An aspect of God I never really noticed or thought of before

I love it when people are nice to me for no reason. When I'm talking to someone and they take a particular interest in what's up with me I feel special. When somebody sends me an email, private messages me, posts on my facebook wall, or otherwise goes out of their way to think of me when I'm not even there with them it just about makes my day. I think everybody likes it, but it means more to some than others :) I try to do it to other people since I like it so much. But for some reason I never thought that God ever thought about it. I read in Genesis 15 that God randomly comes up to Abram and says,

"Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward."

How cool is THAT, thinks I!!!! Our God is a thoughtful God! Abram wasn't about to attack an army with a ball-point pen, or stand up to 50 giants with one bouncy ball as a weapon. It was just random--God knew when Abram needed/wanted a boost.

This is what I have noticed and now very much like about God. I wonder how many aspects of Him I'll discover as time goes on? It's just amazing that God has so much to Him anyway!

By the way--go drop a note on your friend's blog, it's nice to do :)

Heads Held High

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

~ Leviticus 26:13

The Israelites were being oppressed and enslaved by the Egyptians, but God miraculously freed them. You may not be a slave to people, but what ARE you enslaved by? Jealousy? Temptation? Feelings? A sin that won't go away? Maybe all these things. I find I'm enslaved by little bitty sneaky things and don't know it until it grows and goes on and on - then it's harder to beat. But the good thing is... we don't have to beat it alone! It is much easier to talk to Jesus about your slavery than to try and free yourself (it worked for the Israelites didn't it?)

Ready to walk with your head held high?

Almost Pure?

Disclaimer: I address my sisters, because I believe this needs to be addressed. I am not implying that I think guys are any better at this, but I will leave them to their own kind for the moment :)

Most of us have made a commitment to God and maybe our parents to remain pure until marriage. This could mean something different for each of us. For some there are other rules like don't hold hands with guys, don't even TALK to guys, or for some it's ok to get a new boyfriend every Thursday as long as you're technically pure. To each her own--I am not addressing the rules and wherefores of our commitments. Whatever you've worked out with the Lord and your parents if fine with me. But as far as I am concerned, purity, means keeping my body, heart, and mind only for my future husband.

But this is what I have seen recently from Colorado to Arkansas--some are missing it.

Our bodies our pure. Maybe our hearts haven't even been very fiddled with. I'm not going to go into big details about who's doing what and what's wrong when, but here is what I think is going on in this world among the pure--our MINDS are going CRAZY!!!!!

• Guys = toys
• We judge guys by their looks, good or bad (though we all do this with any sex, but it needs to stop)
• As soon as we meet a guy, they are a new plaything or potential relationship
• A guy cannot even TALK to us without our minds playing crazy games

What is our excuse? Not only are these mind games unfair to our commitments--they are unfair to guys. I love guys and I have great guy friends. Call me crazy, but I think a guy should be able to be friends with a girl without her building castles in the air all around him. It even FEELS stupid to type, but we all do it, including me. It's not fair and it's wrong to let our brains do things like that. Not to mention that EVERYONE can read this. Just because it's in our heads doesn't make it a secret. It shows itself in our actions to everyone but ourselves - we all know it is easy to see when a girl begins to drool over a guy behind his back. Or worse, to his face.

I have addressed the least vile and offensive of our shortcomings involving purity. But it is the one I have noticed more than anything else, and besides, if it were anything worse I don't think it would be my place to talk about it :) Can't we just be friends with guys? Is it impossible in this day and age? The brain plays around in every girl - what are we to do?

Thoughts anyone?