Journals (written by Katrina)

Journals are very important. In them we write about all our hopes, dreams, discouragement’s, failures and God working in our lives. Also, we can read them to our children and they will believe it because they know it actually happened and know that it is true. I would like to have a journal to tell of all my adventures and read it to my kids just like my Dad and Mom do to me.
Posted by:Katrina
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Who do you belong to? (by Rebecca)

There is tremendous peer pressure on young girls today. The age at which peer pressure is experienced seems to be happening earlier. It is not uncommon for young girls to have a growing resentment toward their parents if the parents continually ask their daughter to be different from their peers. This resentment manifests itself in girls who aren't permitted to enjoy, without restriction, friends and peer approval. If a young girl is different from her peers, but does not understand why, she will get confused about fitting in when she is surrounded by her peer group. This is usually when and where the real battle starts (Prov.8:1-5), a battle in our heart to see who we really do belong to. John 5:44 says, "How can you believe, when you recieve glory (honor) from one another, and you do not seek the glory (honor) that is from the one and only God?"

Discontentment is the real reason a girl might be feeling restricted. The battle that goes on in our hearts will not happen if we know who we belong to, and why, and we are convinced of both in our hearts. When a girl decides who she is going to give her heart to, she is changing her relationship with her father, either "for better or for worse". "For better or for worse"- this sounds like marriage, and it is, preparing us for our relationship with our husband some day if we marry. If she decides to follow her peer group will she be able to look her father in the eye and see the disappointment? When young girls choose the peer group she is throwing away the love, protection, and leading of her father to follow a life that is hollow and empty.

What kind of women is our future husband going to be waiting for? A true maiden of honor. So why do we want to be like those who's words and actions do not please God? The young men who are giving attention to them are only being led by their visual and temperal desires, having no wisdom, depth, or standard. Jesus knows everything that we think. He knows when we have been coveting things that are not meant for us, or for any daughter of God.

Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are God's workmanship (masterpiece, work of art) created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Then it is our duty to show our peers, and others, what it means to be a woman of God and a daughter of our father. We can do this by obeying our parents and by the way we present ourselves to others. As girls reject the ways of the world God will help them to live a life that is above reproach (see 1Timothy 2:9-10).

Posted by: Rebecca

photo credit:allposters.com

A Good Romance Book for Girls (by Jessica)

Before You Meet Prince Charming is a book that every girl should read. It talks about the dangers of dating, using our "waiting" years for the Lord and to grow in the Lord. It talks about keeping ourselves pure, a concept that is foreign to our culture today. It made me see the importance of purity, not just physical purity, but keeping our thoughts pure as well. Here is an analogy of keeping ourselves physically pure: you spent the whole morning making a cake for a birthday party, you frosted it, decorated it, and it looked perfect. Later someone came into the kitchen saw the cake and took a small piece. Your cake was now ruined. You could put another piece in the gap and from a distance it would look fine, but it would not be perfect, it would always have a scar. It is the same way with us. Even if we just give away a little tiny piece our rose(body) it will always have a little tear, ruining it's beauty forever.

Keeping our thoughts pure is important. It is also very hard to do. Take for example romance novels. Romance novels are traps, covered in flowers, waiting for someone to pick them up and get sucked into their world of fantasy, romance and happily ever after. Many girls fall into that trap and spend their days dreaming about romance stories that, for the most part, aren't true. Many romance novels also give the wrong impression of "prince charmings". In real life not too many princes come riding in on a white horse with shinning armor to sweep you off your feet. Movies are also very dangerous. So many girls are looking to the movies to be their guide about what is a man. So many married women are asking, "Why isn't my husband like that, why doesn't he act like the guy in the movies?" What they don't realize is that the perfect man doesn't exist. We should not invest our time watching something that is going to make us discontent and unhappy with the real world.

Another thing talked about is, desire the very best. Don't lower your standards just because you think there is no one to meet them. Our culture has the tendency to "lower the bar". But don't take the one dollar now when you could have ten thousand dollars later. It is very hard to wait. But waiting produces patience, and patience produces character, and character leads to godliness. We often have to wait because God has something better for us and we need to use our "waiting" time wisely so that when "prince charming" comes, we are ready.

Posted by: Jessica

Before You Meet Prince Charming is available here