Disrespect Toward Young Marriage

Alright, so I got a few ideas for today’s post. Once again, please always feel free to ask for a certain blog post. I run out of ideas like any blogger, so thanks for the suggestions :)

I asked several of my friends and family via facebook and G+ what I should do for my next post. As I was not expecting a question about marriage, I was caught completely unprepared when a friend of mine’s mother asked me to do a post about why women who get married under the age of like 25 are not respected. People just don’t take them seriously. So, I scoured the internet looking for other peoples’ opinions on the matter. I myself think that often people who are in their teen years (16-17) are not ready to pick who their soul mate should be, but then there are times when some people are very responsible and may actually have found the one for them at the age of 16-17. So, this friend’s mom has a friend who got married at a couple months before she turned 20 and was given a lot of hate about it. People didn’t respect her or anything, so as unprepared as I was, this actually piqued my interest. Why is that?

So, I went on the internet, and found that most of the people who do get married before their twenties end up getting divorced or break up or separate, or something not long after the wedding. So to be honest, women do not get taken seriously because “The earliest marriers, those adolescents who enter marriage in their mid-teens, experience marital failure rates closer to a sobering 80%. Not until age 22 does marital stability improve significantly and do marriage dissolution rates begin to level off.” (http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2013/01/why-we-should-raise-the-marriage-age.html : Why we should raise the marriage age)

I found that most teenagers are not nearly as responsible as they think they are. So if you want my opinion, take it slow and wait until you know for absolute certain that the person you like or want to marry is the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. And I don’t mean just wait for a month or so and then say “Okay, I wanna get married” if that is a long time for you, then wait for a REALLY long time. Like several months to a year. I know, it is so horribly long to wait to be with your love! But really, it’s not. How old are you? 16-18? It is really not that long. Look back on your life. You got where you are now in the blink of an eye. You can wait a while longer.

I hope I didn’t sound too harsh or anything, and I hope I wasn’t really just rambling because like I said, I really wasn’t prepared for this. Thanks so much for reading! All of you who keep up on my blog mean so much to me! Thanks!!! And again, if you have an idea about what my next blog post should be about, please let me know! I would love to hear from youuu!

God bless <3 Have a wonderful weekend.

The Illusionist

Hey, everyone!!! Sorry that I can’t finish the James chapter. :/ I am still unable as of now to locate the third page of notes. So if you have any ideas about James and the chapter I have been talking about, please feel free to discuss it with me. James is my favorite book of the bible and I plan on reading into it a whole lot more this summer.

For now, I am going to tell you about what I did today. So, this morning, my beautiful cousin K and I got up at seven and waited until eight at which point we went to our grandmother’s home to stay with her for a while. She has gone through a couple surgeries and is still working on moving around on her own with no help.

Tonight, we got back and in about 20 minutes will be on our way to Allendale High School to go to Tom Coverly’s Illusionist Show. I am very excited. He is a family friend, so we got VIP tickets. I don’t think I have ever been to an illusionist show, so this is going to be very fun. :)

For those of you who don’t know, Tom Coverly is a “Magician” who does “Magic Tricks”. As he is a christian and has no wish to deceive people, he prefers to be called an illusionist who “Creates Illusions”. I personally have never seen him in real life before today, and I am super excited to finally meet him. My parents and my mother’s family has known him personally for a long time. He has a wife and two children whom I am also excited to meet.

So yeah. That is the summary of my day so far, and to come. I hope you all have an amazing Memorial Day weekend, and week. :) I would love to hear what all of you are doing for Memorial Day. If you don’t feel uncomfortable telling me, please let me know! I am excited to hear all of your replies :)

James Part 2

James 5:7-12 Part 2

Hey, everyone! I hope you all enjoyed part one of the James chapter. I am moving on to part two today.

So, next in class, we discussed how you establish your heart. Now, you can give sunday school answers. “Prayer”, “God”, “The Cross”. But we talked about how all those things are good, but the man whose sermon we took this from says that we need a lightning rod.

What does a lightning rod do?

A lightning rod takes the electricity and sends it into the ground so it is no longer harmful. So, when we say we need a lightning rod, we are saying….? What?

We are saying we need first of all, someone who won’t throw bible verses at you. Now, this sounds awful, but often times, we need a friend who will just listen instead of try and tell us what we should be doing when we are likely already doing it.

The second thing we need to get is a release valve. What does a release valve do?

A release valve is on a heater and it releases the pressure so that the boiler will not explode. Without a release valve, the boiler is just a ticking time bomb.

We need something wholesome to redirect stress. When a burden gets piled on us, our tendency is to yell, eat and do things we know are wrong.

In James 5: 7-12, it says “You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.” it is not just James telling us “Hey, you need to be patient because...yeah…” We are receiving a promise. A reward. “Be patient BECAUSE the coming of the Lord is near!”

Imagine what it would feel like with no one to help you bear the burdens you have. Just for a minute imagine this. There is no second coming of the Lord, there is no end to your pain in sight, and there is no other life.

This-were it true-would crush us. We cannot carry this burden on our own. But James (And God) gives us a promise that if we are patient, when we die, and when the Lord comes again, there will be eternal happiness and there will be no more burdens.

Alright. That one was a little shorter than yesterdays. :) I will give part three, the final part, probably sometime tomorrow. Thank you so much for reading it! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Thanks again

God bless <3

James Part 1

James 5:7-12 Part 1

Hey, everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful Mothers’ Day.

I certainly did. In the youth group/Sunday School for the morning at my church, we talked about burdens. This, amazingly enough turned out to be another fabulous blessing from the Lord. I took lots of notes, and so I am going to kind of reenact it for you. Sorta.

So, we focused on James 5: 7-12.

“7 Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. 9 Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!

10 Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.”

(NIV)

So, first, A talked about four “F” words (don’t giggle, seriously, guys).

Fight, Fright, Flight, and lastly, Faith.

Now, before we start, when he is talking about burdens, he is talking about things that EVERYONE has. School, sports, exams, friends, family, parents, etc.

James 5:7-12 focuses on one word that shows up several times in the passage.

The word is PATIENCE.

Be PATIENT, then, brothers and sisters…

PATIENTLY waiting for the autumn and spring rains…

you, too, be PATIENT…

and so forth. So, the first point we talked on, is

1. How is your Heart?

We need to ESTABLISH our HEARTS.

What does this mean? What does it mean to Establish your heart? Well, lets talk about it. Think, what does it mean to establish something?

To establish means to...set something up. Or rather, to make it stand. To know what something is. When we say we need to establish our hearts, we mean we need to establish our beliefs. We need to establish our thoughts. What do we believe?

Next, we talked about how Patience has anything to do with our hearts. Now, for some of you, this may seem an easy question, but at the beginning of the year, the very first thing A said was that he didn’t want us to give the answers we thought were true, he wanted us to examine what the answer was, ourselves. He didn’t want the Sunday School answer, he wanted our answers.

So, what does it mean? What A had us do, is he said he wanted us all to think about a burden. So, think of a burden. I can’t tell if you are, so if you are, continue reading.

What is the number one thing you would wish every day? The one thing that you would wish if you could that concerns your burden. Think of that. Now, if I know people, and if A does, everyone is thinking right now that they would all JUST GO AWAY! We wish our burdens to be gone! We don’t want them! They are heavy and they hurt, so why carry them?

But you cannot rush God. All burdens have a purpose, and only God knows what those are. There is no escaping burdens. All we can do is settle in.

We live in the most IMPATIENT generation in history. If something is not immediate-whether it be internet or food at a restaurant- we automatically get irritated. You can complain to the chef if your food is slow, and you can talk to the internet company if it is not working, but you can’t “hurry up” God. If you live in a world where a slow computer gets you agitated, then when the big things come like a divorce or a friend dying, you will be crushed unless you have patience.

Alright, so that one is pretty long and also, that is only a third of the notes I took, so I will give you guys more tomorrow or Wednesday. :)

Thanks so much for reading. It means a ton.

If you want more, please subscribe or like this post. :)

God bless.

I Have Odd Brothers

You know there is a problem when you walk into the living room and two of your brothers have a battery in their belly buttons…

Yeah, you read correctly. Batteries. In their belly buttons. So, yesterday, my grandparents came all the way from Idaho to come see my twin brothers’ graduation. We had a HUGE dinner of Lebanese Chicken and Pilaf-which you can find the recipe for on one of my earlier posts-and green beans, after which we basically sat around for a couple hours talking. I went into the living room with my brothers while the adults talked at the table. I hear laughter, and a strict command to stop.

I turned around, and my two out of my three brothers-P and N- have something in their belly buttons. A closer examination revealed batteries. Now, at first, I was scared because I thought they were double A’s or something, but they turned out to be the little flat round ones. Also a concern, as my N could not seem to find a way to get it out, and proposed he go take a shower. -_- Oh, the simplicity of his mind. My older brother J was the one who was telling them to stop. And rightly so.

My brother P, on the other hand was entertaining himself with a marble. All I can do in situations like this is shake my head and walk away, or else encourage them by uncontrolled laughter. I-unwisely-chose the latter. This all rubbed off on my sister, M, who proceeded to put a Jelly Bean in her belly button-What is my family’s problem…?-which made every single one of us laugh. Later on, N thought it seemed appropriate to draw a face with the battery as the mouth and drew eyes, thus proceeding to take 101 that’s right, one-hundred and one pictures of it with my mom’s phone.

There is no limit to my family’s oddness.

Well, there you are. Today’s post. I hope you all had a good laugh, because I certainly did.

Thanks so much for reading. <3 :)

Sally and Lucy: Darling or Devil?

We have reached the milestone in school, folks! Congrats to all of you who are graduating.

So I was thinking just now about a certain person in my life who is cool, and she is pretty, but she makes me feel unwanted. So I was wondering, should I really hang out with her if all she does is make me feel like less than I should? I am God’s child. That should be enough for me. The thing is, though, that if I am no longer friends with the one, I may lose the friendship of someone whose relationship with me I DO value. So, I am asking, I guess, what should I do? I am going to write down my own thoughts, but today I am really just asking what you think. So, here goes. And for now, I am going to call the girl who should not be my friend Sally and the one who I still want as a friend Lucy. Please do not take offense at the name choice. It has not meaning.

So, Sally is really pretty, and she has a pretty hard background. Her father and mother divorced, and her mother-who supposedly hates her-remarried. This girl is really a great person, but she does things that I would really rather not expose myself to at this time. I know that eventually I will have to face things like that, but right now, it just isn’t the best for me. Sally is...dealing with some things right now, and I want to be there for her, but it seems like she doesn’t want me. I don’t know if I should back up, or confront her. I really hope some of you have ideas because I am really lost on this one…

Lucy is gorgeous-this, by the way, is not the only reason I want to still spend time with her, it is just a fact of life-and she loves to hang out with me. She tells me everything, and her life is just as bad as Sally’s, except that there is no divorce in the picture. Lucy always tells me when something is wrong with her, and she can always tell when there is something wrong with me. Her sister is...not as good to her as she should be. She has a relatively good homelife, but not the best. Her parents love her, but really just don’t know how to raise her. I love her very much, and I know we will always be friends. She is super close with Sally, and I know that defriending Sally would really hurt Lucy.

So, that was me venting. I hope it didn’t bore you too much. :) Thanks for any future comments. They are all greatly appreciated. :)

**Life Is Good**

Hey, everyone! So I just read through the story that I posted a couple days ago and I am not trying to be super like prideful, but that was REALLY good. Haha I actually had a friend walk up to me and tell me so the day after I wrote it. I seriously can’t believe that I wrote that.

Anyways, I am sitting right now once again in the library and one of my very good friends is right next to me. I cannot often say this, but right now, life is perfect. Yeah, I have sins and troubles, but right now as I am writing this, all of them are fading away and I can just write and listen to music and do my best to help all you out there who are reading this. Life is good.

I don’t know about all of you, but it is so easy for me to go from saying that I am having the best day ever to wanting to hurt someone. Right now, I am having a really good day. I can’t think of anything serious right now that is bugging me. Not anything serious that makes me want to cry. I don’t think that I am making a whole lot of sense right now, so I am just going to sum it all up and say that I am so glad I have all the friends I do. They all mean so much to me, and even just having them sit next to me and not say anything makes my life so much better. Thanks to all of you. You all mean so much to me! I hope we stay friends forever.

Sorry if today’s blogpost has been rather a disappointment to some of you. I just really love my friends. Thanks again, and today think of someone who you love and know that you would be lost without whether it be a family member, boy/girlfriend, best friend or teacher just send them an email, or a chat or a letter, or just tell them in person how much they mean to you. We all love to hear from random people that we inspire them, but I know that it means so much more when a good friend tells you that. Often as a good friend, I forget to tell my best friends how much I love them because I figure that they already know. But everyone needs to hear that they are appreciated and everyone needs to know how much they are needed. Please take my advice. Thanks so much. I hope to hear lots of comments on this one. :)

Make someone’s day <3

God bless.

Panic at the Bible Club

So at Bible Club today, there was a boy who was having a lot of violence problems as far as hitting and yelling and swearing go. I was angry at him and was brinking on frustration when I was given the advice to let him be. I had already been told that he was having a bad day by his classmates and by some of his teachers, but swearing and beating on other people was definitely not the way to take it out. Unprovoked violence is never ever the answer. So, I proceeded to try to talk to him and convince him that he was hurting his friends. He soon would have no friends, I thought to myself.

When the event was almost over, he had decided that he had had enough of everyone. He ran out, and down to the office where his mother usually picks him up from school. Naturally, my cousin and I followed him, both choosing a direction so as to be able to cut him off. We both caught him at the front door, sobbing, tears running down his little red cheeks as he angrily shoved his things into his backpack. We asked him multiple times what was wrong and if he had had a bad day. He refused to answer the first question, and offered only a quick nod at the latter. We eventually coaxed him back to the classroom at the promise of an extra dose of unobserved candy and a quick escape back to the office. He agreed, and soon Bible Club was over.

The tutor dismissed my cousin and I, saying that she would have a talk with his mother. We grudgingly left, as we had been hoping to find out what had been wrong with him. I personally had an idea that it had something to do with home life. Nonetheless, we dragged our feet back to the other children, on the way discussing the child.

Later, when I was standing with the tutor, waiting for my mother, I asked her if she had found out what was wrong with the boy. “Not exactly,” she replied, appearing perplexed. “I told his mother and he refused having ever done any of the things. His mother said ‘shut up! She was not talking to you!’.” I realized that this boy had been struggling with some home things as I had thought. I realized that instead of a harsh hand, he needed a loving shoulder to cry on and many prayers.

I hope this has helped you. It was certainly a lesson to you.

Thanks for reading. God bless.

"With Every Beat of My Broken Heart"

I don’t remember if I have posted this one, but I was going through my google drive and found this. I really like this one. I can’t even believe I am the one who wrote it. Anyways, I hope you enjoy. This one really touched my heart at this time, and I hope it means something to you as well.

With Every Beat of my Broken Heart

Ella hovered her mouse over the photo of Daniel. She frowned at the screen and refrained, simply gazing at the smaller picture. She saw how he leaned into the photo, and remembered his warm embrace. She thought of the last time she saw him, how his hands lingered around her shoulders before he finally let go. She could see him in her mind, asking her to do it again sometime. She remembered nodding and smiling as she reminded him that his car waited outside to bring him home. He waved goodbye and that was the end of it. That was the last time she had seen him.

    She let out a sigh of longing as she recalled his rippling muscles twisting as he struggled to keep up with her at the rink. Skating; that was the last thing she did with him. A deep feeling of longing enveloped her heart as a tear slipped down her face. Why did life have to be so hard? It had all happened so quickly, and now she would never see him again. The man who had done everything for her, and she had ruined it all at the bat of an eyelash. It was over. She had to let him go. He had probably let her go. She would never see him again. Her guardian angel. There was nothing she could do about it. She swept the mouse over to the corner of the screen where she clicked out of the screen, ending her momentary suffering.

+

    Daniel scrolled his way through the Facebook screen, searching for what he knew would only torture himself. When he found it, he stopped, running his hands through his hair and heaving a sigh. How long had it been? It seemed like forever since he had last seen Ella Bryn, but he knew it to be only two months because he had counted each day since he had received the news: he could not see her anymore. When he opened the text message on his phone, he had smiled, hoping for it to be one of the bright greetings that she always sent his way. What he found was much worse. A note telling him to leave her alone or else. A note telling him that no matter what he said or did, he would never see or hear from her again. He couldn’t. He did not know who the note was from, but whoever it was had found his weakest link. There was nothing he could do except wait. Wait for God to do something. And for all he knew, that would never happen. Maybe it was for the best that he never saw her again. After all, they could never be together. It just stood to reason. Her parents wouldn’t allow her to date, so them being near each other was really only hurting her.

    These were the thoughts that ran through Daniel’s mind as he resolved to forget all about Ella Susan Bryn. He promised himself that that picture would be the last time that he would ever think of her. It was not his fault that he lied to himself, for the very next day, he received a phone call alerting him to the fact that Ella was in the Marcus Hospital and she was not likely to make it past the night. He grabbed his coat on the way down the stairs, calling to his mother that he would be out late.

    When he arrived, he rushed to the front desk and agitatedly requested to be shown to Ella’s hospital room.

    “What’s her name?”

    “Ella Bryn. Could someone show me to her room? I am a close friend.”

The woman typed a couple words and picked up the phone, muttering monotonously into the speaker. She held up one finger to signal her business. Daniel hooked his thumbs in his pockets and blew a sigh into the air. He rolled his eyes before the lady finally told him her room address. Another nurse led him down the hallway, chatting his ear off as they went.

    “Yeah, she’s a strange case, she is. There doesn’t really seem to be anything the matter with her. She just...lost the will to live, I suppose. And no one has come to visit her. She was brought in by this guy she didn’t even know, and you are the first one who has come to visit her. Not even family members. Here’s her room. What did you say your name was again? Daniel, right? Yeah, she was calling for a Daniel. That must have been why they called you in. She kept saying that while she was sleeping and when she awakened, we asked her who that was, and she just started crying. Poor girl. I’ll leave you two alone for a while. Take as much time as you need.”

Daniel entered the room and stood by her bed. Her chest gently rose and fell, her brow knit in a frown. From time to time, she groaned in her sleep, restlessly tossing and turning. Daniel took a seat and rested his hand on hers. He wanted to be there when she awoke.

+

    Ella drifted through the blackness. When she saw a light in the distance, her instinct told her to walk the other way, but the light was so warm and soothing. When she walked into it, a man greeted her. He was tall and dark-haired and his eyes smiled along with his face.

    “Dear child...” he said, spreading his arms wide, “Welcome to my kingdom.”

    “Is this Heaven?” her voice seemed to pale in comparison to that of the great man that stood before her.

    “Indeed it is, but you must go now, my child.”

    “Must I?”

    He smiled gently at her, cupping her cheek in his hand.

    “Yes, dear one.”

And with that, the light faded again into darkness, and Ella woke in a white room all hung with curtains and a dull pain throbbed in her wrist. She glanced down at the needle that pierced her skin. A shadow sat in the chair to her left, and a warmth flooded from it to her at the point where it touched her hand. She moaned and attempted to sit up. Her eyes lit up and she stroked his hand as she realized who it was.

    Daniel sat up and groaned. He could feel a soft caress on his hand. He looked up. Ella was awake! He got down on his knees, and kissed her hand.

    “Didn’t think you were gonna make it out of that one, princess. You gave me a scare for quite a bit.”

    “Daniel?”

    He nodded and a tear slipped down his face, falling on her cold hand.

Ella, too began to cry, and she reached, shivering for his warm embrace. He wrapped his arms tightly around her, and pulled his hands through her hair.

    “What happened, sweatheart, what happened?”

She did not answer, only sobbed onto his shoulder. When the nurse came to check on Ella Bryn, she was fast asleep with a soldier sitting with her, his arm wrapped protectively around her.

Down Days - Deep Stuff

Why, hello, everyone. :) I hope you all enjoyed your easter weekend. I certainly did. I took a HUGE step in my christian life and I got baptized.

I don’t talk about a whole lot of deep stuff, but today, I am feeling deep, so I am going to talk about down-days. A friend of a friend is having some troubles. Family-wise and also just...life-wise...I don’t know. But I really just want to take a little bit to say that depression and cutting and suicidal thoughts are real, and not something to be made fun of for. I have some experience with a depressed friend. If it helps you, here are some tips for how to comfort them and make sure they do not do something that they would regret.

First of all, it really depends on what is causing the sadness and depressed thoughts. Family issues are generally inescapable. Really all you can do is let them know that they can tell you what is going on. Make sure they know that no matter what, you will be there for them. People need to know that they are loved. It is a natural instinct put there by God. If a parental unit or sibling is not fulfilling their role and loving your friend, you need to fill in a couple positions. This has always been easy for me. I have always had a motherly instinct toward people who need someone to talk to, but really try your best on this one. So that is for familial problems.

For school problems, (bullying, being sworn at and such) STAND UP FOR THEM! If you see someone beating up on them, tell them to shut up and go fix their own life before ruining someone else’s. Also, don’t hold anything back. Let them know what you are thinking. Don’t beat up on them because A) that would make you just like them, and B) you might be the one who ends up getting in trouble. But stand up for your friends! Show them that you  care enough about them to make sure they stay out of bad situations.

Lastly: Religious problems. I am a christian. I believe in God the father, maker of Heaven and Earth. I believe that love is commitment, and God is love. Whenever I notice that a friend of mine is being religiously challenged, I make sure to first make sure I know what is going on, and second, let them know I am praying for them. God promises that if we go through all the challenges he has to give us with faith in him, he will provide us with the strength and grace to keep going. (James 4:6 & 10→ 6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.)

So there you have it. Talk to them, know what’s going on, and pray. I hope this has been helpful to you. If you have any questions or anything to add on, then please please let me know. Also, if you have just an opinion, I would love to hear it. Comment or email me at trueloveneverdies1998@gmail.com thanks. :) Have a wonderful day.