#32 Twenty Tips that Can Change a Girl's Life

1. Never allow yourself to complain, even about the weather.
2. Find a tree you like and spend 15 minutes a day watching it grow.
3. When you first wake up in the morning, surrender your day to God.
4. Sit down with a cup of coffee and some paper.  By praying and brainstorming, answer these questions “What’s the best way to spend my time?  What should my pace be each week?  How much down time do I need to not burn out?”  Then once you have a good sense of those answers, start adjusting your life accordingly.
5. Modest is hottest.
6. When making a decision, try to take the longview (think years down the road, not minutes).
7. Keep all your prayer requests for yourself and for other people in one place.
8. Establish a Sabbath day for you to rest and guard it like a hawk.
9. Study the Bible systematically all the way through.  If it gets boring, keep reading.  You’ll be so glad you did!
10. Try showering with the lights off.
11. Think of the 10 closest people in your life.  Now think of 3 ways to bless each of those people.  Next spend the next month following through on those blessings, one a day.
12. Don’t buy cheap jeans.
13. Pray big big prayers.
14. At the end of the day, write down your favorite part about that day in a favorite things journal.
15. Fight hard to build deep and rich friendships with your siblings.
16. Befriend the person who is the most different from you.
17. Every time you walk through a doorway, pray.
18. Hold your future with an open hand.  It won’t be what you’re expecting.
19. Stay really really close with your mom.
20. Memorize as much Scripture as humanly possible.

kings you've probably never heard of... (the North, part one)

Eden,

For the Bible class that I currently teach, much of the material covers 39 rulers of Israel and Judah that are rarely spoken of in churches or mentioned in devotional books.

Here are some descriptions of their lives.

Kings of the North during its Divided Kingdom period
(following Rehoboam, son of Solomon, last king of United Israel)

Jeroboam - despite great potential for God's blessing at the outset of his reign, Jeroboam instituted golden calf worship because he put the Glorious God "behind his back" in order to establish his own controlled reign his own way. He created a religious downfall that was more convenient and instantly gratifying than the true Way to the Creator God. He robbed the Lord of His rightly deserved glory by saying that the golden calves he created brought the Israelites out of Egypt. He created a dynasty of destruction instead of a comparable David-type dynasty that the Lord had offered to him if he would walk the path of obedience. His personality and direction knowingly led the whole nation into the shadow of sin and he became notorious for his evil establishment.

Nadab- son of Jeroboam; walks in his father's ways and follows in his destruction. He is killed by Baasha in the midst of a battle, betrayed by his own general. The rest of Jeroboam's family is totally destroyed as well, the fall-out of their patriarch's spiritual leadership.

Baasha - takes out Jeroboam's family and yet walks in the same ways as Jeroboam, hypocrisy taken to a murderous level; Baasha too brings a dynasty of destruction on his future generations.

Elah - son of Baasha; killed while drunk by Zimri, in the vulnerability and danger of intoxication. The rest of Baasha's family was killed as well.

Zimri - through cut-throat tactics, reigned for one week before being pursued by the angry Omri who came to avenge the death of Baasha's line. While Omri was approaching the royal gates with an army, Zimri fell to the inevitable hopelessness of his situation and burned the castle down upon himself. He lived by the sword, and died by the sword with only a pitiful week of getting what he wanted.

Omri - proclaimed the most evil king yet, Omri walked in the idolatry of Jeroboam but apparently to a new level and raised up the most wicked king of the North as his heir.

What applications can you draw from these, my dear?

More king lessons to come!

#31 Our Jesus

OUR JESUS

Crucified

King

Majesty

Sire

Lover

Bridegroom

Savior

Healer

Heartbeat

Radical

Loving

Patient

Fierce

Righteous

Holy

Near

Forever

Son

Mighty

Alive

Risen

Ours

Head

Fire

Big

Gentle

Perfect

Knows

Sympathizes

Connects

Control

Authority

Planner

Friend

Victor

#30 Agents of Good Change

Eden do you cry often?  Do you ever feel like you can’t cry in front of other people?

Tears communicate deeper than words can.  They force honesty, which can be scary.  But consistency between what is going on in your heart and what you’re telling other people is a priceless gift.  Don’t be afraid to show them.  Honesty and peace are in the same family, and where one is, you’ll likely find the other.  So then tears (stemming from a lack of peace) force you to be honest which will then lead to peace.  Tears are agents of good change.

#29 Rhythm

OUR RHYTHM

Day 1: Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for man.

Day 2: I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.

Day 3: The Lord is my strength!  He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.

Day 4: With my God I can leap over a wall.

Day 5: As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart.

Day 6: Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

Day 7: CEASE striving and know that the Lord is God.

And repeat.