Posts tagged young p31wives

I have a soft spot. OK, I have a few. But, one is for my little sisters, Young P31Wives. They remind me of myself, struggling, learning, loving, and moving. Moving toward a magnificent loving God who is going to rock their worlds with more awesomeness than they have ever known.

We have all been there. That spot where the world is wide open to our discoveries, and wide open to sin. Choose Jesus, sisters! Don’t travel the well used worldly road, follow your older sisters to the Master’s feet. You will never be sorry.

Every Monday, I share something that inspires me on Pinterest. Something that keeps me looking towards the Father. Something that makes me stop and think about the Father’s love and all the blessings in my life, and I like to share them with you. Today, I am sharing a collection of pins from Pinterest that remind me of you, Young P31Wives. As Titus 2 women, we must encourage our sisters in Christ to live a life full of God’s love and beauty and give them hope to living a Proverbs 31 life. Here is my Top 10 list of Pinterest pins for the Young P31Wife:

1. Don’t worry or spend any more time thinking about that boy who broke your heart. He made room for the man God choose for you. Be ready.(1 Corinthians 13: 4-8)

2. Say “yes” to Jesus every time. It makes saying no to sin easy. Trust me. (Luke 10: 41-42)

3. Read it. Memorize it. Live it. Don’t just take it out when you are in trouble. No excuses. (2 Timothy 3; 16-17)

4. Ever made a mistake? Me too. He is there for you. Ask for forgiveness. Accept it. Move on. (Psalm 71: 20-21)

5. Just let it go. And then walk away from it. There is no sense dragging it around with you. It doesn’t matter what it is; it’s different for all of us. (Matthew 6: 25-27)

6. You are free to make great choices. Make them. (Philippians 4: 8)

7. You are beautiful. You were made in His image. He is beautiful. So are you. Don’t forget that. (Proverbs 31:30)

8. This is key.Comparison robs you of joy. What God has planned for you and the man of your life is infinitely better. (Romans 12:2)

9. There are little toes and little feet who are depending on you to make the right choices. Choose Godly, every time. They are depending on it. (Matthew 7: 13-14)

10. Be equally yoked. Let me say that again. Be equally yoked.  You will want his godly guidance over your home, his prayers over you, and his prayers over your babies. Be equally yoked. (1 Corinthians 15:33, 2 Corinthians 6:14-18)

Love,

P31Wife

“She gets up while it is still night;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her female servants.” Proverbs 31:15

Photo Credit for all images can be found here.

When I was 19, my heart was broken. Actually, it was shattered. The boy I thought I loved with all my heart, turned out to be the perfect man for someone else. I really thought that heartache would last forever. The heartache, while at the time was excruciating, it was also temporary and an answer to prayer. Still, I distinctively remember asking myself in the midst of the pain, “how did I get here?” 

There were many times in my young adult life that I ended up somewhere unpleasant and unfamiliar.  I questioned myself on how I landed in that spot. Sometimes, I did my best to avoid heartbreak but fell right smack in the middle of it. I had placed my faith in a great Oz and wound up lost. Much of the time, I took zero responsibility for my actions, blamed others for my bad choices, and choose sin over and over rather than the grace and mercy of God.  Other times, I carried so much guilt upon my back that the load was unbearable. I felt sorry for myself because of my circumstances (justifiably unfair), and convinced others around me to feel sorry for myself too (which never really helped me).  In short, you don’t have to look too far to find a trail of my mistakes. They are lying right between my good intentions and my excuses.

Thankfully, Jesus saw every desperate mistake and each plentiful excuse. I remember the exact ditch He picked me up and dusted me off in. It was there that I started to follow Him.

Jesus said,”If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me,” (Matthew 16:24). There is a common thread of following someone other than the Lord in each of my failed plans. These choices, however great my intentions, were not centered on Christ. They centered on something else I desperately wanted—joy, peace, and love. Ironically, it wasn’t until I died to myself (gave up on my own plans) that I began to see God’s will (joy, peace, and love) and obediently followed His plan not mine.  

Today, at 41, I sit here and ask myself the same question, “how did I get here?” Only, this time because there is abundant joy, peace, and love in my life. Yes, there are still many struggles, weariness, and even at times, despair. I am grateful for the trials too. But, when I ask myself the how did I get here question it is a rhetorical one. I know how I got here. I chose to be here. I chose to follow Christ. My joy, peace, and love comes from following Christ.

Our paths are not always going to be easy. Take heart, we are not alone. He is always with us. What ever we face, we face together with Jesus. We can always find our way back home to Jesus, for He will never forsake us. We don’t even need the ruby slippers to get there.

P31Wife

“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised” Proverbs 31:30.

pic credit.

I had the biggest case of Senioritis my Senior year of High School. Senioritis if you are lucky hits you about two months before graduation. I was not so lucky. Mine hit about two weeks before my 18th birthday when I started to see my life sans parents, sans rules, sans school. Only my 18th birthday was in December, and I did not graduate until June. Too bad for me. During this period of Senioritis, I found myself questioning my father’s ability to govern our home, my presence in the first and last periods of school each day, and my curfew. Because, really, I was almost 18, and I was practically an adult—not so much.

In reality, what Senioritis proved to me was that I desperately needed the guidance of my father and mother even more. The absence of my car for two weeks proved to me the importance of showing up on time at curfew. And, the night I told my father that I could have any roommate, female or male, in college I saw fit clearly demonstrated the importance of my father’s roof over my head and his blessing as I went off to college. Needless to say, that year my learning curve and my grasp of common sense improved dramatically.

The Lone Ranger Christian is one who sometimes feels the same sense of false independence that a high school senior with Senioritis feels. The LRC thinks that they can manage without church, without community, without other Christians to connect with. I know because at times in my life I have felt the same way.

Our Father designed us to be a community. To worship and pray with like-minded believers who would hold us accountable, spur us on to good works, and support us when the trials and tribulations come. When my oldest son was hospitalized this past November, this was the biggest trial my family had ever faced. I thank God we did not face it alone. In the midst of our darkest hour, there were friends, family members, believers that came along side us to carry some of that dreadful load. This is part of the reason we cannot be LRC. Had we been, we may have never known the love of Christ through so many.

Like my young 17-year-old self, I sometimes fall prey to the enemy’s trap of being fiercely independent. I am not. It is not God’s way. It is not Biblical. We were made to need other believers. Hebrews tell us to “let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (10: 24-25). We were not made to live our lives alone. We were made to love one another, worship with one another, and go to church with one another.  After All, even The Lone Ranger had a sidekick.

Praise God for our Christian families.

P31Wife                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. Proverbs 31: 25