been together so long, most people think you're already married. They started as best friends and have just grown from there. 

10. The Super Spiritual Couple

 He just wants to respect her body, She just wants to guard her heart. They need to know God wants them to be together. Otherwise she is just going to date Jesus...

11. The Power Couple

She's a boss, he's a beast...but remember every person has a weakness and they struggle too. 

12. Too much PDA couple

 
 They're always in public, always together, always too close. Dear this couple, please stop touching...

Samson and Tina from Timnah

by Chelsea Smith

Samson was a man blessed beyond compare

He had crazy locks of thick magic hair

He was under the cover of God, and a manly man

But a hopeless romantic

Who fell for a woman from another land

Tina of Timnah caught his eye

And he summoned her for marriage without being shy

The family protested

He just ignored

He wed her, so he could bed her, and took advantage of the Lord

He made a bet with the family

With a riddle of rhyme

But then divulged the secret

In a matter of time

Tina told the fam

And Samson lost the bet

So he killed a bunch of men

To pay for the set

Samson is prideful

A liar too

He takes advantage of his covering

And in the ends he’ll loose

All that he has and later his hair too

Because he shot up his ego

And let go of the truth.

Tina and Samson could have used some aid

Get some pre-marital counseling before you get laid

He could have used some knowledge before he got all stoaked

Let’s talk about your different faiths

You need to be equally yoked

Let’s look at what the Bible says about love and marriage

And gender roles, expectations

Before we bring out the baby carriage

Let’s face it Sammy

You don’t even know this lady

You’re intentions seem odd

 And a little bit shady

Let’s slow it down

Talk it out

Before you get hitched

Tina is not what you think

To her family she snitched

Her love is conditional

And yours is thin

This marriage isn’t wise

And she’s living in sin

I hope in the end

You two will be smart

And end this relationship

Before you lose heart

Samson you need some correction

You salty dog

Spend some time on your self

And Keep after God 

When God Takes us on the Scenic Route

http://m4e.com/archive/index.php/t-152547.html

 

Do you ever ask yourself, "Why am I here right now? I want to be elsewhere, doing something different. I don't understand this season." We all have dreams, aspirations, and many of us certainly feel like God has called us to a mission. So why the lag? If God has a plan and a purpose for our lives why doesn't he just get us there?

Many times I look at my life and wonder how certain seasons fit in to God's plan. To me the puzzle pieces don't fit. I know God is ordering my steps, but I feel like he's leading me down some detours.

I graduate this May and I have always felt like I was supposed to be a counselor. Then just a few weeks ago God blatantly asked me to go a different route and pursue social work in graduate school. I was so frustrated. God what are you doing!? Why didn't you tell me this three years ago? I'm so unprepared! I really battle God on this for a while and God simply told me "I'm am still leading you to my destination, I have chosen to take you on this path for a reason."

This word has been a hard message to swallow but I know God is in control and no experience is lost with God. I can't help but think of Moses and his exodus from Egypt. God lead his people through the dessert to the Holy Land. It was always God's purpose to take them to the Promises location but why did he take this normal trip and make it last 40 years?

Clearly there was a quicker route (as indicated in the orange), but God took them on a much more difficult journey. We may look at this and think that this was the Plan B, but the purple route to God is the best plan, Plan A.


So why does God choose to lead us on the Scenic Route so-to-speak? There may be many answers to your particular situation but here a few...

1. The Experience

You may not be where you want to be right now but take a moment to consider what great life lessons you may be experiencing. Even if they are difficult life lessons, they could be very useful down the road.
I think of when I did a month long mission trip in India. During a few points on my trip I remember wondering why God had asked me to go. Sometimes I felt like I wasn't making a difference,  or that I was a burden to others. Sometimes I made cultural mistakes and had to be corrected and that was hard. I began to doubt God calling me on this trip. Now I look back on that trip fondly because I see all that i learned, I developed great skills and knowledge about missions, culture, and just life in general. God had me there for a reason, though it was hard, I still use these lessons today.

2. Dependency 
 Just like the Israelites who journeyed out of Egypt had to learn to depend on God, so do we. This lesson is valuable but difficult to learn. We often bicker with God for being brought to hard places but often times this is the best place for us. We are learning to lean.
God may have you in a place/season where you feel like you don't have control over anything, and that's  scary feeling, but God is using this loss of control on your end in able to show you He has control. We don't like our dependency to fall on others, but we can be assured of God's dependability.

http://www.seemonterey.com/things-to-do/attractions/scenic-drives/

 

 

3. Timing
God's timing is an oddity, it will always keep me wondering.  God may have you on the scenic route in order to get you to your destination at the right moment...whenever that may be. 
Currently my fiance and I are on the scenic route  and wondering if it is because of God's timing. We get married this July and even though i graduate this May, he will have another semester left due to us transferring from a secular college to a Christina University. My degree transferred easily (psychology) but he chose to go in to ministry which obviously would not be offered at a state college. Anyways, so we are having to put our futures on hold and go back to the university (which is 13 hours away from our hometown) so he can finish. I don't know why it's working out this way, but I'm hoping it's for a reason. We don't want to get to our destination too early, nor too late. We just have to trust that God's timing is best.

4. For the View
A scenic route isn't a scenic route without a glorious view.  If you're gonna be on the road, might as well enjoy the journey. What does God want you to see in this in-between? Insight? Relationships? or just God's greatness? Either way, just enjoy!

http://everypixelcounts.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/enjoy-the-ride-rebranding-slow/

 

 

 

 

 

So whatever the reason or this strange trek, just enjoy the ride!

If Spence Floors were from Disney

 The Eager Beavers

The Precious girls of S1S are Rapunzel because when you get them out of the castle tower they take the world by storm. ♥

The Hipster Sisters 

S1N I always call the hippie floor. Tea, herbs, and hipsters. ♥

 

The Southern Belles

Tender, Sweet, these girls a lovely ladies who just want to join hands and discuss feelings ♥

 

The Vivacious Floor

These girls got this campus on lock. They know how to run the system, a little mischievous, but ultimately out to Reign. 

Be a Wo-Man!

The women of S3S aren't gonna take your crap, they are strong, idependant, and anything boys can do they can do better. 

 

The Lost Girls

They are wild, crazy, and can't be tamed. But they truly know how to have the most fun! I wouldn't choose any other floor ;) 

Why I Thought Pentecostals Were Crazy

The first time I went to an Assemblies of God church I was 17. I loved my home church but we didn't have a large youth group and I was looking to interact with more believers my age.

My best friend was dating a guy at the AG church and invited me to go to youth with them. I was skeptical but eager. Little did I know how this one experience would change me...

I noticed right away how different this church  was from what I was used to. That night I made a decisions that Pentecostals were crazy and i was never coming back. Here's why

http://www.johnpiippo.com/2011/05/pentecostal-epistemology-privileges.html

1. The Weird Lingo

At youth that night the students were raising money for Speed the Light. I had no idea what this was. I asked a student next to me and he explained they were raising money to buy a vehicles for people overseas. My first thought was like, "cars? Must be like Christian NASCAR". True story.

It took me at least 2 years to finally start catching on to all the weird AG lingo. Things like BGMC, Missionettes, Royal Rangers, AGWM, DYD, and District/General Council made no sense to me. Too bad they don't have a section for the new members class called "Acronyms of the AG".

http://www.newlifebrownwood.org/Missions.html

2. Raising Hands

My first experience with Pentecostal worship caught me off guard. As soon as the first chorus hit everyone raised their hands. I remember looking around and thinking "do these people need to ask a question? do they all want high fives? what is happening???" I was so confused. The worship style I was raised in was usually just a piano, organ, and a choir. People sang but didn't do anything other than that. We still worshiped the Lord...just quieter I guess. It took me a while to get used to hand raising, this didn’t make me a lesser Christian just  a different worshiper.

http://www.charismanews.com/culture/40704-assemblies-of-god-s-debut-album-tops-praise-and-worship-charts

3. Their Abrasiveness
One of the first distinctive things I noticed about Pentecostals is  how blunt they are. I had never heard of pastors preaching so boldly. At first i was worried someone would be offended but when I talked to others after the service a student made the remark "well he's preaching the truth." Then it hit me.. it was the truth. Not watered down, not sugar coated, just the plain raw truth. Not that I had never heard the truth before, but never so matter-of-factly. I loved it.

4. They never stay still
I thought the Pentecostal church was crazy because people never stayed still. People would come, get saved, then be called in to ministry,  and then they were gone. Whole families would pick up and move to foreign countries and do missions work, students would leave for bible college, or a man and wife would go start a church in rural neighboring areas and so on. At first this seemed strange, but then over time it became normal... and then really cool. There was such a since of pride when one of the members would announce they were going over to India to work with victims of human trafficking, or a family would announce they were leaving to go do ministry with the homeless in the inner cities. It was awesome. Eventually I became one of them. My last night of church before leaving for Bible college was wonderful and filled with lots of hugs and encouragement. The revolving door for members became part of my story too and I finally realized what the church was doing. They were raising up leaders to go and change the world and I was now one of them.

http://penndelyouth.com/tag/missions/

5. Speaking in Tongues

I remember driving past the AG church with my family one Sunday while on our way to church and asking my mom why we never visited that church. She mentioned something about speaking in tongues. I asked “how can anyone understand them?” She told me they have interpreters. I remember thinking “that’s weird. Why don’t they just speak English?”  I just really had no Idea.

 That night in youth I heard several people praying in tongues and was pretty freaked out. I thought they were demon possessed.

After I had been at the AG church a few months my friends invited me to go to youth camp with the church. I was excited to go until I found out that one night they talk about the Holy Spirit and people get baptized. I felt weary of that night but still decided to go.

I became close to my camp counselor who happened to be a student at the Bible College I would later attend. She convinced me the night of the Holy Spirit service to go down to the alter and be prayed over to receive the baptism. I went down hesitantly but I went.I closed my eyes while she prayed in front of me. A few minutes in I felt something hit my face. I opened my eyes and looked at her. She had blood all over her mouth and when i looked down I noticed I had blood splattered all over me. As she prayed she kept splattering me with blood...needless to say, I freaked the freak out. I was about to turn and run when she opened her eyes and saw my face and clothes speckled with red she realized what happened. She had bit her tongue while praying and was bleeding without realizing it. She walked me outside of the chapel we cleaned up and then she explained everything had happened wasn't normal. It was wild but she explained herself well and then explained the Holy Spirit in a way I hadn't thought of before. That night the Holy Spirit surprisingly became less spooky to me...as odd as that sounds.


I am now finishing my senior year at an AG University and plan on pursuing ministry with my soon-to-be husband. I'm currently working on getting my credentials for ministry right now and am very excited to live my dream. I still think Pentecostals are crazy, but not like clinical insane crazy, just crazy for Jesus.

5 Reasons to Marry your High School Sweet Heart

5 Reasons to Marry Your High School Sweetheart

Statistics say that high school sweet hearts that get married have a 40-50% divorce rate. I have heard this stat more than once and every time someone tells me that stat I want to kick them in the shin. Friends let me tell you something...there ain't nothing wrong with marrying a high school sweetie. Now if your reading this and you just met this boy and your still in school, then don't get too excited. You probably just need to chill. So if you're going to continue reading this I've got two rules: 1. Know the man you're going to marry... I won't put a time frame on in but you need to have some time (preferably at least out of grade school) to really learn about your mate, and them know you. 2. You need to take everything you know about them and be satisfied with every part of them. 

 

I started dating my man when I was a Junior in high school. We were both 17, young, and stupid. We made mistakes and we've learned but I wouldn't wish that we met later for an instance. We've been together now for almost 5 years and I'm thrilled to say we're getting married this July! Many people have told us garbage, that we will have a high chance of divorce, that  we only feel obligated to marry because we didn't date much later in life...yada yada. It's all crap to me.

Meeting Evan at 17 was difficult because we were so young, but I love this part of us... Here are 5 reasons why...

1.  You've got History 

One of my favorite things about me and my sweetheart's relationship is that we have all these "remember when" moments. We can laugh about the stupid things we said when we were 17 and the silly choices we made. We can reminisce on prom, and football games, and all the sweet nostalgic memories that grade school days give you.These days are special and fun to talk about later in your relationship.

2. You did some growing up together

The fact that your both from the same generation relatively is so much fun. Evan and I laugh about the songs we were listening too back in 2009 and we can make pop culture reference that we both get and so on.
This stage of your life is also when you go through a lot of changes. You're still figuring out your identity here and having someone you connect with deeply endure these changes with you is a great comfort. Then later on in your marriage you can look back and realize what a deep connection this era of your life cultivated. You two went through some of the most difficult years of your life together, and you're stronger because of it!

3. You Get to "Skip Out" on a Lot of Other Heart Breaks

Because you met your man early you got to miss a lot of the crazy, heart wrenching dating years. Many people tell me this is a disadvantage and say "my experience with different relationships is limited" and "how can i really know mine is the one if I never went out a experienced anything else".  To this I say "Poo on you!". Just kidding...
Truth is I am thankful because less people have taken pieces of my heart and of my self. I didn't date a lot before Evan so when I met him I had so much of my heart to offer. I didn't walk in to our relationship with as much bagged as I possibly could have. I did not have a lot of insecurities because I hadn't really had someone break my heart before so I completely trusted Evan with mine. Now going in to marriage Evan can be assured that he's been my one and only for all these years.

4. You've Seen Each Other at Your Worst

When I first met Evan I had Zero curves, I though T-shirts and jeans were fashionable, and I had the maturity of a a typical 17 year old girl. But Evan chose me, and he loved me, and he still loves me. I am so thankful he saw me for me. Evan told me recently that I have always been his "standard of beauty". So if he could love me as the awkward, gangly, girl I was then... then he will also love me when I've been up all night with the baby and smell like puke.
I also went through some very difficult years in high school. Evan saw me when I was an emotional wreck, when I was childish, and when I was just down right acting a fool. He loved me then, he loves me now, and he'll love me later in life when we face equally troublesome years.

5. You've Built a Solid Foundation

If you wait until after high school, and maybe some college too, then you will have built for yourself a solid foundation for a durable marriage. This time you're investing over the years will pay off. These years give you time to sort our the difficult stuff and really learn about one another and grow together. I always say that the 2 1/2 year mark makes you or breaks you. You've got to leave the puppy love stage and get raw before you can figure out if this is the person you want to be with "till death due you part". Starting in high school gives you a head start on that!

 

So in saying all this, you can agree, disagree, don't give a flying flip... doesn't matter. But don't be that turd that tells a happy couple they're not going to make it just because they met young. Don't speak poison in to people's lives, speak life. 

And if someone says such garbage to you and your sweetie, ignore it... you're relationship is yours not theirs and only you can decide it's success.

I did for mine, and I've never been happier!